美麗新世界Brave New World 第8章(8)

But the hand only took him under the chin andturned his face, so that he had to look again intoPopé's eyes.

但是那手只是抓住了他的下巴，把他的臉扭了過來，使他不得不再望著波培的臉。

For a long time, for hours and hours.

他們倆對視了很久，對視了幾個小時，又幾個小時。

And suddenly–he couldn't help it–he began to cry.Popé burst out laughing.

突然，他哭了起來——因為忍不住。波培哈哈大笑。

"Go," he said, in the other Indian words. "Go, my brave Ahaiyuta."

“去吧，”他用另一種印第安語說，“去吧，勇敢的阿海優(yōu)塔。”

He ran out into the other room to hide his tears.

約翰逃了出去，到另外那間屋子去隱藏他的眼淚去了。

"You are fifteen," said old Mitsima, in the Indian words. "Now I may teach you to work theclay."

“你十五歲了，”老米季馬用印第安話說，“現(xiàn)在我可以教你摶泥土了。”

Squatting by the river, they worked together.

兩人蹲在江邊，一起工作。

"First of all," said Mitsima, taking a lump of the wetted clay between his hands, "we make alittle moon."

“首先，”米季馬兩手抓起一團濕泥說，”我們做一個小月亮。”

The old man squeezed the lump into a disk, then bent up the edges, the moon became ashallow cup.

老頭把泥捏成了一個圓餅，然后讓餅邊豎起了一點;月亮變成了淺杯。

Slowly and unskilfully he imitated the old man's delicate gestures.

他慢慢地笨拙地學著老人那巧妙的動作。

A moon, a cup, and now a snake. Mitsima rolled out another piece of clay into a long flexiblecylinder, trooped it into a circle and pressed it on to the rim of the cup.

月亮，杯子，現(xiàn)在是蛇，米季馬把另一塊泥土搓成了一根可以盤曲的長條，盤成了一個圓圈，再把它壓緊在杯子口上。

Then another snake. And another. And another.

然后又是一條蛇，又是一條蛇，再是一條蛇。

Round by round, Mitsima built up the sides of the pot; it was narrow, it bulged, it narrowedagain towards the neck.

米季馬一圈又一圈塑造出了罐子的邊。那罐子原來窄小，現(xiàn)在鼓了出來，到了罐口又窄小了。

Mitsima squeezed and patted, stroked and scraped; and there at last it stood, in shape thefamiliar water pot of Malpais, but creamy white instead of black, and still soft to the touch.

米季馬擠壓著，拍打著，抹著，刮著;最后那罐子站在了那里，就是馬爾佩斯常見的那種水罐，只是顏色是奶油白，而不是黑的，而且摸起來還軟。

The crooked parody of Mitsima's, his own stood beside it.

約翰的罐子站在米季馬的罐子旁邊，那是對米季馬的罐子的歪扭的摹本。

Looking at the two pots, he had to laugh.

他望著兩個罐子，忍不住笑了。

"But the next one will be better," he said, and began to moisten another piece of clay.

“下一個就會好一些了。”他說，開始潤濕另一塊泥。

To fashion, to give form, to feel his fingers gaining in skill and power–this gave him anextraordinary pleasure.

摶弄，成型，感覺到自己的手越來越巧，越來越有力——這給了他不尋常的快樂。

"A, B, C, Vitamin D," he sang to himself as he worked.

“A呀B呀C，維呀他命D，”他一邊工作一邊唱歌，

The fat's in the liver, the cod's in the sea.

脂肪在肝中，鱉魚在海里。

And Mitsima also sang–a song about killing a bear.

米季馬也唱了起來——那是關于殺熊的歌。

They worked all day, and all day he was filled with an intense, absorbing happiness.

他們倆工作了一整天，讓他一整天都充滿了強烈的令人陶醉的歡樂。

"Next winter," said old Mitsima, "I will teach you to make the bow."

“明年冬天，”老米季馬說，“我教你做弓。”

He stood for a long time outside the house, and at last the ceremonies within were finished.

他在屋外站了很久。里面的儀式終于結束了，

The door opened; they came out.

門打開了，人們走了出來。

Kothlu came first, his right hand out-stretched and tightly closed, as though over someprecious jewel.

科特路首先出現(xiàn)。他握緊了右手伸在前面，好像捏著什么值錢的珍寶。

Her clenched hand similarly outstretched, Kiakimé followed.

季雅紀美跟在后面，她也捏緊一只手，同樣伸了出去。

They walked in silence, and in silence, behind them, came the brothers and sisters andcousins and all the troop of old people.

他們倆默默地走著，后面跟著他們的嫡。堂、表兄弟姐妹和所有的老人。

They walked out of the pueblo, across the mesa.

他們走出了印第安村落，穿過了石源，

At the edge of the clid they halted, facing the early morning sun.

來到懸崖邊上，面對著清晨的太陽站住了。