血字的研究 43沙漠中的旅客(1)（在线收听）

PART 2 THE COUNTRY OF THE SAINTS

第二部 圣徒的故园

Chapter 1

第一章

ON THE GREAT ALKALI PLAIN

大硷地

IN THE central portion of the great North American Continent there lies an arid and repulsive desert, which for many a long year served as a barrier against the advance of civilization.

在北美大陆的中部，有一大片干旱荒凉的沙漠；多少年来，它一直是文化发展的障碍。

From the Sierra Nevada to Nebraska, and from the Yellowstone River in the north to the Colorado upon the south, is a region of desolation and silence.

从内华达山脉到尼布拉斯卡，从北部的黄石河到南部的科罗拉多，完全是一块荒凉沉寂的区域。

Nor is Nature always in one mood throughout this grim district.

但是在这凄凉可怕的地区里，大自然的景色也不尽同。

It comprises snow-capped and lofty mountains, and dark and gloomy valleys.

这里有大雪封盖的高山峻岭，有阴沉昏暗的深谷，

There are swift-flowing rivers which dash through jagged canons; and there are enormous plains, which in winter are white with snow, and in summer are gray with the saline alkali dust.

也有湍急的河流，在山石嵯峨的峡谷之间奔流；也有无边的荒原，冬天积雪遍地，夏日则呈现出一块灰色的硷地。

They all preserve, however, the common characteristics of barrenness, inhospitality, and misery.

虽然如此，一般的特点还是荒芜不毛、寸草不生、无限凄凉。

There are no inhabitants of this land of despair.

在这片无望的土地上，人烟绝迹。

A band of Pawnees or of Blackfeet may occasionally traverse it in order to reach other hunting- grounds, but the hardiest of the braves are glad to lose sight of those awesome plains, and to find themselves once more upon their prairies.

只有波尼人和黑足人偶尔结队走过这里，前往其他猎区；即使是最勇敢最坚强的人，也巴不得早日走完这片可怕的荒原，重新投身到大草原中去。

The coyote skulks among the scrub, the buzzard flaps heavily through the air, and the clumsy grizzly bear lumbers through the dark ravines, and picks up such sustenance as it can amongst the rocks.

只有山狗躲躲藏藏地在矮丛林中穿行，巨雕缓慢地在空中翱翔，还有那蠢笨的灰熊，出没在阴沉的峡谷里，寻找食物。

These are the sole dwellers in the wilderness.

它们是荒原里绝无仅有的居客。

In the whole world there can be no more dreary view than that from the northern slope of the Sierra Blanco.

世界上再也没有什么地方会比布兰卡山脉北麓的景象更为凄凉的了。

As far as the eye can reach stretches the great flat plain-land, all dusted over with patches of alkali, and intersected by clumps of the dwarfish chaparral bushes.

极目四望，荒原上只见被矮小的槲树林隔断的一片片盐硷地。

On the extreme verge of the horizon lie a long chain of mountain peaks, with their rugged summits flecked with snow.

地平线的尽头，山峦起伏，积雪皑皑，闪烁着点点银光

In this great stretch of country there is no sign of life, nor of anything appertaining to life.

在这片土地上既没有生命，也没有和生命有关的东西。

There is no bird in the steel-blue heaven, no movement upon the dull, gray earth–above all, there is absolute silence.

铁青色的天空中飞鸟绝迹，灰暗的大地上不见动静。

Listen as one may, there is no shadow of a sound in all that mighty wilderness; nothing but silence–complete and heart-subduing silence.

总之，一片死寂。倾耳静听，在这片广阔荒芜的大地上，毫无声息，只是一片彻底的、令人灰心绝望的死寂。

It has been said there is nothing appertaining to life upon the broad plain. That is hardly true.

有人说，在这广袤的原野上没有一点和生命有关的东西存在，这种说法也不真实。

Looking down from the Sierra Blanco, one sees a pathway traced out across the desert, which winds away and is lost in the extreme distance.

从布兰卡山脉往下观看，可以看见一条小路，曲曲弯弯地穿过沙漠，消逝在遥远的地平线上。

It is rutted with wheels and trodden down by the feet of many adventurers.

这条小路是经过多少车辆辗轧，经过无数冒险家的践踏而形成的。

Here and there there are scattered white objects which glisten in the sun, and stand out against the dull deposit of alkali.

这儿一堆，那儿一堆，到处散布着白森森的东西在日光下闪闪发光，在这片单调的硷地上显得非常刺眼。

Approach, and examine them!

走近仔细一看，

They are bones: some large and coarse, others smaller and more delicate. The former have belonged to oxen, and the latter to men.

原来是一堆堆白骨：又大又粗的是牛骨；较小较细的是人骨。

For fifteen hundred miles one may trace this ghastly caravan route by these scattered remains of those who had fallen by the wayside.

在这一千五百英里可怕的商旅道路上，人们是沿着前人倒毙路旁的累累遗骨前进的。