《能言馬與男孩》第63期:不受歡迎的同路人(4)
"After all," said Shasta, "this road is bound to get to somewhere."
But that all depends on what you mean by somewhere. The road kept on getting to somewhere in the sense that it got to more and more trees, all dark and dripping, and to colder and colder air. And strange, icy winds kept blowing the mist past him though they never blew it away. If he had been used to mountain country he would have realized that this meant he was now very high up - perhaps right at the top of the pass. But Shasta knew nothing about mountains.
但那完全在於你所說的某個地方是什麼意思。道路不斷地向某個地方延伸，一路上樹木愈來愈多，而且全都是黑沉沉的，滴滴答答地滴着水珠，空氣愈來愈凜冽，奇怪而冰冷的風不斷地把事睛從他身旁吹過，卻從不把霧靄吹散掉。如果他習慣於山野風光的話，他就會明白，這意味着他現在攀登得很高了——也許正好在那關隘的頂上。但沙斯塔對山嶺一無所知。"I do think," said Shasta, "that I must be the most unfortunate boy that ever lived in the whole world. Everything goes right for everyone except me. Those Narnian lords and ladies got safe away from Tashbaan; I was left behind. Aravis and Bree and Hwin are all as snug as anything with that old Hermit: of course I was the one who was sent on. King Lune and his people must have got safely into the castle and shut the gates long before Rabadash arrived, but I get left out."
“我確實認爲，”沙斯塔說，”我必定是活在世界上的最最不幸的孩子了。除了我，人人都是萬事如意。那些納尼亞王公和小姐都安全離開了塔什班城，我卻被留在後面。阿拉維斯、布里、赫溫跟老隱士在一起，要多舒適就有多舒適：當然只派我出來奔波。倫恩國王和他的隨從必定已經安全進入城堡，早在拉巴達什到達之前把城門關上了，唯獨我被丟在外邊了。”
And being very tired and having nothing inside him, he felt so sorry for himself that the tears rolled down his cheeks.
他身體十分疲倦，肚子裏又空空如也，他爲自己感到十分傷心，淚珠流過面頰滾下來了。What put a stop to all this was a sudden fright. Shasta discovered that someone or somebody was walking beside him. It was pitch dark and he could see nothing. And the Thing (or Person) was going so quietly that he could hardly hear any footfalls. What he could hear was breathing. His invisible companion seemed to breathe on a very large scale, and Shasta got the impression that it was a very large creature. And he had come to notice this breathing so gradually that he had really no idea how long it had been there. It was a horrible shock.
結束這一切傷感的時候一種突如其來的惶恐。沙斯塔發現有個人或動物正在他身邊行走。周圍漆黑一團，他什麼也看不見。而這個動物（或人）行路那麼安靜，他聽不見什麼腳步聲。他聽得見的是呼吸的聲音。他的隱身同伴的呼吸似乎規模很大，沙斯塔得到的印象是：它是個龐然大物。他是逐漸注意到這種呼吸聲的，因而他確實不知道它已經存在多久了。這是個可怕的震驚。It darted into his mind that he had heard long ago that there were giants in these Northern countries. He bit his lip in terror. But now that he really had something to cry about, he stopped crying.
他腦子裏忽然想起：很久以前他就聽說過，北方各國有巨人。他惶恐地咬着嘴脣。如今他確實有事情要號啕大哭，他倒停止哭泣了。The Thing (unless it was a Person) went on beside him so very quietly that Shasta began to hope he had only imagined it. But just as he was becoming quite sure of it, there suddenly came a deep, rich sigh out of the darkness beside him. That couldn't be imagination! Anyway, he had felt the hot breath of that sigh on his chilly left hand.
那個龐然大物（除非它是個人）繼續在他身邊走着，可是十分文靜，因而沙斯塔開始希望這只不過是他的幻覺罷了。但正當他變得確信是幻覺時，突然從他身邊的黑暗之中傳來一聲深沉的長嘆。不可能是幻覺了！無論如何，他感覺到那長嘆中的一股熱氣衝到了他冰冷的左手上。.If the horse had been any good - or if he had known how to get any good out of the horse - he would have risked everything on a breakaway and a wild gallop. But he knew he couldn't make that horse gallop. So he went on at a walking pace and the unseen companion walked and breathed beside him. At last he could bear it no longer.
如果這馬兒有點兒用處——或者他如果知道怎樣使馬兒發揮點作用的話——他會冒險脫逃、瘋狂馳騁的。但他明白他無法使馬兒馳騁。所以他慢步前行，而那看不見的夥伴就在他身邊走着，就在他身邊呼吸。最後，他再也不能忍受下去了。"Who are you?" he said, scarcely above a whisper.
“你是誰啊？”他說，聲音比竊竊私語高不了多少。"One who has waited long for you to speak," said the Thing. Its voice was not loud, but very large and deep.
“我等你說話好久了。”那個傢伙說。他的說話不響亮，但嗓門兒很大，很深沉。"Are you- are you a giant?" asked Shasta.
“你是——你是巨人嗎？”"You might call me a giant," said the Large Voice. "But I am not like the creatures you call giants."
“你不妨稱我爲巨人，”大嗓門說道，”但我跟你稱之爲巨人的動物並不像。”"I can't see you at all," said Shasta, after staring very hard. Then (for an even more terrible idea had come into his head) he said, almost in a scream, "You're not - not something dead, are you? Oh please - please do go away. What harm have I ever done you? Oh, I am the unluckiest person in the whole world!"
“我壓根兒無法瞧見你。”沙斯塔瞪大眼睛瞧了半天后說道。接着（一個甚至更加可怕的想法跳上他的心頭），他幾乎是叫喊着說道：”你不是——不是什麼已經死掉的東西吧，是不是？——請走開吧。我可沒做什麼傷害你的事啊！咳，我是世界上最倒黴的人了。”Once more he felt the warm breath of the Thing on his hand and face. "There," it said, "that is not the breath of a ghost. Tell me your sorrows."
他再一次感到對方的一股熱烘烘的氣息衝到了他的手上和臉上。”聽着，”龐然大物說，”這可不是鬼魂的氣息。把你的煩惱告訴我吧。”
