5 搭石

Lesson Five

Stones

1.There is an unknown stream in my hometown, and five or six small villages are distributed on both sides of the stream.

2.The stream runs all the year round.

3.During the flood season every year, mountain torrents broke out and the stream swelled.

4.After the flash floods, people go out to work, call it a day, go to market, visit friends and relatives. Whenever they cross the stream, they have to take off their shoes and trousers.

5.It’s getting cooler in autumn. People in my hometown would, according to the depth of water, find some flat and square stones from both sides of the river and put them in a row across the stream at an interval of about two chi, so that people can walk on them. This is the stone of the road.

6.The stones constitute a landscape of my hometown.

7.After the cool autumn, people put the stones in place early.

8.If there are stones of the road everywhere except for one place, people in this place will be censured of being lazy.

9.People who have reached a certain age, no matter how anxious they are, if they find which stone is unstable, they will definitely drop what they have brought, find a suitable stone to build it, and then step back and forth on it until they are satisfied, then they will leave.

10.There is a saying in my hometown that “If you take a stone, you should walk fast and follow each other step by step, but you should walk slowly when you cross the bridge”.

11.The stone of road, originally a natural stone, will inevitably move when stepping on it, and it is easy to keep balance when walking fast.

12People can’t take the road or stop suddenly when they take the stone.

13.If the person in front suddenly stops and the person behind have no place to stay, he will fall into the water.

14.Whenever they go to work, knock off, and a group of people go to cover stone, the movements are so coordinated and orderly! The front one raises his feet, and the latter follows closely.

15.The sound of clicking is like brisk music; the clear waves and the figures are graceful, giving people the general beauty of painting.

16.People who often go to the mountains have probably seen such a scene: if two people walk to the stream face to face at the same time, they will stop before the first stone and wave to let the other go first; when the other party crosses the river, they will say a few more common words before going against each other.

17.If an old man comes to take a stone, the young people will always bend down and carry the old man on his back, which people take for granted.

18.Rows of cover stone, let people walk, let people step on, they connect the path of hometown, but also connect the good feelings of the villagers.