[轉貼] 老丹的英文課 - Part3

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老丹的英文課 - Part3
不畏山路凶險，享受「晨光」，獨自面對磨難
Being not afraid of dangerous surroundings, fond of the dawn, and brave to sufferance.


轉過錦屏大橋，有段長達一、兩公里的爬坡路，這段窄谷像是一座山硬生生從上往下劈成兩半，道路沿河谷而攀升，對山望去是令人敬畏的岩壁。一路上，他總是抿著嘴，靜默無語，把長途騎車所需的耐力封存在體內。在黎明將臨的時刻，這條路也逐漸甦醒過來，山勢漸漸明朗，幾棵楓樹，像燃燒自己似的，在絕岩峭壁間放彩，丹尼爾無暇他顧，埋首苦幹的腳步，虔敬莊嚴有如修士的晨禱。
It was about a two-kilometer long incline after passing Jin Ping Bridge, and the mountain seemed to be divided into two parts by the incline. The roadway rose gradually alongside the river and the rock spread all over the opposite mountains. He zipped his lips, kept silence, and tried to accumulate all energy to counter the long-term riding. At the break of a day, the roadway was visible inch by inch, the mountain was clear step by step, and yellow maples seemed to be burned as lightening fire sparkling on the steep crag. Daniel did not pay much attention on this beautiful scenery, but kept his way to Slay. His silence and concentration were like a friar giving a pious prayer in the morning.


丹尼爾有個中文名字叫「葛晨光」，「葛」是他的姓，「晨光」是他從字典裡找到的名字，「我很喜歡早起的感覺」他說。他早起不為享受，某個意義更近於受苦，他每踩下一步，身體某處就傳來一陣疼痛。這趟路，總共要越過三個山頭，爬往標高一九一四公尺的李崠山那一段山路最難走。
Danie’s Chinese name was葛晨光. 葛 was his family name, and晨光 was his name. He enjoyed the feeling of waking early in the morning, so he chose晨光 as his name from a Chinese dictionary. However, actually, it should suffer from riding a long way for him instead of enjoying the sunlight in the morning. His body felt hurt as he moved every step forward. This trip took him across three mountain tops. The most difficult roadway was located in Lidon Mountain at an altitude of 1914 meters.


尤其，九二一地震後，山脈骨肉分離，稍微下場大雨，就山崩路毀。最窄的道路，僅可容車，路基的一半，早已連同樹木滑落山谷底。每年一億元修補道路，仍是修了又坍，坍了又修，從來沒有一個時刻好過。山路的凶險，沒有走過的人不會知道。石磊國小創校至今，已有二位校長在上班途中不幸墜落山谷身亡。
After 921 earthquake damage, mountains were disintegrated seriously, and would be often caused more collapse while raining. The narrowest roadway could only fit one car passing, and the other part of roadbed was totally avalanched downward to valley. The government appropriated 100 million for repaving the roadbed every year; however, it was just collapsed over and over again. You would never know how dangerous it was if you had not ever go there. Since the foundation of Slay elementary school, two principles were dead from falling into valley as on their way to school.


丹尼爾並不擔心這些，他的心落定在石磊那群小朋友。為了配合丹尼爾來上課的時間，全校六個年級的英文課，全都排在周一下午，外加上幼稚園，丹尼爾得一連上四節課。「我喜歡看他們，看到我來的那種smile。」每次問丹尼爾為何冒險辛苦到石磊教英文，他總努力用中文這樣回答，「不能讓他們覺得失望。」
Danie did not worry about danger; he did care about students in Slay school. He did not have much time, because all English classes from kindergarten to sixth grades were totally four courses which were scheduled on the afternoon every Monday. Every time when I asked Danie why he wanted to come here for teaching English, he always tried his best to answer me in Chinese. He said “I liked their smile when they cheerfully looked at me, and I wouldn’t make them disappointed”.


其實，丹尼爾不是每次都遇著好天氣，遇到雨天，因雨衣窒悶難受，乾脆任雨淋溼全身；春末、冬初兩季霧鎖森林，步步涉險，一不小心就可能掉到深谷裡去。○四年元旦，山區意外下起了雪，城裡人趕來這裡盡興，交通阻塞了一兩公里，丹尼爾邊騎邊繞過賞雪人，「人很多，路很滑，我騎得很久，不可思議，台灣也會下雪。」
Actually, it was not always sunny day as he was on the way to school. When it rained, he always got wet. He did not wear other clothes to cover his body from getting wet, because the stuffy raincoat made him feel uncomfortable. The fox were full of the forest at the beginning of winter and at the end of spring, so that everywhere could be very dangerous. If you did not watch your every step, you might fall into the deep valley. On New Year’s Day 2004, it snowed and caused a serious traffic jam here because lots of people from downtown came here for enjoying snowing. Danie rode and dodged people having fun on his way to school. “People were crowded everywhere, the roadway was slippery, and it took him a long time for riding. It was unbelievable that it snowed in Taiwan” he said.


