18贸易之城一

Trading Cities. 1.

贸易之城1

Proceeding eighty miles into the northwest wind, you reach the city of Euphemia, where the merchants商人of seven nations gather at every solstice and equinox.

迎着西北风前进80英里，你就到达了欧菲米亚城，在那里，每到夏冬至和春秋分，七个国家的商人都会聚集在这里。

The boat that lands there with a cargo货物of ginger生姜and cotton棉花will set sail again, its hold filled with pistachio nuts开心果and poppy seeds罂粟籽, and the caravan商队that has just unloaded sacks大袋of nutmegs肉豆蔻and raisins葡萄干is already cramming塞满its saddlebags鞍囊with bolts布匹卷of golden muslin平纹细布for the return journey.

运送生姜和棉花的船支，将满载着开心果和罂粟籽，再次启航；而刚刚卸下一袋袋肉豆蔻和葡萄干的马队，已经在行囊里塞满一匹匹金丝细布，准备返程了。

But what drives men to travel up rivers and cross deserts to come here is not only the exchange of wares, which you could find, everywhere the same, in all the bazaars集市inside and outside the Great Khan's empire, scattered分散at your feet on the same yellow mats, in the shade阴凉处of the same awnings遮阳蓬protecting them from the flies, offered with the same lying虚假reduction减少in prices.

但是，驱使人们沿河而上、穿越沙漠来到这里的不仅仅是商品的交换，在大汗帝国内外的所有集市上，你都能找到同样的商品，它们摆在你脚边同样的黄垫子上，上面撑着同样的防蝇篷，提供同样虚假的降价促销。

 You do not come to Euphemia only to buy and sell, but also because at night, by the fires all around the market, seated on sacks麻袋or barrels桶or stretched out伸展on piles堆放of carpets地毯, at each word that one man says -- such as "wolf", "sister", "hidden treasure", "battle", "scabies", "lovers" -- the others tell, each one, his tale of wolves, sisters, treasures, scabies, lovers, battles.

你来欧菲米亚不仅仅是为了做买卖，也是为了入夜后，在市场周围的火堆旁，坐在麻袋或桶上，或躺在地毯堆上听故事。每当有人说起这样的词语——比如“狼”、“姐妹”、“宝藏”、“战斗”、“疥疮”、“情人”——其余每个人就得讲述他的关于狼、姐妹、宝藏，疥疮，情人，战争的故事。

 And you know that in the long journey ahead of you, when to keep awake against the camel's swaying or the junk's帆船rocking, you start summoning召唤up your memories one by one, your wolf will have become another wolf, your sister a different sister, your battle other battles, on your return from Euphemia, the city where memory is traded at every solstice and at every equinox.

你知道，当你从欧菲米亚，这座每个春秋分和冬夏至交换记忆的城市返回，漫漫旅途中，在你对抗着骆驼或船舱的摇摆保持清醒时，你会一个接一个地唤起脑中的记忆，你的狼会变成另一头狼，你的姐妹会变成另一个姐妹，你的战斗会变成另一场战斗。