63 THE JOURNEY

CHAPTER 63 THE JOURNEY After months of separation, Roz and Brightbill, mother and son, were together again. And they had so much catching up to do. They went into the Nest, and the robot built a fire. Then the goose gazed into the flames and told the story of his winter. This is what he said. "We spent the whole first day of our migration flying over the ocean. It seemed like the ocean would go on forever, but just when the flock was getting tired, Longneck pointed to some tiny islands on the horizon. We flew down to one of the islands and ate dune grass and rested our wings. After a few days of hopping from island to island, we reached the mainland and continued over fields and forests. And then the snow began to fall. "I'd never seen snow before, and at first I thought it was beautiful! But it just kept coming. The others explained that the snow was early, that we were never

第六十三章旅行经过几个月的分离，罗兹和布莱特比尔这对母子又在一起了。 他们有很多事情要做。 他们走进鸟巢，机器人生起了火。 然后，母鹅凝视着火焰，讲述了他冬天的故事。 他是这么说的。“迁徙的第一天，我们一直在海洋上空飞行。 似乎海洋会永远延伸下去，但就在鸟群感到疲惫的时候，长颈指着地平线上的一些小岛屿。 我们飞到其中一个岛上，吃了沙丘上的草，休息了一下翅膀。 在一个岛跳到另一个岛几天之后，我们到达了大陆，继续在田野和森林中穿行。 然后开始下雪了。 “我以前从未见过雪，一开始我觉得它很美！”但它还是不停地来。 其他人解释说雪下得很早，我们从来没有

supposed to see it, but there it was, piling up around us as we tried to sleep at night. Longneck worried that the weakest geese wouldn't survive, and he was right. We lost old Widefoot to that very first snowstorm. "We tried to fly around the snowy weather, but we got completely lost and the weather became even worse. Lakes and ponds and rivers began freezing over. We couldn't find food or water, so we ate snow, and that only made us colder. We had trouble cleaning ourselves, and our feathers became dirty and heavy. The flock was in bad shape. But Longneck kept us moving. 'We are geese,' he squawked, 'and geese keep going!' "One day, we were struggling through a snow shower when we saw something called a farm. It had perfectly square fields and enormous buildings. And stomping her way through the farm was a robot! She looked just like you, Ma! "Longneck sent me over to speak to the robot, but I couldn't understand anything she said, so I just followed her through the farm and around a corner, and then I saw something I never expected.

本该看到它的，但它就在那里，在我们晚上想睡觉的时候堆积在我们周围。 长颈担心最弱的鹅活不下去，他是对的。 我们在第一场暴风雪中失去了老大脚。 “我们试图在下雪的天气里飞行，但我们完全迷失了方向，天气变得更糟。 湖泊、池塘和河流开始结冰。 我们找不到食物和水，所以我们吃了雪，这只会让我们更冷。 我们很难清洁自己，我们的羽毛变得又脏又沉。 羊群的状况很糟。 但长颈让我们继续前进。 “我们是鹅，”他尖声说，“鹅还在继续前进！’”有一天，我们正艰难地穿过一场大雪，这时我们看到了一个叫农场的东西。 这里有方方正正的田地和巨大的建筑。 在农场里走来走去的是一个机器人！她长得跟你一模一样，妈妈！“长颈让我过去和机器人说话，但我听不懂她说的任何话，所以我跟着她穿过农场，拐了个弯，然后我看到了我从未预料到的东西。

"Plants! Bright, colorful plants! I didn't understand how plants could live in such cold weather, but then I saw that they were actually inside a building. I learned later that the building was called a greenhouse, and it had clear walls made of something called glass. The robot pressed a button on the wall, and a door slid open and warm air came rushing out. I hadn't felt warmth in so long that I just had to follow her inside. "Ma, it was like summer in there! The air was warm and sweet and sticky. And there were rows and rows of different plants. The robot didn't pay any attention to me, so I wandered around the greenhouse, nibbling on leaves and drinking from puddles. Then I heard a scratchy voice behind me. "'If I were younger, I woulda killed you by now.' "I spun around, and there was an old cat! She walked on stiff legs, and her fur was gray and clumpy. The cat's name was Snooks, and she didn't

“植物!鲜艳多彩的植物！我不明白植物怎么能在这么冷的天气里生存，但后来我看到它们实际上是在一栋楼里。 后来我才知道那栋建筑叫温室，它的透明墙壁是用一种叫玻璃的东西做的。 机器人按下墙上的一个按钮，一扇门滑开，暖空气冲了出来。 我已经很久没有感觉到温暖了，所以我只好跟着她进去。 “妈，里面就像夏天一样！”空气温暖、甜美而又粘稠。 那里有一排排不同的植物。 机器人没有注意到我，所以我在温室里走来走去，啃着树叶，喝着水坑里的水。 然后我听到身后有一个沙哑的声音。 “如果我再年轻一点，我早就把你杀了。’”我转过身来，看见一只老猫！她用僵硬的腿走路，皮毛又灰又厚。 那只猫的名字叫斯努克斯，她没有

seem very nice. But then she saw the other geese out in the cold with their faces pressed against the glass, and she told me how to open the door. "'You can rest here,' said Snooks as the flock hurried in. 'But stay outta sight! The humans aren't as friendly as me.' "None of us knew what 'humans' were, but we didn't care. We were just happy to be out of the cold. Loudwing was so happy she cried. The flock drank and ate and bathed and slept and stayed out of the way. Snooks showed us where to leave our droppings so they wouldn't be noticed. And for a few days, the greenhouse was our home. "Once or twice a day, the robot would go outside and return with a box or a bag, but most of the time she stayed inside and quietly worked on the plants. "There was a barn that I just had to explore. It was

