名著·鲁宾逊飘流记 - 第45节


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  这段时间里,我只是一心想杀这些野人。大部分时间我不干别的,只是苦思冥想杀人的计划。我设想种种计谋,下次再看到他们时该怎样向他们进攻,尤其是要提防他们像上次那样,分成两股前来。但我完全没有考虑到,即使我把他们一股通通杀光,比如说,杀掉十个或十二个,到第二天,或第二个星期,或第二个月,我还得再杀掉他们另一股。这样一股一股杀下去,永无止境,我自己最后岂不也成了杀人凶手,而且,比那些食人生番也许更残暴!

   I spent my Days now in great Perplexity, and Anxiety of Mind, expecting that I should one Day or other fall into the Hands of these merciless Creatures; and if I did at any Time venture abroad, it was not without looking round me with the greatest Care and Caution imaginable; and now I found to my great Comfort, how happy it was that I provided for a tame Flock or Herd of Goats; for I durst not upon any account fire my Gun, especially near that Side of the Island where they usually came, least I should alarm the Savages; and if they had fled from me now, I was sure to have them come back again, with perhaps two or three hundred Canoes with them, in a few Days, and then I knew what to expect.

  我现在每天都在疑虑和焦急中过日子,感到自己总有一天会落入那些残忍无情的家伙手中。即使偶然大着胆子外出,也总是东张西望,极端小心谨慎。我现在发现,我老早驯养了一群羊,这真给了我极大的宽慰,因为我无论如何也不敢再开枪,尤其是在他们常来的一带地方,唯恐惊动了那些野人。我知道,即使我暂时把他们吓跑,不出明天他们就会卷土重来,那时,说不定会来两三百只独木舟,我的结果也就可想而知了。

   However, I wore out a Year and three Months more, before I ever saw any more of the Savages, and then I found them again, as I shall soon observe. It is true, they might have been there once, or twice; but either they made no stay, or at least I did not hear them; but in the Month of May, as near as I could calculate, and in my four and twentieth Year, I had a very strange Encounter with them, of which in its Place.

  然而,在一年零三个月中,我从未见到过一个野人。直到后来,才又重新碰到了他们。详细经过,我下面再谈。不错,在这段时期中,他们很可能来过一两次。不过,他们大概没有在岛上逗留多久,要不就是我自己没有听到他们的动静。可是现在,我在岛上已生活了二十四个年头了。估计是这一年的五月份,我又见到了那些食人生番。这可以说是一次奇遇。下面我就讲讲这次不期而遇的经过。

   The Perturbation of my Mind, during this fifteen or sixteen Months Interval, was very great; I slept unquiet, dream'd always frightful Dreams, and often started out of my Sleep in the Night: In the Day great Troubles overwhelm'd my Mind, and in the Night I dream'd often of killing the Savages, and of the Reasons why I might justify the doing of it; but to wave all this for a while; it was in the middle of May, on the sixteenth Day I think, as well as my poor wooden Calendar would reckon; for I markt all upon the Post still; I say, it was the sixteenth of May, that it blew a very great Storm of Wind, all Day, with a great deal of Lightning, and Thunder, and a very foul Night it was after it; I know not what was the particular Occasion of it; but as I was reading in the Bible, and taken up with very serious Thoughts about my present Condition, I was surpriz'd with a Noise of a Gun as I thought fir'd at Sea.

  在这十五六个月里,我极度心烦意乱。晚上我睡不着觉,经常做恶梦,并常从梦中惊醒。白天,我心神不定,坐立不安;夜里,我在睡梦中大杀野人,并为自己列举杀害野人的种种理由。所有这一切,现在先不提。且说到了五月中旬,大约是五月十六日。这是根据我刻在柱上的日历计算的,我至今还每天在柱上划刻痕,但已不太准了。五月十六日这一天刮起了暴风雨,整天雷声隆隆,电光闪闪,直至晚上,依然风雨交加,整夜不停。我也说不清事情究竟是什么时候发生的,只记得当时我正在读《圣经》,并认真地考虑着自己当前的处境。忽然,我听到一声枪响,好像是从海上发出的。这真大大出乎我的意料。

   This was to be sure a Surprize of a quite different Nature from any I had met with before; for the Notions this put into my Thoughts, were quite of another kind. I started up in the greatest hast imaginable, and in a trice clapt my Ladder to the middle Place of the Rock, and pull'd it after me, and mounting it the second Time, got to the Top of the Hill, the very Moment, that a Flash of Fire bid me listen for a second Gun, which accordingly, in about half a Minute I heard; and by the sound, knew that it was from that Part of the Sea where I was driven down the Current in my Boat.

