Chapter 1 It was morning, and the new sun sparkled gold across the ripples of a gentle sea. 早晨,初升的太阳照耀着恬静的海面,荡漾的微波闪着金光。 A mile from shore a fishing boat chummed the water and the word for Breakfast Flock flashed through the air, till a crowd of a thousand seagulls came to dodge and fight for bits of food. It was another busy day beginning. 离岸一英里的海上,一只渔船随波逐浪地前进,这是吃早饭的信号,近千只海鸥飞来,相互追逐着争食吃。又一个忙碌的日子开始了。 But way off alone, out by himself beyond boat and shore, Jonathan Livingston Seagull was practicing. A hundred feet in the sky he lowered his webbed feet, lifted his beak, and strained to old a painful hard twisting curve through his wings. The curve meant that he would fly slowly, and now he slowed until the wind was a whisper in his face, until the ocean stood still beneath him. He narrowed his eyes in fierce concentration, held his breath, forced one... single... more... inch... of... curve... Then his featliers ruffled, he stalled and fell. 但在远离渔船和海岸的地方,海鸥乔纳森•利文斯顿独自在练习飞行。在百英尺的上空,他伸下两只带蹼的脚,仰起嘴,使劲儿弯着翅膀。翅膀一弯,就可以放慢速度。而现在,他越飞越慢了,慢得几乎听不到耳边的风声,慢得连脚下的大海也仿佛静止不动了。他眯起眼睛,集中精力,屏住呼吸,使劲儿想再……弯……那么一英寸……然后,他浑身的羽毛直坚,失去平衡,摔了下来。 Seagulls, as you know, never falter, never stall. To stall in the air is for them disgrace and it is dishonor. 要知道,海鸥飞行时决不摇晃,决不失去平衡。在空中失去平衡,对海鸥来说是丢脸的事,是极不光彩的事。 But Jonathan Livingston Seagull, unashamed, stretching his wings again in that trembling hard curve - slowing, slowing, and stalling once more - was no ordinary bird. 但是乔纳森并不觉得丢脸,他再一次展开双翅,依旧颤抖着使劲弯曲——一点、一点地放慢速度,又一次失去平衡一一他不是只平凡的鸟。 Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight - how to get from shore to food and back again. For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. More than anything else. Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly. 大多数海鸥只求学会最简单的飞行本领一一如何从岸上飞出去觅食,再飞回来。对他们来说,重要的不是飞行,而是觅食。但对这只海鸥来说,重要的不是吃而是飞。乔纳森喜爱飞行胜于一切。 This kind of thinking, he found, is not the way to make one’s self popular with other birds. Even his parents were dismayed as Jonathan spent whole days alone, making hundreds of low-level glides, experimenting. 他发现,像他这样的想法,在同类中是吃不开的。他那么整天独自练习,成百次地作低飞滑翔,连他的双亲都替他担心呢。 He didn’t know why, for instance, but when he flew at altitudes less than half his wingspan above the water, he could stay in the air longer, with less effort. His glides ended not with the usual feet-down splash into the sea, but with a long flat wake as he touched the surface with his feet tightly streamlined against his body. When he began sliding in to feet-up landings on the beach, then pacing the length of his slide in the sand, his parents were very much dismayed indeed. 他自己也不知道是什么原故,只要他保持离水面不到半翅的高度作低空飞行,他就能在空中停留较久,费劲较小。他滑翔下来并不像一般鸟儿那样伸下双足溅落海中，而是蜷起双足紧贴着身体掠过海面,在水面留下长长一道波纹。他蜷起双足在沙滩上滑翔着陆,然后步测着沙滩上滑翔的距离,他的父母见了,着实为他担忧。 “Why, Jon, why?” his mother asked. “Why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock, Jon? Why can’t you leave low flying to the pelicans, the albatross? Why don’t you eat? Son, you’re bone and feathers!” "怎么啦,乔?怎么啦?"他妈妈问。"难道学其他海鸥的样儿这么难,乔?低飞是鹈鹕和信天翁的事,你学这干什么?你干吗不吃点儿?孩子,你都瘦得皮包骨头了!" “I don’t mind being bone and feathers mom. I just want to know what I can do in the air and what I can’t, that’s all. I just want to know.” "我倒不在乎瘦得皮包骨头,妈妈。我只是想知道我在空中能够做什么,不能够做什么。" “See here Jonathan “ said his father not unkindly. “Winter isn’t far away. Boats will be few and the surface fish will be swimming deep. If you must study, then study food, and how to get it. This flying business is all very well, but you can’t eat a glide, you know. Don’t you forget that the reason you fly is to eat.” "你瞧,乔纳森,"他父亲温和地说,"冬天快到了,船只就要少了,海面上的鱼也要钻到海底去了。你要是一定要学习，那就学学怎么觅食吧。飞行当然好，可你总不能拿滑翔当饭吃啊。别忘了，你飞行的目的就是为了吃。” Jonathan nodded obediently. For the next few days he tried to behave like the other gulls; he really tried, screeching and fighting with the flock around the piers and fishing boats, diving on scraps of fish and bread. But he couldn’t make it work. 乔纳森顺从地点点头。以后几天，他试着学其他海鸥的样儿；他作了认真的尝试，与鸥群一道围绕着码头和渔船嘎嘎叫着争食吃，扎到海里抢点儿面包片和烂鱼。但这样做他受不了。 It’s all so pointless, he thought, deliberately dropping a hard-won anchovy to a hungry old gull chasing him. I could be spending all this time learning to fly. There’s so much to learn! “这样太没意思了，”他心里想，一边故意把好不容易弄到的一条鲤鱼丢给一只追逐他的饥饿的老海鸥。“我可以把所有这些时间都用来学飞行。要学的东西太多啦！” It wasn’t long before Jonathan Gull was off by himself again, far out at sea, hungry, happy, learning. 不久，乔纳森又独自一个出去了。他飞到海上远处，饿着肚子学习，很是快乐。 The subject was speed, and in a week’s practice he learned more about speed than the fastest gull alive. 课目是速度。经过一周的练习，他学到的有关速度的知识，超过了任何一只活着的飞得最快的海鸥。 From a thousand feet, flapping his wings as hard as he could, he pushed over into a blazing steep dive toward the waves, and learned why seagulls don’t make blazing steep power-dives. In just six seconds he was moving seventy miles per hour, the speed at which one’s wing goes unstable on the upstroke. 从一千英尺高空，他使劲地拍着翅膀，朝着海浪垂直疾降，于是他懂得了海鸥不作垂直疾降的道理。在六秒钟内，他以每小时七十英里的速度运动。在这样的速度下，翅膀向上一举，就会失去平衡。 Time after time it happened. Careful as he was, working at the very peak of his ability, he lost control at high speed. 这种情况反复出现。不管他多么当心，施展出了全副本领，但速度一快，就要失去控制。 Climb to a thousand feet. Full power straight ahead first, then push over, flapping, to a vertical dive. Then, every time, his left wing stalled on an upstroke, he’d roll violently left, stall his right wing recovering, and flick like fire into a wild tumbling spin to the right. 飞到一千英尺高空。他先是全速前进．然后一转身，拍着翅膀，垂直疾降。可每次都一样，只要一举翅膀，左翼总要失去平衡，他于是猛地向左翻转，刚恢复平衡，右翼又失去控制，于是他像火花似地向右一闪，乱转着直栽下来。 He couldn’t be careful enough on that upstroke. Ten times he tried, and all ten times, as he passed through seventy miles per hour, he burst into a churning mass of feathers, out of control, crashing down into the water. 举翅真是个难题，他怎么当心都不行。他试十次,十次都一样，速度一达到每小时七十英里，他就失去控制，成了毛茸茸的一团，乱转着直栽下来，掉进水里。 