Michael and Mary 迈克尔和玛丽

迈

M ary had spent many days gather-ing wool from the whins on the headland2.They were the bits of wool shed by the sheep before the shearing. When she had got a fleece that fitted the basket she took it down to the canal and washed it. When she had done washing it was a soft, white, silky fleece. She put it back in the brown sally basket, press-ing it down with her long, delicate fin gers. She had risen to go away, holding the basket against her waist, when her eyes followed the narrow neck of water that wound through the bog.

动，又那么稚气可掬。她终于窘迫地笑了，而男子顿时容光焕发，又伸手碰了碰帽子。

11 红脸人拎着水桶，站在船舱口。先看了看玛丽，又看了看舵柄旁的那个人。

“啊哈，迈克尔。”他调侃地叫了一声。那小伙子转头看向船上，玛丽感觉自己的脸红到了耳根。

12“迈克尔！”

玛丽喃喃自语，念叨着那个名字。诸神总算泄露了些许天机。

13 她望着金舟离去，两个方孔舷窗逐渐缩小，最后成了一对眯缝着的眼睛。接着她听到了汽笛声。通常船只在靠近水

“大海！”玛丽惊叹道。她可没见过大海。雨停了。那两人出来时，他俩还贴在一起，站在舵柄旁。

22 那之后的好些日子，玛丽都在篱笆边新开垦的地里劳作，没到水闸那里去。某天深夜，汽笛声响起，响了很久，声音低沉又柔和。玛丽在床上坐起身，丹唇微启，仔细倾听，想起金舟上的迈克尔。听着听着，声音渐渐消失在远处。随后她重新躺下，心想金舟返回时要去看看迈克尔。

23 返回的船上，舵柄旁站着的人不是迈克尔。玛丽来到水

standing by the tiller.She stayed there until a pale moon was shining below her, turning over a little trinket in her fingers. At last she dropped it into the water.

It made a little splash, and the vision of the crescent was broken.■影。最终，玛丽把首饰扔进了河里。

河中溅起一团水花，弯弯的月影也碎了。□（译者单位：兰州大学外国语学院）