The sick man seized the minister by the hand, and, gazing intently in his face,

这个生病的人用手抓住牧师，目不转睛地盯着他的脸看，

said, "You do not, you cannot recognize me.

说道：“你不能，你认不出我了。

But I know you, and knew your father before you.

但是我认识你，而且还认识你父亲。

I have been a wanderer in many lands.

我曾到处流浪。

I have visited every quarter of the globe, and fought and bled for my king and country.

我到过世界上的每一个地方，为我的国王和祖国流血战斗。”

"I came to this town a few weeks ago in bad health.

“几星期前，我带着病体来到这座城市。

Last Lord's day I entered your church—the church of my countrymen—where I could once more hear,

上个礼拜日我去了你在的那所教堂——我同胞的教堂——在那里我能再次聆听传经布道，

in the language of my youth and of my heart, the gospel preached.

他们用的是我年轻时的语言，表达的是我内心的感情。

 

I heard you tell the story of the widow and her son."

我听到了你讲的那个关于寡妇和她儿子的故事。”

Here the voice of the old soldier faltered, his emotion almost choked his utterance;

说到这里，这位老兵的声音颤抖了，他激动得几乎说不出话来；

but recovering himself for a moment, he cried, "I am that son!" and burst into a flood of tears.

但他过了一会又缓过来了，他喊道，“我就是你故事里的那个男孩！”说完便老泪众横。

"Yes," he continued, "I am that son! Never, never did I forget my mother's love.

“没错，”他继续说道，“我就是故事中的男孩！我从未忘记过妈妈的爱。

Well might you ask what a heart should mine have been if she had been forgotten by me.

如果我忘了她，你也许就会想我到底有一副什么心肠。

Dear, very dear to me is her memory; and my only desire now is,

她的记忆对我来说很亲近；我现在唯一的愿望就是，

to lay my bones beside hers in the old church-yard among the hills.

将我埋在她的身边，埋在群山之中的老教堂墓地。”