看起来很不错。但后来她看到外面的鹅在寒冷中把脸贴在玻璃上，她告诉我怎么开门。 “‘你们可以在这里休息，’斯努克斯说，这时鸟群匆匆进来了。 “但是别让人看见！”人类可不像我那么友好。我们都不知道“人类”是什么，但我们也不在乎。 我们很高兴能摆脱寒冷。 大鸣翼高兴得哭了。 羊群喝水、吃饭、洗澡、睡觉，都不碍事。 斯努克斯告诉我们把粪便放在哪里，这样就不会被发现。 有那么几天，温室就是我们的家。 “一天一两次，机器人会出去，带着一个盒子或一个袋子回来，但大多数时间她都呆在里面，静静地在植物上工作。 “有一个谷仓，我必须去探索一下。 这是

filled with animals and machines and piles of straw, and two robots. One robot was fixing a broken door when I walked in. She was using a loud spinning tool called a saw. She pushed the saw through a long piece of wood, and dust shot into the air. Everything was going smoothly until the saw suddenly lurched forward and sliced right through three of the robot's fingers! But she was fine. A minute later there was a thwip sound as she popped on a new hand. Then she went right back to using the saw again! The other robot worked with the animals. Chickens, sheep, pigs, and cows. They were all in cages. The chickens kept asking me how I'd gotten out of my cage. I was explaining that I'd never had a cage when I heard panicked squawks coming from the greenhouse. "I ran back and found that a human had discovered the flock. We didn't know what he was saying, but he looked really angry. Longneck tried to defend us. He got in front and spread his wings and honked, but the human wasn't afraid. He pulled out a shiny stick and pointed it right at Longneck. Snooks hissed, 'Look out, he's got a rifle!' Suddenly, a bright beam of light shot out from the rifle, and Longneck slumped to the floor. He was dead, Ma!

里面装满了动物，机器和成堆的稻草，还有两个机器人。 我进去的时候，一个机器人正在修理一扇坏了的门。 她正在使用一种叫锯子的声音很大的旋转工具。 她用锯子锯断了一长段木头，尘土飞扬。 一切都进行得很顺利，直到锯子突然向前一倾，把机器人的三根手指锯断了！但她很好。 一分钟后，她啪的一声把一只新到手了。 然后她又回去用锯子了！另一个机器人和动物一起工作。 鸡、羊、猪和牛。 他们都被关在笼子里。鸡不停地问我是怎么从笼子里跑出来的。 我正在解释我从来没有养过笼子，突然听到温室里传来惊慌失措的尖叫声。 “我跑回去，发现有人发现了这群羊。 我们不知道他在说什么，但他看起来真的很生气。 长颈试图保护我们。 他飞到前面，展开翅膀，鸣叫，但人类并不害怕。 他拿出一根发亮的棍子，对准长颈。 斯努克斯嘶嘶地说：“小心，他有来福枪！”突然，一束强光从步枪中射出，长颈倒在地上。 他死了，妈妈！

"The flock was so scared. We fluttered around and honked and knocked over plants. But the human kept moving toward us, pointing his rifle. So I pecked the button to open the door, and we ran outside, into the cold, and flew away from there as fast as we could. "Without Longneck, the flock needed a new leader. Everyone wanted me to lead. I didn't know what to do, so I started by repeating Longneck's words. I squawked, 'We are geese, and geese keep going!' Then I took the point, and the flock spread out behind me. "The weather had us all turned around, and nobody knew which way to go, so I just led us straight south. We saw more robots and humans and buildings, but we didn't stop. We knew we were way off course when we saw the ocean again. But at least it was a

“羊群都吓坏了。我们飞来飞去，按喇叭，撞翻植物。 但是那个人继续朝我们走来，用步枪指着我们。 于是我按了一下按钮打开了门，我们跑到外面，冒着寒冷，以最快的速度飞离了那里。 没有了长颈，羊群需要一个新的领袖。 每个人都希望我来领导。 我不知道该怎么办，所以我开始重复朗尼克的话。 我尖声叫道：“我们是鹅，鹅一直在飞！”然后我拿起了尖，鸟群在我身后散开了。 “天气让我们都掉头了，没人知道该走哪条路，所以我就直接带我们往南走。 我们看到了更多的机器人、人类和建筑，但我们没有停下来。 当我们再次看到大海时，我们知道我们偏离了航线。 但至少它是