The key, he thought at last, dripping wet, must be to hold the wings still at high speeds - to flap up to fifty and then hold the wings still. 他身上湿漉漉的直淌水，最后终于领悟到，关键在于高速飞行时一定要让翅膀静止不动——鼓翼飞到时速五十英里，然后稳住翅膀不动。 From two thousand feet he tried again, rolling into his dive, beak straight down, wings full out and stable from the moment he passed fifty miles per hour. It took tremendous strength, but it worked. In ten seconds he had blurred through ninety miles per hour. Jonathan had set a world speed record for seagulls! 他从两千英尺高空再试一次。时速一达到五十英里，他就翻转身俯冲下来，嘴朝下，双翅完全展开，一动不动。这样做非常吃力，但很成功。十秒钟内，他达到了时速九十英里。乔纳森创造了海鸥飞行的世界纪录！ But victory was short-lived. The instant he began his pullout, the instant he changed the angle of his wings, he snapped into that same terrible uncontrolled disaster, and at ninety miles per hour it hit him like dynamite. Jonathan Seagull exploded in midair and smashed down into a brickhard sea. 但胜利是短暂的。他刚要改变飞行姿势，更换翅膀的角度，又突然控制失灵，一败涂地。在一小时九十英里的快速下，就像挨了炸药一样，乔纳森在半空中爆炸了,一头撞入砖样硬的海里。 When he came to, it was well after dark, and he floated in moonlight on the surface of the ocean. His wings were ragged bars of lead, but the weight of failure was even heavier on his back. He wished, feebly, that the weight could be just enough to drug him gently down to the bottom, and end it all. 等他苏醒过来，已经是黑夜了。他在月光下的海面上漂浮。他的翅膀重得像粗糙的铅条，但失败的重量压在他 背上比铅还要重。他起了一线微弱的希望：但愿这重压能把他渐渐拖入海底，了结一切。 As he sank low in the water, a strange hollow voice sounded within him. There’s no way around it. I am a seagull. I am limited by my nature. If I were meant to learn so much about flying, I’d have charts for brains. If I were meant to fly at speed, I’d have a falcon’s short wings, and live on mice instead of fish. My father was right. I must forget this foolishness. I must fly home to the Flock and be content as I am, as a poor limited seagull. 他在水里往下沉的当地，心中忽然响起一个奇怪的空洞声音。没有别的出路。我是海鸥。我受到天生条件的局限。如果老天真要我懂得飞行的奥妙，那我就该有航海图一样的头脑；如果真要我快速飞行，我就该有猎鹰的短翅，而且不吃鱼光吃老鼠。我父亲说的对。我不该再干这种蠢事。我应该飞回到鸥群里去，安安分分做一只可怜的、天赋有限的海鸥。 The voice faded, and Jonathan agreed. The place for a seagull at night is on shore, and from this moment forth, he vowed, he would be a normal gull. It would make everyone happier. 声音消失了，乔纳森也屈服了。海鸥夜间是应该呆在岸上的。他发誓，今后他要做一只平凡的海鸥。这样会使大家都高兴。 He pushed wearily away from the dark water and flew toward the land, grateful for what he had learned about work- saving low-altitude flying. 他疲倦地从黑暗的水面起飞，向陆地进发，心想：幸亏我学会了省力的低空飞行。 But no, he thought. I am done with the way I was, I am done with everything I learned. I am a seagull like every other seagull, and I will fly like one. So he climbed painfully to a hundred feet and flapped his wings harder, pressing for shore. 不成，他又想。我要和过去一刀两断，我要和自己学会的东西一刀两断。我只是一只像其他海鸥一样的海鸥，我要像他们那样飞行。于是他吃力地升到一百英尺高空，更使劲地拍着翅膀，朝岸上飞去。 He felt better for his decision to be just another one of the Flock. There would be no ties now to the force that had driven him to learn, there would be no more challenge and no more failure. And it was pretty, just to stop thinking, and fly through the dark, toward the lights above the beach. 他下定决心要做鸥群里的另一只海鸥之后，心里觉得好过了一些。今后，那股驱使他去学习的力量和他没有关系了，今后，不会有什么挑战，也不会有什么失败了。一切都很美好，只要停止胡思乱想，穿越黑暗，朝着海滩上的亮处飞去，就可以了。 Dark! The hollow voice cracked in alarm. Seagulls never fly in the dark! 黑暗!那个空洞的声音又惊呼起来。海鸥从来不在黑暗中飞行！ Jonathan was not alert to listen. It’s pretty, he thought. The moon and the lights twinkling on the water, throwing out little beacon-trails through the night, and all so peaceful and still... 乔纳森并不注意听。一切都那么好，他心里想。月光和灯光在海而闪亮，向黑夜散发出一串莹光，四周是这样安宁、恬静…… Get down! Seagulls never fly in the dark! If you were meant to fly in the dark, you’d have the eyes of an owl! You’d have charts for brains! You’d have a falcon’s short wings! 下来!海鸥从来不在黑夜飞行！如果要你在黑夜飞行，你就该长一双猫头鹰的眼睛！你就该有航海图一样的头脑！你就该有猎鹰的短翅！ There in the night, a hundred feet in the air, Jonathan Livingston Seagull - blinked. His pain, his resolutions, vanished. 在一百英尺高空的黑夜里，海鸥乔纳森眨巴着眼睛。他的痛苦、他的决心，一下子消失了。 Short wings. A falcon’s short wings! 一对短翅。一对猎鹰的短翅！ That’s the answer! What a fool I’ve been! All I need is a tiny little wing, all I need is to fold most of my wings and fly on just the tips alone! Short wings! 这就是答案！我真是个傻瓜！我缺的就是一对短小的翅膀，我该做的就是尽可能收拢双翅，只用翼梢飞行！这不就是短翅吗！ He climbed two thousand feet above the black sea, and without a moment for thought of failure and death, he brought his forewings tightly in to his body, left only the narrow swept daggers of his wingtips extended into the wind, and fell into a vertical dive. 他从漆黑的海面跃升两千英尺，根本没考虑到失败和死亡。他把前翅紧贴身体，只让翼梢上狭窄的、流线形的尖端迎着风，跟着就垂直俯冲。 The wind was a monster roar at his head. Seventy miles per hour, ninety, a hundred and twenty and faster still. The wing-strain now at a hundred and forty miles per hour wasn’t nearly as hard as it had been before at seventy, and with the faintest twist of his wingtips he eased out of the dive and shot above the waves, a gray cannonball under the moon. 风像猛兽似地在他耳边怒吼。时速七十英里、九十英里、一百二十英里，越飞越快。到了时速一百四十英里，翅膀的紧张程度反倒不像七十英里时那样大了。他稍微弯曲一下翼梢，就轻而易举地改变了俯冲姿势，疾如闪电般地掠过海浪，在月光下，活像一颗灰色的炮弹。 He closed his eyes to slits against the wind and rejoiced. A hundred forty miles per hour! And under control! If I dive from five thousand feet instead of two thousand, I wonder how fast.. 他迎着风把眼睛眯成两道细缝，内心充满了欢乐，时速一百四十英里！还能控制住！如果我不是从两千英尺，而是从五千英尺的高空往下俯冲，真不知有多快哩…… His vows of a moment before were forgotten, swept away in that great swift wind. Yet he felt guiltless, breaking the promises he had made himself. Such promises are only for the gulls that accept the ordinary. One who has touched excellence in his learning has no need of that kind of promise. 刚刚发过的誓已经忘掉了，已被那阵疾风吹得无影无踪了。然而他并不因背弃了自己的誓言而感到内疚。只有那种没出息的海鸥才恪守那样的誓言。一个学习成绩超等的海鸥可不守那样的誓言。 By sunup, Jonathan Gull was practicing again. From five thousand feet the fishing boats were specks in the flat blue water, Breakfast Flock was a faint cloud of dust motes, circling. 拂晓时分，海鸥乔纳森又在练习了。