yesterday when the bright sun blazed down on the wilted corn my father and i walked around the edge of the new ground to plan a fence.the cows kept coming through the chestnut oaks on the cliff and running over the young corn.they bit off the tips of the corn and trampled down the stubble.
my father walked in the cornbalk.bob,our collie,walked in front of my father.we heard a ground squirrel wh**tle down over the bluff among the dead treetops at the clearing’s edge."whoop,take him,bob."said my father.he lifted up a young stalk of corn,with wilted dried roots,where the ground squirrel had dug it up for the sweet grain of corn left on its tender roots.th** has been a dry spring and the corn has kept well in the earth where the grain has sprouted.the ground squirrels love th** corn.they dig up rows of it and eat the sweet grains.the young corn stalks are killed and we h**e to replant the corn.
i could see my father keep sicking bob after the ground squirrel.he jumped over the corn rows.he started to run toward the ground squirrel.i,too,started running toward the clearing’s edge where bob was jumping and ba**ng.the dust flew in tiny swirls behind our feet.there was a big cloud of dust behind us.
it’s a big bull blacksnake,"said my father."kill him,bob!kill him,bob!bob was jumping and snapping at the snake so as to make it strike and throw itself off guard.bob has killed twenty-eight copperheads th** spring.he knows how to kill a snake.he doesn’t rush to do it.he takes h** time and does the job well.
let’s don’t kill the snake,"i said."a blacksnake ** a harmless snake.it kills po**on snakes.it kills the copperhead.it catches mice from the fields than a cat.
i could see the snake didn’t want to fight the dog.the snake wanted to get away.bob wouldn’t let it.i wondered why it was crawling toward a heap of black loamy earth at the bench of the hill.i wondered why it had come from the chestnut oak sprouts and the matted greenbriars on the cliff.i looked as the snake lifted its pretty head in response to one of bob’s jumps."it’s not a bull blacksnake,"i said."it’s a she-snake.look at the white on her throat.
a snake ** an enemy to me,"my father snapped."i hate a snake.kill it,bob.go in there and get that snake and quit playing with it!bob obeyed my father.i hated to see him take th** snake by the throat.she was so beautifully po**ed in the sunlight.
bob grabbed the white patch on her throat.he cracked her long body like an ox whip in the wind.he cracked it against the wind only.the blood spurted from her fine-curved throat.something hit against my legs like pellets.bob threw the snake down.i looked to see what had struck my legs.
it was snake eggs.bob had slung them from her body.she was going to the sand heap to lay her eggs,where the sun ** the setting-hen that warms them and hatches them.
bob grabbed her body there on the earth where the red blood was running down on the gray-piled loam.her body was still writhing in pain.she acted like a green** held over a new-ground fires.bob slung her viciously many times.he cracked her limp body against the wind.she was now limber as a shoestring in the wind.bob threw her riddled body back on the sand.she quivered like a leaf in the lazy wind,then her riddled body lay perfectly still.the blood covered the loamy earth around the snake.
look at the eggs,won’t you?said my father.we counted thirty-seven eggs.i picked an egg up and held it in my hand.only a minute ago there was life in it.it was an immature seed.it would not hatch.mother sun could not incubate it on the warm earth.the egg i held in my hand was almost the size of a quail’s egg.the shell on it was thin and tough and the egg appeared under the surface to be a watery egg.
well,bob,i guess you see now why th** snake couldn’t fight."i said."it ** life.stronger devour the weaker even among human beings.dog kills snake.snake kills birds.birds kill the butterflies.man conquers all,too,kills for sport.
bob was panting.he walked ahead of us back to the house.h** tongue was out of h** mouth.he was tired.he was hot under h** shaggy coat of hair.
h** tongue nearly touched the dry dirt and white flecks of foam dripped from it.we walked toward the house.neither my father nor i spoke.i still thought of the dead snake.the sun was going down over the chestnut ridge.a lark was singing.it was late for a lark to sing.the red evening clouds floated above the pine trees on our pasture hill.my father stood beside the path.h** black hair was moved by the wind.h** face was red in the blue wind of day.h** eyes looked toward the sinking sun.
and my father hates a snake,"i thought.
i thought about the agony women know of giving birth.i thought about how they will fight to s**e their children.theni thought of the snake.i thought it was silly of me to think such thoughts.
th** morning my father and i got up with the chickens.he says one has to get up with the chickens to do a day’s work.we got the posthole digger,ax,spud,measuring pole and the mat-tock.we started for the clearing’s edge.bob didn’t go along.
the dew was on the corn.my father walked behind with the posthole digger across h** shoulder.i walked in front.the wind was blowing.it was a good morning wind to breathe and a wind that makes one feel like he can get under the edge of a hill and he**e the whole hill upside down.
i walked out the corn row where we had come yesterday afternoon.i looked in front of me.i saw something.i saw it move.it was moving like a huge black rope winds around a windlass."steady,"i says to my father."here ** the bull blacksnake."he took one step up beside me and stood.h** eyes grew wide apart.
what do you know about th**,"he said.
you h**e seen the bull blacksnake now."i said."take a good look at him!he ** lying beside h** dead mate.he has come to her.he,perhaps,was on her trail yesterday.
the male snake had trailed her to her doom.he had come in the night,under the roof of stars,as the moon shed rays of light on the quivering clouds of green.he had found h** lover dead.he was coiled beside her,and she was dead.
the bull blacksnake lifted h** head and followed us as we walked around the dead snake.he would h**e fought us to h** death.he would h**e fought bob to h** death."take a stick,"said my father,"and throw him over the hill so bob won’t find him.did to you ever see anything to beat that?i’ve heard they’d do that.but th** ** my first time to see it."i took a stick and threw him over the bank into the dewy sprouts on the cliff.
