通往滴水泉的路

早些时候，通往滴水泉的路只有“乌斯曼小道”。

Earlier, the only road to the Dripping Spring was the “Usman Trail”.

乌斯曼是一百年前那个鼎鼎有名的“哈萨克王”。

Usman was the renowned “Kazakh King” from a hundred years ago.

而更早的一些时候，在这片茫茫戈壁上，所有的道路都只沿其边缘远远绕过。

Even earlier, in this vast Gobi desert, all roads only skirted far along its edges.

那些路断断续续地，虚弱地行进在群山褶皱之中，遥遥连接着阿尔泰的绿洲和南方的草原雪山。

Those roads intermittently and feebly wound through the mountain folds, connecting the oases of Altai with the snowy mountains of the southern prairies at a distance.

没有人能从这片荒原的腹心通过。没有水，没有草，马饥人渴。这是一块死亡之地。

No one could pass through the heart of this wilderness. No water, no grass, horses starve and humans thirst. It is a land of death.

唯一知道水源的，只有那些奔跑在沙漠间的鹅喉羚与野马，但它们不能开口说出一句话来。

The only ones who knew of water sources were the gazelles and wild horses running through the desert, yet they could not speak a word.

它们因为深藏着水的气息而生有晶莹深邃的眼睛。

They possessed clear, deep-set eyes from harboring the scent of water within.

大约就在那个时候，就有滴水泉的传说了吧？

It was perhaps at that time that the legend of Dripping Spring began to circulate?

那时，只在牧民之间，寂静而神秘地流传着一种说法：在戈壁滩最最干涸的腹心地带，在那里的某个角落，深深地掩藏着一眼奇迹般的泉水。

At that time, it was said quietly and mysteriously among herders: in the most arid heart of the Gobi, in some corner there, a miraculous spring was deeply hidden.

水从石头缝里渗出，一滴一滴掉进地面上的水洼中，夜以继日，寒暑不息。

Water seeped from the crevices of rocks, dripping drop by drop into the puddles on the ground day and night, through heat and cold without end.

那里有着一小片青翠静谧的草地，有几丛茂盛的灌木。

There was a small patch of lush, tranquil grassland, with several clusters of dense shrubs.

水流在草丛间闪烁，浅浅的沼泽边生满苔藓。

Water shimmered among the grass, and the shallow swamp was covered in moss.

那是一片狭小而坚定的沙漠绿洲——有人声称目睹过那幕情景。

It was a small but resolute desert oasis—some claimed to have witnessed that scene.

当时他身处迷途，几天几夜滴水未进，已是意识昏茫，濒临死亡。

He was lost at the time, having gone days and nights without a drop to drink, nearing death with a dazed consciousness.

然而就在那时，他一脚踩入滴水泉四周潮湿的草丛中，顿时感激得痛哭起来。

Yet at that moment, he stepped into the damp grass around Dripping Spring, and instantly broke into tears of gratitude.

他在那里痛饮清冽的甘泉，泪流满面。

He drank deeply from the pure spring, tears streaming down his face.

每一个牧民在荒野深处寻找丢失羊羔的时候，都坚信滴水泉就在附近。

Every herder searching for a lost lamb in the depths of the wilderness firmly believed that Dripping Spring was nearby.

也许就在前方那座寻常的沙丘背面？

Maybe just behind that ordinary sand dune ahead?

他四面呼喊，又饥又渴地走过一座又一座沙漠中的高地，踮足遥望。

He called out in all directions, walking through one high point after another in the desert, looking on tiptoe.

野地茫茫，空无一物。

The wilderness was vast and empty.

但他仍然坚信着滴水泉。

But he still firmly believed in Dripping Spring.

滴水泉如同这片大地上的神明。

Dripping Spring was like a deity on this earth.

它的水，一滴一滴从无比高远之处落下，一滴一滴敲打着存在于这里的一切生命痕迹的脉搏，一滴一滴无边无际地渗入苦寂的现实生活与美好纯真的传说。

Its water fell drop by drop from an incomparably high place, each drop beating the pulse of all life that existed here, each drop penetrating endlessly into the bitter silence of reality and the beautiful innocence of legend.

然而战乱使大地上不再存在安静的角落。

However, war had made quiet corners of the earth no longer exist.

