Rhoda had kept Ninth Lock for nine years. In that time, she had never lost a boat. She knew every stone of the old chamber and every turn of the brass wheel. Most of all, she knew the river, which hummed under her floor at night like a sleeping cat.
罗达看守第九船闸已经九年了。这些年里，她从没丢过一条船。她熟悉古老闸室的每一块石头，熟悉黄铜绞轮的每一圈转动。最重要的是，她熟悉那条河，夜里它在她的地板下嗡嗡作响，像一只睡着的猫。
Above the lock, the Slow River ran quietly through the fields. Below it, the water changed. Past the last gate lay the Dark Reach, a wide black stretch that had no bottom. Ordinary oars sank in the Reach, or they snapped like dry twigs. Only boats with the right kind of wood could cross it.
闸门上游，缓河静静地流过田野。下游，水变了样。过了最后一道闸门，便是暗河段，一片宽阔漆黑、深不见底的水域。普通的船桨到了暗河段，要么沉下去，要么像枯枝一样折断。只有用对了木头的船才能渡过去。
One evening, a narrow boat slid into the chamber. A tall man stood at the back, holding a pale paddle. A second oar, just as pale and much longer, lay along the bottom of the boat.
一天傍晚，一条窄船滑进了闸室。一个高个子男人站在船尾，握着一支浅色的桨。另一支同样浅色、长得多的桨，沿着船底放着。
"Good evening, keeper," he said. "My name is Vasco. I need to cross the Reach tonight."
“晚上好，闸官，”他说，“我叫瓦斯科。我今晚要渡过暗河段。”
"Then I will lower you," Rhoda said. "But nobody has come back from the far shore in years."
“那我给你放水下去，”罗达说，“可是多年来，没有人从对岸回来过。”
"I know." Vasco lifted the long oar and held it out to her. "This is a spare, cut from river-ash. It has a twin, and twins pull toward each other."
“我知道。”瓦斯科举起那支长桨，递给她。“这是备用桨，用河梣木削成的。它有一个孪生兄弟，孪生的东西会互相牵引。”
"Your paddle is its twin?" Rhoda asked.
“你的桨是它的孪生兄弟？”罗达问。
"Yes. As long as this oar hangs in your lock, my paddle will always pull me home."
“是的。只要这支桨挂在你的闸房里，我的桨就总会牵着我回家。”
"Then why not carry both with you?"
“那为什么不把两支都带上呢？”
"The Reach pulls too hard for two oars, and I have only two hands." He looked at her steadily. "But if anyone takes the spare away, I will lose my way back. Promise me that nobody will take it from this lock. Not for gold, and not for a good reason."
“暗河段的拉力太大，两支桨不行，而我只有两只手。”他稳稳地看着她。“可如果有人把备用桨拿走了，我就会找不到回来的路。答应我，没有人会把它从这座闸房里拿走。不为黄金，也不为任何正当的理由。”
Rhoda thought for a moment. She had never broken her word to anyone on the river. "I promise," she said. "No one will take it from this lock."
罗达想了一会儿。她从没对河上的任何人食过言。“我答应，”她说，“没有人会把它从这座闸房里拿走。”
Vasco smiled. Rhoda lowered the water and opened the lower gate. Then she watched his lamp shrink in the dark until the Reach swallowed it.
瓦斯科笑了。罗达放低了水位，打开下游闸门。然后她看着他的灯在黑暗中越缩越小，直到暗河段把它吞没。
She hung the oar on a hook above her stove. At night, it hummed softly, as if it were listening for something far away. After a few days, she found that she was listening too.
她把桨挂在炉子上方的一个钩子上。夜里，它轻轻地嗡鸣，仿佛在倾听远方的什么东西。几天后，她发现自己也在听。
On the sixth day, a trader came through with a barge full of lamp oil. He saw the oar through the window and stopped talking in the middle of a sentence.
第六天，一个商人驾着一条满载灯油的驳船过来。他透过窗子看到了那支桨，话说到一半就停住了。
"That is fine wood," he said at last. "I would pay ten silver coins for it."
