评论
打印
Chapter Thirteen The Three Sleepers
第十三章 三个沉睡的公爵
The wind never failed but it grew gentler every day till at length the waves were little more than ripples, and the ship glided on hour after hour almost as if they were sailing on a lake.
风没停过, 却也一天比一天小, 到最后浪花变成了涟漪, 船一个小时接着一个小时行驶着, 仿佛行驶在湖面上似的。
And every night they saw that there rose in the east new constellations which no one had ever seen in Narnia and perhaps, as Lucy thought with a mixture of joy and fear, no living eye had seen at all.
每天夜里他们都看见东方升起新的星辰, 在纳尼亚可没人见过这些星辰。正如露茜惊喜地琢磨着, 也许任何肉眼凡胎的人都根本没见过吧。
Those new stars were big and bright and the nights were warm.
那些星星又大又亮, 夜间天气很是暖和,
Most of them slept on deck and talked far into the night or hung over the ship's side watching the luminous dance of the foam thrown up by their bows.
他们大半人睡在甲板上, 有人一直谈到深更半夜, 有人在船舷徘徊, 看船头激起的泡沫, 像是在观看舞蹈一样。
On an evening of startling beauty, when the sunset behind them was so crimson and purple and widely spread that the very sky itself seemed to have grown larger, they came in sight of land on their starboard bow.
有一天, 黄昏惊人的美。船后面的夕阳红彤彤的, 映红了漫天的晚霞, 使天空更加空旷。突然, 他们看见右舷船头那边有陆地。
It came slowly nearer and the light behind them made it look as if the capes and headlands of this new country were all on fire.
陆地越来越近, 后面的霞光照得这个地方所有的海角如同着了火。
But presently they were sailing along its coast and its western cape now rose up astern of them, black against the red sky and sharp as if it was cut out of cardboard, and then they could see better what this country was like.
不久他们就沿着海岸行驶了, 渐渐在他们船尾方向看到西部海角, 黑乎乎的, 衬着红彤彤的天, 轮廓分明, 犹如剪影一般。他们这才看得清这地方。
It had no mountains but many gentle hills with slopes like pillows.
陆地上没有大山, 只有许多小山包, 像枕头一样。
An attractive smell came from it-what Lucy called"a dim, purple kind of smell", which Edmund said(and Rhince thought)was rot, but Caspian said, "I know what you mean. "
陆地上飘来一股诱人的气息----露茜说那"是一种轻淡的, 华丽的气味"。爱德蒙说这是胡话( 赖因斯也这么想), 可是凯斯宾却说："我知道你的意思。"
They sailed on a good way, past point after point, hoping to find a nice deep harbour, but had to content themselves in the end with a wide and shallow bay.
他们开了很长一段路程, 开过一个海角又一个海角, 希望能找一个深水良港, 可是最后只能在一个又宽又浅的海滩将就一下。
Though it had seemed calm out at sea there was of course surf breaking on the sand and they could not bring the Dawn Treader as far in as they would have liked.
虽然外边的海面风平浪静, 可是沙滩上还是有小波浪拍打水岸, 他们没法把黎明踏浪号按心里想的那样开进去,
They dropped anchor a good way from the beach and had a wet and tumbling landing in the boat.
只好在离开海滩很远的地方抛锚, 再坐小船, 每个人都浑身湿淋淋, 跌跌撞撞地上了岸。
The Lord Rhoop remained on board the Dawn Treader. He wished to see no more islands.
罗普公爵依然留在黎明踏浪号上, 他不希望再看见什么岛屿了。
All the time that they remained in this country the sound of the long breakers was in their ears.
他们留在岛上的时候, 长长的海浪拍打海岸的声音一直回旋在耳边。
Two men were left to guard the boat and Caspian led the others inland, but not far because it was too late for exploring and the light would soon go.
凯斯宾留下两个人守护着小船, 他带其他人到陆地上去, 但没走远, 天色就黑了下来。因为天太晚了, 所以无法探测。
But there was no need to go far to find an adventure.
不过要探索也用不着走太远,
The level valley which lay at the head of the bay showed no road or track or other sign of habitation.
滩头那片平地看不见道路, 也看不见足迹, 更没有人烟。
Underfoot was tine springy turf dotted here and there with a low bushy growth which Edmund and Lucy took for heather.
脚下到处都是细软湿润的草皮, 还有一种低矮的丛生植物, 爱德蒙和露茜认为那是石南。
Eustace, who was really rather good at botany; said it wasn't, and he was probably right; but it was something of very much the same kind.
尤斯塔斯相当精通植物学, 他说不是石南, 也许是吧, 反正这东西跟石南大同小异。
When they had gone less than a bowshot from the shore, Drinian said, "Look! What's that?" and everyone stopped.
他们走到离岸不到一箭远的地方, 德里宁说："看, 那是什么?" 大家听了都站住了。
"Are they great trees ?"said Caspian.
"是一棵大树吗?"凯斯宾说。
"Towers, l think, "said Eustace.
"我感觉是塔。"尤斯塔斯说。
"It might be giants, "said Edmund in a lower voice.
"是巨人吧。"爱德蒙放低声音说。
"The way to find out is to go right in among them, "said Reepicheep, drawing his sword and pattering off ahead of everyone else.
"想知道是什么就直接过去看看。"雷佩契普拔出剑来, 啪嗒啪嗒地走在了前边。
"I think it's a ruin, "said Lucy when they had got a good deal nearer, and her guess was the best so far.
"我觉得是座废墟。"当他们走近时, 露茜说。显然她的猜测是最正确的。
What they now saw was a wide oblong space flagged with smooth stones and surrounded by grey pillars but unroofed.
他们眼前是一块宽阔的长方形空地, 地面铺着光滑的卵石, 四下都是灰色的柱子, 没有屋顶。
And from end to end of it ran a long table laid with a rich crimson cloth that came down nearly to the pavement.
从这一端到那一端的中间是一张长长的桌子, 桌上铺着快要拖到石板地上的大红桌布。
At either side of it were many chairs of stone richly carved and with silken cushions upon the seats.
桌子周围有许多精工细雕的石椅, 铺着绸缎垫子。
But on the table itself there was set out such a banquet as had never been seen, not even when Peter the High King kept his court at Cair Paravel.
上面还摆了一桌从未见过的丰盛宴席, 相信至尊王彼得在凯尔帕拉维尔执政时也从未见过这样丰盛的宴席。
