6-1 "

She kept expecting there to be more people here.? 她期望著能在這里見到其他人。 She wasn't sure why. All around her was a white wasteland, filled with nothing but faded, ruined buildings, bereft of all life—all except for her.? 她不知道自己為何這么想。她的周圍是一片白色的荒蕪，只有褪色已久的廢墟，卻毫無生靈的跡象——她自己則是個例外。 In these few days since waking up in this place, without any recollection of what happened before,? 自蘇醒于此處之后已經(jīng)過去了幾天，她卻無法找回任何的記憶。 she walked quite far and explored what she could.? 從前，她曾行走于天涯海角，探索力所能及的未知。 The tattered structures did little to answer her questions.? 眼前的這片破敗的建筑并沒有辦法為她解惑。 Each of them was empty... and while she found the architecture itself familiar, she seemed to have no memory of when she'd learned their names, their shapes, their functions.? 所有的建筑都空無一物……雖然她覺得這些建筑本身看著眼熟，卻無法回憶起她究竟在何時得知了它們的名字、形狀和作用。 Time and again, that was the idea she'd come back to: knowing "what", but not "why".? 她一次又一次地遇到這種狀況：知道"是什么"，卻不知"為什么"。 It could be the idea was just a distraction for her, something to ponder in favor of the more obvious, weightier things regarding this world—and inside herself.? 這對她來說倒也只是個煩惱，畢竟關(guān)于這個世界——以及她本身——還有更加明顯、更加重大的事情需要去思考。 She had to say, though: this was certainly a bizarre and bewildering place.? 不過必須得說的是：這可真是個令人抓狂的怪地方呀。 She pulled her guitar's strap tightly over her shoulder, and the questions returned.? 她緊緊地抓住肩膀上的吉他背帶，于是問題來了： Where had she gotten it? Why in the world was it with her?? 她是在哪兒拿到它的？她到底為什么要帶著它？ Despite having woken up alongside it, she couldn't answer those questions.? 雖然醒來時它就在她的身邊，她卻無法解答這些問題。 She only knew to pluck the strings to make sounds, to hold the strings over the frets to create others.? 她只知道撥動琴弦、奏響旋律、在音品上方按住琴弦、作出更多旋律。 To strum them in time, to create rhythms, melodies, chords, harmonies.? 要適時地彈奏它，創(chuàng)作出節(jié)奏、音調(diào)、和弦、和聲。 More than that, it was almost... comforting, when she held in her hands.? 更重要的是，當(dāng)她握著它的時候，感覺非常的……安心。 But why? No, she did not know why.? 但為什么？不，她不知道為什么。 Why didn't she?? 為什么她不知道呢？ The sand around her—eroded over eons by water.? 她陷入了一片沙漠中，這是亙古歲月中的水流侵蝕所形成的。 No water here. No liquid, even.? 然而周圍并沒有水，甚至連液體都不存在。 How was there sand?? 這里怎么會有沙漠？ Walking. She knew how to do that.? 行走，她知道如何行走。? Why? She had no answer.? 為什么？她不知道答案。 She never had any answers.? 她從來就沒獲得過答案。 For what it was worth, was any of this knowledge even "memory" at all?? 這些知識，甚至是"記憶"，真的有哪怕一絲的價值嗎？ Was she "remembering" these things? Had she "forgotten" other things?? 她真的"記得"這些東西嗎？她是否已經(jīng)"忘卻"了別的東西？ It seemed to her she had amnesia, but was amnesia this... selective?? 她似乎失憶了，但失憶怎么會是這么的……有選擇性？ Knowing things, but not knowing why that knowledge existed within her, had her deeply and fundamentally upset.? 擁有知識，卻不清楚知識的由來，這種情況讓她陷入了深深的失落。 It made her feel like an incomplete person. Like someone had removed her skin and muscles and bones and placed them into some false container, but had forgotten to put in all the other important things, leaving her hollow, forgotten.? 