穿越乌拉尔山脉

第三天早晨，火车在叶卡捷琳堡停下。加丽娜在夜里已经离开。帕维尔还在睡觉。两个新乘客占据了空铺：一个大约二十岁的士兵，穿着一身干净得还没穿过的制服，还有一个头发灰黄的老者，带着一个钓鱼工具箱。

On the third morning, the train stopped at Yekaterinburg. Galina had already left in the night. Pavel was still asleep. Two new passengers had taken the empty bunks: a soldier of perhaps twenty in a uniform too clean to have been worn yet, and an older man with grey-yellow hair and a fishing tackle box.

波莉跳到窗边。

Polly hopped to the window.

叶卡捷琳堡是乌拉尔山脉最大的城市。乌拉尔山脉将欧洲和亚洲分开。它们不高，更像是一个长长的磨损的山脊，而不是一道墙。但它们很古老。五亿年前，乌拉尔山脉已经是主要的山脉。它们被磨损了五亿年，仍然屹立不倒。它们是地球上最古老的山脉之一。

Yekaterinburg is the largest city in the Urals. The Ural Mountains divide Europe from Asia. They are not high, more a long worn ridge than a wall. But they are old. Five hundred million years ago, the Urals were already a major mountain range. They have been worn down for half a billion years and are still there. They are some of the oldest mountains on Earth.

西伯利亚大铁路通过叶卡捷琳堡穿越乌拉尔山脉。在铁路的1777公里处有一个小标志，一边写着“欧洲”，另一边写着“亚洲”。列车员微笑着告诉波莉，这个标志是为游客设的。真正的地理边界并不是一个明确的点。分界线大致沿着乌拉尔河的分水岭延伸。

The Trans-Siberian crosses the Urals through Yekaterinburg. There is a small marker at kilometre 1,777 of the line that says EUROPE on one side and ASIA on the other. The conductor told Polly, with a small smile, that the marker was a tourist invention. The real border, geographically, was not at a clean point. The dividing line runs roughly along the watershed of the Ural River.

但象征性的穿越才是重点。

But the symbolic crossing was the point.

带着钓鱼工具箱的新乘客打开箱子，把他的鱼饵摆在桌上。他按颜色排列。

The new passenger with the tackle box opened it and laid out his lures on the table. He arranged them by colour.

“你在哪儿钓鱼？”波莉问。

"Where do you fish?" Polly asked.

他抬起头。“贝加尔湖，”他说，“三天后。欧姆尔鱼，贝加尔湖的鲑鱼。你在世界上其他地方找不到。”他指着一个绿色和银色的勺形鱼饵。“这就是我用的。”

He looked up. "Lake Baikal," he said. "In three days. Omul. The salmon of Baikal. You will not find it anywhere else in the world." He pointed at a green-and-silver spoon. "This is what I use."

几个小时后，接近佩尔沃乌拉尔斯克时，火车慢慢驶过一块空地上的小白色方尖碑。一边写着“欧洲”，另一边写着“亚洲”。三个游客向火车挥手。帕维尔从他的笔记本电脑上抬起一只手，挥了挥。

A few hours later, near Pervouralsk, the train slowed past a small white obelisk in a clearing. EUROPE on one side. ASIA on the other. Three tourists waved at the train. Pavel lifted one hand from his laptop and waved back.

方尖碑渐渐远去。火车穿越了一个大陆，就像你可能穿过一条小街一样。

The obelisk slid away. The train had crossed a continent the way you might cross a small street.