評(píng)論
打印
The Englishman was sitting on a bench in a structure that smelled of animals, sweat, and dust; it was part warehouse, part corral.
英國人坐在一座充斥著灰塵、汗臭和牲口氣味的房子里。這樣的房子根本稱不上是貨棧，充其量只是個(gè)牲口棚。
I never thought I'd end up in a place like this, he thought, as he leafed through the pages of a chemical journal. Ten years at the university, and here I am in a corral.
想不到我這輩子竟淪落到這種地方，他邊翻閱著一本化學(xué)雜志，邊在心中這樣想道，十年寒窗竟把我引進(jìn)了一個(gè)牲口棚。
But he had to move on. He believed in omens.
但是他必須繼續(xù)走下去，必須相信預(yù)兆。
All his life and all his studies were aimed at finding the one true language of the universe.
他將全部生命、所有研究都投入到尋找宇宙唯一的語言中去了。
First he had studied Esperanto, then the world's religions, and now it was alchemy.
他先是對(duì)世界語產(chǎn)生了興趣，然后是宗教，最后是煉金術(shù)。
He knew how to speak Esperanto, he understood all the major religions well, but he wasn't yet an alchemist.
他會(huì)講世界語，對(duì)各種宗教了如指掌，但還沒有成為煉金術(shù)士。
He had unraveled the truths behind important questions, but his studies had taken him to a point beyond which he could not seem to go.
他已經(jīng)解讀了一些關(guān)鍵的東西，這是事實(shí)。但是，他的研究遇到了瓶頸，無法再向前推進(jìn)。
He had tried in vain to establish a relationship with an alchemist.
他曾試圖與某個(gè)煉金術(shù)士取得聯(lián)系，結(jié)果白費(fèi)力氣。
But the alchemists were strange people, who thought only about themselves, and almost always refused to help him.
煉金術(shù)士都是些古里古怪的人，他們總考慮自己，向來都拒絕幫助別人。
Who knows, maybe they had failed to discover the secret of the Master Work—the Philosopher's Stone—and for this reason kept their knowledge to themselves.
誰知道怎么回事，他們也許并未發(fā)現(xiàn)煉金術(shù)的秘密，即點(diǎn)金石，所以才三緘其口。
He had already spent much of the fortune left to him by his father, fruitlessly seeking the Philosopher's Stone.
為尋找點(diǎn)金石，英國人已經(jīng)白白耗費(fèi)了父親留給他的部分家產(chǎn)。
He had spent enormous amounts of time at the great libraries of the world, and had purchased all the rarest and most important volumes on alchemy.
他曾經(jīng)是世界上最好的圖書館的常客，購買了有關(guān)煉金術(shù)的所有最重要和最罕見的著作。
In one he had read that, many years ago, a famous Arabian alchemist had visited Europe.
在其中一部著作中他發(fā)現(xiàn)，很多年以前，有一位著名的阿拉伯煉金術(shù)士訪問過歐洲。
It was said that he was more than two hundred years old, and that he had discovered the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life.
據(jù)說他當(dāng)時(shí)已經(jīng)兩百多歲了，聲稱已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了點(diǎn)金石和長生不老液。
The Englishman had been profoundly impressed by the story.
英國人被這個(gè)故事打動(dòng)了。
But he would never have thought it more than just a myth, had not a friend of his—returning from an archaeological expedition in the desert—told him about an Arab that was possessed of exceptional powers.
不過，要不是他的一位朋友從沙漠考古回來對(duì)他說了一番話，這個(gè)故事充其量只是個(gè)傳說而已。他的朋友告訴他，有一位阿拉伯人具有特異功能。
