Raj hated the microphone from the first minute of his first morning in charge.
从他负责的第一个早晨的第一分钟起，拉吉就恨透了那个麦克风。
The canoe hire dock at Heron Lake had one strict rule. Every customer heard the safety talk before they touched a paddle. The owner had always given the talk through a black microphone linked to a speaker on a pole. Now the owner was away for two weeks, and the talk was Raj's job.
苍鹭湖的独木舟租赁码头有一条严格的规定。每位顾客在碰桨之前，都必须听一遍安全讲解。老板一直通过一个黑色麦克风来讲，麦克风连着杆子上的扩音器。现在老板外出两周，讲解的活儿落到了拉吉头上。
"Welcome to Heron Dock," he said, and pressed the button.
“欢迎来到苍鹭码头，”他说着，按下了按钮。
"Dock… dock… dock," said the lake.
“码头……码头……码头，”湖说。
Raj looked at the microphone. A small silver knob on its side was turned all the way to the word ECHO. Years of sticky sunscreen had glued it there.
拉吉看着麦克风。它侧面有一个银色的小旋钮，一直拧到了“回声”两个字上。多年黏糊糊的防晒霜把它粘死在那儿了。
"It sounds like a cave in here," said Yasmin. She worked the paddle counter beside him, and she was already laughing. "A very polite cave."
“这听起来像在山洞里，”亚斯敏说。她在他旁边管桨的柜台，已经笑起来了。“一个特别有礼貌的山洞。”
"It is not funny," said Raj. "The talk is about safety."
“这不好笑，”拉吉说，“这是安全讲解。”
"Then say something safe."
“那就说点安全的话。”
Raj took a breath. "Please keep your life jackets on at all times," he said.
拉吉吸了一口气。“请时刻穿好救生衣，”他说。
"Times… times… times," answered the cliff on the far shore, a little late.
“时刻……时刻……时刻，”远岸的悬崖回答，慢了一点。
The first customers of the day had been waiting on the dock. They were a family of four, and they listened with worried faces. Raj kept going.
当天的第一批顾客已经在码头上等着了。是一家四口，他们带着担忧的神情听着。拉吉接着往下说。
"Do not stand up in the canoe," he said.
“请不要在独木舟里站起来，”他说。
"Stand up… stand up… stand up," said the lake.
“站起来……站起来……站起来，”湖说。
The family looked at one another. Then all four of them stepped into their canoe and stood up. That was what the lake had told them to do. The canoe swung hard against the dock. The father sat down in a hurry, and his hat floated away across the water.
一家人面面相觑。然后四个人都踏进独木舟，站了起来。这正是湖叫他们做的事。独木舟猛地撞向码头。父亲急忙坐下，他的帽子飘过水面，漂远了。
"We heard you," he said, while Yasmin fished the hat out with a paddle. "You told us to stand up. Three times."
“我们听到你说了，”亚斯敏用桨把帽子捞上来的时候，他说，“你让我们站起来。说了三遍。”
"I said do NOT stand up," said Raj.
“我说的是不要站起来，”拉吉说。
"The lake only remembered the last part."
“湖只记住了最后一部分。”
Raj wanted to hide under the dock. He gave the family four new life jackets and a free hour. Then he watched them paddle away, sitting down very carefully.
拉吉想钻到码头底下藏起来。他给了那家人四件新救生衣和一小时免费时间。然后看着他们划走，坐得小心翼翼。
"Fine," he said to Yasmin. "I will fix this microphone."
“好，”他对亚斯敏说，“我来修这个麦克风。”
He tried everything he could think of. First he pulled at the silver knob with the pliers from the toolbox, but it did not move. Then he wrapped the microphone in a towel. The echo became softer, but so did his voice. A woman on the dock asked him to speak up. Finally he pulled out the plug.
他把能想到的办法都试了。先是用工具箱里的钳子去拧那个银旋钮，纹丝不动。接着他用毛巾把麦克风裹起来。回声变轻了，可他的声音也轻了。码头上有位女士请他大点声。最后他拔掉了插头。
Now there was no echo at all. There was also no sound. His voice was far too small for the big lake. It disappeared before it reached the end of the dock.
