《牧羊少年奇幻之旅》 23 男孩来到非洲

How strange Africa is, thought the boy.

非洲真是太奇怪了，圣地亚哥心想。

He was sitting in a bar very much like the other bars he had seen along the narrow streets of Tangier.

他坐在一家酒吧里，这个酒吧与他在这个城市狭窄的街巷中见到的其他酒吧一样。

Some men were smoking from a gigantic¹ pipe that they passed from one to the other.

有些人在抽巨大的烟袋，他们你一口我一口地传递。

In just a few hours he had seen men walking hand in hand, women with their faces covered,

在短短几个小时内，他见到男人手牵手，女人则都蒙着脸，

and priests² that climbed to the tops of towers and chanted—

阿訇爬到高高的塔顶上去唱弥撒的同时，

as everyone about him went to their knees and placed their foreheads on the ground.

所有人都跪在塔周围，以头抢地。

"A practice of infidels," he said to himself.

“异教徒的玩意儿。”圣地亚哥自言自语道。

As a child in church, he had always looked at the image of Saint³ Santiago Matamoros on his white horse,

小时候，在家乡的教堂里，他总看到一尊圣地亚哥·马塔莫罗斯的雕像骑着白马，

his sword unsheathed, and figures such as these kneeling⁴ at his feet.

拔剑出鞘，脚下就是那些异教徒的形象。

The boy felt ill and terribly alone. The infidels had an evil⁵ look about them.

异教徒的目光都很阴险。男孩感到很不舒服，有一种可怕的孤独感。

Besides this, in the rush of his travels he had forgotten a detail, just one detail,

除此之外，因急于赶路，他忘记了一个细节，一个重要的细节，

which could keep him from his treasure for a long time: only Arabic was spoken in this country.

那可能会使他拖延很久才能找到那批宝藏。这个细节就是：在这个国家，所有的人都只讲阿拉伯语。

The owner of the bar approached him, and the boy pointed⁶ to a drink that had been served at the next table.

酒吧老板走过来时，男孩指了指邻桌人点的饮料。

It turned out to be a bitter tea. The boy preferred wine.

那时一种苦涩的茶。而男孩更喜欢喝葡萄酒。

But he didn't need to worry about that right now.

但是，眼下他不应该关心喝什么饮料，

What he had to be concerned about was his treasure, and how he was going to go about getting it.

而必须专心考虑一下宝藏以及如何获取宝藏。

The sale of his sheep had left him with enough money in his pouch⁷, and the boy knew that in money there was magic;

卖掉羊群之后，口袋里有钱了，男孩知道金钱是有魔力的：

whoever has money is never really alone.

只要有了钱，谁都不会孤单。

Before long, maybe in just a few days, he would be at the Pyramids.

也许几天之后，他就到金字塔跟前了。

An old man, with a breastplate of gold, wouldn't have lied just to acquire six sheep.

一个佩戴纯金胸牌的老人，没有必要为得到六只羊而撒谎。

1 gigantic   

adj.巨大的，巨人似的

参考例句：

• He has a gigantic appetite and eats gigantic meals.他有很大的食量，能吃很多的食物。
• The earth may be thought of as a gigantic magnet.整个地球可以想像为一块硕大无朋的磁石。

2 priests   

n.（基督教和罗马天主教的）神父( priest的名词复数 )；牧师；（非基督教会的）教士；祭司

参考例句：

• the ordination of women priests 女司祭的授职礼
• The clergy remain divided on the issue of women priests. 在女性教士的问题上，牧师们意见不一。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 saint   

n.圣徒；基督教徒；vt.成为圣徒，把...视为圣徒

参考例句：

• He was made a saint.他被封为圣人。
• The saint had a lowly heart.圣人有谦诚之心。

4 kneeling   

v.跪( kneel的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Better die standing than live kneeling. 宁愿站着死，不愿跪着生。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He pulled her down so that they were kneeling face to face. 他拉她跪下来，他们脸对着脸。 来自英汉文学

5 evil   

n.邪恶，不幸，罪恶；adj.邪恶的，不幸的，有害的，诽谤的

参考例句：

• We pray to God to deliver us from evil.我们祈求上帝把我们从罪恶中拯救出来。
• Love of money is the root of all evil.爱钱是邪恶的根源。

6 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

7 pouch   

n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件

参考例句：

• He was going to make a tobacco pouch out of them. 他要用它们缝制一个烟草袋。
• The old man is always carrying a tobacco pouch with him.这老汉总是随身带着烟袋。