“And for three days afterwards the sea was stormy. Gray clouds chased one another across the sky. Then the wind dropped, and the sea was calm and blue. The Pacific is more desolate than other seas; its spaces seem more vast, and the most ordinary journey upon it has somehow the feeling of an adventure. The air you breathe is an elixir which prepares you for the unexpected. Nor is it vouchsafed to man in the flesh to know aught that more nearly suggests the approach to the golden realms of fancy than the approach to Tahiti. Murea, the sister isle, comes into view in rocky splendour, rising from the desert sea mysteriously, like the unsubstantial fabric of a magic wand.”
“接下来的三天，大海上狂风暴雨，乌云相互追逐；忽然间风停了，海面寂静，一片湛蓝。太平洋浩渺无边，远比其他海洋荒凉，在这里，即使做一次最普通的旅行，也意味着某种冒险。你呼吸的空气是包治百病的灵药，好让你有力气对付即将发生的意外。与其说你在驶向塔希提，不如讲是渐渐接近一个金色的国度，除此之外，你简直被蒙在鼓里。莫里阿，塔希提的姊妹岛，怪石嶙峋，峰峦雄伟，从荒凉的大海中神秘地升起，像魔棒在空中轻轻一挥，变幻出虚无缥缈的织锦。”
