第21页

    He lay still, in a kind of dream of anguish. His thirst seemed to have separated itself from him, and to stand apart, a single demand. Then the pain he felt was another single self. Then there was the clog of his body, another separate thing. He was divided among all kinds of separate beings. There was some strange, agonized connection between them, but they were drawing further apart. Then they would all split. The sun, drilling down on him, was drilling through the bond. Then they would all fall, fall through the everlasting lapse of space. Then again, his consciousness reasserted itself. He roused on to his elbow and stared at the gleaming mountains. There they ranked, all still and wonderful between earth and heaven. He stared till his eyes went black, and the mountains, as they stood in their beauty, so clean and cool, seemed to have it, that which was lost in him.

    他直挺挺地躺着，仿佛进入了一场极度痛苦的梦境。干渴感似乎已经与他分离了，站在一旁，变成了一个独立的诉求。疼痛也变成了一个独立的自我。沉重的躯体也独立出来。他被分解成了一个个独立的存在。它们之间虽然存在某种神奇而痛苦的联系，但是也渐行渐远了。最终它们会彻底撕裂。太阳炙烤着他，将所有的联系都阻断了。随后它们全会落下去，穿过不断流逝的时空，落下去。他的意识又恢复了。他用胳膊肘撑着身子，望着那熠熠生辉的群山。山峦座座，静静地耸立在天地之间，令人叹为观止。他死死地望着，直到眼前发黑。而那些群山，雄伟地耸立着，如此洁净和清爽，而这正是他身上丢失了的东西。

    Chapter 4

    第四章

    When the soldiers found him, three hours later, he was lying with his face over his arm, his black hair giving off heat under the sun. But he was still alive. Seeing the open, black mouth the young soldiers dropped him in horror.

    三个小时之后，士兵们发现了他，他的脸枕在胳膊上，黑发在太阳下散发着热气。但他还活着。看见他大张着的、乌黑的嘴巴，年轻的士兵们惊恐地把他扔回地上。

    He died in the hospital at night, without having seen again.

    晚上，他死在了医院里，再也没有睁开眼睛。

    The doctors saw the bruises on his legs, behind, and were silent.

    医生们看见他大腿后面的瘀伤后，都陷入了沉默。

    The bodies of the two men lay together, side by side, in the mortuary, the one white and slender, but laid rigidly at rest, the other looking as if every moment it must rouse into life again, so young and unused, from a slumber.

    停尸房里，这两人的尸体肩并肩躺在一起：一个白皙纤瘦，但僵硬地沉睡着；另一个年轻稚嫩，仿佛下一秒便要从沉睡中苏醒过来。