短篇小說-孤島上的圍墻

In the remote southern seas there is a cluster of islands. The weather is fair, the land is fertile and the ocean is rich with fish. Each island is inhabited by a different race of people. Although physically they look alike, you can tell them apart by their styles of dress, their distinctive dialects and even their most casual gestures. A cursory tour of the archipelago reveals that each island has its own unique form of architecture. If there is any similarity between them, it is that each race builds in a manner that is stubbornly at odds with the immediate environment. On rocky hillsides there are wooden huts and in wooded valleys, towns of brick. Arid uplands are irrigated and planted with leafy gardens, whereas, on fertile plains, the parks are paved with stone. On windswept outposts people live in tents but in the most sheltered regions they have stout, resilient cottages.

在遙遠的南方海域上有一群島嶼。氣候宜人，土地肥沃，海洋里盛產魚類。每一個島嶼上都居住著一個不同的種族。盡管他們在身形外貌上非常相似，但是可以通過他們的著裝風格、他們與眾不同的方言、甚至他們最不經意的動作姿態把他們區別開。粗略地游覽一下這個群島就會發現，每一個島嶼都有它獨特的建筑形式。如果說它們之間有什么類似之處的話，那就是每一個種族的建造方式都是與鄰近環境不合情理地相悖。在多巖石的山坡上有木制的小屋，而在樹木繁茂的山谷有磚建的城鎮。在干旱的高地上引水灌溉，種植闊葉園林;然而在肥沃的平原上，公園里鋪著石頭。在受風吹襲的邊區村落，人們居住在帳篷里;而在最受庇護的地區，他們有堅固的、能復原的村舍。

Despite their differences, the islanders coexist peacefully. There is rivalry over certain fishing waters and sporting prowess but it rarely amounts to more than a few heated exchanges. Distances between the islands are not great and the sea is calm but people prefer to stick with their own kind and mixed marriages are rare. For the most part, the only contact between the different races is for trading purposes.

盡管他們有差異，島上居民還是和平共處。雖然在某些捕魚水域和體育實力上有競爭，但很少達到超過幾次激烈爭吵的程度。島嶼之間的距離并不遠，海洋也平靜，但人們更喜歡與自己的同類在一起，異族通婚很少見。在大多數情況下，不同種族間的唯一聯系是為了貿易。

At the centre of the archipelago, perhaps in the most favoured spot of all, lies an island that has been deserted for many generations. There is no obvious reason for its abandonment; it has good soil, plenty of freshwater, two natural ports and a climate no more or less suitable to the raising of crops than its neighbour’s. But no birds circle overhead and no lights come on in the evenings.

在群島的中央，大概是位于所有場所中最有利的地點，有一座被廢棄了好幾代的島嶼。對于它的被棄，沒有很明顯的原因;它有優良的土壤，充足的淡水，兩個天然港口，以及比它的鄰居不多也不少適合種植莊稼的氣候。但是沒有鳥在上空盤旋，晚上也沒有燈光亮起。

It has not always been like this. Long ago, it was inhabited by farmers and fishermen much like everywhere else in the archipelago. They sailed brightly painted boats and were known for being excellent divers. Their beaches were rarely empty and even at night there were often fires in the dunes and people in the water, enjoying a swim. An offshore beacon on the north side, which warned sailors of a treacherous ridge of rocks, was tended by the islanders, who never let it go out. Goats were kept on the upland slopes, their bells tinkling as they grazed. The people were fond of seafood and sun- bathing, were enthusiastic winemakers, reluctant housekeepers and notoriously bad at ball games. They married early, died late and generally kept themselves to themselves. Things could have gone on like this forever, but everything changed when they decided to dynamite the cliffs and began building the first wall.

它不是一直這樣的。很久以前，它上面居住著與群島其他各處很像的農民和漁夫。他們乘著漆有明亮色彩的船航行，因為是極好的潛水者而聞名。他們的海灘很少是空著的，即使在晚上沙丘中也經常有火光，還有人在水中暢游。北面的一座近海燈塔，提醒海員們注意充滿危險的暗礁海脊，由島上居民照管，他們從不讓它熄滅。山羊被放養在高地的斜坡上，吃草時它們的鈴鐺叮當作響。人們喜歡海食品和日光浴，他們是熱情的釀酒師，不情愿的家庭主婦以及眾所周知不擅長球類運動。他們結婚早，死得晚，一般不與他人往來。事情本可以這樣永遠繼續下去，但是當他們決定炸毀懸崖并開始建造第一道圍墻時，一切都變了。

Now their island looks very different from the rest; darker, taller, silent. Giant loops of barbed wire lie rusting in the surf. The cliffs are sheer, blasted smooth and bristling with broken glass. Above them a great fortress extends the precipice way beyond its natural height. Slabs of granite, quarried relentlessly from the once volcanic heart of the island, make up the base of the wall. Smoothed flat by generations of wind and rain, they glitter in the sun. Above them the rocks give way to brick, darker in colour than the stone foundations and topped with ramparts, unbroken and lowering.

