Jonathan circled slowly over the Far Cliffs, watching. This rough young Fletcher Gull1 was very nearly a perfect flight-student. He was strong and light and quick in the air, but far and away more important, he had a blazing drive to learn to fly.
乔纳森在远崖上空慢慢盘旋，仔细观望。这个粗野的年轻海鸥弗莱契，已非常近于一个尽善尽美的飞行员了。在空中，他顽强、轻巧而敏捷。但更重要的是，他有学习飞行的炽烈欲望。
Here he came this minute, a blurred2 gray shape roaring out of a dive, flashing one hundred fifty miles per hour past his instructor3. He pulled abruptly4 into another try at a sixteen point vertical5 slow roll, calling the points out loud.
一霎时，他飞了过来，只见一个模糊的灰色形体，从一次俯冲中翻飞出来，以每小时一百五十英里的速度，闪电般掠过他的导师。他一转身又作另一次尝试，这次是十六点垂直慢滚，一边翻滚一边大声数着点。
“...eight... nine... ten... see-Jonathan-l’m-running-out-ofairspeed.. eleven... I-want-good-sharp-stops- like-yours... twelve... but-blast-it-I-just-can’t-make... - thirteen... theselast-three-points... without... fourtee ...aaakk!”
“……八……九……十……瞧，乔纳森，我已经——低于——空中——速度了……十—……我——想——像你——一样——一下子——煞——住……十二……可是，——天——啊——我——办——不——到……十三……最——后——三——点——啦……不成……啊呀呀”
Fletcher’s whipstall at the top was all the worse for his rage and fury at failing. He fell backward, tumbled, slammed savagely6 into an inverted7 spin, and recovered at last, panting, a hundred feet below his instructor’s level.
弗莱契一失败，就沉不住气，怒气冲冲，这会儿想在最高点停住时控制失灵，情况也就更糟。他一个斤斗倒栽下来，砰地一下倒转起来，最后好容易恢复了平衡，气喘吁吁，但已落到比他导师的水平面低一百英尺的地方。
“You’re wasting your time with me, Jonathan! I’m too dumb! I’m too stupid! I try and try, but I’ll never get it!”
“你这是跟我白费时间，乔纳森！我太笨了！太蠢了！我试了又试，可总是不成！”
Jonathan Seagull looked down at him and nodded. “You’ll never get it for sure as long as you make that pull-up so hard. Fletcher, you lost forty miles an hour in the entry! You have to be smooth! Firm but smooth, remember?”
乔纳森低头望着他，点点头。“你在停住时候这样用力，是怎么也不成的。弗莱契，你一开头就减速每小时四十英里！你动作要平稳些！要坚定，可也要平稳，记住了吗？”
He dropped down to the level of the younger gull. “Let’s try it together now, in formation. And pay attention to that pull-up. It’s a smooth, easy entry.”
他下降到年轻海鸥的水平面。“咱们一块儿试试，列队飞行。要注意怎么停。开头要平稳、放松。”
By the end of three months Jonathan had six other students, Outcasts all, yet curious about this strange new idea of flight for the joy of flying.
到了第三个月底，乔纳森又另外收了六个学生，全都是弃儿。但他们都有一种好奇心，想探索为飞行的乐趣而飞行。
Still, it was easier for them to practice high performance than it was to understand the reason behind it.
然而，对他们来说，练习高级飞行术，比起理解其都意义来，还是要容易得多。
“Each of us is in truth an idea of the Great Gull, an unlimited8 idea of freedom,” Jonathan would say in the evenings on the beach, “and precision flying is a step toward expressing our real nature. Everything that limits us we have to put aside. That’s why all this high-speed practice, and low speed, and aerobatics....”
“事实上咱们每一个都是伟大海鸥的观念，一个关于自由的无限观念。”每天傍晚，乔纳森在海滩上总是这么说，“精确飞行向着表现我们的真正本质迈进了一步。任何限制我们的东西我们都要予以清除。就是因为这个原故，我们才进行这种高速和低速练习，做各种特技动作……”
...and his students would be asleep, exhausted9 from the day’s flying. They liked the practice, because it was fast and exciting and it fed a hunger for learning that grew with every lesson. But not one of them, not even Fletcher Lynd Gull, had come to believe that the flight of ideas could possibly be as real as the flight of wind and feather.
