High in the hills above the village of Dunmere, a door is cut into the rock. Behind it lies the oldest cheese cellar in the valley. It runs deep into the mountain, cool and dark, and it smells of milk and moss and patience.
在邓米尔村上方的山丘高处，岩壁上凿着一扇门。门后是山谷里最古老的奶酪窖。它深深地伸进山体，阴凉而昏暗，闻起来有牛奶、青苔和耐心的味道。
Jana is fifteen, and she has been the cheesemaker's apprentice for two years. Her job is simple. Every morning she walks the long shelves with a lantern. She turns the heavy wheels of cheese and brushes the dust from their rinds.
贾娜十五岁，已经做了两年奶酪师傅的学徒。她的工作很简单。每天早晨，她提着灯笼走过一排排长长的架子，翻动沉甸甸的奶酪轮，再把外皮上的灰尘刷掉。
Her favourite part of the cellar is the entrance. Just outside the door stands a stone sundial, half sunk in the grass. It sits in the shadow of a huge overhanging rock, where the sun has never once touched it.
窖里她最喜欢的地方是入口。门外不远处立着一座石头日晷，半截陷在草里。它位于一块巨大的悬岩的阴影下，阳光从来没有照到过它。
That is the strange part. The dial has no sunlight, and yet its shadow moves. Slowly, all through the day, the thin black needle creeps from mark to mark. When it reaches the notch carved like a wheel, the cheeses inside are ready.
奇怪的就在这里。日晷上没有阳光，可它的影子却会移动。一整天里，那根细细的黑色指针慢慢地从一个刻度爬向下一个刻度。等它走到刻成轮子形状的那道凹口时，窖里的奶酪就熟了。
"Nobody knows who made it," the cheesemaker likes to say. "It simply works."
“没人知道是谁做的，”奶酪师傅常说，“反正它就是管用。”
But this week it does not work.
可这个星期它不管用了。
On Monday morning, Jana finds the needle stuck halfway round the dial. It does not move all day. On Tuesday it is still there, like a finger pointing at nothing. Down in the cellar, the wheels stay pale and sour. The cheesemaker walks the shelves with her hands behind her back.
星期一早晨，贾娜发现指针停在了表盘转到一半的地方。一整天都没有动。到了星期二，它还在那里，像一根指向虚空的手指。窖里的奶酪轮依旧苍白发酸。奶酪师傅背着手在架子间来回走。
"The midsummer market is in three days," she tells Jana at dinner. "Every cheese in this cellar was meant to be ready. If the dial will not wake up, we will have nothing to sell."
“仲夏集市还有三天，”晚饭时她对贾娜说，“窖里的每一块奶酪本来都该熟了。要是日晷醒不过来，我们就没有东西可卖了。”
"How do we wake it?" Jana asks.
“怎么才能叫醒它呢？”贾娜问。
"My teacher once told me that the stone is thirsty for sunlight," the cheesemaker says. "It was made for a single touch of true sun every hundred years. I never believed her." She sighs. "I think I should have."
“我的师傅以前跟我说过，这块石头渴望阳光，”奶酪师傅说，“它是为每一百年接一次真正的日光而造的。我从来不信她的话。”她叹了口气，“现在想来，我真该信的。”
Jana lies awake that night, thinking about the huge rock. It will never let the sun in. Unless the sun is carried in.
那天夜里，贾娜躺着睡不着，一直想着那块巨大的岩石。它永远不会让阳光透进来。除非把阳光搬进来。
In the morning she runs down the hill to her friend Mabel. Mabel repairs clocks in the village and talks to each one like a pet.
早晨，她跑下山去找朋友梅布尔。梅布尔在村里修钟，跟每一座钟说话都像在跟宠物说话。
"A mirror," Mabel says at once, when she hears the problem. Her eyes light up. "We need a big, flat mirror. We climb the cliff above the overhang, catch the noon sun, and bounce it down onto the dial."
“用镜子，”梅布尔一听说这个难题就立刻说道，她的眼睛亮了起来，“我们需要一面又大又平的镜子。我们爬到悬岩上方的峭壁上，接住正午的太阳，再把光反射下来，照到日晷上。”
"Where do we find a mirror that big?"
“上哪儿找那么大的镜子呢？”
"The hall has one. It hangs behind the stage." Mabel is already pulling on her boots. "It belongs to everyone, so it belongs a little to us."
