The man who walked between the towers
走钢索的人
Once there were two towers side by side.
从前,有两座大厦比邻而立。
They were each a quarter of a mile high; One thousand three hundred and forty feet.
每一幢都有四分之一英里高;1340英尺。
The tallest buildings in New York City.
是纽约最高的建筑。
A young man saw them rise into the sky.
有一个年轻男子看着它们升入云霄。
He was a street performer.
这个男子是一个街头艺人,
He rode a unicycle.
他会骑单轮脚踏车,
He juggled balls and fiery torches.
会连续向空中抛接球或火炬。
But most of all he loved to walk and dance on a rope he tied between two trees.
但他最爱的还是在两棵树间的钢索上走路或跳舞。
He looked not at the towers but at the space between them and thought what a wonderful place to stretch a rope; a wire on which to walk.
他看着两幢大厦间的空隙而不是这两幢楼,想道:这是一个多么适合架上钢索让人走过去的地方。
Once the idea came to him he knew he had to do it!
一旦这个想法闯入他的脑海,他就知道,他必须这样做!
If he saw three balls, he had to juggle.
如果看见三个球,他就会去抛接它们。
If he saw two towers, he had to walk!
如果看见两幢大厦,他就必须走过去!
That’s how he was.
这就是他。
Hadn’t he danced on a wire between the steeples of Notre Dame Cathedral above his amazed home city, Paris?
在他迷人的家乡,巴黎,他不是已经走过巴黎圣母院教堂尖塔上的钢索了吗?
Why not here, between these towers?
那为什么不在这儿呢?在这两幢大厦之间?
Of course he knew that, as in Paris, the police and the owners of the towers would never allow it.
You must be crazy! They would say. You’d fall for sure!
当然,他知道,同巴黎一样,警察和大厦的拥有者绝不会允许他这样做。他们会说,你一定是疯了,你绝对会掉下去的。
And so Philippe—that was the young man’s name –began a plan to do it secretly.
所以,菲利普(这个年轻男子的名字)开始了他的秘密计划。
The buildings are not quite finished, he thought.
他想,既然这两幢大厦还没完全建成,
Maybe if I dressed as a construction worker …
也许我可以乔装成一个建筑工人……
Early on an August evening,he and a friend entered the south tower.
8月初的一个傍晚,他和他的一个朋友进入了南边的大厦。
They got a four-hundred-and-forty-pound reel of cable and other equipment into the elevator, took it to the unfinished top ten floors, and waited till nightfall when everyone had gone.
他们扛着440磅的钢索卷和其它工具进入电梯,直奔还未完成的最后10层,然后等到深夜所有人都走光。
Then they carried everything up one hundred and eighty stairs to the roof.
接着他们拖着所有东西一步一步地爬了180级楼梯,终于上到了顶层。
At midnight, on the other tower’s roof, two more friends tied a thin, strong line to an arrow and shot it across to Philippe, one hundred and forty feet away.
午夜,在另一幢大厦的楼顶,有两个朋友在箭上系上了一条细长,坚固的绳子并把它射向了菲利普这边,有140英尺远。
It missed, and landed on a ledge fifteen feet below the roof.
结果射偏了,插在楼顶下15英尺远的窗沿上。
Bad luck! Thought Philippe.
“倒霉!”菲利普想。
He crawled down to the ledge, over the sparkling city, and got the arrow.
他慢慢的爬向窗沿,在这星光闪耀的城市上空,他抓住了箭头。
To its line he tied a stronger line, which his friends pulled back to their tower.
他把这条细绳连上了一条更加坚固的绳子,然后让他的朋友们重新拉回那幢大厦。
To his end of the stronger line, Philippe tied the cable on which he would walk.
在这条更加坚固的绳子末端,菲利普系上了他将要走上去的钢索。
It was five-eighths of an inch thick.
它只有八分之五英寸粗。
His friends pulled the cable over to their tower but it was so heavy that it slipped from Philippe’s grip.
