A strange life on London's River Thames
I arrived at a pea-green footbridge to nowhere. From my vantage point on the towpath, the bridge’s brushed-steel curves rose and dipped over the river before disappearing into a thick cluster of privet. I watched passersby stroll over. Most peeped and retreated. The more brazen continued, swallowed by the hedges into one of London’s most fascinating enclaves.
我来到了浅绿色的人行步桥。从我所在之处望去，人行步桥的钢制结构弯曲上扬越过河之后降入消失在茂密的水蜡树丛中。我注视着来来往往的行人。大多数人远远瞥了一眼，便退缩而去。有些勇敢的人继续前行，便会发现树篱掩盖的竟是伦敦最引人入胜的世外桃源之一。
This is Eel Pie Island, one of around 180 river islets – known as ‘eyots’ or ‘aits’ – on the Thames, born of the river’s meandering, 184-mile path from the Cotswold hills to the North Sea.
这就是Eel Pie岛，泰晤士河上约有180个河流小岛，又称"河州"或"河中岛"，该岛是其中之一。
Mudbanks like Chiswick Eyot, a thickly-wooded nature reserve populated by herons and Canada geese, were sculpted on the river’s route. At high tide the tiny piece of land is swallowed whole, just a few lone branches eerily piercing the surface.
泰晤士河起源于科茨沃尔德（Cotswold）丘陵，蜿蜒184英里长，最终流入北海，河道所经之处形成泥滩，奇西克河洲（Chiswick Eyot）是树木茂密的自然保护区，栖息着大量的苍鹭和加拿大鹅。涨潮时，这片狭小之地会被完全吞没，只剩寥寥无几的树枝从表面探出脑袋。
Eel Pie Island, near Twickenham, was carved as the river took a detour and forged a parallel path, slicing it from the mainland. Since the 17th Century, when according to a 1635 map there was a bowling alley on the island, it has been a haven for hedonists, music lovers and philanderers.
Eel Pie岛位于特威克纳姆（Twickenham）附近，因河流绕道形成两道平行支流，将这块地方与其他陆地分离开来，由此诞生河心岛。十七世纪的地图就记载了Eel Pie岛的位置，后来发展成为享乐主义者、音乐爱好者和慈善家的天堂。
Its seclusion – it could only be reached by boat until the footbridge was erected in 1957 – made it a dream for extra-marital affairs. Local stories say that wealthy men would bribe the ferryman not to let their wives across so they could canoodle with their mistresses undisturbed.
小岛与世隔绝——直到1957年人行步桥建成之前，只能坐船抵达——因此，成为发展婚外情的理想之地。据当地传言，有钱人为了与情妇寻欢作乐，免于打扰，通常贿赂船夫，阻止太太们乘船渡河。
The island is named for the eel pies sold at its 19th-Century hotel; rarely spotted now, the slippery, snake-like fish were once abundant in this part of the Thames. The inn burned down in a mysterious 1971 fire, but the decades of entertainment, from ballroom dancing and beatnik jazz to early performances by the Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart, are still spoken about in reverential tones.
该岛得名于19世纪岛上旅馆出售的鳗鱼馅饼。当时，泰晤士河这一带十分盛产鳗鱼，其身体滑溜、形状如蛇，如今已经非常少见。1971年发生了一场神秘火灾，烧毁了旅馆，但是交际舞、爵士乐以及滚石乐队和洛德·斯图尔特（Rod Stewart）的早期表演等数十年发生在这里的娱乐活动仍然被人传诵。
Trevor Baylis frequented the hotel as a teenager, lured from his home in Kilburn in north-west London by “pretty girls and jazz music”. Smitten by the spit of land, the inventor built a home here in 1971.
特雷弗·贝利斯（Trevor Baylis）年轻时是这家旅馆的常客，他家位于伦敦西北部的基尔伯恩（Kilburn），难以抵挡"美女与爵士乐"的诱惑经常在这里出入。1971年，这位发明家深深爱上了这片土地，于是在这里安家。
The community grew from “just a few huts” to around 50 homes with old hippies, young families and people “with a special kind of spirit”.
一开始，整个社区只有"几间小屋"，后来慢慢多至50户人家，有年老的嬉皮士，年轻夫妇以及"奇人异士"。
“We were a family then, and we’re a family now,” Baylis said.
"不论是当时还是现在，我们一直都像一家人一样，"贝利斯说道。
The footbridge led onto a narrow, shaded footpath, marked by a ‘Private Island’ sign. I followed it past tumbledown cottages to a screeching, spitting, working boatyard, emerging among a cluster of ramshackle artists’ studios. The walkways were cluttered with pots, wrought-iron tables and empty Champagne bottles stuffed with candles. A skeleton’s spindly legs dangled from a birdcage overheard; dressmakers’ dummies were topped with plant-pot heads.