“礼堂里就有一面，挂在舞台后面。”梅布尔已经在穿靴子了，“它是大家的，所以也有一点是我们的。”
By midday on Wednesday, the girls are dragging the great mirror up a goat path. It is heavier than a calf, and it is wrapped in an old blanket. Every few steps it slips. Every few steps they argue about whose turn it is to hold the heavy end.
星期三中午，两个女孩正沿着一条羊肠小道把那面大镜子往上拖。它比一头小牛还重，外面裹着一条旧毯子。每走几步它就滑一下，每走几步她们就争一回该轮到谁抬重的那一头。
At the top of the cliff, they stop to breathe. Below them the valley lies spread out like a green map. Directly beneath their feet, hidden by the overhang, is the grey dial with its stuck black needle.
到了峭壁顶上，她们停下来喘口气。山谷在脚下铺开，像一幅绿色的地图。就在她们脚正下方，被悬岩遮住的地方，是那座灰色的日晷和它那根停住不动的黑指针。
"It is half past eleven," Mabel says, squinting at the sky. "Hold the mirror up. Not like that. Higher. Tilt it a little more."
“十一点半了，”梅布尔眯着眼看天，说道，“把镜子举起来。不是那样。再高点。再多倾斜一点。”
Jana tilts. A blinding white circle of light leaps from the glass. It flashes across the valley and swings wildly over a field of sheep. They cheer.
贾娜倾斜镜子。一个刺眼的白色光圈从镜面上跳出来，掠过山谷，在一片羊群的草地上乱晃。她们欢呼起来。
Then the blanket slips from the frame. The old wood groans. The corner twists out of Jana's fingers, and the mirror tips forward over the edge.
接着毯子从镜框上滑落。旧木框吱嘎作响。镜子的一角从贾娜指间扭脱，镜子向前倒出了崖边。
"No!" Mabel shouts.
“不要！”梅布尔喊道。
It falls for a very long time. Then it hits the rocks below with a crash. A thousand silver pieces fly across the grass.
它坠落了很久很久。然后砸在下面的岩石上，发出一声巨响。无数银色的碎片飞散到草地上。
For a moment neither of them speaks. The sun is almost directly overhead.
有那么一会儿，两个人谁都没有说话。太阳几乎已经在头顶正上方了。
"That was the plan," Jana whispers. "That was the whole plan."
“那就是计划，”贾娜低声说，“整个计划就是那样。”
"It was a good plan," Mabel says in a small voice.
“那是个好计划，”梅布尔小声说。
Jana sits down on the warm stone and puts her face in her hands. The sun climbs another notch, and the needle below stays frozen. There is less than half an hour left. At noon, the sun will pass behind the ridge, and the cheeses will miss the market.
贾娜坐到温热的石头上，双手捂住了脸。太阳又爬高了一格，下面的指针依旧一动不动。只剩不到半个钟头了。到了正午，太阳就会转到山脊后面去，奶酪就赶不上集市了。
Then Mabel kneels beside her. She is looking at the pail by Jana's feet, the one that carried their lunch up the hill. Its lid is made of bright copper, scrubbed to a shine by two years of Friday mornings.
这时，梅布尔在她身旁跪了下来。她正看着贾娜脚边的那只桶，就是把她们的午饭提上山来的那一只。它的盖子是亮闪闪的铜做的，被两年里每个星期五早晨的擦洗磨得锃亮。
"Jana," Mabel says slowly. "How many pails does the dairy have?"
“贾娜，”梅布尔慢慢地说，“奶牛场一共有几只桶？”
"Eleven. Why?"
“十一只。怎么了？”
"And what are the lids made of?"
“盖子是什么做的？”
Jana looks up. She understands before Mabel finishes. "Copper," she says. "All of them. I polish them every week."
贾娜抬起头。梅布尔还没说完，她就明白了。“铜的，”她说，“全都是。我每个星期都擦。”
"One mirror was too big and too heavy," Mabel says. "But a chain of small ones could reach anywhere."
“一面镜子太大太重了，”梅布尔说，“可是一长串小镜子，哪里都能照到。”
They do not stop to be careful. They tumble down the goat path, shouting at everyone they meet. In the dairy yard, the cheesemaker stands by the broken glass with her hand over her mouth. She listens to the new plan without a word, and when it ends she only nods once.
