Between the darkness of earth and heaven she was burning fiercely upon a disc of purple sea shot by the blood-red play of gleams; upon a disc of water glittering and sinister. A high, clear flame, an immense and lonely flame, ascended from the ocean, and from its summit the black smoke poured continuously at the sky. She burned furiously, mournful and imposing like a funeral pile kindled in the night, surround-ed by the sea, watched over by the stars.

A magnificent death had come like a grace, like a gift, like a reward to that old ship at the end of her laborious days. The surrender of her weary ghost to the keeping of stars and sea was stirring like the sight of a glorious triumph. The masts fell just before daybreak, and for a moment there was a burst and turmoil of sparks that seemed to fill with flying fire the night patient and watchful, the vast night lying silent upon the sea.

在黑暗的天地之間，船在熊熊燃燒，周圍海面在血紅的火光的照耀下呈紫色，閃閃發亮，殺氣騰騰。一個高大、明亮、孤獨的巨大火柱在海面上升起，火柱的頂端不停地朝空中噴著黑煙。船轟轟烈烈地燃燒著，極為悲壯，恰似在黑夜里點燃的火葬柴堆，由大海護衛，由星星照看。

這艘老破船度過了辛苦的一生，最終迎來了輝煌的死亡，如同蒙受天恩，如同領賞獲獎。它將自己疲憊的靈魂交給了星星和大海，這一幕真像壯觀的勝利慶典一樣令人激動。桅桿在黎明將至時倒下，剎那間火星四處亂迸，飛舞的火花似乎一下子灑滿了耐心看護的夜空，灑滿了海面上那浩淼靜謐的夜空。

背景介紹：

作者約瑟夫·康拉德(JosephConrad,1857-1924),英國著名小說家。他的中長篇代表作包括：《黑暗的心靈》(HeartofDarkness)和《特務》(TheSecretAgent)等。

《青春》是康拉德的短篇小說，講述了充滿青春激情的小伙子馬洛的首次東方之旅。馬洛在破舊的“圣地”號貨船上任二副，他和同伴經歷了水與火的洗禮，勇往直前。雖然“圣地”號后來遭到滅頂之災，但全體水手分乘救生艇繼續前進。馬洛指揮最小的救生艇率先抵達陌生的海岸，贏得了勝利。選文描繪的是著火的“圣地”號在黑夜即將沉入大海的悲壯情景。