The Signal-Man

I

一

“HALLOA! Below there!”

“喂！下面的人！”

When he heard a voice thus calling to him, he was standing at the door of his box, with a flag in his hand, furled round its short pole. One would have thought, considering the nature of the ground, that he could not have doubted from what quarter the voice came; but instead of looking up to where I stood on the top of the steep cutting nearly over his head, he turned himself about, and looked down the Line. There was something remarkable in his manner of doing so, though I could not have said for my life what. But I know it was remarkable enough to attract my notice, even though his figure was foreshortened and shadowed, down in the deep trench, and mine was high above him, so steeped in the glow of an angry sunset, that I had shaded my eyes with my hand before I saw him at all.

听见有人这样朝他喊话时，他正站在信号房门口，手里拿着一面旗，旗子卷在短短的旗杆上。按地形来看，人们会以为他不可能弄不清声音是从哪个方向传来的；可他并没有抬头望向我所站的位置，也就是几乎在他头顶上方的陡峭深堑顶端，而是转过身去，朝铁路线的下方望去。他这样做的样子有些异乎寻常，但我怎么也说不出究竟异在何处。我只知道，它足以引起我的注意，尽管他身处深深的堑沟里，身影被压得很短，又笼在阴影中，而我在他上方很高的地方，整个人沉浸在怒红的落日余晖里，我得用手遮住眼睛，才看得见他。

“Halloa! Below!”

“喂！下面！”

From looking down the Line, he turned himself about again, and, raising his eyes, saw my figure high above him.

他望过铁路线下方之后，又转回身来，抬起眼睛，看见了高高在上的我。

“Is there any path by which I can come down and speak to you?”

“有没有一条小路，可以让我下来和你说话？”

He looked up at me without replying, and I looked down at him without pressing him too soon with a repetition of my idle question. Just then there came a vague vibration in the earth and air, quickly changing into a violent pulsation, and an oncoming rush that caused me to start back, as though it had force to draw me down. When such vapour as rose to my height from this rapid train had passed me, and was skimming away over the landscape, I looked down again, and saw him refurling the flag he had shown while the train went by.

他抬头望着我，没有回答；我低头望着他，也不想马上再重复那个无谓的问题去催他。就在这时，大地和空气中传来一阵隐约的震动，很快变成猛烈的搏动，一股迎面而来的冲力使我往后一缩，仿佛它有力量把我拽下去。那列疾驰的火车喷出的蒸汽升到我这个高度，从我身旁掠过，又贴着原野飘散而去。我再往下看时，只见他正把列车经过时亮出的那面旗重新卷起来。

I repeated my inquiry. After a pause, during which he seemed to regard me with fixed attention, he motioned with his rolled-up flag towards a point on my level, some two or three hundred yards distant. I called down to him, “All right!” and made for that point. There, by dint of looking closely about me, I found a rough zigzag descending path notched out, which I followed.

我又问了一遍。他停了一会儿，似乎一直在全神贯注地打量我，然后用卷起的旗子指向与我同一高度、约两三百码外的一处。我朝下喊了一声：“好的！”便向那个地方走去。我仔细四下察看，果然发现一条粗糙的之字形小路凿在坡上，通向下方，我便沿着它走下去。

The cutting was extremely deep, and unusually precipitate. It was made through a clammy stone, that became oozier and wetter as I went down. For these reasons, I found the way long enough to give me time to recall a singular air of reluctance or compulsion with which he had pointed out the path.

那道深堑极深，而且异常陡峭。它是从湿冷黏滑的岩石中开出来的，越往下走，岩壁越是渗水湿滑。因此我觉得这段路相当长，足够我回想起他指路时那种奇特的神情，仿佛既不情愿，又像是迫不得已。

When I came down low enough upon the zigzag descent to see him again, I saw that he was standing between the rails on the way by which the train had lately passed, in an attitude as if he were waiting for me to appear. He had his left hand at his chin, and that left elbow rested on his right hand, crossed over his breast. His attitude was one of such expectation and watchfulness that I stopped a moment, wondering at it.

我沿着之字形的小路下到足以再次看见他的地方时，发现他正站在两条铁轨之间，就在火车刚才驶过的那条线上，姿态像是在等我出现。他的左手托着下巴，左肘搁在横过胸前的右手上。那姿态充满期待与戒备，我不禁停了片刻，感到诧异。