《黎明踏浪號》第十五章 最后的海上勝境

CHAPTER FIFTEEN THE WONDERS OF THE LAST SEA
第十五章　最后的海上勝境

VERY soon after they had left Ramandu’s country they began to feel that they had already sailed beyond the world.All was different.For one thing they all found that they were needing less sleep.One did not want to go to bed nor to eat much，nor even to talk except in low voices.Another thing was the light. There was too much of it.The sun when it came up each morning looked twice，if not three times，its usual size.And every morning(which gave Lucy the strangest feeling of all)the huge white birds，singing their song with human voices in a language no one knew，streamed overhead and vanished astern on their way to their breakfast at Aslan’s Table.A little later they came flying back and vanished into the east.
離開拉曼杜那里，他們感覺船一下子到了外面的世界，一切都變了。首先是，所有人都沒那么需要睡覺了。大家都不想睡，也不想吃，話也不多，即使說也是慢聲細語。第二是亮光，外面真是太亮了。每天早晨的太陽看上去沒有原來的三倍之大，也有兩倍那么大。每天早晨( 這時露茜的感受最強烈) 那些白鳥用人類般的嗓音唱著歌，可是誰也聽不懂是什么語言，它們川流不息地飛過他們的頭頂， 飛去阿斯蘭的餐桌吃早餐，然后飛到船尾處就不見了。再然后它們又飛回來，飛到東邊又不見了。
“How beautifully clear the water is !”said Lucy to herself，as she leaned over the port side early in the afternoon of the second day.
“多么清澈美麗的海水啊!”第二天午后，露茜就趴在左舷自言自語。
And it was.The first thing that she noticed was a little black object，about the size of a shoe，travelling along at the same speed as the ship.For a moment she thought it was something floating on the surface.But then there came floating past a bit of stale bread which the cook had just thrown out of the galley.And the bit of bread looked as if it were going to collide with the black thing， but it didn’t.It passed above it，and Lucy now saw that the black thing could not be on the surface.Then the black thing suddenly got very much bigger and flicked back to normal size a moment later.
確實是這樣。然后她注意到的一個黑黑的小東西，這個東西像一只鞋大小，和船速一樣的速度跟著船一路過來。有那么一瞬間她還以為那東西漂在水面上的?？墒沁@時候廚子從廚房里扔出一塊舊面包，面包在水面上漂過，看起來就要跟那東西相撞了，卻沒撞上。面包在那東西上面掠過，露茜這才明白那個黑東西不在水面上，并且一會兒變大，一會兒變小。
Now Lucy knew she had seen something just like that happen somewhere else—if only she could remember where.She held her hand to her head and screwed up her face and put out her tongue in the effort to remember.At last she did.Of course ! It was like what you saw from a train on a bright sunny day.You saw the black shadow of your own coach running along the fields at the same pace as the train.Then you went into a cutting;and immediately the same shadow flicked close up to you and got big， racing along the grass of the cutting-bank.Then you came out of the cutting and—flick ! —once more the black shadow had gone back to its normal size and was running along the fields.
露茜馬上想起來自己在其他地方也見過同樣的情景，可是她不記得是在哪兒了。她一手撐著頭，板著臉，伸出舌頭，拼命地想。最后想起來了，是的!就像在陽光明媚的天氣，在火車?yán)锟吹降那榫耙粯?。你看見自己那列客車的黑影同車速一樣在田野上一路奔馳。等到火車開進路塹，那影子頓時貼近火車，變大，順著路塹的草坡一路飛跑。再等到開出路塹，那黑影又變回以前的大小，在田野間一路飛奔而去。
“It’s our shadow !—the shadow of the Dawn Treader，”said Lucy.“Our shadow running along on the bottom of the sea.That time when it got bigger it went over a hill.But in that case the water must be clearer than I thought ! Good gracious，I must he seeing the bottom of the sea;fathoms and fathoms down.”
“它是我們這條船的影子!是黎明踏浪號的影子，”露茜說，“我們的船影在海底奔馳呢，到海底的山頂時船影就大了。這樣的話，海水一定比我想象中還要清澈!上帝啊，我一定是看見很深很深的海底了。”
As soon as she had said this she realized that the great silvery expanse which she had been seeing(without noticing)for some time was really the sand on the sea-bed and that ail sorts of darker or brighter patches were not lights and shadows on the surface but real things on the bottom.At present，for instance，they were passing over a mass of soft purply green with a broad，winding strip of pale grey in the middle of it.But now that she knew it was on the bottom she saw it much better.She could see that bits of the dark stuff were much higher than other bits and were waving gently .“Just like trees in a wind，”said Lucy.“And I do believe that’s what they are.It’s a submarine forest.”
