The first rhythm that they became used to was the slow swing from dawn to quick dusk. They accepted the pleasures of morning, the bright sun, the whelming sea and sweet air, as a time when play was good and life so full that hope was not necessary and therefore forgotten. Toward noon, as the floods of light fell more nearly to the perpendicular, the stark colors of the morning were smoothed in pearl and opalescence; and the heat — as though the impending sun’s height gave it momentum — became a blow that they ducked, running to the shade and lying there, perhaps even sleeping.

孩子们开始习惯的第一种生活节奏是从黎明慢慢地过渡到来去匆匆的黄昏。他们领略了早晨的各种乐趣、灿烂的阳光、滚滚的大海和清新的空气,既玩得痛快,生活又如此充实,“希望”变得不是必要的了,它也就被忘却了。快到正午时分,充溢的阳光几乎直射而下,清晨各种棱角分明的色彩柔化成珍珠色和乳白色;而暑热——似乎是高悬的太阳给了它势头——变得凶猛无比,孩子们东避西闪,跑进树阴躺在那里,有的甚至睡起觉来。

Strange things happened at midday. The glittering sea rose up, moved apart in planes of blatant impossibility; the coral reef and the few stunted palms that clung to the more elevated parts would float up into the sky, would quiver, be plucked apart, run like raindrops on a wire or be repeated as in an odd succession of mirrors. Sometimes land loomed where there was no land and flicked out like a bubble as the children watched. Piggy discounted all this learnedly as a “mirage”; and since no boy could reach even the reef over the stretch of water where the snapping sharks waited, they grew accustomed to these mysteries and ignored them, just as they ignored the miraculous, throbbing stars. At midday the illusions merged into the sky and there the sun gazed down like an angry eye. Then, at the end of the afternoon; the mirage subsided and the horizon became level and blue and clipped as the sun declined. That was another time of comparative coolness but menaced by the coming of the dark. When the sun sank, darkness dropped on the island like an extinguisher and soon the shelters were full of restlessness, under the remote stars.

正午发生了各种希奇古怪的事情。闪闪发亮的海面上升着,往两边分开,显出根本不可能存在的许多平面;珊瑚礁和很少几株紧贴在礁石较高处的矮棕榈树好像要飘上天去,颤动着,被撕开来,像雨珠儿在电线上滚动,又像在排列古怪的许多面镜子中被折射。有时候,在原先没有陆地的地方隐约出现了陆地,而当孩子们聚精会神地注目时,陆地又像个气泡似的一晃就不见了。猪崽子颇有学问地把这一切说成只不过是“海市蜃楼”;因为没有一个孩子能够越过这一片海水到达珊瑚礁(在那儿可有咬人的鲨鱼等候着),大伙儿对这些神秘的现象习以为常,也不在意了,正如他们对闪烁着的、奇妙的群星也已经熟视无睹了一样。中午,各种幻影融进天空;在那上面,骄阳如怒目俯视着。然后,到傍晚时分,蜃景消退下去,海平面又回复了水平方向,又变成蓝蓝的,夕阳西下时,海平面轮廓清晰。那是一天中又一个比较凉快的时候,但吓人的黑夜也就要来临了。夕阳西沉以后,黑夜君临岛上,好像把一切都扑灭了;群星遥远,星光下的茅屋里传出了一阵阵骚动声。

Nevertheless, the northern European tradition of work, play, and food right through the day, made it possible for them to adjust themselves wholly to this new rhythm. The littlun Percival had early crawled into a shelter and stayed there for two days, talking, singing, and crying, till they thought him batty and were faintly amused. Ever since then he had been peaked, red-eyed, and miserable; a littiun who played little and cried often.

然而,按北欧传统,干活、游玩和吃喝都是从早到晚[1]进行的,所以孩子们不可能完全适应这种新的生活节奏。小家伙珀西佛尔老早就爬进了窝棚,在那儿待了两天,说呀、唱呀、哭呀,大家都认为他疯了,并感到有点好笑。从那以后他形容憔悴,眼睛红肿,变得可怜巴巴的;成了一个不玩尽哭的小家伙。【注:[1] 原文为day,在这里是指从早上到晚上入睡前这一段时间,如从早上六时到晚上十时。】

The smaller boys were known now by the generic title of “littluns.” The decrease in size, from Ralph down, was gradual; and though there was a dubious region inhabited by Simon and Robert and Maurice, nevertheless no one had any difficulty in recognizing biguns at one end and littluns at the other. The undoubted littluns, those aged about six, led a quite distinct, and at the same time intense, life of their own. They ate most of the day, picking fruit where they could reach it and not particular about ripeness and quality. They were used now to stomach-aches and a sort of chronic diarrhoea. They suffered untold terrors in the dark and huddled together for comfort. Apart from food and sleep, they found time for play, aimless and trivial, in the white sand by the bright water. They cried for their mothers much less often than might have been expected; they were very brown, and filthily dirty. They obeyed the summons of the conch, partly because Ralph blew it, and he was big enough to be a link with the adult world of authority; and partly because they enjoyed the entertainment of the assemblies. But otherwise they seldom bothered with the biguns and their passionately emotional and corporate life was their own.

较小的男孩现在被通称为“小家伙们”。个子的大小从拉尔夫开始排下去;虽然西蒙、罗伯特和莫里斯三个人之间比较难以区别,但是在这些孩子们当中,大家伙们大、小家伙们小,却是任何人都不难辨认的。无疑应该算作是小家伙们的,大约六岁上下,他们过着一种很特别的、同时又是紧张的生活。他们白天大部分时间都在搞吃的,可以够得着的野果都摘来吃,也不管生熟好坏,现在对肚子痛和慢性腹泻都已经习惯了。他们感受到黑暗中的难以言传的种种恐怖,只好挤作一堆互相壮胆。除了吃睡之外,他们就找空玩耍;在明晃晃的水边,在白闪闪的沙滩上,漫无目的地玩耍,把时间打发过去。在这种环境里,孩子们本来会老是哭喊着叫娘的,但实际上这种情况的发生比人们所预料的要少得多;他们皮肤很黑,肮脏不堪。他们服从海螺的召唤,一来因为是拉尔夫吹的,拉尔夫是个大个子,他足以成为同权威的成人世界相联系的纽带;二来是因为他们喜欢聚在一起,把聚会当作娱乐。但是除此以外,他们很少去打扰大家伙,他们有他们自己感情热烈的、激动的共同生活。

Three were playing here now. Henry was the biggest of them. He was also a distant relative of that other boy whose mulberry-marked face had not been seen since the evening of the great fire; but he was not old enough to understand this, and if he had been told that the other boy had gone home in an aircraft, he would have accepted the statement without fuss or disbelief.

眼下有三个正在这儿玩——亨利是其中最大的。他也是脸上长着紫红胎记男孩的远亲,那个孩子自从发生大火的那天夜里起就没有再露过面;但亨利还年幼,还不懂这个。要是有人告诉他那个孩子乘飞机回家了,他也会相信这个说法,一点都不感到惊讶。

They had built castles in the sand at the bar of the little river. These castles were about one foot high and were decorated with shells, withered flowers, and interesting stones. Round the castles was a complex of marks, tracks, walls, railway lines, that were of significance only if inspected with the eye at beach-level. The littluns played here, if not happily at least with absorbed attention; and often as many as three of them would play the same game together.

他们在小河的沙洲上用沙子堆起各式城堡。这些城堡高约一英尺,并以各种贝壳、凋谢的花朵和好玩的石子装饰起来。围绕着城堡的是各种标记、小路、围墙、铁路线,但只有在靠近海滩平面看去才看得清是这些东西。小家伙们在这儿玩耍着,如果说并不快乐,至少也入了迷;而且常常会三个小家伙在一起玩同一个游戏。

Henry was a bit of a leader this afternoon, because the other two were Percival and Johnny, the smallest boys on the island. Percival was mouse-colored and had not been very attractive even to his mother; Johnny was well built, with fair hair and a natural belligerence. Just now he was being obedient because he was interested; and the three children, kneeling in the sand, were at peace.