他的朋友们把钢索拉向他们那幢大厦,但是钢索太重,它从菲利普死死拽住的手上就开始下滑。
The cable’s middle plummeted toward the street pulling the friends on the other tower to the very edge.
钢索中段朝着大街急速坠落,把他的朋友们拉向了栏杆最边缘。
Philippe, just in time, secured his end.
就在这时,菲利普固定住了他那边的钢索末端。
It took three hours to pull the cable back up.
他们花了三小时才把钢索拉上来。
Frantically, as the stars faded, they tightened it between the towers.
星光逐渐消退,他们发了疯似的在两幢大厦间拉紧钢索。
It was past dawn before they were ready.
破晓时分,他们终于成功了。
Philippe put on his black shirt and tights.
菲利普穿上了他的黑衬衣,紧身裤,
He picked up his twenty-eight-foot balancing pole.
拿起了他28英尺长的平衡杆。
All his life he had worked to be here; to do this.
此生,他就是为来到这里,做这件事的。
As the rising sun lit up the towers, out he stepped onto the wire.
当日出照亮了双子大厦时,他踏上了云霄中的钢索。
Out to the very middle he walked, as if he were walking on the air itself!
走在钢索中间,好似飞翔在空。
Many winds whirled up from between the towers, and he swayed with them.
两幢大厦间风呼啸而过,邀他共舞。
He could feel the towers breathing.
他能感受到大厦的呼吸。
He was not afraid.
他一点都不害怕。
He felt alone and happy and absolutely free.
他只感觉到他自己,只感觉到快乐和纯粹的自由。
A woman coming from the subway might have been the first to see him.
第一眼看到他的,可能是从地铁站出来的一位女士。
“Look! Someone walking on a wire between the towers!”
“看!有人在双子大厦间走钢索。”
Everyone stopped and looked up.
所有人都停了下来往上看。
They gasped and stared.
他们倒吸了一口气,瞪大了眼睛。
It was astonishing.
太惊奇了。
It was terrifying and beautiful.
真可怕,真炫丽。
A quarter of a mile up in the sky someone was dancing.
在四分之一英里高的上空,有人在跳舞。
Police saw it, too.
警察也看到了。
Officers rushed to the roofs of the towers.
警察们冲向大厦楼顶。
“You’re under arrest!” they shouted through bullhorns.
“你被捕了!”他们用喇叭向他喊道。
Philippe turned and walked the other way.
菲利普一个转身,朝另一个方向走去。
Who would come and get him?
谁能去逮捕他呢?
For almost an hour, back and forth, he walked, danced, ran, and knelt in a salute upon the wire.
差不多一个小时里,菲利普来回地走动,跳舞,单膝跪在钢索上致敬。
He even lay down to rest.
他甚至躺在钢索上休息。
The city and harbor spread beneath him.
城市,海湾,平躺在他身下。
The sky surrounded him.
天空包裹着他,
Seagulls flew under and over.
海鸥上下飞舞。
As long as he stayed on the wire he was free.
只要他待在钢索上,他就是自由的。
When he felt completely satisfied, he walked back to the roof and held out his wrists for the hand cuffs.
当他彻底满足后,他走回楼顶,把手腕交给了手铐。
They brought him to court. The judge sentenced him to perform in the park for the children of the city.
他们把他带到了法庭上,法官宣判他必须在公园里为这座城市的孩子们表演。
This he did happily…… though during his performance some boys playing on his wire jerked it and Philippe fell…… but caught himself.
这正是他乐于做的……虽然在他表演时,一些小男孩摇晃着钢索让菲利普掉了下来,但他还是利索的抓住了钢索。
Now the towers are gone.
如今,双子大厦已不复存在。
But in memory, as if imprinted on the sky, the towers are still there.
但是,记忆里,像印在天空中一样,双子大厦始终屹立在那。
And part of that memory is the joyful morning, August 7, 1974, when Philippe Petit walked between them in the air.
当然,这段记忆里还有一个有趣的早晨,1974年8月7日,菲利普•佩蒂特曾在它们之间走过上空。
翻译对照
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