The perturbation of my mind during this fifteen or sixteen months' interval was very great; I slept unquietly, dreamed always frightful dreams, and often started out of my sleep in the night.
在这十五六个月里,我极度心烦意乱。晚上我睡不着觉,经常做恶梦,常从梦中惊醒。
In the day great troubles overwhelmed my mind; and in the night I dreamed often of killing the savages and of the reasons why I might justify doing it.
白天,我心神不定,坐立不安;夜里,我在梦中大杀野人,并列举杀害野人的种种理由。
But to waive all this for a while. It was in the middle of May, on the sixteenth day, I think, as well as my poor wooden calendar would reckon, for I marked all upon the post still;
所有这一切,现在先按捺不说。且说到了五月中旬,大约是五月十六日。这是根据我刻在柱上的日历计算的,我至今还每天在柱上划刻痕,但已不太准了。
I say, it was on the sixteenth of May that it blew a very great storm of wind all day, with a great deal of lightning and thunder, and; a very foul night it was after it.
五月十六日这天刮起了暴风雨,整天雷声隆隆,电光闪闪,直至晚上,依然风雨交加,整夜不停。
I knew not what was the particular occasion of it, but as I was reading in the Bible, and taken up with very serious thoughts about my present condition, I was surprised with the noise of a gun, as I thought, fired at sea.
我也说不清事情究竟是什么时候发生的,只记得当时我正在读《圣经》,并认真考虑着自己当前的处境。忽然,我听到一声枪响,好像是从海上发出的。这真大大出乎我的意料。
This was, to be sure, a surprise quite of a different nature from any I had met with before; for the notions this put into my thoughts were quite of another kind.
这个意外事件与我以前碰到的任何事件完全不一样,因而在我头脑里所产生的反应也完全不一样。
I started up in the greatest haste imaginable; and, in a trice, clapped my ladder to the middle place of the rock, and pulled it after me;
听到枪声后,我一跃而起,转眼之间就把梯子竖在半山上,
and mounting it the second time, got to the top of the hill the very moment that a flash of fire bid me listen for a second gun, which, accordingly, in about half a minute I heard;
登上半山的坡坎后,又把梯子提起来架在坡坎上,最后爬上了山顶。就在这一刹那,我又看见火光一闪,知道第二枪又要响了;果然不出所料,半分钟之后,又听到了枪声。
and by the sound, knew that it was from that part of the sea where I was driven down the current in my boat.
从那声音判断,知道枪声正是从我上回坐船被急流冲走的那一带海上传来的。
I immediately considered that this must be some ship in distress, and that they had some comrade, or some other ship in company, and fired these for signals of distress, and to obtain help.
我立即想到,这一定是有船只遇难了,而且,他们一定有其他船只结伴航行,因此放枪发出求救信号。
I had the presence of mind at that minute to think, that though I could not help them, it might be that they might help me;
我这时非常镇定,我想,即使我无法救助他们,他们倒可能帮助我。
so I brought together all the dry wood I could get at hand, and making a good handsome pile, I set it on fire upon the hill.
于是,我把附近的干柴通通收集起来,在山上堆成一大堆点火。
The wood was dry, and blazed freely; and, though the wind blew very hard, yet it burned fairly out; so that I was certain, if there was any such thing as a ship, they must needs see it.
木柴很干,火一下子就烧得很旺。风很大,火势却依然不减。我确信,只要海上有船,他们一定看得见。
And no doubt they did; for as soon as ever my fire blazed up, I heard another gun, and after that several others, all from the same quarter.
他们确实也看到了。因为我把火一烧起来,马上又听见一声枪声,接着又是好几声枪响,都是从同一个方向传来的。
I plied my fire all night long, till daybreak: and when it was broad day, and the air cleared up, I saw something at a great distance at sea, full east of the island, whether a sail or a hull I could not distinguish ? no, not with my glass:
我把火烧了一整夜,一直烧到天亮。天大亮后,海上开始晴朗起来。这时,我看到,在远处海面上,小岛正东方向,仿佛有什么东西,不知是帆还是船。我怎么看也看不清楚,用望远镜也没有用,
the distance was so great, and the weather still something hazy also; at least, it was so out at sea.
