谁也说不清有多少级

再往下，阶梯上出现了别人。一只戴着黄色安全帽的狐狸正从下面一级级往上走，带着折尺和笔记本，每到一级就停下来，量一量高度，把数字记下。波莉闪到一块岩架上，让她先过。这花了很长时间，台阶实在太多了。

Then, further down, there is somebody else on the staircase. A fox in a yellow hard hat is working her way up from below with a folding rule and a notebook, stopping at every step, measuring the height of it, writing the number down. Polly moves aside to a ledge and lets her pass. It takes a long time. There are a great many steps.

这样量并不是吹毛求疵。台阶是手工凿出来的，没有两级一模一样，这正是它们值得记录的原因。有的有一本厚书那么高，有的不过是一道浅浅的边。整道凿槽的宽度也一路在变，有些地方窄得像门洞，有些地方比桌子还宽，因为凿它的人顺着的是岩石，而不是图纸。

The measuring is not fussiness. The steps were cut by hand, and no two are the same, which is exactly why they are worth recording. Some are the height of a thick book. Some are barely a lip. The width of the whole cut changes as it goes, narrow as a doorway in places and wider than a table in others, because whoever made it was following the rock rather than a drawing.

波莉最喜欢的是这一段：谁也说不准到底有多少级台阶。国家遗产名录上写着一百八十七级，镇上自己的旅游局说是一百八十九级。两个都是官方数字，两个都白纸黑字地印着，就这样各执一词，已经好些年了。

Here is the part Polly likes best. Nobody is quite sure how many steps there are. The national heritage register says one hundred and eighty seven. The town's own tourist office says one hundred and eighty nine. Both are official. Both are published. They have been sitting there disagreeing with each other for years.

她看着狐狸爬到顶上，伸了伸腰，开始写字。在那本笔记本里，这个数字又一次被定了下来，至少眼下如此。波莉顺着那条磨旧的长长石槽往下望，决定相信大的那个数，理由是：爬的时候，感觉确实更多。

She watches the fox reach the top, stretch her back, and start writing. Somewhere in that notebook the number is being settled again, for now. Polly looks down the long slot of worn stone and decides she believes whichever number is larger, on the grounds that it feels like more when you are climbing.