原译：

While I was young, the village was so safe that we need not shut the doors at night. When I came back from school and there was no one home, it was very natural that aunty next-door would invite me to her place for lunch. During harvest period, we were all very busy and appeal for help, the neighbour would offer their help and stayed for simple meals and chats. Now, value of life and individual’s value had undergone a tremendous change. We all realized that our country is developing the urban area in full force, we hope to see change in our living environment and believe there will be tremendous change, but those incidents that happened set me thinking, should we do more in the areas of moral values to guide our village folks to cope with the change.

改译：

While I was young, the village was so safe that we need not shut the doors at night. When I came back from school and there was no one home, the aunty next door would always invite me to her place for a meal. Everything seemed so natural. During the harvest season, when we asked our neighbours for help, the return was only a simple meal accompanied by a hearty chat. Now, life and values in the village have undergone tremendous changes. We all know that our government is developing the rural areas in full force. And I am looking forward to a better life in my home town. But the incidents set me thinking: Should we do more to preserve the traditional values when times are changing?（可以把原文改得更符合逻辑；极个别情况下才需要故意保留原文的不当）

收割机

刚开始认为，不可能是收割机，因为我没有见过收割玉米的收割机。但查了资料，发现已经出现。但译文仍保留了模糊性。（请用谷歌图片搜索找玉米收割机）

谁不讲理

农村土地条块分割，不一定临路。临路的农户，有义务让里面的农户通行。

Easement地役权

A right of passage over a neighbor's land or waterway. An easement is a type of servitude . For every easement, there is a dominant and a servient tenement . Easements are also classified as negative (which prevents the servient land owner from doing certain things) or affirmative easements (the most common, which allows the beneficiary of the easement to do certain things, such as a right-of-way). Although right-of-ways are the most common easements, there are many others such as rights to tunnel under another's land, to use a washroom, to emit smoke or fumes, to pass over with transmission towers, to access a dock and to access a well.

另一个版本：

Translator: Chow Wan Ee

It was my National Day holiday homecoming. Along the Yellow River stood our village, where many village folks, although clad no differently from our last encounter, were cruising behind wheels worth well over two hundred grand. That had pleased me.

But my pleasure soon turned to dismay after chatting with a village folk on a street corner. The folk related two episodes. One occurred in the adjoining village, where a man was killed in his home by three brothers. The killing was precipitated by a land lease dispute. The man had wanted to bully one of the brothers into accepting his offer price by having him thrashed and terrorised, even threatening that his life would cost no more than a meagre sum. Indignant, the brothers went after the bully. The consequence was one lost life and four broken families. Another incident took place in our village. A village folk had requested a neighbouring old lady’s permission to drive through her field to harvest his corn. Unable to bear with the thought of flattened maize plants, she refused. In a battle of wits, she lay on the field, defying her neighbour to drive “over her dead body”. Refusing to back down, the rumbling vehicle surmounted the determined human barrier. Eventually, the villager paid a couple of ten thousand yuan for a private settlement.

During my childhood days, house doors could be left ajar at night. When I came home from school occasionally to find myself alone, the aunty next door would ask me over. Taking my place at her kitchen table had seemed the most natural thing to do. During busy farming seasons, we would call for neighbours’ helping hands. Appreciation was a simple meal and a cosy tête-à-tête. These days, attitudes and values have gone on a different tangent. Certainly, the government is doing much to develop the rural economy. I am eager to witness better days at home, and am sure that sweeping changes will occur in no time. But the two episodes struck a sensitive chord. Perhaps we should also look into shaping characters and values to prevent the evacuation of moral scruples when prosperity finally ensues.

文章以小品的方式揭露当前的社会弊病。人们为了逐利而舍弃淳朴的乡风，以致道德沦亡。文章的尖锐并不辛辣讽刺，而是温柔震撼。因为娓娓道来，语调低沉，所以更有感染力，更发人深省。译文希望能再现原文的风格，并且做得更好。