英譯現(xiàn)代散文●過戈壁 ◎ 哲中

過戈壁

Crossing the Gobi Desert

◎　哲中

◎　Zhe Zhong

茫茫的戈壁望不到邊，黃羊不落腳，馬兒不敢走。遍地鋪著尖利的石頭，步行更是困難。

The Gobi Desert was boundless, so even Mongolian gazelles and horses dared not venture into it. The desert plain, covered with sharp-edged rock fragments, was even more difficult for foot travelers to negotiate.

我呆呆地望著前方。

I stood gazing blankly into the distance.

傍晚時分，戈壁上傳來悠揚的駝鈴。一峰駱駝(身后還有一峰小駱駝)，興沖沖地向我走來。

Towards evening, the sweet jingling of camel bells was heard from across the desert. A camel, followed by a baby camel, came towards me sprightly.

駝背上沒有騎手，旁邊也不見人影。駱駝主人呢?難道它是野駱駝嗎?

No one was sitting astride the animal, nor any one standing beside it. Who was its master? Was it a wild camel?

它走向前來，拿粉紅色的舌頭舔我手背，用鼻頭拱我口袋。我拿出干糧招待它。它吃完干糧，轉(zhuǎn)身臥到地上，示意請我騎到背上。我猶豫了一下，終于騎上去。此時夕陽西去，夜幕緩緩升起。我忐忑不安，不知是悲是喜?

As it moved closer to me, it stuck out its pink tongue to lick the back of my hand and dug its snout into my pocket. I gave it a feed of the food I had brought with me for the journey. After eating, it turned to lie on the ground, motioning me to ride on it. I did accordingly after some hesitation. The sun was setting in the west and night was falling. I felt uneasy, not knowing if I was sad or happy.

戈壁之夜，繁星在頭上閃爍，月華如銀，我仿佛走進(jìn)夢中。在駝背上，我甚至產(chǎn)生懷疑，怕它對我懷著歹意。

It was a starry moonlit night on the Gobi. I felt like in a dream. Sitting astride on the camel's back, I even became suspicious, fearing that the camel might have malicious intent against me.

一夜就這么提心吊膽地過去了。

I was nervous the whole night.

第二天，太陽從東方升起，我的神經(jīng)才稍稍松弛了一些。駱駝仍然馱著我緩緩地由東向西行進(jìn)。過了戈壁，就是我此行的目的地了，但我仍然揣摩不透它的心意。

It was not until the next dawn that I became somewhat relaxed. The camel, carrying me on its back, continued to move slowly from east to west. I was to reach my destination after getting out of the Gobi, but I still couldn't figure out the camel's intention.

戈壁上突然刮起龍卷風(fēng)，我們置身風(fēng)暴當(dāng)中。天昏地暗，飛沙走石。駱駝?wù)玖⒅?，穩(wěn)如泰山，讓我藏到它身子下面，我才免遭風(fēng)沙傷害。風(fēng)沙過去了，它又馱著我繼續(xù)前行。我的心便從懷疑而至感激了。

A tornado suddenly whirled over the Gobi and we were caught in a violent storm. It turned dark all round and the fierce wind sent sands flying about and pebbles hurtling through the air. The camel, however, stood rock-firm. I hid myself under its belly so as to protect myself from the sand storm. After the sand storm passed off, the camel, with me on its back, started to move forward again. A sense of gratitude had then replaced suspicion in my heart.

走了一天一夜，已經(jīng)很疲乏了，駱駝也得休息一下。我找到了一塊洼地住下，讓駱駝到戈壁灘上去吃草。

A day and night passed and I felt tired out. And the camel was in need of a rest too. I found a low-lying place for a stopover. Then the camel went grazing at a sandy beach.

是夜云頭很低，睡夢中覺得誰在拽我褲腿。才翻身，眼前閃動著一雙雙綠幽幽的眼睛。我一骨碌從地上坐起，狼知道我沒有死，一起向我裂開大嘴。這時遠(yuǎn)處一聲怒吼，在那邊吃草的駱駝沖過來，和狼廝打到一塊。三頭狼，一頭被咬死，一頭受傷，一頭嚇跑了。駱駝將我攬到身邊，像是怕狼再來吃我。我撲到它身上，一個勁地親。

It was a night with clouds hanging low. I was roused from sleep by somebody pulling me by the trouser legs. I turned over in bed and saw pairs of eerie green eyes glistening. So I sat up from the ground abruptly. Seeing that I was alive, the wolves bared their fangs ferociously. At this very moment, the camel rushed with an angry roar from its grazing land to fight the wolves. Consequently, one of the three wolves was bitten to death, another was injured and still another fled through fear. The camel then took care to keep me close to itself for fear that the wolves might come again to attack me. I threw myself on it and kissed it vigorously.

