But then the day came that Chiang vanished. He had been talking quietly with them all, exhorting them never to stop their learning and their practicing and their striving to understand more of the perfect invisible principle of all life. Then, as he spoke, his feathers went brighter and brighter and at last turned so brilliant that no gull could look upon him.
终于有一天，江一去不返。他先是安安静静地和大家说着话，谆谆嘱咐大家要不断学习，不断实践，对于一切生活中尽善尽美的看不见的原则，要不断努力理解，理解得越深越好。他说着说着，浑身羽毛变得越来越亮，最后变得光辉夺目，谁也无法对他仰视。
“Jonathan,” he said, and these were the last words that he spoke, “keep working on love.”
“乔纳森，要继续在爱上面下功夫。”他说，这是他的最后一句话。
When they could see again, Chiang was gone.
大家再睁眼看时，江已经不知去向了。
As the days went past, Jonathan found himself thinking time and again of the Earth from which he had come. If he had known there just a tenth, just a hundredth, of what he knew here, how much more life would have meant! He stood on the sand and fell to wondering if there was a gull back there who might be struggling to break out of his limits, to see the meaning of flight beyond a way of travel to get a breadcrumb from a rowboat. Perhaps there might even have been one made Outcast for speaking his truth in the face of the Flock. And the more Jonathan practiced his kindness lessons, and the more he worked to know the nature of love, the more he wanted to go back to Earth. For in spite of his lonely past, Jonathan Seagull was born to be an instructor, and his own way of demonstrating love was to give something of the truth that he had seen to a gull who asked only a chance to see truth for himself.
光阴荏苒，乔纳森发现自己不时思念他所离开的尘世。如果他过去能懂得现在所懂得的哪怕十分之一、百分之一，那么生活的意义该丰富多少倍啊！他站在沙滩上，沉入了遐想：在那里会不会也有那么一只海鸥，正在奋力冲破自身的局限，正在努力探索飞行的意义，看出飞行不光是为了从小船上弄点面包屑吃。“说不定，也会有那么一只海鸥因为对鸥群讲出了真理，结果成了弃儿。乔纳森越是进修他的仁慈学课程，越是努力去理解爱的本质，他就越想返回尘世。尽管他往日的生活十分孤苦，他却是天生的导师，而他表示爱的唯一方式，就是把他所了解到的真理、去告诉一只希望有机会亲自了解真理的海鸥。
Sullivan, adept now at thought-speed flight and helping the others to learn, was doubtful.
现在已增长以思想的速度飞行、也乐于帮助其他海学习的苏利万。对乔纳森的想法表示怀疑。
“Jon, you were Outcast once. Why do you think that any of the gulls in your old time would listen to you now? You know the proverb, and it’s true: The gull sees farthest who flies highest. Those gulls where you came from are standing on the ground, squawking and fighting among themselves. They’re a thousand miles from heaven - and you say you want to show them heaven from where they stand! Jon, they can’t see their own wingtips! Stay here. Help the new gulls here, the ones who are high enough to see what you have to tell them.” He was quiet for a moment, and then he said, “What if Chiang had gone back to his old worlds? Where would you have been today?”
“乔，过去你是个弃儿。你有什么理由认为，过去与你生法在一起的海鸥中间，有谁现在会听你的话呢？俗话说得好：飞得高，看得远。尘世里的那些海鸥，整天站在地上，嘎嘎叫着，你抢我夺。他们离天堂有千里远，可你却说要从他们所站的地方，向他们启示天堂！乔，他们连自己的翅膀梢都看不见呢！留在这儿吧！帮助那些新来到这里的海鸥，他们已经飞得这么高，很可以领会你说的一切了。”他沉默了片刻，又接着说，“要是当初江也回到他原来的世界去了呢？你能有今天吗？”
The last point was the telling one, and Sullivan was right The gull sees farthest who flies highest.
最后一点很有说服力，苏利万说的有道理。飞得高，看得远。
Jonathan stayed and worked with the new birds coming in, who were all very bright and quick with their lessons. But the old feeling came back, and he couldn’t help but think that there might be one or two gulls back on Earth who would be able to learn, too. How much more would he have known by now if Chiang had come to him on the day that he was Outcast!
乔纳森留下了、跟那些新来的鸟儿一起飞行。他们都很聪明，进步很快。但不久他又老毛病发作。不由自主地想起：说不定尘世间也会有那么一、两只海鸥能够学习。如果他当弃儿那一天江就来教导他，那他现在的进步该有多大啊！
“Sully, I must go back “ he said at last “Your students are doing well. They can help you bring the newcomers along.”
