石圈与早班船

布罗德加石圈立在两片湖之间一条窄窄的地峡上，这也是它让人觉得高的唯一原因。石头排成一个直径约一百零四米的圆，一道在坚硬岩石上凿出来的壕沟把它与荒原隔开。它是在四千到四千五百年前立起来的，属于一处世界遗产。

The Ring of Brodgar sits on a narrow neck of land between two lochs, which is the only reason it feels high. The stones stand in a circle about one hundred and four metres across, cut off from the moor by a ditch hacked into solid rock. It was raised between four and four and a half thousand years ago, and it is part of a world heritage site.

从前大约有六十块石头。现在还立着三十六块，而那些空缺和石头一样，也是这个形状的一部分。波莉绕着圈子从外侧走了长的那条路，石南没到膝盖，光在两边的水面上摊得又平又宽。这里没有一样东西是为访客安排的。它是为别的什么安排的，而那是什么，任何地方都没有记下来。

There were around sixty stones once. Thirty-six are standing now, and the gaps are as much of the shape as the stones are. Polly walked the ring the long way, on the outside, with heather to her knees and the light going flat and wide across the water on both sides. Nothing about it is arranged for a visitor. It was arranged for something else, and whatever that was is not recorded anywhere.

接着是离开这件平常事。回到港务办公室，柜台后面站着一只鸬鹚，墙上贴着一张印好的表。“渡轮几点开？”波莉问。“这个多少钱？”她和他一起看那张表，他找到了那一行。“我想买一张票，谢谢。”

Then the ordinary business of leaving. Back at the harbour office there was a shag behind a counter and a printed sheet on the wall. "What time does the ferry leave?" Polly asked. "How much does this cost?" She looked at the sheet with him while he found the line. "I would like to buy a ticket, please."

“这趟航程要多久？”她最后问，然后把票收好。早上，船驶了出去，经过它进来时的那道低矮海岬，群岛按她认识它们的顺序一个个沉到船后面去：一条街的小镇，一个装着村庄的海湾，一座用铁皮房做的教堂，一块满是海豹的礁石，还有在内陆、从海上看不见的地方，一个大部分石头还立着的圆。

"How long does the crossing take?" she asked last, and put the ticket away. In the morning the boat pulled out past the same low headland it had come in by, and the islands went down behind it in the order she had learned them: a town on one street, a bay with a village in it, a chapel made of huts, a rock full of seals, and inland, out of sight from the water, a circle with most of its stones still up.