Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 And then something stabbed him in the back. He thought he'd been hit by a piece of glass. But it was Nya. She had her front paws on Ben, and her back claws still anchored to the tree. Nya was trying to hold him in place! It felt as if ten curved nails were hooked into his skin. But Ben gritted his teeth, and forced his icy fingers to cling to the tree. He swung his legs, wrapping them tightly around the trunk. Bit by bit, he shimmied up, so his body was out of the water. He'd made it.

然后有什么东西从背后捅了他一刀。 他以为自己被一块玻璃击中了。 但那是妮雅。她把前爪放在本身上，后爪还拴在树上。 妮雅想把他固定住!感觉好像有十根弯曲的指甲钩住了他的皮肤。 但本咬紧牙关，强迫他冰冷的手指紧紧抓住树。 他摆动着双腿，紧紧地绕在箱子上。 他一点一点地浮了上来，身体露出了水面。 他成功了。

Nya unhooked from him, and climbed up the tree so that she was resting on Ben's shoulder. "Thank you, Nya," he gasped. Crazy kid, talking to a cat again. Ben clung to the tree as the water rushed back to the ocean. It was shocking how quickly the water went away, as if it was draining from a gigantic bathtub. It had to be more than twenty feet deep in places. But within minutes, it was all gone. In its place was a sea of mud — knee-deep, black, and oily. There was a terrible smell — a rotten, poisonous stench — that burned Ben's nose. Ben and Nya climbed down from the tree. Ben stared at the heaps of wreckage piled everywhere. There was so much wood and metal, crushed roof tiles, and bits of houses and buildings that had been chewed up by the wave. And there were things, clothes and books and magazines, an

妮雅从他身上解下钩，爬上树，这样她就可以在本的肩膀上休息了。 “谢谢你，妮雅。”他喘着气说。 疯孩子，又和猫说话了。 当水涌回大海时，本紧紧地抱在树上。 令人震惊的是，水消失得如此之快，就好像从一个巨大的浴缸里流出来一样。 有些地方必须有二十多英尺深。 但几分钟之内，一切都消失了。 取而代之的是一片泥海——深及膝盖，又黑又油。 一股可怕的气味——一种腐烂的、有毒的恶臭——刺痛了本的鼻子。 本和妮雅从树上爬了下来。 本盯着到处都是成堆的残骸。 有很多木头和金属，破碎的屋顶瓦片，以及被海浪侵蚀的房屋和建筑物的碎片。 还有很多东西，衣服，书，杂志，还有

armless doll and a crushed baseball cap, a smashed laptop computer. What about the people who had bought these things, who had worn the clothes and turned those pages, who had played with the doll and looked up basketball scores on that computer? Where were those people? Was Ben the only person left? A dark feeling came over him, blacker than the wave. Ben had never felt more tired, or more cold. His muddy clothes were frozen to his body. His bones had turned to icicles. His body was raked with gashes and cuts. His strength was gone. He was out of ideas. He wanted to curl up in the mud. Yes, that's what he needed to do. Close his eyes. Forget all this. But suddenly Dad flashed into his mind. He remembered what Dad had told him about his last night in the cave in afghanistan. I was in bad shape. Dad had said

一个没胳膊的娃娃，一顶压碎的棒球帽，一台压碎的笔记本电脑。 那些买了这些东西的人，那些穿了这些衣服翻了那些书的人，那些玩娃娃在电脑上查篮球比分的人呢? 那些人在哪里?本是唯一留下的人吗? 一种黑暗的感觉袭上他的心头，比海浪还要黑。 本从来没有觉得这么累，这么冷过。 他的泥衣服都冻僵了。 他的骨头变成了冰柱。 他的身上布满了刀伤。 他的力气消失了。他无计可施。 他想蜷缩在泥里。 是的，那是他需要做的。 闭上他的眼睛。忘掉这一切吧。 但是他突然想起了爸爸。 他想起了爸爸告诉他的他在阿富汗山洞里的最后一夜。 我的状态很糟糕。爸爸说过

