評論
打印
"Well, isn't that good?"
“這難道不好嗎？”
"I'm already used to the way things are.
“我已經習慣了這種生活。
Before you came, I was thinking about how much time I had wasted in the same place, while my friends had moved on, and either went bankrupt or did better than they had before.
在你來這兒之前，我曾認為我在同一個地方待的時間太長了。而這期間，我所有的朋友都有了變化，有破產的，也有發財的。
It made me very depressed. Now, I can see that it hasn't been too bad. The shop is exactly the size I always wanted it to be.
這一切使我感到非常難過。現在我明白了，根本不必傷心，店鋪的規模正如我期待的那樣，恰到好處。
I don't want to change anything, because I don't know how to deal with change. I'm used to the way I am."
我不想再變了，因為我不知道該怎么變。我對自己的一切已經非常習慣了。”
The boy didn't know what to say.
男孩一時不知該說什么才好。
The old man continued, "You have been a real blessing to me. Today, I understand something I didn't see before: every blessing ignored becomes a curse.
店主又說：“你一度成為我的福音。而今天我明白了一個道理，任何不被接納的福音，都會變成詛咒。
I don't want anything else in life. But you are forcing me to look at wealth and at horizons I have never known.
我對生活沒有更多的要求。而你正迫使我盯著從未見過的財富和前景。
Now that I have seen them, and now that I see how immense my possibilities are, I'm going to feel worse than I did before you arrived.
現在，我知道了這些財富和前景，也知道了我完全有可能擁有它們。可是我的感覺卻比以前糟糕了。
Because I know the things I should be able to accomplish, and I don't want to do so."
因為我知道自己可以擁有這一切，卻不愿擁有它們。”
It's good I refrained from saying anything to the baker in Tarifa, thought the boy to himself.
幸虧當初我沒對那個面包店店主說什么，男孩心想。
They went on smoking the pipe for a while as the sun began to set.
兩個人又抽了一陣子水煙。太陽漸漸落山。
They were conversing in Arabic, and the boy was proud of himself for being able to do so.
他們交談時用的是阿拉伯語，男孩對自己的表現很滿意，因為他會講阿拉伯語了。
There had been a time when he thought that his sheep could teach him everything he needed to know about the world. But they could never have taught him Arabic.
有一段時間，他曾經以為羊群能夠教會他一切，但是，羊群不會教他阿拉伯語。
There are probably other things in the world that the sheep can't teach me, thought the boy as he regarded the old merchant. All they ever do, really, is look for food and water.
世上一定還有其他一些東西是羊群教不了的，因為它們只是一味地尋找食物和水源。男孩心里這樣想著，望著沉默的水晶店老板。
And maybe it wasn't that they were teaching me, but that I was learning from them.
我認為并不是羊群在教，而是我在學，他又想。
"Maktub," the merchant said, finally.
“馬克圖布。”店老板終于開口說道。
"What does that mean?"
“什么意思？”
"You would have to have been born an Arab to understand," he answered. "But in your language it would be something like 'It is written.'"
“你必須生來就是阿拉伯人才能弄懂它的意思。”店老板回答說，“大意是：命中注定。”
And, as he smothered the coals in the hookah, he told the boy that he could begin to sell tea in the crystal glasses.
他一邊熄滅水煙袋里的炭火，一邊告訴男孩，可以用水晶杯賣茶水。
Sometimes, there's just no way to hold back the river.
生活的河流是無法阻擋的。
