23 Bjerkely

23 柏客来

……an old magic mirror Great-grandmother had bought from a Gypsy woman ...

……曾祖母向一名吉普赛妇人买的一面古老魔镜…… 

Hilde Moller Knag awoke in the attic room in the old captain's house outside Lillesand. She glanced at the clock. It was only six o'clock, but it was already light. Broad rays of morning sun lit up the room.

在黎乐桑郊区古老的船长屋的阁楼里，席德醒来了。她看看钟，才六点，但天色已经大亮。早晨的太阳已经将房间内的一整面墙壁都照亮了。 

She got out of bed and went to the window. On the way she stopped by the desk and tore a page off her calendar. Thursday, June 14, 1990. She crumpled the page up and threw it in her wastebasket.

她起床走向窗前，经过书桌时停了一下，看见桌上写着：一九九O年六月十四日星期四。她把这页撕了下来，揉成一团，丢进字纸篓中。 

Friday, June 15, 1990, said the calendar now, shining at her. Way back in January she had written "15th birthday" on this page. She felt it was extra-special to be fifteen on the fifteenth. It would never happen again.

现在桌历上的日期是一九九O年六月十五日星期五，簇新的日历纸闪闪发亮。早在今年一月时，她就在这一页上写下了“十五岁生日”这几个字。她觉得能在十五日这一天过十五岁生日实在很特别。这种机会一生只有一次。 

Fifteen! Wasn't this the first day of her adult life? She couldn't just go back to bed. Furthermore, it was the last day of school before the summer vacation. The students just had to appear in church at one o'clock. And what was more, in a week Dad would be home from Lebanon. He had promised to be home for Midsummer Eve.

十五岁!今天岂不是她过成人生活的第一天吗？所以，她不能再回床上去睡了。再说，今天是学校放暑假前的最后一天，学生下午一点钟必须在教堂集合。更何况，再过一个星期，爸爸就从黎巴嫩回来了。他答应要在仲夏节前回家。 

Hilde stood by the window and looked out over the garden, down toward the dock behind the little red boat-house. The motorboat had not yet been brought out for the summer, but the old rowboat was tied up to the dock. She must remember to bail the water out of it after last night's heavy downpour.

席德站在窗前，俯瞰着外面的花园，以及红色的小船屋后面的平台。夏天用的汽艇还没有抬出来，但那条老旧的小船已经系在平台边了。她想到昨夜的那场倾盆大雨，便提醒自己今天一定要记得把小舟里的积水舀出来。 

As she was looking out over the little bay, she remembered the time when as a little girl of six she had climbed up into the rowboat and rowed out into the bay alone. She had fallen overboard and it was all she could do to struggle ashore. Drenched to the skin, she had pushed her way through the thicket hedge. As she stood in the garden looking up at the house, her mother had come running toward her. The boat and both oars were left afloat in the bay. She still dreamed about the boat sometimes, drifting on its own, abandoned. It had been an embarrassing experience.

现在，她俯视着那个小海湾，想起她还是个六岁的小女孩时，有一次曾经爬进那条小船，独自一人划到狭湾去。后来她掉到水里，勉强挣扎着上岸，然后浑身湿淋淋的穿过矮树篱；当她站在花园里仰望着她家的房子时，她妈妈跑过来了。那条小船和两支桨就一直在狭湾里漂浮着。如今她偶尔还会梦见小船空无一人、径自漂流的情景。那真是很令人难为情的一次经验。 

The garden was neither especially luxuriant nor particularly well kept. But it was large and it was Hilde's. A weather-beaten apple tree and a few practically barren fruit bushes had just about survived the severe winter storms. The old glider stood on the lawn between granite rocks and thicket. It looked so forlorn in the sharp morning light. Even more so because the cushions had been taken in. Mom had probably hurried out late last night and rescued them from the rain.

她家的这座园子花草既不特别繁茂，也没有经过刻意修整，但却相当宽敞。这是属于她的花园。园里那棵久经风霜的苹果树和几株光秃秃的灌木经过严寒的冬季暴风雪洗礼之后，仍然劲挺。在早晨明亮的阳光下，花岗岩与灌木丛之间的草坪上那座老旧的秋千显得分外孤零。秋千上的沙发垫子已经不见了。可能是昨天夜里妈妈匆匆跑出去收进来以免被雨淋湿。 

There were birch trees--bj0rketreer--all around the large garden, sheltering it partly, at least, from the worst squalls. It was because of those trees that the house had been renamed Bjerkely over a hundred years ago.

为了避免暴风的吹袭，这座大花园四周都种有桦树。正是因为这些桦树，这栋房子才在一百多年前被改名为“柏客来”山庄。 

Hilde's great-grandfather had built the house some years before the turn of the century. He had been a captain on one of the last tall sailing ships. There were a lot of people who continued to call it the captain's house.

这座山庄是在十九世纪末由席德的曾祖父兴建的。他是一艘大帆船的船长，也因此到现在还有许多人称这座宅子为“船长屋”。 

That morning the garden still showed signs of the heavy rain that had suddenly started late last evening. Hilde had been awakened several times by bursts of thunder. But today there was not a cloud in the sky.

今天早晨花园里仍留有昨夜豪雨的痕迹。这场雨在昨天黄昏时突然下了起来，到了夜里，席德几度被怒吼的雷声惊醒。但是今天却是万里无云的晴朗天气。 

Everything is so fresh after a summer storm like that. It had been hot and dry for several weeks and the tips of the leaves on the birch trees had started to turn yellow. Now it was as if the whole world had been newly washed. It seemed as if even her childhood had been washed away with the storm.

在风雨过后，万物显得如此清新。过去好几个星期以来，天气一直炎热干燥，以致桦树的叶尖已经长出了难看的黄色斑点。现在，大地宛如刚刚经过一番清洗。席德觉得自己的童年仿佛也随着这场风雨一去不返。 

"Indeed, there is pain when spring buds burst..." Wasn't there a Swedish poet who had said something like that? Or was she Finnish?

