连姆·尼森 | 朗读《极地特快》

On Christmas Eve, many years ago, I lay quietly in my bed. I did not rustle the sheets. I breathed slowly and silently. I was listening for a sound - a sound a friend had told me I'd never hear - the ringing bells of Santa's sleigh.

在多年前的平安夜里，我平静地躺在我的床上。我没有把被单弄得窸窣作响。我缓慢而安静地呼吸。我正在倾听一种声音--一个朋友曾经告诉我，我不会听到的一种声音--圣诞老人雪橇车上的铃铛声。

"There is no Santa," my friend had insisted, but I knew he was wrong.

“世上没有圣诞老人，”我朋友坚称，但是我知道他是错的。

Later that night I did hear sounds, though not of ringing bells. From outside came the sounds of hissing steam and squeaking metal. I looked through my window and saw a train standing perfectly still in front of my house.

后来，在那天晚上，我的确听到了一些声音，虽然不是摇铃声。从外面而来的蒸汽的嘶嘶声以及金属的嘎吱声。我透过窗户看，看到一辆在我的屋子前面彻底地停滞不前的火车。

It was wrapped in an apron of steam. Snowflakes fell lightly around it. A guard stood at the open door of one of the cars. He took a large pocket watch from his jacket, then looked up at my window. I put on my slippers and dressing-gown. I tiptoed downstairs and out of the door.

它被蒸汽做成的围裙所包围着。雪花轻轻地落在它附近。一个列车长站在其中一节车厢的门口。他从外套里面拿出一块大的怀表，然后看向我的窗户。我穿上拖鞋和晨袍。我踮着脚走下楼，走到门外。

"All aboard," the guard cried out. I ran up to him.

“请上车，”列车长大喊。我跑到他面前。

"Well," he said, "are you coming?"

“哟，”他说，“你要来吗?”

"Where?" I asked.

“去哪里?”我问。

"Why, to the North Pole of course," was his answer. "This is the Polar Express." I took his outstretched hand and he pulled me aboard.

“为什么问，当然是去北极，”是他的回答。“这是极地快车。”我抓住他张开的手，他把我拉上车。

The train was filled with other children, all in their pyjamas and nightgowns. We sang Christmas carols and ate sweets with nougat centres as white as snow. We drank hot cocoa as thick and rich as melted chocolate bars. Outside, the lights of towns and villages flickered in the distance as the Polar Express raced northwards.

火车上满是其他孩子们，都穿上他们的睡衣和长睡袍。我们唱圣诞颂歌，吃里面有雪白牛轧糖的甜品。我们喝浓厚得像融化的巧克力棒一样的热可可。外面，在极地快车高速驶向北面的时候，城镇和乡村的光在远处快速移动。

Soon there were no more lights to be seen. We travelled through cold, dark forests, where lean wolves roamed and white-tailed rabbits hid from our train as it thundered through the quiet wilderness.

很快就看不到任何光了。我们经过寒冷漆黑的森林，那里有瘦狼漫步，有在火车隆隆地驶过安静荒漠之时隐藏起来的白尾巴兔子。

We climbed mountains so high it seemed as if we would scrape the moon. But the Polar Express never slowed down. Faster and faster we ran along, rolling over peaks and through valleys like a car on a roller coaster.

我们爬过山的高处，高到我们似乎能蹭到月亮一样。然而极地快车从来没有减速过。我们越走越快，像云霄飞车的车厢一样，在山峰和山谷中翻滚。

The mountains turned into hills, the hills to snow-covered plains. We crossed a barren desert of ice - the Great Polar Ice Cap. Lights appeared in the distance. They looked like the lights of a strange ocean liner sailing on a frozen sea. "There," said the guard, "is the North Pole."

山变成小山，小山再到平原。我们横穿过贫瘠的冰荒漠--伟大的极地冰帽。远处有光出现。他们看起来像是在冰海中航行的奇怪海上邮轮的光。“那里，”列车长说，“是北极。”

The North Pole. It was a huge city standing alone at the top of the world, filled with factories where every Christmas toy was made.

北极。它是独自站在世界顶部的一座巨大城市，充满了制造所有圣诞礼物的工厂。

At first we saw no elves.

刚开始，我们没有看到精灵。

"They are gathering at the centre of the city," the guard told us. "That is where Santa will give the first gift of Christmas."

“他们都集合在这个城市的中心，”列车长告诉我们。“那里就是圣诞老人将要给出圣诞节第一份礼物的地方。”

"Who receives the first gift?"

“谁会收到第一份礼物?”

The guard answered, "He will choose one of you."

列车长回答，“他会在你们之中选一个。”

"Look," shouted one of the children, "the elves," Outside we saw hundreds of elves. As our train drew closer to the centre of the North Pole, we slowed to a crawl, so crowded were the streets with Santa's helpers. When the Polar Express could go no farther, we stopped and the guard led us outside.

“看，”其中一个小孩大喊，“精灵，”我们看到外面有成百上千只精灵。由于我们的火车驶近北极的中心，我们减速到缓慢蠕动，圣诞老人的助手们让街道如此拥挤。在极地快车不能走得更远的时候，我们停下来了，列车长把我们带到外面。

We pressed through the crowd to the edge of a large, open circle. In front of us stood Santa's sleigh. The reindeer were excited. They pranced and paced, ringing the silver sleigh bells that hung from their harnesses. It was a magical sound, like nothing I'd ever heard. Across the circle, the elves moved apart and Santa Claus appeared. The elves cheered wildly.

