Looking down from the safety of the ship, shimmering water with ripples dancing over it caused by the slight stir in the air, or spread like a sheet of satin over the large expanse of can appear to be inviting one to poetry, but below the surface, it hides perils, like the vast shroud of uncertainty spread over our future, it lets enjoy the instant that eye beholds and the mind pictures.

从船上往下看，波光粼粼的海面被海风轻轻吹出微微的波纹，有时候也平静得像一张无边的绸缎，让人忍不住想吟诗一首，但水面之下隐藏了无数的危险，像巨大的盖布盖住了我们未知的未来，让我们时刻欣赏眼前和想象的画面。

And all this picture that I am drawing here is of placid seas, but there are people who have gone around the oceans of the globes in reed boats, however this doesn’t belittle their majesty or trivialize their might. All those who take up the challenges of climbing the summits or crossing the oceans kneel down and pray after successful conquests because they know that, their feat howsoever daring may seem to the ordinary human beings wouldn’t have been possible without the blessings of the Almighty.

我在这里描述的画面都是平静的海洋，有人划着芦苇船在每个海上畅游，然而这并没有降低他们的威严，削弱他们的力量。所有那些勇于攀登高峰或横渡海洋的人在挑战成功后都跪下来祈祷，因为他们知道，如果没有全能的上帝的保佑，他们的壮举在普通人看来是不可能实现的。

What to talk of the oceans, the currents in the rivers too are very strong. I remember when I was on one ship that used to go to Brazilian, Peruvian and Columbian ports in the mighty Amazon. The currents in that river are so strong that it is not uncommon to see huge chunks of lands, with houses and animals on them, broken away from shore and being carried downstream like little islands. The sand at the bed of this river keeps shifting to form what are known as bars or barriers. So every time when you come to the river after a few days, its topography can be different and unless you sound the water in the river ahead of you, the ship’s bottom can scrape against the river bed causing serious damages or even rupture of the bottom of the ship, if it runs aground.

说到海洋，其实河里的水流也很强烈。我记得我曾经在一艘常常开往亚马逊的巴西、秘鲁和哥伦比亚港口的的船上呆过。这条河的水流很湍急，我们时常能看到大片大片的土地，上面还有房子和动物，从岸边断裂下来，像小岛一样顺流而下。这条河河床上的沙一直在移动，形成所谓的栅栏或障碍。所以每次当你隔了数日再经过这条河，它的地形可能又发生了变化，如果你没有对前面的河水进行勘测，船的底部可能就会被河床严重剐蹭，如果发生搁浅，船底甚至还会破裂。

A boat was carried on that ship and where the water depth was known to be less, the navigators would lower the boat in water and sound the depth of the river ahead to decide whether the ship could pass or would have to wait for the high tide to ride over the bars. Our final port of destination used to be Ikitos in Peru. It was what is known as an anchorage port. There was no wharf or jetty for the ship to be tied alongside. It used to be tied to the buoys in the river and the cargo was discharged in the barges. For going ashore, some boat was hired but the service was very unpredictable, so for most purposes the “all purpose” rescue boat was lowered and used. It had an overboard engine that is started by pulling a string.

船上会装载小艇，如果水深不够，船长会把小艇降入水中，勘测前面喝水的深度，决定通行或等候涨潮，以便通过这些障碍。我们的目的港口一般是秘鲁的Ikitos，所谓的锚泊港。这个港口没有可以供船只系泊的泊位或码头。过去人们把船绑在河里的浮标上，通过驳船卸货。为了上岸，人们搭乘一些小船，但是小船的服务不太靠谱，所以大多数情况下，人们放下并使用全能救援船。这种船有一个舷外发动机，拉动发动机的线就能工作。

During my visit to Ikitos on many occasions, I too had gone ashore on that boat. But once it so happened that one Third Officer and a Seaman had got on that boat for some job. The boat is kept of the deck in the accommodation quarters which are in the aft of the ship. The boat was lowered and the engine started. It raced to the forward of the ship and after reaching a few meters ahead of the ship, the engine stalled and stopped. Both the persons on board tried to start the ship as it drifted back. The boat drifted rapidly and was sucked below the barges that were standing around the ship for taking the cargo. I wasn’t sailing on the ship that time and I came to know of this incident later. I don’t know whether they were wearing their life jackets or had committed the gravest mistake of their lives.

我曾多次访问Ikitos，我也曾搭乘小船上岸。但有一次，一名三副和一名水手登船工作。这条小船是装在船后舱室的甲板上的。船下水了，发动机也启动了。它冲到船头，在离大船几米远的地方，引擎熄火了，停了下来。船上的人都试图在小船漂回来时把大船发动起来。小船漂得很快，钻到大船周围运货的驳船下面。我当时没有在船上，后来才知道了这件事。我不知道他们是否穿着救生衣，是不是犯下了人生中最严重的错误。

When it came out from the other end, in an overturned state, the men weren’t there. They were never found. Amazon is home to vast aquatic life, much of which hasn’t been researched yet but some of you might have read about Pirahnas or seen the movie with the same name and the scenes of their voraciousness might revisit you while reading this, but little is known about hundreds of other unknown species and their ravenousness. In the aquarium at Singapore, I saw a tiny scorpion form the amazon kept in a sealed glass cell. It had a warning displayed cautioning the people against touching the glass cabinet as it read that the mere touch could instantaneously paralyze and kill.

当它从另一端出来的时候，船是翻的，船上的人不见了，再也没有被找到。亚马逊河是巨型水上生物的母亲河，其中的大多数都尚未被研究，但你可能读过《食人鱼》这本书，或者看过同名的电影，看到这里你可能忍不住回忆起食人鱼疯狂吞食的场景。但我们对数以百计的其他物种及他们的贪婪习性并不清楚。在新加坡的水族馆里，我看到了一只亚马逊小蝎子，被放在一个密封的玻璃容器中，旁边有一个告示，警告人们不要触摸玻璃橱柜，因为仅仅触摸就会导致瞬间瘫痪和死亡。