“春天的芽苞爆裂时确实是痛苦的……”不是有一位瑞典(还是芬兰？)的女诗人说过类似的话吗？她好看吗？至少长得不丑。也许是介于两者之间…… 

Hilde stood in front of the heavy brass mirror hanging on the wall above Grandmother's old dresser.

席德站在祖母的老五斗柜上方挂的那面沉重的铜镜前。

Was she pretty? She wasn't ugly, anyway. Maybe she was kind of in-between ...

她好看吗？至少长得不丑。也许是介于两者之间……

She had long, fair hair. Hilde had always wished her hair could be either a bit fairer or a bit darker. This in-between color was so mousy. On the positive side, there were these soft curls. Lots of her friends struggled to get their hair to curl just a little bit, but Hilde's hair had always been naturally curly. Another positive feature, she thought, were her deep green eyes. "Are they really green?" her aunts and uncles used to say as they bent over to look at her.

她有一头金色的长发。以前她总是希望自己的发色能够更亮或更暗一些，因为像这样不上不下的颜色看起来是如此平凡无奇。还好她的头发天生微鬈，不需要像她那些朋友一般费尽心思，只为了让头发鬈起一点点。她的另一个优点是一双深绿色的眼睛。“真的是绿色的吗？”以前她的叔叔婶婶们总是这么说，同时一边俯身端详她。 

Hilde considered whether the image she was studying was that of a girl or that of a young woman. She decided it was neither. The body might be quite womanly, but the face reminded her of an unripe apple.

席德站在镜前，注视着自己的面容。她还是小女孩吗？或是已经长成少女了？她觉得两者都不是。她的身体也许已经颇有女人味了，但她的脸却还是像一个未成熟的苹果。 

There was something about this old mirror that always made Hilde think of her father. It had once hung down in the "studio." The studio, over the boathouse, was her father's combined library, writer's workshop, and retreat. Albert, as Hilde called him when he was home, had always wanted to write something significant. Once he had tried to write a novel, but he never finished it. From time to time he had had a few poems and sketches of the archipelago published in a national journal. Hilde was so proud every time she saw his name in print. ALBERT KNAG. It meant something in Lillesan^, anyway. Her great-grandfather's name had also been Albert.

这面古老的镜子总是让席德想起她的父亲，因为它从前一度挂在“工作室”里。那间“工作室”就在船屋上面，是她父亲读书、写作、休息的地方。他一直希望能写一些有意义的东西。有一次他曾经试着写一本小说，却一直没有完成。他写的诗和他画的岛屿素描不时刊登在一家全国性期刊上。席德每次看到爸爸的名字“艾勃特”登出来，都觉得好骄傲。这样的事在黎乐桑还是不太常见的。 

The mirror. Many years ago her father had joked about not being able to wink at your own reflection with both eyes at the same time, except in this brass mirror. It was an exception because it was an old magic mirror Great-grandmother had bought from a Gypsy woman just after her wedding.

对于这面镜子！许多年前她的爸爸曾经开玩笑说，他只有在看着这面铜镜时才能对着镜中的影像同时眨动双眼，因为它是曾祖母刚结完婚后向一个吉普赛妇人买的古老魔镜。 

Hilde had tried for ages, but it was just as hard to wink at yourself with both eyes as to run away from your own shadow. In the end she had been given the old family heirloom to keep. Through the years she had tried from time to time to master the impossible art.

席德曾经试了无数次，但发现要对着镜子眨动双眼几乎就像要逃离自己的影子一样困难。最后爸妈把这件传家宝给了她，由她保存。这几年来她仍然不时练习这个不太可能达成的技巧。 

Not surprisingly, she was pensive today. And not unnaturally, she was preoccupied with herself. Fifteen years old ...She happened to glance at her bedside table. There was a large package there. It had pretty blue wrapping and was tied with a red silk ribbon. It must be a birthday present!Could this be the present? The great big present from Dad that had been so very secret?

她今天思绪汹涌，不停想着一些有关自己的事。但这是很正常的，毕竟她已经十五岁了……生日礼物这时她偶然瞥见床头几上有一个大包裹，用美丽的蓝纸包着，并绑着红色的丝带。不用说，一定是一份生日礼物！难道这就是爸爸说过要送她的那份神秘的大礼物吗？他从黎巴嫩寄来的明信片中曾经给她许多扑朔迷离的提示，可是却说他“严格禁止自己泄漏天机”。 

He had dropped so many cryptic hints in his cards from Lebanon. But he had "imposed a severe censorship on himself." The present was something that "grew bigger and bigger," he had written. Then he had said something about a girl she was soon to meet--and that he had sent copies of all his cards to her. Hilde had tried to pump her mother for clues, but she had no idea what he meant, either.

他在信里透露，这份礼物会“愈来愈大”。然后他又提到一个她很快就会见到的女孩，并说他把寄给她的明信片也寄了一份给那女孩。席德曾试着套妈妈的话，希望她能透露一点口风，但妈妈也不知道爸爸在玩什么把戏。 

The oddest hint had been that the present could perhaps be "shared with other people." He wasn't working for the UN for nothing! If her father had one bee in his bonnet--and he had plenty--it was that the. UN ought to be a kind of world government. May the UN one day really be able to unite the whole of humanity, he had written on one of his cards.

在各种提示中，最奇怪的一项是：这礼物将是一份她“可与别人共享的”的东西。席德的爸爸为联合国工作不是没有目的的。他的脑袋里有许多想法，其中之一就是联合国应该成为一个类似世界政府的机构。他曾经在一张明信片里表示，希望联合国有一天真的能够使全人类团结起来。 

Was she allowed to open the package before her mother came up to her room singing "Happy Birthday to You," with pastry and a Norwegian flag? Surely that was why it had been put there?She walked quietly across the room and picked up the package. It was heavy! She found the tag: To Hilde on her 15th birthday from Dad.

待会儿，妈妈将会拿着面包和汽水及挪威小国旗上楼到她的房里来唱生日快乐歌。她可以在妈妈来到之前打开这个包裹吗？应该可以吧。要不然它为什么会放在那儿呢？她悄悄走上前去，拿起那个包裹。乖乖！很重呢!她看到上面贴着一张纸，写着：“给席德的十五岁生日礼物，爸爸赠。” 

She sat on the bed and carefully untied the red silk ribbon. Then she undid the blue paper.

