《牧羊少年奇幻之旅》 58 商队开始日夜兼程

The caravan¹ began to travel day and night.

商队开始日夜兼程。

The hooded² Bedouins reappeared more and more frequently, and the camel driver—who had become a good friend of the boy's—explained that the war between the tribes³ had already begun.

戴风帽的报信人频繁地出现。已经同男孩成为朋友的那个赶驼人解释说，部族之间的战争已经开始了。

The caravan would be very lucky to reach the oasis⁴.

他们只有运气极佳才能抵达绿洲。

The animals were exhausted⁵, and the men talked among themselves less and less.

牲口全都疲惫不堪，人们也变得越来越沉默。

The silence was the worst aspect of the night, when the mere⁶ groan⁷ of a camel—which before had been nothing but the groan of a camel—now frightened everyone, because it might signal a raid⁸.

一到夜间，寂静变得更加可怕。一声驼鸣，要在过去，是最普通不过的事情，如今却令所有人胆战心惊，因为那很可能是有入侵者来袭的信号。

The camel driver, though, seemed not to be very concerned with the threat of war.

但是，那位赶驼人似乎对战争的危险并不十分在意。

"I'm alive," he said to the boy, as they ate a bunch of dates one night, with no fires and no moon.

在一个既没有篝火也没有月亮的夜晚，赶驼人边吃椰枣边对男孩说：“我现在活着。”

"When I'm eating, that's all I think about. If I'm on the march, I just concentrate on marching.

“当我吃东西时，就只管吃；当我走路时，就只管走。

If I have to fight, it will be just as good a day to die as any other."

如果必须去打仗，今天死还是明天死对我都一样。”

"Because I don't live in either my past or my future. I'm interested only in the present.

“因为我既不生活在过去，也不生活在未来，我只有现在，它才是我感兴趣的。

If you can concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man.

如果你能永远关注现在，那你将是最幸福的人。

You'll see that there is life in the desert, that there are stars in the heavens, and that tribesmen fight because they are part of the human race.

你会发现沙漠里有生命，发现天空中有星星，发现士兵们打仗是因为战争是人类生活的一部分。

Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we're living right now."

生活就是一个节日，是一场盛大的庆典。因为生活永远是，也仅仅是我们现在经历的这一刻。”

Two nights later, as he was getting ready to bed down, the boy looked for the star they followed every night.

这之后第三天夜里，男孩入睡前，抬头看了看那颗他们在夜间用来辨别方位的星星。

He thought that the horizon was a bit lower than it had been, because he seemed to see stars on the desert itself.

他觉得地平线比以前降低了一点，因为沙漠上空此刻有数百颗星星。

"It's the oasis," said the camel driver.

“那就是绿洲了。”赶驼人说。

"Well, why don't we go there right now?" the boy asked.

“我们为什么不马上赶到那里去？”

"Because we have to sleep."

“因为我们需要睡觉。”

1 caravan   

n.大蓬车；活动房屋

参考例句：

• The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
• Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。

2 hooded   

adj.戴头巾的；有罩盖的；颈部因肋骨运动而膨胀的

参考例句：

• A hooded figure waited in the doorway. 一个戴兜帽的人在门口等候。
• Black-eyed gipsy girls, hooded in showy handkerchiefs, sallied forth to tell fortunes. 黑眼睛的吉卜赛姑娘，用华丽的手巾包着头，突然地闯了进来替人算命。 来自辞典例句

3 tribes   

n.部落( tribe的名词复数 )；（动、植物的）族；（一）帮；大群

参考例句：

• tribes living in remote areas of the Amazonian rainforest 居住在亚马孙河雨林偏远地区的部落
• In Africa the snake is still sacred with many tribes. 非洲许多部落仍认为蛇是不可冒犯的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 oasis   

n.（沙漠中的）绿洲，宜人的地方

参考例句：

• They stopped for the night at an oasis.他们在沙漠中的绿洲停下来过夜。
• The town was an oasis of prosperity in a desert of poverty.该镇是贫穷荒漠中的一块繁荣的“绿洲”。

5 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

6 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

7 groan   

vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音

参考例句：

• The wounded man uttered a groan.那个受伤的人发出呻吟。
• The people groan under the burden of taxes.人民在重税下痛苦呻吟。

8 raid   

v.劫掠，攫取，袭击，突击搜捕；n.突然袭击

参考例句：

• Our house was blown up in an air raid.在一次空袭中我们的房子被炸掉了。
• During their raid on the house,the police found a lot of drugs.在对这所房子的搜查中，警方发现了大量的毒品。