第十七回 進退兩難

Paulo Coelho

在本回中，牧羊少年面臨著什么樣的兩難選擇？

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He could see almost the entire city from where he sat, including the plaza where he had talked with the old man. “Curse the moment I met that old man,” he thought.

He had come to the town only to find a woman who could interpret his dream. Neither the woman nor the old man were at all impressed by the fact that he was a shepherd. They were solitary individuals who no longer believed in things, and didn't understand that shepherds become attached to their sheep.

He knew everything about each member of his flock: he knew which ones were lame, which one was to give birth two months from now, and which one was the laziest. He knew how to shear them, and how to slaughter them. If he ever decided to leave them, they would suffer.

The wind began to pick up. He knew that wind: people called it the levanter, because on it the Moors had come from the Levant at the eastern end of the Mediterranean. The levanter increased in intensity. “Here I am, between my flock and my treasure,” the boy thought.

He had to choose between something he had become accustomed to and something he wanted to have. There was also the merchant's daughter, but she wasn't as important as his flock, because she didn't depend on him. Maybe she didn't even remember him. He was sure that it made no difference to her on which day he appeared. For her, every day is the same, and each day is the same as the next. It's because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives as the sun rises every day.

I left my father, my mother, and the town castle behind. They have gotten used to my being away, and so have I. The sheep will get used to my not being there, too, the boy thought.

From where he sat, he could observe the plaza. People continued to come and go from the baker's shop. A young couple sat on the bench where he had talked with the old man, and they kissed.

Reading Check

What characteristic can we infer about the the boy from the underlined sentence?

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