她坐在床上，小心地解开那条红色的丝带，然后打开蓝色的包装纸。 

It was a large ring binder.

里面是一个大大的讲义夹。 

Was this her present? Was this the fifteenth-birthday present that there had been so much fuss about? The present that grew bigger and bigger and could be shared with other people?

这就是爸爸给她的生日礼物吗？这就是他大费周章为她准备的十五岁生日礼物吗？这就是那份会愈来愈大，可以与别人共享的礼物吗？

A quick glance showed that the ring binder was rilled with typewritten pages. Hilde recognized them as being from her father's typewriter, the one he had taken with him to Lebanon.

席德很快发现讲义夹内装满了打好字的纸张。她认出这是爸爸用他带到黎巴嫩的那架打字机打出来的字。 

Had he written a whole book for her?

难道他为她写了一本书？

On the first page, in large handwritten letters, was the title, SOPHIE'S WORLD.

第一页上面有用手写的几个大字： 苏菲的世界。这是书名。 

Farther down the page there were two typewritten lines of poetry:

书名下面用打字机打了两行诗： 

TRUE ENLIGHTENMENT IS TO MAN LIKE SUNLIGHT TO THE SOIL

真实启蒙之于人如同阳光之于土 

--N.F.S. Grundtvig

葛朗维格(N．F．S．Grundtvig) 

Hilde turned to the next page, to the beginning of the first chapter. It was entitled "The Garden of Eden." She got into bed, sat up comfortably, resting the ring binder against her knees, and began to read.

席德翻到下一页，也就是第一章的开始。这章题名为《伊甸园》。席德爬上床，舒服地坐在那儿，将讲义夹放在膝盖上，开始看了起来：

Sophie Amundsen was on her way home from school. She had walked the first part of the way with Joanna. They had been discussing robots. Joanna thought the human brain was like an advanced computer. Sophie was not certain she agreed. Surely a person was more than a piece of hardware?

苏菲放学回家了。有一段路她和乔安同行，她们谈着有关机器人的问题。乔安认为人的脑子就像一部很先进的电脑，这点苏菲并不大赞同。她想：人应该不只是一台机器吧？

Hilde read on, oblivious of all else, even forgetting that it was her birthday. From time to time a brief thought crept in between the lines as she read: Had Dad written a book? Had he finally begun on the significant novel and completed it in Lebanon? He had often complained that time hung heavily on one's hands in that part of the world.

席德看着看着，忘记了其他一切的事情，甚至忘记了今天是她的生日。她读着读着，脑海中不时浮现一个问号：爸爸写了一本书吗？他在黎巴嫩时是否终于开始撰写那部很有意义的小说，并且完成了呢？他以前时常抱怨他在那儿不知该如何打发时间。 

Sophie's father was far from home, too. She was probably the girl Hilde would be getting to know ...

苏菲的爸爸也离家很远。她也许就是那个席德将要开始认识的女孩……

Only by conjuring up an intense feeling of one day being dead could she appreciate how terribly good life was... . Where does the world come from? ... At some point something must have come from nothing. But was that possible? Wasn't that just as impossible as the idea that the world had always existed?

唯有清晰的意识到有一天她终将死去，她才能够体会活在世上是多么美好……世界从何而来？……在某一时刻，事物必然曾经从无到有。然而，这可能吗？这不就像世界一直存在的看法一样不可思议吗？

Hilde read on and on. With surprise, she read about Sophie Amundsen receiving a postcard from Lebanon: "Hilde Moller Knag, c/o Sophie Amundsen, 3 Clover Close..."

席德读着读着。当她读到苏菲接到一封来自黎巴嫩的明信片，上面写着：“苜蓿路三号，苏菲收，请代转席德”时，不禁困惑地扭动着腿。 

Dear Hilde, Happy 15th birthday. As I'm sure you'll understand, I want to give you a present that will help you grow. Forgive me for sending the card c/o Sophie. It was the easiest way. Love from Dad.

亲爱的席德：你满十五岁了，生日快乐!我想你会明白，我希望给你一样能帮助你成长的生日礼物。原谅我请苏菲代转这张卡片，因为这样最方便。爱你的老爸 

The joker! Hilde knew her father had always been a sly one, but today he had really taken her by surprise! Instead of tying the card on the package, he had written it into the book.

这个促狭鬼!席德知道爸爸一向爱耍花样，但今天他才真正教她开了眼界。他没有将卡片绑在包裹上，而是将它写进书里了。 

But poor Sophie! She must have been totally confused!

只是可怜了苏菲，她一定困惑极了。 

Why would a father send a birthday card to Sophie's address when it was quite obviously intended to go somewhere else? What kind of father would cheat his own daughter of a birthday card by purposely sending it astray? How could it be "the easiest way"? And above all, how was she supposed to trace this Hilde person?

怎么会有父亲把生日卡寄到苏菲家？这明明不是给她的呀!什么样的父亲会故意把信寄到别人家，让女儿收不到生日卡呢？为什么他说这是“最方便”的呢？更何况，苏菲要怎样才能找到这个名叫席德的人？

No, how could she?

是呀，她怎么找得到呢？

Hilde turned a couple of pages and began to read the second chapter, "The Top Hat." She soon came to the long letter which a mysterious person had written to Sophie.

席德翻了两三页，然后开始读第二章“魔术师的礼帽”。她很快便读到那个神秘的人写给苏菲的长信。她屏住了呼吸。 

Being interested in why we are here is not a "casual" interest like collecting stamps. People who ask such questions are taking part in a debate that has gone on as long as man has lived on this planet.

想知道为何我们会在这儿并不像搜集邮票一样是一种休闲式的兴趣。那些对这类问题有兴趣的人所要探讨的，乃是自地球有人类以来人们就一直辩论不休的问题。 

"Sophie was completely exhausted." So was Hilde. Not only had Dad written a book for her fifteenth birthday, he had written a strange and wonderful book.