这天下午亨利有点像个小头头,因为另外两个是岛上最小的孩子,珀西佛尔和约翰尼。珀西佛尔的肤色是鼠灰的,就连他的母亲也不怎么喜欢;约翰尼则长得挺帅,一头金发,天性好斗。这会儿约翰尼很听话,因为他兴致蛮高;三个孩子跪在沙地里,总算相安无事。

Roger and Maurice came out of the forest. They were relieved from duty at the fire and had come down for a swim. Roger led the way straight through the castles, kicking them over, burying the flowers, scattering the chosen stones. Maurice followed, laughing, and added to the destruction. The three littluns paused in their game and looked up. As it happened, the particular marks in which they were interested had not been touched, so they made no protest. Only Percival began to whimper with an eyeful of sand and Maurice hurried away. In his other life Maurice had received chastisement for filling a younger eye with sand. Now, though there was no parent to let fall a heavy hand, Maurice still felt the unease of wrongdoing. At the back of his mind formed the uncertain outlines of an excuse. He muttered something about a swim and broke into a trot.

这时罗杰和莫里斯走出了森林。他们刚下管火的岗,下来准备游泳的。罗杰带路直闯,他一脚踢倒城堡,把花朵埋入了沙子里,并打散了三个小家伙收集来的石子。莫里斯跟着,一边笑,一边把城堡破坏得更厉害。三个小家伙停止游戏,仰脸呆看着。事情发生的当口儿,他们感兴趣的特别标记还没被触及,所以尚未表示出强烈的不满。只有珀西佛尔因一只眼睛弄进沙子呜呜地哭了,莫里斯赶忙走开。以前莫里斯曾因把沙子弄进一个小孩的眼睛而受过惩罚。眼下,尽管不会有爸爸或妈妈来严厉地教训他,莫里斯仍感到做了错事而忐忑不安。他在心里编造出一个含糊的借口,嘴里嘟囔着游泳什么的,撒腿快步跑开了。

Roger remained, watching the littluns. He was not noticeably darker than when he had dropped in, but the shock of black hair, down his nape and low on his forehead, seemed to suit his gloomy face and made what had seemed at first an unsociable remoteness into something forbidding. Percival finished his whimper and went on playing, for the tears had washed the sand away. Johnny watched him with china-blue eyes; then began to fling up sand in a shower, and presently Percival was crying again.

罗杰还待在那里看着小家伙们。他比刚上岛那阵子黑不了多少,但是一头稻草堆似的黑头发,在后面长长地披在颈部,在前面低得覆盖了前额,似乎倒很配他那张阴沉沉的面孔,使人看了起初只觉得有一种陌生和不好相处的感觉,现在却感到很可怕了。珀西佛尔不再啜泣,继续玩着,因为泪水已经冲掉了眼中的沙子。约翰尼蓝灰色的双眼看着他,随后抓起沙子往空中撒去;一会儿珀西佛尔又哭了起来。

This was fascinating to Henry. He poked about with a bit of stick, that itself was wave-worn and whitened and a vagrant, and tried to control the motions of the scavengers. He made little runnels that the tide filled and tried to crowd them with creatures. He became absorbed beyond mere happiness as he felt himself exercising control over living things. He talked to them, urging them, ordering them. Driven back by the tide, his footprints became bays in which they were trapped and gave him the illusion of mastery. He squatted on his hams at the water’s edge, bowed, with a shock of hair falling over his forehead and past his eyes, and the afternoon sun emptied down invisible arrows.

这可把亨利迷住了。他拿着一段木棒拨弄着,这木棒已被海水冲刷得发白,随波漂动着,被他拎在手里,他想用这木棒控制这些清扫者的活动。他划了一道道小沟,让潮水将其灌满,尽量在里面塞满小生物。他全神贯注,此刻的心情不是单纯的快乐,他感到自己在行使着对许多活东西的控制权。亨利跟它们讲话,催促它们这样那样,对它们发号施令。海潮把他往岸的深处赶,他的脚印所形成的一个个小坑截住了一些小生物,这又使他产生了一种自己是主宰的错觉。他盘腿坐在水边,弯着腰,乱蓬蓬的头发覆盖着前额,遮过眼睛;下午的骄阳正倾射出无数无形的毒箭。

When Henry tired of his play and wandered off along the beach, Roger followed him, keeping beneath the palms and drifting casually in the same direction. Henry walked at a distance from the palms and the shade because he was too young to keep himself out of the sun. He went down the beach and busied himself at the water’s edge. The great Pacific tide was coming in and every few seconds the relatively still water of the lagoon heaved forwards an inch. There were creatures that lived in this last fling of the sea, tiny transparencies that came questing in with the water over the hot, dry sand. With impalpable organs of sense they examined this new field. Perhaps food had appeared where at the last incursion there had been none; bird droppings, insects perhaps, any of the strewn detritus of landward life. Like a myriad of tiny teeth in a saw, the transparencies came scavenging over the beach.

亨利玩腻以后,就沿着海滩闲荡开去,罗杰尾随着他,在棕榈树底下跟他朝同一个方向慢悠悠地逛。亨利与棕榈树隔开着一段距离,他年纪太小,还不懂得避开毒日头,所以没有沿着树阴向前。他走下海滩,在水边忙起来。浩瀚的太平洋正在涨潮,每隔几秒钟,比较平静的环礁湖水就上涨一英寸。在这最近一次上涨的海水中有一些小生物,随着海潮漫上烫人而干燥的沙滩,这些小小的透明生物前来探索。它们用人们难以识别的感官考察着这片新的地域。在上一次海潮侵袭把食料一卷而光的地方,现在又出现了种种食料:也许是鸟粪,也许是小虫,总之是散在四处的、陆上生物的碎屑。这些小小的透明生物,像无数会动的小锯齿,前来清扫海滩。

A sudden breeze shook the fringe of palm trees, so that the fronds tossed and fluttered. Sixty feet above Roger, several nuts, fibrous lumps as big as rugby balls, were loosed from their stems. They fell about him with a series of hard thumps and he was not touched. Roger did not consider his escape, but looked from the nuts to Henry and back again.

一阵突如其来的微风拂过棕榈树林的边缘,簇叶摇曳抖动起来。在罗杰上方约六十英尺的地方,一串像橄榄球大小的、纤维质块的棕榈果,从叶梗上松落下来。它们接二连三地掉在他的周围,砰然着地,可没砸到他。罗杰没想要避一避,他看看棕榈果,又看看亨利,再看看棕榈果。

Roger waited too. At first he had hidden behind a great palm; but Henry’s absorption with the transparencies was so obvious that at last he stood out in full view. He looked along the beach. Percival had gone off, crying, and Johnny was left in triumphant possession of the castles, He sat there, crooning to himself and throwing sand at an imaginary Percival. Beyond him, Roger could see the platform and the glints of spray where Ralph and Simon and Piggy and Maurice were diving in the pool. He listened carefully but could only just hear them.

罗杰也等着。起先他躲在一株大棕榈树身的背后;但当他十分清楚地看到亨利被透明的小生物迷住了的时候,就一点也不隐蔽地站了出来。罗杰沿着海滩放眼望去。珀西佛尔已哭着走开了,剩下约翰尼得意扬扬地占有着城堡。他坐在那里,自个儿哼哼唱唱,并朝假想的珀西佛尔扔着沙子。从约翰尼处再往远去,罗杰可以看到平台,看到水花的闪光,拉尔夫、西蒙、猪崽子和莫里斯正往潭里跳水;他用心地听他们在讲些什么,但只能依稀地听到点声音。

The subsoil beneath the palm trees was a raised beach, and generations of palms had worked loose in this the stones that had lain on the sands of another shore. Roger stooped, picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry — threw it to miss. The stone, that token of preposterous time, bounced five yards to Henry’s right and fell in the water. Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them. Yet there was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law. Roger’s arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins.