說完這句話，她突然發(fā)現(xiàn)自己不知不覺看了好一陣子海，那波光粼粼的一大片實際上是海底的沙灘，各種明暗并非海面的光影，其實是水底的實物。比如說，眼下他們的船要開過大片綠中帶紫的東西， 中間摻雜著淺灰色的帶狀植物。現(xiàn)在她知道這是在海底下的植物， 她看起來就更清楚了。她能看見有一小片黑乎乎的東西比另一片高， 而且輕輕在飄動。“就像風(fēng)中的樹木一樣，”露茜說，“我覺得這是樹， 這就是海底森林。”
They passed on above it and presently the pale streak was joined by another pale streak.“If I was down there，”thought Lucy，“that streak would be just like a road through the wood.And that place where it joins the other Would be a crossroads.Oh， I do wish I was.Hallo !the forest is coming to an end.And I do believe the streak really was a road ! I can still see it going on across the open sand.It’s a different colour.And it’s marked out with something at the edges—dotted lines.Perhaps they are stones. And now it’s getting wider.”
過了這片森林，不一會兒那條灰?guī)ё泳秃土硪粭l灰?guī)ё訁R合了。“假如我在下面，”露茜心里想，“那條帶子就像林間一條路。兩條帶子的匯合點就是十字路口了。哎呀，我真希望在下面呢。嗨!森林到頭啦。我相信那帶子真是一條路!我能看見它一直穿過空曠的沙灘呢，顏色也不同了。邊上還畫些什么……虛線，也有可能是石頭。瞧， 它現(xiàn)在變寬了。”
But it was not really getting wider，it was getting nearer.She realized this because of the way in which the shadow of the ship came rushing up towards her.And the road—she felt sure it was a road now—began to go in zigzags.Obviously it was climbing up a steep hill.And when she held her head sideways and looked back，what she saw was very like what you see when you look down a winding road from the top of a hill.She could even see the shafts of sunlight falling through the deep water onto the wooded valley—and，in the extreme distance，everything melting away into a dim greenness.But some places—the sunny ones，she thought—were ultramarine blue.
這并不是真的寬了，而是近了。她知道船影經(jīng)過時，這條路就朝船身沖過來了。而這條路——她確定這是條路——開始彎彎曲曲的了。顯然這是條通向一座陡峭小山的路。她側(cè)著頭，回頭看時，覺得很像在山頂俯瞰一條蜿蜒的山路。她甚至能看見陽光透過深水，照在樹木繁茂的海底山谷上。遠處，一切景物都融入到郁郁蔥蔥的綠色中。據(jù)她說有陽光的那些地方則是一片深藍色。
She could not，however，spend much time looking back; what was coming into view in the forward direction was too exciting.The road had apparently now reached the top of the hill and ran straight forward.Little specks were moving to and fro on it.And now something most wonderful，fortunately in full sunlight—or as full as it can be when it falls through fathoms of water—flashed into sight.It was knobbly and jagged and of a pearly，or perhaps an ivory，colour.She was so nearly straight above it that at first she could hardly make out what it was. But everything became plain when she noticed its shadow.The sunlight was falling across Lucy’s shoulders，so the shadow of the thing lay stretched out on the sand behind it.And by its shape she saw clearly that it was a shadow of towers and pinnacles，minarets and domes.
她根本沒有時間留戀那些，因為前面的景觀讓人目不暇接。那條路通到海底山頂，筆直筆直的，上面有小斑點來回移動。眼下，幸虧陽光充足——照進深深的海底要多亮有多亮，許多最奇妙的東西都在眼前閃動。這東西是圓錐形的，參差不齊，顏色像珍珠或者說像象牙。一開始差不多她正好在這東西上面，簡直分辨不出那是什么， 等看到這東西的影子才一清二楚。陽光照過露茜的肩膀，那東西的影子就停留在它后面的沙地上?？葱螤钕袷羌忭敗⒓馑蛨A頂?shù)挠白印?br /> “Why !—it’s a city or a huge castle，”said Lucy to herself .“But I wonder why they’ve built it on top of a high mountain ?”