“苏菲真是累极了。”席德也是。爸爸为她的十五岁生日写了一本书，而这是一本又奇怪又精彩的书。 

To summarize briefly: A white rabbit is pulled out of a top hat.

简而言之，这世界就像魔术师从他的帽子里拉出的一只白兔。 

Because it is an extremely large rabbit, the trick takes many billions of years. All mortals are born at the very tip of the rabbit's fine hairs, where they are in a position to wonder at the impossibility of the trick. But as they grow older they work themselves ever deeper into the fur. And there they stay . . .

只是这白兔的体积极其庞大，因此这场戏法要数十亿年才变得出来，所有的生物都出生于这只兔子的细毛顶端，他们刚开始对于这场令人不可置信的戏法感到惊奇。然而当他们年纪愈长，也就愈深入兔子的毛皮，并且待了下来…

Sophie was not the only one who felt she had been on the point of finding herself a comfortable place deep down in the rabbit's fur. Today was Hilde's fifteenth birthday, and she had the feeling it was time to decide which way she would choose to crawl.

苏菲并不是唯一觉得自己正要在兔子的毛皮深处找到一个舒适的地方待下来的人。今天是席德的十五岁生日。她觉得现在正是她决定未来的道路应该怎么走的时候。 

She read about the Greek natural philosophers. Hilde knew that her father was interested in philosophy. He had written an article in the newspaper proposing that philosophy should be a regular school subject. It was called "Why should philosophy be part of the school curriculum?" He had even raised the issue at a PTA meeting in Hilde's class. Hilde had found it acutely em-barrassing.

她读到希腊自然派哲学家的学说。席德知道爸爸一向对哲学很有兴趣，他曾经在报纸上发表过一篇主张哲学应该列入学校基本课程的文章，题目为：“为何哲学应该列入学校课程？”他甚至曾在席德的班上举行的家长会中提出这项建议，让席德觉得很不好意思。 

She looked at the clock. It was seven-thirty. It would probably be half an hour before her mother came up with the breakfast tray, thank goodness, because right now she was engrossed in Sophie and all the philosophical questions. She read the chapter called "Democritus." First of all, Sophie got a question to think about: Why is Lego the most ingenious toy in the world? Then she found a large brown envelope in the mailbox:

席德看了一下时钟。七点半了。大概还要再过半小时，妈妈才会端着早餐托盘上楼来。谢天谢地，因为现在她满脑子都是苏菲和那些哲学问题。她读到德谟克里特斯那一章。苏菲正在思考一个问题：为什么积木是世间上最巧妙的玩具？然后她又在信箱里发现了一个“棕色的大信封”： 

Democritus agreed with his predecessors that transformations in nature could not be due to the fact that anything actually "changed." He therefore assumed that everything was built up of tiny invisible blocks, each of which was eternal and immutable. Democritus called these smallest units atoms.

德谟克里特斯同意前面几位哲学家的看法，认为自然界的转变不是因为任何事物真的有所“改变”。他相信每一种事物都是由微小的积木所组成，而每一块积木都是永恒不变的。德谟克里特斯把这些最小的单位称为原子。

Hilde was indignant when Sophie found the red silk scarf under her bed. So that was where it was! But how could a scarf just disappear into a story? It had to be someplace...

席德读到苏菲在床底下发现那条红色丝巾时，不禁大感生气。原来它跑到那里去了!可是丝巾怎么可能跑到一个故事里去呢？它一定是在别的地方…… 

The chapter on Socrates began with Sophie reading "something about the Norwegian UN battalion in Lebanon" in the newspaper. Typical Dad! He was so concerned that people in Norway were not interested enough in the UN forces' peacekeeping task. If nobody else was, then Sophie would have to be. In that way he could write it into his story and get some sort of attention from the media.

有关苏格拉底那一章一开始是苏菲在报纸上看到“挪威联合国部队在黎巴嫩的消息”。爸爸就是这样!他很在意挪威人对联合国和平部队的任务不感兴趣这件事，所以才故意做这样的安排，让苏菲非关心不可。这样他就可以把这件事写进他的故事里，借此得到一些媒体的注意。 

She had to smile as she read the P.P.S. in the philosophy teacher's letter to Sophie:

席德读到哲学家写给苏菲的信后面的附注时，不禁笑了起来。 

If you should come across a red silk scarf anywhere, please take care of it. Sometimes personal property gets mixed up. Especially at school and places like that, and this is a philosophy school.

附注的内容是这样的：如果你在某处看到一条红色的丝巾，请加以保管，那样的东西常常会被人拿错。尤其是在学校等地，而我们这儿又是一所哲学学校。 

Hilde heard her mother's footsteps on the stairs. Before she knocked on the door, Hilde had begun to read about Sophie's discovery of the video of Athens in her secret den.

席德听到妈妈上楼的脚步声。在她敲门前，席德已经开始读到苏菲在她的密洞中发现雅典的录影带那一段。 

"Happy birthday ..."

“祝你生日快乐!祝你生日快乐!……” 

Her mother had begun to sing halfway up the stairs.

楼梯上到一半，妈妈就已经开始唱了。 

“亲爱的席德，生日快乐!祝你生日快乐!” 

"Come in," said Hilde, in the middle of the passage where the philosophy teacher was talking directly to Sophie from the Acropolis. He looked almost exactly like Hilde's father--with a "black, well-trimmed beard" and a blue beret.

“请进。”席德说。这时她正读到哲学家老师从希腊高城向苏菲说话。看起来他和席德的爸爸几乎一模一样，留了一嘴“修剪整齐的黑胡子”，头戴蓝扁帽。 

"Happy birthday, Hilde!"

“席德，生日快乐！” 

"Uh-huh."

“嗯。” 

"Hilde?"

“席德？” 

"Just put it there."

“放在那儿就好了。” 

"Aren't you going to ... ?"

“你不……？” 

"You can see I'm reading."

“你没看到我正在看东西吗？” 

"Imagine, you're fifteen!"

“真奇妙呀，你已经十五岁了!” 

"Have you ever been to Athens, Mom?"

