《牧羊少年奇幻之旅》 70 男孩解读宇宙的语言

"This is the first phase of the job," he said.

“这是工作的第一阶段。”英国人说，

"I have to separate out the sulfur¹. To do that successfully, I must have no fear of failure.

“我必须把硫磺中的杂质分离出去。我不能害怕失败。

It was my fear of failure that first kept me from attempting the Master Work.

正是由于害怕失败，我至今都没尝试获取元精。

Now, I'm beginning what I could have started ten years ago.

现在，我已经开始做十年前就可以开始做的事情了。

But I'm happy at least that I didn't wait twenty years."

但是我很高兴，因为毕竟没等上二十年才做这件事。”

He continued to feed the fire, and the boy stayed on until the desert turned pink in the setting sun.

然后，他继续往灶里加木柴，并观望沙漠。

He felt the urge to go out into the desert, to see if its silence held the answers to his questions.

他产生了一种跑进沙漠的强烈冲动，他想看看寂静能否回答他的问题。

He wandered for a while, keeping the date palms of the oasis² within sight.

圣地亚哥漫无目的地走了一段时间，椰枣树始终在视野之内。

He listened to the wind, and felt the stones beneath his feet.

耳朵听着风声，脚下踩着碎石，

Here and there, he found a shell, and realized that the desert, in remote times, had been a sea.

有时会碰上一片贝壳，于是他知道，在遥远的过去，这沙漠曾是一片大海。

He sat on a stone, and allowed himself to become hypnotized by the horizon.

后来，他在一块石头上坐下，出神地望着远方的地平线发呆。

He tried to deal with the concept of love as distinct³ from possession, and couldn't separate them.

他无法理解没有占有欲的爱情，

But Fatima was a woman of the desert, and, if anything could help him to understand, it was the desert.

然而法蒂玛是沙漠中的女人，如果是有谁教她这么做，那肯定是沙漠。

As he sat there thinking, he sensed movement above him.

他就这样坐在那里，什么都不想，直到感觉头顶有什么东西在移动。

Looking up, he saw a pair of hawks⁴ flying high in the sky.

他朝天上望去，只见两只鹰正在高空翱翔。

He watched the hawks as they drifted on the wind.

男孩开始观察那两只鹰，以及它们在空中画出的轨迹。

Although their flight appeared to have no pattern, it made a certain kind of sense to the boy. It was just that he couldn't grasp what it meant.

那些轨迹看上去杂乱无章，但是，对男孩却有着某种意义，只是他还没有弄懂其中的含义。

He followed the movement of the birds, trying to read something into it.

他决定一直观察那两只鹰，或许能看出什么名堂呢。

Maybe these desert birds could explain to him the meaning of love without ownership. He felt sleepy.

也许沙漠里的鸟类能向他解释那种没有占有欲的爱情。不久，男孩开始犯困，

In his heart, he wanted to remain awake, but he also wanted to sleep.

但他的内心要求他不得入睡：不但不能睡着，而且还要全神贯注。

"I am learning the Language of the World, and everything in the world is beginning to make sense to me ... even the flight of the hawks," he said to himself.

“我正在解读宇宙的语言，地球上的万物都有其意义，就连鹰的飞翔也如是。”他自言自语。

And, in that mood, he was grateful to be in love.

深深爱上一个女人实在是件值得庆幸的事。

When you are in love, things make even more sense, he thought.

当你恋爱的时候，万物都变得更有意义，他想。

1 sulfur   

n.硫，硫磺（=sulphur）

参考例句：

• Sulfur emissions from steel mills become acid rain.炼钢厂排放出的硫形成了酸雨。
• Burning may produce sulfur oxides.燃烧可能会产生硫氧化物。

2 oasis   

n.（沙漠中的）绿洲，宜人的地方

参考例句：

• They stopped for the night at an oasis.他们在沙漠中的绿洲停下来过夜。
• The town was an oasis of prosperity in a desert of poverty.该镇是贫穷荒漠中的一块繁荣的“绿洲”。

3 distinct   

adj.种类不同的，有区别的，清楚的，明显的

参考例句：

• I had the distinct impression that I was being followed.我清楚地感觉到有人跟踪我。
• The party split into two distinct groups.该党分裂成两个截然不同的团体。

4 hawks   

鹰( hawk的名词复数 )； 鹰派人物，主战派人物

参考例句：

• Two hawks were hover ing overhead. 两只鹰在头顶盘旋。
• Both hawks and doves have expanded their conditions for ending the war. 鹰派和鸽派都充分阐明了各自的停战条件。