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When I was twelve or thirteen years old, an uncle of mine who gave me my love for books and pictures promised to take me upon a memorable expedition.
當我十二三歲的時候，我的那位引導我愛上書籍和圖畫的舅舅，答應帶我做一次永難忘懷的探險
I was to go with him to the top of the tower of Old Saint Lawrence in Rotterdam.
他要我跟他一起上到鹿特丹老圣勞倫斯教堂的塔樓頂上去。
And so, one fine day, a sexton with a key as large as that of Saint Peter opened a mysterious door.
于是，在一個風和日麗的日子里，教堂司事拿著一把足以與圣彼得的鑰匙相媲美的大鑰匙，給我倆打開了那扇通往塔樓的神秘大門。
"Ring the bell," he said, "when you come back and want to get out,"
“等你們下樓出來時”他說，“拉拉鈴就行啦?！?/div>
and with a great grinding of rusty old hinges he separated us from the noise of the busy street
說完，在生銹的鉸鏈發出的吱吱聲中，他關上了門，一下子將繁忙街道的喧囂隔在我們身后，
and locked us into a world of new and strange experiences.
把我們鎖進了一個嶄新而陌生的世界里。
For the first time in my life I was confronted by the phenomenon of audible silence.
在我生命中的頭一回，就發覺了“可聽見的寂靜”這種現象。
When we had climbed the first flight of stairs,
當我們踏上第一段樓梯時，
I added another discovery to my limited knowledge of natural phenomena-that of tangible darkness.
在我的自然現象的有限知 識里面又增加了另一種經驗——可觸摸得到的黑暗。
A match showed us where the upward road continued.
一根火柴為我們指引出向上的路。
We went to the next floor and then to the next and the next until I had lost count
我們上到第二層，第三層，第四層... ...一層層不斷往上，數不清是第幾層，前面的樓梯卻仿佛無窮無盡。
and then there came still another floor, and suddenly we had plenty of light.
最后，我們猛然走進一片巨大的光澤之中。
This floor was on an even height with the roof of the church, and it was used as a storeroom.
塔樓的這一層與教堂的頂部齊平，用作儲藏室，
Covered with many inches of dust, there lay the abandoned symbols of a venerable faith which had been discarded by the good people of the city many years ago.
散亂地堆放著許多古老信仰的圣像。這座城市的善良居民們在很多年前就棄絕了這種信仰，在被拋棄的圣像們身上，積滿了厚厚的灰塵。
That which had meant life and death to our ancestors was here reduced to junk and rubbish.
那些對我們的先人意味著生和死的重要事物，在這里論為了塵埃和垃圾。
The industrious rat had built his nest among the carved images and the ever watchful spider had opened up shop between the outspread arms of a kindly saint.
勤勞的耗子在這些雕像間搭了窩，永遠警覺的蜘蛛還在一尊仁慈的圣像伸出的雙臂間結了網。
The next floor showed us from where we had derived our light.
再上一層樓梯，我們終于發現光亮來自這里敞開的窗戶。
Enormous open windows with heavy iron bars made the high and barren room the roosting place of hundreds of pigeons.
沉重的鐵條嵌在巨大的窗戶上，其間出入的上百只鴿子把 這個高處不勝寒的地方當成了他們愜意的居所。
The wind blew through the iron bars and the air was filled with a weird and pleasing music.
風透過鐵柵吹進來，空氣中浸潤著一種神秘而令人愉悅的音樂。
It was the noise of the town below us, but a noise which had been purified and cleansed by the distance.
仔細一聽原來那是從我們腳下傳來的城市的聲音。遙遠的距離將它們過濾得澄澈而干凈了。
The rumbling of heavy carts and the clinking of horses' hoofs, the winding of cranes and pulleys, the hissing sound of the patient steam
載重的大車的轔轔，馬蹄的得得，起重機與滑車的轆轆，
which had been set to do the work of man in a thousand different ways-they had all been blended into a softly rustling whisper
--這些嘈雜的聲音融成一片輕柔的沙沙聲，
which provided a beautiful background for the trembling cooing of the pigeons.
給了鴿子的戰栗的咕咕聲一個美麗的背景。
Here the stairs came to an end and the ladders began.
樓梯到這一層就沒有了，再往上必須爬梯子。
And after the first ladder (a slippery old thing which made one feel his way with a cautious foot) there was a new and even greater wonder, the town-clock.
爬完第一架梯子（它又舊又滑，你必須小心翼翼踩穩每一級）迎接我 們的是一個嶄新而偉大的奇跡——城市的時鐘。