“妈，你有没有去过雅典？” 

"No, why do you ask?"

“没有，你问这干嘛？” 

"It's so amazing that those old temples are still standing. They are actually 2,500 years old. The biggest one is called the Virgin's Place, by the way."

“那些古老的神庙到现在还屹立不摇，多奇妙呀!它们真的已经有两千五百年的历史了。还有，最大的一座名叫‘处女之地’。” 

"Have you opened your present from Dad?"

“你打开爸爸给你的礼物了吗？” 

"What present?"

“什么礼物？” 

 "You must look up now, Hilde. You're in a complete daze."

“席德，请你把头抬起来。你怎么一副迷迷糊糊的样子？” 

Hilde let the large ring binder slide down onto her lap.

席德让讲义夹滑到她的怀中。 

Her mother stood leaning over the bed with the tray. On it were lighted candles, buttered rolls with shrimp salad, and a soda. There was also a small package. Her mother stood awkwardly holding the tray with both hands, with a flag under one arm.

此时妈妈正站在床头，手端着托盘，俯身看着她。托盘上有几根已经点燃的蜡烛，几个夹着鲜虾沙拉的奶油面包和一罐汽水。旁，边也有一个小包裹。妈妈站在那儿，两手端着托盘，一边的腋下夹着一面旗子，样子很笨拙。 

"Oh, thanks a lot, Mom. It's sweet of you, but I'm really busy."

“喔，谢谢妈妈。你真好，可是你看我现在正忙着呢!” 

"You don't have to go to school till one o'clock."

“你今天下午一点才要上学。” 

Not until now did Hilde remember where she was, and her mother put the tray down on the bedside table.

这时席德似乎才想起自己身在何处。妈妈把托盘放在床头几上。 

"Sorry, Mom. I was completely absorbed in this."

“对不起，妈。我完全被这东西吸引住了。” 

"What is it he has written, Hilde? I've been just as mystified as you. It's been impossible to get a sensible word out of him for months."

“席德，他写些什么？我和你一样一直搞不清楚你爸爸葫芦里卖什么膏药。这几个月来没听他讲过一句让人听得懂的话。” 

For some reason Hilde felt embarrassed.

不知道为什么，席德觉得很不好意思。 

"Oh, it's just a story."

“喔，只不过是个故事而已。” 

"A story?"

“一个故事？” 

"Yes, a story. And a history of philosophy. Or something like that."

“嗯，一个故事，也是一部哲学史。反正是这类的东西啦。” 

"Aren't you going to open the package from me?"

“你不想打开我送你的礼物吗？” 

Hilde didn't want to be unfair, so she opened her mother's present right away. It was a gold bracelet.

席德不想偏心，所以她立刻打开妈妈送的那个小包裹。原来是一条金链子。 

"It's lovely, Mom! Thank you very much!"

“很漂亮。多谢，妈!” 

Hilde got out of bed and gave her mother a hug.

席德从床上站起来，给了妈妈一个拥抱。 

They sat talking for a while.

她们坐着聊了一会儿。 

Then Hilde said, "I have to get back to the book, Mom. Right now he's standing on top of the Acropolis."

然后席德说：“妈，可不可以请你离开了。现在他正站在高城居高临下呢。” 

"Who is?"

“谁？” 

"I've no idea. Neither has Sophie. That's the whole point."

“我不知道，苏菲也不知道。问题就在这里。” 

"Well, I have to get to work. Don't forget to eat something. Your dress is on a hanger downstairs."

“我也该去上班了，别忘了吃点东西。我已经把你的衣服挂在楼下了。” 

Finally her mother disappeared down the stairs. So did Sophie's philosophy teacher; he walked down the steps from the Acropolis and stood on the Areopagos rock before appearing a little later in the old square of Athens.

妈妈终于下去了，苏菲的哲学老师也是。他从高城循着阶梯往下走，然后站在法院小丘的岩石上，不久就消失在雅典古广场的人群间。 

Hilde shivered when the old buildings suddenly rose from the ruins. One of her father's pet ideas had been to let all the United Nations countries collaborate in reconstructing an exact copy of the Athenian square. It would be the forum for philosophical discussion and also for disarmament talks. He felt that a giant project like that would forge world unity. "We have, after all, succeeded in building oil rigs and moon rockets."

当席德看到那些古老的建筑突然从废墟中再现时，不禁打了一个冷颤。她爸爸最得意的构想之一，就是让联合国所有的会员国共同参与重建雅典广场的工作，使它成为进行哲学讨论与裁军会谈的场所。他认为这样一个庞大的计划将可使世界各国团结一致，他说：“毕竟我们在兴建油井和月球、火箭方面已经成功了。” 

Then she read about Plato.

然后，席德读到了柏拉图的学说。 

"The soul yearns to fly home on the wings of love to the world of ideas. It longs to be freed from the chains of the body ..."

“灵魂渴望乘着爱的翅膀回‘家’，回到理型的世界中。它渴望自肉体的枷锁……” 

Sophie had crawled through the hedge and followed Hermes, but the dog had escaped her. After having read about Plato, she had gone farther into the woods and come upon the red cabin by the little lake. Inside hung a painting of Bjerkely. From the description it was clearly meant to be Hilde's Bjerkely. But there was also a portrait of a man named Berkeley. "How odd!"

苏菲爬过树篱，跟踪汉密士，但被它给摆脱了。在读了柏拉图的理论后，她继续深入树林，发现了小湖边的红色小木屋，里面挂着一幅“柏客来”的画。从书中的描述看来，那房子显然就是席德家。但是墙上另有一幅名叫“柏克莱”的男人的肖像。“多奇怪呀!” 

Hilde laid the heavy ring binder aside on the bed and went over to her bookshelf and looked him up in the three-volume encyclopedia she had been given on her fourteenth birthday. Here he was--Berkeley!

席德将那本沉重的讲义夹放在床上，走到书架旁，找出“读书俱乐部”出版的那三册百科全书(这是她十四岁时的生日礼物)，开始查“柏克莱”这个人。找到了!