我们把人群压成一个大的开圆圈。在我们前面的是圣诞老人的雪橇。驯鹿很兴奋。他们又蹦又跳、来回踱步，弄响了挂在马具上的银雪橇铃。那是一种迷人的声音，一种我从来没听过的声音。圆圈的另一边，精灵们移开，圣诞老人出现了。精灵们激烈地欢呼。

He marched over to us and, pointing to me, said, "Let's have this fellow here," He jumped into his sleigh. The guard helped me up. I sat on Santa's knee and he asked, "Now, what would you like for Christmas?"

他向我们走来，指着我，说:“我们有请这男孩，”他跳上他的雪橇。列车长帮助我上雪橇。我坐在圣诞老人的膝盖上，他问，“现在，圣诞节，你有什么东西想要的?”

I knew that I could have any gift I could imagine. But the thing I wanted most for Christmas was not inside Santa's giant bag. What I wanted more than anything was one silver bell from Santa's sleigh. When I asked, Santa smiled. Then he gave me a hug and told an elf to cut a bell from a reindeer's harness. The elf tossed it up to Santa. He stood, holding the bell high above him, and called out, "The first gift of Christmas!"

我知道我能得到任何我所想的做礼物。但是在圣诞节我最想要的那东西不在圣诞老人巨大的袋子里面。比起任何东西，我更想要的是圣诞老人雪橇上的一只银铃铛。我请求的时候，圣诞老人微笑了。然后他给我一个拥抱，他告诉精灵从驯鹿的马具上剪下一个铃铛。精灵向上扔给圣诞老人。他站起来，把铃铛举得比他自己高，大喊，“圣诞节的第一份礼物!”

A clock struck midnight as the elves roared the approval, Santa handed the bell to me, and I put it in my dressing-gown pocket. The guard helped me down from the sleigh. Santa shouted out the reindeers' names and cracked his whip. His team charged forward and climbed into the air. Santa circled once above us, then disappeared in the cold, dark polar sky.

当精灵们高呼赞同的时候，午夜的钟声响起，圣诞老人把铃铛递给我，我把它放在我的睡衣口袋里。列车长帮我从雪橇下来。圣诞老人喊出驯鹿的名字，猛抽他的鞭子。他的队伍向前冲去，爬到空中。圣诞老人在我们上方盘旋了一圈，然后消失在寒冷黑暗的极地上空。

As soon as we were back inside the Polar Express, the other children asked to see the bell. I reached into my pocket, but the only thing I felt was a hole. I had lost the silver bell from Santa Claus's sleigh. "Let's hurry outside and look for it," one of the children said. But the train gave a sudden lurch and started moving. We were on our way home.

我们一回到极地快车里面，其他小孩子就请求看一下铃铛。我伸向我的口袋，但是我唯一能感受到的是一个洞。我已经丢失了从圣诞老人雪橇来的银铃铛。“我们赶快到外面去找找。”有一个小孩说道。但是火车突然一下蹒跚，并开始移动了。我们在回家的路上了。

It broke my heart to lose the bell. When the train reached my house, I sadly left the other children. I stood at my doorway and waved goodbye. The guard said something from the moving train but I couldn't hear him. "What?" I yelled out.

铃铛丢失了，我很伤心。在火车到达我家的时候，我难过地离开了其他小孩。我站在家门口，挥手告别。列车长在行动中的火车上说了些什么，但是我听不到。“什么?”我大喊。

He cupped his hands around his mouth. "MERRY CHRISTMAS," he shouted. The Polar Express let out a loud blast from its whistle and sped away.

他窝起两只手围着嘴巴。“圣诞快乐，”他喊道。极地快车发出一来自汽笛的响亮气流声，并迅速离开。

On Christmas morning my little sister Sarah and I opened our presents. When it looked as if everything had been unwrapped, Sarah found one last small box behind the tree. It had my name on it. Inside was the silver bell! There was a note: "Found this on the seat of my sleigh. Mend that hole in your pocket." Signed, "Mr C."

在圣诞节早上，妹妹塞拉和我拆开我们的礼物。当看起来所有东西都仿佛被拆开的时候，塞拉找到了在树下的最后一个小盒子。盒子上面有我的名字。里面是一个银铃铛!有一张小纸条:“在我的雪橇上发现这个铃铛。补上你口袋上的洞吧。”署名，“C先生。”

I shook the bell. It made the most beautiful sound my sister and I had ever heard.

我摇起铃铛。它发出妹妹和我听到过最美妙的声音。

But my mother said, "Oh, that's too bad."

但是我妈妈说，“噢，太糟糕了。”

"Yes," said my father, "it's broken."

“对，”我爸爸说，“它坏了。”

When I'd shaken the bell, my parents had not heard a sound.

在我摇起铃铛的时候，父母听不到任何铃声。

At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe.

曾经有一段时间，我的大多数朋友都可以听到铃声，但随着岁月的流逝，铃铛于所有的人变得无声了。即使是塞拉，在一个圣诞节，也发觉到自己再也听不到悦耳的铃声。虽然我已经变老，铃铛仍然会为我响起，正如它会为所有真正相信着的人响起一样。