滴水泉最终还是从牧民世代口耳相传的秘密中现身了。

Dripping Spring eventually emerged from the secret passed down through generations of herders.

它的确切位置在戈壁滩平凡的遥远之处被圈点了出来。

Its exact location was marked in the ordinary distance of the Gobi.

乌斯曼的烈马走出了一条忽明忽暗的道路，笔直地戳向滴水泉。

Usman’s fierce horses forged a pathway that flickered between light and dark, pointing straight towards Dripping Spring.

那些烽火连天、浓烟四起的年月里，乌斯曼一手持匕首一手握马缰，无数次孤身前往这隐蔽狭小的绿洲，补充给养，休养生息。

In those years of smoke and fire, Usman, with a dagger in one hand and the reins in the other, repeatedly ventured alone to this concealed and small oasis, to replenish supplies and rest.

然后北上南下，穿梭战事。

Then he traveled north and south, shuttling through battles.

滴水泉的隐秘在无形间造就了这个“哈萨克王”的神出鬼没吗？

Did the secrecy of Dripping Spring unknowingly enable the elusive “Kazakh King”?

在当时，除了戈壁边缘的官道以外，居然还有一条路也能使人在荒原上来去自如——这是乌斯曼的传奇，也是滴水泉的传奇。

At that time, besides the official roads along the edge of the Gobi, there was indeed another road where people could go freely across the wilderness—this was Usman's legend, and also the legend of Dripping Spring.

在我很小很小的时候，还没有现在的216及217国道线，从富蕴县到乌鲁木齐，也没有开通班车（不过当时也没有太多的人需要去富蕴县。

When I was very, very young, the current National Highways 216 and 217 had not yet been built. There were no buses from Fuyun County to Urumqi either (but at that time, not many people needed to go to Fuyun County.

而生活在富蕴县的人们，似乎也没有太多的事情需要离开）。

Moreover, those living in Fuyun County seemed not to have much reason to leave).

要到乌鲁木齐的话，只能搭乘运送矿石或木材的卡车，沿东北面的群山一带远远绕过戈壁滩。

To get to Urumqi, one could only hitch a ride on trucks transporting minerals or timber, taking a long detour along the mountains in the northeast to bypass the Gobi.

一路上得颠簸好几天。

The journey would take several days of bumpy travel.

我永远忘不了途中投宿的那些夜晚，那些孤独地停留在空旷雪白的盐碱滩上的旅店，低矮的、破破烂烂的土坯房，还有房顶上空辉煌灿烂的星空。

I will never forget the nights spent at those lodging spots along the way; the lonely inns located starkly in the barren white salt flats, the low, dilapidated adobe houses, and the splendid, brilliant starry sky above.

一次又一次，我被大人抱下车厢，被牵着往那里走去。

Again and again, I was carried out of the truck by adults, led there.

心中涌动着奇异的激动，似乎知道自己从此就要在这个地方永远生活下去了。

A strange excitement surged in my heart, as if I knew I would live in this place forever.

然而，我的命运直到今天仍没有停止。

However, my fate has not stopped until today.

那条被称为“东线”的漫长道路，只在夏天畅通。

The long road known as the “East Line” was only passable in summer.

到了冬天，山区大雪封路，去乌鲁木齐只能走通过滴水泉的那条路。

In winter, the heavy snow in the mountains blocked the road, and to get to Urumqi, one had to use the road that went through Dripping Spring.

司机们路过滴水泉，无疑是一件快乐的事情。

For drivers, passing Dripping Spring was certainly a joyful thing.

无论当时天色早晚，都会停下来歇一宿。

Regardless of the time of day, they would stop to rest for the night.

打水洗漱，生火烧茶泡干粮。

Fetching water to wash, lighting fires to brew tea and prepare food.

等过了滴水泉，剩下的路程又将是几天几夜无边无际的荒凉。

After passing Dripping Spring, the remaining journey would again be days and nights of endless desolation.

后来，有一对夫妻从内地来到新疆，经历种种辗转后，来到了滴水泉。

Later, a couple came to Xinjiang from the inland, and after various twists and turns, they arrived at Dripping Spring.

他俩在泉水边扎起一顶帐篷，开了一家简陋的小饭馆。

They set up a tent by the spring and opened a simple little restaurant.

所需的菜蔬粮油全都由过往的司机捎送。

The necessary vegetables, grains, and oils were all brought by passing drivers.

