《牧羊少年奇幻之旅》 28 男孩信心倍增（在线收听）

"Am I going to find my treasure?" he asked.

“我能找到我的财宝吗？”男孩又问。

He stuck his hand into the pouch, and felt around for one of the stones. As he did so, both of them pushed through a hole in the pouch and fell to the ground.

他把手伸进褡裢，刚要拿起一块宝石，两块宝石却从一个破洞漏了出去。

The boy had never even noticed that there was a hole in his pouch.

男孩从未发现他的褡裢有破洞。

He knelt down to find Urim and Thummim and put them back in the pouch.

他弯腰去捡乌凌和图明。

But as he saw them lying there on the ground, another phrase came to his mind.

但是，当看到掉在地上的宝石时，他脑海里又浮出另一句话。

"Learn to recognize omens, and follow them," the old king had said.

“要学会尊重预兆，循迹而行。”麦基洗德曾说过。

An omen. The boy smiled to himself.

这是个预兆。男孩暗自笑了。

He picked up the two stones and put them back in his pouch.

然后，他从地上捡起那两块宝石，放进褡裢。

He didn't consider mending the hole—the stones could fall through any time they wanted.

他不想把那破洞缝上，只要宝石愿意，尽可以从那里溜出去。

He had learned that there were certain things one shouldn't ask about, so as not to flee from one's own personal legend.

男孩已经明白了，有些事情是不应该问的，不能逃避自己的天命。

"I promised that I would make my own decisions," he said to himself.

我曾许下诺言，自己的事自己决定，他暗自思忖。

But the stones had told him that the old man was still with him, and that made him feel more confident.

宝石已经告诉他，老人并未抛下他不管，这令他信心倍增。

He looked around at the empty plaza again, feeling less desperate than before.

他重新环顾了一圈空荡荡的市场，先前的绝望已经荡然无存。

This wasn't a strange place; it was a new one.

这不是陌生的世界，这是个崭新的世界。

After all, what he had always wanted was just that: to know new places.

其实，他期望的恰恰就是认识新天地。

Even if he never got to the Pyramids, he had already traveled farther than any shepherd he knew.

即便永远到不了金字塔，他也比任何一个他认识的牧羊人走得远。

Oh, if they only knew how different things are just two hours by ship from where they are, he thought.

要是他们知道两个小时船程的地方，竟有这么多新鲜事物，该作何感想啊？

Although his new world at the moment was just an empty marketplace, he had already seen it when it was teeming with life, and he would never forget it.

展现在他面前的新天地虽然只是个空荡荡的市场，但他已经领略过了充斥市场的勃勃生机，并永远不会忘怀。

He remembered the sword. It hurt him a bit to think about it, but he had never seen one like it before.

他想起了那把宝剑，看它一眼所付出的代价可谓高昂，但他毕竟见到了他过去从未见过的稀罕物。

As he mused about these things, he realized that he had to choose between thinking of himself as the poor victim of a thief and as an adventurer in quest of his treasure.

他突然觉得，被骗之后，他可以像个倒霉的受害者一样看待世界，也可以像个寻宝的冒险家那样观察世界。

"I'm an adventurer, looking for treasure."

男孩想：我是个寻宝的冒险家。