下面这段文章选自英国游记作家科林-萨布伦撰写的《亚西亚失落的心》一书。本书描述了萨布伦在苏联解体后不久游历中亚诸国的经历。在这个节选片段中，萨布伦叙述了他在土库曼斯坦马雷市度过的第一晚的见闻。 

　　Eastward¹ from Ashkhabad my train lumbered² across a region of oases³ where rivers dropped out of Iran to die in the Turcoman desert. In one window the Kopet Dagh mountains lurched darkly out of haze⁴, and repeated themselves in thinning colours far into the sky. Beyond the other rolled a grey-green savannah, gashed⁵ with poppies. Over this immensity the sky curved like a frescoed⁶ ceiling, where flotillas of white and grey clouds floated on separate winds.

　　我乘坐的列车由阿什哈巴德驶出，一路向东，在土库曼沙漠中的绿洲地区中缓慢行驶，源自伊朗的数条河流便在这里汇集。透过一扇车窗，可以看到考匹特塔克山脉在黑色的迷雾中蜿蜒前行，若隐若现，其颜色随着山势的增高而变得模糊起来。另一扇车窗中，灰绿色草原绵延不绝，四处是凌乱的罂粟。天空在无垠的大地上盘旋曲折，仿佛是一个刻有壁画的天花板，密集的白云和灰云在空中随着阵风飘移。

　　Once or twice under the foothills I glimpsed the mound⁷ of a kurgan, broken open like the lips of a volcano – the burial-place of a tribal⁸ chief, perhaps, or the milestone⁹ of some lost nomad¹⁰ advance. Along this narrow littoral¹¹, a century ago, the Tekke Turcomans had grazed their camels and tough Argamak horses, and tilled the soil around forty-three earthen fortresses¹². Now the Karakum canal ran down from the Oxus through villages with old, despairing names such as "Dead-End" and "Cursed-by-God", and fed collective farms of wheat and cotton.

　　在山麓小丘之下，我瞥见了一两个坟头，坟头已经裂开，样子与火山口相仿——也许，它是部落首领的埋葬之地，或者就是某个迷失的游牧开拓者的一座里程碑。一个世纪之前，在这个滨海地区的沿岸，提基亚土库曼人用泥土建立起43个堡垒，他们在周围放牧骆驼和凶悍的阿葛马克马，并耕种土地。如今，卡拉库姆运河自阿姆河顺流而下，穿过那些以“死角”和“天谴”等古老、绝望的名字来命名的村子，灌溉着那些种有小麦与棉花的集体农场。

　　The train was like a town on the move. In its cubicles¹³ the close-tiered bunks¹⁴ were stacked with Russian factory workers and gangs of gossiping Turcomans. Grimy windows soured the world outside with their own fog, and a stench of urine rose from the washrooms. But a boisterous¹⁵ freedom was in the air. Everyone was in passage, lightly uprooted¹⁶. They gobbled salads and tore at scraggy chicken, played cards raucously¹⁷ together and pampered¹⁸ each other's children, until the afternoon lunch-break lulled¹⁹ them into sleep. Then the stained railway mattresses²⁰ were deployed²¹ over the bunks, and the corridor became a tangle²² of arms and projecting feet in frayed²³ socks. From a tundra²⁴ of sheets poked²⁵ the beards of Turcoman farmers, and the weathered heads of soldiers resting on their caps. Matriarchs on their way to visit relatives in the next oasis²⁶ lay mounded under blankets or quilted coats, and young women curled up with their children in their arms and their scarves swept over their faces.

　　这列火车就像一个移动的城镇。车厢单间内，上下铺位间的空间狭窄，上面全都挤满了俄罗斯工人和成群唧喳不停的土库曼人。污秽的车窗布满了雾气，使外面的景色模糊不清，洗手间更是飘来了小便后的恶臭。但空气中弥漫着放纵喧闹的气氛。人们全都是在旅行，似乎有点漂泊在外的味道。他们大口吞咽着沙拉，撕啃着骨多肉少的鸡，一起大声吆喝着玩着扑克，互相哄弄着彼此的小孩，直到下午，午休时间才使他们安静下来，开始睡觉。之后，铺位上纷纷铺起污迹斑斑的列车床垫，走廊里顿时到处都是胳膊和露在外面、穿着破袜子的脚丫子。所有被单仿佛就是一片苔原，土库曼农民把他们的胡子露在了被单外面，而枕着帽子的士兵则把他们那饱受风霜之苦的脑袋露了出来。去下一个绿洲地区看亲戚的老妇人们躺在毛毯里或棉大衣中，好似一座座小山丘，而年轻的妇人则蜷着身子，怀里抱着孩子，并用她们的头巾盖住了自己的脸。

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