  这个意外事件与我以前碰到的任何事件完全不一样,因而在我头脑里所产生的反应也完全不一样。听到枪声后,我一跃而起,转眼之间就把梯子竖在半山上,登上半山的坡坎后,又把梯子提起来架在坡坎上,最后爬上了山顶。就在这一刹那,我又看见火光一闪,知道第二枪又要响了;果然不出所料,半分钟之后,又听到了枪声。从那声音判断,知道枪声正是从我上回坐船被急流冲走的那一带海上传来的。

  我立即想到,这一定是有船只遇难了,而且,他们一定有其他船只结伴航行,因此放枪发出求救信号。我这时非常镇定,我想,即使我无法救助他们,他们倒可能帮助我。于是,我把附近的干柴通通收集起来,在山上堆成一大堆点起了火。木柴很干,火一下子就烧得很旺。虽然风很大,火势依然不减。我确信,只要海上有船,他们一定看得见。事实是,他们确实也看到了。因为我把火一烧起来,马上又听见一声枪声,接着又是好几声枪响,都是从同一个方向传来的。我把火烧了一整夜,一直烧到天亮。天大亮后,海上开始晴朗起来。这时,我看到,在远处海面上,在小岛正东方向,仿佛有什么东西,不知是帆,还是船。我怎么看也看不清楚,用望远镜也没有用,因为距离实在太远了,而且,天气还是雾蒙蒙的;至少海面上雾气还很浓。

   I look'd frequently at it all that Day, and soon perceiv'd that it did not move; so I presently concluded, that it was a Ship at an Anchor, and being eager, you may be sure, to be satisfy'd, I took my Gun in my Hand, and run toward the South Side of the Island, to the Rocks where I had formerly been carry'd away with the Current, and getting up there, the Weather by this Time being perfectly clear, I could plainly see to my great Sorrow, the Wreck of a Ship cast away in the Night, upon those concealed Rocks which I found, when I was out in my Boat; and which Rocks, as they check'd the Violence of the Stream, and made a kind of Counter-stream, or Eddy, were the Occasion of my recovering from the most desperate hopeless Condition that ever I had been in, in all my Life.

  整整一天,我一直眺望着海面上那东西,不久便发现它一直停在原处,一动也不动。于是我断定,那一定是一条下了锚的大船。可以想象,我多么急于把事情搞个水落石出,所以,就拿起枪向岛的南边跑去,跑到我前次被急流冲走的那些岩石前面。到了那里,天气已完全晴朗了。我一眼就看到,有一只大船昨天夜里撞在暗礁上失事了。这真叫我痛心;事实上,我上次驾舟出游时,就发现了那些暗礁。正是这些暗礁,挡住了急流的冲力,形成了一股逆流,使我那次得以死里逃生。这是我生平从最绝望的险境里逃出性命的经历。

   Thus what is one Man's Safety, is another Man's Destruction; for it seems these Men, whoever they were, being out of their Knowledge, and the Rocks being wholly under Water, had been driven upon them in the Night, the Wind blowing hard at E. and E.N.E: Had they seen the Island, as I must necessarily suppose they did not, they must, as I thought, have endeavour'd to have sav'd themselves on Shore by the Help of their Boat; but their firing of Guns for Help, especially when they saw, as I imagin'd, my Fire, fill'd me with many Thoughts: First, I imagin'd that upon seeing my Light, they might have put themselves into their Boat, and have endeavour'd to make the Shore; but that the Sea going very high, they might have been cast away; other Times I imagin'd, that they might have lost their Boat before, as might be the Case many Ways; as particularly by the Breaking of the Sea upon their Ship, which many Times obliges Men to stave, or take in Pieces their Boat; and sometimes to throw it over-board with their own Hands: Other Times I imagin'd, they had some other Ship, or Ships in Company, who upon the Signals of Distress they had made, had taken them up, and carry'd them off: Other whiles I fancy'd, they were all gone off to Sea in their Boat, and being hurry'd away by the Current that I had been formerly in, were carry'd out into the great Ocean, where there was nothing but Misery and Perishing; and that perhaps they might by this Time think of starving, and of being in a Condition to eat one another.

