高中阅读教程IIB Lesson 17

Lesson 17

A Time to Buy Horses

买马的日子

Gerald Moore

When I was 14 and very confused about my place in the world, I decided it was time to make a Big Decision. I came home from school one day to announce that I was going to take part in professional-agriculture courses（职业农学课程）. I was not going to college; I was going to raise horses for a living.

Dad looked shocked, then puzzled. “That’s a rather careless decision,” he said. “I hope you’ve given it careful consideration（考虑）.”

I replied that I had, and that I knew exactly what I wanted.

“You’re talking about a large decision,” he said. “If you spend four years in professional courses, you won’t have a choice about college. What if you change your mind?”

Mother listened to our discussion with concern. Neither of my parents had been to college, but both hoped I would go. To make it possible, Dad was working at a regular job until 3 p.m., then another four or five hours a day at the little farm we owned on the edge of town.

“How much have you saved toward this project?” asked Dad.

“Nearly $200,” I said proudly.

“Tell you what,” he said. “I know a ranch up in the northern part of the state where they raise horses. Let’s drive up there next week. You buy a mare（母马）. You care for her, have her give birth, sell the young horse. Then, after a year or two, if you feel the way you do now, fine. Meanwhile（同时）, stay with your regular courses.”

The horse-buying trip sounded good, and the offer, as usual with Dad, was fair. I agreed.

When the day came, we left early, putting the dry, flat plains behind us before the sun rose. By mid-morning, we were in the high mountains of northern New Mexico. We arrived at Miguel’s ranch toward evening. Dad had known Miguel for years, and we were welcomed with great warmth.

The ranch was exactly what I had in mind for myself. There was a long low house. Behind the house, there was a thick pine wood at the foot of the mountains, already with snow on the tops.

“It’s hard to understand Miguel sometimes,” I said to Dad after dinner. “His English is kind of funny.”

“You have to pay close attention,” Dad said. “Or learn Spanish（西班牙）.”

About nine the next morning, other horse buyers began to arrive. One especially caught my attention. He was small and well dressed, and seemed to regard himself with some importance.While a ranchman（牧场工人）rode off to bring in the animals to be sold, Dad took me aside. “Now, think carefully,” he warned. “Don’t make any sudden decisions.”

I nodded, only half listening, as the ranch man moved 12 or 14 horses toward the corral（畜栏）. They were beautiful animals, especially a shining chestnut（栗色的）mare. She held her head well, but there was something strange about her walk. I was about to point her out to Dad when I heard the little man, the important one, yell, “How much you want for chestnut mare?”

Miguel hesitated, appearing confused. “Maybe $75,” he said with a shrug. “But she... she doesn’t look always too well.”

“She looks all right to me,” the small man said.

“I’ll give you a hundred,” I interrupted, unable to control myself.

The little man’s head suddenly turned around. His eyes looked hot. “Make it $125!” he shouted. 

Miguel’s face clouded with frustration（挫折）.

“One-twenty five!” the little man insisted. “Is that a deal?”

“Okay, okay,” Miguel said. “But I’m telling you, that horse, she’s not too well.” 

The little mare was saddled up. Her new owner swung into the saddle and rode her toward the gate. Obviously pleased, he was about to say something when the mare walked straight into the gatepost（门柱）, staggered（趔趄）and nearly lost her rider.The little man jumped down and began inspecting the mare’s eyes. Miguel watched coolly. “Why,” came the man’s sharp complaint, “this mare is blind!”

Miguel, almost purple with frustration, shouted back across the corral: “I told you! I told you! How many times have I got to tell you?”

There was a moment of tense silence before first one and then another of the buyers began to laugh quietly. Finally, the little man himself joined in, shaking his head at his mistake. “You still want her for a hundred?” he called over to me. 

“No,” I said, with a red face. 

“Offer him $25,” my father said.

“But, Dad, she’s blind.”