棕榈树下的底土是一块高起的滩地;世代相生的棕榈树在这底土里把原先是铺在另一块海岸边的沙滩上的石子都弄松了。罗杰弯腰捡起一块石子,瞄了瞄,朝亨利扔去——可没扔中。石子——荒唐岁月的象征——在亨利右面五码处弹起,掉进水里。罗杰收集了一把石子,又开始扔起来。可亨利周围有一个直径约六码的范围,罗杰不敢往里扔石子。在这儿,旧生活的禁忌虽然无形无影,却仍然是强有力的。席地而坐的孩子的四周,有着父母、学校、警察和法律的庇护。罗杰的手臂受到文明的制约,虽然这文明对他一无所知并且已经毁灭了。

“Roger.”

“罗杰。”

Henry was surprised by the plopping sounds in the water. He abandoned the noiseless transparencies and pointed at the center of the spreading rings like a setter. This side and that the stones fell, and Henry turned obediently but always too late to see the stones in the air. At last he saw one and laughed, looking for the friend who was teasing him. But Roger had whipped behind the palm again, was leaning against it breathing quickly, his eyelids fluttering. Then Henry lost interest in stones and wandered off.

水中扑通扑通的声音使亨利吃了一惊。他不再去弄那些无声的透明小生物了,却像个调节者似的用棒指着逐渐扩散的涟漪的中心。石子一会儿落在他这边,一会儿又落在他那边,亨利随着声音转来转去,可总来不及看到空中的石子。最后终于被他看到了一块,亨利笑了起来,寻找跟他寻开心的朋友。然而罗杰忽地又躲到了棕榈树身背后,他斜靠在树身上,气喘吁吁,眼睛一眨一眨。随后亨利不再对石子感兴趣,就漫步走开了。

There was a small pool at the end of the river, dammed back by sand and full of white water-lilies and needle-like reeds. Here Sam and Eric were waiting, and Bill. Jack, concealed from the sun, knelt by the pool and opened the two large leaves that he carried. One of them contained white clay, and the other red. By them lay a stick of charcoal brought down from the fire.

小河的一头有个水潭,其实只不过是沙子把水挡回而形成的一个小小的水池,里面长满雪白的睡莲和针样的芦苇。萨姆和埃里克在那儿等着,还有比尔。杰克避着阳光,跪在池边,手里拿着两张摊开的大叶子。一张叶子上盛着白泥,另一张装着红土。叶子旁边还放着一根从火堆里取来的木炭棒。

Jack was standing under a tree about ten yards away. When Roger opened his eyes and saw him, a darker shadow crept beneath the swarthiness of his skin; but Jack noticed nothing. He was eager, impatient, beckoning, so that Roger went to him.

杰克站在约十码远的一棵树下。罗杰睁大眼睛看到他时,一块比杰克黝黑的皮肤更黑的阴影从他身上慢慢地移过去;可是杰克毫无觉察。他迫不及待,一副不耐烦的样子,正向罗杰打招呼,于是罗杰朝他走去。

Jack explained to Roger as he worked. “They don’t smell me. They see me, I think. Something pink, under the trees.”

杰克一边拌泥一边对罗杰说:“野猪闻不到我。我想它们是看见了我,看到了树下肉色的东西。”

“If only I’d some green!”

“我要有点绿的该多好!”

He turned a half-concealed face up to Roger and answered the incomprehension of his gaze.

杰克抬起头来把涂好的半边面孔朝着罗杰,回答罗杰带疑问的目光。

“For hunting. Like in the war. You know — dazzle paint. Like things trying to look like something else –“

“为了打猎。像在战争中那样。你晓得——涂得使人眼花缭乱。尽量装扮成看上去是另一个模样——”

He twisted in the urgency of telling. “– Like moths on a tree trunk.”

杰克急切地诉说着,连身体都在扭动。“——就像树干上的蠹虫。”

He rubbed the charcoal stick between the patches of red and white on his face.

他拿木炭棒往脸上红的白的泥巴中涂擦。

Roger understood and nodded gravely. The twins moved toward Jack and began to protest timidly about something. Jack waved them away.

罗杰懂了,他庄重地点点头。双胞胎朝杰克走来,开始胆怯地抱怨起什么事情。杰克挥手让他们靠边。

“Shut up.”

“闭嘴。”

He peered at his reflection and disliked it. He bent down, took up a double handful of lukewarm water and rubbed the mess from his face. Freckles and sandy eyebrows appeared.

杰克窥测着自己的倒影,并不满意。他弯下身子,双手捧满微温的池水,擦去脸上的泥块。雀斑和淡茶色的眉毛又显了出来。

He smeared on the clay.

他抹着黏土。

“No. You two come with me.”

“不。你们俩跟我去。”

“You don’t half look a mess.”

“你看上去真像个大花脸。”

Roger smiled, unwillingly.

罗杰勉强地微笑着说:

Jack planned his new face. He made one cheek and one eye-socket white, then he rubbed red over the other half of his face and slashed a black bar of charcoal across from right ear to left jaw. He looked in the pool for his reflection, but his breathing troubled the mirror.

杰克又重新打扮起来。他先把一边的脸颊和眼窝涂成白色,随后又把另一边涂成红色,再从右耳往左下巴涂上一道黑炭色。他再低头从池塘里看看自己的倒影,可是他呼出的气息弄皱了镜子般平静的池水。

He knelt, holding the shell of water. A rounded patch of sunlight fell on his face and a brightness appeared in the depths of the water. He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger. He spilt the water and leapt to his feet, laughing excitedly. Beside the pool his sinewy body held up a mask that drew their eyes and appalled them. He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling. He capered toward Bill, and the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness. The face of red and white and black swung through the air and jigged toward Bill. Bill started up laughing; then suddenly he fell silent and blundered away through the bushes.

他跪着捧起一果壳水。一块圆圆的太阳光斑正落到他脸上,水中也出现了一团亮光,杰克惊愕地看到,里面不再是他本人,而是一个可怕的陌生人。他把水一泼,跳将起来,兴奋地狂笑着。在池塘边上,他那强壮的身体顶着一个假面具,既使大家注目,又使大家畏惧。他开始跳起舞来,他那笑声变成了一种嗜血的狼嚎。他朝比尔蹦跳过去,假面具成了一个独立的形象,杰克在面具后面躲着,摆脱了羞耻感和自我意识。有着红白黑三种颜色的面孔在空中晃动,急促地扑向比尔。比尔惊跳起来,一边笑着;接着他突然一声不吭地倒了下去,又慌不择路地穿过矮灌木丛逃走了。

“Samneric. Get me a coconut. An empty one.”

“萨姆埃里克。给我拿个椰子。要空的。”

Jack rushed toward the twins.

杰克刷地冲向双胞胎。

“But –“

“可是——”

“The rest are making a line. Come on!”

“其余的排成一行。快!”

“– we –“

“——我们——”

The mask compelled them.

假面具威逼着他们。

“Come on! I’ll creep up and stab –“

“快点!我要悄悄地爬上去下手——”

Ralph climbed out of the bathing pool and trotted up the beach and sat in the shade beneath the palms. His fair hair was plastered over his eyebrows and he pushed it back. Simon was floating in the water and kicking with his feet, and Maurice was practicing diving. Piggy was mooning about, aimlessly picking up things and discarding them. The rock-pools which so fascinated him were covered by the tide, so he was without an interest until the tide went back. Presently, seeing Ralph under the palms, he came and sat by him.

拉尔夫爬出了洗澡水潭,快步跑上海滩,坐在棕榈树下的阴凉处。金黄的头发湿漉漉地粘在两条眉毛的上面,他把头发往后一掠。西蒙正在水中漂浮,两只脚蹬着水,莫里斯在练习跳水。猪崽子荡来荡去,漫无目的地边捡边丢着什么。如此使他入迷的岩石水潭被潮水淹没了,他要等潮水退后才会再有兴趣。过了一会儿,他看到拉尔夫在棕榈树下,就走过去坐到拉尔夫身旁。

“I’ve been thinking,” he said, “about a clock. We could make a sundial. We could put a stick in the sand, and then –“

“我一直在想搞一只钟,”他说道,“咱们可以做个日晷。咱们把一根枝条插进沙子,然后——”

Piggy wore the remainders of a pair of shorts, his fat body was golden brown, and the glasses still flashed when he looked at anything. He was the only boy on the island whose hair never seemed to grow. The rest were shockheaded, but Piggy’s hair still lay in wisps over his head as though baldness were his natural state and this imperfect covering would soon go, like the velvet on a young stag’s antlers.

