評論
打印
"So, we, their hearts, speak more and more softly.
于是，我們心發出的聲音越來越微弱。
We never stop speaking out, but we begin to hope that our words won't be heard:
但我們絕不會住口，我們退讓，不再讓人們聽到我們的話語，
we don't want people to suffer because they don't follow their hearts."
因為我們不愿讓人們由于不服從心聲而遭受痛苦。”
"Why don't people's hearts tell them to continue to follow their dreams?" the boy asked the alchemist.
“為什么心不告訴人們，他們應該追尋自己的夢想呢？”男孩問煉金術士。
"Because that's what makes a heart suffer most, and hearts don't like to suffer."
“因為這樣一來，心將會忍受更大的痛苦，而它不喜歡忍受痛苦。”
From then on, the boy understood his heart. He asked it, please, never to stop speaking to him.
從那一天開始，男孩理解了自己的心。他請求心永遠不要離開他。
He asked that, when he wandered far from his dreams, his heart press him and sound the alarm.
他還請求，在他遠離了自己的夢想時，心要在胸膛里加快跳動，發出報警信號。
The boy swore that, every time he heard the alarm, he would heed its message.
男孩發誓，一旦他聽到這個信號，就立刻遵從行事。
That night, he told all of this to the alchemist.
那天夜里，他同煉金術士談到了這一切。
And the alchemist understood that the boy's heart had returned to the Soul of the World.
煉金術士明白，男孩的心已經返回了世界之魂。
"So what should I do now?" the boy asked.
“目前我該怎么做？”男孩問。
"Continue in the direction of the Pyramids," said the alchemist.
“繼續朝金字塔前進，”煉金術士說道。
"And continue to pay heed to the omens. Your heart is still capable of showing you where the treasure is."
“而且要繼續留意所有預兆。你的心已經能夠為你指出藏寶之地了。”
"Is that the one thing I still needed to know?"
“這就是我需要知道的嗎？”
"No," the alchemist answered.
“不，”煉金術士回答。
"What you still need to know is this: before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that was learned along the way.
“你需要知道的事情是：在實現一個夢想之前，世界之魂永遠都會對尋夢者途中所學到的一切進行檢驗。
It does this not because it is evil, but so that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams,
這種做法并無惡意，僅僅是為了不讓我們遠離夢想，
master the lessons we've learned as we've moved toward that dream. That's the point at which most people give up.
并讓我們獲得尋夢過程中學到的經驗教訓。這是大多數人可能會放棄尋夢的一個時刻。
It's the point at which, as we say in the language of the desert, one 'dies of thirst just when the palm trees have appeared on the horizon.'"
用沙漠的語言，我們稱之為‘渴死在椰棗樹出現在地平線上的時刻’”。
"Every search begins with beginner's luck. And every search ends with the victor's being severely tested."
每個人的尋夢過程都是以‘新手的運氣’為開端，又總是以‘對遠征者的考驗’收尾。”
The boy remembered an old proverb from his country.
男孩想起了家鄉一句古老的諺語。
It said that the darkest hour of the night came just before the dawn.
那諺語說，夜色之濃，莫過于黎明前的黑暗。