……而他的学生们全都打着瞌睡，经过一天飞行已经疲乏不堪了。他们喜欢这种练习，因为它速度快、叫人兴奋，还可以满足对学习的渴望，现在他们每上一课，这种对学习的渴望也就越大。但他们当中，包括弗莱契在内，没有一个相信，用观念飞行可能同用风和羽毛飞行一样真实。
“Your whole body, from wingtip to wingtip,” Jonathan would say, other times, “is nothing more than your thought itself, in a form you can see. Break the chains of your thought, and you break the chains of your body, too...” But no matter how he said it, it sounded like pleasant fiction, and they needed more to sleep.
“你们整个身体，从这边翼梢到那边翼梢，”又有一次乔纳森又这么说，“就是你们的思想本身，只不过变成了你们肉眼看得见的形式罢了。打破了思想的枷锁，也就同时打破了身体的枷锁……”但不管他怎么说，听起来倒像是好听的故事，可他们更需要的却是睡觉。
It was only a month later that Jonathan said the time had come to return to the Flock.
刚过了一个月，乔纳森就说，现在该回到群里去了。
“We’re not ready!” said Henry Calvin Gull. “We’re not welcome! We’re Outcast! We can’t force ourselves to go where we’re not welcome, can we?”
“我们还没准备好呢！”海鸥亨利·卡尔文说。“我们不会受到欢迎的！我们都是弃儿！我们总不能强迫自己到不受欢迎的地方去，对不对？”
“We’re free to go where we wish and to be what we are,” Jonathan answered, and he lifted from the sand and turned east, toward the home grounds of the Flock.
“我们有自由想去哪儿就去哪儿，想成为什么就成为什么。”乔纳森回答。说罢，就从沙滩上起飞，朝向东方，朝向鸥群的栖居之地飞去。
There was brief anguish10 among his students, for it is the Law of the Flock that an Outcast never returns, and the Law had not been broken once in ten thousand years. The Law said stay; Jonathan said go; and by now he was a mile across the water. If they waited much longer, he would reach a hostile Flock alone.
一时间学生们都很苦恼，因为鸥群的法律规定，一旦成了弃儿，就永远不能回去。一万年来，这条法律从来没有被违背过。法律说留下；乔纳森说走；而这时他已经飞出海面一英里了。如果他们再在这儿呆下去，那他只好单身去对付那满怀敌意的海鸥群了。
“Well, we don’t have to obey the law if we’re not a part of the Flock, do we?” Fletcher said, rather self- consciously. “Besides, if there’s a fight we’ll be a lot more help there than here.”’
“呃，我们既然不是群里的成员，也就用不着遵守群里的法律；对不对？”弗莱契说，似乎有点不好意思，“再说，要是打起来，我们在那儿总比在这儿有用得多。”
And so they flew in from the west that morning, eight of them in a double-diamond formation, wingtips almost overlapping11. They came across the Flock’s Council Beach at a hundred thirty-five miles per hour, Jonathan in the lead. Fletcher smoothly12 at his right wing, Henry Calvin struggling gamely at his left. Then the whole formation rolled slowly to the right, as one bird... level... to... inverted... to... level, the wind whipping over them all.
这样，他们八只海鸥排成双菱形队形，彼此的冀消几乎相重，在那天早晨一起飞向东方。他们以一百三十英里的时速，穿过鸥群会议的海滩。乔纳森领头，弗莱契平稳地飞在他的右翼，亨利·卡尔文雄赳赳地在他的左翼紧跟。然后，整个队形慢慢向右翻滚，动作像一只鸟儿……水平飞行……翻身倒飞……，又是水平飞行，海风像鞭子似地打在他们每一个身上。
The squawks and grockles of everyday life in the Flock were cut off as though the formation were a giant knife, and eight thousand gull-eyes watched, without a single blink. One by one, each of the eight birds pulled sharply upward into a full loop and flew all the way around to a dead-slow stand-up landing on the sand. Then as though this sort of thing happened every day, Jonathan Seagull began his critique of the flight.
