Life of Pi (Excerpt 4)
《派的海上奇幻漂流》（节选四）
文/扬▪马特尔 翻译：上海译锐翻译
By Yann Martel

Chapter 85
（1）Once there was lightning. The sky was so black, day looked like night. The downpour was heavy. I heard thunder far away. I thought it would stay at that. But a wind came up, throwing the rain this way and that. Right after, a white splinter came crashing down from the sky, puncturing the water. It was some distance from the lifeboat, but the effect was perfectly visible. The water was shot through with what looked like white roots; briefly, a great celestial tree stood in the ocean. I had never imagined such a thing possible, lightning striking the sea. The clap of thunder was tremendous. The flash of light was incredibly vivid.
第85章
（1）还有一次是电闪雷鸣。当时，天空乌云密布，白昼宛若黑夜。大雨滂沱。我听见远处传来轰隆隆的雷声。我想，离我们这里还远着呢。但是，突然起风了，雨随着狂风乱舞。说时迟，那时快，闪电犹如一个白色的锋利碎片一般突然从天而降，猛地刺入海面。尽管被刺穿的水面离救生船还有一段距离，但是那种震撼的景象却清晰可见。水面被一个看上去像白色树干的东西迅速击穿；一颗参天大树瞬间立于海面。在这之前，我从来没有想过闪电会击穿海面。雷声传来，震耳欲聋。闪电在天空中划过，异常清晰。

（2）I turned to Richard Parker and said, "Look, Richard Parker, a bolt of lightning." I saw how he felt about it. He was flat on the floor of the boat, limbs splayed and visibly trembling.
（2）我朝着理查德▪帕克说：“看，一道闪电。”看得出，帕克对此也深有感受。它四肢展开，平趴在小船的底部。我能够清楚的看见它在颤抖。

（3）The effect on me was completely the opposite. It was something to pull me out of my limited mortal ways and thrust me into a state of exalted wonder.
（3）而我对于雷鸣闪电的反应则截然不同。闪电将我从逼仄的世俗生活中拉了出来，并使我置身于一种亢奋陶醉的状态。

（4）Suddenly a bolt struck much closer. Perhaps it was meant for us: we had just fallen off the crest of a swell and were sinking down its back when its top was hit. There was an explosion of hot air and hot water. For two, perhaps three seconds, a gigantic, blinding white shard of glass from a broken cosmic window danced in the sky, insubstantial yet overwhelmingly powerful. Ten thousand trumpets and twenty thousand drums could not have made as much noise as that bolt of lightning; it was positively deafening. The sea turned white and all colour disappeared. Everything was either pure white light or pure black shadow. The light did not seem to illuminate so much as to penetrate. As quickly as it had appeared, the bolt vanished—the spray of hot water had not finished landing upon us and already it was gone. The punished swell returned to black and rolled on indifferently.
（4）突然，又是一道闪电而且离我们更近了。也许它就是冲我们来的。就在我们从巨浪的浪尖跌落并顺着巨浪的背面下沉时，闪电击中了浪尖。热浪和热水喷涌而出。接着，又是一道闪电。闪电好似一片从破碎的天窗上掉下来的巨大的玻璃碎片，发出令人眩目的白光。有2秒钟，或者是3秒钟，它在天空中舞动，看上去如梦似幻，但却又威力无穷。伴随闪电而来的雷声震耳欲聋，就是一万支号角和二万面大鼓加起来也“自叹弗如”。大海呈现出白色，眼前所有的一切都黯然失色，并幻化为纯粹的白光或纯粹的黑影。光似乎并不局限于照亮，它似乎更想穿透万物。雷电来得快，去得也快。就在滚烫的海浪还在拍打我们时，它已经离开了。该死的巨浪又变成之前的黑色并继续向前涌动着。

（5）I was dazed, thunderstruck—nearly in the true sense of the word. But not afraid.
（5）我感到头晕目眩，失魂落魄，就像真的被雷击一样。但我并没有感到害怕。

（6）"Praise be to Allah, Lord of All Worlds, the Compassionate, the Merciful, Ruler of Judgment Day!" I muttered. To Richard Parker I shouted, "Stop your trembling! This is miracle. This is an outbreak of divinity. This is...this is..." I could not find what it was, this thing so vast and fantastic. I was breathless and wordless. I lay back on the tarpaulin, arms and legs spread wide. The rain chilled me to the bone. But I was smiling. I remember that close encounter with electrocution and third-degree burns as one of the few times during my ordeal when I felt genuine happiness.
（6）“感赞安拉，万物之主，大慈大悲的审判日裁决者！”我默念着。我又朝帕克大喊道：“别发抖了！这是神迹显现！这是神灵显灵了！这是……这是……”我无法用言语来形容，它太庞大、太奇妙了。我一时凝神屏气，哑口无言。我躺在油布上，展开双臂和双腿，使自己看上去像个“大”字。雨水让我感到寒冷刺骨，但我却在微笑。我不会忘记，在这场磨难中，遭遇电击和三度烧伤是少有的让我感到真正幸福的时刻之一。

（7）At moments of wonder, it is easy to avoid small thinking, to entertain thoughts that span the universe, that capture both thunder and tinkle, thick and thin, the near and the far.
（7）在那些奇妙的瞬间，人们很容易就会避开那些现实琐碎的想法，转而将目光投向整个宇宙，无论浑厚似雷电还是清脆似铃声，或近或远，无所不包。

注：本文由上海译锐翻译全职译员Dora LIU翻译，还请批评指正。

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