从五千英尺高空俯瞰，平静的蓝色海面上的渔船成了一个个小点。进早餐的鸥群像是一团稀薄的尘土，在慢慢地浮动。 He was alive, trembling ever so slightly with delight, proud that his fear was under control. Then without ceremony he hugged in his forewings, extended his short, angled wingtips, and plunged direcfly toward the sea. By the time he passed four thousand feet he had reached terminal velocity, the wind was a solid beating wall of sound against which he could move no faster. He was flying now straight down, at two hundred fourteen miles per hour. He swallowed, knowing that if his wings unfolded at that speed he’d be blown into a million tiny shreds of seagull. But the speed was power, and the speed was joy, and the speed was pure beauty. 他还活着!他高兴得微微有点颤抖，也因自己能够抑制内心的恐惧而感到自豪。跟着，他毫不犹豫地紧收前翼，展开短短的。弯成角度的翼梢，径直向海面扑去。他穿越四千英尺的高度时，已经达到极速，呼啸着的海风就像一堵坚实的墙，拦在前面，使他无法以更快的速度前进。他现在是笔直地往下飞，时速二百一十四英里。他咽了口唾沫，心里明白，要是在这样的速度下展开翅膀，就会粉身碎骨。但速度就是力量，速度就是欢乐，速度就是纯净的美。 He began his pullout at a thousand feet, wingtips thudding and blurring in that gigantic wind, the boat and the crowd of gulls tilting and growing meteor-fast, directly in his path. 他在一千英尺的高度改变飞行姿势。翼梢在狂风中噼啪直响，轮廓都模糊了；海鸥群斜着在他身旁掠过，疾如流星迸射。 He couldn’t stop; he didn’t know yet even how to turn at that speed. 他没法停住；他还不知道在这样的速度下如何转弯。 Collision would be instant death. 撞上什么马上就是死。 And so he shut his eyes. 他闭上眼睛。 It happened that morning, then, just after sunrise, that Jonathan Livingston Seagull fired directly through the center of Breakfast Flock, ticking off two hundred twelve miles per hour, eyes closed, in a great roaring shriek of wind and feathers. 这样，在那天早晨，就在日出后不久，海鸥乔纳森闭着眼睛，以每小时二百一十二英里的高速纪录，闪电似地在进早餐的鸥群中穿过，耳边只听得呼呼的风响和群鸥的尖叫声。 The Gull of Fortune smiled upon him this once, and no one was killed. 命运之神在朝他微笑，总算没有谁死于非命。 By the time he had pulled his beak straight up into the sky he was still scorching along at a hundred and sixty miles per hour. When he had slowed to twenty and stretched his wings again at last, the boat was a crumb on the sea, four thousand feet below. 等到他抬起嘴来朝向天空时，他仍旧以时速一百六十英里的高速前进。后来他把速度一直放慢到二十英里，最后展开双翅，四千英尺下面的渔船已经变成漂在海面上的一粒面包屑了。 His thought was triumph. Terminal velocity! A seagull at two hundred fourteen miles per hour! It was a breakthrough, the greatest single moment in the history of the Flock, and in that moment a new age opened for Jonathan Gull. Flying out to his lonely practice area, folding his wings for a dive from eight thousand feet, he set himself at once to discover how to turn. 他想的是胜利。达到了最高速度！一只海鸥达到了时速二百一十四英里！真是个突破，这是海鸥史册上最伟大的时刻，这一时刻为乔纳森开创了一个新时代。飞他到单独进行训练的地区，夹起翅膀，从八千英尺的高空向下俯冲，揣摩着怎样转弯。 A single wingtip feather, he found, moved a fraction of an inch, gives a smooth sweeping curve at tremendous speed. Before he learned this, however, he found that moving more than one feather at that speed will spin you like a rifle ball... and Jonathan had flown the first aerobatics of any seagull on earth. 他发现，把翼消的一根羽毛转动那么一丝丝，就可以在高速下平平稳稳地来个急转弯。他在学到这一点之前，还发现在那样的速度下，只要转动一两根羽毛就可以像陀螺似地旋转……于是乔纳森成了世界上第一只做特技动作的海鸥。 He spared no time that day for talk with other gulls, but flew on past sunset. He discovered the loop, the slow roll, the point roll, the inverted spin, the gull bunt, the pinwheel. 这一天，他无暇与其他海鸥攀谈，只是不停地飞，直到黄昏。他学会了翻斤斗、横滚、定点翻滚、倒转、定点回旋飞行等各种飞行特技。 乔纳森回到海滩上鸥群之中时，已是深夜。他感到头昏眼花，疲惫不堪。但他兴高采烈。 When Jonathan Seagull joined the Flock on the beach, it was full night. He was dizzy and terribly tired. Yet in delight he flew a loop to landing, with a snap roll just before touchdown. When they hear of it, he thought, of the Breakthrough, they’ll be wild with joy. How much more there is now to living! Instead of our drab slogging forth and back to the fishing boats, there’s a reason to life! We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly! 一个斤斗翻下来，即将着陆时还来了个快滚。他想，海鸥们得知他打破了飞行纪录，一定会欣喜若狂动。生活现在变得多么有意义啊！除了单调地围绕着渔船盘旋外，生活还有其他目的！我们能够摆脱愚昧，我们能够使自己成为有才能、有智慧、有技巧的生灵。我们能够获得自由！我们能够学会飞行！ The years ahead hummed and glowed with promise. 未来的岁月充满着希望。 The gulls were flocked into the Council Gathering when he landed, and apparently had been so flocked for some time. They were, in fact, waiting. 乔纳森着陆时，鸥群正聚在一起开会。看来他们已经集合好久了。实际上他们是在等他。 “Jonathan Livingston Seagull! Stand to Center!” The Elder’s words sounded in a voice of highest ceremony. Stand to Center meant only great shame or great honor. Stand to Center for Honor was the way the gulls’ foremost leaders were marked. Of course, he thought, the Breakfast Flock this morning; they saw the Breakthrough! But I want no honors. I have no wish to be leader. I want only to share what I’ve found, to show those horizons out ahead for us all. “乔纳森•利文斯顿！站到中间去！”长者发话了，声音极其严肃。站到中间，要不是极大的羞耻，就是极大的光荣。海鸥的几个最高领袖就享有站在中央的荣誉。当然啦，他心想，今天早晨早餐时，他们都看见我打破了飞行纪录！但我不需要荣誉，我不想当领袖。我只想让大家共享我学习到的东西，向大家展示美好的前景。 He stepped forward. 他走上前去。 “Jonathan Livingston Seagull,” said the Elder, “Stand to Center for Shame in the sight of your fellow gulls!” “乔纳森•利文斯顿，”长者说，“为你的耻辱，站到中间去，让大家看看！” It felt like being hit with a board. His knees went weak, his feathers sagged, there was roaring in his ears. “乔纳森•利文斯顿，”长者说，“为你的耻辱，站到中间去，让大家看看！” Centered for shame? Impossible! The Breakthrough! They can’t understand! They’re wrong, they’re wrong! 这真是当头一棒！他双膝发软，浑身羽毛搭拉下来，耳朵里一阵轰响。站到中间受辱？不可能!打破纪录啦！他们不明白！他们错了；错了！ “... for his reckless irresponsibility “ the solemn voice intoned, “violating the dignity and tradition of the Gull Family...” “……他太轻率，太不负责任，”那个庄严的声音在继续说，“冒犯了海鸥家族的尊严和传统…，” To be centered for shame meant that he would be cast out of gull society, banished to a solitary life on the Far Cliffs. 站到中间受辱，就是说他将被赶出海鸥世界，放逐到“远崖”，去过孤独的生活。 “... one day Jonathan Livingston Seagull, you shall learn that irresponsibility does not pay. Life is the unknown and the unknowable, except that we are put into this world to eat, to stay alive as long as we possibly can.” “…海鸥乔纳森•利文斯顿，总有一天，你会懂得不负责任是不行的。生命是莫测的，是不可知的。