雅思阅读练习：The Man to Send Rain Clouds

　　新东方在线雅思网为大家带来了雅思阅读练习：The Man to Send Rain Clouds。正文都做了贴心的注解，文章包含雅思词汇、例句讲解。希望以下内容能够为同学们的雅思备考提供帮助。新东方在线雅思网将第一时间为大家发布最新、最全、最专业的雅思报名官网消息和雅思考试真题及解析，供大家参考。

　　They found him under a big cottonwood tree1. His Levis jacket and pants were faded light-blue so that he had been easy to find. The big cottonwood tree stood apart from a small grove of winterbare cottonwoods which grew in the wide, sandy, arroyo2. He had been dead for a day or more, and the sheep had wandered and scattered up and down the arroyo. Leon and his brother-in-law, Ken, gathered the sheep and left them in the pen at the sheep camp before they returned to the cottonwood tree. Leon waited under the tree while Ken drove the truck through the deep sand to the edge of the arroyo. He squinted up at the sun and unzipped his jacket. It sure was hot for this time of year. But high and northwest the blue mountains were still deep in snow. Ken came sliding down the low, crumbling bank about fifty yards down, and he was bringing the red blanket.

　　他们在一棵高大的棉白杨树下找到了他。他身上的 “李维斯”牌夹克衫和牛仔裤已褪成浅蓝，因此找到他并不难。大棉白杨的旁边，是一小片冬天落叶的棉白杨树林，长在那条宽阔多沙的河谷中。他已死去一两天了，羊群乱跑，游散在河谷的上上下下。里昂和姐夫肯恩把羊群赶到一块，关进牧羊营的羊圈，然后回到那棵大棉白杨树。里昂在树下等，肯恩开着卡车驶过厚厚的沙土，一直到河谷边缘。他眯眼看看太阳，拉开夹克的拉链。就这个时节而言，天气可真够暖和的了，而在西北边的高处，蓝色群山仍有厚厚的积雪。下边大约五十码处，肯恩沿着低矮坍塌的河岸慢悠悠开过来，他带来了那张红色毛毯。

　　[2] Before they wrapped the old man, Leon took a piece of string out of his pocket and tied a small gray feather in the old man's long white hair. Ken gave him the paint. Across the brown wrinkled forehead he drew a streak of white and along the high cheekbones he drew a strip of blue paint. He paused and watched Ken throw pinches of corn meal and pollen into the wind that fluttered the small gray feather. Then Leon painted with yellow under the old man's broad nose, and finally, when he had painted green across the chin, he smiled.

　　他俩把老人裹起来之前，里昂从口袋里掏出一段细绳，将一小根灰羽毛系在老人长长的白发中。肯恩把油彩递给他。在老人皱纹密布的棕色前额上，他画了一道白线，然后在老人高高的颧骨上，他画了一条蓝线。他停下来，看着肯恩将一撮撮玉米面和花粉抛向风中，那根小小的灰色羽毛随风颤动。接着，里昂又在老人宽大的鼻子下涂了黄色，最后，当给老人的下颌涂上绿色时，他笑了笑。

　　[3] "Send us rain clouds, Grandfather." They laid the bundle in the back of the pickup3 and covered it with a heavy tarp before they started back to the pueblo4.

　　“爷爷，求您给我们送来雨云吧!”他们将尸裹放在卡车后面，盖上一块厚重的油布，然后，他们发动卡车，返回村庄。

　　[4] They turned off the highway onto the sandy Pueblo road. Not long after they passed the store and post office they saw Father Paul's car coming toward them. When he recognized their faces he slowed his car and waved for them to stop. The young priest rolled down the car window.

　　下了公路，他们拐上村庄的沙路。经过商店和邮局不一会儿，他们看见神父保罗的车迎面驶来。认出他们后，他放慢车速，招手示意他们停下。年轻的牧师摇下车窗。

　　[5] "Did you find old Teofilo?" he asked loudly.

　　Leon stopped the truck. "Good morning, Father. We were just out to the sheep camp. Everything is O.K. now."

　　"Thank God for that. Teofilo is a very old man. You really shouldn't allow him to stay at the sheep camp alone."

　　"No, he won't do that any more now."

　　"Well, I'm glad you understand. I hope I'll be seeing you at Mass this week. We missed you last Sunday. See if you can get old Teofilo to come with you." The priest smiled and waved at them as they drove away.

　　“你们找到老泰奥菲洛了吗?”他大声问道。

　　里昂停下卡车。“早上好，神父。我们刚去过牧羊营，现在一切正常了!”