“哎呀!原來這是座城，或者是座很大的城堡。”露茜自言自語， “可是為什么要建在高山頂上呢?”
Long afterwards when she was back in England and talked all these adventures over with Edmund，they thought of a reason and I am pretty sure it is the true one.In the sea，the deeper you go， the darker and colder it gets，and it is down there，in the dark and cold，that dangerous things live—the squid and the Sea Serpent and the Kraken.The valleys are the wild，unfriendly places. The sea-people feel about their valleys as we do about mountains， and feel about their mountains as we feel about valleys.It is on the heights(or，as we would say，“in the shallows”)that there is warmth and peace.The reckless hunters and brave knights of the sea go down into the depths on quests and adventures，but return home to the heights for rest and peace，courtesy and council，the sports，the dances and the songs.
"回到英國很久之后，露茜跟愛德蒙談起這段奇遇，他們推測出一個原因，我也相信事實就是如此。

越往前走海底越深，就越黑，越冷。像大烏賊、大海蛇、巨妖， 這些危險的怪物就住在又深又黑又冷的地方。眾所周知，山谷多是荒野，并且非常兇險。海人對海底山谷的看法就像我們對高山的看法一樣，而我們對海底山谷的看法也和海人對高山的看法也一樣。在高處( 或者按我們的說法是“在淺處”) 才又暖和又寧靜。海底那些魯莽的獵人和勇敢的騎士到深海去探險獵奇，然后回到家里休息，與人交往，開會議事，娛樂健身，唱歌跳舞。
"
They had passed the city and the sea-bed was still rising. It was only a few hundred feet below the ship now.The road had disappeared.They were sailing above an open park-like country， dotted with little groves of brightly—coloured vegetation.And then—Lucy nearly squealed aloud with excitement—she had seen People.
這條船開過城市的時候，海底不斷在升高?，F(xiàn)在海底離船下只有幾百英尺了，那條路也不見了。這條船現(xiàn)在正在一片公園般空曠的地方的上面航行，地上點綴著一簇簇色彩鮮艷的草木。于是露茜興奮得差點高聲尖叫起來!她終于看見人了。
There were between fifteen and twenty of them，and all mounted on sea-horses—not the tiny little sea-horses which you may have seen in museums but horses rather bigger than themselves.They must be noble and lordly people，Lucy thought，for she could catch the gleam of gold on some of their foreheads and streamers of emerald—or orange—coloured stuff fluttered from their shoulders in the current.Then：
有十五個人到二十個人，他們?nèi)T在海馬上——不是博物館里人們所看到的那種小海馬，而是比他們高得多的海馬。露茜心想，他們一定是王公貴族，因為她一眼就能看見水里的有些人腦門上金光閃閃，翠綠色的飄帶或橙紅色的流蘇在肩上飄動。
“Oh，bother these fish !”said Lucy，for a whole shoal of small fat fish，swimming quite close to the surface，had come between her and the Sea People.But though this spoiled her view it led to the most interesting thing of all.Suddenly a fierce little fish of a kind she had never seen before came darting up from below， snapped，grabbed，and sank rapidly with one of the fat fish in its mouth.And all the Sea People were sitting on their horses staring up at what had happened.They seemed to be talking and laughing. And before the hunting fish had got back to them with its prey， another of the same kind came up from the Sea People.And Lucy was almost certain that one big Sea Man who sat on his sea-horse in the middle of the party had sent it or released it;as if he had been holdng it back till then in his hand or on his wrist.
