【正文】 eat me up because of it. iamp。39。d run home crying, where my mother would say, amp。quot。youamp。39。re not ugly, son. youamp。39。ve got a nose and two eyes, and thereamp。39。s nothing wrong with your arms and legs, so how could you be ugly? if you have a good heart and always do the right thing, what is considered ugly bees beautiful.amp。quot。 later on, when i moved to the city, there were educated people who laughed at me behind my back, some even to my face。 but when i recalled what mother had said, i just calmly offered my apologies.
　　我生來相貌丑陋，村子里很多人當面嘲笑我，學校里有幾個性格霸蠻的同學甚至為此打我。我回家痛苦，母親對我說：”。兒子，你不丑，你不缺鼻子不缺眼，四肢健全，丑在哪里?而且只要你心存善良，多做好事，即便是丑也能變美?！?。后來我進入城市，有一些很有文化的人依然在背后甚至當面嘲弄我的相貌，我想起了母親的話，便心平氣和地向他們道歉。
　　my illiterate mother held people who could read in high regard. we were so poor we often did not know where our next meal was ing from, yet she never denied my request to buy a book or something to write with. by nature hard working, she had no use for lazy children, yet i could skip my chores as long as i had my nose in a book.
　　我母親不識字，但對識字的人十分敬重。我們家生活困難，經常吃了上頓沒下頓。但只要我對她提出買書買文具的要求，她總是會滿足我。她是個勤勞的人，討厭懶惰的孩子，但只要是我因為看書耽誤了干活，她從來沒批評過我。
　　a storyteller once came to the marketplace, and i sneaked off to listen to him. she was unhappy with me for forgetting my chores. but that night, while she was stitching padded clothes for us under the weak light of a kerosene lamp, i couldnamp。39。t keep from retelling stories iamp。39。d heard that day. she listened impatiently at first, since in her eyes professional storytellers were smoothtalking men in a dubious profession. nothing good ever came out of their mouths. but slowly she was dragged into my retold stories, and from that day on, she never gave me chores on market day, unspoken permission to go to the marketplace and listen to new stories. as repayment for motheramp。39。s kindness and a way to demonstrate my memory, iamp。39。d retell the stories for her in vivid detail. it did not take long to find retelling someone elseamp。39。s stories unsatisfying, so i began embellishing my narration. iamp。39。d say things i knew would please mother, even changed the ending once in a while. and she wasnamp。39。t the only member of my audience, which later included my older sisters, my aunts, even my maternal grandmother. sometimes, after my mother had listened to one of my stories, sheamp。39。d ask in a careladen voice, almost as if to herself: amp。quot。what will you be like when you grow up, son? might you wind up prattling for a living one day?amp。quot。
　　有一段時間，集市上來了一個說書人。我偷偷地跑去聽書，忘記了她分配給我的活兒。為此，母親批評了我，晚上當她就著一盞小油燈為家人趕制棉衣時，我忍不住把白天從說書人聽來的故事復述給她聽，起初她有些不耐煩，因為在她心目中說書人都是油嘴滑舌，不務正業(yè)的人，從他們嘴里冒不出好話來。但我復述的故事漸漸的吸引了她，以后每逢集日她便不再給我排活，默許我去集上聽書。為了報答母親的恩情，也為了向她炫耀我的記憶力，我會把白天聽到的故事，繪聲繪色地講給她聽。很快的，我就不滿足復述說書人講的故事了，我在復述的過程中不斷的添油加醋，我會投我母親所好，編造一些情節(jié)，有時候甚至改變故事的結局。我的聽眾也不僅僅是我的母親，連我的姐姐，我的嬸嬸，我的奶奶都成為我的聽眾。我母親在聽完我的故事后，有時會憂心忡忡地，像是對我說，又像是自言自語：”。兒啊，你長大后會成為一個什么人呢?難道要靠耍貧嘴吃飯嗎?”。
　　i knew why she was worried. talkative kids are not well thought of in our village, for they can bring trouble to themselves and to their families. there is a bit of a young me in the talkative boy who falls afoul of villagers in my story amp。quot。bulls.amp。quot。 mother habitually cautioned me not to talk so much, wanting me to be a taciturn, smooth and steady youngster. instead i was possessed of a dangerous bination amp。ndash。 remarkable speaking skills and the powerful desire that went with them. my ability to tell stories brought her joy, but that created a dilemma for her.
　　我理解母親的擔憂，因為在村子里，一個貧嘴的孩子，是招人厭煩的，有時候還會給自己和家庭帶來麻煩。我在小說《牛》里所寫的那個因為話多被村子里厭惡的孩子，就有我童年時的影子。我母親經常提醒我少說話，她希望我能做一個沉默寡言、安穩(wěn)大方的孩子。但在我身上，卻顯露出極強的說話能力和極大的說話欲望，這無疑是極大的危險，但我說的故事的能力，又帶給了她愉悅，這使他陷入深深的矛盾之中。
　　a popular saying goes amp。quot。it is easier to change the course of a river than a personamp。39。s nature.amp。quot。 despite my parentsamp。39。 tireless guidance, my natural desire to talk never went away, and that is what makes my name amp。ndash。 mo yan, or amp。quot。donamp。39。t speakamp。quot。 amp。ndash。 an ironic expression of selfmockery. after dropping out of elementary school, i was too small for heavy labor, so i became a cattle and sheepherder on a nearby grassy riverbank. the sight of my former schoolmates playing in the schoolyard when i drove my animals past the gate always saddened me and made me aware of how tough it is for anyone amp。ndash。 even a child amp。ndash。 to leave the group.
　　俗話說”。江山易改、本性難移”。，盡管我有父母親的諄諄教導，但我并沒有改掉我喜歡說話的天性，這使得我的名字”。莫言”。，很像對自己的諷刺。我小學未畢業(yè)即輟學，因為年幼體弱，干不了重活，只好到荒草灘上去放牧牛羊。當我牽著牛羊從學校門前路過，看到昔日的同學在校園里打打鬧鬧，我心中充滿悲涼，深深地體會到一個人，哪怕是一個孩子，離開群體后的痛苦。 俗話說”。江山易改、本性難移”。，盡管我有父母親的諄諄教導，但我并沒有改掉我喜歡說話的天性，這使得我的名字”。莫言”。，很像對自己的諷刺。
　　i turned the animals loose on the riverbank to graze beneath a sky as blue as the ocean and grasscarpeted land as far as the eye could see amp。ndash。 not another person in sight, no human sounds, nothing but bird calls above me. i was all by myself and terribly lonely。 my heart felt empty. sometimes i lay in the grass and watched clouds float lazily by, which gave rise to all sorts of fanciful images. that part of the country is known for its tales of foxes in the form of beautiful young women, and i would fantasize a foxturnedbeautiful girl ing to tend animals with me. she never did e. once, however, a fiery red fox bounded out of the brush in front of me, scaring my legs right out from under me. i was still sitting there trembling long after the fox had vanished. sometimes iamp。39。d crouch down beside the cows and gaze into their deep blue eyes, eyes that captured my reflection. at times iamp。39。d have a dialogue with birds in the sky, mimicking their cries, while at other times iamp。39。d divulge my hopes and desires to a tree. but the birds ignored me, and so did the trees. years later, after iamp。39。d bee a novelist, i wrote some of those fantasies into my novels and stories. people frequently bombard me with pliments on my vivid imagination, and lovers of literature often ask me to divulge my secret to developing a rich imagination. my only response is a wan smile.
　　到了荒灘上，我把牛羊放開，讓它們自己吃草。藍天如海，草地一望無際，周圍看不