出走的岩石

再往下，波莉遇到了一位邻居。在水里，离她挺近的地方，有一座高高的浅色岩塔。白色的浪花在它底部碎开。人们叫它“沙粒”。这是个玩笑，因为它差不多有一座小教堂那么大。

Further down still, Polly goes down and meets a neighbour. Out in the water, quite close, there is a tall tower of pale rock. White waves break around the bottom of it. People call it the Grain of Sand. That is a joke, because it is about as big as a small church.

它不是一直在那里的。大约八百年前，它还是这道悬崖的一部分。后来海浪把下面的石头带走了，岩塔就独自留在了海里。波莉看着它。它下面比上面细。大海还在一点点改变它。

It was not always out there. About eight hundred years ago it was part of this cliff. Then the waves took away the rock underneath, and the tower was left alone in the sea. Polly looks at it. It is thinner at the bottom than at the top. The sea is still working on it.

一只鸥从她身边飞过。这一只很特别。它不是那种跟着船、从人那里抢吃的的吵闹海鸥。这是一只奥氏鸥。它从来不抢别的动物的食物，而是自己到海上去抓鱼。

A gull flies past her. This one is special. It is not one of the noisy gulls that follow boats and take food from people. This is an Audouin's gull. It never takes food from other animals. It catches its own fish out at sea.

这只鸥飞过水面，越飞越远，直到波莉看不见它。她又看了看那块高高的岩石，还有它和悬崖之间的空隙。那片空隙从前是实心的石头。

The gull flies away over the water until Polly cannot see it. She looks again at the tall rock, and at the space between it and the cliff. That space was once solid stone.