这下回声完全没有了。声音也没有了。他的声音对这么大的湖来说实在太小了。还没传到码头尽头就消失了。
"Plug it back in," said Yasmin. "You were better when you were loud and silly."
“插回去，”亚斯敏说，“你又响又傻的时候比较好。”
"Thank you very much," said Raj. He plugged it in again.
“多谢夸奖，”拉吉说。他把插头又插了回去。
Yasmin leaned on the counter and checked the clipboard with the day's bookings. Her face changed.
亚斯敏靠在柜台上，查看写着当天预约的夹板。她的脸色变了。
"Raj, a school group is coming at ten," she said. "Thirty students, fifteen canoes."
“拉吉，十点有一个学校团，”她说，“三十个学生，十五条独木舟。”
"Thirty students who will all stand up."
“三十个会全站起来的学生。”
"Probably at the same time."
“多半还是同时站起来。”
Raj sat down on an upturned canoe and put his head in his hands. The clock on the boathouse wall said twenty to ten. The nearest hardware shop was forty minutes away by road, and there was nobody to leave in charge. Yasmin tapped her pen on the clipboard and looked at the water.
拉吉坐在一条倒扣的独木舟上，双手抱头。船屋墙上的钟指着九点四十分。最近的五金店开车要四十分钟，而且没人可以留下来看店。亚斯敏用笔敲着夹板，望着湖水。
"How long does the echo take to come back?" she asked.
“回声要多久才传回来？”她问。
"What?"
“什么？”
"Say something, and I will count."
“你说句话，我来数。”
Raj shrugged and pressed the button. "Hello, Yasmin."
拉吉耸耸肩，按下按钮。“你好，亚斯敏。”
"Yasmin… Yasmin…" The lake answered after about two seconds. This time it repeated only her name.
“亚斯敏……亚斯敏……”湖在大约两秒钟后回答。这一次它只重复了她的名字。
"It never says everything," Yasmin said slowly. "It only says the end of what you said. Last time it gave us 'stand up.' This time it gave us my name."
“它从来不说全，”亚斯敏慢慢地说，“它只说你话的结尾。上次它给了我们‘站起来’。这次它给了我的名字。”
"So?"
“那又怎么样？”
"So we choose the end." She grabbed a marker from the counter. "If you finish every sentence with the part that matters, the lake will say the right thing."
“那就是由我们来选结尾。”她从柜台上抓起一支马克笔。“如果你每句话都用要紧的部分收尾，湖就会说出对的话。”
Raj stared at her. Then he started to smile. "Standing up is not safe," he said, testing it. He waited, and then he said, "Please sit down."
拉吉盯着她。然后他开始微笑。“站起来不安全，”他试着说。他等了等，然后说：“请坐下。”
"Sit down… sit down… sit down," said the lake.
“坐下……坐下……坐下，”湖说。
It sounded perfect. They looked at each other and laughed so hard that the pole speaker shook.
听起来完美极了。他们互相看着，笑得那么厉害，连杆子上的扩音器都震动起来。
They had eight minutes. Yasmin wrote a new talk in big letters on the back of an old paddle. Every line was short, and every line ended on the important words. Raj read each one aloud and listened to the answer. "Put it on, life jacket." Wrong. "Life jackets stay on." Better. The cliff returned "stay on," and it was exactly what he wanted.
他们只有八分钟。亚斯敏用大字把新的讲稿写在一把旧桨的背面。每一句都很短，每一句都以重要的字眼收尾。拉吉把每一句大声念出来，听着回答。“把它穿上，救生衣。”不对。“救生衣要穿好。”好些了。悬崖送回来“穿好”，正是他想要的。
At five to ten the school bus rattled into the car park. Thirty students poured out, talking loudly. A man with a whistle around his neck counted heads and sighed at the noise. The students crowded onto the dock, pushing and joking, and nobody listened to anything.
九点五十五分，校车哐啷哐啷开进停车场。三十个学生涌了出来，大声说笑。一个脖子上挂着哨子的男人清点着人头，被噪音吵得直叹气。学生们挤上码头，推推搡搡，嬉笑打闹，谁也没听什么。
Raj climbed onto the bench by the speaker pole. His knees were shaking, but he held the paddle in front of him and pressed the button.
