0702翻譯：走一步，再走一步 （莫頓·亨特）

0702翻譯：走一步，再走一步 （莫頓·亨特）

Translation: The Lesson of the Cliff (Morton Hunt)

(assembled by: alexcwlin; reviewed by: Adam Lam)

那是費城七月里一個悶熱的日子，雖然時隔五十七年，可那種悶熱我至今還能感覺得到。

It was a sweltering July day in Philadelphia and I can feel it still, 56 years later.

當時和我一起的五個小男孩，因為玩彈子遊戲玩厭了，都想找些新的花樣來玩。

The five boys I was with had grown tired of playing marbles and were casting about for something else.

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「嗨!」內德說，「我們很久沒有爬懸崖了。」

"Hey!" said Ned. "We havent climbed the cliff for a long while."

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「我們現在就去爬吧!」有個孩子叫道。

"Let』s go!" said someone else.

他們就朝一座懸崖飛跑而去。

And off they went, trotting and panting like a pack of stray dogs.

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我一時拿不定主意。

I hesitated.

雖然我很希望自己也能像他們那樣活潑勇敢，但是自我出世以後，八年來我一直有病，而且我的心裡一直牢記著母親叫我不要冒險的訓誡。

I longed to be brave and active, like them, but Id been a sickly child most of my eight years and had taken heart to my mothers admonitions not to take chances.

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「來呀!」我最要好的朋友傑利對我叫喊，「別做膽小鬼。」

"Come on!" Called Jerry, my best friend "Just because youve been sick is no reason to be a sissy."

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「我來了!」我一面應著，一面跟著他們跑。

"Im coming!" I yelled, and ran along after them.

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我們最後來到一處空地。

Finally we emerged in a clearing.

那座懸崖就聳立在空地的另一邊。它是一堵垂直的峭壁，壁面有許多凸出來的岩石、崩土和蓬亂的灌木。

At the far side loomed the cliff, a bristling, near vertical wall of jutting rocks, earth slides, scraggly bushes and ailanthus saplings.

大約只有二十米高，但在我眼中卻是高不可攀的險峰。

It was only about 60 feet high, but to me it looked like the very embodiment of the Forbidden and Impossible.

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其他孩子一個接一個地向上爬，朝著一塊離崖頂還有三分之二路程的狹小岩石架進發。

One by one, the other boys scrabbled upward towards an earthen ledge two thirds of the way to the top.

我落在最後，全身顫抖，冷汗直冒，也跟著他們向上爬。

I hung back until the others were partway up; then trembling and sweating, I began to climb.

我的心在瘦骨嶙峋的胸腔里冬冬直跳。

My heart was thumping in my skinny chest.

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我終於爬上去了，蹲在石架上，心驚肉跳，盡量往裡靠。

I clawed my way up to them; then I crawled as far back on the ledge as I could, huddle against the rock face.

其他的孩子慢慢地向石架邊緣移動，我看在眼裡，嚇得幾乎暈倒。

The other boys stood close to the edge. The sight made me so queasy that I surreptitiously clutched at the rocks behind me.

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接著，他們又開始向崖頂攀爬。

In a few minutes they started up to the top.

他們打算從崖頂沿著一條迂迴的小路下山回家。

They planned to walk home by a roundabout route from the top.

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「嗨，慢著，」我軟弱地哀求道，「我沒法——。」

「Hey, wait!」 I croaked, 「But I cannot, I」

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「再見!」其中一個孩子說。其他孩子跟著也都哈哈大笑起來。

「So long!」 one of them said, and the others laughed.

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他們左折右轉地爬上了崖頂，向下凝視著我。

They wriggled their way to the top. Before they left, they peered down at me.

「如果你想待在那裡，就待著好了。」有個孩子嘲笑道，「不用客氣。」傑利看來好像有點不放心，但還是和大家一起走了。

「You can stay if you want to」, mocked Ned. 「It is all yours.」 Jerry looked concerned, but he went with the others.

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我從石架向下望，感到頭暈目眩；

I looked down and was overcome by dizziness.

我絕對沒法爬下去，我會滑倒摔死的。

I could never climb back down. It was much too far to go, too hazardous; partway, I would grow feeble or faint, lose my grip, fall and die.

