訓練方向感

By Dhan Gopal Mukerji

Now that， like a newly trained diver， he had overcome his fear of plunging into the air， Gay-Neck ventured on longer and higher flights. In a weeks time he was able to fly steadily for half an hour， and when he came home to the roof， he swooped down as gracefully as his parents. There was no more of that panicky beating of wings in order to balance himself as his feet touched the roof.

His parents， who had accompanied Gay-Neck in his preliminary flights， now began to leave him behind， and to fly much higher above him. For a while I thought that they were trying to make him fly still higher； for the son always made an effort to reach the level of his parents. Perhaps his elders were setting the little fellow a superb example. But at last， one day early in June， that explanation of mine was shaken by the following fateful incident. Gay-Neck was flying high： he looked half his usual size. Above him flew his parents， almost as small as a mans fist. They were circling above him with the regularity of a merry-go-round. I removed my gaze from them； after all， it is not comfortable to look steadily upwards for long. As I lowered my eyes towards the horizon， they were held by a black spot moving swiftly， and growing larger every second. I wondered what sort of bird he was， coming at such a speed in a straight line， for in India birds are named in Sanskrit， Turyak， or “curve-tracers.”

朝小彩虹鴿飛來的是一只隼。我抬起頭，看著這令人驚嘆的景象。鴿子們像落劍一樣向下俯沖，但隼緊追不舍，每時每刻都在逼近他們。隼落得越來越快：此刻，他和他的獵物之間幾乎不到二十英尺了。我的鴿子們該怎么自救？我在極度的痛苦中思考著。

But this one was coming straight， like an arrow. In another two minutes my doubts were dispelled. It was a hawk making for little GayNeck. I looked up and beheld a miraculous sight. His father was tumbling steadily down in order to reach his level， while his mother， bent on the same purpose， was making swift downward curves. Ere the terrible hawk had come within ten yards of the innocent little fellow， both his flanks were covered.1 Now the three flew downwards at a right angle from the path of their enemy. Undeterred by such a move， the hawk charged.2 At once the three pigeons made a dip that frustrated him， but the force with which he had made the attack was so great that it carried him a long distance beyond them. The pigeons kept on circling in the air with an ever-increasing downward trend. In another minute they were halfway to our roof. Now the hawk changed his mind. He went higher and higher into the sky： in fact， he flew so high that the pigeons could not hear the wind whistling in the feathers of his wings； and as he was above them they could not see their foe. Feeling that they were safe， they relaxed. It was evident that they were not flying so fast as before. Just then I saw that above them， way up， the hawk was folding his wings： he was about to drop， and in an instant he fell upon them like a stone. In desperation I put my fingers in my mouth and made a shrill whistle， a cry of warning. The pigeons dived like a falling sword， yet the hawk followed. Inch by inch， moment by moment he was gaining on them. Faster and faster he fell： now there were scarcely twenty feet between him and his prey. There was no doubt that he was aiming at Gay-Neck. I could see his sinister claws.“Wont those stupid pigeons do anything to save themselves？” I thought in an agony. He was so near him now—if they would only keep their heads， and—Just then they made a vast upward circle. The hawk followed. Then they flew on an even but large elliptical3 path. If a bird flies in a circle， he either tends to swing to the centre of that circle or away from it. Now the hawk missed their intention， and tended towards the centre， making a small circle inside their big one. No sooner was his back turned to them than the three pigeons made another dive， almost to our roof， but the sinister one was not to be deterred. He followed like a tongue of black lightning. His prey made a curving dive onto the roof， where they were safe at last under my wide-spread arms！ That instant I heard the shriek of the wind in the air； about a foot above my head the hawk flew by， his eyes blazing with yellow fire and his claws quivering like the tongue of a viper. As he passed I could hear the wind still whistling in his feathers.

After that narrow escape of my pet birds， I began to train Gay-Neck to a sense of direction. One day I took all three birds in a cage towards the east of our town. Exactly at nine in the morning I set them free. They came home safely. The next day I took them and equal distance to the west. Inside a week they knew the way to our house from within a radius of at least fifteen miles in any direction.

Since nothing ends smoothly in this world， the training of Gay-Neck finally met with a check. I had taken him and his parents down the Ganges in a boat. When we started， it was about six in the morning. The sky was littered with stray clouds， and a moderate wind was blowing from the south. Our boat was piled high with rice as white as snow on whose top were heaped mangoes red and golden in colour， like a white peak afire with the sunset.