我们来到这个世界，就是为了吃，为了活下去，尽可能多活些日子。” A seagull never speaks back to the Council Flock, but it was Jonathan’s voice raised. “Irresponsibility? My brothers!” he cried. “Who is more responsible than a gull who finds and follows a meaning, a higher purpose for life? For a thousand years we have scrabbled after fish heads, but now we have a reason to live - to learn, to discover, to be free! Give me one chance, let me show you what I’ve found...” 海鸥从来不对全体会议反驳，但是乔纳森却大声抗议了。“不负责任？同胞们！”他嚷道，“一只海鸥能发现生活的意义，能找到更崇高的生活目的，你们还能说他不负责任吗？一千年来，我们总是眼睛盯着烂鱼头，可是现在我们有了生活的目的——学习，进行发明创造，取得自由！给我最后一次机会，让我告诉你们我学到了什么……” The Flock might as well have been stone. 整个鸥群像是一块石头． “The Brotherhood is broken,” the gulls intoned together, and with one accord they solemnly closed their ears and turned their backs upon him. “开除他，”海鸥们异口同声地叫着，一同庄严地转过身去，对他不瞅不睬。 Jonathan Seagull spent the rest of his days alone, but he flew way out beyond the Far Cliffs. His one sorrow was not solitude, it was that other gulls refused to believe the glory of flight that awaited them; they refused to open their eyes and see. He learned more each day. He learned that a streamlined high-speed dive could bring him to find the rare and tasty fish that schooled ten feet below the surface of the ocean: he no longer needed fishing boats and stale bread for survival. He learned to sleep in the air, setting a course at night across the offshore wind, covering a hundred miles from sunset to sunrise. With the same inner control, he flew through heavy sea-fogs and climbed above them into dazzling clear skies... in the very times when every other gull stood on the ground, knowing nothing but mist and rain. He learned to ride the high winds far inland, to dine there on delicate insects. 乔纳森飞到远崖的尽头，独自度过了以后的几天。使他痛苦的倒不是孤独，而是其他海鸥不肯相信飞行的光荣在等待他们。他们不肯好好地听一听，看一看。他每天学到更多的东西。他发现，流线型高速疾降，可以找到在海面十英尺以下游来游去的稀有的美味鱼群。这样他就不需要靠渔船和陈面包过活了。他学会在空中睡觉，乘着从海岸上吹来的风，作夜间飞行，从日出到日落飞行一百英里。他以同样的内在控制力，穿越海上的浓雾。冲向云霄，进入光辉耀眼的 晴空而在同一时刻，其他海鸥却都站在地上，只看到雾和雨。他学会乘着狂风深入内陆，以味美的昆虫为食。 What he had once hoped for the Flock, he now gained for himself alone; he learned to fly, and was not sorry for the price that he had paid. Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull’s life is so short, and with these gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed. 本来他希望鸥群共享的一切，现在他只好单独享受了。他学习飞行，丝毫不为自己付出的巨大代价感到惋惜。乔纳森发现，烦躁、恐惧和愤怒是使海鸥们短命的原因，一旦把这些从思想中驱走，就能真正活得长，活得好。 They came in the evening, then, and found Jonathan gliding peaceful and alone through his beloved sky. The two gulls that appeared at his wings were pure as starlight, and the glow from them was gentle and friendly in the high night air. But most lovely of all was the skill with which they flew, their wingtips moving a precise and constant inch from his own. 他们是在黄昏时分来到的，看见乔纳森正安安静静地独自在他热爱的天空中滑翔。他们在乔纳森两侧出现，是两只羽翼像星光一样灿烂的海鸥，从他们身上发出的光辉在高高的夜空中显得十分柔和、亲切。但是最可爱的还是他们的飞行技术，他们的翼梢始终极精确地与乔纳森的翼梢保持着一英寸距离。 Without a word, Jonathan put them to his test, a test that no gull had ever passed. He twisted his wings, slowed to a single mile per hour above stall. The two radiant birds slowed with him, smoothly, locked in position. They knew about slow flying. 乔纳森不动声色地考了他们一下。从来没有一只海鸥考及格过。他弯曲双翅，速度慢到每小时一英里，只差一点就要失去平衡。这两只晶莹的鸟儿与他一同放慢速度，飞得很平稳，始终保持着原来的位置。他们懂得如何慢飞。 He folded his wings, rolled and dropped in a dive to a hundred ninety miles per hour. They dropped with him, streaking down in flawless formation. 紧翅膀，翻滚着，以一百九十英里的时速疾降。他们紧跟着他下降，没有改变一点点队形。 At last he turned that speed straight up into a long vertical slow-roll. They rolled with him, smiling. 最后他改变速度，来一个长时间的垂直慢滚。他们跟着他滚，脸上露出笑容。 He recovered to level flight and was quiet for a time before he spoke. “Very well,” he said, “who are you?” 他恢复水平飞行，沉默片刻后才开口。“很好，”他说，“你们是谁？” “We’re from your Flock, Jonathan. We are your brothers.” The words were strong and calm. “We’ve come to take you higher, to take you home.” “我们来自你的鸥群，乔纳森。我们是你的兄弟”这些话说得既平静又有力。“我们要带你到更高的地方去，带你回家。” “Home I have none. Flock I have none. I am Outcast. And we fly now at the peak of the Great Mountain Wind. Beyond a few hundred feet, I can lift this old body no higher.” “家，我没有家。我也没有群，我是个弃儿，我们现在是在大山风之顶飞行。我这身老骨头只能再飞几百英尺，就不能飞得更高了……” “But you can Jonathan. For you have learned. One school is finished, and the time has come for another to begin.” “乔纳森，你能飞得更高，你已经进行了学习。一个阶段学完了，现在该开始另一阶段了。” As it had shined across him all his life, so understanding lighted that moment for Jonathan Seagull. They were right. He could fly higher, and it was time to go home. 一生照耀着乔纳森的智慧之光，这时马上放出光芒。他们说得对，他能够飞得更高，现在是回家的时候了。 He gave one last look across the sky, across that magnificent silver land where he had learned so much. 他朝天空望了最后一眼，在这个壮丽的银色世界里，他学到了多少东西啊。 “I’m ready “ he said at last. “我准备好了。”他终于说。 And Jonathan Livingston Seagull rose with the two starbright gulls to disappear into a perfect dark sky. 于是乔纳森•利文斯顿与这两只晶莹的海鸥一同上升，消失在另一个漆黑的天空里。 Chapter 2 So this is heaven, he thought, and he had to smile at himself. It was hardly respectful to analyze heaven in the very moment that one flies up to enter it. 原来这就是天堂，他心里想，不禁暗自好笑。一飞过天堂，马上就对它进行猜度，似乎太不尊敬了 As he came from Earth now, above the clouds and in close formation with the two brilliant gulls, he saw that his own body was growing as bright as theirs. True, the same young Jonathan Seagull was there that had always lived behind his golden eyes, but the outer form had changed. 他从尘世飞升来到这里，与这两只光辉的海鸥紧紧排成行列。一同穿过云层。这会儿他发现自己的身体也和他们一样变成晶莹的了。的确，他的生活一向比他的金色眼睛看到的要更丰富，但还是这个年轻的乔纳森，现在连外貌也改变啦。 It felt like a seagull body, but alreadv it flew far better than his old one had ever flown. Why, with half the effort, he thought, I’ll get twice the speed, twice the performance of my best days on Earth! 身上的感觉还像只海鸥，但飞起来已和过去大不相同。他想：真怪，只要费一半力气，我的速度就比过去快了一倍。我的成就比在尘世最美好的日子翻了一番。 ] His feathers glowed brilliant white now, and his wings were smooth and perfect as sheets of polished silver. He began, delightedly, to learn about them, to press power into these new wings. 