介绍:
The Alchemist 原文 （72）
They rode for the entire day. Toward the end of the afternoon, they came upon a Coptic monastery. The alchemist dismounted, and told the escorts they could return to the camp.
"From here on, you will be alone," the alchemist said. "You are only three hours from the Pyramids.
"Thank you," said the boy. "You taught me the Language of the World." "I only invoked what you already knew."
The alchemist knocked on the gate of the monastery. A monk dressed in black came to the gates. They spoke for a few minutes in the Coptic tongue, and the alchemist bade the boy enter.
"I asked him to let me use the kitchen for a while," the alchemist smiled.
They went to the kitchen at the back of the monastery. The alchemist lighted the fire, and the monk brought him some lead（铅）, which the alchemist placed in an iron pan. When the lead had become liquid, the alchemist took from his pouch the strange yellow egg. He scraped from it a sliver as thin as a hair, wrapped it in wax, and added it to the pan in which the lead had melted.
The mixture took on a reddish color, almost the color of blood. The alchemist removed the pan from the fire, and set it aside to cool. As he did so, he talked with the monk about the tribal wars.
"I think they're going to last for a long time," he said to the monk.
The monk was irritated. The caravans had been stopped at Giza for some time, waiting for the wars to end. "But God's will be done," the monk said.
"Exactly," answered the alchemist.
When the pan had cooled, the monk and the boy looked at it, dazzled. The lead had dried into the shape of the pan, but it was no longer lead. It was gold.
"Will I learn to do that someday?" the boy asked.
"This was my destiny, not yours," the alchemist answered. "But I wanted to show you that it was possible."
They returned to the gates of the monastery. There, the alchemist separated the disk into four parts.
"This is for you," he said, holding one of the parts out to the monk. "It's for your generosity to the pilgrims."
"But this payment goes well beyond my generosity," the monk responded. "Don't say that again. Life might be listening, and give you less the next time."
The alchemist turned to the boy. "This is for you. To make up for what you gave to the general."
The boy was about to say that it was much more than he had given the general. But he kept quiet, because he had heard what the alchemist said to the monk.
"And this is for me," said the alchemist, keeping one of the parts. "Because I have to return to the desert, where there are tribal wars."
He took the fourth part and handed it to the monk. "This is for the boy. If he ever needs it."
"But I'm going in search of my treasure," the boy said. "I'm very close to it now." "And I'm certain you'll find it," the alchemist said.
"Then why this?"
"Because you have already lost your savings twice. Once to the thief, and once to the general. I'm an old, superstitious Arab, and I believe in our proverbs. There's one that says, 'Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.' " They mounted their horses.
"I want to tell you a story about dreams," said the alchemist. The boy brought his horse closer.
"In ancient Rome, at the time of Emperor Tiberius, there lived a good man who had two sons. One was in the military, and had been sent to the most distant regions of the empire. The other son was a poet, and delighted all of Rome with his beautiful verses.
"One night, the father had a dream. An angel appeared to him, and told him that the words of one of his sons would be learned and repeated throughout the world for all generations to come. The father woke from his dream grateful and crying, because life was generous, and had revealed to him something any father would be proud to know.
The Alchemist 译文 （72）
他们骑了一整天。在将近黄昏的时候，他们来到一间科普特修道院。炼金术士下马，并叫那群护卫回到军营去。
“从这以后，你必须一个人上路了。”炼金术士说，“你现在距离金字塔只有三小时的路程。”
“谢谢你，”男孩说，“你教会了我宇宙之语。”
“我只是引导你去看到你本来就知道的事情而已。”
炼金术士敲敲修道院的大门，一位穿着黑袍的僧侣来应门。他们用科普特语交谈了好一阵子，然后炼金术士让男孩进入修道院门内。
“我请求他借我用一会儿他们的厨房。”炼金术士微笑着。
他们走到修道院后面的厨房。那个僧侣拿给炼金术士一些锡，炼金术士点燃炉火，把锡放在一只平底铁锅里。当锡逐渐溶化成液状后，炼金术士拿出他的袋子，取出那颗奇怪的黄蛋。他从黄蛋的表面刮下一小薄片，用蜡封起来，放进铁锅里，和溶化的锡一起加热。
混合以后的东西变成红色，几乎就像是血的颜色。炼金术士把平底铁锅移离炉火上，放在一旁让它冷却。在等它冷却时，炼金术士和那个僧侣聊起了部族战争。
“我想战争还会再持续很长的时间。”
僧侣很激动，商队已经在吉萨停留很久了，等着战争结束。
“不过上帝的旨意必须贯彻。”那僧侣说。
“确实。”炼金术士回答。
等锅冷却以后，僧侣和男孩探头看着铁锅，呆住了。原来的锡凝固成锅子的形状，不过它不再是锡，而是黄金。
“有一天我是不是也学这个？”男孩问。
“这是我的天命，不是你的。”炼金术士回答，“我只是要表现给你看，让你知道这件事可能做到的。”
他们走回修道院门口。在那里，炼金术士把金盘分成四块。
“这一块是你的，”他把其中一块给修道院的那个僧侣，“因为你能慷慨厚待异教徒。”
“可是这个报酬已经超过我的慷慨了。”僧侣回答。
“千万不要再这么说，因为生命正在听着，而下一次就会给你少一点。”
炼金术士转向男孩，“这是给你的，补偿你给那个军队首领的。”
男孩正想说那远比他失去的多，不过他最后仍沉默地接过来，因为他刚听见炼金术士对僧侣说的话。
“这一块是要给我的。”炼金术士拿了其中一块，“因为我必须回去沙漠里，而那里正在打仗。”
他拿起第四块，交给僧侣。
“这是留给男孩的，如果他将来需要的话。”
“可是我正要去找我的宝藏，”男孩说，“而我现在离我的宝藏已经很近了。”
“我确信你一定会找到你的宝藏的。”
“那么为什么还要给这个？”
“因为你已经两度失去了你的财产，第一次是小偷，第二次是给那个首领。我是个老而迷信的阿拉伯人，我相信我们的谚语。有一名谚语说，“事情若发生了一次，那他不会再发生第二次，但如果事情发生了两次，那么它肯定会再发生第三次。”说完他们骑上马走了。
“我要告诉你一个关于“梦”的故事。”炼金术士说。
男孩策马骑近炼金术士一些。
“在古老的罗马时期，提比略大帝的时候，有一位善良的人生了两个儿子。其中一个儿子从军，并且被送到罗马帝国最偏远的地区去。另外一个儿子是个诗人，而且以擅长写美丽的诗篇而闻名全帝国。
有一天晚上，这位父亲梦见一位天使出现在他面前，告诉他，他其中一位儿子所说的话，将会留芳千古，被后世好几代人传诵、学习。这位父亲醒过来以后，欢喜得哭了，因为生命对待他实在太慷慨了，而且还把这件每个父亲都会引以为荣的事让他知道。
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