“苏利，我非回去不可，”最后他说，“你的学生们都学得不错。以后新来的要学习，他们都可以帮你一手了。”
Sullivan sighed, but he did not argue. “I think I’ll miss you, Jonathan,” was all he said.
苏利万叹了口气，但没再坚持，他只说了一句：“我一定会想念你的，乔纳森。”
“Sully, for shame!” Jonathan said in reproach, “and don’t be foolish! What are we trying to practice every day? If our friendship depends on things like space and time, then when we finally overcome space and time, we’ve destroyed our own brotherhood! But overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now. And in the middle of Here and Now, don’t you think that we might see each other once or twice?”
“苏利，亏你说得出口！”乔纳森责备他说，“可别这么傻！我们每天要实践的都是什么呢？如果我们的友谊是建立在空间和时间之类的东西上，那么最后我们一旦征服了空间和时间，岂不也就破坏了我们之间的手足之情！可是我们一旦征服了空间，剩下的就是此地；我们一旦征服了时间，剩下的就是此刻。而在此地、此刻中，难道我们就不可能彼此见一两面吗？”
Sullivan Seagull laughed in spite of himself. “You crazy bird,” he said kindly. “If anybody can show someone on the ground how to see a thousand miles, it will be Jonathan Livingston Seagull.” He looked at the sand. “Good-bye, Jon, my friend.”
海鸥苏利万不禁噗嗤一笑。“你这个疯子，”他和蔼地说，“要是有谁能教导地上哪只海鸥看到一千英里以外，那就只有你乔纳森?利文斯顿了。”他眼望着沙滩说，“再见吧，乔，我的朋友。”
“Good bye, Sully. We’ll meet again.” And with that, Jonathan held in thought an image of the great gull flocks on the shore of another time, and he knew with practiced ease that he was not bone and feather but a perfect idea of freedom and flight, limited by nothing at all.
“再见，苏利万。我们会重新见面的。”说完这话，乔纳森的脑海里就浮现出这样的形象：一大群海鸥，在另一个时间的岸上。他早已从实践中懂得，他不是血肉之躯，而是关于自由和飞行的一个尽善尽美的观念，不受任何限制。
Fletcher Lynd Seagull was still quite young, but already he knew that no bird had ever been so harshly treated by any Flock, or with so much injustice.
海鸥弗莱契?林德年纪还很轻，但他已经明白，没有哪只鸟儿曾经从自己群里受到过那么粗暴、那么不公正的待
“I don’t care what they say,” he thought fiercely, and his vision blurred as he flew out toward the Far Cliffs. “There’s so much more to flying than just flapping around from place to place! A... a... mosquito does that! One little barrel roll around the Elder Gull, just for fun, and I’m Outcast! Are they blind? Can’t they see? Can’t they think of the glory that it’ll be when we really learn to fly?
“我不在乎他们说些什么，”他愤愤地想，一边向远崖飞去，连视线都模糊了。“飞行应该有更大的意义，决不光是拍着翅膀盘旋，从一个地方飞到另一个地方。一只……一只…蚊子才那样呢！我只是闹着玩儿，绕着海鸥长者来了个桶式翻滚，结果成了弃儿！难道他们是瞎子？难道他们看不见？难道他们想不到，我们一旦真正学会了飞行，该有多光荣？”
“I don’t care what they think. I’ll show them what flying is! I’ll be pure Outlaw, if that’s the way they want it. And I’ll make them so sorry...”
“我不管他们想些什么、我要让他们看看什么才．是飞行！要是他们把我当作叛逆赶出来，那我就要做一个真正的叛逆！我要让他们后悔……”
The voice came inside his own head, and though it was very gentle, it startled him so much that he faltered and stumbled in the air.
一个声音进入他的脑海，尽管十分柔和，但使他那么吃惊，不由得摇摇晃晃地在空中打了几个趔趄。
“Don’t be harsh on them, Fletcher Seagull. In casting you out, the other gulls have only hurt themselves, and one day they will know this, and one day they will see what you see. Forgive them, and help them to understand.”
“不要怨恨他们，海鸥弗莱契。别的海鸥把你赶了出来，吃亏的是他们自己。总有一天他们会后悔的，总有一天他们会懂得你现在已经懂得的道理。宽恕他们吧，帮助他们提高认识。”
An inch from his right wingtip flew the most brilliant white gull in all the world, gliding effortlessly along, not moving a feather, at what was very nearly Fletcher’s top speed.
