《牧羊少年奇幻之旅》 04 想云游四方的男孩

The boy was surprised at his thoughts.

男孩对自己的这些念头感到惊讶。

Maybe the church, with the sycamore growing from within, had been haunted.

也许是因为那座里面长着无花果树的教堂太残破不堪，

It had caused him to have the same dream for a second time, and it was causing him to feel anger toward his faithful companions.

他又做了一个与以前一样的梦，他开始嫌弃忠诚地陪伴他左右的羊群。

He drank a bit from the wine that remained from his dinner of the night before, and he gathered his jacket closer to his body.

他喝了一口酒——这是昨天晚饭时剩下的，然后裹紧外衣。

He knew that a few hours from now, with the sun at its zenith,

他知道，再过几个小时，太阳就会升到头顶，

the heat would be so great that he would not be able to lead his flock across the fields.

那时酷热难熬，他就不能领着羊群在旷野赶路了。

It was the time of day when all of Spain slept during the summer.

在夏季，这个时间是整个西班牙睡午觉的时间。

The heat lasted until nightfall, and all that time he had to carry his jacket.

酷热会一直持续到入夜。而在酷热降临之前，他不得不一直披着外衣。

But when he thought to complain about the burden of its weight,

然而，每当他想抱怨外衣沉重时，

he remembered that, because he had the jacket, he had withstood the cold of the dawn.

总会想起多亏这件衣服，才不会在清晨感到寒冷。

We have to be prepared for change, he thought, and he was grateful for the jacket's weight and warmth.

必须随时准备应对天气的突然变化，圣地亚哥想，并对外衣的厚重心存感激。

The jacket had a purpose, and so did the boy.

外衣自有其存在的理由，而男孩亦有其生活的道理。

His purpose in life was to travel, and, after two years of walking the Andalusian terrain¹, he knew all the cities of the region.

两年间，他走遍了安达卢西亚的平原大川，把所有的村镇都记在了脑子里，这就是他生活的最大动力。

He was planning, on this visit, to explain to the girl how it was that a simple shepherd knew how to read.

他盘算着，这一次要告诉那女孩，为什么他这样一个普普通通的牧羊人会读书识字：

That he had attended a seminary until he was sixteen.

他曾经在一所神学院里待到十六岁。

His parents had wanted him to become a priest, and thereby² a source of pride for a simple farm family.

父母希望他成为神甫，成为一个普通农家的骄傲，

They worked hard just to have food and water, like the sheep.

而他们一生只为吃喝忙碌，就像圣地亚哥的羊群。

He had studied Latin, Spanish, and theology.

他学过拉丁文、西班牙文和神学。

But ever since he had been a child, he had wanted to know the world,

但是，从孩提时代起，他就梦想着了解世界，

and this was much more important to him than knowing God and learning about man's sins.

这远比了解上帝以及人类的罪孽来得重要。

One afternoon, on a visit to his family, he had summoned up the courage to tell his father that he didn't want to become a priest.

一天下午，回去探望家人的时候，圣地亚哥鼓足勇气告诉父亲，他不想当神甫，

That he wanted to travel.

他要云游四方。

1 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。

2 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。