新生活从选定方向开始

郭倩

1. Bissell is a place of interest in West Sahara. Before Ken Levin discovered it， people here tried many times to walk out of the desert， but failed. 比塞尔是西撒哈拉沙漠中的一个旅游圣地。可是在肯·莱文发现它之前，这里的人尝试过很多次走出沙漠，但都失败了。

2. He asked everyone， but got the same answer： no matter which direction you walk towards， you will return to the starting point. To confirm1 that， he walked northwards from Bissell Village， and went out of the desert three days and a half later. 他问每个人原因，结果回答都一样：无论朝哪个方向走，最后还是回到出发的地方。为了证实这种说法，他从比塞尔村向北走，结果三天半就走了出来。

3. Ken Levin wanted to know why， so he hired a native as his guide. They took water， which could be used for half a month， and two camels. Ken Levin put away his modern equipment like compasses. He followed with only a stick. They walked about 800 miles during 10 days. On the morning of the 11th day， they returned to Bissell. 肯·莱文想弄清楚原因，于是雇了一名当地人来做他的向导。他们带了半个月的水，牵了两头骆驼，肯·莱文收起指南针等现代设备，只拄一根木棍跟在后面。10天过去了，他们走了大约八百英里的路程。第11天的早晨，他们果然又回到了比塞尔。

4. Ken Levin finally understood. The reason why the people of Bissell could not walk out was that they didnt know the Big Dipper2. In the desert， if a man goes only by his feeling， he will walk in the circles of all sizes and the final footprint will probably be a shape of tape. The village of Bissell was in the middle of the vast3 desert without a reference4， it was impossible to walk out without knowing the Big Dipper and compasses. 肯·莱文终于明白了，比塞尔人之所以走不出沙漠，是因为他们不认识北斗星。在沙漠里，一个人如果凭着感觉往前走，他会走出许多大小不一的圆圈，最后的足迹十有八九是一把卷尺的形状。比塞尔村处在浩瀚的沙漠中间，没有任何参照物，如果不认识北斗星又没有指南针的话，想走出沙漠，确实是不可能的。

5. When Ken Levin left Bissell， he took a young man named Guterl. He told him he could walk out of the desert as long as he walked in the direction of that star in the night. 肯·莱文在离开比塞尔时，带来了一位叫阿古特尔的年青人。他告诉阿古特尔，只要夜晚朝着北面那颗星走，就能走出沙漠。

6. Guterl did as he was told. He walked to the edge of the desert three days later. He became the pioneer of Bissell. A bronze statue5 of him was erected6 in the center of the city. A line of words were engraved7 in the base of the statue： the new life is starting from the selected direction. 阿古特尔按照他说的去做，三天之后果然来到了沙漠的边缘。阿古特尔因此成为比塞尔的开拓者，他的铜像被竖在小城的中央。铜像的底座上刻着一行字：新生活是从选定方向开始的。