“好木头，”他终于说，“我愿意出十枚银币买它。”
"It is not for sale," Rhoda said.
“它不卖，”罗达说。
"Twenty, then. Thirty."
“那就二十枚。三十枚。”
"It is not mine to sell." She closed the window, and he left with a puzzled face.
“它不是我的，我无权卖。”她关上窗子，他带着一脸困惑走了。
Twenty days passed. The moon grew full, and Vasco did not come back. Every morning, Rhoda polished the oar and told it the small news of the river. She told herself that a promise does not get lighter just because it gets longer.
二十天过去了。月亮圆了，瓦斯科没有回来。每天早上，罗达擦亮那支桨，把河上的小事讲给它听。她对自己说，承诺不会因为时间变长就变轻。
On the twenty-fourth night, a thin cry drifted up from the water below the lock. Rhoda grabbed her lantern and ran to the wall. Far out on the Reach, a wide flat ferry turned slowly in the dark. It was the wedding ferry from Upper Mill. Its long pole had snapped on the weir. Now the Reach was pulling it away from the shore.
第二十四个夜晚，一声细细的呼喊从闸下的水面飘了上来。罗达抓起灯笼，跑到墙边。远远的暗河段上，一条宽大平坦的渡船在黑暗中慢慢打转。那是上磨坊来的婚礼渡船。它的长篙在堰坝上折断了。现在暗河段正把它从岸边拉走。
Within minutes, half the village stood on the bank. Everyone spoke at once.
几分钟内，半个村子的人都站到了岸上。大家同时七嘴八舌。
"They have no oars!" a fisherman shouted. "Ours would break in the Reach!"
“他们没有桨！”一个渔夫喊道，“我们的桨到了暗河段会折断的！”
"Your pale oar!" a woman cried. "Lend it to a rower, keeper. Please!"
“你那支浅色的桨！”一个女人叫道，“借给一个划手吧，闸官。求你了！”
Rhoda stood very still. Behind her, in the lock house, the oar hummed so loudly that the cups rattled on their shelf. She had given her word. If she sent the oar away, Vasco might never find his way home. If she kept it on the hook, a dozen people would drift into the dark. Both choices felt like a door closing.
罗达一动不动地站着。她身后的闸房里，那支桨嗡鸣得那么响，架子上的杯子都在咯咯作响。她立过誓。如果她把桨送走，瓦斯科可能再也找不到回家的路。如果她把它留在钩子上，十几个人就要漂进黑暗里。两个选择都像一扇正在关上的门。
Then she remembered his exact words. He had not asked her to guard the oar like a treasure. He had asked her to make sure that nobody took it from the lock. To take a thing means to lose your hold on it.
然后她想起了他的原话。他并没有要她像守护宝物一样看守这支桨。他要她保证，没有人把它从闸房里拿走。拿走一样东西，意思是你对它失去了掌控。
"Nobody will take it," she said aloud. "But a keeper may carry it."
“没有人会拿走它，”她大声说，“但是闸官可以带着它。”
She ran inside and lifted the oar from its hook. The wood felt warm, like a hand. "You are not being taken," she told it. "I am carrying you. I hope Vasco will see the difference."
她跑进屋里，把桨从钩子上取下来。木头摸起来是温热的，像一只手。“你没有被拿走，”她对它说，“是我带着你。我希望瓦斯科能看出其中的区别。”
The fisherman reached out. "Give it to me. I am the strongest rower here."
渔夫伸出手来。“给我吧。我是这里划得最有力的人。”
"No." Rhoda pulled the oar against her chest. "It stays in my hands the whole time. Tie this rope to the bollard and let it out as I go."
“不。”罗达把桨紧紧抱在胸前。“它必须一直在我手里。把这根绳子拴在系缆桩上，等我划出去的时候放长。”
She jumped into the small skiff that she used for repairs and pushed off. The water of the Reach felt like thick black glass. She set the oar over the stern and sculled the way river people do. The pale wood did not sink, and it did not snap. Each stroke left a faint silver ring on the surface, and the black water held firm beneath her.