她们顾不上小心，一路跌跌撞撞地冲下羊肠小道，遇到谁就冲谁大喊。在奶牛场的院子里，奶酪师傅站在碎玻璃旁边，一只手捂着嘴。她一言不发地听完了新的计划，听完后只点了一下头。
"Eleven lids," she says. "Quickly, then."
“十一个盖子，”她说，“那就快点。”
The church bell rings a quarter to twelve. By then, eleven children stand in a long line up the hillside. Each one holds a copper lid, and each one looks very serious. The first child stands on the cliff top, where the sun is fierce. The last one crouches on the ledge at the edge of the overhang, close to the shadowed dial.
教堂的钟敲响了十一点三刻。这时，十一个孩子已经沿着山坡站成了一长排。每个人手里都举着一个铜盖子，每个人都一脸严肃。第一个孩子站在峭壁顶上，那里阳光最烈。最后一个蹲在悬岩边缘的石台上，离那座被阴影笼罩的日晷很近。
Mabel runs up and down the line like a conductor. She whistles, points, and tilts a lid here and there with two careful fingers.
梅布尔像指挥家一样在队伍里跑上跑下。她吹着口哨，伸手指点，还用两根手指小心地把这个那个盖子拨正一点。
"Left a little," she calls. "No, your other left. Now hold it. Everybody hold!"
“往左一点，”她喊道，“不对，是你的另一边左。好，保持住。大家都别动！”
Jana stays at the bottom, next to the sundial. From there she can see the whole chain, a glittering ladder of copper climbing the hill. Her hands are cold. She sees the first flash of light jump from lid to lid, from the cliff to the ledge.
贾娜留在最下面，守在日晷旁边。从那里她能看见整条链子，一座闪闪发亮的铜色阶梯沿着山坡向上攀去。她的双手冰凉。她看见第一道光从一个盖子跳到另一个盖子，从峭壁跳到石台。
"It is coming," she whispers.
“来了，”她低声说。
The final lid swings round. A thin gold line slips under the overhang. It crosses the cool grass and settles on the stone like a hand.
最后一个盖子转了过来。一道细细的金线滑进悬岩下面，穿过阴凉的草地，像一只手那样落在了石头上。
For a long moment, nothing happens. The children hold their breath. The cheesemaker's lips move silently, as if she is counting.
好一会儿，什么也没有发生。孩子们屏住了呼吸。奶酪师傅的嘴唇无声地动着，仿佛在数数。
Then the black needle shivers. It lifts, trembles, and begins to turn. It slides over the dial faster than any shadow has a right to move. It passes every mark, one after the other. Then it stops with a small, solid click in the notch carved like a wheel.
接着，黑色的指针颤了一下。它抬起来，抖动着，开始转动。它在表盘上滑过，比任何影子应有的速度都快。它一个接一个地经过每一道刻度。最后，它在那道刻成轮子形状的凹口里停住了，发出一声轻轻的、结实的咔嗒。
Down in the cellar, something sighs. It is a soft, deep sound, like a long breath let go. The cheesemaker is already running through the door with her lantern, and Jana follows her.
下面的窖里，有什么东西叹了口气。那是一种柔和而深沉的声音，像是长长地呼出了一口气。奶酪师傅已经提着灯笼冲进了门，贾娜跟在她后面。
On the shelves, the pale wheels are turning gold, one by one, from the edges to the centre.
架子上，那些苍白的奶酪轮正在变成金黄色，一块接一块，从边缘到中心。
Later, the children go home with their lids, and the afternoon is quiet. Jana sits by herself on the doorstep. The golden line has faded from the stone. Mabel has fallen asleep on the grass with a copper lid on her chest. It rises and falls with her breathing.
后来，孩子们带着盖子回家了，下午变得安静。贾娜独自坐在门阶上。石头上的那道金线已经褪去。梅布尔倒在草地上睡着了，胸口放着一个铜盖子，随着她的呼吸一起一伏。
The shadow of the needle rests in its notch. Behind Jana, in the cool dark of the cellar, a single lantern burns. The wheels of cheese sit patiently in their rows, ripe at last.
指针的影子安静地停在它的凹口里。贾娜身后，在窖里阴凉的黑暗中，一盏灯笼静静地亮着。一块块奶酪轮耐心地排在架子上，终于熟透了。