這讓她顯得不完整。就好像有人剝?nèi)チ怂钠つw、肌肉和骨骼，然后組裝到了另一個不相稱的容器中，還忘記了放入其它重要的東西，把空虛的她丟在了這里。 She hated not knowing.? 她討厭無知。 A kaleidoscope of questions shifted and rotated in her mind.? 她的腦海中有無數(shù)的疑問如萬花筒般流轉(zhuǎn)不息。? She forced herself to focus on all the sudden and overwhelming turns and angles.? 她強(qiáng)迫自己把注意力放在突然出現(xiàn)的、數(shù)不勝數(shù)的拐角上。 But answers? Again, no. There were no answers.? 但答案呢？還是沒有。這里沒有答案。 During her barefooted expeditions (she decided early on to keep her shoes looped around her neck, since the large heels were inconvenient for the terrain) she'd learned next to nothing.? 在她的赤足探險(xiǎn)中（她一開始就決定把鞋掛在脖子上，因?yàn)榇T大的鞋跟在這樣的地形中不方便），她幾乎毫無收獲。 In fact, the more she saw, the less she felt that she knew.? 實(shí)際上，她看到的越多，就越是感受到自己的無知。 She hated not knowing. She knew so many things about what was around her, and yet she felt like she knew nothing of herself.? 她討厭無知。她知道自己周圍的很多東西，卻感覺對自己一無所知。 So much of what she saw was baffling nonsense—not least of all the glass wandering through the air for seemingly no reason.? 她看到的大多數(shù)東西都令人迷惑、毫無意義——尤其是那些莫名奇妙地飛舞在空中的玻璃。 Glass that showed her other people, other times, other worlds.? 那些玻璃向她展現(xiàn)了其他的人、其他的時代、其他的世界。? Reflections, resonating in the oddest ways.? 這些鏡像激起了最為古老的共鳴。 Reflections, she thought, which were undoubtedly familiar.? 這些鏡像，她覺得無疑是自己熟悉的東西。 Yet the familiarity was but a feeling. The glass never showed her in their reflections.? 不過，所謂的熟悉終究也只是一種感覺。玻璃展示的鏡像中從來沒有她自己的身影。 These were not scenes of a remembered past. These were not memories... or, at least, they were not hers,? 這些場景并不是她所記得的過去。它們并不是回憶……至少并不是她的回憶。 these Arcaea. Nothing was hers.? 這些Arcaea，都不屬于她。 Deep down, her emotions shifted. With that shift came a growing sense of concern, of being out of place, of confusion, of faint loneliness, of something crucial being missing somewhere inside her. And she didn't like it one bit.? 她的情緒陷入消沉。這種消沉逐漸催生出擔(dān)憂、疏離、迷惑和孤寂，并讓她感覺自己的內(nèi)心缺失了某個重要的東西。她一點(diǎn)兒也不喜歡這種感覺。 She started walking again. Walking always seemed to help. It let her focus on what was around her instead. On what was outside.? 她又開始了行走。行走好像總是能緩解她的情緒。這讓她能夠轉(zhuǎn)而關(guān)注自己周圍的東西，或者說，外界。

6-2 "

But she could only ignore that creeping feeling for so long.? 不過對心中盤踞著的那種感覺的忽視也只能到此為止了。 Eventually, she sat down on a relatively smooth chunk of stone and anxiously ran a hand through her hair.? 最終，她坐在了一塊稍顯平整的巖石上，有些焦慮地用手梳理了一下秀發(fā)。 Looking back, she could see a long set of footprints through the faded sand, stretching all the way to the horizon.? 她轉(zhuǎn)過頭，看到一長串足跡漸漸消失在沙塵中，蜿蜒通向遠(yuǎn)方的地平線。 How was it possible there was this much sand? She was starting to get sick of it.? 這里怎么可能會有這么大一片沙漠？她開始有些感到厭惡了。 After a moment's thought, she brought her guitar around and held it, again, in her hands.? 在片刻的思緒之后，她拿起了自己的吉他，再次抱在了懷里。 And there it was again, instantly: that comfort. It was like... a reassuring parent, or a friend.? 那種安心的感覺瞬間回歸了，就好像……來自父母或者友人的安慰。 