Out of the Window
窗外
At twenty to five that morning, Grace felt a hand on her face. It was her mother. Grace was nearly asleep. The wind was screaming and shaking the big windows, and Thomasin Darling had to shout.
那天凌晨四点四十分，格蕾丝感到有只手抚上了她的脸。是她的母亲。格蕾丝几乎要睡着了。狂风呼啸着，震得大窗户哗哗作响，托马辛·达林不得不大声喊叫。
‘Go to bed, Grace! It’s nearly morning. I’ll look after the lantern now.’
“去睡觉吧，格蕾丝！天快亮了。现在我来照看灯塔。”
‘All right, mother.’ Grace got up slowly and went downstairs to her bedroom. It was much quieter in her room because of the strong stone walls. She looked at the birds’ eggs on her table, the books on the desk near the bed. The bed looked warm and comfortable. She smiled, and began to get undressed.
“好的，妈妈。”格蕾丝慢慢起身，下楼回到自己的卧室。因为厚实的石墙阻隔，她的房间里安静了许多。她看了看桌上的鸟蛋和床边书桌上的书。床铺看起来温暖又舒适。她微笑着，开始脱衣服。
A little grey light was coming in through the window. ‘It’s nearly morning,’ she thought. ‘I’ll look at the sea, before I go to sleep.’
一丝灰蒙蒙的晨光透过窗户照了进来。“天快亮了，”她想，“睡前我再看看大海吧。”
She walked to the window and looked out. But she could see nothing, because of the salt and rain on the glass. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ she thought. ‘I’m too tired. I’ll go to bed.’
她走到窗前向外望去。但由于玻璃上沾满了盐粒和雨水，她什么也看不见。“没关系，”她想，“我太累了，还是去睡觉吧。”
But before she went to bed, she prayed. And when she prayed, she heard a voice in her head. ‘Go to the window, Grace,’ it said. ‘Go and look out.’
但在上床之前，她做了祷告。祷告时，她听到脑海中有一个声音说：“到窗边去，格蕾丝，去看看外面。”
So she got up, went to the window, and opened it. The wind blew strongly into the room. It blew her hair across her face, and some books fell on the floor. In the grey morning light, Grace looked out across the sea.
于是她起身走到窗前，打开了窗户。狂风猛地灌进房间，吹乱了她的头发，几本书也被吹落在地。在灰蒙蒙的晨光中，格蕾丝眺望大海。
Most of the rocks and small islands were under water. Big white waves were breaking over them. The sea was wild, frightening, terrible. Grace looked, and felt cold. She could not remember a storm as bad as this. She thought of her warm bed, and began to close the window.
大部分礁石和小岛都被海水淹没了。巨大的白色浪花拍打着它们。大海狂暴、骇人而可怕。格蕾丝看着这一切，感到一阵寒意。她记不起以前有过如此猛烈的风暴。她想念温暖的床铺，便开始关窗。
Then she saw the ship.
就在这时，她看到了一艘船。
It was a big ship, on Harker’s Rock, about three hundred metres away to the south-west. A very big ship, but it was broken in two, with white water breaking all over it. Grace could not see it very well, because of the rain and the sea.
那是一艘大船，搁浅在西南方向约三百米处的哈克礁上。船非常大，但已经断成两截，白色的海浪不断拍打着船体。由于风雨交加、海浪滔天，格蕾丝看不太清楚。
‘Father! Father! Come quick!’ She ran out of the room, down the stairs to her parents’ bedroom. ‘Come quick! There’s a ship on Harker’s Rock! A big one — a passenger ship! It’s broken in two!’
“爸爸！爸爸！快来！”她跑出房间，冲下楼梯来到父母的卧室。“快来！哈克礁上有艘船！一艘大客轮！它断成两截了！”
William Darling was out of bed in a second. He put on his boots and coat and followed Grace up the stairs. ‘Did you see any people?’
威廉·达林立刻从床上跳了起来。他穿上靴子和外套，跟着格蕾丝跑上楼。“你看到有人吗？”
‘No, father. But it’s difficult to see anything in this wild sea.’
“没有，爸爸。但这片大海太狂暴了，很难看清任何东西。”
Her father took a telescope from his pocket and stared out of Grace’s window at the wreck of the Forfarshire. He looked for a long time, then said, ‘I can see no one, but my eyes are old. You look, lass.’
父亲从口袋里掏出望远镜，透过格蕾丝的窗户凝视着“福法尔郡号”的残骸。他看了许久，然后说：“我一个人也没看见，但我老了，眼神不好。你来看看吧，孩子。”
Grace stared carefully through the telescope. White water crashed over the wreck. Sometimes the ship moved on the rock, and sometimes pieces of wood fell off into the sea. But she saw no people.
格蕾丝仔细地透过望远镜观察。白色的浪花猛烈拍打着残骸。船体有时会在礁石上晃动，有时会有木块脱落掉入海中。但她没有看到任何人。
‘No, father. I think they have all drowned.’
“没有，爸爸。我想他们都溺水遇难了。”
‘Poor, poor people.’
“可怜的人啊。”
‘Yes, but it’s a good thing too, William.’ Grace’s mother was in the room now, and she was looking out of the window with her husband and daughter.
“是啊，但这也算是不幸中的万幸，威廉。”格蕾丝的母亲此时也进了房间，和丈夫、女儿一起望着窗外。
‘Why is that, Thomasin?’ William asked her.
“为什么这么说，托马辛？”威廉问她。
‘Why? Because the boys aren’t here, William. You couldn’t take a boat out in that wild sea alone. No one could. If there are people alive on that ship now, you cannot save them, William.’
“为什么？因为儿子们不在家，威廉。在这种狂风巨浪中，你一个人没法驾船出海。谁也不行。如果船上还有幸存者，你也救不了他们，威廉。”
‘I could go with him, mother,’ said Grace quietly.
“我可以陪爸爸一起去，妈妈。”格蕾丝轻声说道。
‘Not in a sea like that, Grace,’ her mother said.
“在那样的海况下可不行，格蕾丝。”母亲说。
Her father said nothing.
父亲沉默不语。
‘We mustn’t stop looking,’ said Grace. ‘If there is someone alive, we can’t just leave them to die.’
“我们不能停止观察，”格蕾丝说，“如果有人还活着，我们不能眼睁睁看着他们死去。”
And so, for the next two hours, Grace and her parents watched the wreck of the Forfarshire through the telescope. Slowly, daylight came. But they saw no people… only rain, and waves, and a broken ship in the wild angry sea.
于是，在接下来的两个小时里，格蕾丝和父母一直通过望远镜注视着“福法尔郡号”的残骸。天色渐渐亮了起来。但他们始终没有看到人影……只有风雨、波浪，以及那艘在狂暴愤怒的大海中支离破碎的船。
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