UnitThree---textAMessageoftheLand

UnitThree---textAMessageoftheLand
Text A Message of the Land（土地的讯息）1.
Yes, these are our rice fields. They belonged to（possessed by/were passed down from）my parents and forefathers. （ancestors）The land is more than（over）three centuries (300years)old. I'm the only daughter in our family and it was I who stayed with my parents till (until)they died. My three brothers moved out to their wives houses when they got married. My husband moved into our house as(which) is the way with us in Esarn(按着我们伊萨恩的风俗). I was then eighteen and he was nineteen. He gave me six children. Two died in infancy.（early childhood）The rest,(the four children left) two boys and two girls, went away as soon as we could afford to buy jeans for them. Our oldest son got a job as a gardener（landscape architect）in a rich man's home in Bangkok(曼谷), but later an employment
agency sent him to a foreign land to work. My other son also went far away.() 2.
One of our daughters is working in a textile factory in Bangkok, and the other has a job in a store. They come home to see us now and then,（sometimes）stay a few days, and then they are off（leave）again. Often they send some money to us and tell us that they are doing well. I know this is not always true. Sometimes, they get bullied(intimidated/treated unfairly) and insulted, and it is like a knife piercing （stabbing/cutting）my heart.(making me very sad.) It's easier for my husband. He（my husband）has ears which don't hear, (deaf)a mouth which doesn't speak, (mute)and eyes that don't see. (blind)He（my husband）has always been patient and silent, minding(paying attention to) his own life.
3.
All of them（children）remain （are）my children in spite of their long absence. Maybe it's fate（destiny/something decided by God）that sent them away from us. Our piece of land is small, and it is no longer fertile（rich, productive）, bleeding year after year and, like us, getting old and exhausted. Still my husband and I work on this land. The soil is not difficult to till （plow，prepare for crops）when there is a lot of rain, but in a bad year,(drought year) it's not only the ploughs that break, but our hearts, too.
4.
No, we two haven't changed much, but the village has. In what way? Only ten years ago, you could barter for （exchange goods or services）things, but now it's all cash. Years ago, you could ask your neighbors to help build your house, reap （harvest/gather crops）the rice or dig a well. Now they’ll do it only if/if only you have money to pay them. Plastic things replace village crafts. （object produced by skillful handwork）Men used to make things with fine(very small) bamboo pieces, but no longer. Plastic bags litter （cover place with scattered objects）the village. Shops have sprung up,（appeared in great numbers/emerged）filled with colorful plastic things and goods we have no use for. The young go away to towns and cities leaving us old people to work on the land. They think differently, I know, saying that the old are old-fashioned. All my life, I have never had to go to a hairdresser, or to paint my lips or nails. These rough（coarse/not smooth）fingers and toes are for working in the mud of our rice fields, not for looking pretty. Now young girls put on （wear）jeans, and look like boys and
they think it is fashionable. Why, they are willing to sell their
pig or water buffalo just to be able to buy a pair of jeans. In my day, if I（wife）were to put on a pair of trousers like(as) they do now, lightning （flash of lightning）would strike （hit）me.
5.
I know, times have changed, but certain things should not change. We should offer food to the monks(man living in a religious community) every day, go to the temple regularly. Young people tend to leave these things to old people now, and that's a shame(state of disgrace).
6.
Why, only the other day I （wife）heard a boy shout and scream at his mother. If that kind of thing had happened when I was young, the whole village would have
condemned(criticized/consider somebody guilty) such an ungrateful (not appreciative)son, and his father would surely have given him a good beating.
7.
As for me, I wouldn't change, couldn't change even if I wanted to. Am I happy or unhappy? This question has never occurred to (I never thought about it.)me. Life simply goes on. Yes, this bag of bones(my body)dressed in rags can still plant and reap rice from morning till dusk.(from morning till night) Disease, injuries, hardship and scarcity(lack of money,food,things) （shortage）have always been part of my life. I don't complain.(express unhappiness about something)
8.
The farmer: （husband）My wife is wrong. My eyes do see--they see more
than they should. My ears do hear--they hear more than is good for me. I don't talk about what I know because I know too
much. I know for example, greed, anger, and lust （sexual desire）are the root of all evil.（sin, vice）
9.
I am at peace with the land and the conditions of my life. But I feel a great pity for my wife. I have been forcing silence upon her all these years, yet she has not once complained of anything.
10.
I wanted to have a lot of children and grandchildren around me but now cities and foreign lands have attracted my children away and it seems that none of them will ever come back to live here again. To whom shall I give these rice fields when I die? For hundreds of years this strip of(piece of) land has belonged to our family. I know every inch of it. My
children grew up on it, catching frogs and mud crabs（蟹）and gathering flowers. Still the land could not tie them down （restrict/prevent somebody from going away）or call them back. When each of them has a pair of jeans, they are off like birds on the wing.（flying）
11.
Fortunately, my wife is still with me, and both of us are still strong. Wounds heal over time. Sickness comes and goes, and we get back on our feet again.（be healthy）I never want to leave this land. It's nice to feel the wet earth as my fingers dig into the soil, planting rice, to hear my wife sighing, "Old man, if I die first, I shall become a cloud to protect you from the
sun." It's good to smell the scent of ripening rice in November. The soft cool breeze（light to moderate wind）moves the sheaves, （a bundle of the harvested stalks of a plant, especially wheat, barley, or another cereal, with the heads still containing their seeds）which ripple （flow in tiny gentle waves）
and shimmer（shine with a wavering light）like waves of gold. Yes love this land and I hope one of my children comes back one day to live, and gives grandchildren so that I can pass on （hand over）the land's secret messages to them.
1. About the author and the text
Pira Sudham (1942--) is a leading English language writer in Thailand. He was born to a poor family in rural Esarn, in the northeast of the country. At the age of 14, he traveled to Bangkok to become a temple
boy, a servant to the monks. He continued to study and won entrance to Thailand's top university, Chulalongkorn. He later won a New Zealand government scholarship which allowed him to travel from New Zealand to Australia, China's Hong kong and Europe. Pira Sudham never forgets Esarn, where he experienced poverty and injustices in his early years, and which became the background for many of his short stories and novels.
His novel Monsoon Country made him a nominee, for the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature. This text is adapted from "The Farmer and His Wife" in Guidebook to Better Reading Series published in 1982.
2. My husband moved into our house as is the way with us in Esarn. (para. 1 ) The "as" in the as-clause is like "which" in a relative clause. Used in this way, it introduces a comment on what you are saying. More examples:
She is a teacher, as is clear from the way she talks.
Randy was the last to leave, as is often the case.
You must send her the bill, as was agreed between the two of you.
3. Only ten years ago, you could barter for things, but now it's all cash. (para. 4)
The "you" in this sentence means "people in general or everybody". This usage is common in spoken English. More examples: Today you can travel to Guangzhou by train within 24 hours.
You could get into trouble if you keep asking questions.
4.Why, they are willing to sell their pig or water buffalo just to...
(para. 4) The word "Why" here, and also the "Why" in the sentence "Why, only the other day I heard a boy shout and scream at his mother" (para. 6), is an interjection,used to express surprise or protest.
More examples:
Why, you don't look a day older.
Why, I thought you were in the States.
Why, it's quite easy. Even a child can do it.。