离他右侧翼梢一英寸的地方，有一只世界上最光亮的白海鸥，在毫不费劲地作滑翔飞行。连一根羽毛都不动。但几乎已是弗莱契的最高速度。
There was a moment of chaos in the young bird. “What’s going on? Am I mad? Am I dead? What is this?” 在这只年轻海鸥的内心，引起了片刻混乱。“发生了什么事？我疯了吗？我死了吗？怎么回事？”
Low and calm, the voice went on within his thought, demanding an answer. “Fletcher Lynd Seagull, do you want to fly?”
那个又低又平静的声音在他的脑海里继续跟他说话，要求他回答。“海鸥弗莱契?林德，你想飞行吗？”
“YES, I WANT TO FLY!”.
“是的，我想飞行！”
“Fletcher Lynd Seagull, do you want to fly so much that you will forgive the Flock, and learn, and go back to them one day and work to help them know?”
“弗莱契?林德，你想飞行有没有到这样的程度，以致能宽恕鸥群，努力学习，有朝一日再回到他们中间去，帮助他们提高认识？”
There was no lying to this magnificent skillful being, no matter how proud or how hurt a bird was Fletcher Seagull.
弗莱契不管多么伤心，多么有自尊心，但在这只威严的、有本领的海鸥面前，觉得不能说假话。
“I do “ he said softly.
“我愿意，”他轻声说。
“Then, Fletch,” that bright creature said to him, and the voice was very kind, “let’s begin with Level Flight....”
“那么，弗莱契，”那只晶莹的鸟儿对他说，声音非常和蔼，“咱们从水平飞行开始吧……”
Part Three
第三部
Jonathan circled slowly over the Far Cliffs, watching. This rough young Fletcher Gull was very nearly a perfect flight-student. He was strong and light and quick in the air, but far and away more important, he had a blazing drive to learn to fly.
乔纳森在远崖上空慢慢盘旋，仔细观望。这个粗野的年轻海鸥弗莱契，已非常近于一个尽善尽美的飞行员了。在空中，他顽强、轻巧而敏捷。但更重要的是，他有学习飞行的炽烈欲望。
Here he came this minute, a blurred gray shape roaring out of a dive, flashing one hundred fifty miles per hour past his instructor. He pulled abruptly into another try at a sixteen point vertical slow roll, calling the points out loud.
一霎时，他飞了过来，只见一个模糊的灰色形体，从一次俯冲中翻飞出来，以每小时一百五十英里的速度，闪电般掠过他的导师。他一转身又作另一次尝试，这次是十六点垂直慢滚，一边翻滚一边大声数着点。
“...eight... nine... ten... see-Jonathan-l’m-running-out-ofairspeed.. eleven... I-want-good-sharp-stops- like-yours... twelve... but-blast-it-I-just-can’t-make... - thirteen... theselast-three-points... without... fourtee ...aaakk!”
“……八……九……十……瞧，乔纳森，我已经——低于——空中——速度了……十—……我——想——像你——一样——一下子——煞——住……十二……可是，——天——啊——我——办——不——到……十三……最——后——三——点——啦……不成……啊呀呀”
Fletcher’s whipstall at the top was all the worse for his rage and fury at failing. He fell backward, tumbled, slammed savagely into an inverted spin, and recovered at last, panting, a hundred feet below his instructor’s level.
弗莱契一失败，就沉不住气，怒气冲冲，这会儿想在最高点停住时控制失灵，情况也就更糟。他一个斤斗倒栽下来，砰地一下倒转起来，最后好容易恢复了平衡，气喘吁吁，但已落到比他导师的水平面低一百英尺的地方。
“You’re wasting your time with me, Jonathan! I’m too dumb! I’m too stupid! I try and try, but I’ll never get it!”
“你这是跟我白费时间，乔纳森！我太笨了！太蠢了！我试了又试，可总是不成！”
Jonathan Seagull looked down at him and nodded. “You’ll never get it for sure as long as you make that pull-up so hard. Fletcher, you lost forty miles an hour in the entry! You have to be smooth! Firm but smooth, remember?”
乔纳森低头望着他，点点头。“你在停住时候这样用力，是怎么也不成的。弗莱契，你一开头就减速每小时四十英里！你动作要平稳些！要坚定，可也要平稳，记住了吗？”
He dropped down to the level of the younger gull. “Let’s try it together now, in formation. And pay attention to that pull-up. It’s a smooth, easy entry.”
