牛津書蟲系列 格列佛游記 10 The flying island of Laputa

10 The flying island of Laputa

10 勒皮他飛島

I had only been at home for about ten days when a friend of mine asked me to join him on a journey to the East Indies.I still wanted to see more of the world，and as he was offering to give me double the usual pay，I managed to per-suade my wife to let me go.The voyage took eight months，and after stopping for a short time in Malaysia，we arrived in the Gulf of Tongking.

我在家里呆了只有10天，就有一個朋友請我加入他的到東印度群島的旅行。我仍然想見更多的世面，而且他給我高出平常兩倍的報酬，我說服了妻子讓我去。航行了8個月，在馬來西亞短暫停留之后，我們到達了東京灣。

‘I'll have to stay here for a while on business，’my friend the captain told me.‘But you can take the ship and some of the sailors.Go and see what you can buy and sell in the islands around here.’That sounded interesting to me，so I agreed.

“由于生意關(guān)系，我需要在這兒停一陣，”我的船長朋友對我說，“不過你可以用這只船和幾個水手，去周圍的島嶼轉(zhuǎn)轉(zhuǎn)，看你能買賣些什么。”這對我來說挺有意思，所以我就同意了。

Unfortunately，we sailed straight into a terrible storm，which drove us many miles eastward.Then，by a very unlucky chance，we were seen and chased by two pirate ships.Our ship was not fast enough to escape，and the pirates caught us.They decided to keep the sailors to help sail the ship，but they did not need me.I suppose I was lucky they did not kill me.Instead，they left me alone in a small boat in the middle of the ocean，with only enough food for a few days，while they sailed away.

不幸的是，我們徑直駛進了一個可怕的風暴中，風暴將我們向東刮了許多英里。然后，由于極為不幸的巧合，我們被兩只海盜船發(fā)現(xiàn)而被追逐。我們的船不夠快，逃不了，海盜們抓住了我們。他們決定留下水手幫他們駕船，可是他們不需要我。我料想我真走運他們沒有殺我。他們把我獨自留在汪洋大海中的一只小船里，食物只夠吃幾天，他們自己則揚帆而去。

I am sure the pirates thought I would die.However，I saw land some hours later，and I managed to sail the boat to it.As I stepped out of the boat and walked up the beach，I noticed that although the sun had been very hot，the air suddenly seemed cooler.At first I thought a cloud was passing over the sun But when I looked up，I saw，to my great astonishment，a large island in the sky，between me and the sun.It was moving towards me，and there were people running around on it.I waved my arms and shouted as loudly as possible.‘Help!Help!’I cried.‘Rescue me!’

我敢肯定海盜們以為我必死無疑，但是，幾個小時以后我看見了陸地，我讓小船駛過去。當我跨出小船，走上海灘，我注意到盡管太陽很熱，空氣卻突然變涼了。起初我還以為是云遮了太陽，但是當我一抬頭，令我極為驚訝的是，我看見天空中有一個大島在我和太陽之間，它正向我移來，上面有人在四處跑動。我揮著手臂，盡可能大聲地喊。“救命!救命!”我叫道。“救救我!”

When the island was about a hundred metres over my head，they let down a seat on a chain.I sat on it，and was pulled up to the island.I had discovered the flying island of Laputa.

當島嶼在我頭上大約100米高時，他們放下一個拴在鏈條上的坐椅。我坐在上面，被拉上了島嶼。我發(fā)現(xiàn)了勒皮他飛島。

Laputans are certainly strange-looking people.Their heads always turn either to right or left：one of their eyes turns in-wards，the other upwards.Their main interests are music and mathematics.They spend so much time thinking abut mathe-matical problems that they do not notice what is happening around them.In fact，rich Laputans employ a servant whose job is to follow his master everywhere The servant warns him if he is going to step into a hole，and reminds him to reply if someone speaks to him.

勒皮他人絕對是長相奇怪的人。他們的頭總是或者向左或者向右轉(zhuǎn)，他們的眼睛一只朝里一只朝外。他們的主要興趣是音樂和數(shù)學，他們把大部分時間都花在思考數(shù)學問題上，以致于他們周圍發(fā)生的事他們都沒注意到。事實上，富有的勒皮他人請了個仆人，職責就是跟著主人到處走。仆人警示他是否要踩進坑里，如果有人跟他說話則提醒他回答。

I was taken to see the King，but had to wait for at least an hour while he struggled with a difficult mathematical question.However，when he had finished，he spoke politely to me，and ordered his servants to show me to a room.For dinner they gave me three kinds of meat—a square of beef，a triangle of chicken and a circle of lamb Even the bread was cut into mathematical shapes in the evening a teacher arrived to help me learn the language，and in a few days I was able to make conversation with the island people.

我被帶去見國王，可是我不得不等了至少一個小時，因為他在思考一個很難的數(shù)學問題。不過在他完成以后，他對我說話很禮貌，叫他的仆人帶我去一個房間。晚餐他們給了我3種肉——一塊方形牛肉、一塊三角形雞肉和一塊圓形羊肉。甚至面包也是切成了數(shù)學形狀。晚上一個教師來教我學他們的語言，幾天后我就能夠跟島民交談了。

Laputa is a circle of land，about eight kilometres across，covered with houses and other buildings.It is moved by a sim-ple machine which uses magnets to pull the island closer to land or push it higher into the sky.The island always moves slowly.It can only fly over the country called Balnibarbi，which belongs to the King of Laputa.