She sighed. Really, that was all that she needed to keep going.? 她嘆了口氣。說實(shí)話，她能夠繼續(xù)前行的動力完全來自于此。 Without thinking, she began to hum a tune.? 她不假思索地開始了彈奏。 Her fingers strummed the strings, their quiet, tinny chords adding that precious harmony to her melody. 她的指尖撫過琴弦，安靜而細(xì)微的和弦為旋律賦予了一絲難得的和諧。 She could remember how to walk, and she could remember how to play. It brought a momentary smile to her lips: how both of these acts came about as natural as breathing.? 她記得如何行走，記得如何彈奏。一絲微笑閃過她的嘴角：這兩種行動對她來說就像是呼吸一樣自然。 Her lips turned down again a moment later, however, losing their humor.? 然而片刻過后，她的嘴角再次垂下，失去了笑意。 Words were coming to her tongue, her teeth, her lips, wanting to be added to this song.? 已經(jīng)有歌詞涌到了她的唇齒之間，想要加入到這首歌曲當(dāng)中。 At first they were scattered, whirling, trying to form a complete, sensible picture.? 它們起初是斷斷續(xù)續(xù)、吐露不清的，但在試著描繪一幅完整而有意義的景象。 And so, dressed in black and scarlet, she sang—in this world of white: this colorless and seemingly infinite cage.? 于是，身著紅黑禮服的她唱起了歌——在這個白色的世界里，在這個看似單調(diào)而無盡的牢籠里。 Gradually, her words gained volume. Her feelings roiled within her, wild, building in intensity.? 逐漸地，她的歌聲不再虛妄。感情在她的心中激蕩、變得愈發(fā)地猛烈。? These instinctive words weren't new, nor were they old and forgotten.? 這些發(fā)自本能的歌聲并不新奇，但也不屬于被遺忘的過去。 They were always with her, and now they were clawing, screaming their way out of her chest.? 它們一直都在她的心里，只是現(xiàn)在開始了涌動，想要沖出她的胸膛。 Just speaking them wouldn't be enough. They needed to be shouted, roared so that they resounded in the furthest corners of this dead world.? 光是唱出來還不夠，必須要叫出來、吼出來，才能讓它們響徹在這個死寂世界的每個角落。 She yelled them as loud as she possibly could.? 她竭盡全力地高喊著。 It just seemed like the right thing to do.? 似乎這就是她最該做的事情。 She shouted about confusion. She shouted about the unknown, about the bleak landscapes,? 她朝著迷惑的心緒咆哮，朝著未知咆哮，朝著黯淡的景象咆哮， about the bounteous memories in tiny glass shards flitting past for brief moments before disappearing again.? 然后朝著小小的玻璃碎片中轉(zhuǎn)瞬即逝的多彩回憶咆哮。 She shouted about— 她用咆哮宣泄著—— Fear.? 恐懼。 For that one critical moment as she played, she realized what she'd been feeling, deep down.? 在彈奏中的那個瞬間，她終于明白了自己心中的那個感覺是什么。? This empty world, her empty memories...? 這個空虛的世界，她那空虛的記憶…… They terrified her.? 讓她感到害怕。 Who was she? What was this quiet place?? 她是誰？這個寂靜的地方是哪里？ What was going to happen to her? What HAD happened to her?? 她的身上將會發(fā)生什么？她的過去曾經(jīng)發(fā)生過什么？ But she already knew that she might never know. Not here.? 不過她已經(jīng)知道，自己大概永遠(yuǎn)也沒法知道答案了。至少在這里不行。 Her voice broke for a note, but she pushed past and forced her lungs, should they exist, to their limits.? 她的聲音出現(xiàn)了些許的嘶啞，但她催促著喉嚨、壓迫著心肺，想要突破它們不知是否存在的極限。 Her fingers flew madly across the six strings.? 她的手指在六根琴弦上瘋狂地舞動。 She could hear it vividly in her mind, the power, the weaving together of rumbles, screeches, and vibrations.? 她能在腦中清晰地聆聽到空氣的轟隆、尖嘯與震蕩，感受到其中蘊(yùn)含的力量。 