现在他的羽毛闪着灿烂的白光，双翅像磨光的银片那样平滑、完美。他满心喜悦，开始揣摩自己翅膀的功能，要把力量使到这一对新的翅膀上去。 At two hundred fifty miles per hour he felt that he was nearing his level-flight maximum speed. At two hundred seventy-three he thought that he was flying as fast as he could fly, and he was ever so faintly disappointed. There was a limit to how much the new body could do, and though it was much faster than his old level-flight record, it was still a limit that would take great effort to crack. In heaven, he thought, there should be no limits. 到了时速二百五十英里，他觉得已经接近水平飞行的最高速度。到了时速二百七十三英里，他认为已经决得不能再快了。他不免略微有点失望。想不到这个新躯体也会有力所不能及。尽管已经远远超过了过去的水平飞行纪录，但毕竟还是有限的速度，要超出过限度，还得再花一番功夫。他想，在天堂，应当什么都是无限的。 The clouds broke apart, his escorts called, “Happy landings, Jonathan,” and vanished into thin air. 云散了，他的向导们喊了声“祝你顺利着陆，乔纳森！”就消失在稀薄的大气中 He was flying over a sea, toward a jagged shoreline. A very few seagulls were working the updrafts on the cliffs. Away off to the north, at the horizon itself, flew a few others. New sights, new thoughts, new questions. Why so few gulls? Heaven should be flocked with gulls! And why am I so tired, all at once? Gulls in heaven are never supposed to be tired, or to sleep. 他越过一片大海，向弯弯曲曲的海岸线飞去。海边峭壁上，寥寥几只海鸥正在向上奋飞。北方远处，在地平线上，另有几只海鸥在翱翔。新的景象，新的思想，新的问题。为什么只有这么几只海鸥？天堂里应该到处是鸥群才是！我怎么一下子感到这样累？天堂里的海鸥应该永远不感到累，也永远不睡觉才是。 Where had he heard that? The memory of his life on Earth was falling away. Earth had been a place where he had learned much, of course, but the details were blurred - something about fighting for food, and being Outcast. 他从哪儿听到过这一切的？他对尘世生活的记忆已经开始淡薄了。当然，在尘世那个地方，他学会了不少东西，不过一切细节已经很模糊了——又仿佛记得为觅食而飞行，自己成了弃儿。 The dozen gulls by the shoreline came to meet him, none saying a word. He felt only that he was welcome and that this was home. It had been a big day for him, a day whose sunrise he no longer remembered. 岸边有十几只海鸥飞过来迎接他，但谁都没吭声。他只觉得自己受到了欢迎，这儿是他的家。这天是他的一个重要日子，不过他已经记不得这天的黎明是什么时候开始的了。 He turned to land on the beach, beating his wings to stop an inch in the air, then dropping lightly to the sand, The other gulls landed too, but not one of them so much as flapped a feather. They swung into the wind, bright wings outstretched, then somehow they changed the curve of their feathers until they had stopped in the same instant their feet touched the ground. It was beautiful control, but now Jonathan was just too tired to try it. Standing there on the beach, still without a word spoken, he was asleep. 他转身准备在海滩上着陆，先挥动两翼，在空中停口片刻，然后轻轻落在沙滩上。其他海鸥也降落下来，但他们中间谁也没有挥动一根羽毛。他们迎风飞翔，展开亮晶晶的翅膀，后来不知怎的把羽毛的弯曲度一变，就降落下来，同时两脚着地。掌握得真是太棒了。但乔纳森这时实在太累，一点也不想跟着学了。他站在沙滩上，依旧一声不吭，一会儿就睡着了。 In the days that followed, Jonathan saw that there was as much to learn about flight in this place as there had been in the life behind him. But with a difference. Here were gulls who thought as he thought, for each of them, the most important thing in living was to reach out and touch perfection in that which they most loved to do, and that was to fly. They were magnificent birds, all of them, and they spent hour after hour every day practicing flight, testing advanced aeronautics. 以后几天，乔纳森发现，这里也和他过去那段生活一样，在飞行方面有不少东西要学。所不同的是，这里的海鸥与他有共同的思想。对他们每一个来说，生活中最重要的一点，就是尽量发挥自己的潜能，把最喜欢的事做得尽善尽美，那就是飞行。他们全是了不起的鸟儿，每天无时无刻不在练习飞行，试验各种高级特技。 For a long time Jonathan forgot about the world that he had come from, that place where the Flock lived with its eyes tightly shut to the joy of flight, using its wings as means to the end of finding and fighting for food. But now and then, just for a moment, he remembered. 有很长的一段时间，乔纳森忘掉了他来自的那个世界，忘掉了那个鸥群栖居的地方，忘掉了他的那些同胞，他们看不到飞行的乐趣，只知道把双翅当作寻找和争夺食物的工具。但偶尔他也想起过去，虽然只是片刻工夫。 He remembered it one morning when he was out with his instructor, while they rested on the beach after a session of folded-wing snap rolls. 一天早晨，他与他的导师们一同外出，练习完一连串收翼快滚之后，在海滩上歇息，他忽然想起了过去。 “Where is everybody, Sullivan?” he asked silently, quite at home now with the easy telepathy that these gulls used instead of screes and gracks. “Why aren’t there more of us here? Why, where I came from there were.. “ “他们都在哪儿呢，苏利万？”他不出声地问。现在他已经习惯了这些海鸥以心传心的简便交谈方式，用不着尖声嚎叫了。“为什么没有我们更多的同胞在这儿？呃，在我的家乡，有……” “... thousands and thousands of gulls. I know. “ Sullivan shook his head. “The only answer I can see, Jonathan, is that you are pretty well a one-in-a-million bird. Most of us came along ever so slowly. We went from one world into another that was almost exactly like it, forgetting right away where we had come from, not caring where we were headed, living for the moment. Do you have any idea how many lives we must have gone through before we even got the first idea that there is more to life than eating, or fighting, or power in the Flock? A thousand lives, Jon, ten thousand! And then another hundred lives until we began to learn that there is such a thing as perfection, and another hundred again to get the idea that our purpose for living is to find that perfection and show it forth. The same rule holds for us now, of course: we choose our next world through what we learn in this one. Learn nothing, and the next world is the same as this one, all the same limitations and lead weights to overcome.” “……有成千上万只海鸥。我知道。”苏利万摇了摇头。“我能想到的唯一答案，乔纳森，就是你是万里挑一的好鸟儿。我们中间大多数都学得太慢。我们从一个世界进入另一个几乎完全相同的世界，马上就忘了我们是从哪儿来的，也不在乎我们要往哪儿去，只想到现在活着的这一刻。你知道不知道，要领悟生活中有比吃喝、打架、争夺权势更重要的事，我们得经历多少世吗？乔，要经过千世、万世呢！然后再经过百世，才能领悟世上有所谓“尽善尽美”。然后，再经过百世，才能认识到我们生活的目的是去寻找尽善尽美并使之实现。当然啦，这个规律现在还对我们适用：我们是根据这个世界上学到的东西去选择另一个世界的。如果学不到什么，那么另一个世界也会像这个世界一样，你会遇到同样的局限和困难。” He stretched his wings and turned to face the wind. “But you, Jon,” he said, “learned so much at one time that you didn’t have to go through a thousand lives to reach this one.” 他展开翅膀，转身迎着海风。