《牧羊少年奇幻之旅》 32 水晶店老板让男孩在店里打工（在线收听）

A card hanging in the doorway announced that several languages were spoken in the shop.

商店门上的一张招贴注明，这里可以讲好几种语言。

The boy saw a man appear behind the counter.

圣地亚哥看到了柜台后面的那个男人。

"I can clean up those glasses in the window, if you want," said the boy.

“如果您愿意，我可以把这些水晶器皿擦干净。”男孩开口道，

"The way they look now, nobody is going to want to buy them."

“像现在这副样子，没人愿意买它们。”

The man looked at him without responding.

那男人看着圣地亚哥，没说话。

"In exchange, you could give me something to eat."

“作为交换，您得管我一顿饭。”

The man still said nothing, and the boy sensed that he was going to have to make a decision.

那男人仍旧沉默着。男孩觉得必须自己作决定了。

In his pouch, he had his jacket—he certainly wasn't going to need it in the desert.

他的褡裢里有一件外套，在沙漠里用不上了。

Taking the jacket out, he began to clean the glasses.

他拿出外套，开始擦拭那些器皿。

In half an hour, he had cleaned all the glasses in the window,

他用半个小时擦干净了柜台里所有的器皿。

and, as he was doing so, two customers had entered the shop and bought some crystal.

在这段时间内，进来过两个顾客，买了水晶制品。

When he had completed the cleaning, he asked the man for something to eat.

全部擦完之后，男孩要求那男人管他一顿饭。

"Let's go and have some lunch," said the crystal merchant.

“咱们吃饭去。”水晶店老板说。

He put a sign on the door, and they went to a small café nearby.

老板在门上挂出一块告示牌后，便和圣地亚哥来到山丘顶部的一间小酒吧。

As they sat down at the only table in the place, the crystal merchant laughed.

里面仅有一张桌子，他们刚一落座，水晶店老板就笑了。

"You didn't have to do any cleaning," he said. "The Koran requires me to feed a hungry person."

“其实什么也不用擦。”他道，“《古兰经》规定必须给饥饿的人饭吃。”

"Well then, why did you let me do it?" the boy asked.

“那您为什么不阻止我呢？”男孩问。

"Because the crystal was dirty. And both you and I needed to cleanse our minds of negative thoughts."

“因为那些水晶脏了。而无论是你还是我，都需要清除头脑里的坏念头。”

When they had eaten, the merchant turned to the boy and said,

吃过饭之后，水晶店老板对男孩说：

"I'd like you to work in my shop. Two customers came in today while you were working, and that's a good omen."

“我希望你在我店里打工。今天你擦水晶的时候，进来了两个顾客，这是个好兆头。”

People talk a lot about omens, thought the shepherd. But they really don't know what they're saying.

人们总是谈论预兆，男孩想，但却不知道自己在谈什么。

Just as I hadn't realized that for so many years I had been speaking a language without words to my sheep.

我也一样，没意识到许多年来，都在用一种非语言的表达方式同我的羊群交流。