英语美文与传神翻译：死海求生（连载2）
Solo Sailor in Peril
文 | 英语和翻译实践者
引言
托尼·布利莫尔是一位世界级的帆船运动员。他最爱的一个是妻子，一个是大海。他渴望永远和妻子幸福地生活在一起，而大海却要扼杀他的这个梦想。
正文
2 Crack of Doom
Later that morning, the wind is blowing harder, and the sea is starting to heave and roll. The wind keeps coming, stronger all the time. Before the storm hits, I drop the mainsail completely. From the cockpit, I look up and see a dirty gray mass about a mile ahead. It is moving closer.
A bloody iceberg, I think, and grab my binoculars for a look. It seems to stretch across the horizon in an unbroken line. It is a single wave and its enormous—six, seven, eight stories high—rolling across the ocean with nothing to slow it down. Then I see another.
I follow a familiar routine. I drop all the remaining sails and go through the boat, making sure everything is stowed properly and battened down. If the boat gets knocked over, I dont want to be injured by anything flying around the cabin.
When I reach into a cupboard, my fingertips brush against something soft. The weaker bird had not escaped; it found somewhere dark to die. “You poor little thing,” I say with a sigh, gently lifting the bundle of feathers into the palm of my hand. “What happened to your mate? I hope he made it.”
Carrying the tiny body outside, I let it slip over the side into the foaming sea. Food for the fish. The circle of life goes on.
By 11:30 that night the waves are huge, about 60 feet high. A wall of water crashes ahead of me and rolls over the deck, flooding the cockpit to my waist. Only my safety harness keeps me in place.
In winds nudging 75 knots, Exide Challenger is really taking a hammering, but at least Ive been able to keep her under control. Around 1 a.m. I set the autopilot and, scrambling into the cabin, shut the hatch. I slump down on a step by the companionway entrance to take a break. Its a good spot to rest: I can brace myself against the violent rocking of the boat and look out the windows at the same time. If something goes wrong, I’m only a few steps from the deck.
All of a sudden the boat is hit by a huge wave. She tips over so far Im certain both masts are almost touching the water. I take a deep breath and wait. Slowly she rights herself, pulled upright by her 14-foot keel, weighted on the bottom with a huge 4.5-ton lead bulb.
At around 3 a.m., I am just beginning to relax when there is an almighty crack! Suddenly my world is completely upside down. Exide Challenger has capsized. Im sitting on the ceiling of the cabin, with the floor above me. Looking down through the large windows in what was the roof, I can see foam and water surging beneath. Its like being in a glass-bottomed boat. “Come on,” I urge, “up you get.”
But nothing is happening. Exide Challenger is not turning right side up. Whats happened? My weighted keel must have snapped off, and thats what caused the cracking sound. And the buoyant masts, which are designed to help right the ship if she turns turtle, must have gone too.
If the sails are the lungs of a yacht, the keel is the heart. The last thing I expected was to lose the keel. Mine wasnt bolted on like most; it was designed to be an integral part of the boat. Attached through a slot in the hull, it stabilizes the boat. Now there is only a crack in the hull where it had once been.
Without the keel, the boat is pitching and rolling uncontrollably. I collect my thoughts. Okay, Tony, I say to myself. Take a deep breath. But I know Im knocking on deaths door. There is no way this boat is going to right itself. I couldnt be farther from help if I tried. I must be about 800 nautical miles north of Antarctica and almost 1400 nautical miles southwest of Australia. So few vessels travel in these waters that the odds of getting picked up by one of them are about the same as winning the lottery.
Fortunately, I have four electronic beacons that can be used as distress signals. Three are so-called Argos beacons that track and identify a boat by sending a codified signal to satellites; the other is an EPIRB, a more powerful distress beacon.
Throughout the race, one Argos has been attached to the outside of the boat, beaming my position to race headquarters. I cant reach it to switch it into the special distress mode, so to be rescued Ill have to use one of the others.
A new problem arises. Since its not likely a signal will penetrate the hull, I have to get the distress beacon outside the boat. But how? If I open the companionway entrance to push it out, I will flood the yacht.
As I stand there wondering, green water churns beneath the windows. The boats broken boom taps merrily away on the outside. The boat rocks and lurches in the stormy sea.
What a mess.
