At half past four, Omar presses the button on the megaphone, and nothing happens.
四点半，奥马尔按下扩音器的按钮，什么反应也没有。
He presses it again. He shakes it, taps it against his palm, and holds it to his ear. The only sound in the candle workshop is the soft pop of cooling wax in forty metal moulds.
他又按了一次。他摇了摇它，在手心里敲了敲，又把它贴到耳边。蜡烛作坊里唯一的声音，是四十个金属模具里蜡渐渐冷却时发出的轻轻的啪啪声。
"It is dead," he says to the empty room. "Of course it is dead."
“它没电了，”他对着空荡荡的屋子说，“当然没电了。”
Tonight is the lantern walk, the biggest evening of the year for the workshop. Sixty people are coming to climb Larch Hill. Each carries a candle lantern made by hand in this room. The path is three kilometres long. It climbs through pine trees to a narrow ridge, and on the ridge it splits in two. The left fork leads to the lookout. The right fork leads to the old quarry, where the ground ends in a sharp edge.
今晚是提灯夜行，是作坊一年里最重要的夜晚。会有六十个人来爬落叶松山。每个人都提着一盏在这间屋子里手工制成的蜡烛灯笼。山路有三公里长，穿过松林，通向一道狭窄的山脊，到了山脊，路分成了两条。左边的岔路通向观景台。右边的岔路通向旧采石场，那里的地面在一道陡峭的边缘处戛然而止。
Neha, the lead guide, is already up on the hill. She is placing small lights along the path and will wait at the ridge junction. Her job is to call every group to the left fork. Voices do not carry between the dark pines, so the megaphone is how she does it.
领队向导妮哈已经上山了。她正沿着山路摆放小灯，然后会在山脊的岔路口等候。她的任务是把每一队人都喊到左边那条路上。黑暗的松林之间，声音传不远，所以她靠的就是扩音器。
Omar tries the charger in the drawer. It is the wrong one. He tries the spare battery on the shelf, but it has leaked. Its metal ends are green and crusty. He looks at the clock. Seven o'clock is only two and a half hours away, and he cannot leave the workshop. Sixty lanterns still need lighting, and the first guests are due at six.
奥马尔试了抽屉里的充电器。型号不对。他又试了架子上的备用电池，可它漏液了，金属两端又绿又结着硬壳。他看了看钟。离七点只剩两个半小时，而他不能离开作坊。六十盏灯笼还等着点亮，第一批客人六点就到。
Outside, a white van pulls into the yard. The driver climbs out with a box of wax blocks in his arms.
外面，一辆白色的货车开进了院子。司机抱着一箱蜡块下了车。
"Your delivery," he says. Then he sees Omar's face. "What happened?"
“你的货，”他说。接着他看见了奥马尔的脸色。“出什么事了？”
"My megaphone has died, and Neha needs it on the ridge tonight." Omar holds it out like a sick animal. "Can you take it up to her? You pass the Larch Hill road on your way home."
“我的扩音器坏了，可妮哈今晚在山脊上要用它。”奥马尔把它托在手上，像托着一只生病的动物。“你能帮我带上去给她吗？你回家顺路经过落叶松山的那条路。”
The driver looks doubtful. "I can take it as far as the farm gate. After that the road is only for tractors."
司机面露难色。“我最多能送到农场的大门口。再往后，那条路只有拖拉机能走。”
"Then take it as far as the gate."
“那就送到大门口。”
The driver puts the megaphone on the seat beside him, and the van rolls away. Omar goes back to the moulds and tries to forget about it.
司机把扩音器放在身边的座位上，货车驶了出去。奥马尔回到模具旁，想把这件事抛在脑后。
At the farm gate the driver stops and honks twice. A farmer in muddy boots comes out of a barn, wiping his hands on his trousers. He listens to the problem and examines the megaphone carefully, turning it over and over.
