小鎮是一種群體動物

A town is a thing like a colonial animal.

小鎮是一種像群體動物的東西。

A town has a nervous system and a head and shoulders and feet.

小鎮有神經系統，有頭，有肩膀，有腳。

A town is a thing separate from all other towns, so that there are no two towns alike.

每個小鎮都和其他小鎮不同，所以沒有兩個小鎮是一樣的。

And a town has a whole emotion.

小鎮也有一整個情緒。

How news travels through a town is a mystery not easily to be solved.

消息怎麼在小鎮裡傳開，是一個不容易解開的謎。

News seems to move faster than small boys can scramble and dart to tell it, faster than women can call it over the fences.

消息似乎比小男孩爭先恐後跑去報信還快，比女人隔著籬笆喊話還快。

Before Kino and Juana and the other fishers had come to Kino’s brush house, the nerves of the town were pulsing and vibrating with the news—Kino had found the Pearl of the World.

奇諾、胡安娜和其他漁民還沒走到奇諾的樹枝屋，小鎮的神經就已經因為這個消息而搏動、顫抖——奇諾找到了世界之珠。

Before panting little boys could strangle out the words, their mothers knew it.

喘著氣的小男孩還沒把話擠出口，他們的母親就已經知道了。

The news swept on past the brush houses, and it washed in a foaming wave into the town of stone and plaster.

消息掃過一片片樹枝屋，像一道泛著泡沫的浪，沖進了石頭灰泥之城。

It came to the priest walking in his garden, and it put a thoughtful look in his eyes and a memory of certain repairs necessary to the church.

它傳到在花園散步的神父那裡，讓他眼中浮現若有所思的神情，想起教堂有些地方需要修繕。

He wondered what the pearl would be worth.

他想知道那顆珍珠值多少錢。

And he wondered whether he had baptized Kino’s baby, or married him for that matter.

他也想知道，自己有沒有替奇諾的孩子施洗——說到這個，有沒有替他證婚。

The news came to the shopkeepers, and they looked at men’s clothes that had not sold so well.

消息傳到店主那裡，他們看著那些賣得不太好的男裝。

The news came to the doctor where he sat with a woman whose illness was age, though neither she nor the doctor would admit it.

消息傳到醫生那裡，他正陪著一個女人坐著——她的病是老，雖然她和醫生都不肯承認。

And when it was made plain who Kino was, the doctor grew stern and judicious at the same time.

等弄清楚奇諾是誰之後，醫生一下子變得既嚴肅又審慎。

“He is a client of mine,” the doctor said.

「他是我的病人。」醫生說。

“I am treating his child for a scorpion sting.”

「我正在治療他孩子的蠍子螫傷。」

And the doctor’s eyes rolled up a little in their fat hammocks and he thought of Paris.

醫生的眼睛在那兩團肥肉兜裡微微往上翻，他想起了巴黎。

He remembered the room he had lived in there as a great and luxurious place, and he remembered the hard-faced woman who had lived with him as a beautiful and kind girl, although she had been none of these three.

他記得他在那裡住過的房間寬敞豪華，記得那個跟他同居、一臉刻薄的女人是個美麗又溫柔的女孩——雖然這三樣她一樣都不是。

The doctor looked past his aged patient and saw himself sitting in a restaurant in Paris and a waiter was just opening a bottle of wine.

醫生的目光越過他年老的病人，看見自己坐在巴黎的一家餐廳裡，侍者正要打開一瓶酒。

The news came early to the beggars in front of the church, and it made them giggle a little with pleasure, for they knew that there is no alms-giver in the world like a poor man who is suddenly lucky.

消息很早就傳到教堂前的乞丐那裡，他們高興得咯咯笑，因為他們知道，世上沒有哪個施捨的人，比得上一個突然走運的窮人。

Kino has found the Pearl of the World.

奇諾找到了世界之珠。

In the town, in little offices, sat the men who bought pearls from the fishers.

鎮上一間間小辦公室裡，坐著向漁民收購珍珠的人。

They waited in their chairs until the pearls came in, and then they cackled and fought and shouted and threatened until they reached the lowest price the fisherman would stand.

他們坐在椅子上等珍珠送來，然後咯咯怪笑、爭吵、吼叫、威脅，直到把價格壓到漁民還能忍受的最低點。

But there was a price below which they dared not go, for it had happened that a fisherman in despair had given his pearls to the church.

可是有一個價格，他們不敢再往下壓，因為曾經有漁民在絕望之下，把珍珠捐給了教會。

And when the buying was over, these buyers sat alone and their fingers played restlessly with the pearls, and they wished they owned the pearls.

收購結束後，這些珠商獨自坐著，手指不安地把玩著珍珠，希望那些珍珠是自己的。

For there were not many buyers really—there was only one, and he kept these agents in separate offices to give a semblance of competition.