他下降到年轻海鸥的水平面。“咱们一块儿试试，列队飞行。要注意怎么停。开头要平稳、放松。”
By the end of three months Jonathan had six other students, Outcasts all, yet curious about this strange new idea of flight for the joy of flying.
到了第三个月底，乔纳森又另外收了六个学生，全都是弃儿。但他们都有一种好奇心，想探索为飞行的乐趣而飞行。
Still, it was easier for them to practice high performance than it was to understand the reason behind it.
然而，对他们来说，练习高级飞行术，比起理解其都意义来，还是要容易得多。
“Each of us is in truth an idea of the Great Gull, an unlimited idea of freedom,” Jonathan would say in the evenings on the beach, “and precision flying is a step toward expressing our real nature. Everything that limits us we have to put aside. That’s why all this high-speed practice, and low speed, and aerobatics....”
“事实上咱们每一个都是伟大海鸥的观念，一个关于自由的无限观念。”每天傍晚，乔纳森在海滩上总是这么说，“精确飞行向着表现我们的真正本质迈进了一步。任何限制我们的东西我们都要予以清除。就是因为这个原故，我们才进行这种高速和低速练习，做各种特技动作……”
...and his students would be asleep, exhausted from the day’s flying. They liked the practice, because it was fast and exciting and it fed a hunger for learning that grew with every lesson. But not one of them, not even Fletcher Lynd Gull, had come to believe that the flight of ideas could possibly be as real as the flight of wind and feather.
……而他的学生们全都打着瞌睡，经过一天飞行已经疲乏不堪了。他们喜欢这种练习，因为它速度快、叫人兴奋，还可以满足对学习的渴望，现在他们每上一课，这种对学习的渴望也就越大。但他们当中，包括弗莱契在内，没有一个相信，用观念飞行可能同用风和羽毛飞行一样真实。
“Your whole body, from wingtip to wingtip,” Jonathan would say, other times, “is nothing more than your thought itself, in a form you can see. Break the chains of your thought, and you break the chains of your body, too...” But no matter how he said it, it sounded like pleasant fiction, and they needed more to sleep.
“你们整个身体，从这边翼梢到那边翼梢，”又有一次乔纳森又这么说，“就是你们的思想本身，只不过变成了你们肉眼看得见的形式罢了。打破了思想的枷锁，也就同时打破了身体的枷锁……”但不管他怎么说，听起来倒像是好听的故事，可他们更需要的却是睡觉。
It was only a month later that Jonathan said the time had come to return to the Flock.
刚过了一个月，乔纳森就说，现在该回到群里去了。
“We’re not ready!” said Henry Calvin Gull. “We’re not welcome! We’re Outcast! We can’t force ourselves to go where we’re not welcome, can we?”
“我们还没准备好呢！”海鸥亨利?卡尔文说。“我们不会受到欢迎的！我们都是弃儿！我们总不能强迫自己到不受欢迎的地方去，对不对？”
“We’re free to go where we wish and to be what we are,” Jonathan answered, and he lifted from the sand and turned east, toward the Home grounds of the Flock.
“我们有自由想去哪儿就去哪儿，想成为什么就成为什么。”乔纳森回答。说罢，就从沙滩上起飞，朝向东方，朝向鸥群的栖居之地飞去。
There was brief anguish among his students, for it is the Law of the Flock that an Outcast never returns, and the Law had not been broken once in ten thousand years. The Law said stay; Jonathan said go; and by now he was a mile across the water. If they waited much longer, he would reach a hostile Flock alone.
一时间学生们都很苦恼，因为鸥群的法律规定，一旦成了弃儿，就永远不能回去。一万年来，这条法律从来没有被违背过。法律说留下；乔纳森说走；而这时他已经飞出海面一英里了。如果他们再在这儿呆下去，那他只好单身去对付那满怀敌意的海鸥群了。
“Well, we don’t have to obey the law if we’re not a part of the Flock, do we?” Fletcher said, rather self- consciously. “Besides, if there’s a fight we’ll be a lot more help there than here.”’
“呃，我们既然不是群里的成员，也就用不着遵守群里的法律；对不对？”弗莱契说，似乎有点不好意思，“再说，要是打起来，我们在那儿总比在这儿有用得多。”
And so they flew in from the west that morning, eight of them in a double-diamond formation, wingtips almost overlapping. They came across the Flock’s Council Beach at a hundred thirty-five miles per hour, Jonathan in the lead. Fletcher smoothly at his right wing, Henry Calvin struggling gamely at his left. Then the whole formation rolled slowly to the right, as one bird... level... to... inverted... to... level, the wind whipping over them all.