鸥群中吵吵嚷嚷、熙来攘往的日常生活突然中断，仿佛这个飞来的队形是把巨刀，当头向他们劈了下来。八千只眼睛盯着看，连眨也不眨一下。八只海鸥，一个接一个，陡直向上跃升，翻了个斤斗，又兜了个圈子，以极慢的速度，直立着降落在沙滩上。接着，海鸥乔纳森开始讲评这次飞行，好像这样的事每天都发生一样。
“To begin with,” he said with a wry13 smile, “you were all a bit late on the join-up...”
“第一点，”他苦笑着说，“你们全都跟得慢了点儿……”
It went like lightning through the Flock. Those birds are Outcast! And they have returned! And that... that can’t happen! Fletcher’s predictions of battle melted in the Flock’s confusion.
鸥群里起了闪电般的反应。来的都是弃儿！他们回来了！而这……这是不可能的事！由于鸥群的混乱，弗莱契关于发生战斗的预言没有应验。
“Well sure, O.K. they’re Outcast,” said some of the younger gulls14, “but hey, man, where did they learn to fly like that?”
“嗯，不错，对，他们是弃儿，”有些年轻的海鸥说，“可是，嘿，伙计，他们打哪儿学会这么个飞法儿的？”
It took almost an hour for the Word of the Elder to pass through the Flock: Ignore them. The gull who speaks to an Outcast is himself Outcast. The gull who looks upon an Outcast breaks the Law of the Flock, Gray-feathered backs were turned upon Jonathan from that moment onward15, but he didn’t appear to notice. He held his practice sessions directly over the Council Beach and for the first time began pressing his students to the limit of their ability.
差不多过了一个小时，长者的话才在鸥群中传开：别理睬他们。跟弃儿说话的，他也要给赶出去当弃儿。朝弃儿看一眼的，就是违背了鸥群的法律。从那一刻起，海鸥们就把长满灰色羽毛的背朝向乔纳森，但他似乎并不理会。他干脆就在会议沙滩的上空讲课，进行教练，头一次逼着学生们施展全部才能。
“Martin Gull!” he shouted across the sky. “You say you know low-speed flying. You know nothing till you prove it! FLY!”
“海鸥马丁，”他从空中喊道，“你不是说会低速飞行吗，马上飞给我们看，要不你就是瞎说！”
So quiet little Martin William Seagull, startled to be caught under his instructor’s fire, surprised himself and became a wizard of low speeds. In the lightest breeze he could curve his feathers to lift himself without a single flap of wing from sand to cloud and down again.
文静的小海鸥马丁·威廉被他导师的命令吓了一跳，但他真没想到，一自己竟变成了一个低速飞行的天才。在小得不能再小的风中，他没展动一下翅膀，光弯曲着羽毛，竟能从沙滩上起飞在冲云霄，再降落下来。
Likewise Charles-Roland Gull flew the Great Mountain Wind to twenty-four thousand feet, came down blue from the cold thin air, amazed and happy, determined16 to go still higher tomorrow.
同样，海鸥查理士·罗兰德飞进大山风，到达二万四千英尺高空。上面的空气稀薄、寒冷，他降落时，浑身冻得发紫，又是吃惊，又是快乐，决心明天要飞得更高。
Fletcher Seagull, who loved aerobatics like no one else, conquered his sixteen point vertical slow roll and the next day topped it off with a triple cartwheel, his feathers flashing white sunlight to a beach from which more than one furtive17 eye watched.
比谁都喜欢做特技动作的海鸥弗莱契，胜利地完成了十六点垂直慢滚，第二天做完同一特技后，还连续横翻了三个斤斗，他的羽毛向海滩反射着白色阳光；而在沙滩上偷偷瞧着的，可不止一两只眼睛呢。
Every hour Jonathan was there at the side of each of his students, demonstrating, suggesting, pressuring, guiding. He flew with them through night and cloud and storm, for the sport of it, while the Flock huddled18 miserably19 on the ground.