这样一个小店对于司机们来说，简直天堂一般。

Such a small store was like heaven for the drivers.

于是，在往返这片戈壁滩的漫长旅途中，总算能过上一天“人过的日子”了。

Thus, during the long journey across this Gobi, it was finally possible to spend a day “living like a human”.

然而这对夫妻，他们在那样的地方讨生活，不只是辛苦，更多的怕是寂寞吧？

However, for the couple, making a living in such a place was not just hard work; perhaps more than that, it was loneliness?

常常一连好几个天，门口的土路上也不会经过一辆车。

Often, several days would pass without a single vehicle on the dirt road at their doorstep.

男的也常常会搭乘某辆路过的车离开一段时间。

The man would often hitch a ride on some passing vehicle, leaving for a while.

再后来，多多少少发生了一些事情，那个女人跟着一个年轻的司机走了。

Later, more or less, something happened, and the woman left with a young driver.

那个男人也没有等待，不久后也走了。

The man did not wait and soon left too.

滴水泉又恢复了深沉的寂静。

Dripping Spring once again fell into deep silence.

不知又过去了多长时间，又发生了怎样的周折，那个女人和那个司机再次出现在滴水泉。

I don’t know how much time passed and what kind of ups and downs took place, but the woman and the driver reappeared at Dripping Spring.

帐篷又重新支了起来，还挖了个地窝子（能住人的地坑，上面盖有屋顶）。

The tent was set up again, and they dug a pit (a livable earthen pit with a roof on top).

于是饭馆重新开张了。

So the restaurant reopened.

泉水边还放养了几只鸡，简陋的餐桌上出现了鸡蛋和鸡肉。

They also raised a few chickens by the spring, and chicken eggs and meat appeared on the simple dining table.

在这里，司机们晚上也不用睡在狭窄的驾驶室里了。

Here, drivers no longer had to sleep in cramped cabins at night.

新的小饭馆还提供住宿的地方，虽然只是地窝子里的一面大通铺。

The new little restaurant also offered sleeping accommodations, albeit just on a big communal bed in the pit.

总会有一些时刻，大家都约定好了似的，突然间会有很多人同时光临滴水泉。

There would always be moments when many people would suddenly come to Dripping Spring, as if everyone had agreed upon it.

那时，饭桌前的板凳都不够用了，吃饭时大家黑压压蹲了一屋子。

At that time, they lacked enough benches at the dining table, where people gathered thickly to eat.

睡觉的地方更是不够用。

There were even fewer places to sleep.

女主人便把自己的床铺让出来，又把饭桌拼起来，还在地面上铺上塑料布和毡子。

The hostess would give up her own bed, push the dining tables together, and lay out plastic sheets and blankets on the ground.

一屋子横七竖八躺满熟睡的身体。

A room stuffed full of sleeping bodies in various positions.

就在那一年春天，从乌鲁木齐到富蕴县的班车正式开通，每星期对发一趟。

That spring, the bus service from Urumqi to Fuyun County officially commenced, operating once a week.

班车经过滴水泉时，整车的旅客同样会下车进食、休息。

When the bus passed through Dripping Spring, all the passengers would also get off to eat and rest.

两人的生意前所未有地兴隆，滴水泉也前所未有地喧哗。

Their business flourished like never before, and Dripping Spring roared with unprecedented noise.

于是两人决定把店面扩大。

Thus, they decided to expand the store.

整个夏天里，当车辆改道穿行在东线的群山中时，滴水泉是悄寂无声的。

During the entire summer, when vehicles diverted through the mountains of the East Line, Dripping Spring was silent.

两个人决定利用这段时间盖几间新房子。

The two decided to use this time to build several new houses.

他们把泉水下的水坑挖成深深的池子，又挖了引水渠一直通向店铺门口。

They dug the water pit at the spring into a deep pool and excavated a water channel all the way to the shop's entrance.

泉水很小，他们用了一整个夏天的时间，耐心地等待水池一次次蓄满，用这些水和泥巴、打土坯。

The spring was small; they spent an entire summer patiently waiting for the pool to fill up repeatedly, using this water and mud to make adobe bricks.

土坯晾干后，土墙很快砌起。

Once dried, the adobe walls went up quickly.