这样，他们八只海鸥排成双菱形队形，彼此的冀消几乎相重，在那天早晨一起飞向东方。他们以一百三十英里的时速，穿过鸥群会议的海滩。乔纳森领头，弗莱契平稳地飞在他的右翼，亨利?卡尔文雄赳赳地在他的左翼紧跟。然后，整个队形慢慢向右翻滚，动作像一只鸟儿……水平飞行……翻身倒飞……，又是水平飞行，海风像鞭子似地打在他们每一个身上。
The squawks and grockles of everyday life in the Flock were cut off as though the formation were a giant knife, and eight thousand gull-eyes watched, without a single blink. One by one, each of the eight birds pulled sharply upward into a full loop and flew all the way around to a dead-slow stand-up landing on the sand. Then as though this sort of thing happened every day, Jonathan Seagull began his critique of the flight.
鸥群中吵吵嚷嚷、熙来攘往的日常生活突然中断，仿佛这个飞来的队形是把巨刀，当头向他们劈了下来。八千只眼睛盯着看，连眨也不眨一下。八只海鸥，一个接一个，陡直向上跃升，翻了个斤斗，又兜了个圈子，以极慢的速度，直立着降落在沙滩上。接着，海鸥乔纳森开始讲评这次飞行，好像这样的事每天都发生一样。
“To begin with,” he said with a wry smile, “you were all a bit late on the join-up...”
“第一点，”他苦笑着说，“你们全都跟得慢了点儿……”
It went like lightning through the Flock. Those birds are Outcast! And they have returned! And that... that can’t happen! Fletcher’s predictions of battle melted in the Flock’s confusion.
鸥群里起了闪电般的反应。来的都是弃儿！他们回来了！而这……这是不可能的事！由于鸥群的混乱，弗莱契关于发生战斗的预言没有应验。
“Well sure, O.K. they’re Outcast,” said some of the younger gulls, “but hey, man, where did they learn to fly like that?”
“嗯，不错，对，他们是弃儿，”有些年轻的海鸥说，“可是，嘿，伙计，他们打哪儿学会这么个飞法儿的？”
It took almost an hour for the Word of the Elder to pass through the Flock: Ignore them. The gull who speaks to an Outcast is himself Outcast. The gull who looks upon an Outcast breaks the Law of the Flock, Gray-feathered backs were turned upon Jonathan from that moment onward, but he didn’t appear to notice. He held his practice sessions directly over the Council Beach and for the first time began pressing his students to the limit of their ability.
差不多过了一个小时，长者的话才在鸥群中传开：别理睬他们。跟弃儿说话的，他也要给赶出去当弃儿。朝弃儿看一眼的，就是违背了鸥群的法律。从那一刻起，海鸥们就把长满灰色羽毛的背朝向乔纳森，但他似乎并不理会。他干脆就在会议沙滩的上空讲课，进行教练，头一次逼着学生们施展全部才能。
“Martin Gull!” he shouted across the sky. “You say you know low-speed flying. You know nothing till you prove it! FLY!”
“海鸥马丁，”他从空中喊道，“你不是说会低速飞行吗，马上飞给我们看，要不你就是瞎说！”
So quiet little Martin William Seagull, startled to be caught under his instructor’s fire, surprised himself and became a wizard of low speeds. In the lightest breeze he could curve his feathers to lift himself without a single flap of wing from sand to cloud and down again.
文静的小海鸥马丁?威廉被他导师的命令吓了一跳，但他真没想到，一自己竟变成了一个低速飞行的天才。在小得不能再小的风中，他没展动一下翅膀，光弯曲着羽毛，竟能从沙滩上起飞在冲云霄，再降落下来。
Likewise Charles-Roland Gull flew the Great Mountain Wind to twenty-four thousand feet, came down blue from the cold thin air, amazed and happy, determined to go still higher tomorrow.
同样，海鸥查理士?罗兰德飞进大山风，到达二万四千英尺高空。上面的空气稀薄、寒冷，他降落时，浑身冻得发紫，又是吃惊，又是快乐，决心明天要飞得更高。
Fletcher Seagull, who loved aerobatics like no one else, conquered his sixteen point vertical slow roll and the next day topped it off with a triple cartwheel, his feathers flashing white sunlight to a beach from which more than one furtive eye watched.
