美国学生人类历史 第2期:前言(2)

 　　I saw the heart of time. I could hear the heavy pulse beats of the rapid seconds-one-two-three-up to sixty.

　　我仿佛看见了时间的心脏，我听见了飞速流逝的时间那沉重的脉搏声，一秒、两秒、三秒，一直到六十秒。
　　Then a sudden quivering noise when all the wheels seemed to stop and another minute had been chopped off eternity 1.
　　随着一阵猛然的震颤声，所有的齿轮仿佛一齐停止了转动，被从永恒的时间长河中切割了下来。
　　Without pause it began again-one-two-three-until at last after a warning rumble 2 and the scraping of many wheels a thunderous voice, high above us, told the world that it was the hour of noon.
　　并不间断的重新开始它的--一--二--三--直到最后，在一个警告的轰声与许多齿轮的磨擦之后，高高在我们头顶之上，一声震耳的雷鸣，报告世上的人们此时已是正午了。
　　On the next floor were the bells.
　　一层是许许多多的钟。
　　The nice little bells and their terrible sisters.
　　还有体形巨大、令人害怕的巨型大钟。
　　In the centre the big bell, which made me turn stiff with fright when I heard it in the middle of the night telling a story of fire or flood.
　　房间正中是一口大钟。当它在半夜敲响，告之某一处大火或洪水的消息时，我总是吓得浑身僵硬、汗不敢出。
　　In solitary 3 grandeur 4 it seemed to reflect upon those six hundred years during which it had shared the joys and the sorrows of the good people of Rotterdam.
　　而现在，大钟却笼罩在寂寞庄严的气氛里， 仿佛正在回思过去600年里，它和鹿特丹人民一道经历了那些欢乐和哀愁。
　　Around it, neatly 5 arranged like the blue jars in an old-fashioned apothecary 6 shop, hung the little fellows,
　　大钟的身边是挂着一些小钟，它们整齐规矩的样子活像老式药店至摆放的大口瓶子。
　　who twice each week played a merry tune 7 for the benefit of the country-folk who had come to market to buy and sell and hear what the big world had been doing.
　　它们每星期奏两次悦耳的曲子，给进城来作买卖的，或来听新闻的乡下人一点消遣。
　　But in a corner-all alone and shunned 8 by the others-a big black bell, silent and stern, the bell of death.
　　但在一个犄角上--独自一个，为别的吊钟所远避的--有一只寂静而且严肃的大黑钟，那是报丧钟。
　　Then darkness once more and other ladders, steeper and even more dangerous than those we had climbed before, and suddenly the fresh air of the wide heavens.
　　我们接着往上爬，再度进入一片漆黑当中。此时，梯子也比刚才的更陡峭、更危险。爬着爬着，突然间，我们已经 呼吸到广阔天地的清新空气了。
　　We had reached the highest gallery.
　　我们到达了塔楼的最高点。
　　Above us the sky.
　　头上是高远的碧空，
　　Below us the city-a little toy-town, where busy ants were hastily crawling hither and thither 9,
　　脚下是城市——一个积木搭建的玩具般的城市。人们像蚂蚁似的匆匆来去，
　　each one intent upon his or her particular business, and beyond the jumble 10 of stones, the wide greenness of the open country.
　　人人专注 于自己的心思，忙着自己的事情。远处，在一片乱石堆外，是乡村宽广的绿色田野。
　　It was my first glimpse of the big world.
　　这是我对辽阔世界的最初一瞥。
　　Since then, whenever I have had the opportunity, I have gone to the top of the tower and enjoyed myself.
　　从此一有机会，我就上到塔楼顶上去自得其乐。
　　It was hard work, but it repaid in full the mere 11 physical exertion 12 of climbing a few stairs.
　　登上楼顶是一件很费力气的事情，可我体力上的付出却得到了充分的精神回报。
　　Besides, I knew what my reward would be.
　　何况我又知道我的报酬是什么。
　　I would see the land and the sky, and I would listen to the stories of my kind friend the watchman, who lived in a small shack 13, built in a sheltered corner of the gallery.
　　并且，我清楚这份回报是什么。我可以极目纵览大地和天空，我可以从我好心的朋友——塔楼看守人那里听到许许 多多的故事。在塔楼的一个隐蔽的角落里搭着一间小房子，看守人就住在里面。
　　He looked after the clock and was a father to the bells, and he warned of fires,
　　他负责照顾城市的时钟，也是呵护其它大小钟的细心的父亲。他还密切地注视着城 市，一有火灾的迹象就敲钟发出警讯。
　　but he enjoyed many free hours and then he smoked a pipe and thought his own peaceful thoughts.
　　但他也享受不少闲暇的时间，有时抽一筒烟，想想他个人的宁静的思想。
　　He had gone to school almost fifty years before and he had rarely read a book,
　　差不多在五十年之前，他也进过学校，他很少读书，
　　but he had lived on the top of his tower for so many years that he had absorbed the wisdom of that wide world which surrounded him on all sides.
　　但在这塔顶上住过这许多年，也就吸收了他周围大世界里的不少知识。