我停下来让汽车冷却，并查看地图。
I stopped to let the car cool off and to study the map.
按理说我此刻应该已经快到目的地了，但周围的一切对我来说依然陌生。
I had expected to be near my objective by now, but everything still seemed alien to me.
父亲带我出国时我才五岁，那已是十八年前的事了。
I was only five when my father had taken me abroad, and that was eighteen years ago.
母亲在一场意外事故后去世，父亲久久无法从悲痛与孤独中恢复过来。
When my mother had died after a tragic accident, he did not quickly recover from the shock and loneliness.
周围的一切都充满了她的气息，那伤口就这样被一次次地重新撕开。
Everything around him was full of her presence, continually reopening the wound.
于是他决定移居海外。
So he decided to emigrate.
在新的国度，他全身心投入到为我们两个人建立新生活的努力中，于是渐渐地不再悲伤。
In the new country he became absorbed in making a new life for the two of us, so that he gradually ceased to grieve.
他没有再婚，我是在没有女性关爱的环境中长大的；但我什么都不缺，因为他对我而言既是父亲也是母亲。
He did not marry again and I was brought up without a woman's care; but I lacked for nothing, for he was both father and mother to me.
他一直打算有朝一日回去看看，但不是为了定居。
He always meant to go back one day, but not to stay.
他的根和我的根都已深深扎入了新的土地。
His roots and mine had become too firmly embedded in the new land.
但他想再见一见老乡们，也想去祭扫母亲的墓。
But he wanted to see the old folk again and to visit my mother's grave.
就在我们计划出发的几个月前，他病危了；当他意识到自己将不久于人世，便让我答应独自前往。
He became mortally ill a few months before we had planned to go and, when he knew that he was dying, he made me promise to go on my own.
我在抵达后的第二天租了一辆车，并买了一本详尽的地图册——在横越乡野的旅途中它大有用处，但我没想到在最后一段路上我也会需要它。
I hired a car the day after landing and bought a comprehensive book of maps, which I found most helpful on the cross-country journey, but which I did not think I should need on the last stage.
并不是说我真的记得什么。
It was not that I actually remembered anything at all.
但父亲曾一遍又一遍地描述我们离开最近的小镇后，在每一个里程碑处应该看到什么，所以我确信自己一定能认出那片土地，将它视为熟悉的故土。
But my father had described over and over again what we should see at every milestone after leaving the nearest town, so that I was positive I should recognize it as familiar territory.
唉，我错了——因为我现在迷路了。
Well, I had been wrong, for I was now lost.
我看了看地图，然后又看了看里程计。
I looked at the map and then at the milometer.
我离开小镇已走了十英里，按照父亲的描述，此刻我应该正望着山谷中的农舍和村舍，远处还能隐约看见我们村子那座教堂的尖塔。
I had come ten miles since leaving the town and at this point, according to my father, I should be looking at farms and cottages in a valley, with the spire of the church of our village showing in the far distance.
我看不到山谷，看不到农场，看不到村舍，也看不到教堂尖塔——只有一片湖水。
I could see no valley, no farms, no cottages and no church spire — only a lake.
我断定自己一定是在某处走错了路。
I decided that I must have taken a wrong turning somewhere.
于是我开车返回小镇，开始沿原路重新走一遍，不时地瞥向地图。
So I drove back to the town and began to retrace the route, taking frequent glances at the map.
我还是来到了同一个路口。
I landed up at the same corner.
奇怪的是，那片湖在地图上根本没有标注。
The curious thing was that the lake was not marked on the map.
我感觉仿佛误入了一个噩梦般的国度，就像你有时在梦中会遇到的那种感觉。
I felt as if I had stumbled into a nightmare country, as you sometimes do in dreams.
而且，就像在噩梦中一样，四周一个人影都没有，没有人能帮助我。
And, as in a nightmare, there was nobody in sight to help me.
幸运的是，就在我不知所措地想着下一步该怎么办时，地平线上出现了一个骑马的人，向我的方向骑来。
Fortunately for me, as I was wondering what to do next, there appeared on the horizon a man on horseback, riding in my direction.
我等他走近，然后向他问路——问去我们那个老村子的路。
I waited till he came near, then I asked him the way to our old village.
他说，现在已经没有那个村子了。
He said that there was now no village.
我以为他一定是误解了我，于是我重复了那个村子的名字。
I thought he must have misunderstood me, so I repeated its name.
这一次，他指向了那片湖水。
This time he pointed to the lake.
村庄已不复存在，因为它已被淹没了——整个山谷也是。
The village no longer existed because it had been submerged, and all the valley too.
那片湖不是天然的，而是一座人工水库。
The lake was not a natural one, but a man-made reservoir.