远远的绿洲
A Remote Oasis in My Memory
作作者：陈胜良（湖南省作家协会会员，双语作家）
那还是恢复高考的前夕，深秋的江南，风萧萧兮雨蒙蒙。天是那么阴，地是那么沉。为谋生计，我来到益阳县凤凰湖农场第二小学作起了临时代课老师。
Before the restoration of the High Entrance Examination,I went to Fenghuanghu Farm Primary School to work as a part_time teacher.
二小的生活单调乏味。学校里没有球场，没有娱乐室，也很少听到欢声笑语。放学后，校园里更是一片寂静。那里唯一充满活力的是学校北面那一湾清清的河水，名叫粟子河。河边的沙洲上长着一行行柳树。一到春天，垂柳依依，凉风习习，令人心旷神怡。另外,河的对岸有一棵老槐树，树上安放着一个高音喇叭。每天中午，喇叭会定时播放湖南人民广播电台业余英语广播讲座。你若是一位英语爱好者，徜徉林中，那抑扬顿挫的讲座声一定会飘荡你心中，使你乐而忘返.
Everything is dull there.There was neither courts nor public places of entertainment in the school and I heard very little of songs and laughters there .After school，the schoolyard was even more silent The only thing that could refresh me was a clear river，called Suzi River whose sandbank was overgrown with rows of willow trees.When spring set in ,the branches of the willow trees swayed lightly in the cold breeze,giving pleasure to visitors’minds.In addition, on the other side of the river towered an old maple tee，on top of it being installed a loudsppaker，which was punctual to broadcast spare-time English progarm provided by Hunan People’s Broadcasting Station at twelve o’clck sharp。If you were an English amateur and idled along in the willow groves, cadenced voices would be wafted into your heart，making you fully intoxicated with it.
我常到这片绿洲上看书。每天中午，我会在林子里准时守候，聆听讲座。我听得总是那么投入，那么专注，如痴如醉。我边听边模仿，边听边背诵。听得入神时，我会闭上眼睛，沉浸其中；背到尽兴处，我会手舞足蹈，陶醉得忘乎所以。讲座结束后，我会在林子里来回踱步，手不释卷，口不停读，回忆所学，久久不忍离去。背书背得口渴了，喝上一口清清的河水；肚子饿了，吃上一个香喷喷的烤红薯；身体累了，躺在绿色的草地上舒坦地打几个滚，穿过绿色的嫩枝凝视着湛蓝的天空,悠哉游哉，多么惬意！倘若天空不作美，我会撑着雨伞，伫立林中，侧耳聆听。雨点声嘀嗒嘀嗒，像歌声,娓娓动听。雨中求学，趣在其中，乐在其中。
I frequented this oasis , practising reading English aloud alone.At noon，I would wait for the broadcast English programs at the scheduled time and listen to lectures.I was all attention in listening，almost spellbound. I imitated the tunes and recited the sentences while listening.Whenever I was under a spell in listening, I would close my eyes ,getting immersed in the sea of English knowledge and whenever I was reciting English sentences to the excitement, I would dance for my memory, completely infatuated with pleasure。The broadcast was over but I would still pace to and fro in the woods, book in hand, and I would keep on reading so as to call what I learned to my mind. Whenever in this case, I would be reluctant to go back home。When thirsty, I would drink a mouthful of clean water from the river, when hungry, I would eat an appetizing baked sweet potato and when tired I would lie on the green lawn, idly rolling over on it and fixedly gazing into the blue sky through the tender green twigs.What carefree leisure I was enjoying! On rainy days, I would hold my umbrella and stand still in the grove for a long while, listening to the broadcast attentively .Raindrops were beating on my umbrella rhythmically but the loudspeaker’s attracting sound was still wafted into my ears.It is good for studying in the rain .
啊,这是一片多么迷人的绿洲！然而，它并非一个安定的绿洲。不知何时，我身边多了“看稀奇，凑热闹的人”，先是一个，继而一群。可能他们以为我是外国人，因为我长着高高的鼻梁，说着他们听不懂的语言。不久以后，他们打听了我的底细，知道我是二小的代课老师。然而，他们少数人对我学习英语不理解，觉得我不像老师，以为我有点痴，有点呆，或是有点傻，他们看不惯,于是有人破口大骂，粗语伤人，有人大打出手，欺我不是正常人。面对恶意的挑衅，我没有还嘴也没有还手，只是横眉怒对，觉得跟无知者斗嘴自己也会无知，我不愿作无聊的无知者，所以我宁受其侮辱。
Oh, what an enchanting oasis!However, it was not a peaceful oasis.I can not remember when some idlers and trouble-makers came to look at me reading English but I can still remember that one came first and then a group.They might have mistaken me for a foreigner for I had a high nose and spoke a foreign language which was strange to them.Before long they got to know me inside out with the knowledge that I was a non-staffed part time teacher of the second primary school. However, a few of them didn’t know why I studied English with their feeling that I didn’t resemble a non-staffed part time teacher .In the belief that I was an idiot, they began to play bully to me just because I was not a native of their place.Braving their malicious provocation, I did not talk back or fought back but glared at them.
不过，我的心里还是感到失望，痛苦，彷徨。在那段风雨飘摇的岁月里，我常常在失望中挣扎，在痛苦中寻觅，在彷徨中醒悟，我终于明白了，在“四害”横行，知识贬值的年代里，社会动荡不安，岌岌可危，哪里还有安定的绿洲？
But I was still disappointed and sad and even hesitative about what to do next.I struggled out of the disappointment, looked for something in the sadness and woke up to realize this something from the hesitation.It finally dawned on me that when the Gang of Four domineered over the country, knowledge was ignored as worthless and, what was worse, the society was in its imminent danger because of the chaos.In such a situation, wherever and however could I find an oasis?
然而我素怀鸿鹄之志，决心学好英语，矢志不渝，岂能因环境恶劣就知难而退？一连数月，我不管情况怎样艰难，仍坚持在林子里聆听讲座,专心致志，持之以恒，终于学有所成。在后来的高考英语口试中，我滔滔不绝，口若悬河，初试锋芒，一举高中。后来，我终于体会到，安定的绿洲不在天上，也不在地上，而只在求知者的心中。
Regardless of hard situations, I was still full of high ambitions, determined to master English, which I doggedly adhered to. How could I give up English halfway in such adversity?For several months running, I still kept on listening to broadcast in the grove without thinking of any difficulty.I focused on my study, persevered with it and finally achieved greatly.In the High Entrance Spoken English Examination, I talked on and on in a flow of eloquence and soon I was enrolled as a college student because of my good result. In the end, I realized that the peaceful oasis was not in the sky nor on the earth but in the knowledge_seeker’s heart
时间过得真快，转眼间，几十年一晃而过。又是一年桃红柳绿的春日，回望过去，真让人感慨万千。说真的，我还真想回到乡下去看看那一条河流，以及那一片让我梦绕魂牵的绿洲呢。
How time flies! Dozens of years has passed before I kew it.Then came another blooming spring! When I called the past to my head, too many feelings welled up in my mind.To be frank, I really have an itch to go back to my hometown to enjoy looking at that river and the oasis which I am always clinging to my mind.