Berkeley, George, 1685-1753, Eng. Philos., Bishop of Cloyne. Denied existence of a material world beyond the human mind. Our sense perceptions proceed from God. Main work: A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710).

柏克莱：Berkeley，George，一六八五一一七五三年，英国哲学家，克罗尼地区的主教。他否认在人类的心灵之外存在着一个物质世界，认为我们的感官认知乃是自天主而来。他同时也以批评世俗的看法而闻名。主要著作是《人类知识原理》。 

Yes, it was decidedly odd. Hilde stood thinking for a few seconds before going back to bed and the ring binder.

的确是很古怪。席德站在那儿想了几秒钟，才回到床上的讲义夹旁。 

In one way, it was her father who had hung the two pictures on the wall. Could there be any connection other than the similarity of names?

爸爸一定是故意把那两幅画挂在墙上。但是“柏克莱”和“柏客来”这两者之间除了名字相似之外，还有什么关联呢？

Berkeley was a philosopher who denied the existence of a material world beyond the human mind. That was certainly very strange, one had to admit. But it was not easy to disprove such claims, either. As regards Sophie, it fitted very well. After all, Hilde's father was respon-sible for her "sense perceptions."Well, she would know more if she read on. Hilde looked up from the ring binder and smiled when she got to the point where Sophie discovers the reflection of a girl who winks with both eyes. "The other girl had winked at Sophie as if to say: I can see you, Sophie. I am here, on the other side."

柏克莱否认在人类心灵之外存在有物质世界，这种看法非常奇特，但也不容易反驳。尤其在苏菲身上倒很适用，因为她所有的“感官认知”不都是出自席德父亲的手笔吗？不管怎样，她应该继续看下去。当她读到苏菲发现镜子里有一个女孩同时向她眨着双眼时，不禁仰头微笑起来。那个女孩仿佛是在向苏菲眨眼，对她说：“我可以看见你，苏菲。我在这儿，在另外一边。” 

Sophie finds the green wallet in the cabin as well-- with the money and everything! How could it have made its way there?

后来，苏菲发现了那个绿色的皮夹，里面有钱，还有其他的东西。它怎样会跑到那儿去呢？

Absurd! For a second or two Hilde had really believed that Sophie had found it. But then she tried to imagine how the whole thing must appear to Sophie. It must all seem quite inscrutable and uncanny.

荒谬！有一刹那，席德真的相信苏菲找到了那个皮夹。然后她试着想象苏菲对这整件事的感受。她一定觉得很令人费解、很不可思议吧。 

For the first time Hilde felt a strong desire to meet Sophie face to face. She felt like telling her the real truth about the whole business.

席德开始有一股强烈的欲望想要和苏菲见面。她想告诉她整件事情的始末。 

But now Sophie had to get out of the cabin before she was caught red-handed. The boat was adrift on the lake, of course. (Her father couldn't resist reminding her of that old story, could he!)

现在苏菲必须在被人逮到之前离开小木屋，但小舟这时却正漂浮在湖面上。(当然啦，像爸爸这样的人怎会放弃重提当年小舟事件的机会呢？)

Hilde gulped a mouthful of soda and took a bite of her roll while she read the letter about the "meticulous" Aristotle, who had criticized Plato's theories.

席德喝了一口汽水，咬了一口鲜虾沙拉面包。这时她正读到那封谈“严谨”的逻辑学家亚理斯多德的信，其中提到亚理斯多德如何批评柏拉图的理论。 

Aristotle pointed out that nothing exists in consciousness that has not first been experienced by the senses. Plato would have said that there is nothing in the natural world that has not first existed in the world of ideas. Aristotle held that Plato was thus "doubling the number of things."

亚理斯多德指出，我们对于自己感官未曾经验过的事物就不可能有意识。柏拉图则会说：不先存在于理型世界中的事物就不可能出现在自然界中。亚理斯多德认为柏拉图如此的主张会使“事物的数目倍增”。 

Hilde had not known that it was Aristotle who had invented the game of "animal, vegetable, or mineral."Aristotle wanted to do a thorough clearing up in nature's "room." He tried to show that everything in nature belongs to different categories and subcategories.

席德从来不知道发明“动物、植物、矿物”这个游戏的人就是亚理斯多德。亚理斯多德想把大自然“房间”内的每样东西都彻底地分门别类。他想要证明自然界里的每一件事物都各自有其所属的类目或次类目。 

When she read about Aristotle's view of women she was both irritated and disappointed. Imagine being such a brilliant philosopher and yet such a crass idiot!

当她读到亚理斯多德对女人的看法时，觉得非常生气，也很失望。没想到这么聪明的科学家居然是一个瞧不起人的大笨蛋。 

Aristotle had inspired Sophie to clean up her own room. And there, together with all the other stuff, she found the white stocking which had disappeared from Hilde's closet a month ago! Sophie put all the pages she had gotten from Alberto into a ring binder. "There were in all over fifty pages." For her own part, Hilde had gotten up to page 124, but then she also had Sophie's story on top of all the correspondence from Alberto Knox.

亚理斯多德激发了苏菲清理房间的冲动。接着她在房里发现了那只一个月前从席德的衣柜里消失的白长袜!苏菲将所有艾伯特写来的信都放在一个讲义夹里。“总共有五十多页。”但席德拿到的却有一百二十四页，不过其中还包括苏菲的故事还有所有艾伯特的来信。 

The next chapter was called "Hellenism." First of all, Sophie finds a postcard with a picture of a UN jeep. It is stamped UN Battalion, June 15. Another of these "cards" to Hilde that her father had put into the story instead of sending by mail.

下面这一章题名为“希腊文化”。一开始，苏菲发现了一张印有联合国吉普车照片的明信片。上面盖的邮戳是“六月十五日联合国部队”。这又是一张爸爸写给席德但没有投邮，却将它写进故事里的明信片。 

Not bad! That made her 150 crowns richer. He probably thought a homemade present alone wasn't enough.