猪崽子套着一条破短裤,胖乎乎的身子呈金褐色,他看东西的时候,眼镜总还是一闪一亮。他是岛上唯一的头发似乎从来不长的男孩。别的孩子的头发都像稻草堆似的,但猪崽子的头发仍一绺绺地平贴在头皮上,似乎他天生就头发稀少,似乎就连这一点不完全的头发不久也会像年青雄鹿角上的茸毛一样脱落掉。

The effort to express the mathematical processes involved was too great. He made a few passes instead.

要想表达日晷计时所牵涉到的数学过程太费劲了,他用几道步骤来代替。

“You have to have a lot of metal things for that,” he said, “and we haven’t got no metal. But we got a stick.”

“那得要好多金属零件,”他说道,“咱们没有金属。可咱们有枝条。”

Piggy shook his head.

猪崽子摆摆头。

“And an airplane, and a TV set,” said Ralph sourly, “and a steam engine.”

“再来一架飞机,再来一台电视,”拉尔夫挖苦地说。“还要一部蒸汽机呢。”

Ralph turned and smiled involuntarily. Piggy was a bore; his fat, his ass-mar and his matter-of-fact ideas were dull, but there was always a little pleasure to be got out of pulling his leg, even if one did it by accident.

拉尔夫转过身去,不情愿地笑了笑。猪崽子令人讨厌;胖身体,气喘病,再加上他干巴巴的务实想法,使人觉得他很乏味:可有件事总能产生点乐趣,那就是取笑他,即使是在无意之中取笑了他。

Piggy saw the smile and misinterpreted it as friendliness. There had grown up tacitly among the biguns the opinion that Piggy was an outsider, not only by accent, which did not matter, but by fat, and ass-mar, and specs, and a certain disinclination for manual labor. Now, finding that something he had said made Ralph smile, he rejoiced and pressed his advantage.

猪崽子看到微笑,却误以为是友好的表示。在大家伙们当中,无形之中形成了一种看法,即猪崽子是个局外人,不只是因为他说话的口音,那倒不要紧,而是因为他的胖身体、气喘病、眼镜,还有他对体力活的某种厌恶态度。此刻,猪崽子发现他说的话使拉尔夫笑了起来,他欢欣鼓舞,赶紧利用起这有利的局面。

“A fat lot of good that would be.”

“好处倒真不少呢。”

“We got a lot of sticks. We could have a sundial each. Then we should know what the time was.”

“咱们有好多枝条,可以每人做一个日晷。那咱们就知道时间了。”

“You said you wanted things done. So as we could be rescued.”

“你说过要把事情做好。那样咱们才会得救。”

He leapt to his feet and trotted back to the pool, just as Maurice did a rather poor dive. Ralph was glad of a chance to change the subject. He shouted as Maurice came to the surface.

拉尔夫一跃而起,快步跑回水潭,刚巧莫里斯做了个相当糟糕的入水动作。拉尔夫高兴地借机换个话题。莫里斯一浮上水面,拉尔夫就叫喊起来:

“Belly flop! Belly flop!”

“腹部击水!腹部击水!”

Maurice flashed a smile at Ralph who slid easily into the water. Of all the boys, he was the most at home there; but today, irked by the mention of rescue, the useless, footling mention of rescue, even the green depths of water and the shattered, golden sun held no balm. Instead of remaining and playing, he swam with steady strokes under Simon and crawled out of the other side of the pool to lie there, sleek and streaming like a seal. Piggy, always clumsy, stood up and came to stand by him, so that Ralph rolled on his stomach and pretended not to see. The mirages had died away and gloomily he ran his eye along the taut blue line of the horizon.

莫里斯朝拉尔夫莞尔一笑,后者正轻松自如地跃入水中。在所有的男孩之中,拉尔夫游泳时最如鱼得水;可是今天,因为提起了得救——毫无用处地空谈得救,他感到厌烦,甚至连深深的绿水和被弄碎了的、金色的阳光也失去了魅力。拉尔夫不再待在水里玩耍,他从西蒙下面稳稳地潜游过去,爬上了水潭的另一侧,躺在那里,像海豹那样光溜溜地淌着水。老是笨手笨脚的猪崽子站了起来,他走过来站在拉尔夫身旁,拉尔夫忙一翻身,肚子朝地,装作没有看见他。各种蜃景都已消失了,拉尔夫郁闷地用眼睛扫着笔直的、蓝蓝的海平线。

“Oh, shut up.”

“嗯,闭嘴。”

Simon tried to sit up in the water and got a mouthful. Maurice, who had been standing ready to dive, swayed back on his heels, made a bolt for the platform, then swerved back to the grass under the palms. There he started to pull on his tattered shorts, to be ready for anything.

西蒙企图在水中站起,结果给灌了一口水。莫里斯本来站着准备跳水,这时摇摇晃晃地用脚跟往后退回来,飞也似的朝平台奔去,随后又转回棕榈树下的草地。他在那儿开始套上破烂短裤,想作好一切准备。

“Ralph — where’s the ship?”

“拉尔夫——船在哪儿?”

“Smoke! Smoke!”

“烟!烟!”

Ralph said nothing. Now both his hands were clenched over his forehead so that the fair hair was kept out of his eyes. He was leaning forward and already the salt was whitening his body.

拉尔夫一言不发。此刻他双手拉紧着搁在前额上,以免金头发挡住视线。他向前倾着,身上的盐花闪闪发白。

The next moment he was on his feet and shouting.

紧接着他一跃而起,大叫起来:

Ralph stood, one hand holding back his hair, the other clenched. Simon was climbing out of the water. Piggy was rubbing his glasses on his shorts and squinting at the sea. Maurice had got both legs through one leg of his shorts. Of all the boys, only Ralph was still.

拉尔夫站着,一只手把头发往后捋,另一只手紧握拳头。西蒙正从水中爬出来。猪崽子朝自己的短裤上擦着眼镜,眼睛斜看着大海。莫里斯两条腿伸进了一条裤腿——在所有的孩子当中,只有拉尔夫保持着镇静。

“I can’t see no smoke,” said Piggy incredulously. “I can’t see no smoke, Ralph — where is it?”

“我怎么看不见烟呀,”猪崽子半信半疑地说道。“我看不到烟,拉尔夫——烟在哪儿?”

Simon stood by, looking from Ralph to the horizon. Maurice’s trousers gave way with a sigh and he abandoned them as a wreck, rushed toward the forest, and then came back again.

西蒙站在旁边,看看拉尔夫,又看看海平线。莫里斯的裤子噼地一声撕坏了,他把裤子当作一堆破布一丢,猛地冲向森林,随后又折了回来。

“Ralph — please! Is there a signal?”

“拉尔夫——快告诉我!有信号没有?”

“The smoke on the mountain.”

“山上的烟。”

He turned round and peered up at the mountain. Ralph continued to watch the ship, ravenously. Color was coming back into his face. Simon stood by him, silent.

他转过身去,眯起眼睛向山上眺望。拉尔夫继续贪婪地注视着船只。脸上恢复了血色。西蒙站在拉尔夫身旁,一声不吭。

Ralph looked back at the dispersing smoke in the horizon, then up at the mountain.

拉尔夫回头望望海平线上渐渐消散的烟,接着又往山上看。

Maurice came running, and stared out to sea. Both Simon and Piggy were looking up at the mountain. Piggy screwed up his face but Simon cried out as though he had hurt himself.

莫里斯奔跑过来,放眼大海。西蒙和猪崽子两人正朝山上看着。猪崽子皱起面孔,西蒙却像受伤似的叫喊起来:

Piggy was looking in the right direction now.

这下猪崽子也看到了。

The quality of his speech twisted Ralph on the sand.

