作者：H. P. Lovecraft 譯者：CaptainSnafu 未經允許，不要轉載 I am writing this under an appreciable mental strain, since by tonight I shall be no more. Penniless, and at the end of my supply of the drug which alone makes life endurable, I can bear the torture no longer; and shall cast myself from this garret window into the squalid street below. Do not think from my slavery to morphine that I am a weakling or a degenerate. When you have read these hastily scrawled pages you may guess, though never fully realise, why it is that I must have forgetfulness or death. 我正處于顯著的精神緊張下撰寫著此文，因為在今夜過后，我將不復存在。身無分文的我，在那唯一使我能承受此生的藥物耗盡后，無法再忍耐折磨，我將會從閣樓的窗戶把自己投向那骯臟的街道。不要因為我對嗎啡的屈服而判定我是一個弱者或墮落之人。當你讀到這些倉促的潦草紙頁時，你或許會有所揣度，但你永不能悉知，為何我必須去遺忘，或死亡。 It was in one of the most open and least frequented parts of the broad Pacific that the packet of which I was supercargo fell a victim to the German sea-raider. The great war was then at its very beginning, and the ocean forces of the Hun had not completely sunk to their later degradation; so that our vessel was made a legitimate prize, whilst we of her crew were treated with all the fairness and consideration due us as naval prisoners. So liberal, indeed, was the discipline of our captors, that five days after we were taken I managed to escape alone in a small boat with water and provisions for a good length of time. 在廣袤的太平洋上一片最為開闊和最人跡罕至的海域中，我所押運的貨船淪為了德國掠洋艦的受害者。那時世界大戰(zhàn)才剛剛打響，德國蠻子的海上力量還未全然沉淪至后來的衰落模樣。我們的載具便再合理不過地被繳獲，同時作為船員的我們也被公正而周全地被當作海軍俘虜處置。對我的捕獲者們而言，仿佛自由主義便是他們的紀律。這使得我在被拿下的第五天，就得以用一艘小船帶上充足的水和補給品獨自逃亡。 When I finally found myself adrift and free, I had but little idea of my surroundings. Never a competent navigator, I could only guess vaguely by the sun and stars that I was somewhat south of the equator. Of the longitude I knew nothing, and no island or coast-line was in sight. The weather kept fair, and for uncounted days I drifted aimlessly beneath the scorching sun; waiting either for some passing ship, or to be cast on the shores of some habitable land. But neither ship nor land appeared, and I began to despair in my solitude upon the heaving vastnesses of unbroken blue. 當我最終發(fā)現(xiàn)自己已在自由地漂流時，我對周圍環(huán)境幾近一無所知。我從來都不是一個合格的航海家，只能通過太陽和星辰估測出我在赤道以南的某個地方。至于經度，我無從得知，視野中也不見任何島嶼或海岸線。天氣保持著晴和，我于灼日之下漫無目的地漂泊了數不清的時日，等待著一些經過的船只，或等待著被推至宜居陸地的海岸上。但這兩者均未出現(xiàn)，我開始在這起伏于無垠的不滅蔚藍上的孤寂之中絕望。 The change happened whilst I slept. Its details I shall never know; for my slumber, though troubled and dream-infested, was continuous. When at last I awaked, it was to discover myself half sucked into a slimy expanse of hellish black mire which extended about me in monotonous undulations as far as I could see, and in which my boat lay grounded some distance away. 變化發(fā)生在寐息之間，而其細節(jié)我將永遠無法知曉。盡管遭受著不安和夢境的侵擾，我的睡眠仍在繼續(xù)。當我最終醒覺，便發(fā)現(xiàn)我已半邊身子陷入了一片漆黑粘稠的泥沼地獄中。它以單調而起伏不定的形態(tài)在我周圍延展，波及我目所能及之處，而我的船也擱淺在遠處的泥濘上。 Though one might well imagine that my first sensation would be of wonder at so prodigious and unexpected a transformation of scenery, I was in reality more horrified than astonished; for there was in the air and in the rotting soil a sinister quality which chilled me to the very core. The region was putrid with the carcasses of decaying fish, and of other less describable things which I saw protruding from the nasty mud of the unending plain. Perhaps I should not hope to convey in mere words the unutterable hideousness that can dwell in absolute silence and barren immensity. There was nothing within hearing, and nothing in sight save a vast reach of black slime; yet the very completeness of the stillness and the homogeneity of the landscape oppressed me with a nauseating fear. 