不错嘛!她又可以多一百五十块钱了。他也许认为只送她一份自己做的礼物，实在是有点太寒酸了。 

So it appeared that June 15 was Sophie's birthday, too. But Sophie's calendar had only gotten as far as the middle of May. That must have been when her father had written this chapter, and he had postdated the "birthday card" to Hilde. But poor Sophie, running down to the supermarket to meet Joanna.Who was Hilde? How could her father as good as take it for granted that Sophie would find her? In any case, it was senseless of him to send Sophie the cards instead of sending them directly to his daughter.

如此看来，六月十五日那天也是苏菲的生日。但对苏菲而言，现在还是五月中旬。这一定是爸爸撰写那一章的时间，但他在写给席德的“生日卡”中所注明的日期都是六月十五日。可怜的苏菲，她跑到超级市场去和乔安会面的时候，心里一直纳闷：这个席德是谁？她爸爸为什么会认定苏菲可以找到她？无论如何，他把明信片寄给苏菲，而不直接寄给他的女儿是说不通的。 

Hilde, like Sophie, was elevated to the celestial spheres as she read about Plotinus.

席德读到普罗汀的理论时，也有宛如置身天外的感受。 

I believe there is something of the divine mystery in everything that exists. We can see it sparkle in a sunflower or a poppy. We sense more of the unfathomable mystery in a butterfly that flutters from a twig-- or in a goldfish swimming in a bowl. But we are closest to God in our own soul. Only there can we become one with the greatest mystery of life. In truth, at very rare moments we can experience that we ourselves are that divine mystery.

世间存在的每一样事物都有这种神秘的神圣之光。我们可以看到它在向日葵或罂粟花中闪烁着光芒。在一只飞离枝头的蝴蝶或在水缸中优游穿梭的金鱼身上，我们可以看到更多这种深不可测的神秘之光。然而，最靠近上帝的还是我们的灵魂。唯有在灵魂中，我们才能与生命的伟大与神秘合而为一。事实上，在某些很偶然的时刻中，我们可以体验到自我就是那神圣的神秘之光。 

This was the most giddying passage Hilde had read up to now. But it was nevertheless the simplest. Everything is one, and this "one" is a divine mystery that everyone shares.

这是席德到目前为止读到的最令人目炫神驰的一段文字，但它的内容却极其简单：万物都是一体的，而这个“一体”便是万物所共有的神圣的奥秘。 

This was not really something you needed to believe. It is so, thought Hilde. So everyone can read what they like into the word "divine."She turned quickly to the next chapter. Sophie and Joanna go camping the night before the national holiday on May 17. They make their way to the major's cabin...

这样的道理是不言可喻的，席德想。事实本来如此。而每一个人对“神圣”这个名词都可以有自己的解释。她很快翻到下一章。苏菲和乔安在五月十七日前夕去露营。她们走到少校的小木屋……

Hilde had not read many pages before she flung the bedclothes angrily aside, got up, and began to walk up and down, clutching the ring binder in her hands.

席德才读了几页便愤怒地将被子一掀，站起来在房内踱步，手中仍紧握住那本讲义夹。

This was just about the most impudent trick she had ever heard of. In that little hut in the woods, her father lets these two girls find copies of all the cards he had sent Hilde in the first two weeks of May. And the copies were real enough. Hilde had read the very same words over and over. She recognized every single word.

这实在是太过分了!她爸爸让这两个女孩在林间的小木屋内，发现了他在五月的前两个星期寄给席德的所有明信片的副本。这些都确实是爸爸写给她的亲笔函，她曾经一读再读，每一个字她都记得。 

Sophie gets a new lesson from Alberto. It's all about Jews and Greeks and the two great cultures. Hilde liked getting this wide bird's-eye view of history. She had never learned anything like it at school. They only gave you details and more details. She now saw Jesus and Christianity in a completely new light.

苏菲又上了一课，了解了犹太民族、希腊民族的特色以及他们的伟大文化。席德很高兴能对历史做这样的综览，因为她在学校里从未学到这些。老师们讲的似乎都是一些枝枝节节的东西。她读完这一课后，对耶稣与基督教有了新的认识。 

She liked the quote from Goethe: "He who cannot draw on three thousand years is living from hand to mouth."

她喜欢那段引自歌德的文字：“不能汲取三千年历史经验的人没有未来可言。” 

The next chapter began with a piece of card which sticks to Sophie's kitchen window. It is a new birthday card for Hilde, of course.

下面一章开始时，苏菲看到一张明信片贴在她家厨房的窗户上。当然，那又是一封寄给席德的生日卡：

Dear Hilde, I don't know whether it will still be your birthday when you read this card. I hope so, in a way; or at least that not too many days have gone by. A week or two for Sophie does not have to mean just as long for us. I shall be coming home for Midsummer Eve, so we can sit together for hours in the glider, looking out over the sea, Hilde. We have so much to talk about. . .

亲爱的席德：我不知道你看到这张卡片时，你的生日过了没有。我希望还没有，至少不要过太久。对于苏菲来说，一两个星期也许不像我们所认为的那么漫长。我将回家过仲夏节。到时，我们就可以一起坐在秋千上看海看几个小时。我有好多话要跟你说……

Then Alberto calls Sophie, and this is the first time she hears his voice.

然后艾伯特打电话给苏菲。这是她第一次听到他的声音。 

"You make it sound like a war."

“听起来好像在打仗一样。” 

"I would rather call it a battle of wills. We have to attract Hilde's attention and get her over on our side before her father comes home to Lillesand."

“我宁可说这是一场意志之战。我们必须吸引席德的注意力，并且设法使她在她父亲回到黎乐桑之前站在我们这边。” 

And then Sophie meets Alberto Knox disguised as a medieval monk in the twelfth-century stone church.

于是苏菲在一座十二世纪的古老岩石教堂内与扮成中世纪僧侣的艾伯特见面了。 

Oh, no, the church!

天哪!那座教堂! 

Hilde looked at the time. A quarter past one ... She had forgotten all about the time.

席德看了看时间。一点十五分了……她完全忘记了时间。 

Maybe it wouldn't matter so much that she cut school on her birthday. But it did mean that her classmates wouldn't be celebrating with her. Oh well, she had always had plenty of well-wishers.