"忽然，露茜說：“哦，這些魚真討厭!”因為一群小肥魚跟水面貼得很近，擋在她和海人之間。這樣一來雖說掃了興致，卻讓她看到了更有趣的事。

一條她沒見過的小魚冷不防從水底跳出來，猛地咬住一條肥魚不放，迅速沉到水下。海人都騎在海馬上，一抬頭就看到了這一幕。他們還有說有笑地，那條小魚并沒有帶著獵物回到他們身邊，有一條同樣的小魚又從海人身邊跳出水面。露茜基本上肯定是中間那個騎著海馬的高個子把這些小魚放出去的。因為剛才那些兇猛的小魚好像就架在他手里和手腕上。
"
“Why，I do declare，”said Lucy，“it’s a hunting party.Or more like a hawking party.Yes，that’s it.They ride out with these little fierce fish on their wrists just as we used to ride out with falcons on our wrists when we were Kings and Queens at Cair Paravel long ago.And then they fly them—or I suppose I should say swim them—at the others.How—”
“啊，我明白了，”露茜說，“原來這是一支狩獵隊啊，不過倒更像一支放鷹打獵隊。是的，就是這樣。他們手腕上戴著兇猛的小魚，騎海馬出來，就像我們很久以前在凱爾帕拉維爾當(dāng)國王和女王的時候，手腕上架著獵鷹，騎馬出去一樣。見到獵物就放飛獵鷹—— 確切地說是放獵魚游向獵物。”
She stopped suddenly because the scene was changing.The Sea People had noticed the Dawn Treader.The shoal of fish hard scattered in every direction：the People themselves were coming up to find out the meaning of this big，black thing which had come between them and the sun.And now they were so close to the surface that if they had been in air，instead of water，Lucy could have spoken to them.There were men and women both.All wore coronets of some kind and many had chains of pearls.They wore no other clothes.Their bodies were the colour of old ivory，their hair dark purple.The King in the centre(no one could mistake him for anything but the King)looked proudly and fiercely into Lucy’s face and shook a spear in his hand.His knights did the same.The faces of the ladies were filled with astonishment.Lucy felt sure they had never seen a ship or a human before—and how should they， in seas beyond the world’s end where no ship ever came ?
她突然停住了，因為一切景象突然變了。海人看到了黎明踏浪號。魚群向四處逃竄，海人也親自冒出來查看擋在太陽和他們之間的龐然大物是什么玩意兒。他們很快就貼近了水面，如果他們在水上，而不是在水里，露茜倒愿意跟他們說說話。他們有男有女，頭上都戴著某種王冠，一些人還戴著珍珠項鏈，身上沒有其他衣服，皮膚是陳年的象牙白，頭發(fā)是深紫紅色。國王在當(dāng)中( 沒人會認(rèn)錯他) 高傲而兇狠地注視著露茜，手里揮著一支長矛。他手下的騎士跟他一致行動，同行的幾位女士臉上露出驚訝的神色。露茜認(rèn)為可能之前他們根本沒見過船或人， 他們在世界盡頭之外的海洋里，根本沒有船到過那兒，又怎么會見到呢?
“What are you staring at，Lu ?”said a voice close beside her.
“你在看什么啊，露茜?”身邊有個聲音說。
Lucy had been so absorbed in what she was seeing that she started at the sound，and when she turned she found that her arm had gone“dead”from leaning so long on the rail in one position. Drinian and Edmund were beside her.
露茜看得出了神，聽到聲音嚇了一跳。她回過頭來，才發(fā)現(xiàn)全身重心壓在欄桿一邊，一條手臂早發(fā)麻了，德里寧和愛德蒙在她身邊。
“Look，”she said.
“你們看。”她說。
They both looked，but almost at once Drinian said in a low voice：
他們兩個都看了一眼，可是德里寧立刻小聲說：
“Turn round at once，your Majesties—that’s right，with our backs to the sea.And don’t look as if we were talking about anything important.”
“兩位陛下， 馬上轉(zhuǎn)過來，對，背對著大海，不要像在談?wù)撌裁创笫履前恪?rdquo;
“Why，what’s the matter ?”said Lucy as she obeyed.
“為什么，怎么了?”露茜一邊按照他說的去做，一邊問。
“It’ll never do for the sailors to see all that，”said Drinian.“We’ll have men falling in love with a sea—woman，or falling in love with the under-sea country itself，and jumping overboard.I’ve heard of that kind of thing happening before in strange seas.It’s always unlucky to see these people.”
“水手絕對不能看這些東西，”德里寧說，“看了以后，我們就會愛上海女，或者愛上海底世界，然后跳下水去。我聽說過以前在其他海域里出過這種事?？傊?，看見這些人會倒霉的。”
“But we used to know them，”said Lucy.“In the old days at Cair Paravel when my brother Peter was High King.They came to the surface and sang at our coronation.”
“可是我們在凱爾帕拉維爾時認(rèn)識他們，”露茜說，“當(dāng)時我哥哥彼得被加冕為至尊王，他們曾來到水面，為我們唱歌，祝賀我們的加冕。”
“I think that must have been a different kind，Lu，”said Edmund.“They could live in the air as well as under water.I rather think these can’t.By the look of them they’d have surfaced and started attacking us long ago if they could.They seem very fierce.”