比谁都喜欢做特技动作的海鸥弗莱契，胜利地完成了十六点垂直慢滚，第二天做完同一特技后，还连续横翻了三个斤斗，他的羽毛向海滩反射着白色阳光；而在沙滩上偷偷瞧着的，可不止一两只眼睛呢。
Every hour Jonathan was there at the side of each of his students, demonstrating, suggesting, pressuring, guiding. He flew with them through night and cloud and storm, for the sport of it, while the Flock huddled miserably on the ground.
乔纳森每时每刻都在他学生的身边，进行示范、指点、鞭策和引导。他与他们一道飞行，穿越黑夜、云层和暴风雨，就像做游戏一样。而这时，整个鸥群却可怜地在地上挤作一堆。
When the flying was done, the students relaxed in the sand, and in time they listened more closely to Jonathan. He had some crazy ideas that they couldn’t understand, but then he had some good ones that they could.
飞行结束，学生们就在沙滩上歇息；慢慢地，他们比较留神听乔纳森的话了。他有些很疯狂的想法，他们无法理解；但也有些想法很不错，他们能够理解。
Gradually, in the night, another circle formed around the circle of students a circle of curious gulls listening in the darkness for hours on end, not wishing to see or be seen of one another, fading away before daybreak.
渐渐地，到了夜间，学生们的圈子外面又围上了一个圈子，这些都是有好奇心的海鸥，他们在黑暗中可以连续不断地听几个小时，既不希望看见别的海鸥，也不希望被别的海鸥看见，不等天亮又都悄悄地溜走了。
It was a month after the Return that the first gull of the Flock crossed the line and asked to learn how to fly. In his asking, Terrence Lowell Gull became a condemned bird, labeled Outcast; and the eighth of Jonathan’s students.
“还乡”后一个月，鸥群里有一只海鸥第一个越过界线，要求学习飞行。这么一要求，海鸥特兰斯?罗维尔立刻成了只罪鸟，被看作弃儿，同时也成了乔纳森的第八个学生。
The next night from the Flock came Kirk Maynard Gull, wobbling across the sand, dragging his leftwing, to collapse at Jonathan’s feet. “Help me,” he said very quietly, speaking in the way that the dying speak. “I want to fly more than anything else in the world...”
次日夜间，海鸥科克?梅纳德离开了鸥群，拖着左边的翅膀，颤巍巍地从沙滩上走过来，一下子摔倒在乔纳森脚边。“帮帮我怕，”他的声音非常轻，像只垂死的鸟儿在说话，“我渴望飞行超过世上的一切…”
“Come along then.” said Jonathan. “Climb with me away from the ground, and we’ll begin.”
“那么来吧，”乔纳森说，“跟我一道从地上起飞，咱们马上开始飞行。”
“You don’t understand My wing. I can’t move my wing.”
“你不明白。瞧我的翅膀。我的翅膀动不了。”
“Maynard Gull, you have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way. It is the Law of the Great Gull, the Law that Is.”
“海鸥梅纳德，就在此时、此地，你有自由恢复你的本性，恢复你真正的本性。任何力量都阻挡不了你。这是伟大海鸥的法律，也是真正的法律。”
“Are you saying I can fly?”
“你是说我能飞啦？”
“I say you are free.”
“我是说你自由了。”
As simply and as quickly as that, Kirk Maynard Gull spread his wings, effortlessly, and lifted into the dark night air. The Flock was roused from sleep by his cry, as loud as he could scream it, from five hundred feet up: “I can fly! Listen! I CAN FLY!”
瞧，多么简单！多么快！海鸥梅纳德展开了双翅。毫不费力，一下子就飞入黑色的夜空。整个鸥群都被他的叫声从梦中惊醒。只听得他从五百英尺的高空拼命叫喊。“我能飞啦！听着！我能飞啦！”
By sunrise there were nearly a thousand birds standing outside the circle of students, looking curiously at Maynard. They didn’t care whether they were seen or not, and they listened, trying to understand Jonathan Seagull.
拂晓时分，有近千只海鸥站在乔纳森的学生圈子外面，好奇地望着梅纳德。他们已经不在乎是否会被别的海鸥看见，只是聚精会神地听着，努力去领会乔纳森的话。
He spoke of very simple things - that it is right for a guil to fly, that freedom is the very nature of his being, that whatever stands against that freedom must be set aside, be it ritual or superstition or limitation in any form.
他讲的是十分简单的道理，如；飞行是海鸥的本份，自由是海鸥的本性，凡是对自由有妨碍的，不管它是什么，都必须予以清除，不管是仪式也好，迷信也好，或是任何形式的限制也好。

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