永恒
Eternity
林清玄
By Lin Qingxuan
有一次，她告诉他一个故事。
She once told him a story.
说是有一对情侣一起去登喜马拉雅山，恰好遇到雪崩，他被滚落的雪卷走，到一个不知名的地方，而她则站在那滚去的雪堆旁边，呆在当地。
In the story, a couple of lovers went climb Mount Himalayas and happened to encounter an avalanche; he was whirled by the rolling snow to an unknown place, while she stood beside the snow drift, dumbfounded there.
她回家以后，常常在梦里出现他在雪中呼喊的影像，她决心去找埋在雪中的他。每一年，她都去喜马拉雅山出事的地点找他，一年一年过去了，找了二十年，终于在山脚下找到他。
Her dream was often haunted by his image calling in the snow after she returned home, so she decided to look for him buried in the snow. She went to look for him just at the site where the accident occurred in Mount Himalayas every year. Many years passed. At last, after twenty years, she found him at the foot of the mountain.
那个时候，她已经两鬓飞霜，皱纹满布，而他还是雪崩时二十年前的青春容颜。她深深地感觉到时光的力量。
At that time, she was grey-haired with wrinkles all over her face, while he still remained the same young face when the snowslide happened twenty years ago, so she deeply felt the power of time.
说完故事，他们都深深的动容了。
Both of them were deeply moved by this story.
她问他：“感情是可以永恒的吧！”
She asked him, "Love may last forever!"
他说：“这样就是永恒吗？”
He replied, "Does this mean eternity?"
后来谈起了永恒，那时他们正在热恋，都真真地体会到感情可以永恒。
They talked about eternity later when they were in passionate love, with a firm belief that their love could last forever.
他们到最后也分开了，分开的地点不在喜马拉雅山，而在台北，但永恒已经像喜马拉雅山的雪片，纷纷落了一地，一下就溶化了。
They also broke up in the end, not in Mount Himalayas but in Taipei. But ETERNITY, like snowflakes in Mount Himalayas, had fluttered one after another to the ground and melted away quickly.
除非有雪崩，但雪崩也不能保证永恒。
A snowslide may make an everlasting love story, but even the snowslide cannot ensure Eternity.
译于2005年11月17日。
林清玄（1953~），笔名：秦情、林漓、林大悲、林晚啼、侠安、晴轩、远亭等。台湾高雄人，当代著名作家、散文家、诗人、学者。1953年生于中国台湾省高雄旗山。毕业于中国台湾世界新闻专科学校。曾任台湾《中国时报》海外版记者、《工商时报》经济记者、《时报杂志》主编等职。他是台湾作家中最高产的一位，也是获得各类文学奖最多的一位，被誉为"当代散文八大作家"之一。
Uncle Yeti:
Here are some modification you should consider:
In the story, a pair of lovers went to climb Mount Himalayas and happened to encounter a snowslide--> an avalanche (same for the other snowslide) ; he was whirled by the rolling snow to an unknown place, while she stood beside the snow drift, dumbfounded there.site where the accident occurred in Mount Himalayas every year. Year after year,--> Many years passed. At last, after twenty years she at last found him at the foot of the mountain twenty years later.in Taibei-->Taipei, (full stop) But ETERNITY, like snowflakes in Mount Himalayas, had fluttered one after another to the ground and melted in a short while.-->quickly.
Nyleda's wonderful version conquers my heart.
永恒
The Eternal
林清玄
By Lin Qingxuan
有一次，她告诉他一个故事。
It was a story once told by a girl to a boy.
说是有一对情侣一起去登喜马拉雅山，恰好遇到雪崩，他被滚落的雪卷走，到一个不知名的地方，而她则站在那滚去的雪堆旁边，呆在当地。
A young dating couple was separated by a snow avalanche when they were climbing the peak of Evergreen. When the boy fell into waves of falling snows, the girl stood there watching helplessly her loved one being carried away and disappearing from her sight to an unknown location.
她回家以后，常常在梦里出现他在雪中呼喊的影像，她决心去找埋在雪中的他。每一年，她都去喜马拉雅山出事的地点找他，一年一年过去了，找了二十年，终于在山脚下找到他。
Back home, the girl could see the boy often in her dreams that he called her names while swirling in snows and falling down the hills. So she decided to go find him where the snow falls stopped and she went there every year to search around the place of the accident. Year over year, she finally found him at the foot of the mountain.
那个时候，她已经两鬓飞霜。皱纹满布，而他还是雪崩时二十年前的青春容颜。她深深地感觉到时光的力量。
But then she was a rather aged woman with grey hair seen on the temples and wrinkles on the face while he was still a young man as it was back twenty years ago. The time had shown its power and she felt it fully at the moment.
说完故事，他们都深深的动容了。
At the end of the story, both the boy and the girl were touched.
她问他：“感情是可以永恒的吧！”
The girl asked the boy: "Is love eternal?"
他说：“这样就是永恒吗？”
"Is this what eternal means?" the boy replied.
后来谈起了永恒，那时他们正在热恋，都真真地体会到感情可以永恒。
They talked more on eternality. They were deeply in love with each other then and could feel the love so vividly that they believed their love would extend timelessly.
他们到最后也分开了，分开的地点不在喜马拉雅山，而在台北，但永恒已经像喜马拉雅山的雪片，纷纷落了一地，一下就溶化了。
But later they ended their relationship. The location where they broke off was not Evergreen but Taipei. At the time, the once seemingly eternal feeling disappeared like falling snowflakes melted into the ground.
除非有雪崩，但雪崩也不能保证永恒。
A snow avalanche may make a love story to live eternally but can't keep love eternal in real life.