她跳进了自己用来修理的小艇，撑了出去。暗河段的水感觉像厚厚的黑玻璃。她把桨架在船尾，用河上人的方法摇橹。浅色的木头没有沉，也没有断。每划一下，水面上就留下一圈淡淡的银环，黑色的水在她身下稳稳托住了她。
The ferry came slowly closer. She could see the bride's white sleeves and a child hiding his face in his father's coat. When she was near enough, she threw the end of the rope across the gap.
渡船慢慢靠近了。她能看见新娘白色的袖子，还有一个孩子把脸埋在父亲的外套里。离得够近时，她把绳子一头甩过了两船间的空隙。
"Tie it to the post!" she called. "The village will pull, and I will push!"
“拴在柱子上！”她喊道，“村里的人拉，我来推！”
Hands caught the rope. On the bank, thirty people leaned back together. The ferry shivered and turned its nose toward the lock. But the Reach was strong, and the rope was stretching thin. Rhoda's arms began to shake. The ferry stopped, and then it started to slide backward again.
好几双手接住了绳子。岸上，三十个人一齐向后仰着身子拉。渡船颤了一下，把船头转向闸房。但暗河段的力量很大，绳子被拉得越来越细。罗达的胳膊开始发抖。渡船停住了，然后又开始往后滑。
At that moment, a second hum answered her oar from the darkness. It was low and steady, like a deep bell. Rhoda looked up. A small lamp bobbed toward her across the water. Under it she saw a tall figure with a pale paddle.
就在这时，黑暗中有第二个嗡鸣回应了她的桨。声音低沉而平稳，像一口深钟。罗达抬起头。一盏小灯在水面上朝她晃荡而来。灯下，她看见一个高个子的身影，握着一支浅色的桨。
"Keep rowing!" Vasco shouted. "I have been drifting for three weeks, but your oar has pulled me here like a string!"
“接着划！”瓦斯科喊道，“我漂了三个星期，可你的桨像一根线一样把我拉到了这里！”
He pushed his boat beside hers and drove his paddle into the water next to her oar. The two pieces of wood sang together in one clear note. Suddenly the black water went smooth, as if someone had pulled a cloth tight. The ferry swung round and glided toward the lock. The people on the bank fell backward in a laughing heap.
他把自己的船推到她的船边，把桨插进她的桨旁边的水里。两根木头一起唱出一个清亮的音。黑色的水面忽然平滑下来，仿佛有人把一块布拉紧了。渡船转过身，朝闸房滑去。岸上的人们笑着向后倒成一堆。
By the time the sky turned grey, the wedding guests were safe on dry stone. Children slept in blankets. The bride thanked Rhoda four times and kissed the oar once, which seemed to embarrass it.
等天空泛灰的时候，婚礼的宾客们已经安全地站在干燥的石头上了。孩子们裹着毯子睡着了。新娘向罗达道了四次谢，还亲了那支桨一下，这似乎让它有些难为情。
Vasco climbed onto the wall and stood in front of Rhoda. He looked at the pale oar in her hands, and his face became serious.
瓦斯科爬上闸墙，站在罗达面前。他看着她手里那支浅色的桨，神情严肃起来。
"You took it out of the lock," he said quietly.
“你把它拿出了闸房，”他轻声说。
"No one took it," Rhoda said. "I carried it, and it never left my hands."
“没有人拿走它，”罗达说，“我带着它，它从没离开过我的手。”
He stared at her for a long moment. Then he began to laugh, so loudly that the fisherman jumped. "You have kept your promise better than I asked you to," he said.
他盯着她看了很久。然后他笑了起来，笑声那么响，把渔夫吓了一跳。“你遵守承诺，比我要求的还要好，”他说。
Rhoda carried the oar back to the lock house and hung it on its hook above the stove. Then she picked up her lantern and walked out to the wall. She turned the brass wheel to let his boat in.
罗达把桨带回闸房，挂回炉子上方的钩子上。然后她拿起灯笼，走到墙边。她转动黄铜绞轮，放他的船进来。