乔纳森每时每刻都在他学生的身边，进行示范、指点、鞭策和引导。他与他们一道飞行，穿越黑夜、云层和暴风雨，就像做游戏一样。而这时，整个鸥群却可怜地在地上挤作一堆。
When the flying was done, the students relaxed in the sand, and in time they listened more closely to Jonathan. He had some crazy ideas that they couldn’t understand, but then he had some good ones that they could.
飞行结束，学生们就在沙滩上歇息；慢慢地，他们比较留神听乔纳森的话了。他有些很疯狂的想法，他们无法理解；但也有些想法很不错，他们能够理解。
Gradually, in the night, another circle formed around the circle of students a circle of curious gulls listening in the darkness for hours on end, not wishing to see or be seen of one another, fading away before daybreak.
渐渐地，到了夜间，学生们的圈子外面又围上了一个圈子，这些都是有好奇心的海鸥，他们在黑暗中可以连续不断地听几个小时，既不希望看见别的海鸥，也不希望被别的海鸥看见，不等天亮又都悄悄地溜走了。
It was a month after the Return that the first gull of the Flock crossed the line and asked to learn how to fly. In his asking, Terrence Lowell Gull became a condemned20 bird, labeled Outcast; and the eighth of Jonathan’s students.
“还乡”后一个月，鸥群里有一只海鸥第一个越过界线，要求学习飞行。这么一要求，海鸥特兰斯·罗维尔立刻成了只罪鸟，被看作弃儿，同时也成了乔纳森的第八个学生。
The next night from the Flock came Kirk Maynard Gull, wobbling across the sand, dragging his leftwing, to collapse21 at Jonathan’s feet. “Help me,” he said very quietly, speaking in the way that the dying speak. “I want to fly more than anything else in the world...”
次日夜间，海鸥科克·梅纳德离开了鸥群，拖着左边的翅膀，颤巍巍地从沙滩上走过来，一下子摔倒在乔纳森脚边。“帮帮我怕，”他的声音非常轻，像只垂死的鸟儿在说话，“我渴望飞行超过世上的一切…”
“Come along then.” said Jonathan. “Climb with me away from the ground, and we’ll begin.”
“那么来吧，”乔纳森说，“跟我一道从地上起飞，咱们马上开始飞行。”
“You don’t understand My wing. I can’t move my wing.”
“你不明白。瞧我的翅膀。我的翅膀动不了。”
“Maynard Gull, you have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way. It is the Law of the Great Gull, the Law that Is.”
“海鸥梅纳德，就在此时、此地，你有自由恢复你的本性，恢复你真正的本性。任何力量都阻挡不了你。这是伟大海鸥的法律，也是真正的法律。”
“Are you saying I can fly?”
“你是说我能飞啦？”
“I say you are free.”
“我是说你自由了。”
As simply and as quickly as that, Kirk Maynard Gull spread his wings, effortlessly, and lifted into the dark night air. The Flock was roused from sleep by his cry, as loud as he could scream it, from five hundred feet up: “I can fly! Listen! I CAN FLY!”
瞧，多么简单！多么快！海鸥梅纳德展开了双翅。毫不费力，一下子就飞入黑色的夜空。整个鸥群都被他的叫声从梦中惊醒。只听得他从五百英尺的高空拼命叫喊。“我能飞啦！听着！我能飞啦！”
By sunrise there were nearly a thousand birds standing22 outside the circle of students, looking curiously23 at Maynard. They didn’t care whether they were seen or not, and they listened, trying to understand Jonathan Seagull.
拂晓时分，有近千只海鸥站在乔纳森的学生圈子外面，好奇地望着梅纳德。他们已经不在乎是否会被别的海鸥看见，只是聚精会神地听着，努力去领会乔纳森的话。
He spoke24 of very simple things - that it is right for a guil to fly, that freedom is the very nature of his being, that whatever stands against that freedom must be set aside, be it ritual or superstition25 or limitation in any form.