經(jīng)過五天五夜，我們走出了戈壁。和駱駝分別時，我有許多話要說，但它不懂，只好擺擺手走了。我走了很遠(yuǎn)，它還站在原地向我凝望。

We were out of the Gobi five days and nights later. At parting, there were many things I could have said to the camel, but I refrained because it could never understand human speech. All I did was walk away waving my hand. After walking a long way off, I still saw it stand fixing its eyes on me.

到了目的地，友人說，馱我過戈壁的駱駝的主人，是塔吉克的牧駝人。

On reaching my destination, a friend of mine there told me the camel that had carried me across the Gobi belonged to a Tajik trainer of camels.

“牧駝人呢?我沒有見到他呀!”我很詫異。

“Where is he? I haven't seen him yet,”I asked in astonishment.

“老牧駝人要是活著，也該有幾百上千歲了。”

“If the old herdsman were still alive, he should be several hundred or even more than a thousand years old.”

“他有后代嗎?”

“How about his descendants?”

“他有兒子、孫子、重孫，子子孫孫，都在戈壁上牧駝。”

“He had sons, grandsons and grand grandsons — all of them looking after camels on the Gobi.”

“老人家怎么把駱駝馴養(yǎng)得這么聽話?”

“How did the old man manage to raise and train the camels until they were so tame and gentle?”

“這話奇怪。老人家沒有馴養(yǎng)出來這樣的駱駝，你能走過戈壁嗎?”

“Well, had it not been for the old herdsman, you wouldn't be able to cross the Gobi, would you?”

回來的路上，我又騎上那峰駱駝。

On my return trip over the Gobi, I rode on the same camel.

到了戈壁才發(fā)現(xiàn)，隨身帶的水壺忘了裝水。沒有飲水，這長長的戈壁怎么過去?這里的太陽火爐一樣，烤得我渾身冒汗，口干得張不開。頭一天熬過去了，第二天處于半昏迷狀態(tài)，第三天一頭栽倒在戈壁上。

I realized on my arrival at the Gobi that I had forgotten to replenish my canteen with water, which was indispensable for travelers on the Gobi. Under the scorching sun, I was sweating all over and my mouth was parched. I managed to pull through on the first day, I had fainting fits on the second day, and I fell onto the ground on the third day.

昏睡中我感到嘴唇濕潤濕潤的，有一股泉水往嘴里流。我貪婪地喝著，體內(nèi)的血液迅速奔涌起來。好容易，我半睜開眼睛，看到跟前坐著一個漢子?？闯瞿鞘悄贻p的牧駝人。他身后臥著一片黑壓壓的駱駝。我想站起來，腿不聽使喚，激動之后，我又昏迷了過去。

I fell into a lethargic state. My lips became moistened through water being poured into my mouth. As I was gulping it down greedily, blood flowed rapidly through my body. It was with difficulty that I managed to have my eyes half opened. Then I saw a man sitting in front of me. I could tell that he was a herdsman. Behind him was a dark mass of camels lying on the ground. I wanted to rise to my feet, but my legs gave way. At the end of my excitement, I turned lethargic again.

第二天，牧駝人和駱駝不見了，唯有馱我的駱駝仍站在身旁守候。由于飲了水，體力恢復(fù)了許多，水壺里也灌滿了水，我又能騎著駱駝上路了。

The next day, the herdsman and his camels were nowhere to be found. Only the camel that had carried me across the Gobi was standing beside me, keeping watch. After drinking the water, I felt very much recovered physically. And the canteen had also been filled with water. So I resumed my journey astride the camel.

駝鈴聲聲，在廣袤的戈壁上空回蕩。

The jingling bells of my camel echoed through the boundless Gobi.

那是經(jīng)人飼馴的專門載著旅客走戈壁的“沙漠之舟”呀，可不是野駱駝。

It was not a wild camel, but a camel known as the“ship of the desert”that had been raised and trained specifically to carry travelers across the Gobi.

哲中(1933—　)，安徽省肥東縣人，當(dāng)代作家，1959年于中國人民大學(xué)法律系畢業(yè)后，志愿赴新疆工作。著有小說散文集《天山的陽光》、長篇游記《一個神秘世界的見聞》、散文集《大漠的歌》等。所著《過戈壁》一文選自1986年10月14日《人民日報》。