盡管有人會想象我的第一感覺會是對這出乎意料的場地巨變感到驚訝，但事實上，是恐悸甚于詫異。因為空氣和腐土間都蘊含著一種使我寒顫透骨的險惡氣質。整個區(qū)域連同其中腐敗的魚尸一并朽壞著，還有其它更加難以名狀的死物從這無盡平原的惡臭淤泥中伸出。或許我不該寄望于能用只言片語來傳遞出棲息在這絕對寂靜和浩瀚荒蕪中那不可言喻的猙獰。除了那觸及廣遠的黑色黏泥以外，我再聽不到任何聲響，也看不到別的東西。而這完全的靜謐和景觀的同質，伴隨著一種令人惡心的恐懼，將我壓抑。 The sun was blazing down from a sky which seemed to me almost black in its cloudless cruelty; as though reflecting the inky marsh beneath my feet. As I crawled into the stranded boat I realised that only one theory could explain my position. Through some unprecedented volcanic upheaval, a portion of the ocean floor must have been thrown to the surface, exposing regions which for innumerable millions of years had lain hidden under unfathomable watery depths. So great was the extent of the new land which had risen beneath me, that I could not detect the faintest noise of the surging ocean, strain my ears as I might. Nor were there any sea-fowl to prey upon the dead things. 太陽熾耀地從天空照射下來，但在我眼里，那無云的殘酷蒼穹卻幾近發(fā)黑，仿佛正映射著我腳下的的墨色沼澤。當我爬進那擱淺的小船時，我意識到只有一個理論能夠解釋我的處境。一定是通過某種空前的火山劇變，部分的海床被拋升至表面，暴露出這片無數個百萬年來隱藏在深不可測的水底之區(qū)域。在我身下隆起的新陸是何等廣闊，以至于我竭盡耳力也無法探覺到來自洶涌海洋的半點噪響。也沒有任何海鳥來捕食這些死物。 For several hours I sat thinking or brooding in the boat, which lay upon its side and afforded a slight shade as the sun moved across the heavens. As the day progressed, the ground lost some of its stickiness, and seemed likely to dry sufficiently for travelling purposes in a short time. That night I slept but little, and the next day I made for myself a pack containing food and water, preparatory to an overland journey in search of the vanished sea and possible rescue. 我坐在船上沉思念想了好幾個小時。當太陽穿行于天幕，側翻著的小船則提供了少許的蔭庇。隨著時日推移，地面失去了一些黏性，似乎也足夠干燥地可供我短期遷行。當晚我淺睡輒止，第日便收拾好配有食物和水的行囊，準備好一場跨陸旅行，旨在尋找那消失的海洋和潛在的救援。 On the third morning I found the soil dry enough to walk upon with ease. The odour of the fish was maddening; but I was too much concerned with graver things to mind so slight an evil, and set out boldly for an unknown goal. All day I forged steadily westward, guided by a far-away hummock which rose higher than any other elevation on the rolling desert. That night I encamped, and on the following day still travelled toward the hummock, though that object seemed scarcely nearer than when I had first espied it. By the fourth evening I attained the base of the mound, which turned out to be much higher than it had appeared from a distance; an intervening valley setting it out in sharper relief from the general surface. Too weary to ascend, I slept in the shadow of the hill. 第三天早上，我發(fā)現(xiàn)泥壤已經足夠干燥，可以輕松地行走其上。魚尸的腥臭讓人發(fā)狂，但我一心想著那些更嚴峻的事情，它便相形見輕。我大膽地朝著一個未知的目標出發(fā)。這一整天里，我以遠處那座比其它高地更為突出的圓丘作為指引，在起伏的荒地上向著西方穩(wěn)步前進。當晚露營而過，并在接下來的一天繼續(xù)朝圓丘前行，盡管看上去目標幾乎沒比我初見它時相離更近。在第四天的晚上，我終于到達了山丘腳下，并發(fā)現(xiàn)它更比其在遠處所顯現(xiàn)的要高峻，還有一座橫在其中的山谷使它的輪廓在普泛的地表中更顯鮮明。我過于疲憊，無力登爬，便在山影下入眠。 