他的尖叫使得沙滩上的拉尔夫转过身来。

Simon put out his hand, timidly, to touch Ralph; but Ralph started to run, splashing through the shallow end of the bathing pool, across the hot, white sand and under the palms. A moment later he was battling with the complex undergrowth that was already engulfing the scar. Simon ran after him, then Maurice. Piggy shouted.

西蒙胆怯地伸出一只手碰碰拉尔夫;然而拉尔夫拔腿就跑,他穿过洗澡水潭浅的一头,踩得潭水四溅,又越过烫人而白亮的沙滩,到了棕榈树下。一会儿工夫,他已经在长满孤岩的繁杂的下层林丛中吃力地往前跑着。西蒙紧跟在拉尔夫身后,再后面是莫里斯。猪崽子叫嚷道:

“Ralph! Ralph!”

“拉尔夫!拉尔夫!”

“They’ll see our smoke.”

“他们会看见咱们的烟吧。”

Ralph moved impatiently, still watching the ship.

拉尔夫颇不耐烦地动了动,仍然在观察着那条船。

“You tell me,” said Piggy anxiously. “Is there a signal?”

“快告诉我,”猪崽子焦急地说道。“有没有信号?”

“I know I can’t see very much,” said Piggy, “but have we got any smoke?”

“我知道我看不清,”猪崽子说,“可咱们的烟生了没有?”

“It don’t look much.”

“烟看上去不大。”

The smoke was a tight little knot on the horizon and was uncoiling slowly. Beneath the smoke was a dot that might be a funnel. Ralph’s face was pale as he spoke to himself.

海平线上的烟是紧密的一小团,正在慢慢地伸展开来。烟的下面有一个点子,可能是烟囱。拉尔夫脸色苍白地自言自语:

“Ralph! Please — Ralph!”

“拉尔夫!请等等——拉尔夫!”

Then he too started to run, stumbling over Maurice’s discarded shorts before he was across the terrace. Behind the four boys, the smoke moved gently along the horizon; and on the beach, Henry and Johnny were throwing sand at Percival who was crying quietly again; and all three were in complete ignorance of the excitement.

随后他也跑了起来,被莫里斯丢弃的短裤绊了一交,再越过斜坡。在四个男孩的背后,烟沿着海平线缓慢地移动着;而在海滩上,亨利和约翰尼正朝珀西佛尔抛着沙子,后者又哭起来;对这件激动人心的事情,三个孩子毫无感觉。

“Piggy’s specs!” shouted Ralph. “If the fire’s all out, we’ll need them –“

“猪崽子的眼镜!”拉尔夫叫道,“要是火灭了,咱们用得上——”

By the time Ralph had reached the landward end of the scar he was using precious breath to swear. He did desperate violence to his naked body among the rasping creepers so that blood was sliding over him. Just where the steep ascent of the mountain began, he stopped. Maurice was only a few yards behind him.

拉尔夫这时已到了孤岩朝内陆的一头,尽管他上气不接下气,还在咒骂。他在锉刀般锋利的藤蔓中奋力前进,光身子上鲜血流淌。就在陡峭的上坡路开始的地方,他停住了。莫里斯在他身后只有几码。

He stopped shouting and swayed on his feet. Piggy was only just visible, bumbling up from the beach. Ralph looked at the horizon, then up to the mountain. Was it better to fetch Piggy’s glasses, or would the ship have gone? Or if they climbed on, supposing the fire was all out, and they had to watch Piggy crawling nearer and the ship sinking under the horizon? Balanced on a high peak of need, agonized by indecision, Ralph cried out:

他不再叫喊,站在那儿,身子有点摇晃。猪崽子的身影刚能被看得见,他从海滩处踉踉跄跄地上来。拉尔夫看看海平线,又朝山上仰望一下。要不要去拿猪崽子的眼镜?船会开走吗?如果再往上爬,假定火灭了,那岂不是将要眼睁睁地看着猪崽子越爬越近,又看着船慢慢地消失到海平线底下去吗?情况紧急,难以抉择,拉尔夫苦恼至极,他喊道:

The fire was dead. They saw that straight away; saw what they had really known down on the beach when the smoke of home had beckoned. The fire was out, smokeless and dead; the watchers were gone. A pile of unused fuel lay ready.

山上的火灭了。他们一眼就看了出来,看到了他们还在下面海滩上,火堆产生的烟吸引他们往上跑的时候就已经猜到的事情。火完全熄灭了,烟也没有了;看管的人跑开了。地上还摊着一堆准备好了而没使用的柴火。

“Oh God, oh God!”

“哦,天哪,天哪!”

“Come back! Come back!”

“回来!回来呀!”

He ran backwards and forwards along the cliff, his face always to the sea, and his voice rose insanely.

他沿着悬崖边来回地跑,脸一直对着大海,声音响得发疯似的。

Simon, struggling with the bushes, caught his breath. His face was twisted. Ralph blundered on, savaging himself, as the wisp of smoke moved on.

西蒙在矮灌木丛中挣扎前进,喘息着换气,面孔扭曲。那一缕烟继续在移动,拉尔夫慌乱地爬着,发狂似的。

“Come back! Come back!”

“回来呀!回来呀!”

Simon and Maurice arrived. Ralph looked at them with unwinking eyes. Simon turned away, smearing the water from his cheeks. Ralph reached inside himself for the worst word he knew.

西蒙和莫里斯都到了。拉尔夫眼睛一眨也不眨地望着他们。西蒙转过头去,抹着脸上的汗水。拉尔夫怒火中烧,恨得咬牙切齿。

Ralph turned to the sea. The horizon stretched, impersonal once more, barren of all but the faintest trace of smoke. Ralph ran stumbling along the rocks, saved himself on the edge of the pink cliff, and screamed at the ship.

拉尔夫转向大海。绵延不断的海平线上除了勉强依稀可辨的一丝烟痕之外什么都没有,它又恢复了毫不理会人的心情的那个样子。拉尔夫沿着岩石跌跌撞撞地奔跑,直跑到粉红色的悬崖边上,他朝船开走的方向尖声叫喊:

“They let the bloody fire go out.”

“他们让那性命交关的火灭了。”

He looked down the unfriendly side of the mountain. Piggy arrived, out of breath and whimpering like a littlun. Ralph clenched his fist and went very red. The intentness of his gaze, the bitterness of his voice, pointed for him.

他俯瞰着山的冷漠的一侧。猪崽子气吁吁地也赶到了,像个小家伙那样呜呜地直哭。拉尔夫紧握拳头,脸涨得通红。猪崽子专注的眼光、他那痛苦的声音把山下的情况指示给了拉尔夫。

Simon looked now, from Ralph to Jack, as he had looked from Ralph to the horizon, and what he saw seemed to make him afraid. Ralph said nothing more, but waited while the procession came nearer. The chant was audible but at that distance still wordless. Behind Jack walked the twins, carrying a great stake on their shoulders. The gutted carcass of a pig swung from the stake, swinging heavily as the twins toiled over the uneven ground. The pig’s head hung down with gaping neck and seemed to search for something on the ground. At last the words of the chant floated up to them, across the bowl of blackened wood and ashes.

西蒙这会儿看看拉尔夫又看看杰克,就像刚才他看看拉尔夫又看看海平线一样;眼前的景象看来使他有点害怕。拉尔夫不再说什么,只是等着那队伍越走越近。歌唱声已隐约可闻,但在那样的距离还听不清歌词。双胞胎跟在杰克后面,肩上扛着一根大木桩,木桩上吊着一只沉沉的、除去了内脏的死猪,它在晃荡;两人吃力地走在凹凸不平的路上。颈脖豁裂的猪头垂荡着,似乎是在地上寻找什么东西。歌词终于越过焦木和余烬形成的小盆地,飘入他们的耳朵。

“There they are.”

“他们来啦。”

A procession had appeared, far down among the pink stones that lay near the water’s edge. Some of the boys wore black caps but otherwise they were almost naked. They lifted sticks in the air together whenever they came to an easy patch. They were chanting, something to do with the bundle that the errant twins carried so carefully. Ralph picked out Jack easily, even at that distance, tall, red-haired, and inevitably leading the procession.

