21天读英文《海鸥乔纳森》-Day 4

乔纳森忘记平庸誓言 黑暗中独行 挑战五千英尺

Day4

 ①He felt better for hisdecision to be just another one of the Flock. There would be no ties now to theforce that had driven him to learn, there would be no more challenge and nomore failure. And it was pretty, just to stop thinking, and fly through thedark, toward the lights above the beach.

他下定决心要做鸥群里的另一只海鸥之后，心里觉得好过了一些。今后，那股驱使他去学习的力量和他没有关系了，今后，不会有什么挑战，也不会有什么失败了。一切都很美好，只要停止胡思乱想，穿越黑暗，朝着海滩上的亮处飞去，就可以了。

 ②Dark! The hollow voicecracked in alarm. Seagulls never fly in the dark!

黑暗!那个空洞的声音又惊呼起来。海鸥从来不在黑暗中飞行！

 ③Jonathan was not alertto listen. It’s pretty, he thought. The moon and the lights twinkling on thewater, throwing out little beacon-trails through the night, and all so peacefuland still...

乔纳森并不注意听。一切都那么好，他心里想。月光和灯光在海而闪亮，向黑夜散发出一串莹光，四周是这样安宁、恬静……

④ Get down! Seagulls never fly in the dark! If you were meantto fly in the dark, you’d have the eyes of an owl! You’d have charts forbrains! You’d have a falcon’s short wings!

下来!海鸥从来不在黑夜飞行！如果要你在黑夜飞行，你就该长一双猫头鹰的眼睛！你就该有航海图一样的头脑！你就该有猎鹰的短翅！

⑤There in the night, a hundred feet in the air, Jonathan LivingstonSeagull - blinked. His pain, his resolutions, vanished.

在一百英尺高空的黑夜里，海鸥乔纳森眨巴着眼睛。他的痛苦、他的决心，一下子消失了。

⑥  Short wings. A falcon’s short wings!

一对短翅。一对猎鹰的短翅！

⑦ That’s the answer! What a fool I’ve been! All I need is atiny little wing, all I need is to fold most of my wings and fly on just thetips alone! Short wings!

这就是答案！我真是个傻瓜！我缺的就是一对短小的翅膀，我该做的就是尽可能收拢双翅，只用翼梢飞行！这不就是短翅吗！

⑧ He climbed two thousand feet above the black sea, andwithout a moment for thought of failure and death, he brought his forewingstightly in to his body, left only the narrow swept daggers of his wingtipsextended into the wind, and fell into a vertical dive.

他从漆黑的海面跃升两千英尺，根本没考虑到失败和死亡。他把前翅紧贴身体，只让翼梢上狭窄的、流线形的尖端迎着风，跟着就垂直俯冲。

⑨ The wind was a monster roar at his head. Seventy miles perhour, ninety, a hundred and twenty and faster still. The wing-strain now at ahundred and forty miles per hour wasn’t nearly as hard as it had been before atseventy, and with the faintest twist of his wingtips he eased out of the diveand shot above the waves, a gray cannonball under the moon.

风像猛兽似地在他耳边怒吼。时速七十英里、九十英里、一百二十英里，越飞越快。到了时速一百四十英里，翅膀的紧张程度反倒不像七十英里时那样大了。他稍微弯曲一下翼梢，就轻而易举地改变了俯冲姿势，疾如闪电般地掠过海浪，在月光下，活像一颗灰色的炮弹。

⑩ He closed his eyes to slits against the wind and rejoiced. Ahundred forty miles per hour! And under control! If I dive from five thousandfeet instead of two thousand, I wonder how fast..

他迎着风把眼睛眯成两道细缝，内心充满了欢乐，时速一百四十英里！还能控制住！如果我不是从两千英尺，而是从五千英尺的高空往下俯冲，真不知有多快哩……

 His vows of amoment before were forgotten, swept away in that great swift wind. Yet he feltguiltless, breaking the promises he had made himself. Such promises are onlyfor the gulls that accept the ordinary. One who has touched excellence in hislearning has no need of that kind of promise.

刚刚发过的誓已经忘掉了，已被那阵疾风吹得无影无踪了。然而他并不因背弃了自己的誓言而感到内疚。只有那种没出息的海鸥才恪守那样的誓言。一个学习成绩超等的海鸥可不守那样的誓言。

 By sunup,Jonathan Gull was practicing again. From five thousand feet the fishing boatswere specks in the flat blue water, Breakfast Flock was a faint cloud of dustmotes, circling.

拂晓时分，海鸥乔纳森又在练习了。从五千英尺高空俯瞰，平静的蓝色海面上的渔船成了一个个小点。进早餐的鸥群像是一团稀薄的尘土，在慢慢地浮动。