(中英)現代散文:耐力 Endurance

Endurance

耐　力

◎ Duanmu Hongliang

◎　端木蕻良

The pigeon flies high. People tie a whistle to its leg so that they can enjoy the sweet sound coming from the air.

鴿子，在天空飛著①。人們把哨子拴在它的腿上，從天空里，便飛來悠揚的哨響②。

When the pigeon circles in the clear blue sky with a speck or two of white cloud, the rises and falls of the whistling sound are indicative of the aerial somersaults performed by the bird.

天是晴朗的，只有一兩片白云。鴿子在空中盤旋。鴿子的翻騰③，從哨子發(fā)聲的波折中④，也可以聽出來。

Pigeons fly in flocks. They hover over the ancient castles in Rome. In fact, they have been hovering over them ever since Dante first met Beatrice.

鴿子一群一群地飛著，在羅馬的古堡上飛著，當但丁⑤第一次和碧蒂利采⑥相遇的時候，鴿子就在那兒飛著。

They wheel over Tian'anmen Square. In fact, they have been wheeling over it ever since the birth of the City of Beijing.

鴿子在天安門前飛著，在北京城剛剛建造起來的時候，它們就在這兒飛著。

Some pigeons have a head shaped like that of a phoenix. Their wings are either black, white or speckled, and invariably strong and vigorous.

鴿子有鳳頭的，有黑翅的，有純白的，還有帶芝麻點兒的。但，翅膀都同樣的矯健。

Their eyes glisten with love. They use their mouths to pass food to their nestlings. It is said that when the pigeon grows old, it will be fed in the same manner by the adult pigeons it has hatched and reared.

鴿子的眼睛，透著愛的光。它會把食物用嘴吐出來喂養(yǎng)小鴿子。據說鴿子老了，它孵養(yǎng)的鴿子，也會來喂養(yǎng)它……

The pigeon's wings are shorter than those of the seagull, smaller than those of the sparrow hawk and less capable of gliding in the air than those of the eagle, but, nevertheless, stronger than all...

鴿子的翅膀，沒有海鷗那么大，也沒有鷂子那么大，更沒有鷹那么會在高空中滑翔……但它的翅膀卻比它們都強……

The pigeon is a social bird, but it also flies by itself. It often covers enormous distances on its own.

鴿子是喜歡群居的⑦，但也能單獨飛行，在它完成最遠的行程的時候，常常是在單獨的情況下做到的。

It has practically nothing to eat or drink while flying long distances non-stop day and night. While in flight over the sea, it finds nothing edible or drinkable, nor a place for taking a rest until a rocky spot is in sight, which means it is nearing the other side of the sea...

在這個遠程的飛行里，它幾乎是沒有東西吃，也沒有水喝，就是不停地飛。不達到目的地不停止。鴿子橫渡海洋，白天和黑夜都不停地飛行。在海面上沒有什么可吃的，海水也是不能喝的，半途也沒有地方歇息，要是有巖石的地方，那已是到了海的那一邊了……

The camel conquers the desert while the pigeon conquers the air.

駱駝能征服沙漠，鴿子能征服天空……

The camel cannot run as fast as the horse, the pigeon cannot fly with as much agility as the petrel. But both camel and pigeon are hardy. Their endurance is such as to put to shame both the raging sandstorm and the violent typhoon.

駱駝不會像馬那樣奔馳，鴿子也不像海燕那樣遨游。但鴿子和駱駝相比，同樣都有耐力。它們的耐力是堅強的，漫卷的黃沙和兇猛的臺風在它們面前，都為之失色……⑧

Their great endurance enables them to get to any place they want to. Almost no camel succumbs to difficulties in the midst of a desert and almost no pigeon falls dead while halfway over the sea.

它們的耐力，使它們總是能到達它們要去的地方，在沙漠里幾乎找不到中途倒在沙里的駱駝⑨，在海洋里，也看不到中途跌落的鴿子。

Both camel and pigeon are very gentle, with eyes always twinkling timidly. But they never cringe from a blinding dust storm or a furious tempest...

駱駝和鴿子，同樣沒有劍拔弩張的樣子⑩，它們的眼睛都含著羞怯的光。但是它們的眼睛，從不被沙子迷住，也從不怕狂風的吹打……

The camel's hump symbolizes an arch bridge linking up the cultures of East and West. Armed with a jingling bell, it is a most reliable courier delivering most exciting messages...

駱駝的峰就是一座拱橋?，它溝通了東方和西方的文化，駝鈴是最可靠的信使，最動人的信息……

The pigeon is a most trustworthy messenger. It does the work of delivering secret intelligence to a military commander with unerring accuracy.

鴿子是最忠誠的，它能把軍事機密準確無誤地帶到指揮員的手中……

The pigeon whistle is ringing again overhead. To me, however, the whole firmament seems to pale into insignificance in comparison with the small sound.

鴿哨又在我的頭上響起來了，我聽到它，并不感到它的聲音不大，而是覺得整個天空都在它的聲音里變小了……

《耐力》是端木蕻良寫于1981年4月的一篇散文。