介绍:
The Alchemist 原文 （64）
On the following day, the first clear sign of danger appeared. Three armed tribesmen approached, and asked what the boy and the alchemist were doing there.
"I'm hunting with my falcon," the alchemist answered.
"We're going to have to search you to see whether you're armed," one of the tribesmen said.
The alchemist dismounted slowly, and the boy did the same.
"Why are you carrying money?" asked the tribesman, when he had searched the boy's bag.
"I need it to get to the Pyramids," he said.
The tribesman who was searching the alchemist's belongings found a small crystal flask filled with a liquid, and a yellow glass egg that was slightly larger than a chicken's egg.
"What are these things?" he asked.
"That's the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life. It's the Master Work of the alchemists. Whoever swallows that elixir will never be sick again, and a fragment from that stone turns any metal into gold."
The Arabs laughed at him, and the alchemist laughed along. They thought his answer was amusing, and they allowed the boy and the alchemist to proceed with all of their belongings.
"Are you crazy?" the boy asked the alchemist, when they had moved on. "What did you do that for?"
"To show you one of life's simple lessons," the alchemist answered. "When you possess great treasures within you, and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed."
They continued across the desert. With every day that passed, the boy's heart became more and more silent. It no longer wanted to know about things of the past or future; it was content simply to contemplate the desert, and to drink with the boy from the Soul of the World. The boy and his heart had become friends, and neither was capable now of betraying the other.
When his heart spoke to him, it was to provide a stimulus to the boy, and to give him strength, because the days of silence there in the desert were wearisome. His heart told the boy what his strongest qualities were: his courage in having given up his sheep and in trying to live out his destiny, and his enthusiasm during the time he had worked at the crystal shop.
And his heart told him something else that the boy had never noticed: it told the boy of dangers that had threatened him, but that he had never perceived. His heart said that one time it had hidden the rifle the boy had taken from his father, because of the possibility that the boy might wound himself. And it reminded the boy of the day when he had been ill and vomiting out in the fields, after which he had fallen into a deep sleep. There had been two thieves farther ahead who were planning to steal the boy's sheep and murder him. But, since the boy hadn't passed by, they had decided to move on, thinking that he had changed his route.
"Does a man's heart always help him?" the boy asked the alchemist.
"Mostly just the hearts of those who are trying to realize their destinies. But they do help children, drunkards, and the elderly, too."
"Does that mean that I'll never run into danger?"
"It means only that the heart does what it can," the alchemist said.
One afternoon, they passed by the encampment of one of the tribes. At each corner of the camp were Arabs garbed in beautiful white robes, with arms at the ready. The men were smoking their hookahs and trading stories from the battlefield. No one paid any attention to the two travelers.
"There's no danger," the boy said, when they had moved on past the encampment. The alchemist sounded angry: "Trust in your heart, but never forget that you're in the desert. When men are at war with one another, the Soul of the World can hear the screams of battle. No one fails to suffer the consequences of everything under the sun."
The Alchemist 译文 （64）
隔天，第一次的危险预兆出现了。三位配戴武器的部族战士追过来，问男孩和炼金术士在这里做什么。
“我正和我的猎鹰在狩猎。”炼金术士回答。
“我们要搜查看看你们是不是带有武器。”其中一个战士说。
炼金术士慢慢地跨下马，男孩也跟着这么做。
“你为什么携带这么多钱？”那个战士搜查了男孩的袋子后就盘问他。
“因为我需要有钱去金字塔。”男孩回答。
战士接着搜查炼金术士，发现他的身上有一小块水晶芯片，上面附着一滴液体，还有一颗黄色的玻璃蛋，大小约比鸡蛋稍稍大一些。
“这又是什么？”
“这是哲人石和长寿露，也就是炼金术士的元精。任何人只要吞下了长生露就可以永远健康，而那块石头的一小片就可以把任何金属都转化为黄金。”
那些阿拉伯人大声嘲笑着炼金术士，而炼金术士也跟着笑了起来。他们觉得他的回答很可笑，然后就让男孩和炼金术士带着他们全部的东西离开。
“你疯了吗？”当他们走远一些以后，男孩就问炼金术士，“你为什么这么说？”
“为了教你生活中一项简单的道理。”炼金术士回答说，“当你身上带着珍贵的财产时，如果你试着要告诉别人实情，别人往往不会相信你。”
他们继续穿越沙漠。随着日子流逝，男孩的心越来越沉默。它不再想要了解事情的来龙去脉；它只是冥思着沙漠，和男孩一起啜饮着天地之心所给予的。现在男孩和他的心已然成为好朋友，彼此不再背弃对方了。
当他的心对他说话时，只会激励他、给予他力量，因为在沙漠中的寂静日子多多少少会令人厌倦。心告诉男孩他最强的特质在于：他有勇气放弃他的羊群来实现他的天命，还有他在水晶商店工作时的热诚。
心还告诉男孩一些他从来没注意到的事：它告诉男孩他曾经多么接近危险却不曾意识到。心告诉他，有一次男孩从他父亲那里偷拿了一把来复枪，心觉得太危险了，男孩说不定会伤害到自己，于是就偷偷把来复枪藏起来。心还告诉男孩，有一天，他突然生病倒在田野上呕吐，然后他就昏睡了好长好长的一段时间。那时候，有两个小偷正埋伏在前不远的地方，正打算等男孩经过时要杀了他，好抢走男孩的羊。可是男孩一直没出现，他们就猜想男孩大概临时改道，于是只得放弃走了。
“人的心是不是都会帮助他？”男孩问炼金术士。
“多半只有那些想完成梦想的人的心才会这么做。不过心也确实会帮助小孩、醉汉和老人。”
“这是不是意味着我永远都不会碰到危险？”
“这意味着心会尽力去做它所能做的。”炼金术士说。
有一天下午，他们经过一个部族扎营的地方。营地四周歇息着许多身穿美丽白色长袍的阿拉伯人，他们个个都武装戒备着。那些人正抽着水烟筒，轮流说着战场上的故事。没人注意到这两个旅行者。
“好像没什么危险。”男孩说，他们正通过营区。
炼金术士听起来非常生气地说，“信任你的心，可是别忘了你正在沙漠里。当有人正在打仗时，天地之心就会听见从战场上传来的尖叫。没有人躲得过太阳下发生的种种后果。”
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