Chinese · Episode 15
Life Among the Rocks
Spoken by 晓航
What mining is like: slow, dusty, and strangely domestic — meals, jokes, a rock that will become someone’s wall.
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我叫晓航，在离月亮很远的地方挖石头， My name is Xiaohang, and I dig rocks far from the Moon,
常常几个星期才回一次家。 often only getting home once every few weeks.
妹妹晓星在望城，放学后看着机器人送东西。 My sister Xiaoxing is in Wangcheng, watching robots deliver things after school.
我跟阿金待在一条小船上，每天也忙着搬东西， Ajin and I stay on a small boat, busy moving things every day too,
只不过搬的是石头。 except what we move is rocks.
这些石头送回望城以后，会做成有用的材料。 After these rocks are sent back to Wangcheng, they're made into useful materials.
有的拿去盖房子，有的还会送到地球。 Some are used to build houses, and some are even sent to Earth.
听着好像每天都有大事，其实大部分时间都很慢， It sounds like big things happen every day, but most of the time it's really slow,
得一块一块检查，一点一点搬。 checking them one by one, moving them bit by bit.
外面干完活，回船里还要把灰尘清理好， After finishing work outside, back on the boat we still have to clean up the dust
才能坐下来吃饭。 before we can sit down to eat.
阿金有一次看着碗里的饭，说：“今天这个颜色， One time Ajin looked at the rice in his bowl and said, "This color today—
怎么也像石头？” how does it look like rocks too?"
我让他少说两句，他就笑。船上只有我们两个， I told him to cut it out, and he just laughed. There's only the two of us on the boat,
要是他真不说话了，我又嫌太静。 and if he really stopped talking, I'd find it too quiet.
吃饭的桌子是固定好的，东西也得放好， The table we eat at is fixed in place, and things have to be secured,
免得一松手就飘走。 or they'll float away the moment you let go.
我们坐在那里，聊下一趟活，也聊回家想吃什么。 We sit there talking about the next job, and what we want to eat when we get home.
跟家里吃饭有点像，就是桌边少了几个人。 It's a bit like eating at home, just with a few people missing from the table.
阿金有时候指着运回来的石头， Sometimes Ajin points at the rocks we've hauled back
说这块以后说不定就是新圆顶的一部分。 and says this one might become part of the new dome someday.
我以前只想着把活干完，现在偶尔也会多想一点。 I used to only think about finishing the work; now I occasionally think a bit more.
也许这些石头做成的材料， Maybe the materials made from these rocks
最后会用在妹妹每天走的路旁边。 will end up beside the path my sister walks every day.
她问我外面好不好，我总说：“挺慢的，灰也多。 When she asks if it's nice out here, I always say, "Pretty slow, and lots of dust.
” "
说完又觉得少说了一点。这里也能吃饭， After saying that I feel like I left something out. You can eat here too,
也有人讲不好笑的笑话。 and there are people who tell unfunny jokes.
就是每次送石头回去，都想自己也跟着回一趟。 It's just that every time we send the rocks back, I want to go home with them too.