摘要：今天要跟大家分享的雅思閱讀素材題目是The Man to Send Rain Clouds（送雨云的人）正文有注解，文章作者萊斯利·馬蒙·西爾科，全文共21段，文章包含雅思詞匯、例句講解，一起來(lái)看！

[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.

肯恩在教堂將卡車(chē)停住，里昂下了車(chē);之后肯恩沿山而下，直開(kāi)到墓地，人們?cè)谀莾旱戎＠锇呵昧饲媚巧裙爬系摹⒖讨鞣N羔羊圖標(biāo)的大門(mén)。他一邊等人開(kāi)門(mén)，一邊抬頭打量西班牙國(guó)王贈(zèng)送的那對(duì)鳴鐘，此刻，它們靜待樓塔，任落日余暉灑在身上。

[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."

牧師打開(kāi)門(mén)，看清來(lái)人后，他笑了。“請(qǐng)進(jìn)!今晚什么風(fēng)把你給吹來(lái)了?”神父走向廚房，里昂站在客廳，手拿帽子，一邊擺弄帽子的耳罩，一邊打量房間，那棕色的沙發(fā)，綠色的扶椅，還有那用鏈扣懸掛在屋頂?shù)狞S銅燈。神父從廚房里拖出一把椅子，遞給里昂。

“不用，謝了，神父。我來(lái)這兒只是想問(wèn)問(wèn)，您能不能帶上圣水去一趟墓地。”

[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.

神父轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)臉去，望著窗外暮色籠罩的天井，以及天井對(duì)面女修道院飯廳的窗戶(hù)。窗簾很厚，只有微弱的光線(xiàn)從里面透出，根本看不清里面用餐的修女們。

[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."

“你那會(huì)兒為什么不告訴我他死了?我至少還來(lái)得及給他辦臨終圣禮嘛!”

里昂笑了笑。“那倒沒(méi)有必要，神父。”

牧師低頭盯著自己破舊的棕色平底鞋和長(zhǎng)袍折邊。“對(duì)一名基督徒的葬禮來(lái)說(shuō)，那是必要的。”

他話(huà)音冷淡，里昂心想，他的藍(lán)眼睛看起來(lái)有些倦怠。

“沒(méi)有關(guān)系，神父。我們只希望他的水夠喝就行。”

[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."

神父一屁股坐進(jìn)綠色扶椅，拾起一本印刷精美的傳教士雜志。他翻弄著一張張滿(mǎn)是麻風(fēng)病人和異教徒的彩頁(yè)，雖然他一眼都沒(méi)看。

“里昂，你知道我不能那樣干。再怎么說(shuō)，也該辦臨終圣禮和葬禮彌撒。”

里昂戴上他那頂綠色帽子，把耳罩拉下來(lái)蓋住耳朵。“時(shí)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.

當(dāng)里昂推開(kāi)大門(mén)時(shí)，神父保羅站起來(lái)說(shuō)：“等等!”他離開(kāi)客廳，然后穿著一件棕色長(zhǎng)外衣回來(lái)。他跟著里昂走出大門(mén)，穿過(guò)昏暗的教堂庭院，來(lái)到教堂前土坯砌成的臺(tái)階。他們彎著腰，穿過(guò)低矮的土墻入口。待他們朝山下墓地出發(fā)時(shí)，平頂山上的太陽(yáng)只能看見(jiàn)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.

牧師慢慢走近墳?zāi)梗睦锛{悶這些人怎么能在結(jié)冰的地面上挖出坑來(lái);然后他想起，這可是在新墨西哥州，他看到了墓坑邊上的一堆冰冷的松土。人們緊挨著站在一起，臉上呼出云狀的小氣團(tuán)。牧師看了看他們，他看見(jiàn)墓地枯黃的風(fēng)滾草上堆放著夾克、手套和圍巾。他看著紅毯子，不敢相信泰奧菲洛竟然如此瘦小，他在心里琢磨：這該不是印第安人玩的什么古怪把戲，或是為了好收成在三月舉行的某個(gè)儀式吧?他想，興許老泰奧菲洛此刻正在牧羊營(yíng)把羊群趕進(jìn)羊棚過(guò)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，他頂著干冷的風(fēng)和刺眼的落日余暉，準(zhǔn)備埋掉一塊紅毯，而最后一線(xiàn)陽(yáng)光落在他的教區(qū)居民的背脊上，給他們的臉蒙上陰影。他手指僵硬，花了很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間才擰開(kāi)圣水的蓋子。水滴灑落在紅毯上，馬上滲透成暗黑的冰點(diǎn)。他往墳?zāi)估餅⑺蓜傄佑|昏暗冰冷的沙面，水已消失不見(jiàn);這讓他想起點(diǎn)什么，他努力回憶那到底是什么，因?yàn)樗X(jué)得，如果能回憶起來(lái)，他就能理解這一切。他灑了更多的水;他搖晃盛水瓶，直到水瓶變空;水在落日余光中灑落，如同耀眼陽(yáng)光中降下的八月雨，還沒(méi)來(lái)得及打到枯萎的南瓜花，就已蒸發(fā)得無(wú)影無(wú)蹤。

[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.

晚風(fēng)將牧師身上的方濟(jì)會(huì)長(zhǎng)袍吹得啪啪作響，讓撒在紅毯上的玉米面和花粉打著旋兒四處紛飛。他們將尸裹放進(jìn)坑里，連系在毯子兩頭的硬硬的新繩也懶得解開(kāi)。太陽(yáng)下山了，遠(yuǎn)處的公路，東行道上車(chē)燈閃爍。牧師緩步離去。

[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.

里昂看著牧師一步步爬上山坡。當(dāng)他消失在厚厚的高墻中時(shí)，里昂轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)身，抬頭看看那些藍(lán)色高山，山上厚厚的積雪反射出西邊天空的微微霞光。他感覺(jué)不錯(cuò)，因?yàn)檫@事做完了，灑了圣水，他很開(kāi)心;如今，老人家一定可以給他們送來(lái)大片大片的雷雨云了。