“我想你說的肯定是另外一種海人，露茜，”愛德蒙說，“他們可以在水下生活，也可以在水上生活。我覺得這些人不能在水上生活?？此麄兊臉幼?，如果可以的話，早就冒出水面攻擊我們了，他們長得很兇。”
“At any rate，”said Drinian，but at that moment two sounds were heard.One was a plop.The other was a voice from the fighting—top shouting，“Man overboard !”Then everyone was busy.Some of the sailors hurried aloft to take in the sail;others hurried below to get to the oars;and Rhince，who was on duty on the poop，began to put the helm hard over so as to come round and back to the man who had gone overboard.But by now everyone knew that it wasn’t strictly a man.It was Reepicheep.
“總而言之……”德里寧正要開口說話，忽然聽到兩種聲響。一種是撲通聲，另一種是觀測臺上傳來一聲吼，“有人落水了!”于是，大家開始手忙腳亂地救人。有的水手爬上去落篷，有的水手跑去劃槳。在船尾值班的賴因斯開始轉(zhuǎn)舵，掉過頭開到那人落水的地方?？墒沁@時大家才發(fā)現(xiàn)落水的根本不是人，而是雷佩契普。
“Drat that mouse !”said Drinian.“It’s more trouble than all the rest of the ship’s company put together.If there is any scrape to be got into，in it will get !It ought to be put in irons—keel-hauled—marooned—have its whiskers cut off.Can anyone see the little blighter ?”
“那只老鼠太可惡了!”德里寧說，“其他人加在一起也沒它那么多的麻煩。什么麻煩事，都會有它!給它戴上腳鐐手銬，并且用繩子把它綁在船上在下面拖，不然把它的胡子剃干凈，再把它放逐到荒島上去，有人看到那個小混蛋嗎?”
All this didn’t mean that Drinian really disliked Reepicheep.On the contrary he liked him very much and was therefore frightened about him，and being frightened put him in a bad temper—just as your mother is much angrier with you for running out into the road in front of a car than a stranger would be.No one，of course， was afraid of Reepicheep’s drowning，for he was an excellent swimmer;but the three who knew what was going on below the water were afraid of those long，cruel spears in the hands of the Sea People.
說了這么一大堆并不意味著德里寧不喜歡雷佩契普。相反，他很喜歡它，所以擔(dān)心它出事。因為擔(dān)心，德里寧才發(fā)脾氣。就像你跑出去在路上迎面碰到了汽車令母親因此大發(fā)雷霆那樣，陌生人就不會這樣。當(dāng)然，雷佩契普掉進水里，誰都不擔(dān)心，因為它是個游泳高手?？墒遣碌郊从锌赡馨l(fā)生什么事的三個人卻十分緊張了，水下那些面目兇狠的海人手中拿著殺氣騰騰的長矛呢。
In a few minutes the Dawn Treader had come round and everyone could see the black blob in the water which was Reepicheep.He was chattering with the greatest excitement but as his mouth kept on getting filled with water nobody could understand what he was saying.
幾分鐘之后，黎明踏浪號掉轉(zhuǎn)了方向，大家終于看清水里那個黑乎乎的家伙就是雷佩契普。它正興高采烈地嘰嘰喳喳，可他嘴里灌滿了水，所以，大家聽不懂它在說什么。
“He’ll blurt the whole thing out if we don’t shut him up，”cried Drinian.To prevent this he rushed to the side and lowered a rope himself，shouting to the sailors，“All right，all right.Back to your places.I hope I can heave a mouse up without help.”And as Reepicheep began climbing up the rope—not very nimbly because his wet fur made him heavy—Drinian leaned over and whispered to him，
“如果不讓它閉上嘴，它可要把什么事情都說出去了。”德里寧叫道。德里寧奔向舷側(cè)，親自放下一根纜繩，對水手們喊：“行了， 行了，回到你們的崗位上去。不用人幫忙我自己能把一只老鼠拉上來。”雷佩契普從纜繩上爬了上來——行動不是很利索，因為他全身的皮毛都濕透，身體很沉重——德里寧彎下腰，對它小聲說：
“Don’t tell.Not a word.”
“別說。一個字也別說。”
But when the dripping Mouse had reached the deck it turned out not to be at all interested in the Sea People.
誰知那只濕淋淋的老鼠踏上甲板后，竟然對海人毫無興趣。
“Sweet !”he cheeped.“Sweet，sweet !”
