两片海之间的塔

回到城里，波莉站在山丘上的钟楼脚下，身旁就是宏伟的圣乔治教堂。钟楼并不与教堂相连，而是独自矗立：一根方形的石柱，顶上是拱廊环绕的钟室和尖尖的塔顶。它建于四百多年前，是仿照威尼斯著名的圣马可钟楼缩小建造的。原塔在一百多年前倒塌后重建，所以如今皮兰的这件仿品，反倒比它所仿照的那座塔还要古老。

Back in town, Polly stood at the foot of the bell tower beside the great church of Saint George on the hill. It is not attached to the church. It stands alone, a square shaft of stone with a belfry of arches and a pointed spire, built more than four hundred years ago as a smaller copy of the famous bell tower of Saint Mark in Venice. The original collapsed more than a hundred years ago and was rebuilt, so the copy in Piran is now older than the tower it copies.

塔内，一百四十六级木台阶在满是尘埃的光线里盘旋而上。波莉一级一级地跳上去，经过绳索和横梁，直到巨大的铜钟悬在她头顶，每一口都大得能在里面洗澡。到了这里，风直接从海上吹来，带着再明白不过的咸味。

Inside, one hundred and forty-six wooden steps wind up through the dusty light. Polly hopped them one at a time, past the ropes and the beams, until the great bells hung over her head, each one big enough to bathe in. Up here the wind came straight off the sea and smelled, unmistakably, of salt.

整座城都铺在她的脚下。橙色的屋顶在半岛两侧顺着山坡一路滚落到水边，最底下，白色的椭圆广场在阳光下闪着光，像一轮落下来歇脚的小月亮。船只在港湾里划出一道道白线。塔的一侧除了蓝色什么也没有，开阔的亚得里亚海朝着意大利的方向一直延伸。

The whole town lay beneath her. Orange roofs tumbled down the hill to the water on both sides of the peninsula, and at the bottom the white oval of the square glowed in the sun like a small moon that had come down to rest. Boats drew white lines across the harbour. On one side of the tower there was nothing but blue, the open Adriatic going on toward Italy.

波莉转向另一侧。遥远的南方，越过海湾的弧线，海岸渐渐变平，盐田在午后的阳光里泛起一层淡淡的白光。一边是水，一边是盐，这座小城就在两者之间的岩石上保持着平衡，依海而建，因盐而富。海鸥说的是实话。

Polly turned to the other side. Far away to the south, past the curve of the bay, the coast flattened and a faint white shimmer lay on the land where the salt pans caught the afternoon light. Water on one hand, salt on the other, and the little town balanced on its rock between them, built from one and paid for by the other. The gull had told her the truth.