他讲的是十分简单的道理，如；飞行是海鸥的本份，自由是海鸥的本性，凡是对自由有妨碍的，不管它是什么，都必须予以清除，不管是仪式也好，迷信也好，或是任何形式的限制也好。
“Set aside,” came a voice from the multitude, “even if it be the Law of the Flock?”
“予以清除，”鸥群中有一个声音问道，连鸥群的法律也不例外吗？”
“The only true law is that which leads to freedom,” Jonathan said. “There is no other.”
“只有通向自由的法律才是唯一的真正法律，”乔纳森说，“此外没有别的法律。”
“How do you expect us to fly as you fly?” came another voice. “You are special and gifted and divine, above other birds.”
“你怎么能指望我们飞得像你那样好呢？”另一个声音问，“你是特殊的、天才的、神圣的，比其他的鸟高一等。”
“Look at Fletcher! Lowell! Charles-Roland! Judy Lee! Are they also special and gifted and divine? No more than you are, no more than I am. The only difference, the very only one, is that they have begun to understand what they really are and have begun to practice it.”
“瞧弗莱契！还有罗维尔！查理士·罗兰德！朱迪·李！难道他们也是特殊的、天才的、神圣的？不，不比你们强，也不比我强。唯一的不同，仅有的唯一不同，是他们已经开始认识到自己的潜能，并且已经开始发挥。”
His students, save Fletcher, shifted uneasily. They hadn’t realized that this was what they were doing.
他的学生们除弗莱契外，都不安地挪动一下身子。他们还不曾认识到自己原来是这么回事呢
The crowd grew larger every day, coming to question, to idolize, to scorn.
聚集拢来的鸥群一天天扩大，有来问问题的，有来膜拜的，有来嘲弄的，不一而足。
“They are saying in the Flock that if you are not the Son of the Great Gull Himself,” Fletcher told Jonathan one morning after Advanced Speed Practice, “then you are a thousand years ahead of your time.”
他们在鸥群中说，你准是鸥神之子下凡，”一天早晨在高速训练之后，弗莱契告诉乔纳森说，“要不就是你跑在时代之前一千年。”
Jonathan sighed. The price of being misunderstood, he thought. They call you devil or they call you god. “What do you think, Fletch? Are we ahead of our time?”
乔纳森叹了口气。他想。这就是被误解的代价。他们要么叫你魔鬼，要么称你上帝。“你是怎么想的，弗莱契？我们是跑在时代前面吗？”
A long silence. “Well, this kind of flying has always been here to be learned by anybody who wanted to discover it; that’s got nothing to do with time. We’re ahead of the fashion, maybe, Ahead of the way that most gulls fly.”
沉默了半晌。“呃，这一类飞行不是什么稀奇事儿，谁想学都可以学会。它跟时间没有关系。也许我们的式样先进一些。比大多数海鸥飞行的方式先进一些。”
“That’s something,” Jonathan said rolling to glide26 inverted for a while. “That’s not half as bad as being ahead of our time.”
“说得有点道理，”乔纳森说着，打了个滚地，倒着身子滑翔了一会儿，“这比说跑在时代前面好一些。”
It happened just a week later. Fletcher was demonstrating the elements of high-speed flying to a class of new students. He had just pulled out of his dive from seven thousand feet, a long gray streak27 firing a few inches above the beach, when a young bird on its first flight glided28 directly into his path, calling for its mother. With a tenth of a second to avoid the youngster, Fletcher Lynd Seagull snapped hard to the left, at something over two hundred miles per hour, into a cliff of solid granite29.
一周以后，弗莱契对一班新学员讲授高速飞行的原理时在作示范动作。他从七千英尺高空俯冲下来，立即改变飞行姿势，像白光一闪，贴着海滩离地几英寸掠过。这时，有一只初次学飞的小鸟飞着叫妈妈，正好挡住他的去路。要在十分之一秒内避开这只小鸟。弗莱契只好以每小时二百多英里的高速使劲儿向左急转，一下子接到一个花岗岩峭壁上。
It was, for him, as though the rock were a giant hard door into another world. A burst of fear and shock and black as he hit, and then he was adrift in a strange strange sky, forgetting, remembering, forgetting; afraid and sad and sorry, terribly sorry.