拉吉爬上扩音杆旁边的长凳。他的膝盖在发抖，可他把桨举在身前，按下了按钮。
"Welcome to Heron Dock," he said. "Today we are in charge of the lake."
“欢迎来到苍鹭码头，”他说，“今天，这片湖由我们来管。”
"Lake… lake… lake," said the water.
“湖……湖……湖，”湖水说。
A few students laughed. Raj waited until the echo had finished. He kept every sentence short, as they had practised, and he spoke slowly.
有几个学生笑了。拉吉等回声结束。他让每句话都保持简短，就像他们练过的那样，说得很慢。
"Jackets are on the hooks. Everyone, put them on."
“救生衣在挂钩上。大家，穿上它们。”
"Put them on… put them on," said the cliff.
“穿上它们……穿上它们，”悬崖说。
A girl at the front shouted it back. "Put them on!" Her friends joined in, and soon the whole dock was chanting it. They were pulling jackets from the hooks as they chanted.
最前面的一个女孩把话喊了回去。“穿上它们！”她的朋友们加入进来，不一会儿整个码头都在齐声念。他们一边念，一边从挂钩上取救生衣。
Yasmin held up her fingers like a conductor. She tapped the paddle rail twice, and Raj went on.
亚斯敏像指挥家一样举起手指。她在桨架上敲了两下，拉吉接着往下说。
"Never stand up. Keep your hands on the paddle."
“千万别站起来。手要握着桨。”
Yasmin shook her head. The lake would only repeat "on the paddle." Raj tried again at once. "Never stand. Stay low, stay sitting."
亚斯敏摇了摇头。湖只会重复“握着桨”。拉吉立刻重来。“别站起来。坐低点，坐着。”
"Sitting… sitting… sitting," said the lake.
“坐着……坐着……坐着，”湖说。
"Sitting!" shouted the students, and they all dropped into a crouch on the dock, grinning. It looked like a very strange dance.
“坐着！”学生们喊道，全都在码头上蹲了下去，咧着嘴笑。看起来像一种非常奇怪的舞蹈。
"If you tip over, you will stay with your canoe," Raj said. "Hold on to the boat."
“如果翻了船，你们要留在你们的独木舟旁边，”拉吉说，“抓紧船。”
"Hold on… hold on."
“抓紧……抓紧。”
"Hold on!" the students answered together.
“抓紧！”学生们一起回答。
By ten past ten the students had learned every rule. They could chant them in the right order. They did it with so much energy that the herons on the far bank flew up. The man with the whistle came to the front. He had stopped sighing.
到十点十分，学生们已经学会了每一条规则。他们能按正确的顺序齐声念出来。他们念得那么起劲，对岸的苍鹭都惊飞了起来。拿哨子的男人走到前面。他已经不再叹气了。
"I have taken groups on lakes for twenty years," he said. "I have never heard a safety talk like that. Every student remembers it."
“我带团上湖带了二十年了，”他说，“从没听过这样的安全讲解。每个学生都记住了。”
"It was the lake's idea," said Raj.
“这是湖的主意，”拉吉说。
"It was the lake's echo," said Yasmin, "and your voice."
“这是湖的回声，”亚斯敏说，“加上你的声音。”
Fifteen canoes slid off the dock in a long line. Everyone paddled sitting down. Nobody stood up, not even the boy who wanted to wave at his friends. Raj sat on the bench and breathed out for the first time all morning.
十五条独木舟排成一长列，从码头滑了出去。每个人都坐着划桨。没有人站起来，连那个想向朋友挥手的男孩也没有。拉吉坐在长凳上，整个早晨头一回吐出了一口长气。
Yasmin passed him a cold bottle of water and picked up the microphone. She looked at the stuck silver knob, and she grinned.
亚斯敏递给他一瓶冰水，拿起了麦克风。她看着那个卡死的银旋钮，咧嘴笑了。
"Do not fix it," Raj said quickly. "I think we need it now."
“别修它，”拉吉赶紧说，“我觉得我们现在需要它。”
The first canoe pushed off the dock. Its paddle hit the water with a bang.
第一条独木舟划离了码头。它的桨砰的一声拍在水面上。
"Splash," said the lake.
“哗啦，”湖说。
