那真是一個令人稱奇的地方
曾經呀曾經，我曾經
在那個奇妙的日子裡到過
見聞了她不少神奇的事蹟

曾經誤讀「錦」為「井」
曾經疑惑不解，躊躇不前
曾經踩爛地圖，遍尋不著
曾經讓地理教師指點不出迷津
迨我在那個奇妙的日子裡抵達
我剎時腳踏實地，疑雲盡散
原來她以前是一塊鹽鹼地
不僅人煙稀少，村莊寥落
以致名不見經傳，人少得識
甚至是僻處海隅，荒蕪不毛
突然奇蹟般出現怎不令人瞠目？

我前去的那個奇妙的日子
正是烈陽擁著夏日狂舞的時候
她展現在我眼前的是
高樓大廈，典雅簇新
街道寬闊平坦，井然有序
郊地以綠為底色，塗滿各處
蘆葦蕩綿延數千頃，一望無際
世界最大鳥禽保護區護衛著鳥禽
稻田為香稻哺乳，孕育稻香
養殖池懷抱魚蝦，提供安眠的床褥
油井像頑皮的小孩滿地蹦躍蹲坐
蜿蜒的遼河悠然低吟淺唱入海……

何以怕鹹的香稻能在鹽鹼地生長？
何以荒蕪不毛能變興盛繁榮？
是誰將腐朽化為神奇的？
是誰為她點化成今日模樣的？
啊，那真是一個令人稱奇的地方！

A Magical Place　　Hsu ChiCheng

It is really a magical place
I have once been there
In a wonderful day
Having seen and heard many magical things of hers

I once misheard “Jin” as “jing”
Feeling baffled and hesitating to move forward
Looking up many maps but not finding it
Even our geography teacher was unable to throw light on it
When I reached there in that wonderful day
The suspicion clouding my mind cleared up at once
She was formerly a saline-alkali land
With scattered villages, sparsely populated
She was an out-of-the-way place overgrown with weeds
An unknown corner of the sea
Suddenly she appeared like a miracle, making people stare in surprise

That wonderful day I reached there
Was a summer day when the burning sun was dancing like mad
What she showed before my eyes were—
Brand new high-rises everywhere
Broad and level streets, in good order
The suburb land, luxuriantly green
The reed marshes, stretching as far as the eye could see
The largest natural birds reserve of the world
The air, thick with fragrance of rice
The aquatic farms, providing comfortable beds for fishes and shrimps
Oil wells, squatting jumping everywhere like naughty boys
The Leohe River, meandering towards the sea…

How can rice grow in a saline-alkali land?
Why can scene of prosperity appear in a barren land?
Who turns the foul and rotten into the rare and ethereal?
Who transforms her by magic into the scene of today?
Oh, it is really a magical place!

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