“Moon-blind,” Dad said. “Miguel told me about her last night. She’s blind for short periods. She may go totally（完全地）blind, or she may not. Anyway, she looks as if she might produce some good baby horses.”

“How about $25?” I yelled.

“You got her,” the little man said.

I named her “Sadie,” and we loaded her into the truck. We said good-by to the Miguel’s family and started home. “You know, Dad,” I said after a time, “Miguel’s place is exactly the kind of place I’d like to have someday.” 

“That’s the kind of place you get only through lots of hard work,” Dad said. “And speaking of hard work, since you’ll have to be going to the farm every day to feed and water Sadie, why don’t you just take the farm over? I’ll rent（租）it to you. I’ll pay for everything. You do all the work. You keep 20 percent of the income（收入）. It’ll be like your own professional-agriculture course.”

“I think I’d like that. Yes... I’ll do it!” I said, excited at the thought of doing something more actual（实际）than school.

“Well, now, maybe you’d better consider it some time,” Dad suggested.

“No, that’s not necessary,” I said. “I want to do it.”

Within a month, I was taking the truck to school so I could go directly to the farm in the afternoon. Through the winter, I worked on the barn and repaired fences. When the conservation district（保护区） turned irrigation（灌溉）water on for spring planting, I had to get up at 4 a.m. to move the water pipes from one area of the field to another, and go back at 4 p.m. to repeat the job. Throughout the summer, I drove the tractor（拖拉机）on endless rounds, planting, tending（照管）, irrigating（灌溉）, and repairing equipment.In September, Sadie produced Sam, a beautiful chestnut baby with a red face and two stocking feet. Sadie’s moon blindness hadn’t changed. She would go blind for a few days, then be all right for several weeks. She was a good mother, and I found that I couldn’t stand the thought of selling her or the baby.I was also finding out exactly how hard farming is. And so I was more than ready when Dad’s invitation came in October. “About time to go and buy horses again, isn’t it, boy?” he asked one evening at dinner.

“I don’t think I want to buy more horses,” I said. “But could we go anyway, and maybe just look around for a few days?”

As so often happened, Dad was well ahead of me. We didn’t go to Miguel’s place again. Instead, we went to a remote（遥远的）valley where, hundreds of years before, Indians had lived in tiny apartments carved（凿）into the steep（陡的）rock face of the valley walls. As we wandered around that frightening ruin, I tried to imagine how it must have looked when it was occupied（占据）. Then I discovered a mysterious（神秘的）, round room beneath（在……之下）the ground with a ladder leading down to it. “What do you suppose this was for?” I asked Dad.

“Son,” he said, “I have no idea. But I bet（打赌）you could find out in books.” 

“Where would I find those books?”

“Well,” he said, “I imagine the library at the university has them.”

We walked in silence for a moment. “You know, Dad,” I said, finally. “I do love the farm, and taking care of Sadie, and all that. But, well, it seems there are a lot of other interesting things to do, too.”

“Sounds to me as if you’ve been ‘considering’,” Dad said.

In the end, of course, I did go to college. Dad drove over one fall day of my first year, and picked me up at the dormitory（宿舍）. We had no destination（目的地）. We just drove slowly through the mountains, feeling good about being together. Over dinner, I told him about my course and my plans.

When he dropped me back at the dormitory that night, he offered his hand. “Well, son,” he said, “I guess our horse-buying days are about over. But we bought some pretty good ones, wouldn’t you say?”

I nodded, unable for a moment to speak. I looked beyond him to where the library stood alone, brightly lighted. “Dad,” I said, “I found out what the Indians used that little room for.”

“Oh?”

“It was a place where men taught boys about life... kind of like horse-buying time.”

He tried to smile, but the muscles of his face hesitated. “Write your mother,” he said sharply. “She misses you.”

When he was gone, I sat outside for a long time. When the lights went out at the library, the stars seemed to shine brighter still, and I stayed to watch them.

Text Information

Total Words: 1547

获取全书请微信联系MW-read。