Chinese · Episode 6
A Forest Without Walls
Spoken by 晓星
Listening to 小雨’s voice note from Earth and trying to imagine a forest that has no wall.
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Episode text
小雨从地球给我发来一段录音， Xiaoyu sent me a recording from Earth,
开头只说：“晓星，你听，这是森林里的声音。” It started with just: “Xiaoxing, listen, this is the sound of the forest.”
然后她就不说话了，只听见风吹着叶子， Then she stopped talking, and all you could hear was the wind in the leaves,
一阵过去，又来一阵。 one gust after another.
我在花园里也听过叶子响， I've heard leaves rustling in the garden too,
可她那边好像到处都是树，叶子一直在响。 but where she is it seems like trees are everywhere, and the leaves keep rustling.
她后来告诉我，那里的树很多， She told me later there are so many trees there,
走了好久也没走到头，中间没有墙挡着。 you can walk a long time and never reach the end, with no walls in between.
我听完又放了一遍，想试着把那个地方想出来。 After listening I played it again, trying to picture that place.
可是闭上眼睛，脑子里还是我们家的花园， But when I closed my eyes, all I could see was our garden at home,
树后面有墙，上面有圆顶。 walls behind the trees, and the dome above.
我只好先想一棵树，再在后面多放几棵， So I started by imagining one tree, then putting a few more behind it,
让它们一直往远处长。 letting them stretch on and on into the distance.
想了一会儿， After a while,
又发现自己给那些树加了个更大的圆顶。 I realized I'd put an even bigger dome over those trees.
小美在旁边问我听什么，我就把声音给她听。 Xiaomei asked what I was listening to, so I let her hear it.
她问：“小雨走那么远，不怕找不到回去的路吗？ She asked: “Xiaoyu went so far—isn't she afraid she won't find the way back?
” ”
我刚才光想着没有墙，倒没想到还得走回来。 I'd only been thinking about there being no walls—I hadn't thought about having to walk back.
后来我问小雨，她笑着说森林里也有路， Later I asked Xiaoyu, and she laughed and said the forest has paths too,
跟着路走就好。 you just follow the path.
她还说，脚下的土有点湿， She also said the dirt underfoot was a bit damp,
能闻到叶子和土的味道。 and you could smell the leaves and the soil.
这个我倒能想象一点，妈妈刚浇完水的地方， That I could kind of imagine—the spots Mom had just watered
也有这样的味道。 smell like that too.
晚上我把录音又听了一次。这回先不想整个森林， At night I listened to the recording again. This time I didn't try to picture the whole forest,
就想自己沿着一条路走，走过一棵树， just imagined myself walking a path, past one tree,
前面还有树。 with more trees ahead.