因為珠商其實不多——只有一個，他把這些代理人分別安排在不同的辦公室，做出一副互相競爭的樣子。

The news came to these men, and their eyes squinted and their finger-tips burned a little, and each one thought how the patron could not live forever and someone had to take his place.

消息傳到這些人那裡，他們瞇起眼睛，指尖微微發燙，每個人都在想：老闆不可能長生不死，總得有人接他的位子。

And each one thought how with some capital he could get a new start.

每個人都在想：只要有一點本錢，他就能重新開始。

All manner of people grew interested in Kino—people with things to sell and people with favours to ask.

形形色色的人都開始對奇諾感興趣——有東西要賣的人，有事情要求的人。

Kino had found the Pearl of the World.

奇諾找到了世界之珠。

The essence of pearl mixed with essence of men and a curious dark residue was precipitated.

珍珠的本質與人的本質混合，沉澱出一種奇怪的黑色殘渣。

Every man suddenly became related to Kino’s pearl, and Kino’s pearl went into the dreams, the speculations, the schemes, the plans, the futures, the wishes, the needs, the lusts, the hungers, of everyone, and only one person stood in the way and that was Kino, so that he became curiously every man’s enemy.

每個人突然都和奇諾的珍珠扯上了關係，奇諾的珍珠走進了每個人的夢想、盤算、詭計、計畫、前途、願望、需求、慾望、飢渴裡，而只有一個人擋在路上，那就是奇諾，於是他奇妙地成了每個人的敵人。

The news stirred up something infinitely black and evil in the town; the black distillate was like the scorpion, or like hunger in the smell of food, or like loneliness when love is withheld.

這個消息在小鎮裡攪起了某種無比黑暗、邪惡的東西；那黑色的蒸餾物就像蠍子，像聞到食物香味時的飢餓，像得不到愛時的孤獨。

The poison sacs of the town began to manufacture venom, and the town swelled and puffed with the pressure of it.

小鎮的毒囊開始製造毒液，整座小鎮在毒液的壓力下腫脹、鼓起。

But Kino and Juana did not know these things.

可是奇諾和胡安娜不知道這些。

Because they were happy and excited they thought everyone shared their joy.

因為他們又高興又興奮，就以為每個人都分享著他們的喜悅。

Juan Tomás and Apolonia did, and they were the world too.

胡安．托馬斯和阿波洛妮亞的確分享著，而他們也是整個世界。

In the afternoon, when the sun had gone over the mountains of the Peninsula to sink in the outward sea, Kino squatted in his house with Juana beside him.

下午，太陽越過半島的山脈，沉入外海，奇諾蹲在屋裡，胡安娜在他身邊。

And the brush house was crowded with neighbours.

樹枝屋裡擠滿了鄰居。

Kino held the great pearl in his hand, and it was warm and alive in his hand.

奇諾手裡握著那顆大珍珠，它在他手裡溫暖而有生命。

And the music of the pearl had merged with the music of the family so that one beautified the other.

珍珠的音樂和家的音樂融在一起，彼此相映成美。

The neighbours looked at the pearl in Kino’s hand and they wondered how such luck could come to any man.

鄰居們看著奇諾手裡的珍珠，納悶這樣的好運怎麼會落到一個人頭上。

And Juan Tomás, who squatted on Kino’s right hand because he was his brother, asked: “What will you do now that you have become a rich man?”

胡安．托馬斯因為是他的哥哥，蹲在奇諾的右手邊，他問：「你現在變成有錢人了，要做什麼？」

Kino looked into his pearl, and Juana cast her eye-lashes down and arranged her shawl to cover her face so that her excitement could not be seen.

奇諾看進他的珍珠，胡安娜垂下睫毛，拉了拉披巾遮住臉，不讓人看見她的興奮。

And in the incandescence of the pearl the pictures formed of the things Kino’s mind had considered in the past and had given up as impossible.

在珍珠的熾亮裡，浮現出一幅幅畫面——那是奇諾過去想過、又因為不可能而放棄的事。

In the pearl he saw Juana and Coyotito and himself standing and kneeling at the high altar, and they were being married now that they could pay.

在珍珠裡，他看見胡安娜、柯尤提托和他自己站著、跪著，在高高的祭壇前，因為現在付得起錢，他們正在舉行婚禮。

He spoke softly: “We will be married—in the church.”

他輕聲說：「我們要結婚——在教堂裡。」

In the pearl he saw how they were dressed—Juana in a shawl stiff with newness and a new skirt, and from under the long skirt Kino could see that she wore shoes.