　　“好，感谢上帝!泰奥菲洛年事已高，你们真不该让他一个人待在牧羊营。”

　　“对，他现在再也不会那样啦!”

　　“恩，你们明白了，我很高兴。我希望这周弥撒能见着你们。上周日你们可没去。看你们能否带老泰奥菲洛一块儿去。”神父笑着冲他们挥挥手，他们开车离去。

　　[6] Louise and Teresa were waiting. The table was set for lunch, and the coffee was boiling on the black iron stove. Leon looked at Louise and then at Teresa.

　　"We found him under a cottonwood tree in the big arroyo near sheep camp. I guess he sat down to rest in the shade and never got up again." Leon walked toward the old man's bed.

　　露易丝和特蕾萨在等他们。午餐桌已备好，黑铁炉上正煮着咖啡。里昂看看露易丝，又看看特蕾萨。

　　“我们在一棵棉白杨树下找到他，牧羊营附近的那条大河谷里。估计他是想坐在树荫下休息会儿，但再也没能站起来。”里昂朝老人的床铺走去。

　　[7] The red plaid shawl had been shaken and spread carefully over the bed, and a new brown flannel shirt and pair of stiff new Levis were arranged neatly beside the pillow. Louise held the screen door open while Leon and Ken carried in the red blanket. He looked small and shriveled, and after they dressed him in the new shirt and pants he seemed more shrunken.

　　那条抖过的红色方格布披巾平整地铺在床上，枕边整齐地摆放着一件新棕色法兰绒衬衫和一条笔挺的“李维斯”牌牛仔裤。露易丝把纱门开着，里昂和肯恩将红毯抬进屋内。泰奥菲洛看上去瘦小而干瘪，待他们给他换上新衣新裤后，他似乎愈加瘦瘠了。

　　[8] It was noontime now because the church bells rang the Angelus5. They ate the beans with hot bread, and nobody said anything until after Teresa poured the coffee.

　　Ken stood up and put on his jacket.

　　"I'll see about the gravediggers. Only the top layer of soil is frozen. I think it can be ready before dark."

　　Leon nodded his head and finished his coffee. After Ken had been gone for a while, the neighbors and clans people came quietly to embrace Teofilo's family and to leave food on the table because the gravediggers would come to eat when they were finished.

　　教堂的祈祷钟响了起来，时间已到正午。他们吃着豆子和热面包，没有人说话，直到特蕾萨给大家沏上咖啡。

　　肯恩站起来，穿上夹克。

　　“我去找挖墓的人。土只是上层结冰。我想天黑前就可以挖好了。”

　　里昂点点头，喝完咖啡。肯恩走后一会儿，左邻右舍和族人默默前来，拥抱泰奥菲洛的家人，他们在桌上留下吃的，因为挖墓的人完事后要过来吃饭。

　　[9] The sky in the west was full of pale-yellow light. Louise stood outside with her hands in the pockets of Leon's green army jacket that was too big for her. The funeral was over, and the old men had taken their candles and medicine bags and were gone. She waited until the body was laid into the pickup before she said anything to Leon. She touched his arm, and he noticed that her hands were still dusty from the corn meal that she had sprinkled around the old man.

　　西边的天空泛满了淡黄的亮光。露易丝站在屋外，身着里昂的绿色军大衣(那衣服对她来说实在过于肥大)，手插在大衣口袋里。葬礼已经结束，老人们带上他们的蜡烛和药袋，回去了。她一直等到遗体放进卡车后，才和里昂说话。她碰了碰里昂的手臂，里昂注意到，她之前在老人遗体周围撒玉米面，现在双手仍沾着粉末。

　　[10]When she spoke, Leon could not hear her.

　　"What did you say? I didn't hear you."

　　"I said that I had been thinking about something."

　　"About what?"

　　"About the priest sprinkling holy water for Grandpa. So he won't be thirsty."

　　她开口说话的时候，里昂都听不清。

　　“你说什么?我没听清。”

　　“我说，我一直在想……”

　　“想什么?”

　　“我在想，请那牧师来给爷爷洒圣水，这样他就不会口渴了。”

　　[11] Leon stared at the new moccasins that Teofilo had made for the ceremonial dances in the summer. They were nearly hidden by the red blanket. It was getting colder, and the wind pushed gray dust down the narrow pueblo road. The sun was approaching the long mesa where it disappeared during the winter. Louise stood there shivering and watching his face. Then he zipped up his jacket and opened the truck door. "I'll see if he's there."