到了农场大门口，司机停下车，按了两声喇叭。一个穿着沾满泥巴靴子的农夫从谷仓里走出来，在裤子上擦着手。他听完了事情的经过，仔细查看着扩音器，翻来覆去地看。
"The battery cover is cracked," he says. "Somebody dropped it."
“电池盖裂了，”他说，“有人摔过它。”
"So it is broken?"
“那它是坏了吗？”
"Not necessarily. I have a box of old batteries from the tractor radio." The farmer disappears into the barn and returns with a grey metal block the size of a brick. He holds it against the megaphone and shakes his head. "Wrong shape. Wrong everything."
“不一定。我有一盒拖拉机收音机上拆下来的旧电池。”农夫走进谷仓，拿回来一块灰色的金属块，有砖头那么大。他把它凑到扩音器上比了比，摇了摇头。“形状不对，什么都不对。”
The driver checks his watch. He has two more deliveries before the end of the day and cannot go up the hill himself. The farmer cannot leave his animals. They both look at the megaphone, which sits on the fence post like a small grey trophy.
司机看了看表。他今天还有两单要送，自己没法上山。农夫也不能丢下他的牲口。两人一起看着扩音器，它放在栅栏柱上，像一座灰色的小奖杯。
"There is somebody," says the farmer slowly. "A woman who runs the hill every evening. She comes past about now. She carries all sorts of things in that vest of hers."
“有个人，”农夫慢慢地说，“一位女士，每天傍晚都跑这座山。差不多这个时候她会经过。她那件背心里什么东西都带着。”
"Will she help?"
“她会帮忙吗？”
"If she is in a good mood." He points toward the road. "Look."
“要是她心情好的话。”他朝路上一指。“看。”
Down the track, a figure in a bright green vest is jogging toward them. She wears a headlamp pushed up on her forehead. She slows down when she sees the two men and the megaphone on the post.
小路那头，一个穿亮绿色背心的身影正向他们跑来。她把头灯推到了额头上。看到两个男人和柱子上的扩音器，她放慢了脚步。
"You look like people with a problem," she says.
“你们看上去像是碰上了麻烦的人，”她说。
The driver explains it all in one breath. The runner listens, takes the megaphone, and opens its cover. She studies the cracked plastic, the corroded ends, and the tiny label beside them. Then she unzips a pocket in her vest and pulls out a small battery pack wrapped in cloth.
司机一口气把事情讲完。跑步的女人听完，拿过扩音器，打开了它的盖子。她查看了裂开的塑料壳、锈蚀的接头，还有旁边那张小小的标签。然后她拉开背心的一个口袋拉链，掏出一个用布包着的小电池组。
"I carry this for my lamp," she says. "It is the same type, almost. Hold the cover."
“这是我给头灯带的，”她说，“型号差不多一样。你们扶着盖子。”
She bends two thin wires, presses them to the contacts, and clicks the button. The megaphone gives a thin, bright squeal that makes all three of them jump.
她把两根细线弯了弯，按在触点上，然后按下按钮。扩音器发出一声尖细而响亮的啸叫，把三个人都吓了一跳。
"It works," says the farmer.
“能用了，”农夫说。
"It works for now," says the runner. "The cover is cracked, so I need to keep my hand on it." She tucks the megaphone under her arm. "Where does it go?"
“暂时能用，”跑步的女人说，“盖子裂了，所以我得一直用手按着。”她把扩音器夹在胳膊底下。“它要送到哪儿？”
"The ridge junction," says the driver. "A guide called Neha is waiting there."
“山脊的岔路口，”司机说，“有个叫妮哈的向导在那里等着。”
"I know Neha. She nods at me every evening." The runner checks the sky, which is turning from blue to the colour of apricots. "Forty minutes. If I run well, I can make it."
