When I was twelve or thirteen years old, an uncle of mine who gave me my love for books and pictures promised to take me upon a memorable expedition.
当我十二三岁的时候，我的那位引导我爱上书籍和图画的舅舅，答应带我做一次永难忘怀的探险
I was to go with him to the top of the tower of Old Saint Lawrence in Rotterdam.
他要我跟他一起上到鹿特丹老圣劳伦斯教堂的塔楼顶上去。
And so, one fine day, a sexton with a key as large as that of Saint Peter opened a mysterious door.
于是，在一个风和日丽的日子里，教堂司事拿着一把足以与圣彼得的钥匙相媲美的大钥匙，给我俩打开了那扇通往塔楼的神秘大门。
"Ring the bell," he said, "when you come back and want to get out,"
“等你们下楼出来时”他说，“拉拉铃就行啦。”
and with a great grinding of rusty old hinges he separated us from the noise of the busy street
说完，在生锈的铰链发出的吱吱声中，他关上了门，一下子将繁忙街道的喧嚣隔在我们身后，
and locked us into a world of new and strange experiences.
把我们锁进了一个崭新而陌生的世界里。
For the first time in my life I was confronted by the phenomenon of audible silence.
在我生命中的头一回，就发觉了“可听见的寂静”这种现象。
When we had climbed the first flight of stairs,
当我们踏上第一段楼梯时，
I added another discovery to my limited knowledge of natural phenomena-that of tangible darkness.
在我的自然现象的有限知 识里面又增加了另一种经验——可触摸得到的黑暗。
A match showed us where the upward road continued.
一根火柴为我们指引出向上的路。
We went to the next floor and then to the next and the next until I had lost count
我们上到第二层，第三层，第四层... ...一层层不断往上，数不清是第几层，前面的楼梯却仿佛无穷无尽。
and then there came still another floor, and suddenly we had plenty of light.
最后，我们猛然走进一片巨大的光泽之中。
This floor was on an even height with the roof of the church, and it was used as a storeroom.
塔楼的这一层与教堂的顶部齐平，用作储藏室，
Covered with many inches of dust, there lay the abandoned symbols of a venerable faith which had been discarded by the good people of the city many years ago.
散乱地堆放着许多古老信仰的圣像。这座城市的善良居民们在很多年前就弃绝了这种信仰，在被抛弃的圣像们身上，积满了厚厚的灰尘。
That which had meant life and death to our ancestors was here reduced to junk and rubbish.
那些对我们的先人意味着生和死的重要事物，在这里论为了尘埃和垃圾。
The industrious rat had built his nest among the carved images and the ever watchful spider had opened up shop between the outspread arms of a kindly saint.
勤劳的耗子在这些雕像间搭了窝，永远警觉的蜘蛛还在一尊仁慈的圣像伸出的双臂间结了网。
The next floor showed us from where we had derived our light.
再上一层楼梯，我们终于发现光亮来自这里敞开的窗户。
Enormous open windows with heavy iron bars made the high and barren room the roosting place of hundreds of pigeons.
沉重的铁条嵌在巨大的窗户上，其间出入的上百只鸽子把 这个高处不胜寒的地方当成了他们惬意的居所。
The wind blew through the iron bars and the air was filled with a weird and pleasing music.
风透过铁栅吹进来，空气中浸润着一种神秘而令人愉悦的音乐。
It was the noise of the town below us, but a noise which had been purified and cleansed by the distance.
仔细一听原来那是从我们脚下传来的城市的声音。遥远的距离将它们过滤得澄澈而干净了。
The rumbling of heavy carts and the clinking of horses' hoofs, the winding of cranes and pulleys, the hissing sound of the patient steam
载重的大车的辚辚，马蹄的得得，起重机与滑车的辘辘，
which had been set to do the work of man in a thousand different ways-they had all been blended into a softly rustling whisper
--这些嘈杂的声音融成一片轻柔的沙沙声，
which provided a beautiful background for the trembling cooing of the pigeons.
给了鸽子的战栗的咕咕声一个美丽的背景。
Here the stairs came to an end and the ladders began.
楼梯到这一层就没有了，再往上必须爬梯子。
And after the first ladder (a slippery old thing which made one feel his way with a cautious foot) there was a new and even greater wonder, the town-clock.
爬完第一架梯子（它又旧又滑，你必须小心翼翼踩稳每一级）迎接我 们的是一个崭新而伟大的奇迹——城市的时钟。
