“Can we eat them?”Her voice was a little plaintive. Alan noticed with satisfaction that she was becoming dependent on him again. But he knew that once they were off the mountain she would be with Tom. For a crazy moment he imagined Alice with himself living in the mountain valley together. Always. Trapped perhaps by some magical force that wouldn’t let them leave.

“我們能吃點東西嗎？”她的聲音有點兒傷感。阿蘭心滿意足，注意到她正在再次依靠他。但他知道一旦他們離開這座大山，她就會和湯姆泡在一起。一時間，他竟荒唐地想象著愛麗絲和自己一起居住在這個山谷，直到永遠(yuǎn)。或許是被某種魔力困在這里，不讓他們離開。

The monastery was square-roofed, austere，with barrack windows. There were fish tanks at the back and a terrace on which the monks would have walked.

那座廟是方頂、木窗，十分簡樸。廟后面有一些魚缸，還有一個平臺，和尚可以在上面隨意走動。

Their feet on the stones made the only sound. Santa Caterina was utterly still. A swift rose soundlessly over the slate roof and the heat shimmered on the roughcast walls. They lay down, their rucksack still on their backs, passing the water bottle, almost dozing.

四周只有他們踏在石頭上所發(fā)出的聲響，圣卡塔林納萬籟俱寂。一朵怒放的玫瑰在石板屋頂無聲無息，亮光在粗糙的墻壁上閃爍。他們躺下來，遞過水瓶，旅行包仍背在背后。他們幾乎昏昏欲睡。

Suddenly she sat up and looked him with surprising tenderness. Alan’s black mood eased slightly.

突然，她坐起來，用令人吃驚的溫柔目光凝視著他。阿蘭的難受情緒稍微得到了緩解。

Have they all gone then?”asked Alice.

“他們都已經(jīng)走了嗎？”愛麗絲問道。

“Yes. I don’t know when. A long time ago.”

“是的。我不知道是什么時候走的。好長時間了吧。”

She was lying back, her eyes closed. He could talk to her now. They could both talk the problem and solve it. They would reach each other. But he couldn’t make the move.

她仰面躺著，雙目緊閉。他現(xiàn)在可以和她談了。他們倆談?wù)勀莻€問題，然后就迎刃而解了。他們彼此都能探到對方，但他不能動。

“It would be terrible if it is pulled down,”Alice said idly, her eyes still closed.

“如果廟被推倒，那將是多么可怕，”愛麗絲懶懶地說，眼睛仍然閉著。

“It won’t be.”

“不會的。”

“How do you know that?”

“你怎么知道？”

“They patch it up from time to time.”

“他們總是不斷地修繕?biāo)！?/P>

“Why don’t they live here?”

“他們?yōu)槭裁床蛔≡谶@里呢？”

“Don’t know. Maybe it’s too remote.”

“不知道，或許這里太偏遠(yuǎn)了吧。”

The desire to punish her had gone. But he daren’t touch her. He daren’t break the enchantment.

漸漸地，想懲罰她的欲望消失了，但他不敢觸摸她，不敢輕易打破這令人著迷的時刻。

“The heat in the day. The cool evenings. It would be good to live like that.”

“白天熱，夜里涼。住在這種地方會很不錯的。”

“Live here?”

“住在這里？”

“Could we ever get permission?”

“我們會被允許嗎？”

“I don’t know.”

“我不知道。”

“Just to see what it was like. I mean—”She half sat up.“Can we get inside?”She ran a finger gently down his peeling cheek.

“先看看這里怎么樣，我是說——” 她半坐了起來。“我們能進(jìn)去嗎？”她將一根手指輕輕地放在他脫皮的臉頰上。

Alan was taken aback but then he became aware that the crickets had started. How long had they been singing? He wondered.“Let go and see.”

他吃了一驚，隨后意識到蛐蛐兒的鳴叫聲已經(jīng)響起。他不知道它們已經(jīng)鳴唱了多長時間。“讓我們?nèi)タ纯窗伞！?/P>

They tramped round but as Alan already knew, there was no way in. In the end they came back and he lit a fire at the side of a small stone building. Other campers had obviously used the space and there were black marks on the walls.

他們繞過去，但正如阿蘭早就知道的那樣，無路可進(jìn)。最后，他們又原路返回，在一座小型石頭建筑旁生了一堆火。顯然，其他野營的人也曾使用過這個地方，墻壁上還留有黑色的痕跡。