Climbing 1)Mt, Sinai, Chasing 2)Moses in the Dark 夜登西奈山追赶摩西
文字难度：★★★☆
在星夜打着手电筒重踏摩西走过的路，想象当年垂老的他怎样克服艰险登上西奈山，在熊熊烈火中谛听上帝的诫命，接受上帝与以色列人的约定——这种经历，对基督徒和非基督徒都一样终身难忘。西奈山壮丽的日出，更让登临极顶的旅人遐想无限……
One of the few 3)landlubber excursions to Mt. Sinai (2,285 meters above sea level) is a 4)nocturnal three-hour hike, timed perfectly to observe the sunrise from the 5)pinnacle. After a two-hour drive, we arrived at the base of the mountain. As soon as I left the bus, I headed for the bathroom to put on a pair of long pants and a sweater. The temperature had dropped at least 10 from the daytime high. It was only going to get colder and windier during the climb. By the time I double-checked my gear and clothing, there were only six people left at the base. So there I was: all alone, at 2:15 a.m., lost at the base of Mt. Sinai. 
对业余爱好者来说，登西奈山（海拔2285米）为数不多的选择之一，是三小时的夜间登山，正好赶上观看极顶的日出。我们坐了两小时的车来到山脚，一下巴士，我直奔洗手间穿上长裤和毛衣。气温已从日间的峰值陡降了至少10摄氏度，登山过程中只会越来越冷，风也越来越大。等我再次检查完装备和衣物，山脚下只剩6个人了。于是凌晨2点15分，我孤零零地在西奈山的山脚下不知所措。
I was not going to be the last one to the top, so I began power walking. This was the mistake. I began racing, competing with a pack of world-class hikers who burst out of the vans and sped up the mountain, leaving a flurry of dust behind them that settled by the time I crossed the same area. They had scaled past so many turns up the mountain that I could no longer hear their 6)stampeding or see the glow of their flashlights. Moses had a 7)pillar of fire guiding him at night. A sympathetic firefly would have been enough for me.
我不打算做最后一个到达山顶的人，于是开始健步行走。这是个错误的决定。一群世界级登山好手突然从面包车里出现，我起初还和他们较劲，但后来他们快步上山，卷起的尘埃等我走到同一地方时已然落定。他们攀登时转了不知多少弯，以至我不再听见他们的脚步声，也不再看见他们手电筒的闪光。摩西夜里有火柱引路。如果有一只萤火虫同情地陪伴我，我就知足了。
I made out the shapes of two camels and three 8)Bedouins. They were presumably headed for the main camel camp, where the animals could be hired as an alternative to hiking. The camp had to fall on the main path, I thought, so I followed them.
我辨认出两头骆驼和三个贝多因人的轮廓。他们的目的地应该是那个主要的骆驼场，里面的骆驼是可以租来代步的。我想，骆驼场只能在主山道上，于是我跟着他们走。
We came upon the 9)silhouette of the monastery. I paused to orient myself. “There are two trails,” I recalled the man at the tourist office saying, “Both begin just past these two pillars. The one that turns to the right is much faster, but steeper Steps of Repentance. Straight past the pillars is the easier but longer Camel Path.”
我们来到一所修道院的剪影前，我停下来定位。“有两条路，”我记得旅游局的人这样说，“两条都从这两根石柱开始。右转的那条路是快得多、但比较陡峭的‘悔罪台阶’。过了石柱一直向前的那条是较轻松但较长的‘骆驼小径’。”
I saw the pillars, gained my 10)bearings, and also managed to lose sight of the camels and Bedouins. But I saw a faint, stationary glow in the distance. That had to be the camp.
我找到石柱，确定了自己的方位，也摆脱了那些骆驼和贝多因人。然而我看见远处有一点静止不动的微光，那想必是骆驼场。
I reached the camp by climbing over rocks and entering the wrong side. I saw dozens of resting camels. As I walked gingerly around them, I approached the men, 11)huddled around burning lanterns. They were wearing 12)turbans and long, 13)draping gowns. With gestures, I asked for the path and the men pointed.
我攀上岩石进入骆驼场，却发现自己选错了入口。我看见几十头在歇息的骆驼。我小心翼翼地穿过它们，来到守驼人那里。他们围坐在亮着的灯笼前，头戴穆斯林头巾，身上的长袍自然地褶皱着。我比划着问路，他们作了指点。
After a half hour of power walking, I stopped to remove my sweater and to tighten my large 14)fanny pack that had begun to slide down, 15)hampering my stride. I found a flat rock and sat down for a few moments. The moon, while only an eighth full, was bright enough to cast my shadow. I left my flashlight turned off. The moonlight shone through a perfectly clear sky and illuminated the rugged, 16)arid 17)terrain with a faint blueness. It 18)bleached away the colors, transforming a presumably ruddy 19)palette to a desolate monotony; the color of steel, of the moon itself. Newly visible stars formed 20)constellations I had never seen.
健步走了半小时后，我停下脱掉毛衣，并系紧我那逐渐下滑以至妨碍跨步的大背包。我找到一块平坦的岩石，坐了一会。仅有1/8的弯月，亮度足以照出我的影子。我关掉手电筒，月光从澄净的夜空射下来，给这片高低不平且干旱的土地罩上一层淡淡的蓝。它褪去了彩色，将原本应该是红土的风景化为单调的苍凉——钢铁的颜色、月亮的本色。刚在天空浮现的繁星，组成了我从未见过的星座。
Suddenly, I noticed a flickering army of flashlights. There they were. But they were below me, behind me. As I would later find out, all the other hikers had 21)prepped themselves in the courtyard of a small cafe. They were obstructed from my view by a wall of minivans. I did not lose them-I ran past them. I had been racing no one. I pointed my light at them. One of the hikers 22)reciprocated. There I was, having a Moses moment. I had been utterly convinced of my failure as a pathfinder, when I suddenly found myself as a leader.