A storm of her soul and of music—a tumultuous undercurrent rushing beneath her lyrics along with the simmering dread, growing into a powerful heat, which reached her eyes as well.? 這是一股靈魂和音樂的風(fēng)暴——在她的歌詞下涌動著的是澎湃的暗流和沸騰的恐懼，隨后又變?yōu)閺?qiáng)勁的熱浪，從她的雙眼奔流而出。 But somehow, in some way she couldn't pinpoint, it made her feel a little better.? 但不知為什么，出于某種她無法道明的原因，這讓她稍微好受了一些。 A little less confused, a little less afraid. 不再那么迷惑，也不再那么恐懼。 After a time, the echoes of her shouting faded out.? 一段時間后，吼叫的回聲終于淡去。 A few final plucks with her right hand, and she dropped it from the strings,? 她的右手最后撥動了幾下，隨即從琴弦上垂下。 her work finished.? 她的作品完成了。 Her song vanished into the bright sky, the evidence it had ever happened now residing within her near-empty memories.? 她的歌聲消逝在明亮的天空中，能證明剛才發(fā)生的事情的就只有她心中近乎空虛的記憶。 She put her other hand to her eyes and rubbed them, shivering, refusing to look at the heavens that had taken her song away.? 她用另一只手擦了擦雙眼，一邊顫抖著，一邊拒絕望向那帶走了歌聲的天空。 But then she gave a laugh. It surprised her.? 但她隨后就笑了。這讓她自己也很驚訝。 It was an honest laugh—and the smile of a job well done.? 這是發(fā)自內(nèi)心的笑容——是實(shí)現(xiàn)成就后的笑容。 She wiped her hand on her dress and sighed to herself.? 她用裙子抹了抹手，又自顧自地嘆了口氣。 Man, she hated this place.? 老天啊，這鬼地方真是太討厭了。

6-3 "

The world was no less confusing now—no less intimidating, no less empty, no less merciless.? 這個世界還是那么令人迷惑——那么可怕、空虛而冷漠。 But now, she felt like she could deal with it.? 但現(xiàn)在，她覺得自己已經(jīng)能夠承受它們了。 She couldn't be sure, but she could have sworn that fear was something she was familiar with.? 她的心里并沒有底，但可以肯定，那種恐懼也是她熟悉的東西。? She knew things about it—how it could make your legs weak, how it could make you run away, how it could prevent you from making decisions, how it could control you.? 她了解這種東西——它會讓你雙腿打顫、讓你嚇得跑開、讓你無法做出決定、讓你成為被它掌控的傀儡。 The fear of the unknown. The fear of failure.? 那是對未知的恐懼，是對失敗的恐懼。 And she could only assume it had been instinct that had led her to play that song.? 她現(xiàn)在只能假設(shè)，彈奏這首歌是自己的本能。 Maybe she'd done it before. Maybe she'd shouted through her fear before, in much the same way.? 也許她以前就彈奏過，也許她以前就用咆哮宣泄過恐懼，就用這相同的方式。 Maybe she had.? 也許她以前也這么做過。 At least, now she felt like she could handle it.? 至少現(xiàn)在，她覺得自己能應(yīng)付恐懼了。 She had a firmer grip on that twisted little emotion now.? 她現(xiàn)在能更好地掌控自己扭曲的小情緒。 If she wanted to stay sane in this baffling world, she needed to keep it in check, keep it from controlling her.? 如果她希望在這個令人困惑的世界中保持理智，就需要時刻注意情緒，防止自己被恐懼所掌控。 But it would always be there.? 不過，恐懼總是如影隨形。 She exhaled, then turned in her seat and carefully put her guitar aside, laying it onto the stone.? 她呼出一口氣，然后調(diào)整了一下坐姿，將吉他小心地放在身邊，靠在了巖石上。? Then she heard a soft clink.? 然后，她聽到了一聲輕輕的叮當(dāng)聲。 A small cloth bag had fallen out of her inside pocket to the stone sticking out above the sand.? 一個小布包掉出了她衣服內(nèi)側(cè)的口袋，落在了從沙中刺出的巖石上。 In it were several needles, a little pair of scissors, a thimble, a few spools of thread, and a measure.? 里面是幾根針、一把小剪刀、一個頂針、幾卷紡線以及一個卷尺。? A sewing kit. 這是一個針線包。 