但是，往崖頂的路更難爬，因為它更陡，更險。

But the way up to the top was even worse - higher, steeper, more treacherous; I would never make it.

我聽見有人啜泣，正納罕那是誰，結果發現原來是我自己。

I heard someone sobbing and moaning; I wondered who it was and realized that it was I.

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時間一分一秒地過去，

Time passed.

暮色開始四合。

Dusk began to gather.

在一片寂靜中，我伏在岩石上，恐懼和疲乏使我全身麻木，不能動彈。

Silent now, I lay on my stomach as if in a trance, stupefied by fear and fatigue, unable to move.

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暮色蒼茫，天上出現了星星，懸崖下面的大地越來越暗。

Twilight came, a first star in the sky appeared, and the ground below the cliff was growing dim.

這時，樹林里有一道手電筒光照來照去。我聽到了傑利和我父親的聲音!

At that moment, a flashlight beam was shining all over the woods, and I heard the voices of Jerry and my father.

父親的手電筒光照著我。「下來吧，孩子，」他帶著安慰的口氣說，「晚飯做好了。」

Father pointed the beam up and called to me.」 Come on down, now,」 he said in a perfectly normal comforting tone. 「Dinner is ready.」

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「我下不去!」我哭著說，「我會掉下去，我會摔死的!」

「I can』t!」 I wailed, 「I』ll fall, I could die!」

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「聽我說吧，」我父親說，「不要想著距離有多遠。

「Listen to me,」 my father said. 「Don』t think about how far it is.

你只要想著你是在走一小步。

All you have to think about is taking one little step.

你能辦得到的。

You can do that.

眼睛看著我電筒的光照著的地方，

Look where I』ll be shining the light.

你能看見石架下面那塊岩石嗎?」

Do you see that rock below the ledge?」

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我慢慢地把身體移過去。「看見了。」我說。

I inched over. 「Yes,」 I said.

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「好，」他對我說，

「Good,」 he said.

「現在你把左腳踏到那塊岩石上。

「Now you can put your left foot on that rock.

不要擔心下一步。

Don』t worry about what comes next.

聽我的話。」

Trust me.」

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這似乎能辦得到。

It seemed possible.

我小心翼翼地伸出左腳去探那塊岩石，而且踩到了它。

I inched backward, gingerly feeling for the rock with my left foot and finding it.

我頓時有了信心。

Suddenly I had confidence.

「很好，」我父親叫道，「現在移動右腳，把它移到右邊稍低一點的地方，那裡有另外一個落腳點。」

「That』s good,」 my father called. 「Now, a little bit to the right and a few inches lower, there』s another foothold. Move your foot down there very slowly, that』s all you have to do.

我又照著做了。我的信心大增。「我能辦得到的。」我想。

I did it according to his instructions and my confidence zoomed way up. 「I can do it.」 I thought.

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我每次只移動一小步，慢慢爬下懸崖。

That』s how it went. One step at a time, one handhold at a time, he talked me down the cliff.

最後，我一腳踩在崖下的岩石上，投入了父親強壯的手臂中。我先是啜泣了一會兒，然後，我產生了一種巨大的成就感。

Suddenly I took the last step down onto the tumbled rocks at the bottom and into my father』s strong arms, sobbing a little, and then, surprisingly, feeling a sense of immense accomplishment and something like pride.

這是我永遠忘不了的經歷。

That was an experience I would never forget.

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我曾屢次發現，每當我感到前途茫茫而灰心喪氣時，只要記起很久以前我在那座小懸崖上所學到的經驗，我便能應付一切。

I have realized with the same surprise, time and again throughout my life, that, having looked at a far and frightening prospect and been dismayed, I can cope with it after all by remembering the simple lesson I learned so long ago.

我提醒自己，不要想著遠在下面的岩石，而要著眼於那最初的一小步，走了這一步再走下一步，直到抵達我所要到的地方。這時，我便可以驚奇而自豪地回頭看看，自己所走過的路程是多麼漫長。

I remind myself to look not at the rocks far below, but at the first small and relatively easy step and, having taken it, to take the next one, felling a sense of accomplishment with each move, until I have done what I wanted to do, gotten where I wanted to be, and can look back, amazed and proud of the distance I have come.

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附註：

(1) 英文部分是原著，中文版相對英文版簡略很多。我加減一些字使兩個版本盡量吻合。