21天英文《海鸥乔纳森》-Day 16

乔纳森劝说驱逐的海鸥回家 打破规则

Day 16

①“Your whole body, from wingtip to wingtip,” Jonathan would say, othertimes, “is nothing more than your thought itself, in a form you can see. Breakthe chains of your thought, and you break the chains of your body, too...” But nomatter how he said it, it sounded like pleasant fiction, and they needed moreto sleep.

“你们整个身体，从这边翼梢到那边翼梢，”又有一次乔纳森又这么说，“就是你们的思想本身，只不过变成了你们肉眼看得见的形式罢了。打破了思想的枷锁，也就同时打破了身体的枷锁……”但不管他怎么说，听起来倒像是好听的故事，可他们更需要的却是睡觉。

② It was only a month later that Jonathan said the time had come toreturn to the Flock.

刚过了一个月，乔纳森就说，现在该回到群里去了。

③ “We’re not ready!” said Henry Calvin Gull. “We’re not welcome! We’reOutcast! We can’t force ourselves to go where we’re not welcome, can we?”

“我们还没准备好呢！”海鸥亨利·卡尔文说。“我们不会受到欢迎的！我们都是弃儿！我们总不能强迫自己到不受欢迎的地方去，对不对？”

④ “We’re free to go where we wish and to be what we are,” Jonathananswered, and he lifted from the sand and turned east, toward the home groundsof the Flock.

“我们有自由想去哪儿就去哪儿，想成为什么就成为什么。”乔纳森回答。说罢，就从沙滩上起飞，朝向东方，朝向鸥群的栖居之地飞去。

·       ⑤ There was brief anguish among his students, for it is theLaw of the Flock that an Outcast never returns, and the Law had not been brokenonce in ten thousand years. The Law said stay; Jonathan said go; and by now hewas a mile across the water. If they waited much longer, he would reach ahostile  /ˈhɑstl/Flock alone.

一时间学生们都很苦恼，因为鸥群的法律规定，一旦成了弃儿，就永远不能回去。一万年来，这条法律从来没有被违背过。法律说留下；乔纳森说走；而这时他已经飞出海面一英里了。如果他们再在这儿呆下去，那他只好单身去对付那满怀敌意的海鸥群了。

⑥ “Well, we don’t have to obey the law if we’re not a part of theFlock, do we?” Fletcher said, rather self- consciously. “Besides, if there’s afight we’ll be a lot more help there than here.”’

“呃，我们既然不是群里的成员，也就用不着遵守群里的法律；对不对？”弗莱契说，似乎有点不好意思，“再说，要是打起来，我们在那儿总比在这儿有用得多。”

⑦ And so they flew in from the west that morning, eight of them in adouble-diamond formation, wingtips almost overlapping. They came across theFlock’s Council Beach at a hundred thirty-five miles per hour, Jonathan in thelead. Fletcher smoothly at his right wing, Henry Calvin struggling gamely athis left. Then the whole formation rolled slowly to the right, as one bird...level... to... inverted... to... level, the wind whipping over them all.

这样，他们八只海鸥排成双菱形队形，彼此的冀消几乎相重，在那天早晨一起飞向东方。他们以一百三十英里的时速，穿过鸥群会议的海滩。乔纳森领头，弗莱契平稳地飞在他的右翼，亨利·卡尔文雄赳赳地在他的左翼紧跟。然后，整个队形慢慢向右翻滚，动作像一只鸟儿……水平飞行……翻身倒飞……，又是水平飞行，海风像鞭子似地打在他们每一个身上。

⑨ The squawks and grockles of everyday life in the Flock were cut offas though the formation were a giant knife, and eight thousand gull-eyeswatched, without a single blink. One by one, each of the eight birds pulledsharply upward into a full loop and flew all the way around to a dead-slowstand-up landing on the sand. Then as though this sort of thing happened everyday, Jonathan Seagull began his critique of the flight.

鸥群中吵吵嚷嚷、熙来攘往的日常生活突然中断，仿佛这个飞来的队形是把巨刀，当头向他们劈了下来。八千只眼睛盯着看，连眨也不眨一下。八只海鸥，一个接一个，陡直向上跃升，翻了个斤斗，又兜了个圈子，以极慢的速度，直立着降落在沙滩上。接着，海鸥乔纳森开始讲评这次飞行，好像这样的事每天都发生一样。

·       ⑩ “To begin with,” he said with a wry  /raɪ/  smile, “you were all a bitlate on the join-up...”

“第一点，”他苦笑着说，“你们全都跟得慢了点儿……”

 It went like lightning through theFlock. Those birds are Outcast! And they have returned! And that... that can’thappen! Fletcher’s predictions of battle melted in the Flock’s confusion.

鸥群里起了闪电般的反应。来的都是弃儿！他们回来了！而这……这是不可能的事！由于鸥群的混乱，弗莱契关于发生战斗的预言没有应验。