♣ (版主執筆翻譯英文)♣

Sunset
《落日》

The clusters of graceful palms, reflected deep in the placid expanse of the backwater, were silhouetted inky black against the sunset sky, aflame with clouds that were the color of gold and fire–and blood!

叢叢的棕櫚綽約多姿，倒映於壅水千頃無波的水面上，夕陽斜照，餘暉襯托棕櫚墨黑的輪廓。日暮赤紅，熠熠而然，其上雲霞金光閃耀，艷紅似火，甚至有如泣血！

A slow breeze caused gentle ripples in the otherwise mirrorlike perfection of the inland sea. The distant melody of a fishman’s flute –now a clear, shrill, bird-like note, now a mere whisper–seemed to enhance, rather than shatter, the all-pervading stillness.

清風徐來，輕拍內海原本水波不興的鏡面，激起陣陣的漣漪。漁夫遠揚的笛聲，時而清脆高亢，宛若鳥鳴千囀，時而柔細纖弱，好似低語喃喃。笛聲裊裊，未嘗敲碎四下籠罩的寂靜，反倒使週遭愈發闃寂。

My boatman, too, seemed caught by the mood of the evening and stopped paddling, as the long slim boat negotiated a curve around a triangular projection of land and glided silently under the overhanging palms, breaking through the delicate filigreed pattern of their reflection in the water. Soon we were out in the open again, but the boatman was silent, his oars lying idle by his side. The boat swayed gently with the ripples in the water, otherwise it was practically sat stationary. It was too peaceful, too beautiful, to be spoilt by any sound or movement. The boat as well as the two men in it were perfectly still. We were not going anywhere. Time itself seemed to have come to a stop.

船夫似乎也陶醉於向晚的氣氛裏，停止了擺槳引舟。棕櫚懸垂於突出的三角沙灘上，影落海面，細長的輕舟無聲無息地滑行而過，劃破棕櫚柔細精緻的層層倒影。傾刻間，我們又回到瑩然千頃的海面。船夫依舊默然，任憑身旁的搖槳閒置不動。海水淪漣，幾近不動的輕舟隨著海波盈盈起伏。環顧四週，氣氛寧靜無比，景緻優美異常，絲絲的聲響和微微的騷動都將破壞這諧和的畫面。扁舟、船夫與我，三者皆靜默不語，也無意航向它處。時光彷彿放下了腳步，凝滯不前。

I looked back. The town of Quilon, the white tops of its buildings barely visible above the palm-fringed coastline, was far, far away and the whisper of a train whistle came as if from another world. Here where I was in a puny primitive boat poised precariously on the gently heaving breast of the ocean, life was elemental, primeval. Here the water was deep, very deep, the blue sky overhead was high, very high. The dark, little, semi-naked boatman might have been from another century, from another age altogether-when the earth was young and man had just learnt to build boats and light a fire by striking a flint stone!

回首眺望，葛蘭城已然遙遠，只見海岸棕櫚綴邊，城中建築物雪白的頂部在棕櫚的遮掩之下依稀難辨。火車遠揚的汽笛聲，恍若來自隔世。這一葉簡陋的扁舟，浮泛於大海微波蕩漾的胸膛上，置身其中，深覺此刻的生命是原始古樸的。滄海恁深，深不可測；蒼穹恁高，高不見頂。黝黑瘦小、赤裸上身的船夫或許是來自另一個世紀、另一個時代。那時，地球方纔誕生，人類剛剛學會打舟造船、鑽燧取火。

The orange ball of the sun hesitated tremulously on the edge of the sea and then gracefully sank, leaving its rays for a brief moment to light up the western horizon and to touch the soft curves of the sea with burnished silver. But the glory of the sunset was short-lived and then, like a pall of death, darkness enveloped the earth and the sky.

夕陽的橘色火球在汪洋盡頭顫動逗留，隨後優雅地沉落。餘暉短暫映照西邊水平線，海面圓滑柔順，波光粼粼、浮光躍金。然而，落日何其短促，當暗夜降臨猶如死亡棺罩，天地隨即籠罩於無垠的漆黑中。

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