百年孤独这本书怎么样 世纪文学经典:《百年孤独》第1章Part 6

世纪文学经典:《百年孤独》第1章Part 6  

José Arcadio Buendía was pletely ignorant of the geography of the region. He knew that to the east there lay an imperable mountain chain and that on the other side of the mountains there was the ardent city of Riohacha
where in times past-according to what he had been told by the first Aureliano Buendía
his grandfather-Sir Francis Drake had gone crocodile hunting with cannons and that he repaired hem and stuffed them with straw to bring to Queen Elizabeth. In his youth
José Arcadio Buendía and his men
with wives and children
animals and all kinds of domestic implements
had crossed the mountains in search of an outlet to the sea
and after enty-six months they gave up the expedition and founded Macondo
so they would not have to go back. It was
therefore
a route that did not interest him
for it could lead only to the past. To the south lay the swamps
covered with an eternal vegetable scum and the whole vast universe of the great swamp
which
according to what the gypsies said
had no limits. The great swamp in the west mingled with a boundless extension of water where there were soft-skinned cetaceans that had the head and torso of a woman
causing the ruination of sailors with the charm of their extraordinary breasts. The gypsies sailed along that route for six months before they reached the strip of land over which the mules that carried the mail passed. According to José Arcadio Buendía's calculations
the only possibility of contact with civilization lay along the northern route. So he handed out clearing tools and hunting weapons to the same men who had been with him during the founding of Macondo. He threw his directional instruments and his maps into a knapsack
and he undertook the reckless adventure.
During the first days they did not e across any appreciable obstacle. They went down along the stony bank of the river to the place where years before they had found the soldier's armor
and from there they went into the woods along a path beeen wild orange trees. At the end of the first week they killed and roasted a deer
but they agreed to eat only half of it and salt the rest for the days that lay ahead. With that precaution they tried to postpone the necessity of having to eat macaws
whose blue flesh had a harsh and musky taste. Then
for more than ten days
they did not see the sun again. The ground became soft and damp
like volcanic ash
and the vegetation was thicker and thicker
and the cries of the birds and the uproar of the monkeys became more and more remote
and the world became eternally sad. The men on the expedition felt overwhelmed by their most ancient memories in that paradise of dampness and silence
going back to before original sin
as their boots sank into pools of steaming oiland their machetes destroyed bloody lilies and golden salamanders. For a week
almost without speaking
they went ahead like sleepwalkers through a universe of grief
lighted only by the tenuous reflection of luminous insects
and their lungs were overwhelmed by a suffocating smell of blood. They could not return because the strip that they were opening as they went along would soon close up with a new vegetation that. almost seemed to grow before their eyes. "It's all right
" José Arcadio Buendía would say. "The main thing is not to lose our bearings." Always following his pass
he kept on guiding his men toward the invisible north so that they would be able to get out of that enchanted region. It was a thick night
starless
but the darkness was being impregnated with a fresh and clear air. Exhausted by the long crossing
they hung up their hammocks and slept deeply for the first time in o weeks. When they woke up
with the sun already high in the sky
they were speechless with fascination. Beforethem
surrounded by ferns and palm trees
white and powdery in the silent morning light
was an enormous Spanish galleon. Tilted slightly to the starboard
it had hanging from its intact masts the dirty rags of its sails in the midst of its rigging
which was adorned with orchids. The hull
covered with an armor of petrified barnacles and soft moss
was firmly fastened into a surface of stones. The whole structure seemed to occupy its own space
one of solitude and oblivion
protected from the vices of time and the habits of the birds. Inside
where the expeditionaries explored with careful intent
there was nothing but a thick forest of flowers.