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The camel driver understood what the boy was saying.
赶驼人没出声。
He knew that any given thing on the face of the earth could reveal the history of all things.
他明白男孩所说的话。他知道地球上的任何东西，都能够揭示万物的来龙去脉。
One could open a book to any page, or look at a person's hand; one could turn a card, or watch the flight of the birds ...
翻开一本书的随便哪一页，给人家看手相，玩一副纸牌，观察鸟的飞翔……
whatever the thing observed, one could find a connection with his experience of the moment.
无论用什么方式，都可以找到与所经历事情之间的某种联系。
Actually, it wasn't that those things, in themselves, revealed anything at all;
实际上，并不是事物本身在揭示什么，
it was just that people, looking at what was occurring around them, could find a means of penetration to the Soul of the World.
而是观察事物的人发现了探究世界之魂的方法。
The desert was full of men who earned their living based on the ease with which they could penetrate to the Soul of the World.
沙漠里到处都有以此为生的人，他们能轻而易举地探摸到世界之魂。
They were known as seers, and they were held in fear by women and the elderly.
他们以擅长占卜而著称，令妇女和老人敬畏。
Tribesmen were also wary of consulting them, because it would be impossible to be effective in battle if one knew that he was fated to die.
士兵们很少找他们问卦，因为一旦知道了何时将死，就不能再去作战了，
The tribesmen preferred the taste of battle, and the thrill of not knowing what the outcome would be;
他们宁肯体验拼杀的滋味和生死难卜的刺激。
the future was already written by Allah, and what he had written was always for the good of man.
未来已由安拉写就，不管安拉写的是什么，总是对人类有益的。
So the tribesmen lived only for the present, because the present was full of surprises, and they had to be aware of many things:
所以，士兵们只为现在活着，现在充斥着种种意外。为了保全性命，他们必须注意：
Where was the enemy's sword? Where was his horse? What kind of blow should one deliver next in order to remain alive?
敌方剑指何处，纵马何方，下一次可能会打向哪里……
The camel driver was not a fighter, and he had consulted with seers.
赶驼人不是士兵，故而请教过一些占卜师。
Many of them had been right about what they said, while some had been wrong.
很多人的预言是准确的，也有一些人的预言是错误的。
Then, one day, the oldest seer he had ever sought out (and the one most to be feared) had asked why the camel driver was so interested in the future.
有一天，一位最年长的（也是最令人敬畏的）占卜师问赶驼人，为什么对预知未来那么感兴趣。
"Well ... so I can do things," he had responded.
“为了采取行动。”赶驼人回答，
"And so I can change those things that I don't want to happen."
“避免我不喜欢的事发生。”
"But then they wouldn't be a part of your future," the seer had said.
“那么，它就不再是你的未来了。”占卜师说道。
"Well, maybe I just want to know the future so I can prepare myself for what's coming."
“我想知道未来，一部分原因是想为将要发生的事作准备。”
"If good things are coming, they will be a pleasant surprise," said the seer.
“如果是好事，那将是一个意外的惊喜；
"If bad things are, and you know in advance, you will suffer greatly before they even occur."
如果是坏事，在它发生之前你就要受很多苦。”
"I want to know about the future because I'm a man," the camel driver had said to the seer.
“好吧，之所以想知道未来，因为我是个人。”赶驼人对占卜师说，
"And men always live their lives based on the future."
“而人全靠对未来的希望活着。”
