那真是一个令人称奇的地方
曾经呀曾经，我曾经
在那个奇妙的日子里到过
见闻了她不少神奇的事迹

曾经误读“锦”为“井”
曾经疑惑不解，踌躇不前
曾经踩烂地图，遍寻不着
曾经让地理教师指点不出迷津
迨我在那个奇妙的日子里抵达
我刹时脚踏实地，疑云尽散
原来她以前是一块盐碱地
不仅人烟稀少，村庄寥落
以致名不见经传，人少得识
甚至是僻处海隅，荒芜不毛
突然奇迹般出现怎不令人瞠目？

我前去的那个奇妙的日子
正是烈阳拥着夏日狂舞的时候
她展现在我眼前的是
高楼大厦，典雅簇新
街道宽阔平坦，井然有序
郊地以绿为底色，涂满各处
芦苇荡绵延数千顷，一望无际
世界最大鸟禽保护区护卫着鸟禽
稻田为香稻哺乳，孕育稻香
养殖池怀抱鱼虾，提供安眠的床褥
油井像顽皮的小孩满地蹦跃蹲坐
蜿蜒的辽河悠然低吟浅唱入海……

何以怕咸的香稻能在盐碱地生长？
何以荒芜不毛能变兴盛繁荣？
是谁将腐朽化为神奇的？
是谁为她点化成今日模样的？
啊，那真是一个令人称奇的地方！

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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