“甜啊!”它吱吱叫道，“甜啊，甜啊!”
“What are you talking about ?”asked Drinian crossly.“And you needn’t shake yourself all over me，either.”
“你在說什么啊?”德里寧生氣地問，“不要把你身上的水抖在我身上。”
“I tell you the water’s sweet，”said the Mouse.“Sweet，fresh. It isn’t salt.”
“水真的是甜的，”老鼠說，“很甜，很鮮美，沒有鹽的苦澀。”
For a moment no one quite took in the importance of this.But then Reepicheep once more repeated the old prophecy：
一時之間，沒有人完全明白這句話的意義?？墒抢着迤跗沼种貜?fù)一遍那段古老的預(yù)言：
“Where the waves grow sweet，Doubt not，Reepicheep，There is the utter East .”
“海水變得甜又香，雷佩契普把心放，那里就是最東方。”
Then at last everyone understood.
大家這才明白過來。
“Let me have a bucket，Rynelf，”said Drinian.
“給我一個水桶，賴尼夫。”德里寧說。
It was handed him and he lowered it and up it came again.The water shone in it like glass.
賴尼夫把水桶遞到他手里，他放到海里，再吊上來。那水真的像玻璃一樣無比剔透。
“Perhaps your Majesty would like to taste it first，”said Drinian to Caspian.
“也許陛下想先品嘗一口?”德里寧對凱斯賓說。
The King took the bucket in both hands，raised it to his lips， sipped，then drank deeply and raised his head.His face was changed. Not only his eyes but everything about him seemed to be brighter.
凱斯賓國王雙手捧住水桶，舉到唇邊，淺淺啜了一口，又深深喝了一口，再抬起頭。他的臉色都變了，眼睛更加明亮，整個人精神煥發(fā)。
“Yes，”he said，“it is sweet.That’s real water，that.I’m not sure that it isn’t going to kill me.But it is the death I would have chosen—if I’d known about it till now.”
“是啊，”他說，“果然很甜。這就是真正的水啊。我不確定喝了這水會不會被毒死。不過現(xiàn)在如果是為了嘗嘗這水的味道，我倒愿意被毒死。”
“What do you mean ?”asked Edmund.
“什么意思?”愛德蒙問。
“It—it’s like light more than anything else，”said Caspian.
“這——這不是水，而是光，比任何東西都像光。”凱斯賓說。
“That is what it is，”said Reepicheep.“Drinkable light.We must be very near the end of the world now.”
“說得太對了，”雷佩契普說，“這就是光，我們現(xiàn)在一定很靠近世界的盡頭了。”
There was a moment’s silence and then Lucy knelt down on the deck and drank from the bucket.
大家沉默了一會，之后露茜在甲板上跪下，直接對著水桶喝水。
“It’s the loveliest thing I have ever tasted，”she said with a kind of gasp.“But oh—it’s strong.We shan’t need to eat anything now.”
“我長那么大還從沒嘗到這么甘甜的東西呢。”她喘著氣說，“不過，真帶勁，現(xiàn)在什么我都不想吃了。”
And one by one everybody on board drank.And for a long time they were all silent.They felt almost too well and strong to bear it;and presently they began to notice another result.As I have said before，there had been too much light ever since they left the island of Ramandu—the sun too large(though not too hot)，the sea too bright，the air too shining.Now，the light grew no less— if anything，it increased—but they could bear it.They could look straight up at the sun without blinking.They could see more light than they had ever seen before.And the deck and the sail and their own faces and bodies became brighter and brighter and every rope shone.And next morning，when the sun rose，now five or six times its old size，they stared hard into it and could see the very feathers of the birds that came flying from it.
船上的人都喝了一通，然后大家都默不作聲。他們都認(rèn)為這水簡直太奇妙了，太帶勁了，充滿能量。過了一會兒，他們又發(fā)現(xiàn)了這種海水的另一種功能。我前面說過，自從他們離開拉曼杜的島之后， 光線很強，太陽光很刺眼( 雖然還不太熱)，海面很亮，天空很燦爛。這時，亮度不僅沒有減弱，反倒是增強了，可他們竟然也能忍受。他們的眼睛現(xiàn)在可以一眨不眨地仰望太陽，能直視比之前見過的更加強烈的光線。甲板上、船帆上、他們自己臉上、身體上都更加明亮，而且越來越明亮，甚至每根纜繩都在散發(fā)著光芒。第二天早晨， 太陽升起時就比平時大了五六倍，他們盯著太陽，還能看得見從太陽上飛起的鳥的羽毛。
Hardly a word was spoken on board all that day，till about dinner-time(no one wanted any dinner，the water was enough for them)Drinian said：
整整一天，船上沒有人說過一句話。直到午餐時間，誰也不想進餐， 喝了這水大家就夠了，德里寧說：
“I can’t understand this.There is not a breath of wind.The sail hangs dead.The sea is as flat as a pond.And yet we drive on as fast as if there were a gale behind us.”
