以后，就请乡下的土医生给姐姐治病。他们不用任何麻醉的药拿一把明晃晃的刀子在姐姐脖子上割治。姐姐不哭，实在忍不住才哼一声。她用手紧紧抓着他的胳臂，指甲抠进他的肉里。土医生们吃喝一顿走了，却没有把姐姐的病带走。他守在姐姐身边，给她端开水，倒便盆。她的病越来越重，身子越来越虚，一小碗开水分几次喝，还累得直喘气。想睡，脖子疼得不能合眼。

　　Then some local medical men were called in. They performed an operation on Sister's neck witha dazzling knife without using anesthetic. She refused to cry, only uttering a groan at themost unbearable moment, her hand clutch-ing his arm, her nails digging into his flesh. The menleft after a big dinner, but they did not take away Sister's disease.

　　He stayed close by to look after her, bringing in drinking water and carrying away the bedpan.Nevertheless, she was getting weaker and weaker, so feeble that she even had to stop severaltimes to gasp for breath when drinking a small bowl of water. She wanted to sleep, but thepain in the neck was too gnawing to let her close her eyes.

　　那天，她示意他走过去，摸住了他的手。“人死了……还吃……吃饭吗?”昏昏迷迷中，姐姐像是问他，又像是问自己。他不点头，也不摇头，四顾茫然地瞪大了眼睛。她忽然长了精神，眼睛也亮起来了，脸上有了红晕，说话也不那么气喘了。他想，姐姐这下可好了。

“……吃啥呢……”

　　One day, she motioned him to come over and held his hand"

　　When...people die, do...they...eat?" she asked half-consciously,it was hardto tell whether shewas asking him or herself.

　　He did not nod, nor did he shake his head, his eyes wide opert staring aroundvacantly.

　　Suddenly, her spirit seemed to come back to her: her eyes shone, her cheeks flushed, and sheno longer panted when she spoke. She's getting better now,he thought.

　　"...what to eat..."

　　他依旧不点头，不摇头，只是昕到说“吃”，忙说：“吃柳芽，我给你摘好多柳芽。”她的眉舒展了，带着一丝不易觉察的笑，慢慢地松开了手，眼睛虽然还看着她，却没有了往日的晶亮的闪耀。她走了，带着小弟无意中的一句安慰，心满意足地永远地去，他那时虽然年岁还小，却没有忘记自己许诺过的，在姐姐唇边放了几枚枯黄的柳叶。

　　He was still motionless, but upon hearing the word "eat," he answered, "Hawillow buds. I'll pickup a lot of willow buds for you.

　　"Her brows smoothed, and, with a smile that could hardly be deteaed, sheslowly loosened herhand. Her eyes still watched him, but lacked their usualluster.

　　She was gone; she left forever satisfied with a word of comfort uttered unin-tentionally by herlittle brother. Though he was young at the time, he did not forget his promise. He put afewwithered willow leaves on Sister's lips.

　　过了些时日，他提得动水桶，也扛得动铁锨了，就在姐姐的坟头上种了棵小柳树，三天两头浇水，施肥，没事就围着它看。不久，他上学了。望着瓶里的那束柳枝，他心里默默地诉说着：“姐姐：你百般宝爱的小弟，已经是人民解放军的一名团级指挥员了。这次回乡省亲，愉悦慈颜，又到你的坟上去了。这束柳枝就是从那树上采来的，它将作为你的照片，你的雕像，供置于我的案头。“姐姐：双亲虽然年逾古稀，体格尚好。娘对我说：可怜你姐她没有熬过来。这会儿吃啥?别说是啥柳芽子，黄灿灿的玉米面都喂鸡了。’……”

　　As time advanced, he was old enough to be able to carry a bucket and to usea shovel. Heplanted a small willow tree on his sister's grave and came al-most every day to see it and totake care of it. Before long, he went to school.

　　Gazing upon the willow twigs in the bottle, he poured out his heart silently to his sister:

　　"My dear sister, your dearly beloved little brother is now a P.L.A. regimen-tal officer. I went toyour grave again when I returned to our village recentlyto see our parents. This is a bunch ofbranches Ipicked up from that willowtree. I'II take it as your picture, as your statue, and place itas an offering toyou on my desk. "Dear Sister, our parents are now over 70, in fairly goodhealth for their age. Mother said to me, 'It's a pity that your sister did not drag throughthosehard years. See what we eat today? We even feed the chickens with goldencorn flour, notto mention willow buds..."

　　前面就是他的住所了。他一边回思着那段回弯曲折的历史，一边极小心地用脚试探着凸凹不平的路面，他想起曲折的路心里就酸楚得难以自抑，虽然他并不是不知道，世界总是在曲折中前进的…

　　Ahead of him was his house. As his feet carefully probed the uneven srufaceof the road, hismind kept pondering on that part of history, a tortuous paththey had gone by. He could nothelp feeling grief, even with an awarenessthat history never foUowed a straight forwardcourse...

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