“可是你，乔，”他说，“一下子就学了这么多，你用不着经历千世就到达了这个世界。” In a moment they were airborne again, practicing. The formation point-roils were difficult, for through the inverted half Jonathan had to think upside down, reversing the curve of his wing, and reversing it exactly in harmony with his instructor’s. 一会儿，他们又在天空练习飞行了。列队定点翻滚是很难学的，因为在倒转时，乔纳森得头朝下、脚朝上倒过身子思考问题，同时还要把翅膀倒弯过来，而且要弯得恰到好处，倒好与他的导师一致。 “Let’s try it again.” Sullivan said over and over: “Let’s try it again.” Then, finally, “Good.” And they began practicing outside loops. “咱们再练一遍，”苏利万说，说了一遍支一遍，“咱们再练一遍。”最后说了声“好”。随后他们又开始练习外圈翻飞了。 One evening the gulls that were not night-flying stood together on the sand, thinking. Jonathan took all his courage in hand and walked to the Elder Gull, who, it was said, was soon to be moving beyond this world. “Chiang...” he said a little nervously. 一天傍晚，那些没去夜间飞行的海鸥都一起站在沙滩上默默沉思。乔纳森鼓起勇气，走到海鸥长者跟前，据说这只海鸥不久就要离开这个世界了。“江……”他开口了，有点紧张。 The old seagull looked at him kindly. “Yes, my son?” Instead of being enfeebled by age, the Elder had been empowered by it; he could outfly any gull in the Flock, and he had learned skills that the others were only gradually coming to know. 这只老海鸥慈祥地望着他。“嗯，我的孩子！”年龄并没使长者衰弱，反而使他更有力量了，他能比鸥群中任何一个都飞得快，他学会的本领，其他海鸥还只能一点一滴地慢慢理解呢。 “Chiang, this world isn’t heaven at all, is it?” “江，这个世界根本不是天堂，对不对？” The Elder smiled in the moonlight. “You are learning again, Jonathan Seagull,” he said. 长者在月光下微微一笑。“你又学到了一点，乔纳森，”他说。 “Well, what happens from here? Where are we going? Is there no such place as heaven?” “那么，离开了这里，又会怎么样呢？我们要到哪儿去？难道没有天堂这么个地方吗？” “No, Jonathan, there is no such place. Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being perfect.” He was silent for a moment. “You are a very fast flier, aren’t you?” “对，乔纳森，没有这么个地方。天堂不是空间，也不是时间。天堂就是尽善尽美。”他沉默了片刻。“你飞得很快，对不对？” “I... I enjoy speed,” Jonathan said, taken aback but proud that the Elder had noticed. 我…我对速度感兴趣。”乔纳森说，吃了一惊，但又感到骄傲，因为长者已经注意到他。 “You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment that you touch perfect speed. And that isn’t flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn’t have limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there.” “乔纳森，你一达到尽善尽美的速度，也就开始到达了天堂。那并不是说飞行的速度要达到一千英里，或者一百万英里，或者达到光速。因为任何数字都是有限的、而尽善尽美是无限的。尽善尽美的速度，孩子，就是要那样。” Without warning, Chiang vanished and appeared at the water’s edge fifty feet away, all in the flicker of an instant. Then he vanished again and stood, in the same millisecond, at Jonathan’s shoulder. “It’s kind of fun,” he said. 江一点不露声色，一闪身就不见了，跟着就在五十英尺以外的水边出现，就那么一刹那工夫。跟着他又不见了，不到千分之一秒，他又站在乔纳森肩旁。“这是闹着玩儿。”他说。 Jonathan was dazzled. He forgot to ask about heaven. “How do you do that? What does it feel like? How far can you go?” 乔纳森有点晕头转向了。他都忘了打听天堂。“你怎么作的？有什么感觉？你能飞多远？” “You can go to any place and to any time that you wish to go,” the Elder said. “I’ve gone everywhere and everywhen I can think of.” He looked across the sea. “It’s strange. The gulls who scorn perfection for the sake of travel go nowhere, slowly. Those who put aside travel for the sake of perfection go anywhere, instantly. Remember, Jonathan, heaven isn’t a place or a time, because place and time are so very meaningless. Heaven is...” “你想飞多远、多快，都随你的便。”长者说，“我想去哪儿，想飞多快，只要一转念就成。”他向大海彼岸望去。“真奇怪。那些藐视尽善尽美，光想旅行的海鸥，速度极慢，哪儿也去不成。而那些把旅行置之度外，只求达到尽善尽美的海鸥，却速度极快，想去哪儿就去哪儿。记住，乔纳森，天堂不是时间也不是空间，因为时间和空间都是那么没有意义。天堂是……” “Can you teach me to fly like that?” Jonathan Seagull trembled to conquer another unknown. “你能教我那样飞吗？”海鸥乔纳森浑身发抖，急于征服另一个未知世界。 “Of course if you wish to learn.” “当然可以，只要你想学。” “I wish. When can we start?”. “我想学。咱们什么时候开始？” “We could start now if you’d like.” “你要是愿意，现在就可以开始。” “I want to learn to fly like that,” Jonathan said and a strange light glowed in his eyes. “Tell me what to do.” “我想学会那样飞行。”乔纳森说，眼睛里闪耀一股奇异的光彩。“告诉我怎么做吧。” Chiang spoke slowly and watched the younger gull ever so carefully. “To fly as fast as thought, to anywhere that is,” he said, “you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived ...” 江讲得很慢，眼睛盯着这只年轻的海鸥细细观察。“要飞得像思想一样快，要飞到任何想去的地方，”他说，“那你必须首先觉得自己已经到了那儿……” The trick, according to Chiang, was for Jonathan to stop seeing himself as trapped inside a limited body that had a forty-two inch wingspan and performance that could be plotted on a chart. The trick was to know that his true nature lived, as perfect as an unwritten number, everywhere at once across space and time. 照江的说法，秘诀是：乔纳森别再把自己局限在一个有限的躯体之中，这个躯体有一对四十二英寸长的翅膀，它的活动可以在航海地图上标出来。秘诀在于懂得自己的本性，尽善尽美得像一个没有写出来的数字，它超越时间和空间，无处不在。 Jonathan kept at it, fiercely, day after day, from before sunrise till past midnight. And for all his effort he moved not a feather width from his spot. 乔纳森天天照着这个嘱咐拼命做去，从黎明前直到深夜后。但尽管他尽了最大的努力，却依旧留在原地，没有移动丝毫。 “Forget about faith!” Chiang said it time and again. “You didn’t need faith to fly, you needed to understand flying. This is just the same. Now try again ...” “把信心丢在脑后！”江一再说。“飞行用不着信心，只需要领悟什么是飞行。它们完全是一码事。再试试看……” Then one day Jonathan, standing on the shore, closing his eyes, concentrating, all in a flash knew what Chiang had been telling him. “Why, that’s true! I am a perfect, unlimited gull!” He felt a great shock of joy. 有一天，乔纳森站在岸上，闭着眼睛，集中精力，一瞬间领悟了江一向说的道理。“噢，说得对呀！我是一只尽善尽美的、没有局限的海鸥！”他真是欣喜若狂了。 “Good!” said Chiang and there was victory in his voice. “对！”江说，声音里充满了胜利的喜 Jonathan opened his eyes. He stood alone with the Elder on a totally different seashore - trees down to the water’s edge, twin yellow suns turning overhead. 乔纳森睁眼一看。原来他单独和长者站在一个全然不同的岸上，这里树木一直长到水边，两个金色的太阳在头顶上空转动。 “At last you’ve got the idea,” Chiang said, “but your control needs a little work... “ “你到底领悟了，”江说，“可你想要控制得好，还得下番功夫… Jonathan was stunned. “Where are we?” 乔纳森愣住了。“咱们是在哪儿？”。 Utterly unimpressed with the strange surroundings, the Elder brushed the question aside. “We’re on some planet, obviously, with a green sky and a double star for a sun.” 长者对于周围这片奇异的景象无动于衷，轻描淡写神地把这问题撇在一边。“显然我们是在某个星球上，有绿色的天空和两颗星星代替太阳。” Jonathan made a scree of delight, the first sound he had made since he had left Earth. “IT WORKS!” 