试译
2 灾难突降
快到中午的时候，风力越来越大，大海开始翻腾。风不停地吹过来，一次比一次强大。在风暴到来之前，我把主帆一放到底。我从驾驶舱里往外一看，一英里以外有一团暗灰色的东西，正朝这边压过来。
一座该死的冰山！我想。我拿出望远镜想看个仔细。它看上去像一条横跨地平线的没有断点的线。那是一条滚滚而来、毫无阻挡的巨大的波浪，有七八层楼那么高。另一条波浪也紧随其后滚过来。
我按照常规程序赶紧行动。把所有剩余的帆都放下来，把所有的东西码放好，并用绳索和压板捆绑好。要是船被打翻，我可不想让船舱里的东西砸伤。
当我把手伸向橱架的时候，我碰到了一团柔软的东西。那只较弱的小鸟没有飞走，而是找了一处黑暗的地方死去了。“可怜的小东西。”我叹了一口气，轻轻地拿在手里。“你的同伴怎么样了？但愿它已经飞走了。”
我把小鸟拿到外面，放进翻腾着泡沫的大海里。做鱼的食物吧，生命的轮回就是这样。
到晚上11点半，巨大的海浪约有60英尺高。一条巨浪砸在船前，又翻上了甲板，驾驶舱里的水已达到了腰间。由于安全带把我绑在了座位上，我才不至于到处翻滚。
在速度接近75节的狂风里，我的“伊格赛德挑战者号”颠簸得非常厉害，但我现在还不至于对她失去控制。深夜1点钟左右，我设置好自动驾驶仪，钻入卧舱，关上了舱门。我倒在过道口下面的台阶上休息。这是个休息的好地方：不仅可以对付船的剧烈摇晃，同时还可以透过窗户看到外面。假如出现不测，我几步就可以跨到甲板上。
突然，船被一个巨浪打中了。她倾斜得非常厉害，我可以肯定两个桅杆几乎碰到了水面。我深深地吸了一口气，等待着。慢慢地，她被船底那14英尺长的稳定杆拉了起来，稳定杆的端部有一个4.5吨重的稳定铅球。
3点钟左右，我刚想放松一下，突然听到“咔嚓”一声巨响。我的世界一下子颠倒过来——“伊格赛德挑战者号”翻船了。我坐在船舱的顶上，船底罩在头上。透过下面的大玻璃窗——原来的舱顶罩——我看到翻腾着白沫的海水在下面奔流。我好像置身于玻璃底的船舱中。“加油！”我催促道，“快起来！”
然而什么动静也没有。“伊格赛德挑战者号”并没有从右侧立起来。出什么事了？我那带有配重的稳定杆一定被折断了，那巨大的声响无疑就是断裂时产生的。而且，翻船时用来帮助把船拉起的漂浮杆也一定断掉了。
要是把帆比作帆船的肺的话，那稳定杆就是帆船的心脏。我最不愿看到的就是损失稳定杆了。我的稳定杆不像大部分帆船那样用螺栓固定在船底，而是设计为整个船体的一部分。它通过一个槽口与船体连成一体，来使船身保持平衡。现在，它所在的部位只剩下一个窟窿了。
没有了稳定杆，船身开始摇摆不定。我稳定了一下情绪。“没事，托尼，”我对自己说道，“放松点。”但我知道我在扣响死神的大门。这条船自己不可能再起来了。即使求救，我也离得太远了。我大约在南极以北800海里，澳大利亚西南1400海里。这部分水域的舰船太少了，我获救的机会和赢得彩票的机会一样少。
幸运的是，我带有4台无线电信标，可发射求救信号。三台叫做“阿尔戈”信标，能向卫星发射编码信号，用以跟踪并识别船只。另一台叫做“紧急位置指示器无线电信标”——一种功率更强大的无线电信标。
在整个比赛过程中，一台“阿尔戈”挂在了外面，把我的位置报告给比赛组委会。我现在无法把它打到求救模式。要想获救，我只能用其他三个。
而现在又有了新的问题。由于信号不大可能穿透船体，我得把信标送到舱外。可怎么送呢？要是打开舱门钻出去，舱里就会灌满水。
当我站在那里不知怎么办的时候，绿色的海水在窗下翻腾。折断的张帆杆在外面尽情地敲击着船身。船身在波浪翻滚的大海里摇晃不止。
真是糟糕透了。
（未完待续，后面更精彩）
Cover photo credit: navyhistory.au
译者简介：从事英汉口译和笔译39年，译审，全国第一届和第二届“韩素音青年翻译奖”竞赛一等奖获得者；已出版译著8部，最新译著有《携火奔月》和《我的两次月球之旅》（上海交通大学出版社）。
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