勒皮他是一個圓形陸地，直徑大約8公里，上面建有房屋和其他建筑。勒皮他島用一個簡單的機器移動，通過磁力把島拉近地面或者是推向高空。這個島總是慢慢地移動，它只能在一個叫巴爾尼巴比的國土上飛，那是屬于勒皮他國王的。

It is difficult talking to Laputans，as they have little interest in anything except music and mathematics.They are，howev-er，very worried about the future of the earth，the sun，and the stars，and they often discuss this.I heard a conversation about this shortly before I left Laputa.

跟勒皮他人談話很困難，因為他們對除了音樂和數(shù)學之外的事沒有興趣。但是他們對地球、太陽和星星的未來很是擔憂，經(jīng)常討論。在我快要離開勒皮他之前我聽到了關(guān)于這事的談話。

‘How are you，my friend?’one man asked another.

“你怎么樣，我的朋友?”一個人對另一個問好。

‘As well as can be expected，’ came the reply.

“和預(yù)計的差不多。”他回答。

‘And how is the sun，do you think?’

“太陽怎么樣，你覺得?”

‘I thought he looked rather feverish this morning.I'm afraid he'll get too hot and destroy himself one day，if he goes on like this.’

“我覺得今天早上他看起來有點發(fā)燒。如果繼續(xù)下去，我擔心他有朝一日會太燙而毀了自己。”

‘I know，it's very worrying.And what about the earth?It's only thirty years until the next falling star comes this way， and the earth was very nearly destroyed by the last one!’

“我知道，他確實令人擔心，地球怎么樣?只有30年下一個流星就會掉過來，而上次差點把地球都毀滅了!”

‘That's right.We know that the next falling star is almost certain to get too close to the sun，and catch fire!And when the earth passes through that fire，it'll be destroyed immedi-ately!’

“對，我們知道下一個掉下來的星星幾乎肯定會與太陽靠得太近而著火。地球從火中穿過就會立即被摧毀!”

‘Only thirty years!That's not much to look forward to，is it?’And the two men shook their heads sadly. 址After several months on the island，I asked if I could visit the country underneath us.The King agreed，and ordered his officials to put me down on Balnibarbi，and show me round the capital，Lagado.

“只有30年!不用等多長時間，對吧?”兩個人憂傷地搖著頭。在島上幾個月后，我問我是否可以去拜訪我們下面的國土。國王同意了，他命令他的官員把我放到下面的巴爾尼巴比，帶我參觀都城拉格多。

The most interesting place I saw there was the university，which was full of very clever men，with very clever ideas.They were all working hard to find better，faster，cheaper，easier ways of doing and making things.They had ideas for building houses from the roof downwards，turning rocks into soft material，making rivers run uphill，and saving sunshine in bottles.I cannot remember half of the astonishingly clever ideas which they were working on.One day，they told me，they would find the answers to all these problems，and then their country would be the most wonderful place in the world.Meanwhile，I noticed that the people looked hungry and mis-erable.Their clothes were old and full of holes，their houses were badly built and falling down.There were no vegetables or corn growing in the fields.

我在那兒看到的最有意思的地方是大學，那里極為聰明的人才濟濟一堂，想法也是極為聰明。他們都在努力工作以尋求更好、更快、更廉價、更簡便的方法做事或制造東西。他們的主意有從屋頂向下建造房屋，把石頭變成軟物質(zhì)、讓河流上山坡、把陽光儲蓄在瓶子里。他們正在醞釀著的令人驚詫不已的聰明想法我一半也記不祝有一天，他們告訴我，他們將會找到所有這些問題的答案，那時他們的國家將是世界上最美妙的地方。同時，我注意到人們饑餓而可憐，他們的衣眼陳舊，滿是破洞，他們的房子建造得很差，快要坍塌。田野里也沒有蔬菜或谷物生長。

When I visited the School of Mathematics，I could not un-derstand why the students looked so unhappy.

我訪問數(shù)學院時，我不理解學生們?yōu)槭裁纯雌饋砟敲床婚_心。

‘What's the matter，young man?’I asked one of them.‘You look quite ill.’

“怎么回事，年輕人?”我問其中一個，“你看起來病得利害。”

‘Yes，sir，he answered.‘You see，we've only just eaten our lessons for today，and it's made us feel rather sick.’

“是的，先生。”他回答說，“你看，我們只是吃了今天的課程，這令我們感到有點生病似的。”

‘Eaten them?’I repeated in surprise.‘Why did you do that?’

“吃課程?”我驚訝地重復(fù)，“你們?yōu)槭裁茨菢幼?”

‘Oh，that's the way we learn here，sir，’he replied.‘Our professors write mathematical questions and answers on paper，then we eat the paper.After that we're only supposed to have bread and water for three days，while the information moves upwards to our heads.But it's awful，sir，not eating much for three days.And we often feel sick.Er…excuse me，sir!’And he ran past me out of the room.This highly developed system of teaching did not seem to be working well.

“噢，那是我們在這兒學習的方法，先生。”他回答，“我們的教授在紙上寫上數(shù)學問題和解答，然后我們把紙吃下去。這以后在信息向上進入我們的腦子的過程中，我們只能有3天的面包和水?？墒?天不吃多少東西真是可怕，先生，我們經(jīng)常感到要病倒似的。嗯……對不起，先生!”他從我身邊跑了出去。這個高度發(fā)達的教學體制似乎效果并不好。