He was freezing cold, starving, and exhausted. His ankle throbbed, and was swollen to the size of a melon. The cave was crawling with rats, and Dad had hardly slept. He'd eaten some leaves that made his lips swell and his throat burn. He had no water. His radio was out of battery power. He'd been trying to send a signal all week, and had heard some crackling voices on the other end. But he had no idea who those voices belonged to, whether help was on the way or not. "Things did not look good," Dad had said. "They did not look good at all. But here's one thing they don't teach you in training, that you just have to know in your heart. You have to know that no matter how scared you are, no matter how hopeless things seem, you simply cannot give up hope." And Dad didn't. He killed a rat and cooked it for dinner. He kept his mind clear by thinking of Mom and Ben, and the happy times ahead of them. He swung his

他又冷又饿又累。 他的脚踝隐隐作痛，肿得像个甜瓜那么大。 山洞里到处都是老鼠，爸爸几乎没有睡觉。 他吃了一些叶子，嘴唇肿了起来，喉咙发烫。 他没有水喝。他的收音机没电了。 整个星期他都在试着发送信号，听到电话那头传来了噼里啪啦的声音。 但他不知道那些声音是谁的，也不知道救援是否即将到来。 “情况看起来不妙，”爸爸说。 “他们看起来一点都不好。 但有一件事他们在训练中不会教你，你只需要在心里记住。 你必须知道，无论你有多害怕，无论事情看起来有多绝望，你都不能放弃希望。” 爸爸没有。他杀了一只老鼠，做了晚餐。 他想着妈妈和本，想着他们即将度过的快乐时光，保持头脑清醒。 他挥舞着他的

arms in circles to keep blood flowing through his fingers. On the morning of the seventh day, Dad woke up to the sound of a helicopter thundering overhead. He was too weak to walk. So he crawled out of the cave. He made it out just in time to see the helicopter overhead, just in time to fire his signal gun. Just in time to be saved. Ben closed his eyes and took deep breaths until his mind felt calmer. He scanned the wreckage for something — anything — that would be useful. He finally glimpsed a can of some kind. It was fruit juice. He cleaned off the top and guzzled down half of it. He poured the rest into one of his dirty hands so Nya could lap it up. He was still thirsty, but the juice gave him a flicker of strength. Ben lifted Nya. He held her up so he could look into her cloudy blue eyes.

双臂成圈，让血液在手指间流动。 在第七天的早晨，爸爸在头顶直升飞机的轰鸣声中醒来。 他太虚弱，走不动路。于是他爬出了山洞。 他及时逃了出来，看到了头顶上的直升机，及时发射了信号枪。 正好赶上被拯救的时间。本闭上眼睛，深呼吸，直到他的头脑平静下来。 他在残骸中寻找有用的东西——任何有用的东西。 他终于瞥见了某种罐头。 是果汁。他把盖子擦干净，一口气喝了一半。 他把剩下的倒在一只脏手里，好让妮娅把它舔起来。 他还是很渴，但果汁给了他一点力量。 本抱起妮娅。他把她举起来，这样就能看到她那双浑浊的蓝眼睛。

For the first time he wondered how she had survived the wave, how she'd gotten herself onto that mattress, how she'd made sure someone found her. Harry had been right about Nya. She was as tough as a Jedi warrior. "We're going to find them, right?" he said to her, not caring anymore that it was crazy to talk to a cat. "Eee, eee," Nya said. Ben decided that meant yes. Ben carefully draped Nya around his neck. He turned away from the ocean, and pointed himself toward the mountains. And he walked.

他第一次想知道她是如何在海浪中幸存下来的，她是如何爬上那张床垫的，她是如何确保有人找到她的。 哈利对妮雅的看法是对的。 她像绝地武士一样强悍。 “我们会找到他们的，对吧?”他对她说，不再在乎和一只猫说话是疯狂的。 “咦，咦，”妮雅说。本认为这意味着同意。 本小心翼翼地把妮雅套在脖子上。 他转身离开大海，指向群山。 他走了。