译文：
昨天，当明亮的阳光照射在枯萎的玉米上时，我和父亲绕着新地的边缘走着，准备篱笆。牛不停地从悬崖上的栗树中跑出来，跑过小玉米。他们咬掉玉米尖，踩碎了胡茬。我父亲走在玉米沙里。鲍勃，我们的柯利牧羊犬，走在我父亲的前面。我们听到一只地松鼠在空地边上的树梢上吹着口哨。“哇,带他,鲍勃。我父亲说。他举起一根玉米梗，枯萎的根茎干着，地上的松鼠把它挖出来，准备在它嫩根上留下一粒香甜的玉米。这是一个干燥的春天，玉米在地里长得很好。地松鼠喜欢这种玉米。他们挖了几排，吃了甜的谷物。年轻的玉米杆被杀死了，我们必须重新种植玉米。我能看到我的父亲在地上松鼠后把鲍勃生病了。他跳过了玉米排。他开始向地松鼠跑去。我也开始跑向空地的边缘，鲍勃在那里跳来跳去。尘埃在我们脚下的小漩涡中飞舞。我们身后有一大团尘土。“这是条大公牛，黑蛇，”我父亲说。“杀了他,鲍勃!杀了他,鲍勃!鲍勃跳了起来，咬着那条蛇，想把它打掉，然后把自己扔出去。今年春天，鲍勃杀死了28个铜头。他知道如何杀死一条蛇。他并不急于做这件事。他很花时间，干得很好。“我们不要杀蛇，”我说。一条黑蛇是一条无害的蛇。它会杀死毒的蛇。铜斑蛇杀死。它从地里抓来的老鼠比猫还多。我可以看到蛇不想和狗打架。蛇想逃走。鲍勃不让它。我不知道为什么它会爬向山丘上的一堆黑乎乎的泥土。我不知道为什么它会从栗子树的豆芽和悬崖上的绿毛马身上掉下来。我看着这条蛇抬起它漂亮的头来回应鲍勃的一跳。我说:“这不是公牛的黑蛇。“这是一个she-snake。看她喉咙里的白色。“蛇是我的敌人，”我父亲厉声说。“我讨厌蛇。杀死它,鲍勃。进去，把那条蛇弄出来，别玩了!鲍勃听从我父亲。我讨厌看到他把这条蛇咬到喉咙。她在阳光下美丽地平衡着。鲍勃抓住了她喉咙上的白斑。他像风中的牛鞭一样，把她的长身体弄裂了。他只是逆风而行。血从她那弯曲的喉咙里喷涌而出。我的腿像**一样被撞了。鲍勃把蛇扔了下去。我想看看是什么东西击中了我的腿。这是蛇蛋。鲍勃已经把他们从她的身体上甩了出来。她要到沙堆里去产卵，太阳是那只会温暖它们、孵化它们的母鸡。鲍勃一把抓起她的尸体，她的尸体就在那里，红色的血洒在堆成灰色的壤土上。她的身体仍在痛苦地**。她的行动就像一场新地面的大火。鲍勃多次恶意地骂她。他把她软弱无力的身体撞在了风上。她现在成了风中的一根鞋带。鲍勃把她那千疮百孔的身体扔回到沙滩上。她像一片叶子一样在懒懒的风里颤抖着，然后她那千疮百孔的身体一动不动地躺着。血覆盖了蛇周围的泥土。“看这些鸡蛋，好吗?我父亲说。我们统计了37鸡蛋。我捡起一个鸡蛋，拿在手里。就在一分钟前，还有生命。那是一颗未成熟的种子。它不会孵化。太阳妈妈不能在温暖的地球上孵化它。我手里拿的鸡蛋几乎和鹌鹑蛋一样大。它的外壳很薄，很硬，鸡蛋表面下是一个水样的蛋。“好吧，鲍勃，我想你明白为什么这条蛇不会打架了。我说。“这就是生活。甚至在人类中也会有更强的吞噬。狗杀死了蛇。蛇杀死鸟类。鸟类杀死蝴蝶。人类征服一切，也为了体育而杀戮。鲍勃是气喘吁吁。他走在我们前面，回到房子里。他的舌头出了口。他累了。他头发蓬乱，很热。他的舌头几乎碰到了从上面滴下来的干的灰尘和白色的泡沫。我们朝房子走去。我父亲和我都没有说话。我还在想那条死蛇。太阳正落在栗色的山脊上。一只云雀正在唱歌。云雀歌唱得晚了。红色的晚霞飘浮在我们牧场山上的松树上。我父亲站在小路旁边。他的黑发随风飘动。他的脸在一天的蓝色风儿...