  由此可见,同样的险境,对这个人来说是安全的,对另一个人来说则可能意味着毁灭。我想,这些人由于不熟悉地形,那些暗礁又都隐藏在水底下,再加上昨天晚上的东北风很大,所以船触上了暗礁。如果他们发现这个小岛,我想他们一定会用船上的救生艇竭尽全力划到岸上来的。但看来他们一定没有看到小岛,只是鸣枪求救,尤其是他们看到我燃起的火光后,更是多次放枪。由此我头脑里出现了种种设想。首先,我想到,他们看到我点燃的火光后,必然会下到救生艇里拼命向岸上划来,但由于风急浪高,把他们刮走了。一会儿我又猜想,也许他们的救生艇早就没了,这种情况是经常发生的。当大船遇到惊涛骇浪时,水手们往往不得不把船上的救生艇拆散,甚至干脆扔到海里去。过会儿我又想,也许与他们结伴同行的船只,在见到他们出事的信号后,已把他们救起来带走了。我又想到,说不定他们已经坐上救生艇,可是遇到了我上次自己碰上的那股急流,给冲到大洋里去了。到了大洋里,他们可就糟了,那是必死无疑的。说不定这会儿他们都快饿死了,甚至可能正在人吃人呢!

   As all these were but Conjectures at best; so in the Condition I was in, I could do no more than look on upon the Misery of the poor Men, and pity them, which had still this good Effect on my Side, that it gave me more and more Cause to give Thanks to God who had so happily and comfortably provided for me in my desolate Condition; and that of two Ships Companies who were now cast away upon this part of the World, not one Life should be spar'd but mine: I learn'd here again to observe, that it is very rare that the Providence of God casts us into any Condition of Life so low, or any Misery so great, but we may see something or other to be thankful for; and may see others in worse Circumstances than our own.

  所有这些想法,都仅仅是我自己的猜测罢了。在我目前的处境下,只能眼睁睁地看着这伙可怜的人遭难,并从心里为他们感到难过;除此之外,我毫无办法。可是,这件事在我思想上产生了很好的影响。从这次事件中,我进一步认识到上帝对自己的恩惠,我是多么感激他对我的关怀啊!尽管我处境悲惨,但我的生活还是过得非常舒适,非常幸福。同时,我也要感谢上帝在船难中仅让我一人死里逃生;到目前为止,我至少已亲自见到两艘船只在海上遇难,这两艘船的全体水手无一幸免,唯我独生。此外,从这件事中,我再一次认识到,不管上帝把我们置于何等不幸的境地或何等恶劣的生活环境,我们总会亲眼看到一些使我们感恩的事,看到有些人的处境比自己更不幸。

   Such certainly was the Case of these Men, of whom I could not so much as see room to suppose any of them were sav'd; nothing could make it rational, so much as to wish, or expect that they did not all perish there; except the Possibility only of their being taken up by another Ship in Company, and this was but meer Possibility indeed; for I saw not the least Signal or Appearance of any such Thing.

  就拿这伙人来说吧,我简直很难想象他们中间有什么人能死里逃生,也没有任何理由指望他们全体生还。对他们来说,唯一的希望是被结伴同行的船只搭救。可是这种可能性实在太小了,我看不出任何一点被搭救的迹象。

  看到这一情景,我心里产生了一种说不出的求伴求友的强烈欲望,有时竟会脱口而出地大声疾呼:"啊!哪怕有一两个人--就是只有一个人能从船上逃出性命也好啊!那样他能到我这儿来,与我作伴,我能有人说说话也好啊!"我多年来过着孤寂的生活,可从来没有像今天这样强烈地渴望与人交往,也从来没有像今天这样深切地感到没有伴侣的痛苦。

   There are some secret moving Springs in the Affections, which when they are set a going by some Object in view, or be it some Object, though not in view, yet rendred present to the Mind by the Power of Imagination, that Motion' carries out the Soul by its Impetuosity to such violent eager embracings of the Object, that the Absence of it is insupportable.

  在人类的感情里,往往有一种隐秘的原动力,这种原动才一旦被某种目标所吸引,就会以一种狂热和冲动驱使我们的灵魂向那目标扑去,不管是看得见的目标,还是自己头脑想象中的看不见的目标;不达目标,我们就会痛苦不堪。

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名著·鲁宾逊飘流记 - 第45节