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"Why do you take the path straight up?" I asked. "Look at these other paths! What are they doing here?"
“你为什么要走这条直上直下的小路呢？”我又问。“你瞧其他那些路！它们通向哪里呢？”
Within the distance of few yards, several paths left the main path and circled around the slope, climbing the mountain gradually.
就在几码之外，有好几条小路离开了这条主道，环绕山坡蜿蜒向上。
"All paths go to the same place," he answered.
“这些路都是通向同一个地方的。”他回答说。
"Then why take the steep one?" I asked.
“那为什么要走这条陡的呢？”我问。
"I'll explain later," he gasped.
“我回头再给你解释。”他喘着气说。
My curiosity was roused. I thought he had found a new kind of wild grass, or a new kind of tree. For I remembered the time he found a coffee tree in our woods. It is, as far as I know, the only one of its kind growing in our county.
我的好奇心一下子被勾起来了。我想也许他找到了一种新草或是新树种。因为我记得他曾经在我们的林地中发现过一棵咖啡树，据我所知，在我们这个县，这种咖啡树还只有我们这一棵。
We finally reached the tall straight pines whose branches reached toward the blue depth of sky, for the white cloud was now gone. I saw a small clearing of not more than three-fourths of an acre in the heart of this wilderness right on the mountaintop.
我们最终到达了那些高大挺拔的松树生长的地方。松树的枝干直插蓝天深处，刚才的白云已经飘走了。我看到在山顶这片树林的中心地带，有一块不到四分之三英亩的空地。
"Now, son," he said as he pushed down the top wire so he could cross the fence. "This is something I want you to see!"
“好了，儿子。”他说着就把最上面的铁丝往下按了按，以便跨过铁丝网进去。“这就是我想给你看的东西！”
"Who did this?" I asked. "Who cleared the land and fenced it?"
“这是谁弄的？”我问。“是谁开辟了这块地，又拉了这个铁丝网？”
"I cleared the land. And I fenced it!"
“是我！是我开的地，也是我拉的铁丝网。”
"But why did you do this?" I asked him. "Look at all the fertile land we have in the valley!"
“可是，你干吗这么做呢？”我问他，“我们在山谷里已经有那么多肥沃的土地了！”
