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【短文】The Ferry Captain Who Would Not Leave
【短文】不肯离去的渡轮船长
The tide was at a standstill when Chen Wei first spotted the girl on the pier.
潮水停滞不动时，陈伟第一次在码头上看见了那个女孩。
She was maybe nine, holding a disposable camera, aiming its lens at a rusted turret that had not fired a shot since 1978.
她大约九岁，手里拿着一台一次性相机，镜头对准一座生锈的炮塔——自1978年以来，它一炮未发。
"You missed the ferry," he called out.
“你错过了渡轮，”他喊道，“就差四分钟。
"By four minutes." She did not answer.
”她没有回答，只是不停地按快门，仿佛码头随时会把她甩出去。
She just kept pressing the shutter, as if the pier itself might eject her at any moment.
Chen, 54, had ferried people across the strait for 27 years.
54岁的陈伟已在海峡摆渡27年。
His profession, he liked to say, was mostly a conversation with weather.
他喜欢说，他的职业主要是与天气对话。
He could quote the wind speed from memory; he could read the magnitude of a storm in the colour of the water.
他能凭记忆说出风速，能从水色读出风暴的强度。
But he could not read his own body.
但他读不懂自己的身体。
In March 2019, a doctor in the region's general hospital told him his immune system had begun to violate its own instructions—a lethal misreading of cells.
2019年3月，该地区综合医院的一位医生告诉他，他的免疫系统开始违背自身的指令——一种对细胞的致命误读。
"You have maybe 14 months of adequate mobility," the doctor said.
“你的行动能力大概还能维持14个月，”医生说，“也许20个月。
"Possibly 20." Chen laughed.
”陈伟笑了。
He thought it was a trivial joke.
他以为这是个无关紧要的玩笑。
It was not.
事实并非如此。
He kept working.
他继续工作。
He enrolled in a clinical trial in 2020; the drug, a chemical compound designed to counteract the inflammation, cost 41,000 yuan per month, covered partly by a charity.
2020年，他参加了一项临床试验；
The side effects were brutal.
这种旨在对抗炎症的化合物药物每月花费四万一千元，部分由慈善机构承担。
His hands would bounce against the wheel; his cognition would fog at dusk.
副作用极其残酷。
"You cannot conduct a ferry in this condition," his wife, Liu Min, a retired teacher, told him.
他的双手会不受控制地撞向方向盘；
"You will kill someone." He ignored her.
黄昏时他的认知会变得模糊。
He owed the strait something, he said.
“这种状态你不能再开渡轮了，”他的妻子刘敏，一位退休教师，告诉他，“你会害死人的。
He had ferried 1.2 million passengers across it.
”他没有理会。
He had carried brides, corpses, immigrants, parliament members.
他说，他欠海峡一份情。
He had carried himself.
他曾运送120万乘客渡过海峡。他载过新娘、尸体、移民、议员。他也载过自己。
By 2021 the disease had escalated.
到2021年，病情加重。
He could no longer traverse the 6.4-kilometre route without a siesta.
他再也无法在6.4公里的航线上不歇息地往返。
He hired a young mate, Zhou Kai, 24, who was excellent with engines but insecure with people.
他雇了一个年轻大副，24岁的周凯，此人精通引擎，却不善与人打交道。
"The passengers deserve a captain who can stand," Zhou said one morning.
“乘客值得拥有一位能站得住的船长，”一天早晨周凯说。
Chen stared at him.
陈伟盯着他。
"The passengers," Chen said, "deserve a captain who knows the water." But the numbers did not favour him.
“乘客，”陈伟说，“值得拥有一位懂水的船长。
His percentage of safe crossings had dropped from 99.8 to 94.1.
”但数据对他不利。
The port authority sent a confirmation letter: his licence would be suspended unless he passed a physical.
他的安全渡运率从99.8%下降到94.1%。
His status, once privileged, was now a liability.
港务局发来确认函：除非他通过体检，否则他的执照将被吊销。他曾经的特权身份，如今成了负担。
So he trained Zhou.
于是他训练周凯。
For six months, Chen sat beside him, pointing at currents, naming every rock.
六个月里，陈伟坐在他旁边，指点水流，叫出每一块礁石的名字。
"Beware the third buoy," he said.
“当心第三个浮标，”他说，“它在骗人。
"It lies." He taught Zhou to harness the tide, to read the facade of the sky, to feel the boat's motion before the boat felt it.
”他教周凯利用潮汐，读懂天空的表情，在船感受到之前先感受船的动向。
Zhou learned.
周凯学会了。
In June 2022, Chen passed the wheel for the last time.
2022年6月，陈伟最后一次交出舵轮。
He stood on the pier—the same pier—and watched the ferry pull away.
他站在码头上——同一个码头——看着渡轮驶离。
The engine's sound was familiar, then faint, then gone.
引擎声熟悉，然后微弱，然后消失。
He did not cry.
他没有哭。
He took a photograph with his phone.
他用手机拍了一张照片。
"For the journal," he said.
“留作记录，”他说。
Liu Min found him there an hour later.
一小时后，刘敏在那里找到了他。
"You are not the ferry," she said.
“你不是渡轮，”她说，“你是一个人。
"You are a man." He nodded.
”他点点头。
"A man with a deficiency," he said.
“一个有缺陷的人，”他说，“一个无法驾驭自己身体的人。
"A man who cannot conduct his own body." She took his hand.
”她牵起他的手。
They walked to the car.
他们走向汽车。
The tide was coming in.
潮水正在上涨。
Somewhere across the water, a girl—maybe the same girl—was taking pictures of a sunrise she would never sell.
水的那一边，某个地方，一个女孩——也许就是那个女孩——正在拍摄她永远不会卖出的日出。
Chen wondered if she had ever crossed.
陈伟想知道她是否渡过海峡。
He wondered if she knew what it cost.
他想知道她是否明白代价。
He wondered, briefly, whether the strait would remember him at all.
他短暂地想知道，海峡是否会记得他。
Then he got into the car, and Liu Min drove him home.
然后他上了车，刘敏开车送他回家。
Reference note
写法上参考《卫报》长读与 BBC Future 的人物特稿：以一个具体场景切入，用时间线、对话和代价推进，不做总结陈词。内容为原创虚构，未照搬任何原文段落。