蓦然间，我注意到一大簇摇曳的手电筒的灯光。他们在那边啊！不过他们位置比我低，被我抛在后面了。我后来才搞明白，原来其余登山者都在一家小餐馆的庭院里整装待发。我当时没看见他们，是因为视线被一列小面包车挡住了。我没有被他们撇下，而是超越了他们，这一路我并没有追赶谁的脚步。我将手电筒的光投向他们。其中一个登山者用手电筒向我照回来。我高高在上，恍惚间觉得自己就是摩西。我原以为自己根本没有能力找到路，却突然发现我做了引路人。
An hour and a half later I was at the final 350 steps. A Bedouin merchant said it was too early, nobody was up there yet, and that I should buy some of his overpriced chips and tea. Halfway up, it seemed the Bedouin had a point. I refused to rest throughout the entire way, and my body began to shake. Moses had a walking stick. My trembling knees were begging for one. But I reminded myself that if an 80-year-old man with slippery sandals walked up this mountain and came down carrying two stone 23)tablets, I had nothing to complain about. So I just kept walking.
一个半小时后，我走到了最后350级台阶。有个贝多因商贩说时间太早，顶峰还没有人影呢，并怂恿我买点他的高价薯条和茶。在这半路上，他的话仿佛有点道理。我全程都没有休息过，我的身体开始发抖。摩西有拐杖。我颤抖的膝盖也有同样的需求，但我提醒自己，如果一位八旬老翁穿着容易滑跌的草鞋能登上此山并扛着两块石版下来，那么我也没什么可抱怨的了。于是我继续前行。
I was not the first to the top. Three guys had taken the Steps of Repentance. Three others had camped out from the previous day. Another merchant approached me, offering to lend me his blanket for $ 1.50. I asked him where the sun was going to rise. I situated myself near the edge, wrapped myself in the blanket, took out a juice box and waited.
我并不是第一个登上顶峰的人。有3个人选了“悔罪台阶”那条路，另外3个人则在前一天就上来扎营了。又一位商贩向我走来，建议我付1.5美元租用他的毛毯。我问了他日出的方位之后，靠着悬崖边坐下，裹着毛毯，拿出一盒果汁等待着。
It began sometime after 5 a.m. A thin white thread appeared over the horizon, in competing 24)luminescence with the bright fingernail clipping of the moon. The light was elegant, 25)demure in the company of stars and the faint dusting of the 26)Milky Way 27)galaxy. Somewhere east, the white thread quickly unraveled, expanding in a 28)spectrum that 29)leaked orange over the landscape, over everything. And then a fierce orange disc rose and set the lunar desolation, the silent 30)eloquence of blues on fire. In its 31)unyielding march westward, the disc claimed territories under this orange glow, increasing its dominion with every passing moment.
5点后不久,日出开始了。一道纤细的白线出现在天边，与一弯指甲般的明月争辉。那光线在繁星和银河系的淡痕的映衬下显得分外优雅和端庄。东方，那道白线迅速抽丝，扩张成的光谱将群峰和其他一切染成橘红。一轮橘红而热烈的圆盘随即升起，将凄凉的月亮和饱满而沉寂的幽蓝一齐燃烧起来。圆盘势不可挡地西进，在橘红的光线中征服着大地，它所占领的地方随每一个瞬间而增加。
We witnessed the vast, beautiful dance between night and day, a process that determines our concept of time but is timeless itself, which gives rhythm to seen and unseen occurrences that repeat over days, years, 32)eons.
我们见证了黑夜与白昼交替的宏美舞蹈。这个过程塑造了人类的时间观，但它本身是恒久不变的。昼夜更替，使在无数年月世代里重复着的、或显或隐的万事万物有了节奏。
小资料：西奈山 
西奈山又叫摩西山（Mt. Moses），位于今埃及境内的西奈半岛中部，是基督教的圣山，基督教的信徒们虔诚地称之为“神峰”。
据圣经记载，犹太人曾在埃及世代为奴，先知摩西带领以色列人民逃出埃及，过红海，到西奈。上帝召摩西二上西奈山，亲授摩西“十诫”，即上帝子民必须遵守的十条戒律，包括不杀人、不奸淫、不偷窃、不贪图他人财产等。西奈山上有纪念摩西接受上帝戒命的神庙，始建于公元532年，后屡次毁坏并重建，现存的庙宇建于1934年，但沿用了公元532年初建时的石料。
到西奈山朝圣有一种开始于6世纪的形式：凌晨时分从附近的达哈布城（Dahab）出发，1.5小时后到达山脚下的圣凯瑟琳修道院，开始攀登圣山。攀登西奈山的路程随山坡蜿蜒而上。修建于19世纪的山路共8公里长，有3750级台阶。
小资料：摩西
据旧约圣经《出埃及记》记载，摩西是希伯来人的儿子，生于以色列人在埃及遭受迫害的时代。摩西出生三个月后，为了免遭杀害，母亲把他装在蒲草箱里放到尼罗河边的芦荻中。后被埃及法老的女儿发现，收为养子，取名摩西，意即从水里救出的孩子。摩西长大成人后，逃出法老家，以牧羊为生，后来按上帝的旨意，做了拯救以色列人逃出埃及的领导者，从西奈半岛到约旦河东岸，行军漂泊四十年。上帝还给以色列人规定了十条诫律，让摩西刻在石版上，带在身边，这样摩西就成了上帝的代行执法人。迪斯尼动画片《埃及王子》就是对摩西生平的艺术反映。