远远的山脚下,靠近水边的粉红色的岩屑堆上,出现了一支队伍。其中有些孩子头戴黑帽,除此以外他们几乎光着身子。每当他们走到一块平坦的地方,就一齐把手中的树枝往空中举起来。他们唱着歌儿,歌的内容与到处乱跑的双胞胎小心翼翼地抬着的一捆什么东西有关。即使在那样的距离之外,拉尔夫一眼就认出了杰克,高高的个子、红头发,照例领着队伍。

“We got in a circle –“

“我们组成一个包围圈——”

“Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood.”

“杀野猪哟。割喉咙哟。放它血哟。”

“Look! We’ve killed a pig — we stole up on them — we got in a circle –“

“瞧哪!我们宰了头猪——我们悄悄地扑上去——组成一个包围圈——”

The twins stood with the pig swinging between them, dropping black gouts on the rock. They seemed to share one wide, ecstatic grin. Jack had too many things to tell Ralph at once. Instead, he danced a step or two, then remembered his dignity and stood still, grinning. He noticed blood on his hands and grimaced distastefully, looked for something on which to clean them, then wiped them on his shorts and laughed.

双胞胎站在那儿,死猪在他们之间摇来晃去,黑血滴落到岩石上。两人都张大着嘴巴,入迷地笑着。杰克有那么多事情要一下子告诉拉尔夫。不过他没讲话,却手舞足蹈地跳了一两步;随之他记起要保持自己的尊严,就又站住了脚,龇牙咧嘴地笑着。他看到了手上的血,作了个表示厌恶的怪相,找了点东西擦擦,随后又把手往短裤上揩揩,笑起来。

Yet as the words became audible, the procession reached the steepest part of the mountain, and in a minute or two the chant had died away. Piggy sniveled and Simon shushed him quickly as though he had spoken too loudly in church.

当歌词听得清的时候,那支队伍已走到了山坡最陡峭的部分,过了一两分钟歌声消失了。猪崽子在啜泣,西蒙赶紧嘘他,叫他别出声,就好像猪崽子在教堂里说话说得太响了。

Voices broke in from the hunters.

猎手中爆发出喊声。

Jack checked, vaguely irritated by this irrelevance but too happy to let it worry him.

杰克愣了一下,这件不相干的事使他模模糊糊地感到有点恼火,但他太快活了,并没有因此而烦恼。

Jack, his face smeared with clays, reached the top first and hailed Ralph excitedly, with lifted spear.

杰克脸上涂着泥,第一个爬上山顶,他举着长矛,激动地朝拉尔夫欢呼道:

“The pig squealed –“

“野猪吱喳乱叫——”

“We crept up –“

“我们匍匐向上——”

Ralph spoke.

拉尔夫开口说:

“You let the fire go out.”

“你们让火给灭了。”

“– I fell on top –“

“——我扑到它背上——”

“We’ll go hunting every day –“

“以后我们每天都要去打猎——”

Ralph spoke again, hoarsely. He had not moved.

拉尔夫嘶哑着嗓门,又开口了;他一直没移动过。

“You let the fire go out.”

“你们让火给灭了。”

He noticed Ralph’s scarred nakedness, and the sombre silence of all four of them. He sought, charitable in his happiness, to include them in the thing that had happened. His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink.

他看到拉尔夫裸体上的疤痕,并觉察到他们四个人都一言不发。杰克因快活而变得大方起来,他在想让大家来分享刚才打猎时的欢乐。他的脑子里充满了种种回忆:他回想起他们逼近那头挣扎着的野猪时所发生的情景;他回想起他们怎样智胜那头活家伙,把自己的意志强加于它身上,结果它的性命,就像享受了那香味常驻的醇酒。

“We hit the pig –“

“我们打中了野猪——”

“There was lashings of blood,” said Jack, laughing and shuddering, “you should have seen it!”

“流了好多血,”杰克说道,边笑边发抖,“你要是跟我们在一起就会看见了!”

The boys chattered and danced. The twins continued to grin.

孩子们叽叽喳喳地说着话,跳着舞。双胞胎还在咧嘴而笑。

This repetition made Jack uneasy. He looked at the twins and then back at Ralph.

这句话讲了第二遍,使杰克不安起来。他看看双胞胎,接着又回过头来看着拉尔夫。

“We had to have them in the hunt,” he said, “or there wouldn’t have been enough for a ring.”

“我们不能不让他们也去打猎,”他说道,“人太少就不能组成一个包围圈。”

“I cut the pig’s throat,” said Jack, proudly, and yet twitched as he said it. “Can I borrow yours, Ralph, to make a nick in the hilt?”

“我捅猪的喉咙,”杰克洋洋得意地说,不过说的时候身子抽动了一下。“拉尔夫,我可以借你的刀用一下吗?在刀柄上刻一道条痕。”

“The fire’s only been out an hour or two. We can light up again –“

“火才灭了一两个钟头。我们可以再把它生起来——”

He flushed, conscious of a fault.

他脸红了,意识到自己犯了失职的过错。

“We can light the fire again. You should have been with us, Ralph. We had a smashing time. The twins got knocked over –“

“我们可以把火再生起来。你该跟我们在一起的,拉尔夫,真够刺激;双胞胎把野猪打翻在地——”

“You and your blood, Jack Merridew! You and your hunting! We might have gone home –“

“你们!你们的鲜血!杰克·梅瑞狄!你们!你们的打猎!咱们本来可能已经回家了——”

He spread his arms wide.

他伸展开两条手臂。

The hunters were more silent now, but at this they buzzed again. Ralph flung back his hair. One arm pointed at the empty horizon. His voice was loud and savage, and struck them into silence.

那些猎手们的声音此时本已经静下去,可一听到这话他们又嘁嘁喳喳地说开了。拉尔夫把头发往后一甩。一条手臂指向空无一物的海平线。他的声音又响又粗野,吓得猎手们不再出声。

This was too bitter for Piggy, who forgot his timidity in the agony of his loss. He began to cry out, shrilly:

这种损失给猪崽子的打击太沉重,痛苦使得他的胆量也变大了,他尖声地叫嚷起来:

“You should have seen the blood!”

“你真应该看到那血!”

“They might have seen us. We might have gone home –“

“他们本来可能发现咱们的。咱们说不定就可以回家了——”

“I was chief, and you were going to do what I said. You talk. But you can’t even build huts — then you go off hunting and let out the fire –“

“我是头头;你们要照我说的去做。你们光会说。但是你们连茅屋都搭不起来——然后你们就跑开去打猎,让火熄灭了——”

Ralph pushed Piggy to one side.

拉尔夫把猪崽子朝旁一推。

Jack, faced at once with too many awful implications, ducked away from them. He laid a hand on the pig and drew his knife. Ralph brought his arm down, fist clenched, and his voice shook.

杰克一下子面临着大家这么多可怕的敌意,躲闪着走开去;他一手放到猪上,一手拔出刀子。拉尔夫收回手臂,紧握着拳头,声音颤抖地说:

“There was aship.”

“那儿有过一条船。”

“There was a ship. Out there. You said you’d keep the fire going and you let it out!” He took a step toward Jack, who turned and faced him.

“有过一条船。在那儿。你说你来照看火堆的,可你让火熄灭了!”他朝杰克迈上一步,杰克转身面对着他。

This from Piggy, and the wails of agreement from some of the hunters, drove Jack to violence. The bolting look came into his blue eyes. He took a step, and able at last to hit someone, stuck his fist into Piggy’s stomach. Piggy sat down with a grunt. Jack stood over him. His voice was vicious with humiliation.

这话从猪崽子的嘴里说出来,再加上有些猎手哭哭啼啼地表示同意,气得杰克撒起野来。他蓝眼睛里发出的光直射向人群中。他跨前一步,够得着伸手打人了,对准猪崽子的肚子就是一拳,猪崽子哼哼着坐倒在地上。杰克站在他面前,居高临下地看着他;因为觉得受了侮辱,杰克恶狠狠地说:

One of the smaller hunters began to wail. The dismal truth was filtering through to everybody. Jack went very red as he hacked and pulled at the pig.