　　里昂紧盯着泰奥菲洛脚上那双新鹿皮鞋，那是他为夏天庆典舞会专门制作的。鹿皮鞋几乎被红毯子完全遮住。天气越发凉了，冷风卷起狭窄的村庄小道上的灰土。太阳正缓缓靠近那座长长的平顶山(冬天，太阳就在那儿下山)。露易丝站在那里，周身发抖，盯着里昂的脸。过了一会，里昂拉上夹克拉链，打开车门。“我去瞧瞧，他在不在。”

　　[12] Ken stopped the pickup at the church, and Leon got out; and then Ken drove down the hill to the graveyard where people were waiting. Leon knocked at the old carved door with its symbols of the Lamb. While he waited he looked up at the twin bells from the king of Spain with the last sunlight pouring around them in their tower.

　　肯恩在教堂将卡车停住，里昂下了车;之后肯恩沿山而下，直开到墓地，人们在那儿等着。里昂敲了敲那扇古老的、刻着各种羔羊图标的大门。他一边等人开门，一边抬头打量西班牙国王赠送的那对鸣钟，此刻，它们静待楼塔，任落日余晖洒在身上。

　　[13] The priest opened the door and smiled when he saw who it was. "Come in! What brings you here this evening?"

　　The priest walked toward the kitchen, and Leon stood with his cap in his hand, playing with the earflaps and examining the living room, the brown sofa, the green armchair, and the brass lamp that hung down from the ceiling by links of chain. The priest dragged a chair out of the kitchen and offered it to Leon.

　　"No thank you, Father. I only came to ask you if you would bring your holy water to the graveyard."

　　牧师打开门，看清来人后，他笑了。“请进!今晚什么风把你给吹来了?”神父走向厨房，里昂站在客厅，手拿帽子，一边摆弄帽子的耳罩，一边打量房间，那棕色的沙发，绿色的扶椅，还有那用链扣悬挂在屋顶的黄铜灯。神父从厨房里拖出一把椅子，递给里昂。

　　“不用，谢了，神父。我来这儿只是想问问，您能不能带上圣水去一趟墓地。”

　　[14] The priest turned away from Leon and looked out the window at the patio full of shadows and the dining-room windows of the nuns' cloister across the patio. The curtains were heavy, and the light from within faintly penetrated; it was impossible to see the nuns inside eating supper.

　　神父转过脸去，望着窗外暮色笼罩的天井，以及天井对面女修道院饭厅的窗户。窗帘很厚，只有微弱的光线从里面透出，根本看不清里面用餐的修女们。

　　[15] "Why didn't you tell me he was dead? I could have brought the Last Rites6 anyway."

　　Leon smiled. "It wasn't necessary, Father."

　　The priest stared down at his scuffed brown loafers and the worn hem of his cassock. "For a Christian burial it was necessary."

　　His voice was distant, and Leon thought that his blue eyes looked tired.

　　"It's O.K. Father, we just want him to have plenty of water."

　　“你那会儿为什么不告诉我他死了?我至少还来得及给他办临终圣礼嘛!”

　　里昂笑了笑。“那倒没有必要，神父。”

　　牧师低头盯着自己破旧的棕色平底鞋和长袍折边。“对一名基督徒的葬礼来说，那是必要的。”

　　他话音冷淡，里昂心想，他的蓝眼睛看起来有些倦怠。

　　“没有关系，神父。我们只希望他的水够喝就行。”

　　[16] The priest sank down into the green chair and picked up a glossy missionary magazine. He turned the colored pages full of lepers and pagans without looking at them.

　　"You know I can't do that, Leon. There should have been the Last Rites and a funeral Mass at the very least."

　　Leon put on his green cap and pulled the flaps down over his ears. "It's getting late, Father. I've got to go."

　　神父一屁股坐进绿色扶椅，拾起一本印刷精美的传教士杂志。他翻弄着一张张满是麻风病人和异教徒的彩页，虽然他一眼都没看。

　　“里昂，你知道我不能那样干。再怎么说，也该办临终圣礼和葬礼弥撒。”

　　里昂戴上他那顶绿色帽子，把耳罩拉下来盖住耳朵。“时候不早了，神父。我得走了。”

　　[17] When Leon opened the door Father Paul stood up and said, "Wait." He left the room and came back wearing a long brown overcoat. He followed Leon out the door and across the dim churchyard to the adobe steps in front of the church. They both stooped to fit through the low adobe entrance. And when they started down the hill to the graveyard only half of the sun was visible above the mesa.