在珍珠裡，他看見他們穿著什麼——胡安娜披著一條新得發硬的披巾，穿著新裙子，從長裙底下，奇諾看得見她穿著鞋子。

It was in the pearl—the picture glowing there.

那就在珍珠裡——畫面在那裡發著光。

He himself was dressed in new white clothes, and he carried a new hat—not of straw but of fine black felt—and he too wore shoes—not sandals but shoes that laced.

他自己穿著一身新的白衣服，拿著一頂新帽子——不是草帽，是上好的黑氈帽——他也穿著鞋子——不是涼鞋，是綁鞋帶的鞋。

But Coyotito—he was the one—he wore a blue sailor suit from the United States and a little yachting cap such as Kino had seen once when a pleasure-boat put into the estuary.

可是柯尤提托——他才是最重要的——他穿著一套美國來的藍色水手服，戴著一頂小小的遊艇帽，就像奇諾有一次在一艘遊艇駛進河口時看過的那種。

All of these things Kino saw in the lucent pearl, and he said: “We will have new clothes.”

這一切，奇諾都在那顆晶瑩的珍珠裡看見了，他說：「我們會有新衣服。」

And the music of the pearl rose like a chorus of trumpets in his ears.

珍珠的音樂在他耳中升起，像一陣齊鳴的號角。

Then to the lovely grey surface of the pearl came the little things Kino wanted: a harpoon to take the place of one lost a year ago, a new harpoon of iron with a ring in the end of the shaft; and—his mind could hardly make the leap—a rifle—but why not, since he was so rich?

接著，珍珠可愛的灰色表面上，浮現出奇諾想要的小東西：一支魚叉，取代一年前弄丟的那支，一支新的鐵魚叉，柄尾有個環；還有——他的腦子幾乎跳不過去——一把步槍——可是為什麼不行呢？他已經這麼有錢了。

And Kino saw Kino in the pearl, Kino holding a Winchester carbine.

奇諾在珍珠裡看見了奇諾，奇諾拿著一把溫徹斯特卡賓槍。

It was the wildest day-dreaming and very pleasant.

那是最狂野的白日夢，而且非常愉快。

His lips moved hesitantly over this—— “A rifle,” he said.

他的嘴唇遲疑地唸著這個——「一把步槍，」他說。

“Perhaps a rifle.”

「也許一把步槍。」

It was the rifle that broke down the barriers.

是那把步槍打破了界線。

This was an impossibility, and if he could think of having a rifle whole horizons were burst and he could rush on.

這本來是不可能的事，而如果他連擁有一把步槍都敢想，整片地平線就被衝破了，他可以一路往前衝。

For it is said that humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more.

因為人們說，人永遠不會滿足，給了他們一樣東西，他們就想要更多。

And this is said in disparagement, whereas it is one of the greatest talents the species has and one that has made it superior to animals that are satisfied with what they have.

說這話的人帶著貶意，可是這其實是人類這個物種最偉大的天賦之一，正是它讓人類勝過那些對擁有的一切感到滿足的動物。

The neighbours, close pressed and silent in the house, nodded their heads at his wild imaginings.

擠在屋裡、默不作聲的鄰居們，對他狂野的想像點著頭。

And a man in the rear murmured: “A rifle. He will have a rifle.”

後面有個男人喃喃地說：「一把步槍。他會有一把步槍。」

But the music of the pearl was shrilling with triumph in Kino.

可是珍珠的音樂正在奇諾身上得意地尖聲高唱。

Juana looked up, and her eyes were wide at Kino’s courage and at his imagination.

胡安娜抬起頭，為奇諾的勇氣和想像力睜大了眼睛。

And electric strength had come to him now the horizons were kicked out.

既然地平線已經被踢開，一股電流般的力量湧上了他的身體。

In the pearl he saw Coyotito sitting at a little desk in a school, just as Kino had once seen it through an open door.

在珍珠裡，他看見柯尤提托坐在學校的一張小書桌前，就像奇諾有一次從一扇敞開的門看到的那樣。

And Coyotito was dressed in a jacket, and he had on a white collar and a broad silken tie.

柯尤提托穿著外套，戴著白領子，打著一條寬寬的絲質領帶。

Moreover, Coyotito was writing on a big piece of paper.

而且，柯尤提托正在一大張紙上寫字。

Kino looked at his neighbours fiercely.

奇諾兇狠地看著鄰居們。

“My son will go to school,” he said, and the neighbours were hushed.

「我的兒子要去上學。」他說，鄰居們都安靜下來。

Juana caught her breath sharply.

胡安娜猛地倒抽一口氣。

Her eyes were bright as she watched him, and she looked quickly down at Coyotito in her arms to see whether this might be possible.

她看著他，眼睛發亮，然後很快低頭看懷裡的柯尤提托，看這有沒有可能。