I know not why my dreams were so wild that night; but ere the waning and fantastically gibbous moon had risen far above the eastern plain, I was awake in a cold perspiration, determined to sleep no more. Such visions as I had experienced were too much for me to endure again. And in the glow of the moon I saw how unwise I had been to travel by day. Without the glare of the parching sun, my journey would have cost me less energy; indeed, I now felt quite able to perform the ascent which had deterred me at sunset. Picking up my pack, I started for the crest of the eminence. 不知為何當晚我的夢境如此詭異。但在那虧凸的殘月奇特地漸缺著，高高升掛在東部平原的上空之前，我便在冷汗中驚醒。無法再承受所目睹的諸般幻景，我決定不再入睡。在月輝的照耀下，我察覺到先前在日間旅行是多么地不智。如果沒有那炙熱的太陽，我的旅途誠將消耗更少的能量。而如今，我感覺自己已有能力去執(zhí)行那在日落時分讓我望而卻步的登山計劃。我拾起行囊，開始向山頂進發(fā)。 I have said that the unbroken monotony of the rolling plain was a source of vague horror to me; but I think my horror was greater when I gained the summit of the mound and looked down the other side into an immeasurable pit or canyon, whose black recesses the moon had not yet soared high enough to illumine. I felt myself on the edge of the world; peering over the rim into a fathomless chaos of eternal night. Through my terror ran curious reminiscences of Paradise Lost, and of Satan’s hideous climb through the unfashioned realms of darkness. 我曾提到，那單調而連綿的起伏原野，對我來說是一種蒙眬的恐懼的來源。但當我到達山丘的頂峰，向另一側俯瞰那道無法估量的深淵或峽谷，而月亮亦未升到足夠的高度以照亮它的幽深，我的恐懼更為深厚。我頓覺自己處在世界的邊緣，越過它往下凝望，只見一片深不見底的混沌永夜。在畏懼之中，我奇怪地回想起了《失樂園》的篇章，還有撒旦的嫌惡造物攀行于未成形的黑暗領域。 As the moon climbed higher in the sky, I began to see that the slopes of the valley were not quite so perpendicular as I had imagined. Ledges and outcroppings of rock afforded fairly easy foot-holds for a descent, whilst after a drop of a few hundred feet, the declivity became very gradual. Urged on by an impulse which I cannot definitely analyse, I scrambled with difficulty down the rocks and stood on the gentler slope beneath, gazing into the Stygian deeps where no light had yet penetrated. 隨著月亮攀升到更高的天際，我開始看清峽谷的斜面并不如想象中的陡峭。巖架和出露的巖層為下坡提供了相當便利的立足點，而在下降了幾百英尺后，斜坡則變得十分平緩。被一種我無法明晰的沖動催促著，我艱難地往下攀爬并落腳在相對平坦的坡面上，注視著那未有絲毫光明涉足的冥河深淵。 All at once my attention was captured by a vast and singular object on the opposite slope, which rose steeply about an hundred yards ahead of me; an object that gleamed whitely in the newly bestowed rays of the ascending moon. That it was merely a gigantic piece of stone, I soon assured myself; but I was conscious of a distinct impression that its contour and position were not altogether the work of Nature. A closer scrutiny filled me with sensations I cannot express; for despite its enormous magnitude, and its position in an abyss which had yawned at the bottom of the sea since the world was young, I perceived beyond a doubt that the strange object was a well-shaped monolith whose massive bulk had known the workmanship and perhaps the worship of living and thinking creatures. 對面的山坡在我前方約100碼的地方陡然拔升，我的注意力立即被此巨大而奇特的物體所吸引，它在冉升之月所新賦予的照射中閃著白茫。頃刻間我就確認這不過是一塊巨大的石頭，但我也注意到一種迥然相異的觀感：它的輪廓和位置都并非全是大自然的匠作。當我抵近端詳，無以名狀的覺識卻充盈了我。盡管它極其巨大，并且坐落在自世界初成以來就于海底豁開的深淵之中，但我壓下疑慮地領悟到這個陌異的物件曾是一塊外形精美的獨石柱，其龐大的主體經由精湛的匠藝所塑造，也許還被活生生的智慧生物祭拜過。 