　　当里昂推开大门时，神父保罗站起来说：“等等!”他离开客厅，然后穿着一件棕色长外衣回来。他跟着里昂走出大门，穿过昏暗的教堂庭院，来到教堂前土坯砌成的台阶。他们弯着腰，穿过低矮的土墙入口。待他们朝山下墓地出发时，平顶山上的太阳只能看见一半了。

　　[18] The priest approached the grave slowly, wondering how they had managed to dig into the frozen ground; and then he remembered that this was New Mexico, and saw the pile of cold loose sand beside the hole. The people stood close to each other with little clouds of steam puffing from their faces. The priest looked at them and saw a pile of jackets, gloves, and scarves in the yellow, dry tumbleweeds that grew in the graveyard. He looked at the red blanket, not sure that Teofilo was so small, wondering if it wasn't some perverse Indian trick or something they did in March to ensure a good harvest, wondering if maybe old Teofilo was actually at sheep camp corralling the sheep for the night.

　　牧师慢慢走近坟墓，心里纳闷这些人怎么能在结冰的地面上挖出坑来;然后他想起，这可是在新墨西哥州，他看到了墓坑边上的一堆冰冷的松土。人们紧挨着站在一起，脸上呼出云状的小气团。牧师看了看他们，他看见墓地枯黄的风滚草上堆放着夹克、手套和围巾。他看着红毯子，不敢相信泰奥菲洛竟然如此瘦小，他在心里琢磨：这该不是印第安人玩的什么古怪把戏，或是为了好收成在三月举行的某个仪式吧?他想，兴许老泰奥菲洛此刻正在牧羊营把羊群赶进羊棚过夜呢。

　　[19] But there he was, facing into a cold dry wind and squinting at the last sunlight, ready to bury a red wool blanket while the faces of his parishioners were in shadow with the last warmth of the sun on their backs. His fingers were stiff, and it took him a long time to twist the the lid off the holy water. Drops of water fell on the red blanket and soaked into dark icy spots. He sprinkled the grave and the water disappeared almost before it touched the dim, cold sand; it reminded him of something, and he tried to remember what it was because he thought if he could remember he might understand this. He sprinkled more water; he shook the container until it was empty, and the water fell through the light from sundown like August rain that fell while the sun was still shining, almost evaporating before it touched the wilted squash flowers.

　　然而，眼下的情形是，他顶着干冷的风和刺眼的落日余晖，准备埋掉一块红毯，而最后一线阳光落在他的教区居民的背脊上，给他们的脸蒙上阴影。他手指僵硬，花了很长时间才拧开圣水的盖子。水滴洒落在红毯上，马上渗透成暗黑的冰点。他往坟墓里洒水，可刚要接触昏暗冰冷的沙面，水已消失不见;这让他想起点什么，他努力回忆那到底是什么，因为他觉得，如果能回忆起来，他就能理解这一切。他洒了更多的水;他摇晃盛水瓶，直到水瓶变空;水在落日余光中洒落，如同耀眼阳光中降下的八月雨，还没来得及打到枯萎的南瓜花，就已蒸发得无影无踪。

　　[20] The wind pulled at the priest's brown Franciscan7 robe and swirled away the corn meal and pollen that had been sprinkled on the blanket. They lowered the bundle into the ground, and they didn't bother to untie the stiff pieces of new rope that were tied around the ends of the blanket. The sun was gone, and over on the highway the eastbound lane was full of headlights. The priest walked away slowly.

　　晚风将牧师身上的方济会长袍吹得啪啪作响，让撒在红毯上的玉米面和花粉打着旋儿四处纷飞。他们将尸裹放进坑里，连系在毯子两头的硬硬的新绳也懒得解开。太阳下山了，远处的公路，东行道上车灯闪烁。牧师缓步离去。

　　[21] Leon watched him climb the hill, and when he had disappeared within the tall, thick walls, Leon turned to look up at the high blue mountains in the deep snow that reflected a faint red light from the west. He felt good because it was finished, and he was happy about the sprinkling of the holy water; now the old man could send them big thunderclouds for sure.

　　里昂看着牧师一步步爬上山坡。当他消失在厚厚的高墙中时，里昂转过身，抬头看看那些蓝色高山，山上厚厚的积雪反射出西边天空的微微霞光。他感觉不错，因为这事做完了，洒了圣水，他很开心;如今，老人家一定可以给他们送来大片大片的雷雨云了。