立在悬崖边上的小城

风先到了。波莉沿着科西嘉岛的海岸往南飞，一直飞到岛的尽头。她面前是开阔的大海，远处还有一座岛，又低又蓝。那是撒丁岛。两座岛之间的海叫博尼法乔海峡，风在那里吹得很猛。

The wind comes first. Polly flies south along the coast of Corsica until the island ends. In front of her there is open water, and far away another island, low and blue. That is Sardinia. The water between them is called the Strait of Bonifacio, and the wind blows hard through it.

她转过身，看见了一座小城。小城建在白色的悬崖上，就在最边上。房子又高又窄，百叶窗都关着。这时波莉发现了一件奇怪的事：墙的下面没有一点空隙。房子的石头直接连着悬崖的石头。而悬崖往下大约七十米，就是大海。

She turns back and sees the town. It stands on a white cliff, right at the edge. The houses are tall and narrow, with closed shutters. Then Polly notices something strange. There is no space at the bottom of the walls. The stone of the houses goes straight into the stone of the cliff. And the cliff falls about seventy meters down to the sea.

波莉落在老城墙上，往下看。岩石颜色很浅，也很干。海鸥在她下面很远的地方转着圈飞。接着她又看到一样奇怪的东西：有人在悬崖上凿了一条窄窄的槽，槽里面有台阶。

Polly lands on the old town wall and looks down. The rock is pale and dry. Gulls fly in circles far below her. Then she sees something strange. Someone has cut a narrow line into the cliff, and inside it there are steps.

她想数一数有多少级，可是天快黑了。台阶一直往下，伸进阴影里。下面的海水拍着岩石。波莉心想：我要下去看看。

She tries to count them, but the light is going. The steps go down and down into shadow. The sea moves against the rock below. Polly thinks: I am going down there.