春冬兩季雨急霧濃，每分每秒皆如與死神搏鬥現在，丹尼爾戴著帽子，高高站在踏板上，弓著背，賣力地踩踏板。他緩緩擦過我身邊時，只聽到他深重的喘息，呼哧呼哧，像一頭賣命往前衝的鬥牛。這整條山路，再也看不到第二輛腳踏車了。連車子都覺得吃力的山路，丹尼爾全靠自己的一雙腳。騎在危險的地方，或高速衝下陡坡時，丹尼爾便在心裡默默禱告：「請求上帝保護我，給我的身體、我的腳踏車、我的行人都得到幫助。」
It sharply snowed and thickly fogged in the spring and winter, and riding on the way to school was so dangerous that it seemed to fight with Death at every moment. Denel wearing a hat and bending his back devoted all his power to stamping treadles forward. While he was passing by me, I heard his heavy breath like a cattle spared no effort for making powerful dashes. There were no other bikes in this mountainside which even a car was never easy to move. Denel conquered it depending on his won feet. When he was riding on dangerous places or going downhill with high speed, Denel quietly made prays in mind “God, please protect me, my body, my bike, and even other people from dangerous”.


早上九點半，丹尼爾越過玉峰村的第三座一千七百公尺山頭，終於到了學校，他邊喘氣，邊看自己的手錶，他為自己設定的電子馬錶顯示「5:46」。丹尼爾上氣不接下氣說：「今天騎得不夠好，沒有進步。」
It was nine o’clock in the morning. Denel went over the third mountain at an altitude 1700 meters and arrived at the school finally. He sharply panted and kept an eye on his watch which he set a stopwatch displaying five hours and forty-six minutes. Denel said he did not make it better on his riding speed today.


其實，以前他要花八個小時才能到學校，三年間練下來，已經大大進步了二個小時。每每他汗流浹背來到石磊，小朋友說：「天氣熱的時候，丹尼爾老師像剛從水裡爬上來的人。」冬天時，他的汗從內裡透出外衣，汗漬斑斑。這一天，丹尼爾來到學校的時候，小朋友都在上課，小小的校區很安靜，惟一熱情迎接丹尼爾來到的是一隻學校收養的流浪狗。
It would take him eight hours to come to school in the past. Then, he could ride to school within six hours by continuing riding back and forth during the past three years. He always got wet as he arrived at the school. Students often described that Denel seemed to move off the water pool as his appearance at the school. In the winter, perspiration permeated through all over his clothes. At that moment Denel came to school, and all students were on the class. It was quiet at the school, and the stray dog, which was foster by the school’s staff, gave him a great ovation.


不明就裡的人總愛問丹尼爾：「你為什麼不騎摩托車，或搭便車到石磊呢？」丹尼爾總用中文很努力地說：「我喜歡騎車，正因為它不容易、很困難，所以fun，很有成就感。路如果是平的，就不好玩了，路如果壞掉，這樣騎起來才有意思，越有一種挑戰感覺。」這有限的字句裡，濃縮了丹尼爾的人生哲學。
    Some people wondered and liked to ask Denel “why didn’t you go to Slay by riding a motorcycle or taking a bus?”. He tried his best to answers this question in Chinese “I liked to do something difficult such as riding, and that made me feel fun and a good sense of success. It would be a great challenge to conquer the damaged roadway instead of flat one.” His brief answer revealed his philosophy.


丹尼爾的家鄉在美國五大湖區的密西根州，一個靠近黛比湖(Derby Lake)的小鎮，他的父母現在都退休了，爸爸是電腦程式工程師，母親是牙醫助理，家境只算小康。
Denel’s came from a small country near Derby Lake which located on Michigan. His father was a computer program engineer, and his mother was a dentist assistant. Both of them had retired from their job.


「我爸非常有耐心，我媽心腸很軟，在美國看牙醫很貴，她常幫人清潔房子賺零用金，來幫助病患。」
My father was a patient person, and my mother was a kind lady. Actually, it cost lots of money for seeing dentists in America, so she often earned extra income by cleaning houses to help more patients who could not afford their expense on seeing dentist.

TO BE CONTINUED...

英語論壇英文字彙 昨達百萬