《牧羊少年奇幻之旅》 32 水晶店老板让男孩在店里打工

A card hanging in the doorway¹ announced that several languages were spoken in the shop.

商店门上的一张招贴注明，这里可以讲好几种语言。

The boy saw a man appear behind the counter.

圣地亚哥看到了柜台后面的那个男人。

"I can clean up those glasses in the window, if you want," said the boy.

“如果您愿意，我可以把这些水晶器皿擦干净。”男孩开口道，

"The way they look now, nobody is going to want to buy them."

“像现在这副样子，没人愿意买它们。”

The man looked at him without responding.

那男人看着圣地亚哥，没说话。

"In exchange, you could give me something to eat."

“作为交换，您得管我一顿饭。”

The man still said nothing, and the boy sensed that he was going to have to make a decision.

那男人仍旧沉默着。男孩觉得必须自己作决定了。

In his pouch², he had his jacket—he certainly wasn't going to need it in the desert.

他的褡裢里有一件外套，在沙漠里用不上了。

Taking the jacket out, he began to clean the glasses.

他拿出外套，开始擦拭那些器皿。

In half an hour, he had cleaned all the glasses in the window,

他用半个小时擦干净了柜台里所有的器皿。

and, as he was doing so, two customers had entered the shop and bought some crystal³.

在这段时间内，进来过两个顾客，买了水晶制品。

When he had completed the cleaning, he asked the man for something to eat.

全部擦完之后，男孩要求那男人管他一顿饭。

"Let's go and have some lunch," said the crystal merchant.

“咱们吃饭去。”水晶店老板说。

He put a sign on the door, and they went to a small café nearby.

老板在门上挂出一块告示牌后，便和圣地亚哥来到山丘顶部的一间小酒吧。

As they sat down at the only table in the place, the crystal merchant laughed.

里面仅有一张桌子，他们刚一落座，水晶店老板就笑了。

"You didn't have to do any cleaning," he said. "The Koran requires me to feed a hungry person."

“其实什么也不用擦。”他道，“《古兰经》规定必须给饥饿的人饭吃。”

"Well then, why did you let me do it?" the boy asked.

“那您为什么不阻止我呢？”男孩问。

"Because the crystal was dirty. And both you and I needed to cleanse⁴ our minds of negative thoughts."

“因为那些水晶脏了。而无论是你还是我，都需要清除头脑里的坏念头。”

When they had eaten, the merchant turned to the boy and said,

吃过饭之后，水晶店老板对男孩说：

"I'd like you to work in my shop. Two customers came in today while you were working, and that's a good omen⁵."

“我希望你在我店里打工。今天你擦水晶的时候，进来了两个顾客，这是个好兆头。”

People talk a lot about omens⁶, thought the shepherd⁷. But they really don't know what they're saying.

人们总是谈论预兆，男孩想，但却不知道自己在谈什么。

Just as I hadn't realized that for so many years I had been speaking a language without words to my sheep.

我也一样，没意识到许多年来，都在用一种非语言的表达方式同我的羊群交流。

1 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

2 pouch   

n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件

参考例句：

• He was going to make a tobacco pouch out of them. 他要用它们缝制一个烟草袋。
• The old man is always carrying a tobacco pouch with him.这老汉总是随身带着烟袋。

3 crystal   

n.水晶，水晶饰品，结晶体；最好的玻璃器皿

参考例句：

• It used to be a crystal stream.那曾是条清澈见底的小溪。
• Those fine wine glasses are made of crystal.那些漂亮的酒杯是用水晶做的。

4 cleanse   

vt.使清洁，使纯洁，清洗

参考例句：

• Health experts are trying to cleanse the air in cities. 卫生专家们正设法净化城市里的空气。
• Fresh fruit juices can also cleanse your body and reduce dark circles.新鲜果汁同样可以清洁你的身体,并对黑眼圈同样有抑制作用。

5 omen   

n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示

参考例句：

• The superstitious regard it as a bad omen.迷信的人认为那是一种恶兆。
• Could this at last be a good omen for peace?这是否终于可以视作和平的吉兆了？

6 omens   

n.前兆，预兆( omen的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The omens for the game are still not propitious. 这场比赛仍不被看好。 来自辞典例句
• Such omens betide no good. 这种征兆预示情况不妙。 来自辞典例句

7 shepherd   

n.牧羊者，牧师，指导者；v.看守，领导，指导

参考例句：

• The shepherd boy waited for his sheep to drink.牧童等羊喝水。
• The shepherd and his dog gathered in the sheep.牧羊人和牧羊狗把羊群赶到一块。