他觉得那岩石像是通往另外世界的一扇坚实大门。他撞上去的时候，心中爆发出一阵恐惧和惊慌，眼前一阵发黑，跟着他好像在一个十分奇怪的太空中飘浮，失去了记忆，恢复了记忆，恢复了又失去；他又是害怕，又是发愁，心里很难过，非常难过。
The voice came to him as it had in the first day that he had met Jonathan Livingston Seagull, “The trick Fletcher is that we are trying to overcome our limitations in order, patiently, We don’t tackle flying through rock until a little later in the program.”
和他第一天遇到乔纳森·利文斯顿时一样，那个声音又对他说了。“弗莱契，诀窍是，我们要一步步克服我们的局限，要有次序，有耐心。在我们的课程表里，穿岩飞行这一课还要稍稍靠后一些哩。”
“Jonathan!”.
“乔纳森！”。
“Also known as the Son of the Great Gull “ his instructor said dryly,
“也叫作鸥神之子。”他的导师于巴巴地说。
“What are you doing here? The cliff! Haven’t I didn’t I.., die?”
“你在这儿干什么？这个悬崖！我是不是…已经……死了？”
“Oh, Fletch, come on. Think. If you are talking to me now, then obviously you didn’t die, did you? What you did manage to do was to change your level of consciousness rather abruptly. It’s your choice now. You can stay here and learn on this level - which is quite a bit higher than the one you left, by the way - or you can go back and keep working with the Flock. The Elders were hoping for some kind of disaster, but they’re startled that you obliged them so well.”
“啊，弗莱契，来吧。想一想。你这会儿正跟我说着话，那你显然没有死，对不对！你刚才干的事儿，只不过把你的意识水平改变得太快了点儿。现在你选择吧。你可以留下来，在这一水平上学习，——附带说一声，比起你原来的水平要高得多了——要不，你也可以回去，继续做鸥群的工作。长者们一直希望发生什么祸事，但他们万万没想到你会帮他们这么个大忙。”
“I want to go back to the Flock, of course. I’ve barely begun with the new group!”
“我当然要回到鸥群里去。那群新生，我才刚开始教他们呢！”
“Very well, Fletcher. Remember what we were saying about one’s body being nothing more than thought itself....?”
“很好，弗莱契。我们不是一向说，身体与思想是一码事，你还记得吗？”
Fletcher shook his head and stretched his wings and opened his eyes at the base of the cliff, in the center of the whole Flock assembled. There was a great clamor of squawks and screes from the crowd when first he moved.
在聚集找来的整个鸥群的中央，在悬崖脚下，弗莱契摇摇头，展开双翅，睁开眼睛。他刚一动弹，鸥群中就嘎嘎、嘎嘎地嚷起来。
“He lives! He that was dead lives!”
“他活啦！他死而复生啦！”
“Touched him with a wingtip! Brought him to life! The Son of the Great Gull!”
“只用翼梢碰他一下！把他救活了！真是鸥神之子！”
“No! He denies it! He’s a devil! DEVIL! Come to break the Flock!”
“不！他不承认！他是魔鬼！魔鬼！他是来破坏鸥群的！”
There were four thousand gulls in the crowd, frightened at what had happened, and the cry DEVIL! Went through them like the wind of an ocean storm. Eyes glazed30, beaks31 sharp, they closed in to destroy.
这一群海鸥共四千只，都被刚才发生的事吓得目瞪口呆；一霎时，一片喊“魔鬼”的声音在他们中间爆发，声势浩大，犹如大海上起了风暴。他们目露凶光，伸出利嘴，围上来要啄死乔纳森。
“Would you feel better if we left, Fletcher?” asked Jonathan.
“你是不是觉得咱们还是离开这儿好些，弗莱契？”乔纳森问
“I certainly wouldn’t object too much if we did...”
