The sick man seized the minister by the hand, and, gazing intently in his face,
這個生病的人用手抓住牧師,目不轉睛地盯著他的臉看,
said, "You do not, you cannot recognize me.
說道:“你不能,你認不出我了。
But I know you, and knew your father before you.
但是我認識你,而且還認識你父親。
I have been a wanderer in many lands.
我曾到處流浪。
I have visited every quarter of the globe, and fought and bled for my king and country.
我到過世界上的每一個地方,為我的國王和祖國流血戰(zhàn)斗。”
"I came to this town a few weeks ago in bad health.
“幾星期前,我?guī)е◇w來到這座城市。
Last Lord's day I entered your church—the church of my countrymen—where I could once more hear,
上個禮拜日我去了你在的那所教堂——我同胞的教堂——在那里我能再次聆聽傳經布道,
in the language of my youth and of my heart, the gospel preached.
他們用的是我年輕時的語言,表達的是我內心的感情。
I heard you tell the story of the widow and her son."
我聽到了你講的那個關于寡婦和她兒子的故事。”
Here the voice of the old soldier faltered, his emotion almost choked his utterance;
說到這里,這位老兵的聲音顫抖了,他激動得幾乎說不出話來;
but recovering himself for a moment, he cried, "I am that son!" and burst into a flood of tears.
但他過了一會又緩過來了,他喊道,“我就是你故事里的那個男孩!”說完便老淚眾橫。
"Yes," he continued, "I am that son! Never, never did I forget my mother's love.
“沒錯,”他繼續(xù)說道,“我就是故事中的男孩!我從未忘記過媽媽的愛。
Well might you ask what a heart should mine have been if she had been forgotten by me.
如果我忘了她,你也許就會想我到底有一副什么心腸。
Dear, very dear to me is her memory; and my only desire now is,
她的記憶對我來說很親近;我現在唯一的愿望就是,
to lay my bones beside hers in the old church-yard among the hills.
將我埋在她的身邊,埋在群山之中的老教堂墓地。”