《牧羊少年奇幻之旅》 02 和女孩聊天

"I need to sell some wool," the boy told the merchant.

“我有点羊毛要卖。”他对那个商人说。

The shop was busy, and the man asked the shepherd to wait until the afternoon.

店里人满为患，老板让圣地亚哥黄昏时分再来。

So the boy sat on the steps of the shop and took a book from his bag.

男孩便到店铺前的斜坡上坐下，从褡裢里掏出一本书。

"I didn't know shepherds knew how to read," said a girl's voice behind him.

“我以前以为牧羊人不会读书。”一个少女的声音在他身后响起。

The girl was typical of the region of Andalusia, with flowing black hair, and eyes that vaguely¹ recalled the Moorish² conquerors³.

是个典型的安达卢西亚少女，一头黑发瀑布般垂下，眼睛使人隐隐约约想起古代的征服者摩尔人。

"Well, usually I learn more from my sheep than from books," he answered.

“那是因为羊群教给人们的东西远比书籍要多。”男孩回答。

During the two hours that they talked,

他们谈了两个多小时。

she told him she was the merchant's daughter, and spoke⁴ of life in the village, where each day was like all the others.

少女自称是纺织品店老板的女儿，还谈到镇上的事情，她说，这里的生活一成不变，天天如此。

The shepherd told her of the Andalusian countryside, and related the news from the other towns where he had stopped.

圣地亚哥谈起安达卢西亚的田野，谈起他经过的村镇里的新鲜事。

It was a pleasant change from talking to his sheep.

他很高兴，因为不必总是跟羊群说话了。

"How did you learn to read?" the girl asked at one point.

“你是怎么学会读书识字的？”

"Like everybody learns," he said. "In school."

“和其他人一样，在学校里学会的。”男孩回答。

"Well, if you know how to read, why are you just a shepherd?"

“既然会读书识字，为什么还当牧羊人呢？”

The boy mumbled⁵ an answer that allowed him to avoid responding to her question.

男孩随便岔开了话题，没有回答。

He was sure the girl would never understand.

他确信这个问题女孩永远无法理解。

He went on telling stories about his travels, and her bright, Moorish eyes went wide with fear and surprise.

他继续讲述路上的经历。女孩那双酷似摩尔人的小眼睛一会儿因害怕而瞪得浑圆，一会儿因惊奇而眯成一条缝。

As the time passed, the boy found himself wishing that the day would never end,

时间流逝，男孩开始期盼这一天永远不要结束，

that her father would stay busy and keep him waiting for three days.

期盼女孩的父亲一直忙碌下去，可以让他在此等上三天。

He recognized that he was feeling something he had never experienced before: the desire to live in one place forever.

他感觉自己正生起一种过去从未有过的冲动：永远定居在这个镇子。

With the girl with the raven⁶ hair, his days would never be the same again.

他感觉，和这个黑头发女孩在一起，每天都会是新的一天。

But finally the merchant appeared, and asked the boy to shear⁷ four sheep.

然而那个商人最终还是来了。他让圣地亚哥剪下四只羊的毛，

He paid for the wool and asked the shepherd to come back the following year.

然后付了相应的钱，让男孩隔年再来。

1 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

2 moorish   

adj.沼地的，荒野的，生[住]在沼地的

参考例句：

• There was great excitement among the Moorish people at the waterside. 海边的摩尔人一阵轰动。 来自辞典例句
• All the doors are arched with the special arch we see in Moorish pictures. 门户造成拱形，形状独特，跟摩尔风暴画片里所见的一样。 来自辞典例句

3 conquerors   

征服者，占领者( conqueror的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Danes had selfconfidence of conquerors, and their security precautions were casual. 这些丹麦人具有征服者的自信，而且他们的安全防卫也是漫不经心的。
• The conquerors believed in crushing the defeated people into submission, knowing that they could not win their loyalty by the victory. 征服者们知道他们的胜利并不能赢得失败者的忠心，于是就认为只有通过武力才能将他们压服。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 mumbled   

含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He mumbled something to me which I did not quite catch. 他对我叽咕了几句话，可我没太听清楚。
• George mumbled incoherently to himself. 乔治语无伦次地喃喃自语。

6 raven   

n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的

参考例句：

• We know the raven will never leave the man's room.我们知道了乌鸦再也不会离开那个男人的房间。
• Her charming face was framed with raven hair.她迷人的脸上垂落着乌亮的黑发。

7 shear   

n.修剪，剪下的东西，羊的一岁；vt.剪掉，割，剥夺；vi.修剪，切割，剥夺，穿越

参考例句：

• Every spring they shear off the sheep's wool and sell it.每年春天他们都要剪下羊毛去卖。
• In the Hebrides they shear their sheep later than anywhere else.在赫伯里兹，剪羊毛的时间比其他任何地方都要晚。