一个较小的猎手开始嚎啕大哭。这个事实实在令人沮丧,一种受压抑的感觉渗透到每个孩子的心里。杰克边砍边把猪肉扯下来,脸涨得通红通红。

“There was a ship –“

“有过一条船——”

Ralph turned.

拉尔夫转过身来说道:

Jack stood up as he said this, the bloodied knife in his hand. The two boys faced each other. There was the brilliant world of hunting, tactics, fierce exhilaration, skill; and there was the world of longing and baffled commonsense. Jack transferred the knife to his left hand and smudged blood over his forehead as he pushed down the plastered hair.

杰克边说边站起身来,手里拿着血淋淋的刀子。两个男孩直面相对。一边是灿烂的世界:打猎、运用策略、欣喜若狂、技巧熟练;另一边是渴望和遭受了挫折的常识交织在一起的世界。杰克把刀移到左手;在把粘在前额上的头发往后捋的时候,弄得前额上涂满了血迹。

Piggy began again.

猪崽子又说话了。

He turned away, silent for a moment. Then his voice came again on a peak of feeling.

他转过脸去,沉默了一下。然后随着感情的极大冲动,他的声音又高起来。

“You could have had everyone when the shelters were finished. But you had to hunt –“

“本来窝棚一搭完你就可以有足够的人手,但你们偏要去打猎——”

“The job was too much. We needed everyone.”

“活儿实在太多了。我们每人都得动手。”

“You didn’t ought to have let that fire out. You said you’d keep the smoke going –“

“你们不该把火弄灭了。你们说过你们要一直保持有烟的——”

“We needed meat.”

“咱们需要肉。”

Jack mimicked the whine and scramble.

杰克模仿着猪崽子的哭腔和爬相。

Jack made a move toward Piggy who scrambled away till a great rock lay between them. He thrust his head over the top and glared at Jack through his one flashing glass.

杰克朝着猪崽子挪动了一下,猪崽子忙爬开去,爬到一块大岩石的后面,那岩石横在他们俩之间。他从岩石上面探出头来,透过那片闪光的眼镜瞪着杰克。

“You would, would you? Fatty!”

“你敢,你还敢吗?胖子!”

Piggy and the parody were so funny that the hunters began to laugh. Jack felt encouraged. He went on scrambling and the laughter rose to a gale of hysteria. Unwillingly Ralph felt his lips twitch; he was angry with himself for giving way.

猪崽子的模样和杰克学他样子做出的怪相太滑稽了,猎手们都笑了起来。杰克更起劲了,他继续东爬西爬,大伙儿的笑声变成了一种歇斯底里的嚎叫。拉尔夫感到自己的嘴唇在抽动,心里很不高兴;他为自己的让步而生气。

He muttered.

他咕哝着说:

Piggy grabbed and put on the glasses. He looked malevolently at Jack.

猪崽子一把抓过眼镜,戴到鼻梁上。他仇恨地看着杰克。

Ralph made a step forward and Jack smacked Piggy’s head. Piggy’s glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks. Piggy cried out in terror:

拉尔夫上前一步,而杰克啪地掴了一下猪崽子的脑袋瓜。猪崽子的眼镜飞脱出去,叮当一声砸在岩石上,他吓得叫喊起来:

“One side’s broken.”

“一片碎了。”

“Jus’ you wait — yah!”

“你等着瞧吧——哇!”

He went crouching and feeling over the rocks but Simon, who got there first, found them for him. Passions beat about Simon on the mountain-top with awful wings.

他蹲着身子,在岩石上摸索着,可西蒙先到一步,为猪崽子找到了眼镜。西蒙感到,在这山顶上、在自己周围,有一种可怕的激情正被鼓动着。

“My specs!”

“我的眼镜!”

“Now I only got one eye. Just you wait –“

“现在我只有一只眼睛了。你等着瞧吧——”

“I got to have them specs. Now I only got one eye. Jus’ you wait –“

“我不戴眼镜不行。现在我只有一只眼睛了。你等着瞧——”

They were silent on the mountain-top while the opaque look appeared in Jack’s eyes and passed away.

他们在山顶上沉默着,一种难以捉摸的神色出现在杰克的眼睛里,随之又消失了。

“That was a dirty trick.”

“真是个肮脏的把戏。”

Yet Ralph’s throat refused to pass one. He resented, as an addition to Jack’s misbehavior, this verbal trick. The fire was dead, the ship was gone. Could they not see? Anger instead of decency passed his throat.

然而拉尔夫却说不出那样的漂亮话。杰克已经把事情弄坏了,还要这样玩弄口舌,拉尔夫对此愤恨不已。火灭了,船跑了。他们难道没看见?他讲不出漂亮话,他这时只能发泄愤怒。

He drew himself up.

他挺直一下身子。

He looked at Piggy, at the hunters, at Ralph.

他看看猪崽子,看看猎手们,又看看拉尔夫。

The buzz from the hunters was one of admiration at this handsome behavior. Clearly they were of the opinion that Jack had done the decent thing, had put himself in the right by his generous apology and Ralph, obscurely, in the wrong. They waited for an appropriately decent answer.

对这样大方的举动,猎手们嘁嘁喳喳地表示赞扬。显然他们都认为,杰克做得漂亮,他爽爽快快地道了歉,他就已经没错了,而拉尔夫倒是错了,只是他错在哪里一时还讲不清楚。他们等待拉尔夫做出适当的、体面的反应。

“– I apologize.”

“——我赔不是了。”

Jack broke out of his gyration and stood facing Ralph. His words came in a shout.

杰克不再转动身子,站起来面对着拉尔夫。他大声叫道:

“That was a dirty trick.”

“真是个卑鄙的把戏。”

“All right, all right!”

“好吧,好吧!”

“I’m sorry. About the fire, I mean. There. I –“

“对不起。让火灭了,我很抱歉。你瞧。我——”

Ralph’s final word was an ingracious mutter.

拉尔夫末了这一句是不合人意的怨言。

“All right. Light the fire.”

“好吧好吧。来点火吧。”

With some positive action before them, a little of the tension died. Ralph said no more, did nothing, stood looking down at the ashes round his feet. Jack was loud and active. He gave orders, sang, whistled, threw remarks at the silent Ralph — remarks that did not need an answer, and therefore could not invite a snub; and still Ralph was silent. No one, not even Jack, would ask him to move and in the end they had to build the fire three yards away and in a place not really as convenient.

由于面前有着实际的事情要做,紧张的气氛缓和了一点。拉尔夫不吭声,也不动手,站在那里看着脚下的灰烬。杰克大声嚷嚷,很卖力气。他一会儿发号施令,一会儿唱唱歌,一会儿吹吹口哨,不时向沉默的拉尔夫瞥一下——这种目光并不要求答话,因此也不会招来奚落;拉尔夫仍不吭声。没有一个人,包括杰克,去要他挪动一下,结果他们不得不在三码远的地方搭火堆,而那地方实在并不方便。

When they had dealt with the fire another crisis arose. Jack had no means of lighting it. Then to his surprise, Ralph went to Piggy and took the glasses from him. Not even Ralph knew how a link between him and Jack had been snapped and fastened elsewhere.

搭好火堆之后,又产生了一个危机。杰克没法子生火。随后,使杰克吃了一惊,拉尔夫径直走向猪崽子,取走了他的眼镜。甚至连拉尔夫也弄不明白,他跟杰克之间的纽带怎么突然被扯断了,又在别的什么地方给接上了。

“I’ll come too.”

“我也去。”

“I’ll bring ’em back.”

“我会拿回来还你的。”

So Ralph asserted his chieftainship and could not have chosen a better way if he had thought for days. Against this weapon, so indefinable and so effective, Jack was powerless and raged without knowing why. By the time the pile was built, they were on different sides of a high barrier.