在她生日这天不去上学也许没有什么关系，但这样一来她就没办法跟同学一起庆祝了。不过，反正已经有很多人祝她生日快乐了。 

Soon she found herself receiving a long sermon. Alberto had no problem slipping into the role of a medieval priest.

现在她读到艾伯特发表长篇大论那一段。这个人扮起中世纪教士的角色可真是一点也不费力。 

When she read about how Sophia had appeared to Hildegard in visions, she turned once again to her encyclopedia. But this time she found nothing about either of them.

当她读到苏菲亚在梦中向席德佳显灵那一段，她再次去查她的百科全书，但两个名词都没查到。其实哪次不是这样呢？只要是关于女人的事，这百科全书就像月球表面一样什么也没有。 

Wasn't that typical! As soon as it was a question of women or something to do with women, the en-cyclopedia was about as informative as a moon crater. Was the whole work censored by the Society for the Protection of Men?

难道整套书都经过“保护男人学会”审查过了吗？席德佳是传教士、作家、医生、植物学家兼生物学家。 

Hildegard of Bingen was a preacher, a writer, a doctor, a botanist, and a biologist. She was "perhaps an example of the fact that women were often more practical, more scientific even, in the Middle Ages."

“通常中世纪的妇女要比男人实际，甚至可能有科学头脑，在这方面席德佳也许是一个象征。” 

But there was not a single word about her in the encyclopedia. How scandalous!

然而“读书俱乐部”的百科全书却没有任何关于她的记载。真是烂透了!

Hilde had never heard that God had a "female side" or a "mother nature." Her name was Sophia, apparently--but she was apparently not worth printer's ink, either.

席德从来没有听说过上帝也有“女性化的一面”或“母性”。她的名字是苏菲亚，可是那些出版商显然好像觉得不值得为她浪费油墨似的。 

The nearest she could find in the encyclopedia was an entry about the Santa Sophia Church in Constantinople (now Istanbul), named Hagia Sophia, which means Sacred Wisdom. But there was nothing about it being female. That was censorship, wasn't it?

她在百科全书中所能找到最近似的条款是关于君士坦丁堡(现在的伊斯坦堡)的圣苏菲亚教堂，名为Hagia Sophia，意思是“神圣的智慧”。但里面却没有任何文字提到苏菲亚是女性。这不是言论节制是什么？

Otherwise, it was true enough that Sophie had revealed herself to Hilde. She was picturing the girl with the straight hair all the time ...

说到显灵，席德认为苏菲也曾向她“显灵”过，因为她一直都在想象这个长了一头直发的女孩是什么模样……

When Sophie gets home after spending most of the morning in St. Mary's Church, she stands in front of the brass mirror she took home from the cabin in the woods.

苏菲在圣玛莉教堂几乎待了一整个晚上。她回到家后，站在她从林间小木屋里拿回来的铜镜前面。 

She studied the sharp contours of her own pale face framed by that impossible hair which defied any style but nature's own. But beyond that face was the apparition of another girl.

她仔细审视着自己那张轮廓分明苍白的脸，以及脸四周那一头做不出任何发型的难缠的头发。但在那张脸之外却浮现了另外一个女孩的幽灵。 

Suddenly the other girl began to wink frantically with both eyes, as if to signal that she was really in there on the other side. The apparition lasted only a few seconds. Then she was gone.

突然间，那个女孩疯狂地眨着双眼，仿佛是在向苏菲做信号，说她的确在那儿。这个幽灵出现的时间只有几秒钟，然后便消失了。 

How many times had Hilde stood in front of the mirror like that as if she was searching for someone else behind the glass? But how could her father have known that?

不知道有多少次，席德也曾像那样站在镜子前面，仿佛在镜里找寻另外一个人似的。但是爸爸又怎么知道的呢？

Wasn't it also a dark-haired woman she had been searching for? Great-grandmother had bought it from a Gypsy woman, hadn't she? Hilde felt her hands shaking as they held the book. She had the feeling that Sophie really existed somewhere "on the other side."

她不是也一直在找一个深色头发的女人吗？曾祖母不就是向一个吉普赛女人购买那面镜子的吗？席德察觉自己捧着书的双手正在发抖。她觉得苏菲确实存在于“另外一边”的某处。 

Now Sophie is dreaming about Hilde and Bjerkely. Hilde can neither see nor hear her, but then--Sophie finds Hilde's gold crucifix on the dock. And the crucifix--with Hilde's initials and everything--is in Sophie's bed when she wakes after her dream!

现在苏菲正梦见席德和柏客来山庄。席德既看不见她，也听不见她。后来苏菲在平台上捡到了席德的金十字架链子，而当她一觉醒来时，那条刻有席德姓名的十字架链子正躺在她的床上!

Hilde forced herself to think hard. Surely she hadn't lost her crucifix as well? She went to her dresser and took out her jewelry case. The crucifix, which she had received as a christening gift from her grandmother, was not there!

席德强迫自己努力回想。她应该没有把那条祖母送给她当受洗礼物的金十字架链子也弄丢吧？她走到柜子旁，拿出她的珠宝盒。奇怪，链子居然不见了!

So she really had lost it. All right, but how had her father known it when she didn't even know it herself?

这么说她真的把它搞丢了。好吧。但这件事连她自己也不晓得，爸爸又是如何知道的呢？

And another thing: Sophie had apparently dreamed that Hilde's father came home from Lebanon. But there was still a week to go before that happened. Was Sophie's dream prophetic? Did her father mean that when he came home Sophie would somehow be there? He had written that she would get a new friend ...

还有，苏菲显然曾经梦到席德的父亲从黎巴嫩回来了。但那时距父亲预定回来的日子还有一个星期呀!苏菲的梦难道是一种预兆吗？爸爸的意思难道是当他回家时，苏菲也会在场吗？他在信上曾说她将会有一个新朋友……

In a momentary vision of absolute clarity Hilde knew that Sophie was more than just paper and ink. She really existed.

在那一瞬间，席德很清楚地感觉到苏菲不只是书中的人物而已。她的确存在于这世上。