Dazed and frightened, yet not without a certain thrill of the scientist’s or archaeologist’s delight, I examined my surroundings more closely. The moon, now near the zenith, shone weirdly and vividly above the towering steeps that hemmed in the chasm, and revealed the fact that a far-flung body of water flowed at the bottom, winding out of sight in both directions, and almost lapping my feet as I stood on the slope. Across the chasm, the wavelets washed the base of the Cyclopean monolith; on whose surface I could now trace both inscriptions and crude sculptures. The writing was in a system of hieroglyphics unknown to me, and unlike anything I had ever seen in books; consisting for the most part of conventionalised aquatic symbols such as fishes, eels, octopi, crustaceans, molluscs, whales, and the like. Several characters obviously represented marine things which are unknown to the modern world, but whose decomposing forms I had observed on the ocean-risen plain. 帶著茫然與惶恐，但也不無科學家或考古學家那種特有的興奮和樂趣，我進一步地調查著周遭事物。月亮現(xiàn)已接近天頂，月光奇美而淋漓地灑照于環(huán)繞在鴻溝邊緣的崢嶸懸壁上。一條在谷底廣遠流淌的的水體被揭示出來，向著視野的兩邊蜿蜒鋪開，水流幾乎能飛濺到我站在巖坡上的雙腳。水體的微波橫越裂谷，沖刷著那座巨型石柱的基底。而在石基的表面，我發(fā)現(xiàn)了銘文和粗糙的雕刻。那是一種我不知曉的象形文字系統(tǒng)，也不與我在書本上見過的任何文字相像。大部分是樣式化的水生符號，如魚、鰻魚、章魚、甲殼類動物、軟體動物、鯨魚等。有幾個字符則顯然地代表某些現(xiàn)代世界所未知的海洋生物，而我曾于那片從海底升起的平原中見識過它們的腐爛形態(tài)。 It was the pictorial carving, however, that did most to hold me spellbound. Plainly visible across the intervening water on account of their enormous size, were an array of bas-reliefs whose subjects would have excited the envy of a Doré. I think that these things were supposed to depict men—at least, a certain sort of men; though the creatures were shewn disporting like fishes in the waters of some marine grotto, or paying homage at some monolithic shrine which appeared to be under the waves as well. Of their faces and forms I dare not speak in detail; for the mere remembrance makes me grow faint. Grotesque beyond the imagination of a Poe or a Bulwer, they were damnably human in general outline despite webbed hands and feet, shockingly wide and flabby lips, glassy, bulging eyes, and other features less pleasant to recall. Curiously enough, they seemed to have been chiselled badly out of proportion with their scenic background; for one of the creatures was shewn in the act of killing a whale represented as but little larger than himself. I remarked, as I say, their grotesqueness and strange size; but in a moment decided that they were merely the imaginary gods of some primitive fishing or seafaring tribe; some tribe whose last descendant had perished eras before the first ancestor of the Piltdown or Neanderthal Man was born. Awestruck at this unexpected glimpse into a past beyond the conception of the most daring anthropologist, I stood musing whilst the moon cast queer reflections on the silent channel before me. 最令我著迷的是其中的雕繪。由于它們碩大的尺寸，透過水面仍能清晰地看見那一排浮雕，其題材理應能激發(fā)起多雷（注1）的妒忌。我認為這些作品旨在描繪人類——至少是某種人類，盡管這些生物被展現(xiàn)著像魚一般在海底石窟中嬉戲，或是在某些似乎也于浪潮之下的巨石神龕前致敬。至于他們的面容和體態(tài)，我不敢詳述，即使是最簡淺的回想也會使我頭昏目眩。他們的怪誕超越了坡或布沃爾（注2）的想象。這些受詛咒的造物在總體上有著人類的輪廓，然而他們手足長蹼，嘴唇寬松得嚇人，呆滯的眼睛隆隆鼓起，還有其它更令人不愿記起的體征。奇怪的是，他們在背景下被刻畫得嚴重地不成比例，例如他們的其中一員被展現(xiàn)在獵殺一頭僅比自身大上少許的鯨魚。如上所述，我的確注意到了他們那荒唐而怪異的尺寸，但在那么一瞬間，我還是判斷他們只是一些原始的漁獵或航海部落所想象的神明。而這些部落的末裔早在皮爾丹人或尼安德特人的始祖誕生之前便已滅亡。我肅然地敬畏不已，這對過去的意外一瞥，超越了最大膽的人類學家的構想。我站在那里沉思冥想，而月亮在我面前靜寂的峽道上投下了奇異的倒影。 注1：應指古斯塔夫·多雷 注2：應指埃德加·愛倫·坡和愛德華.喬治.布爾沃-利頓 Then suddenly I saw it. With only a slight churning to mark its rise to the surface, the thing slid into view above the dark waters. Vast, Polyphemus-like, and loathsome, it darted like a stupendous monster of nightmares to the monolith, about which it flung its gigantic scaly arms, the while it bowed its hideous head and gave vent to certain measured sounds. I think I went mad then. 