“我不明白，一絲風(fēng)都沒有，船帆都不動，海面平靜得像小池塘。可是我們的船竟然還是動力十足。”
“I’ve been thinking that，too，”said Caspian.“We must be caught in some strong current.”
“我也一直在想，”凱斯賓說，“估計我們是遇上強大的水流了。”
“H’m，”said Edmund.“That’s not so nice if the World really has an edge and we’re getting near it.”
“嗯，”愛德蒙說，“如果世界真有個邊緣的話，我們的船又正在接近邊緣，這可不太好啊。”
“You mean，”said Caspian，“that we might be just—well， poured over it ?”
“你是說，”凱斯賓說，“我們的船很有可能……嗯，就這樣流出去?”
“Yes，yes，”cried Reepicheep，clapping his paws together. “That’s how I’ve always imagined it—the World like a great round table and the waters of all the oceans endlessly pouring over the edge.The ship will tip up—stand on her head—for one moment we shall see over the edge—and then，down，down，the rush， the speed—”
“是啊，是啊，”雷佩契普拍著兩個爪子說，“我一直就是這么想的——世界像個大圓桌，各大洋的水無窮無盡地從邊上流下去。這條船會翻倒，我們都被翻倒。一會兒我們翻過邊緣就清楚了。然后就往下扎，往下飛快地沖……”
“And what do you think will be waiting for us at the bottom， eh ?”said Drinian.
“嗯，你覺得海底有什么在等我們呢?”德里寧說。
“Aslan’s country perhaps，”said the Mouse，its eyes shining.“Or perhaps there isn’t any bottom.Perhaps it goes down for ever and ever.But whatever it is，won’t it be worth anything just to have looked for one moment beyond the edge of the world.”
“應(yīng)該是阿斯蘭的國土吧，”雷佩契普眼睛閃閃發(fā)光，說，“或許沒有底，一直沖下去、沖下去、沒個頭。不管是什么，只要看一次世界盡頭外邊是什么景象，不就值得了嗎?”
“But look here，”said Eustace，“this is all rot.The world’s round—I mean，round like a ball，not like a table.”
“不過聽我說，”尤斯塔斯說，“你們說得太荒唐了。世界是圓的——我是說，像球一樣圓，不是像張桌子。”
“Our world is，”said Edmund.“But is this ?”
“我們的世界是圓的，”愛德蒙說，“可這個世界是不是呢?”
“Do you mean to say，”asked Caspian，“that you three come from a round world(round like a ball)and you’ve never told me ! It’s really too bad of you.Because we have fairy-tales in which there are round worlds and I always loved them.I never believed there were any real ones.But I’ve always wished there were and I’ve always longed to live in one.Oh，I’d give anything—I wonder why you can get into our world and we never get into yours ? If only I had the chance ! It must be exciting to live on a thing like a ball.Have you ever been to the parts where people walk about upside—down ?”
“你們的意思是說，”凱斯賓問，“你們?nèi)欢紒碜砸粋€像個球那么圓的圓圓的世界，可你們從來都沒跟我說過!太不像話了。我們的童話里的世界就是圓的，我一直很喜歡這樣的世界。但我根本不相信有什么真正的圓世界。不過我倒是希望有這種世界，而且向往在這樣的世界里生活。“哦，我愿意拿一切來換!我不知道為什么你們可以進入我們的世界，而我們卻不能進入你們的世界，要是有機會就好了!生活在一個球上一定很刺激。是你們倒立頭腳，顛倒走路的地方嗎?”
Edmund shook his head.“And it isn’t like that，”he added.“There’s nothing particularly exciting about a round world when you’re there.”
愛德蒙搖搖頭。“不是這樣的，”他說，“等你到了那種地方， 你就會覺得生活在一個球上沒有什么特別的。”