乔纳森高兴得叫了一声，这是他离开尘世以后发出的第一个声音。“成功了！” “Well, of course, it works, Jon.” said Chiang. “It always works, when you know what you’re doing. Now about your control...” “唔，乔，当然会成功。”江说，“只要你懂得自己在做什么，就一定会成功。再谈谈怎么控制吧…” By the time they returned, it was dark. The other gulls looked at Jonathan with awe in their golden eyes, for they had seen him disappear from where he had been rooted for so long. 他们回来的时候，天已黑了。其他的海鸥盯着乔纳森，金色的眼睛里流露出敬畏的神情，因为他们都亲眼看见他先是生根似地在那个地方呆了那么久，又突然一下子不见影踪的。 He stood their congratulations for less than a minute. “I’m the newcomer here! I’m just beginning! It is I who must learn from you!” 他们的祝贺他勉强听了不到一分钟。“我是新来的！我才刚刚开始学！是我应该向你们学习！” “I wonder about that, Jon,” said Sullivan standing near. “You have less fear of learning than any gull I’ve seen in ten thousand years. “The Flock fell silent, and Jonathan fidgeted in embarrassment. “乔，不见得吧，”站在近旁的苏利万说，“一万年里，我都没见过你这样不怕学习的海鸥。”鸥群安静下来，乔纳森感到很窘，不知所措。 “We can start working with time if you wish,” Chiang said, “till you can fly the past and the future. And then you will be ready to begin the most difficult, the most powerful, the most fun of all. You will be ready to begin to fly up and know the meaning of kindness and of love.” “你要是愿意，我们可以先在时间上下功夫。”江说，“先学飞向过去和未来。然后你可以开始最困难、最有威力、也是最有趣的一课。你就可以开始往上飞，理解仁慈和爱的意义。” A month went by, or something that felt about like a month, and Jonathan learned at a tremendous rate. He always had learned quickly from ordinary experience, and now, the special student of the Elder Himself, he took in new ideas like a streamlined feathered computer. 一个月过去了，或者说好像觉得一个月过去了，乔纳森进步神速。过去从一般经验学，他的进步一向很快，现在作为长者的得意学生，他接受新思想的能力，就像一架羽毛做的流线型计算机。 But then the day came that Chiang vanished. He had been talking quietly with them all, exhorting them never to stop their learning and their practicing and their striving to understand more of the perfect invisible principle of all life. Then, as he spoke, his feathers went brighter and brighter and at last turned so brilliant that no gull could look upon him. 终于有一天，江一去不返。他先是安安静静地和大家说着话，谆谆嘱咐大家要不断学习，不断实践，对于一切生活中尽善尽美的看不见的原则，要不断努力理解，理解得越深越好。他说着说着，浑身羽毛变得越来越亮，最后变得光辉夺目，谁也无法对他仰视。 “Jonathan,” he said, and these were the last words that he spoke, “keep working on love.” “乔纳森，要继续在爱上面下功夫。”他说，这是他的最后一句话。 When they could see again, Chiang was gone. 大家再睁眼看时，江已经不知去向了。 As the days went past, Jonathan found himself thinking time and again of the Earth from which he had come. If he had known there just a tenth, just a hundredth, of what he knew here, how much more life would have meant! He stood on the sand and fell to wondering if there was a gull back there who might be struggling to break out of his limits, to see the meaning of flight beyond a way of travel to get a breadcrumb from a rowboat. Perhaps there might even have been one made Outcast for speaking his truth in the face of the Flock. And the more Jonathan practiced his kindness lessons, and the more he worked to know the nature of love, the more he wanted to go back to Earth. For in spite of his lonely past, Jonathan Seagull was born to be an instructor, and his own way of demonstrating love was to give something of the truth that he had seen to a gull who asked only a chance to see truth for himself. 光阴荏苒，乔纳森发现自己不时思念他所离开的尘世。如果他过去能懂得现在所懂得的哪怕十分之一、百分之一，那么生活的意义该丰富多少倍啊！他站在沙滩上，沉入了遐想：在那里会不会也有那么一只海鸥，正在奋力冲破自身的局限，正在努力探索飞行的意义，看出飞行不光是为了从小船上弄点面包屑吃。“说不定，也会有那么一只海鸥因为对鸥群讲出了真理，结果成了弃儿。乔纳森越是进修他的仁慈学课程，越是努力去理解爱的本质，他就越想返回尘世。尽管他往日的生活十分孤苦，他却是天生的导师，而他表示爱的唯一方式，就是把他所了解到的真理、去告诉一只希望有机会亲自了解真理的海鸥。 Sullivan, adept now at thought-speed flight and helping the others to learn, was doubtful. 现在已增长以思想的速度飞行、也乐于帮助其他海学习的苏利万。对乔纳森的想法表示怀疑。 “Jon, you were Outcast once. Why do you think that any of the gulls in your old time would listen to you now? You know the proverb, and it’s true: The gull sees farthest who flies highest. Those gulls where you came from are standing on the ground, squawking and fighting among themselves. They’re a thousand miles from heaven - and you say you want to show them heaven from where they stand! Jon, they can’t see their own wingtips! Stay here. Help the new gulls here, the ones who are high enough to see what you have to tell them.” He was quiet for a moment, and then he said, “What if Chiang had gone back to his old worlds? Where would you have been today?” “乔，过去你是个弃儿。你有什么理由认为，过去与你生法在一起的海鸥中间，有谁现在会听你的话呢？俗话说得好：飞得高，看得远。尘世里的那些海鸥，整天站在地上，嘎嘎叫着，你抢我夺。他们离天堂有千里远，可你却说要从他们所站的地方，向他们启示天堂！乔，他们连自己的翅膀梢都看不见呢！留在这儿吧！帮助那些新来到这里的海鸥，他们已经飞得这么高，很可以领会你说的一切了。”他沉默了片刻，又接着说，“要是当初江也回到他原来的世界去了呢？你能有今天吗？” The last point was the telling one, and Sullivan was right The gull sees farthest who flies highest. 最后一点很有说服力，苏利万说的有道理。飞得高，看得远。 Jonathan stayed and worked with the new birds coming in, who were all very bright and quick with their lessons. But the old feeling came back, and he couldn’t help but think that there might be one or two gulls back on Earth who would be able to learn, too. How much more would he have known by now if Chiang had come to him on the day that he was Outcast! 乔纳森留下了、跟那些新来的鸟儿一起飞行。他们都很聪明，进步很快。但不久他又老毛病发作。不由自主地想起：说不定尘世间也会有那么一、两只海鸥能够学习。如果他当弃儿那一天江就来教导他，那他现在的进步该有多大啊！ “Sully, I must go back “ he said at last “Your students are doing well. They can help you bring the newcomers along.” “苏利，我非回去不可，”最后他说，“你的学生们都学得不错。以后新来的要学习，他们都可以帮你一手了。” Sullivan sighed, but he did not argue. “I think I’ll miss you, Jonathan,” was all he said. 苏利万叹了口气，但没再坚持，他只说了一句：“我一定会想念你的，乔纳森。” “Sully, for shame!” Jonathan said in reproach, “and don’t be foolish! What are we trying to practice every day? If our friendship depends on things like space and time, then when we finally overcome space and time, we’ve destroyed our own brotherhood! But overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now. And in the middle of Here and Now, don’t you think that we might see each other once or twice?” “苏利，亏你说得出口！”