“我认识妮哈。她每天傍晚都会朝我点头。”跑步的女人看了看天色，天空正从蓝色渐渐变成杏子的颜色。“四十分钟。要是我跑得顺，能赶到。”
She leaves at an even pace. The driver and the farmer watch her disappear into the pines. The driver goes back to his van, still shaking his head, and the farmer returns to his animals.
她以均匀的步伐出发了。司机和农夫看着她消失在松林里。司机回到他的货车上，仍旧摇着头，农夫则回去照看他的牲口。
The path climbs steeply at first. The runner's feet find the roots and stones without looking. She crosses a stream by jumping from rock to rock. The megaphone stays high above the water. Her breath is calm, and her headlamp makes a small yellow circle on the ground ahead.
山路起初很陡。跑步的女人脚下不用看，就能找到树根和石头。她踩着一块块石头跳着过了小溪，扩音器始终高高举在水面之上。她的呼吸平稳，头灯在前方的地面上照出一个黄色的小圆圈。
At the half-way point, the pines open and the ridge appears against the sky. She leans forward and keeps running.
跑到一半的地方，松林豁然敞开，山脊在天空的衬托下现了出来。她向前倾着身子，继续往前跑。
Far above, Neha stands at the ridge junction with a bundle of glow sticks. She has set lights along the left fork, one every ten steps. A single orange one blocks the right fork. She checks her watch for the fifth time. Down in the valley, a thin line of lanterns is starting to wind out of the workshop yard.
高处，妮哈正站在山脊的岔路口，手里抱着一捆荧光棒。她已经沿着左边的岔路摆好了灯，每隔十步一盏。右边的岔路被一根橙色的荧光棒拦住。她看了第五次手表。山谷下面，一条细细的灯笼长线正从作坊的院子里蜿蜒而出。
"Where is it?" she says aloud. "Omar must have found something."
“它在哪儿呢？”她出声说，“奥马尔肯定想到办法了。”
Her words fall into the dark valley. She looks down the path and sees a small yellow light bobbing toward her through the trees. It moves quickly, and it is alone.
她的话落进黑沉沉的山谷里。她望向山路，看见一点小小的黄色灯光穿过树林，一晃一晃地朝她而来。它移动得很快，而且只有它一个。
The runner arrives out of breath, with sweat on her face. She holds out the megaphone with both hands.
跑步的女人气喘吁吁地到了，脸上带着汗。她用双手把扩音器递过来。
"Delivery for Neha," she says. "Three different people have touched this today. Please do not drop it."
“妮哈的快递，”她说，“今天已经有三个不同的人碰过它了。请别把它摔了。”
Neha takes the megaphone and stares at it. "I do not know you."
妮哈接过扩音器，盯着它看。“我不认识你。”
"No. But I know the hill." The runner grins. "Keep your hand on the cover. The battery will last about two hours."
“是不认识。可我认识这座山。”跑步的女人咧嘴一笑。“手按着盖子。电池大概能用两个小时。”
"Two hours is enough."
“两个小时就够了。”
"Then I will go." The runner turns, adjusts her vest, and jogs back down the path. In a moment, she is only a faint glow among the trees.
“那我走了。”跑步的女人转过身，整了整背心，沿着山路慢跑下去。转眼间，她只是树林里一团微弱的光。
Neha stands alone on the ridge. The sun is sinking behind the far hills. The first lanterns climb toward her, tiny and golden. She lifts the megaphone, holds the cracked cover firmly with her thumb, and presses the button.
妮哈独自站在山脊上。太阳正沉到远处的群山后面。第一批灯笼朝她爬上来，小小的，金灿灿的。她举起扩音器，用拇指牢牢按住裂开的盖子，按下了按钮。
It crackles, then hums, then holds.
它先是噼啪作响，然后嗡嗡低鸣，然后稳住了。
She looks down the dark path at the line of lights coming up. Then she takes a deep breath.
她望着黑暗的山路上那一线正在爬上来的灯光。然后她深深吸了一口气。
"Can everyone hear me?" she says.
“大家都能听到我吗？”她说。