“我当然不会反对，只要办得到。……”
Instantly they stood together a half-mile away, and the flashing beaks of the mob closed on empty air.
转瞬间，他们俩已站在半英里外的地方了。暴怒的鸥群间亮的尖嘴扑了个空。
“Why is it,” Jonathan puzzled, “that the hardest thing in the world is to convince a bird that he is free, and that he can prove it for himself if he’d just spend a little time practicing? Why should that be so hard?”
“怎么搞的，”乔纳森觉得纳闷，“世界上最难办的事怎么倒是使一只鸟儿确信他自己是自由的，而且可以亲自加以证明，只要他肯略微花费点时间练习练习？这样的事为什么竟会这样难呢？”
Fletcher still blinked from the change of scene. “What did you just do? How did we get here?”
“You did say you wanted to be out of the mob, didn’t you?”
弗莱契还在那里眨巴眼睛，弄不明白怎么会一下子换了地方，‘你刚才干什么来着？咱们怎么来到这儿的？”“你刚才不是说，你希望离开那群暴徒吗？”
“Yes! But how did you...”
“不错……不过你怎么……”
“Like everything else, Fletcher. Practice.”
“和干其他事儿一样，弗莱契．多练习。”
By morning the Flock had forgotten its insanity32, but Fletcher had not. “Jonathan, remember what you said a long time ago, about loving the Flock enough to return to it and help it learn?”
到了早晨，鸥群已经忘记了自己那阵疯狂劲儿，但弗莱契没忘。“乔纳森，好久前你不是说过，要热爱鸥群；要回到他们之中去，帮助他们学习，你还记得吗？”
“Sure.”
“当然记得。”
“I don’t understand how you manage to love a mob of birds that has just tried to kill you.”
“我真不理解，你怎么能去热爱一群想啄死你的暴徒呢？”
“Oh, Fletch, you don’t love that! You don’t love hatred33 and evil, of course. You have to practice and see the real gull, the good in every one of them, and to help them see it in themselves. That’s what I mean by love. It’s fun, when you get the knack34 of it.
“噢，弗莱契，你爱的当然不是那个！你当然不爱仇恨与邪恶。你应该通过练习去认识真正的海鸥，要看到每只海鸥的美德，并帮助他们去认识自己的美德。这就是我所谓的爱。等你精通此道以后，就会觉得很有意思。
“I remember a fierce young bird for instance, Fletcher Lynd Seagull, his name. Just been made Outcast, ready to fight the Flock to the death, getting a start on building his own bitter hell out on the Far Cliffs. And here he is today building his own heaven instead, and leading the whole Flock in that direction.”
“举个例子说吧，我记得有一只挺凶的的年轻海鸥，名叫弗莱契·林德，当时他刚成弃儿，打算与鸥群决一死战，开始在远崖为自己建造痛苦的地狱。可是今天呢，他正在建造自己的天堂，并领导整个鸥群朝着这个方向前进。”
Fletcher turned to his instructor, and there was a moment of fright in his eye. “Me leading? What do you mean, me leading? You’re the instructor here. You couldn’t leave!”
弗莱契转向他的导师，眼里流露出吃惊的神情。“我领导？你这话是什么意思？我领导？你是这儿的领导，你不能走！”
“Couldn’t I? Don’t you think that there might be other flocks, other Fletchers, that need an instructor more than this one, that’s on its way toward the light?”
“我不能走？你可想到世界上还有可能有其他的鸥群和其他弗莱契们，他们比这个已经走上光明大道的鸥群更需要导师？”
“Me? Jon, I’m just a plain seagull and you’re... “
“我？乔，我只是只平凡的海鸥，而你……”
“ ...the only Son of the Great Gull, I suppose?” Jonathan sighed and looked out to sea. “You don’t need me any longer. You need to keep finding yourself, a little more each day, that real, unlimited Fletcher Seagull. He’s your instructor. You need to understand him and to practice him.”
