如果你在京郊的鄉村路上漫遊

On the country roads outside Beijing

你會經常遇見羊群

you’re sure to spot sheep

牠們在田野中散開，像不化的雪

scattered over fields, like unmelted snow

像膨脹的綻開的花朵

or swollen blooms burst open.

或是縮成一團穿過公路，被吆喝著

They cross the road in clumps,

滾下塵土飛揚的溝渠

the herdsman barking them down

a weedy ditch, tripping and tumbling

我從來沒有注意過牠們

through the dust.

直到有一次我開車開到一輛卡車的後面

在一個飄雪的下午

I never paid much attention

這一次我看清了牠們的眼睛

until one afternoon

（而牠們也在上面看著我）

in flurries of snow

那樣溫良，那樣安靜

I nosed close behind a sheep truck,

像是全然不知牠們將被帶到什麼地方

the dark eyes gazing down

對於我的到來甚至懷有

gentle and quiet, not knowing

幾分孩子似的好奇

where they were headed.

They turned toward me then,

我放慢了車速

curious as children.

我看著牠們

消失在愈來愈大的雪花中

I let the car drift back

through the thickening curtain of snow

and watched them disappear.