評論
打印
Then one day the boy returned the books to the Englishman.
有一天，男孩把書還給了英國人。
"Did you learn anything?" the Englishman asked, eager to hear what it might be.
“怎么樣，你學(xué)到很多東西吧？”英國人充滿期待地問。
He needed someone to talk to so as to avoid thinking about the possibility of war.
他需要跟別人聊聊天，以便忘掉對戰(zhàn)爭的恐懼。
"I learned that the world has a soul, and that whoever understands that soul can also understand the language of things.
“我知道了世界有靈魂，誰理解了這個靈魂，誰就能理解萬物的語言。
I learned that many alchemists realized their personal legends, and wound up discovering the Soul of the World, the Philosopher's Stone, and the Elixir of Life."
我知道許多煉金術(shù)士實現(xiàn)了他們的天命，并最終發(fā)現(xiàn)了世界之魂、點金石和長生不老液。”
"But, above all, I learned that these things are all so simple that they could be written on the surface of an emerald."
“最重要的是，我知道了這些事情都非常簡單，簡單得可以寫在一塊翡翠板上。”
The Englishman was disappointed.
英國人大失所望。
The years of research, the magic symbols, the strange words and the laboratory equipment ... none of this had made an impression on the boy.
經(jīng)年累月的研究、神奇的象征符號、晦澀難懂的文字、實驗室里的種種設(shè)備，這一切都未能打動男孩。
His soul must be too primitive to understand those things, he thought.
他的靈魂一定是太簡單了，理解不了這一切，英國人想。
He took back his books and packed them away again in their bags.
他拿過自己的書，放進掛在駱駝背上的箱子里。
"Go back to watching the caravan," he said. "That didn't teach me anything, either."
“你還是去看商隊吧。”英國人道，“商隊沒教會我任何東西。”
The boy went back to contemplating the silence of the desert, and the sand raised by the animals.
男孩重新觀察著靜靜的沙漠和牲口揚起的飛沙。
"Everyone has his or her own way of learning things," he said to himself.
每個人都有自己的學(xué)習(xí)方式，他在心中反復(fù)對自己說。
"His way isn't the same as mine, nor mine as his.
他的方式不屬于我，我的方式也不屬于他。
But we're both in search of our personal legends, and I respect him for that."
但是我們倆都在追尋各自的天命，為此我尊重他。
