《牧羊少年奇幻之旅》 38 生活的河流是无法阻挡的

"Well, isn't that good?"

“这难道不好吗？”

"I'm already used to the way things are.

“我已经习惯了这种生活。

Before you came, I was thinking about how much time I had wasted in the same place, while my friends had moved on, and either went bankrupt or did better than they had before.

在你来这儿之前，我曾认为我在同一个地方待的时间太长了。而这期间，我所有的朋友都有了变化，有破产的，也有发财的。

It made me very depressed¹. Now, I can see that it hasn't been too bad. The shop is exactly the size I always wanted it to be.

这一切使我感到非常难过。现在我明白了，根本不必伤心，店铺的规模正如我期待的那样，恰到好处。

I don't want to change anything, because I don't know how to deal with change. I'm used to the way I am."

我不想再变了，因为我不知道该怎么变。我对自己的一切已经非常习惯了。”

The boy didn't know what to say.

男孩一时不知该说什么才好。

The old man continued, "You have been a real blessing² to me. Today, I understand something I didn't see before: every blessing ignored becomes a curse.

店主又说：“你一度成为我的福音。而今天我明白了一个道理，任何不被接纳的福音，都会变成诅咒。

I don't want anything else in life. But you are forcing me to look at wealth and at horizons I have never known.

我对生活没有更多的要求。而你正迫使我盯着从未见过的财富和前景。

Now that I have seen them, and now that I see how immense my possibilities are, I'm going to feel worse than I did before you arrived.

现在，我知道了这些财富和前景，也知道了我完全有可能拥有它们。可是我的感觉却比以前糟糕了。

Because I know the things I should be able to accomplish, and I don't want to do so."

因为我知道自己可以拥有这一切，却不愿拥有它们。”

It's good I refrained from saying anything to the baker³ in Tarifa, thought the boy to himself.

幸亏当初我没对那个面包店店主说什么，男孩心想。

They went on smoking the pipe for a while as the sun began to set.

两个人又抽了一阵子水烟。太阳渐渐落山。

They were conversing⁴ in Arabic, and the boy was proud of himself for being able to do so.

他们交谈时用的是阿拉伯语，男孩对自己的表现很满意，因为他会讲阿拉伯语了。

There had been a time when he thought that his sheep could teach him everything he needed to know about the world. But they could never have taught him Arabic.

有一段时间，他曾经以为羊群能够教会他一切，但是，羊群不会教他阿拉伯语。

There are probably other things in the world that the sheep can't teach me, thought the boy as he regarded the old merchant. All they ever do, really, is look for food and water.

世上一定还有其他一些东西是羊群教不了的，因为它们只是一味地寻找食物和水源。男孩心里这样想着，望着沉默的水晶店老板。

And maybe it wasn't that they were teaching me, but that I was learning from them.

我认为并不是羊群在教，而是我在学，他又想。

"Maktub," the merchant said, finally.

“马克图布。”店老板终于开口说道。

"What does that mean?"

“什么意思？”

"You would have to have been born an Arab to understand," he answered. "But in your language it would be something like 'It is written.'"

“你必须生来就是阿拉伯人才能弄懂它的意思。”店老板回答说，“大意是：命中注定。”

And, as he smothered⁵ the coals in the hookah, he told the boy that he could begin to sell tea in the crystal glasses.

他一边熄灭水烟袋里的炭火，一边告诉男孩，可以用水晶杯卖茶水。

Sometimes, there's just no way to hold back the river.

生活的河流是无法阻挡的。

1 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

2 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

3 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

4 conversing   

v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I find that conversing with her is quite difficult. 和她交谈实在很困难。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They were conversing in the parlor. 他们正在客厅谈话。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 smothered   

（使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制

参考例句：

• He smothered the baby with a pillow. 他用枕头把婴儿闷死了。
• The fire is smothered by ashes. 火被灰闷熄了。