Now their island looks very different from the rest; darker, taller, silent. Giant loops of barbed wire lie rusting in the surf. The cliffs are sheer, blasted smooth and pistling with poken glass. Above them a great fortress extends the precipice way beyond its natural height. Slabs of granite, quarried relentlessly from the once volcanic heart of the island, make up the base of the wall. Smoothed flat by generations of wind and rain, they glitter in the sun. Above them the rocks give way to pick, darker in colour than the stone foundations and topped with ramparts, unpoken and lower＼ing.
现在他们的岛屿看起来与其它的非常不一样；更暗，更高，寂静无声。巨大的一圈圈的带刺铁丝网在海浪中生锈。悬崖陡峭，被炸得光滑，竖立着碎玻璃。在它们上面一个大堡垒超出悬崖的天然高度沿着峭壁的方向延伸出去。花岗岩石板，被无情地从曾经是岛上火山心的地方挖出，做成围墙的底座。它们被一代代的风雨磨平，在阳光下闪闪发光。在它们上面，石头被砖头代替，颜色比石头底座更暗，上面有壁垒，完好无损且低沉昏暗。
It looks as if the wall was meant to end there but as soon as it was finished a second circle of battlements began to rise from the centre. This one was interspersed with watchtowers, which, as far as anyone knows, were never used. When it was finished, yet a third ring of defences was built, slightly narrower than the one before, so that from faraway the island resembled an enormous wedding cake. Caged in scaffolding, the beginnings of a fourth wall are just visible at the top but unlike the rest, its edges are jagged and crumbling.
看上去好像这道围墙打算就此结束了，但它一完成，第二圈城垛开始从中心升起来。这道墙配置有了望塔，但众所周知，这些从未用过。然而当它完工时，又建了第三圈防御工事，比前一个稍微狭小些，所以从远处看，这个岛象一个巨大的婚礼蛋糕。被脚手架像笼子一样困着的第四道围墙已经开始建造，刚好可以看见它的顶部，但与其它的不同，它的边缘参差不齐而且正在剥落。
The surrounding islanders cannot say for sure why the wall was built. Nobody was planning an assault of any kind, nor was anyone powerful enough to pose a threat with enough strength to justify such a fortress. There were no rumours of an attack from overseas, although the people admit that while the wall was under construction, they had grown nervous. Perhaps the builders had heard of a new, formidable enemy that they had not. They felt uneasy, as if they too should be taking special precautions but against what, they had no idea. As the work intensified, so did their alarm. But they had crops to plant, cattle to feed, children to care for and pleasures to seek. Despite their bewilderment, the people of the archipelago got on with their lives and watched in wonder as year after year the fortress grew, until the low clouds grazed its upper reaches and its blackened walls seemed to swallow the sunshine; a poken crown in the deep blue sea.
周围的岛上居民说不准为什么要建围墙。没有人计划任何形式的攻击，也没有任何人强大到足以造成有足够威力的威胁来证明这样的堡垒是必要的。也没有海外来袭的谣言，虽然人们承认墙在建造时他们渐渐变得紧张。可能建造者听说了一个他们没有听说过的新的、强大的敌人。他们感到不安，好像他们也应该采取特殊的预防措施，但要抵抗什么，他们不知道。随着工程加强，他们的警觉也加强了。但他们有庄稼要种，有牲口要喂养，有孩子要照料，有乐子要找。他们虽然困惑，但随着一年又一年堡垒逐渐建成，群岛上的人继续过他们的生活，疑惑地看着，直到低矮的云掠过它的顶端，它那发黑的墙好像要吞掉阳光；深蓝色大海上一顶坏掉的王冠。
Gradually the island fell silent. First, trade petered out and then ceased altogether. Onlookers muttered that with so much time spent on the wall, the builders simply had nothing left to sell. Next, the fishing boats stopped sailing from the ports, then the hearth smoke faded away and only a sandy haze was left hanging in the air; a death rattle of dust. Last of all to disappear were the sounds of building; the echo of pick on pick and the continual whine of pulleys.
渐渐地这个岛变得沉寂。首先，贸易逐渐减少，然后完全终结。旁观者嘀咕说，这么多时间花在围墙上，建造者只不过没剩下什么要卖的东西了。接着，渔船停止从港口启航，然后炉烟逐渐消逝，只剩下一层沙色的薄雾悬在空中；尘埃的临死哀鸣。最后消失的是建造的声音；砖头碰砖头的回声和连续不断的滑车的嘎嘎声。
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