現在他們的島嶼看起來與其它的非常不一樣;更暗，更高，寂靜無聲。巨大的一圈圈的帶刺鐵絲網在海浪中生銹。懸崖陡峭，被炸得光滑，豎立著碎玻璃。在它們上面一個大堡壘超出懸崖的天然高度沿著峭壁的方向延伸出去。花崗巖石板，被無情地從曾經是島上火山心的地方挖出，做成圍墻的底座。它們被一代代的風雨磨平，在陽光下閃閃發光。在它們上面，石頭被磚頭代替，顏色比石頭底座更暗，上面有壁壘，完好無損且低沉昏暗。

It looks as if the wall was meant to end there but as soon as it was finished a second circle of battlements began to rise from the centre. This one was interspersed with watchtowers, which, as far as anyone knows, were never used. When it was finished, yet a third ring of defences was built, slightly narrower than the one before, so that from faraway the island resembled an enormous wedding cake. Caged in scaffolding, the beginnings of a fourth wall are just visible at the top but unlike the rest, its edges are jagged and crumbling.

看上去好像這道圍墻打算就此結束了，但它一完成，第二圈城垛開始從中心升起來。這道墻配置有瞭望塔，但眾所周知，這些從未用過。然而當它完工時，又建了第三圈防御工事，比前一個稍微狹小些，所以從遠處看，這個島象一個巨大的婚禮蛋糕。被腳手架像籠子一樣困著的第四道圍墻已經開始建造，剛好可以看見它的頂部，但與其它的不同，它的邊緣參差不齊而且正在剝落。

The surrounding islanders cannot say for sure why the wall was built. Nobody was planning an assault of any kind, nor was anyone powerful enough to pose a threat with enough strength to justify such a fortress. There were no rumours of an attack from overseas, although the people admit that while the wall was under construction, they had grown nervous. Perhaps the builders had heard of a new, formidable enemy that they had not. They felt uneasy, as if they too should be taking special precautions but against what, they had no idea. As the work intensified, so did their alarm. But they had crops to plant, cattle to feed, children to care for and pleasures to seek. Despite their bewilderment, the people of the archipelago got on with their lives and watched in wonder as year after year the fortress grew, until the low clouds grazed its upper reaches and its blackened walls seemed to swallow the sunshine; a broken crown in the deep blue sea.

周圍的島上居民說不準為什么要建圍墻。沒有人計劃任何形式的攻擊，也沒有任何人強大到足以造成有足夠威力的威脅來證明這樣的堡壘是必要的。也沒有海外來襲的謠言，雖然人們承認墻在建造時他們漸漸變得緊張。可能建造者聽說了一個他們沒有聽說過的新的、強大的敵人。他們感到不安，好像他們也應該采取特殊的預防措施，但要抵抗什么，他們不知道。隨著工程加強，他們的警覺也加強了。但他們有莊稼要種，有牲口要喂養，有孩子要照料，有樂子要找。他們雖然困惑，但隨著一年又一年堡壘逐漸建成，群島上的人繼續過他們的生活，疑惑地看著，直到低矮的云掠過它的頂端，它那發黑的墻好像要吞掉陽光;深藍色大海上一頂壞掉的王冠。

Gradually the island fell silent. First, trade petered out and then ceased altogether. Onlookers muttered that with so much time spent on the wall, the builders simply had nothing left to sell. Next, the fishing boats stopped sailing from the ports, then the hearth smoke faded away and only a sandy haze was left hanging in the air; a death rattle of dust. Last of all to disappear were the sounds of building; the echo of brick on brick and the continual whine of pulleys.

漸漸地這個島變得沉寂。首先，貿易逐漸減少，然后完全終結。旁觀者嘀咕說，這么多時間花在圍墻上，建造者只不過沒剩下什么要賣的東西了。接著，漁船停止從港口啟航，然后爐煙逐漸消逝，只剩下一層沙色的薄霧懸在空中;塵埃的臨死哀鳴。最后消失的是建造的聲音;磚頭碰磚頭的回聲和連續不斷的滑車的嘎嘎聲。

Nobody can explain why the wall was started but there are many theories as to why it was never finished. Some say that so many had perished during its construction, that no one dared halt the work and thereby admit that it had all been in vain. Others claim that the builders simply ran out of materials and since they had scooped so much rock from the centre of the island, there was no land left to plough. There are those who believe that the bricks near the top of the wall are made from the baked bones of labourers who dropped from exhaustion further down. Or perhaps the islanders grew so used to the work that they just couldn’t stop themselves. But one thing is certain, the prophesied threat never arrived and the people at the centre of the archipelago had, quite simply, bricked themselves in.

沒有人能解釋為什么開始建造圍墻，但對于它為什么從未完工卻有許多說法。有些人說在建造的過程中毀壞了這么多，使得沒人敢停下工程并從而承認它全是徒然。還有些人聲稱建造者只是用光了材料，因為他們從島中心挖了這么多石頭，沒有可耕耘的土地了。還有人認為靠近墻頂的磚是由烘烤的勞工的骨頭制成的，這些勞工由于精疲力竭而跌落到更深的下面。或者是島上居民可能變得太習慣這個工程了，以至于他們完全阻止不了自己。但有一件事是確定的，那個預言的威脅從未到來，群島中心的人只不過是用磚頭把自己砌在了里面。