I should have foreseen that such auspicious weather might turn suddenly into a terrible storm， for after all， boy though I was， I knew something about the freaks of the monsoon in June.4

Hardly had we gone twenty miles before the first rain clouds of the season raced across the sky. The velocity5 of the wind was so great that it ripped off one of the sails of our boat. Seeing that there was no time to be lost， I opened the cage and released the three pigeons. As they struck the wind， they vaulted right over and flew very low， almost falling into the water. They flew thus， close to the surface of the river， for a quarter of an hour， making very little headway against the hard wind. But they persisted， and another ten minutes saw them safely tacking and flying landward. Just about the time they had reached the string of villages on our left， the sky grew pitch black， a torrential cloudburst blotted everything out， and we saw nothing but inky sheets of water through which the lightning zigzagged and danced the dance of death.6 I gave up all hope of finding my pigeons again. We were almost shipwrecked ourselves， but fortunately our boat was beached on the shore of a village. Next morning， when I came home by train， I found two wet pigeons instead of three. Gay-Necks father had perished in the storm. No doubt it was all my fault； and for the few days that followed， our house was given up to mourning. The two pigeons and I used to go up on the roof， whenever the rain left off a bit， in order to scan the sky for a glimpse of the father. Alas， he never returned.

就像一位剛接受過訓練的潛水員一樣，彩虹鴿已經克服了縱身跳入空中的恐懼，鼓起勇氣飛得更久、更高。一個星期之后，他已經能平穩地飛行半個小時了；飛到房頂的時候，他能像父母那樣動作優雅地俯沖下來；而當雙腳觸到房頂的時候，他也不再驚慌失措地拍打翅膀以保持平衡了。

彩虹鴿剛開始飛行的時候，他的父母都會陪伴著他，現在他們則開始把他撇在后面，并且高高地飛在他的上方。有一陣子，我認為他們是設法使他飛得更高，因為小鴿子總是努力想達到父母的水平。也許他的父母是在給小家伙樹立一個出色的榜樣。但是后來六月初的一天發生的重大事件動搖了我的這種解釋。那天，彩虹鴿飛得高高的：他看上去只有平常的一半大。他的父母在他的上方飛行，差不多只有人的拳頭那么小。他們在他的上方盤旋，就像旋轉木馬一樣有條不紊。我移開目光，不再看他們，畢竟久久地、定定地抬頭仰望并不舒服。在我放低目光望著地平線的時候，他們被一個迅速移動的黑點鎖定，那個黑點每一秒鐘都在變大。我很好奇以如此速度直線飛行的鳥是哪種鳥，因為在印度，鳥類是以梵文Turyak命名，意思是“曲線追蹤者”。