“……是鸥神的独子，对不对？”乔纳森叹了口气，眺望着大海。“你已不再需要我了，你只需要不断寻找你自己，每天找一点，要找到那只真正的、无限的弗莱契。他就是你的导师。你只需要理解他，拿他来实践。”
A moment later Jonathan’s body wavered in the air, shimmering35, and began to go transparent36. “Don’t let them spread silly rumors37 about me, or make me a god. O.K., Fletch? I’m a seagull. I like to fly, maybe...”
转眼间，乔纳森的身体已在空中摆动，全身闪亮，开始变成透明。“别让他们瞎造我的谣言，别让他们把我奉为神明，成不成，弗莱契？我是海鸥，我喜欢飞行，或许……”
“JONATHAN!”
“乔——纳——森！”
“Poor Fletch. Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding, find out what you already know, and you’ll see the way to fly.”
“可怜的弗莱契，别相信你肉眼看见的东西，它们看到的一切都是有限的。要用你的智慧去观察，去寻找你已经领悟的东西，那样你就会看出飞行之道。”
The shimmering stopped. Jonathan Seagull had vanished into empty air.
闪光不见了。乔纳森消失在空荡荡的天空中。
After a time, Fletcher Gull dragged himself into the sky and faced a brand-new group of students, eager for their first lesson.
过了一会儿，弗莱契自己也飞入高中，面对着一群新学员，他们正迫不及待的等着上第一课。
“To begin with “ he said heavily, “you’ve got to understand that a seagull is an unlimited idea of freedom, an image of the Great Gull, and your whole body, from wingtip to wingtip, is nothing more than your thought itself.”
“首先，”他说，心情有点沉重，“你们必须懂得，一只海鸥是关于自由的无限观念，是鸥神的表象。而你们的整个身体，从一翼到另一翼，就是你们的思想本身。”
The young gulls looked at him quizzically. Hey, man, they thought, this doesn’t sound like a rule for a loop.
年轻的海鸥们不解地望着他。嘿，伙计。他们想，这听起来可不像是翻斤斗的规则。
Fletcher sighed and started over. “Hm. Ah... very well,” he said, and eyed them critically. “Let’s begin with Level Flight.” And saying that, he understood all at once that his friend had quite honestly been no more divine than Fletcher himself.
弗莱契叹了口气，又接着说下去，“哼。啊……好吧，”他说，用批评的目光端详着他。“咱们从水平飞行开始。”说着，他恍然大悟，真的，他的朋友确确实实不比他弗莱契自己更神圣。
No limits, Jonathan? he thought. Well, then, the time’s not distant when I’m going to appear out of thin air on your beach, and show you a thing or two about flying!
无限，乔纳森？他心想。那么，好，过不多久，我就要飞出稀薄的空气，出现在你的沙滩上，露一两手飞行本领给你看看！！
And though he tried to look properly severe for his students, Fletcher Seagull suddenly saw them all as they really were, just for a moment, and he more than liked, he loved what he saw. No limits, Jonathan? he thought, and he smiled. His race to learn had begun.
尽管他在学生面前装的非常严肃，可是刹那间，弗莱契突然看出他们真正的本质。他不只是喜欢，而是热爱他所看到的一切。无限，乔纳森？他心里想，脸上露出笑容。他的学习航程开始了。
收听单词发音 |
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gull
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| n.鸥；受骗的人；v.欺诈 | |
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blurred
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| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
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instructor
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| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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vertical
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| adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置 | |
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savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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inverted
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| adj.反向的，倒转的v.使倒置，使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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unlimited
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| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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overlapping
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| adj./n.交迭（的） | |
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smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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wry
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| adj.讽刺的；扭曲的 | |
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gulls
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| n.鸥( gull的名词复数 )v.欺骗某人( gull的第三人称单数 ) | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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glide
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| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
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streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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glazed
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| adj.光滑的，像玻璃的；上过釉的；呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式)；上釉于，上光；（目光）变得呆滞无神 | |
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beaks
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| n.鸟嘴( beak的名词复数 )；鹰钩嘴；尖鼻子；掌权者 | |
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insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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knack
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| n.诀窍，做事情的灵巧的，便利的方法 | |
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shimmering
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| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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