It had been with her when she'd first woken up.? 她在剛蘇醒時身上就帶著它。 She could only assume it was hers.? 她只能猜測這個東西是屬于自己的。 When she'd first found the pouch, it had just confused her.? 她剛發(fā)現(xiàn)這個包的時候，心中充滿了迷惑。 She knew what it was for, but had no clue why she was carrying it.? 她知道它是干什么用的，但不知道為什么自己會帶著它。? Each of the accoutrements within was, of course, "known" to her, but like the guitar she carried with her... it hadn't come with any helpful little notes explaining where it came from.? 當(dāng)然，她"知道"里面的所有東西，但就像自己帶著的吉他那樣……并沒有什么有用的線索能指出它的由來。 But now, when she reached down to retrieve the pouch, upon seeing her sleeve, she froze.? 不過現(xiàn)在，當(dāng)她伸出手想要撿起包時，她看到了自己的袖口，然后身形一凝。 She... knew, didn't she?? 她……是知道的，不是嗎？ How that sleeve was made.? 她知道怎么織出這樣的袖口。 She knew the stitches, she knew all of the folds. 她知道該如何落下針腳。她知道每一個褶皺的做法。 She knew the exact colors. 她知道這些顏色具體叫什么。? She knew those threads were in the sewing kit.? 她知道這些衣線就來自于這個針線包。 But any further connection escaped her.? 但除此之外就沒有然后了。 She could easily draw conclusions based on logic, but her mind still felt closed.? 她可以輕松地根據(jù)邏輯得出結(jié)論，但她的回憶仍然被封鎖著。 That cruel disconnect between knowledge and experience... It was agonizing.? 知識與記憶之間存在著殘酷的斷層……這簡直是一種折磨。 Now, though... Now she wouldn't let herself be overwhelmed by the fear caused by that disconnect.? 不過現(xiàn)在……她不會讓這種斷層所造成的恐懼席卷自己的內(nèi)心了。? She would recognize it, use it.? 她會承認(rèn)它，利用它。 So what if she didn't remember? What mattered was that she knew.? 就算不記得了又怎樣呢？重要的是她知道這些東西。 A concrete goal would certainly help, though.? 但是，有一個切實(shí)的目標(biāo)總歸是好的。 She didn't have one yet, but maybe, in time, she could find one.? 她目前并沒有目標(biāo)，但也許到了某個時候，她也會找到目標(biāo)。 A grin crossed her face as she started off again, still thinking of the kit which had just made her shiver.? 她重新動了起來，露出一個發(fā)自內(nèi)心的笑容，一邊還在想著這個剛才讓她整個人都僵住的針線包。 Pretty convenient, huh? She could at least keep her clothing intact on this inane journey.? 這還挺便利的不是么？至少在這空虛的旅行中，她能保持最佳的著裝狀態(tài)了。 And with that thought... her outfit certainly wasn't practical, but it was hers, and she wouldn't give it up for the world.? 想到這里……她的外套并不是很實(shí)用，但這是屬于她的，她也不會因?yàn)檫@個世界而拋棄它。 Yes. It was hers.? 對，這是屬于她的。 That, her guitar, and her sewing kit—in this wasteland of memory, they were all hers.? 它，還有吉他、針線包——在這片記憶的荒原，這些都是屬于她的。 Knowing that helped a little, and a little help could go a long way.? 知道這些并沒有什么大用，但足夠她走過很長一段旅途了。 ...A few steps later, something below her caught her eye. ……走過一段路之后，身下的某個東西吸引了她的注意。 Footprints in the sand...? 沙中的足跡…… But they didn't belong to her.? 但它們并不屬于她。 Crossing her path, leading off to the left, they were definitely a few sizes off. 足跡穿過了她的路線，向著左邊延伸，尺碼顯然要小上幾號。 She stared the way they headed, and saw that they disappeared behind a few gentle hills.? 她開始沿著足跡走去，然后看到它們消失在一個小坡后面。 Another genuine, familiar grin crossed her face.? 她的臉上又露出了一個發(fā)自內(nèi)心的笑容。 Huh...? 哈…… Maybe she'd had an audience after all.? 到頭來，自己好像還真有一個觀眾哎。