但是，這只鳥就像一支箭一般直飛過來。又過了兩分鐘，我的種種疑慮都消除了。朝小彩虹鴿飛來的是一只隼。我抬起頭，看著這令人驚嘆的景象。他的父親穩穩地翻滾下落，以達到彩虹鴿的飛行高度，而他的母親也出于同樣的目的飛快地曲線下落。還沒等可怕的隼飛到距離天真的小家伙十碼（三十英尺）之內，彩虹鴿的兩翼就被掩護了起來。緊接著，他們三個垂直向下飛行，躲開敵人的飛行路線。隼沒有被這種行動嚇住，又發起了沖鋒。三只鴿子立馬同時下降，想借此打擊他，但隼進攻的時候用力太猛，把自己帶出去了好長一段距離。鴿子們繼續在空中盤旋，不斷下落。又過了一分鐘，他們已經朝我家房頂飛了一半距離了。這時候，隼改變了主意。他向著天空飛去，飛得越來越高：事實上，他飛得很高，鴿子們都聽不到他扇動翅膀發出的嗖嗖的風聲了；他在他們的上方，他們看不到自己的敵人，覺得自己安全了，于是就放松下來。顯然，他們飛得不像先前那樣快了。就在這時我看到，在他們的正上方，隼正在收攏翅膀：他正準備下降，剎那間，他像一塊石頭似的砸向他們。絕望之際，我把手指放在嘴里，吹出一聲尖利的口哨，以此大聲警告。鴿子們像落劍一樣向下俯沖，但隼緊追不舍。每時每刻，他都在一寸寸地逼近他們。他落得越來越快：此刻，他和他的獵物之間幾乎不到二十英尺了。毫無疑問，他是在瞄準彩虹鴿。我可以看到他的魔爪。“那些愚蠢的鴿子難道不想做些什么進行自救嗎？”我在極度的痛苦中思考著。隼現在距離彩虹鴿如此之近——只要他們保持鎮靜就行了，而——就在這時，鴿子們兜了一個大圈，改為向上盤旋。隼緊追不放。隨后，鴿子們在一個平穩而碩大的橢圓形路線上飛行。如果一只鳥在一個圓圈里飛行，他要么會飛向那個圓圈中央，要么則會遠離中央。此刻，隼沒有明白鴿子們的意圖，飛向了圓圈中央，在他們那個大圓圈里繞起了小圓圈。他的背一轉向三只鴿子，他們就又一次俯沖，就快要落到我們的房頂了，但那個陰險的家伙并沒有放棄。他像一道黑色閃電隨之而來。他的獵物以曲線形路線俯沖到房頂上，終于安全地躲藏在我張開的手臂之下！那個瞬間，我聽到空中傳來一陣尖銳的風聲，大約在我頭頂上方一英尺的地方，隼飛了過去，他的眼中燃燒著黃色的火焰，爪子像毒蛇的芯子一般抖動著。他飛過去的時候，我能聽到風在他的羽毛中呼嘯著。

在我的愛鳥那次九死一生的經歷之后，我開始訓練彩虹鴿的方向感。有一天，我用籠子裝起三只鴿子，向城鎮東邊走去。上午九點整，我將他們放飛。他們安全回到家里。第二天，我帶著他們向西走出相同的距離。一個星期內，在半徑至少十五英里內，他們在任何方向都知道回我們家的路線。

然而在這個世界上，任何事情都不會一帆風順，對彩虹鴿的訓練最終遇到了阻礙。我帶著他和他的父母坐船順恒河而下。我們出發的時候，大約是早晨六點鐘。天空中飄著一些游云，一陣和風從南面吹來。我們坐的船上高高地堆著雪白的大米，大米頂上堆著一些紅色和金黃色的芒果，看上去就像夕陽點燃的一座雪白的山峰一樣。

我本來應該預測到，這樣的好天氣會突然演變成一場可怕的暴風雨，畢竟，雖然我只是一個小男孩，但我對六月雨季的反復無常還是有所了解的。

我們剛走出二十英里，第一片季節雨云就飛快地掠過了天空。風速非常快，刮掉了我們船上的一面帆。看到時間緊迫，我就打開鴿籠，把三只鴿子放了出去。他們遇到了大風，拱身飛行，飛得很低，幾乎落進水里。他們這樣貼著河面飛行了十五分鐘，頂著強風，沒有前進多少。但是，他們堅持不懈，又過了十分鐘，只見他們安全地頂風轉向，向陸地飛行。就在他們大約剛到我們左側的一排村莊的時候，天空變得一片漆黑，傾盆大雨覆蓋了一切，我們只看到一片片黑漆漆的水，閃電曲折，穿過黑水，跳著死亡的舞蹈。我放棄了找回鴿子的所有希望。我們的船也差點兒失事，但幸運的是，船擱淺在了一個村子的岸邊。第二天早晨，我坐火車回到家里時，發現了兩只濕漉漉的鴿子，而不是三只。彩虹鴿的父親在暴風雨中遇難了。毫無疑問，這都是我的過錯。在接下來的幾天里，我們家陷入了哀痛之中。每當雨稍微停息，我和兩只鴿子就上到房頂，目的是想細看天空，瞥見彩虹鴿的父親。可嘆的是，他再也沒有回來。

1. ere： 在……之前；flank： 側翼。

2. undeterred： 未被嚇住的，不氣餒的；charge：進攻，沖鋒。

3. elliptical： 橢圓的。

4. auspicious： 吉利的，吉祥的；monsoon：（印度和東南亞的）季風季節，雨季。

5. velocity： 速度，速率。

6. torrential：（雨）傾注的，瓢潑的；cloudburst：驟雨，大暴雨；blot out： 遮住，掩藏；zigzag：曲折地行進。