精品閱讀：蜘蛛之絲 The Spider's Thread (下)_跨考網

　　精品閱讀：蜘蛛之絲 The Spider's Thread (下)

　　Kandata was floating and sinking along with the other sinners in the Lake of Blood at the bottom of Hell. It was pitch black no matter which way he looked, and the occasional glimpse of light that he would see in the darkness would turn out to be just the glint of the terrible Mountain of Needles. How lonely he must have felt! All about him was the silence of the grave, the only occasional sound being a faint sigh from one of the damned. Those who were so evil as to be sent to this place were tired by its various torments, and left without even the strength to cry out. Even the great thief Kandata could only squirm like a dying frog as he choked in the Lake of Blood.

　　這邊廂犍陀多正和其他罪人，在地獄底層的血池里載沉載浮。不論朝哪兒望去，處處都是黑魆魆暗幽幽的，偶爾影影綽綽，暗中懸浮著什么，原來是陰森可怕的刀山劍樹，讓人看了膽戰(zhàn)心驚。尤其是四周一片死寂，如在墓中。間或聽到的，也僅是罪人懨懨的嘆息聲。凡落到這一步的人，都已受盡地獄的折磨，衰憊不堪，恐怕連哭出聲的氣力都沒有了。所以，恁是大盜犍陀多，也像只瀕死的青蛙，在血池里，惟有一面咽著血水，一面苦苦掙扎而已。

　　But one day, raising up his head and glancing at the sky above the lake, in the empty darkness Kandata saw a silver spider's thread being lowered from the ceiling so far, far away. The thread seemed almost afraid to be seen, emitting a frail, constant light as it came down to just above Kandata's head. Seeing this, Kandata couldn't help but clap his hands in joy. If he were to cling to this thread and climb up it, he may be able to climb out of Hell! Perhaps he could even climb all the way to Paradise! Then he would never be chased up the Mountain of Needles, nor drowned in the Lake of Blood again.

　　偶然間，犍陀多無心一抬頭，向血池上空望去，在闃然無聲的黑暗中，但見一縷銀色的蛛絲，正從天而降。仿佛怕人看到似的，細細一線，微光閃爍，恰在自己頭上筆直垂落下來。犍陀多一見，喜不自勝，拍手稱快。倘抓住蜘蛛絲，攀援而上，準保能脫離苦海。不特此也，僥幸的話，興許還能爬進極樂世界哩。如此，再不會驅之上刀山，也庶免沉淪血池之苦了。

　　Thinking so, he firmly grasped the spider's thread with both hands and began to climb the thread, higher and higher. Having once been a great thief, he was used to tasks such as this. But the distance between Hell and Paradise is tens of thousands of miles, and so it would seem that no amount of effort would make this an easy journey. After climbing for some time Kandata tired, and couldn't climb a bit higher. Having no other recourse, he hung there from the thread, resting, and while doing so looked down below.

　　這樣一想，犍陀多趕緊伸出雙手，死死攥住蛛絲，一把一把，拼命往上攀去。原本是大盜，手并足抵，區(qū)區(qū)小事一樁而已?？墒牵鬲z與凈土之間，何止千萬里!不論犍陀多怎樣心焦氣躁，要想爬出地獄，真談何容易。爬了一程，終于筋疲力盡，哪怕伸手往上再升一級，也難以為役了。一籌莫展之下，只好住手，先歇會兒喘口氣，便吊在蛛絲上，懸在半空中，一面放眼向下望去。

　　He saw that he had made a good deal of progress. The Lake of Blood that he had been trapped in was now hidden in the dark below, and he had even climbed higher than the dimly glowing Mountain of Needles. If he could keep up this pace, perhaps he could escape from Hell after all. Kandata grasped the thread with both hands, and laughingly spoke in a voice that he hadn't used in the many years since he had come here, "I've done it! I've done it!"

　　方才是不顧死活往上攀，總算沒白費力氣，片刻前自己還沉淪在內的血池，不知何時，竟已隱沒在黑暗的地底。那寒光閃閃，令人毛骨悚然的刀山劍樹，也已在自己腳下。如果一直這樣往上爬，要逃出地獄，也許并非難事。犍陀多將兩手繞在蛛絲上，開懷大笑起來：“這下好啦!我得救啦!”那吼聲，自打落進地獄以來多年不曾得聞的。

　　Looking down, however, what did he see but an endless queue of sinners, intently following him up the thread like a line of ants! Seeing this, surprise and fear kept Kandata hanging there for a time with mouth open and eyes blinking like a fool. How could this slender spider's web, which should break even under just his weight, support the weight of all these other people? If the thread were to snap, all of his effort would be wasted and he would fall back into Hell with the others! That just would not do. But even as he thought these thoughts, hundreds more, thousands more of the damned came crawling up from the Lake of Blood, forming a line and scurrying up the thread. If he didn't do something fast, surely the thread would snap in the middle and he would fall back down.