Chapter 12

The time that my journey takes is long and the way of it long.
 
I came out on the chariot of the first gleam of light, and pursued my voyage through the wildernesses¹ of worlds leaving my track on many a star and planet.
 
It is the most distant course that comes nearest to thyself, and that training is the most intricate which leads to the utter simplicity² of a tune³.
 
The traveller has to knock at every alien door to come to his own, and one has to wander through all the outer worlds to reach the innermost shrine⁴ at the end.
 
My eyes strayed far and wide before I shut them and said ‘Here art thou!’
 
The question and the cry ‘Oh, where?’ melt into tears of a thousand streams and deluge⁵ the world with the flood of the assurance ‘I am!’
 
我旅行的时间很长，旅途也是很长的．
 
 
 
天刚破晓，我就驱车起行，穿遍广漠的世界，在许多星球之上，留下辙痕．
 
离你最近的地方，路途最远，最简单的音调，需要最艰苦的练习．
 
旅客要在每个生人门口敲叩，才能敲到自己的家门，人要在外面到处漂流，最后才能走到最深的内殿．
 
我的眼睛向空阔处四望，最后才合上眼说：＂你原来在这里！＂
 
这句问话和呼唤＂呵，在哪儿呢？＂融化在千股的泪泉里，和你保证的回答＂我在这里！＂的洪流，一同泛滥了全世界．

1 wildernesses   

荒野( wilderness的名词复数 )； 沙漠； （政治家）在野； 不再当政（或掌权）

参考例句：

• Antarctica is one of the last real wildernesses left on the earth. 南极洲是地球上所剩不多的旷野之一。
• Dartmoor is considered by many to be one of Britain's great nature wildernesses. Dartmoor被很多人认为是英国最大的荒原之一。

2 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

3 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

4 shrine   

n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣

参考例句：

• The shrine was an object of pilgrimage.这处圣地是人们朝圣的目的地。
• They bowed down before the shrine.他们在神龛前鞠躬示敬。

5 deluge   

n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥

参考例句：

• This little stream can become a deluge when it rains heavily.雨大的时候，这条小溪能变作洪流。
• I got caught in the deluge on the way home.我在回家的路上遇到倾盆大雨。