他们又赶着马车，从几百公里外拉来木头，架了檩子、搭好椽木。

They also rushed to haul wood from hundreds of kilometers away with horse-drawn carts, setting up rafters and building the framework.

最后在屋顶铺了干草和厚厚的房泥。

Finally, they laid dry grass and thick mud on the roof.

就这样累死累活干了一整个夏天，房子起来了，新的饭桌也打制好了，新床也添了两个。

Having toiled all summer long, the houses were built, and new dining tables were made, with two new beds added.

他们坐下来等待冬天，等待第一辆车辆在门口鸣笛刹车，等待门帘突然被猛地掀开，等待人间的喧哗再一次点燃滴水泉。

They sat down, waiting for winter, for the first vehicle to honk and brake at their door, waiting for the curtain to be suddenly drawn back, waiting for the noise of people to once again ignite Dripping Spring.

但是，他们一直等到现在。

However, they have been waiting until now.

就在他们盖好房子的那一年，新公路在戈壁滩另一端建成通车了。

In the year they finished their houses, a new road was completed and opened on the other end of the Gobi.

通往滴水泉的路，被抛弃了。

The road to Dripping Spring was abandoned.

那些所有的，沿着群山边缘，沿着戈壁滩起伏不定的地势，沿着春夏寒暑，沿着古老的激情，沿着古老的悲伤，沿着漫漫时光，沿着深沉的畏惧与威严……而崎岖蜿蜒至此的道路，都被抛弃了。

Everything, riding along the mountain edges, across the undulating Gobi terrain, through the seasons and ancient passions, through ancient sorrows, through the long stretch of time, through deep fears and majesty... all the roads that meandered here were abandoned.

它们空荡荡地敞开在荒野之中，饥渴不已。

They lay empty and exposed in the wilderness, thirsting.

久远年代前留下的车辙梦一般印在上面。

Tracks left behind from distant times seemed to dreamily imprint themselves upon it.

这些路，比从不曾有人经过的大地还要荒凉。

These roads were even more desolate than those that had never been traversed.

新的道路如锋利的刀口，笔直地切割在戈壁腹心。

The new road was like a sharp blade, cutting straight through the heart of the Gobi.

走这条路，只需一两天就可以到达目的地。

Traveling this road, one could reach the destination in just a day or two.

一切都在上面飞速地经过，不做稍刻的停留。

Everything sped by on it without stopping for even a moment.

世界的重心沿无可名状也无可厚非的轴心平滑微妙地转移到了另一面的深渊。

The center of the world has seamlessly and subtly shifted to another abyss, along an indefinable and excusable axis.

滴水泉的故事结束了吗？

Has the story of Dripping Spring ended?

滴水泉那些一滴一滴仍在远方静静滴落的水珠，还有意义可被赋予吗？

Do the drops of water, still quietly dripping far away from Dripping Spring, still possess meaning to be assigned?

从此再也不需要有一条路通向它了吗？

Is there no longer a need for a road leading to it?

再也不需要艰难的跋涉和挣扎的生活来换取它的一点点滋润了吗？

Is there no longer a need for arduous trekking and struggling life to exchange for a little moisture from it?

如今我们所得到的一切，全都是理所当然的吗？

Is everything we have now taken for granted?

还有两个人，至今仍留在那片小小的绿洲上。

There are still two people who remain on that small oasis.

仍然还在泉水边日以继夜打土坯。

They still gather earth daily by the spring.

并在等待土坯晾干的时间里，冲着天空仰起年轻的微笑的面孔。

And while waiting for the adobe bricks to dry, they gaze up at the sky with young smiling faces.

只有他们仍然还在无边无际的等待之中，美梦丝毫不受惊扰。

Only they remain in boundless waiting, undisturbed by beautiful dreams.

当我在这片荒野里独自走着走着，不知不觉又走上了通往滴水泉的旧道。

As I walk alone in this wilderness, I unknowingly found myself on the old road leading to Dripping Spring.

野地里，路的痕迹如此清晰。

In the wild, the traces of the path are so clear.

不由得清楚地听到那个女人的声音。

I couldn't help but clearly hear the woman's voice.

当她和她的情人无处可去、无可容身时，她勇敢地对他说：“我们去滴水泉吧！”

When she and her lover had nowhere to go and were without shelter, she bravely said to him: “Let’s go to Dripping Spring!”

边说边为此流下泪水。

And as she said this, tears rolled down her face.