21天读英文《海鸥乔纳森》- Day 10

天堂是什么 ？天堂不是时间也不是空间，因为时间和空间都是那么没有意义。天堂是……

Day 10

 ①He stretched his wings and turned to facethe wind. “But you, Jon,” he said, “learned so much at one time that you didn’thave to go through a thousand lives to reach this one.”

他展开翅膀，转身迎着海风。“可是你，乔，”他说，“一下子就学了这么多，你用不着经历千世就到达了这个世界。”

·       ② Ina moment they were airborne again, practicing. The formation point-roils  /rɒɪl/ weredifficult, for through the inverted half Jonathan had to think upside down,reversing the curve of his wing, and reversing it exactly in harmony with hisinstructor’s.

一会儿，他们又在天空练习飞行了。列队定点翻滚是很难学的，因为在倒转时，乔纳森得头朝下、脚朝上倒过身子思考问题，同时还要把翅膀倒弯过来，而且要弯得恰到好处，倒好与他的导师一致。

③ “Let’s try it again.” Sullivan saidover and over: “Let’s try it again.” Then, finally, “Good.” And they beganpracticing outside loops.

“咱们再练一遍，”苏利万说，说了一遍支一遍，“咱们再练一遍。”最后说了声“好”。随后他们又开始练习外圈翻飞了。

④One evening the gulls that were notnight-flying stood together on the sand, thinking. Jonathan took all hiscourage in hand and walked to the Elder Gull, who, it was said, was soon to bemoving beyond this world. “Chiang...” he said a little nervously.

一天傍晚，那些没去夜间飞行的海鸥都一起站在沙滩上默默沉思。乔纳森鼓起勇气，走到海鸥长者跟前，据说这只海鸥不久就要离开这个世界了。“江……”他开口了，有点紧张。

 ⑤The old seagull looked at him kindly.“Yes, my son?” Instead of being enfeebled by age, the Elder had been empoweredby it; he could outfly any gull in the Flock, and he had learned skills thatthe others were only gradually coming to know.

这只老海鸥慈祥地望着他。“嗯，我的孩子！”年龄并没使长者衰弱，反而使他更有力量了，他能比鸥群中任何一个都飞得快，他学会的本领，其他海鸥还只能一点一滴地慢慢理解呢。

⑥ “Chiang, this world isn’t heaven atall, is it?”

“江，这个世界根本不是天堂，对不对？”

The Elder smiled in the moonlight. “Youare learning again, Jonathan Seagull,” he said.

长者在月光下微微一笑。“你又学到了一点，乔纳森，”他说。

⑦“Well, what happens from here? Where arewe going? Is there no such place as heaven?”

“那么，离开了这里，又会怎么样呢？我们要到哪儿去？难道没有天堂这么个地方吗？”

 “No, Jonathan, there is no suchplace. Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being perfect.”He was silent for a moment. “You are a very fast flier, aren’t you?”

“对，乔纳森，没有这么个地方。天堂不是空间，也不是时间。天堂就是尽善尽美。”他沉默了片刻。“你飞得很快，对不对？”

⑧ “I... I enjoy speed,” Jonathan said,taken aback but proud that the Elder had noticed.

我…我对速度感兴趣。”乔纳森说，吃了一惊，但又感到骄傲，因为长者已经注意到他。

 “You will begin to touch heaven,Jonathan, in the moment that you touch perfect speed. And that isn’t flying athousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Becauseany number is a limit, and perfection doesn’t have limits. Perfect speed, myson, is being there.”

“乔纳森，你一达到尽善尽美的速度，也就开始到达了天堂。那并不是说飞行的速度要达到一千英里，或者一百万英里，或者达到光速。因为任何数字都是有限的、而尽善尽美是无限的。尽善尽美的速度，孩子，就是要那样。”

⑨ Without warning, Chiang vanished andappeared at the water’s edge fifty feet away, all in the flicker of an instant.Then he vanished again and stood, in the same millisecond, at Jonathan’sshoulder. “It’s kind of fun,” he said.

江一点不露声色，一闪身就不见了，跟着就在五十英尺以外的水边出现，就那么一刹那工夫。跟着他又不见了，不到千分之一秒，他又站在乔纳森肩旁。“这是闹着玩儿。”他说。

Jonathan was dazzled. He forgot to askabout heaven. “How do you do that? What does it feel like? How far can you go?”

乔纳森有点晕头转向了。他都忘了打听天堂。“你怎么作的？有什么感觉？你能飞多远？”

⑩ “You can go to any place and to anytime that you wish to go,” the Elder said. “I’ve gone everywhere and everywhenI can think of.” He looked across the sea. “It’s strange. The gulls who scornperfection for the sake of travel go nowhere, slowly. Those who put asidetravel for the sake of perfection go anywhere, instantly. Remember, Jonathan,heaven isn’t a place or a time, because place and time are so very meaningless.Heaven is...”

“你想飞多远、多快，都随你的便。”长者说，“我想去哪儿，想飞多快，只要一转念就成。”他向大海彼岸望去。“真奇怪。那些藐视尽善尽美，光想旅行的海鸥，速度极慢，哪儿也去不成。而那些把旅行置之度外，只求达到尽善尽美的海鸥，却速度极快，想去哪儿就去哪儿。记住，乔纳森，天堂不是时间也不是空间，因为时间和空间都是那么没有意义。天堂是……”