然后，我突然就看到了它。那個東西滑入黑水之上的光景，只有細微的漣漪為它的出水留下痕跡。碩大無朋，面目可憎，它就像是古希臘神話中獨眼巨人，也像一只從噩夢中沖出的彪形怪物。它飛奔到獨石柱前，猛地揮舞著它那有鱗的龐然巨臂，同時低下那猙獰的顱首，發(fā)出某種有節(jié)奏的聲響。我想我當時便墮入了瘋狂。 Of my frantic ascent of the slope and cliff, and of my delirious journey back to the stranded boat, I remember little. I believe I sang a great deal, and laughed oddly when I was unable to sing. I have indistinct recollections of a great storm some time after I reached the boat; at any rate, I know that I heard peals of thunder and other tones which Nature utters only in her wildest moods. 關于那段我發(fā)狂地攀上峽坡和峭壁并神志錯亂地回到擱淺的船上的旅程，我記憶甚少。我相信我曾一路大肆嗚鳴，而當我無力再呼嘯時，便代之以怪笑。在我那迷離的記憶中，一場宏大的風暴在我回到船上的一段時間后驟然來臨。至少我確信自己聽到了陣陣轟雷，以及其它大自然僅在最狂野的情緒中才會爆發(fā)出的音調。 When I came out of the shadows I was in a San Francisco hospital; brought thither by the captain of the American ship which had picked up my boat in mid-ocean. In my delirium I had said much, but found that my words had been given scant attention. Of any land upheaval in the Pacific, my rescuers knew nothing; nor did I deem it necessary to insist upon a thing which I knew they could not believe. Once I sought out a celebrated ethnologist, and amused him with peculiar questions regarding the ancient Philistine legend of Dagon, the Fish-God; but soon perceiving that he was hopelessly conventional, I did not press my inquiries. 當我從陰影中走出來時，我已在舊金山的一家醫(yī)院里。是一艘美國船只在大洋中撈起了我的小船，也是它的船長將我送醫(yī)。在我譫妄不清時，我說了許多，但它們并沒有得到重視。對于太平洋中的陸地激變，我的救援人員都一無所知，而我也不認為有必要在一件我知道他們不會相信的事情上糾纏。有一次，我找到一位著名的民俗學家，嘗試用關于古代非利士人的魚神達貢傳說這種不同尋常的問題來引他開懷，但很快就發(fā)現(xiàn)他那無可救藥的迂腐和保守，便不再逼問。 It is at night, especially when the moon is gibbous and waning, that I see the thing. I tried morphine; but the drug has given only transient surcease, and has drawn me into its clutches as a hopeless slave. So now I am to end it all, having written a full account for the information or the contemptuous amusement of my fellow-men. Often I ask myself if it could not all have been a pure phantasm—a mere freak of fever as I lay sun-stricken and raving in the open boat after my escape from the German man-of-war. This I ask myself, but ever does there come before me a hideously vivid vision in reply. I cannot think of the deep sea without shuddering at the nameless things that may at this very moment be crawling and floundering on its slimy bed, worshipping their ancient stone idols and carving their own detestable likenesses on submarine obelisks of water-soaked granite. I dream of a day when they may rise above the billows to drag down in their reeking talons the remnants of puny, war-exhausted mankind—of a day when the land shall sink, and the dark ocean floor shall ascend amidst universal pandemonium. 我是在晚上——尤其是在月虧之時，看到了那東西。我試過嗎啡，但這種藥物只能給予我短暫的緩解，并使我淪為一個無望的奴隸般卷入它的魔掌中。所以，現(xiàn)在我將結束這一切，并寫下完整的記錄，供我的同胞們知悉或輕蔑地取笑。我時常自問，這一切會否只是純粹的幻覺？僅僅是我從德軍戰(zhàn)艦逃脫后中暑著躺在開蓬的小船上的時候，我那熱癥激發(fā)的畸形臆想？我詢問著自己，但只得到栩栩如生的駭人幻象作為回答。每當我想到深海，我便禁不住顫栗地想象到此時此刻那只不可名狀之物正在它那泥濘黏滑的海床上爬行、翻騰，崇拜著它們那遠古的石制偶像，在海水浸泡的花崗巖上刻畫著它們的憎惡模樣。我夢見終有一日，它們會從巨浪中躍起，用發(fā)臭的利爪將那些弱小且被戰(zhàn)爭耗盡的人類殘員拖入水底。在那天，陸地將會沉沒，而黑暗的洋底將在普世的混亂中崛升。 The end is near. I hear a noise at the door, as of some immense slippery body lumbering against it. It shall not find me. God, that hand! The window! The window! 終幕已近。我聽到了門那邊傳來的噪聲，就像是某個巨大而黏滑的軀體正抵著它蹣行。它不應能找到我。神啊，是那只手！在那窗戶那邊！窗戶那邊！