距离实在太远了,而且天气还雾蒙蒙的;至少海面上雾气还很浓。
I looked frequently at it all that day, and soon perceived that it did not move; so I presently concluded that it was a ship at anchor;
整整一天,我一直眺望着海面上那东西,不久便发现它一直停在原处,一动不动。于是我断定,那一定是一条下了锚的大船。
and being eager, you may be sure, to be satisfied, I took my gun in my hand, and ran towards the south side of the island to the rocks where I had formerly been carried away by the current;
可以想象,我多么急于把事情搞个水落石出,所以,就拿起枪向岛的南边跑去,跑到我前次被急流冲走的那些岩石前面。
and getting up there, the weather by this time being perfectly clear, I could plainly see, to my great sorrow, the wreck of a ship, cast away in the night upon those concealed rocks which I found when I was out in my boat;
到了那里,天已完全放晴了。我一眼就看到,有一只大船昨天夜里撞在暗礁上失事了。这真叫我痛心;其实我上次驾舟出游时,就发现了那些暗礁。
and which rocks, as they checked the violence of the stream, and made a kind of counter?stream, or eddy, were the occasion of my recovering from the most desperate, hopeless condition that ever I had been in in all my life.
正是这些暗礁,挡住了急流的冲力,形成了一股逆流,我那次才得以死里逃生。这是我生平从最绝望的险境里逃生的经历。
Thus, what is one man's safety is another man's destruction; for it seems these men, whoever they were, being out of their knowledge, and the rocks being wholly under water, had been driven upon them in the night, the wind blowing hard at ENE.
由此可见,同样的险境,对这个人来说是安全的,对另一个人来说则可能意味着毁灭。我想,这些人由于不熟悉地形,那些暗礁又都隐藏在水底下,再加上昨天晚上的东北风很大,所以船触上了暗礁。
Had they seen the island, as I must necessarily suppose they did not, they must, as I thought, have endeavoured to have saved themselves on shore by the help of their boat;
如果他们发现这个小岛,我想他们一定会用船上的救生艇竭尽全力划到岸上来的。
but their firing off guns for help, especially when they saw, as I imagined, my fire, filled me with many thoughts.
但看来他们一定没有看到小岛,只是鸣枪求救,尤其是他们看到我燃起的火光后,更是多次放枪。由此我头脑里出现了种种设想。
First, I imagined that upon seeing my light they might have put themselves into their boat, and endeavoured to make the shore: but that the sea running very high, they might have been cast away.
首先,我想到,他们看到火光后,必然会下到救生艇里拼命向岸上划来,但由于风急浪高,把他们刮走了。
Other times I imagined that they might have lost their boat before, as might be the case many ways;
一会儿我又猜想,也许他们的救生艇早就没了,这种情况是经常发生的。
particularly by the breaking of the sea upon their ship, which many times obliged men to stave, or take in pieces, their boat, and sometimes to throw it overboard with their own hands.
当大船遇到惊涛骇浪时,水手们往往不得不把船上的救生艇拆散,甚至干脆扔到海里去。
Other times I imagined they had some other ship or ships in company, who, upon the signals of distress they made, had taken them up, and carried them off.
过会儿我又想,也许与他们结伴同行的船只,在见到他们出事的信号后,已把他们救起来带走了。
Other times I fancied they were all gone off to sea in their boat, and being hurried away by the current that I had been formerly in, were carried out into the great ocean,
我又想到,说不定他们已经坐上救生艇,可是遇到了我上次碰上的那股急流,给冲到大洋里去了。
where there was nothing but misery and perishing: and that, perhaps, they might by this time think of starving, and of being in a condition to eat one another.
到了大洋里,他们可就糟了,那是必死无疑的。说不定这会儿他们都快饿死了,甚至可能正在人吃人呢!