乔纳森责备他说，“可别这么傻！我们每天要实践的都是什么呢？如果我们的友谊是建立在空间和时间之类的东西上，那么最后我们一旦征服了空间和时间，岂不也就破坏了我们之间的手足之情！可是我们一旦征服了空间，剩下的就是此地；我们一旦征服了时间，剩下的就是此刻。而在此地、此刻中，难道我们就不可能彼此见一两面吗？” Sullivan Seagull laughed in spite of himself. “You crazy bird,” he said kindly. “If anybody can show someone on the ground how to see a thousand miles, it will be Jonathan Livingston Seagull.” He looked at the sand. “Good-bye, Jon, my friend.” 海鸥苏利万不禁噗嗤一笑。“你这个疯子，”他和蔼地说，“要是有谁能教导地上哪只海鸥看到一千英里以外，那就只有你乔纳森•利文斯顿了。”他眼望着沙滩说，“再见吧，乔，我的朋友。” “Good bye, Sully. We’ll meet again.” And with that, Jonathan held in thought an image of the great gull flocks on the shore of another time, and he knew with practiced ease that he was not bone and feather but a perfect idea of freedom and flight, limited by nothing at all. “再见，苏利万。我们会重新见面的。”说完这话，乔纳森的脑海里就浮现出这样的形象：一大群海鸥，在另一个时间的岸上。他早已从实践中懂得，他不是血肉之躯，而是关于自由和飞行的一个尽善尽美的观念，不受任何限制。 Fletcher Lynd Seagull was still quite young, but already he knew that no bird had ever been so harshly treated by any Flock, or with so much injustice. 海鸥弗莱契•林德年纪还很轻，但他已经明白，没有哪只鸟儿曾经从自己群里受到过那么粗暴、那么不公正的待 “I don’t care what they say,” he thought fiercely, and his vision blurred as he flew out toward the Far Cliffs. “There’s so much more to flying than just flapping around from place to place! A... a... mosquito does that! One little barrel roll around the Elder Gull, just for fun, and I’m Outcast! Are they blind? Can’t they see? Can’t they think of the glory that it’ll be when we really learn to fly? “我不在乎他们说些什么，”他愤愤地想，一边向远崖飞去，连视线都模糊了。“飞行应该有更大的意义，决不光是拍着翅膀盘旋，从一个地方飞到另一个地方。一只……一只…蚊子才那样呢！我只是闹着玩儿，绕着海鸥长者来了个桶式翻滚，结果成了弃儿！难道他们是瞎子？难道他们看不见？难道他们想不到，我们一旦真正学会了飞行，该有多光荣？” “I don’t care what they think. I’ll show them what flying is! I’ll be pure Outlaw, if that’s the way they want it. And I’ll make them so sorry...” “我不管他们想些什么、我要让他们看看什么才．是飞行！要是他们把我当作叛逆赶出来，那我就要做一个真正的叛逆！我要让他们后悔……” The voice came inside his own head, and though it was very gentle, it startled him so much that he faltered and stumbled in the air. 一个声音进入他的脑海，尽管十分柔和，但使他那么吃惊，不由得摇摇晃晃地在空中打了几个趔趄。 “Don’t be harsh on them, Fletcher Seagull. In casting you out, the other gulls have only hurt themselves, and one day they will know this, and one day they will see what you see. Forgive them, and help them to understand.” “不要怨恨他们，海鸥弗莱契。别的海鸥把你赶了出来，吃亏的是他们自己。总有一天他们会后悔的，总有一天他们会懂得你现在已经懂得的道理。宽恕他们吧，帮助他们提高认识。” An inch from his right wingtip flew the most brilliant white gull in all the world, gliding effortlessly along, not moving a feather, at what was very nearly Fletcher’s top speed. 离他右侧翼梢一英寸的地方，有一只世界上最光亮的白海鸥，在毫不费劲地作滑翔飞行。连一根羽毛都不动。但几乎已是弗莱契的最高速度。 There was a moment of chaos in the young bird. “What’s going on? Am I mad? Am I dead? What is this?” 在这只年轻海鸥的内心，引起了片刻混乱。“发生了什么事？我疯了吗？我死了吗？怎么回事？” Low and calm, the voice went on within his thought, demanding an answer. “Fletcher Lynd Seagull, do you want to fly?” 那个又低又平静的声音在他的脑海里继续跟他说话，要求他回答。“海鸥弗莱契•林德，你想飞行吗？” “YES, I WANT TO FLY!”. “是的，我想飞行！” “Fletcher Lynd Seagull, do you want to fly so much that you will forgive the Flock, and learn, and go back to them one day and work to help them know?” “弗莱契•林德，你想飞行有没有到这样的程度，以致能宽恕鸥群，努力学习，有朝一日再回到他们中间去，帮助他们提高认识？” There was no lying to this magnificent skillful being, no matter how proud or how hurt a bird was Fletcher Seagull. 弗莱契不管多么伤心，多么有自尊心，但在这只威严的、有本领的海鸥面前，觉得不能说假话。 “I do “ he said softly. “我愿意，”他轻声说。 “Then, Fletch,” that bright creature said to him, and the voice was very kind, “let’s begin with Level Flight....” “那么，弗莱契，”那只晶莹的鸟儿对他说，声音非常和蔼，“咱们从水平飞行开始吧……” Chapter 3 Jonathan circled slowly over the Far Cliffs, watching. This rough young Fletcher Gull 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 blurred gray shape roaring out of a dive, flashing one hundred fifty miles per hour past his instructor. He pulled abruptly into another try at a sixteen point vertical 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 savagely into an inverted 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 unlimited 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, exhausted 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 anguish 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 overlapping. They came across the Flock’s Council Beach at a hundred thirty-five miles per hour, Jonathan in the lead. Fletcher smoothly 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 wry 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 gulls, “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 onward, 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, determined 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 furtive 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 huddled miserably 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 condemned 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 collapse 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 standing outside the circle of students, looking curiously 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 spoke 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 superstition 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 glide 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 streak firing a few inches above the beach, when a young bird on its first flight glided 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 granite. 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 glazed, beaks 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 insanity, 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 hatred 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 knack 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, shimmering, and began to go transparent. “Don’t let them spread silly rumors 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。