拉尔夫就这样维护了他当头头的地位;这是个好方法,即使他再考虑几天,也不会想出更好的办法来。对于这样一个如此不可言传而又如此有效的武器,杰克无力反击,他感到愤怒,却又不知道是为了什么。等到火堆搭了起来,他们俩就像是处于一道高高的屏障的两侧。

Piggy stood behind him, islanded in a sea of meaningless color, while Ralph knelt and focused the glossy spot. Instantly the fire was alight, Piggy held out his hands and grabbed the glasses back.

猪崽子站在他背后,处于一片无意义的色彩的包围之中;拉尔夫跪在地上,移动眼镜片来聚焦。瞬息之间火点着了,猪崽子伸手一把拿回眼镜。

Before these fantastically attractive flowers of violet and red and yellow, unkindness melted away. They became a circle of boys round a camp fire and even Piggy and Ralph were half-drawn in. Soon some of the boys were rushing down the slope for more wood while Jack hacked the pig. They tried holding the whole carcass on a stake over the fire, but the stake burnt more quickly than the pig roasted. In the end they skewered bits of meat on branches and held them in the flames: and even then almost as much boy was roasted as meat.

在这些奇异而迷人的紫、红、黄三种颜色的花朵面前,不友好的感情融化了。他们重新成了围着营火的一圈孩子,甚至连猪崽子和拉尔夫也有点被吸引住了。不一会儿一些孩子就冲下山坡去再拾些柴火来,杰克则砍着死猪。他们想把木桩上的整个猪身架在火上,可还没等猪烤熟,木桩就烧断了。到头来他们只好把小片肉串在树枝上伸进火里去烤;烤肉的时候孩子也几乎像肉一样地被烤着。

“Eat! Damn you!”

“吃吧!他妈的!”

Then Jack leapt to his feet, slashed off a great hunk of meat, and flung it down at Simon’s feet.

然后杰克跳了起来,随手砍下一大块肉,往西蒙脚下一扔。

“You didn’t hunt.”

“你没去打猎。”

“Aren’t I having none?”

“就没我一份?”

Ralph stirred uneasily. Simon, sitting between the twins and Piggy, wiped his mouth and shoved his piece of meat over the rocks to Piggy, who grabbed it. The twins giggled and Simon lowered his face in shame.

拉尔夫不安地动弹了一下。西蒙正坐在双胞胎和猪崽子之间,他擦擦嘴巴,把他的那块肉从岩石上推给猪崽子,后者忙一把攥住。双胞胎格格地笑起来,西蒙不好意思地低下了头。

Piggy spoke, also dribbling.

猪崽子也在淌口水,说:

Ralph’s mouth watered. He meant to refuse meat, but his past diet of fruit and nuts, with an odd crab or fish, gave him too little resistance. He accepted a piece of halfraw meat and gnawed it like a wolf.

拉尔夫馋涎欲滴,他本想拒绝吃这猪肉,但因为过去一直吃水果和坚果,偶尔弄到只蟹,捉条把鱼,使他难以抵挡这诱惑。他接过一块半生不熟的猪肉,像一只狼一样地咬起来。

He glared at Simon.

他瞪着西蒙。

“No more did Ralph,” said Piggy wetly, “nor Simon.” He amplified. “There isn’t more than a ha’porth of meat in a crab.”

“拉尔夫也没去,”猪崽子眼里噙着泪花说道,“还有西蒙也没去。”他大声地说。“只剩一点点肉了。”

Jack had meant to leave him in doubt, as an assertion of power; but Piggy by advertising his omission made more cruelty necessary.

杰克本来不打算给猪崽子解释的,想以此作为维护自己权力的一种手段;可是猪崽子这样公然提出他被忽略,使杰克觉得有必要对他更加无情一点。

“Take it!”

“拿着!”

“I got you meat!”

“我给你们吃肉!”

He spun on his heel, center of a bewildered circle of boys.

他用脚跟着地旋转着身子,成了一圈手足无措的孩子们的中心。

Numberless and inexpressible frustrations combined to make his rage elemental and awe-inspiring.

一个接一个难以言传的挫折交织在一起,使他狂怒起来,令人生畏。

Jack, recovering could not bear to have his story told. He broke in quickly.

杰克这时恢复了过来,他不能容忍让别人来讲他的故事,连忙插进来说:

Roger pointed down the unfriendly side. “They were there — by the sea.”

罗杰朝下指指山的冷漠的一侧。“在那儿——靠海边。”

“It turned back and ran into the circle, bleeding –“

“可它折了回来,跑进了包围圈,鲜血淋淋——”

“I painted my face — I stole up. Now you eat — all of you — and I –“

“我涂好了脸——我悄悄地上去。现在你们吃肉——你们都吃肉——而我——”

Then at last Maurice broke the silence. He changed the subject to the only one that could bring the majority of them together.

最后还是莫里斯打破了沉默。他换了个话题,只有这个话题才能把大多数孩子连结在一起。

Slowly the silence on the mountain-top deepened till the click of the fire and the soft hiss of roasting meat could be heard clearly. Jack looked round for understanding but found only respect. Ralph stood among the ashes of the signal fire, his hands full of meat, saying nothing.

渐渐地,山顶上越来越静,连火的毕毕剥剥声和烤肉很轻的嘶嘶声都能清晰地听见。杰克四下张望,想寻求理解,但只发现敬意。拉尔夫站在曾作为信号火堆的灰烬中,两只手都拿着肉,一言不发。

All the boys were talking at once, relieved and excited.

孩子们全都七嘴八舌地讲起来,情绪激动,一时忘却了刚才紧张的气氛。

“Where did you find the pig?”

“你们是在哪儿发现这头猪的?”

“We spread round. I crept, on hands and knees. The spears fell out because they hadn’t barbs on. The pig ran away and made an awful noise –“

“我们张开了包围圈。我让手和膝盖着地爬过去。长矛上没有倒钩,投上去就掉下来,野猪开始逃跑,大声乱叫,声音很怕人——”

The first blow had paralyzed its hind quarters, so then the circle could close in and beat and beat — “I cut the pig’s throat –“

第一下就打瘫了它的两条后腿,于是包围圈越缩越小,大伙儿揍啊揍啊——“我砍着了野猪的喉咙——”

“We closed in –“

“我们围上去——”

“Give him a fourpenny one!”

“给他狠狠来一下!”

The twins, still sharing their identical grin, jumped up and ran round each other. Then the rest joined in, making pig-dying noises and shouting. “One for his nob!”

双胞胎仍然龇牙咧嘴地笑着,笑得很像,他们跳起来,兜着圈互相追逐。接着其余的也加入进去,学野猪临死时的惨叫,并大喊大嚷:“猪脑瓜上揍一下!”

“Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in.”

“杀野猪哟。割喉咙哟。狠狠揍哟。”

Then Maurice pretended to be the pig and ran squealing into the center, and the hunters, circling still, pretended to beat him. As they danced, they sang.

于是莫里斯扮作一头野猪,尖叫着跑到了当中,而猎手们仍围着圈,做出揍他的样子。他们边跳边唱:

Ralph watched them, envious and resentful. Not till they flagged and the chant died away, did he speak.

拉尔夫注视着他们,又是妒忌又是气恼。不等他们兴致低落,歌声消失,他就说道:

“I’m calling an assembly.”

“我要召开大会。”

One by one, they halted, and stood watching him.

孩子们一个个收住脚,站在那儿看着他。

“With the conch. I’m calling a meeting even if we have to go on into the dark. Down on the platform. When I blow it. Now.”

“我有海螺。我要召开大会,哪怕咱们不得不走到黑暗中去。到下面那个平台上。我一吹就开会。现在就去。”

He turned away and walked off, down the mountain.

他转身就跑,朝山下走去。

🔥 爆款好货,福利秒杀,天天更新: 点击领取优惠券购买 >>

yewandou

一个人要有坚强的毅力,否则他将一事无成

0 条评论

发表回复

您的邮箱地址不会被公开。 必填项已用 * 标注

蜀ICP备2025134762号 | 川公网安备51011202001092号 | 网站地图