人行步桥的另一端通向一条狭窄的林荫小路，路牌上写着"私人岛屿"。沿着小路，穿过摇摇欲坠的村舍，呈现在我眼前的是一个船坞。船坞里声音嘈杂，水花四溅，一片繁忙热闹的景象。四周围耸立着一片艺术家工作室，破败不堪。走道上堆满了坛坛罐罐、锈迹斑斑的桌子和塞满蜡烛的空香槟瓶。头顶上方的鸟笼中装着一具人体骨骼，细长瘦弱的双腿悬挂于空，裁缝的人体造型以花盆做头。
This avant-garde display is the work of island gardener ‘Twig’, Lee Campbell explained, as we sat in the forest-green, corrugated-tin shed she shares with elderly lurcher Holly. Campbell, a landscape painter from New Zealand, has rented the studio for 17 years, but lives “on the mainland”.
李·坎贝尔（Lee Campbell）解释说，这个前卫的摆设是岛上园丁的作品。当时，我们正坐在用深绿色瓦楞铁皮搭建的棚屋里，她与老猎狗霍利（Holly）相依为命。坎贝尔来自新西兰，是一名风景画家，在这个岛上租工作室17年了，但住在"大陆"。
“Now and then a bunch of old hippies come staggering over, asking if the hotel is still here,” she said. “They’re looking for the party.”
"有时会有老嬉皮士摇摇晃晃来这里，询问旅馆还在不在,"她说。"他们想寻找派对。"
For Campbell, the island’s appeal is a tranquil space to paint. She also likes walking back over the bridge each afternoon, to “dry land”.
对于坎贝尔来说，岛上的魅力在于安静的绘画空间。她还喜欢每天下午步行过桥，返回"陆地"。
For those who live, work or accidentally visit here, Eel Pie is endlessly enthralling.
Eel Pie岛对生活、工作或意外来访的人具有无穷无尽的吸引力。
Like many of the other eyots that loop along the Thames like the eyes of needles, it’s a time capsule of land, memories and tall tales.
像其他的小岛一样，Eel Pie岛被泰晤士河环绕，形状如同针眼。它与时空胶囊一般无二，承载着这片土地流传的长久记忆和荒诞传闻。
Before ship-shape Ravens Ait became a luxury wedding venue, a dozen squatters took over for several months in 2009, claiming it should be common land. They argued that it was on this tiny islet that King John signed documents leading to the ratification of the Magna Carta. (It was actually the Treaty of Kingston, a 1217 peace treaty with France, that was signed here.)
渡鸦岛（Ravens Ait）形如船只，在演变成豪华婚礼场地之前，十几个擅自占地者在2009年接管了几个月，声称这里应该是公共用地。他们争辩说，约翰国王正是在这个小岛上，签署了批准"大宪章"的文件。（实际上，在这里签订的是1217年与法国达成和平的金斯敦条约，Treaty of Kingston）
Further west, as the river flows through Berkshire, the boldly named Magna Carta Island also contends to be where the king sealed the charter. It’s yet to be proven.
再往西，河水流经伯克郡（Berkshire），这里的大宪章岛（Magna Carta Island）取名大胆，也声称国王是在这里签署了大宪章。然而真相还有待证明。
Oliver’s Island, near Kew, is named after claims that Oliver Cromwell took refuge here and built a tunnel connecting the eyot to the Bull’s Head pub on the opposite bank. The story has been widely discredited (and no amount of digging has unearthed the tunnel).
位于邱园（Kew）附近的奥利弗岛（Oliver's Island）以奥利弗·克伦威尔（Oliver Cromwell）命名，据说他曾来此避难，建造了一条连接该岛和对岸牛头酒吧（Bull's Head）的隧道。这一说法已经广受质疑（不管怎么挖，也无法找到隧道）。
On nearby Taggs Island, a dusty path loops past gardens rambling with roses, lavender and bamboo canes. A sun-dappled footbridge spans the central lagoon, circled by floating homes. Boatbuilder Thomas George Tagg leased the island in the 1850s, crafting a reputation for vessels painted in bold colours and adorned with balustrades, elaborate carvings and striped awnings. Artists, writers and those with money to spare flocked to the island.
附近的塔格斯岛（Taggs Island）上有一条尘土飞扬的小路环绕经过种满玫瑰、薰衣草和竹子的花园。阳光斑驳的人行步桥跨过河水，水上房屋环绕四周。造船商托马斯·乔治·塔格（Thomas George Tagg）在1850年代租用了这座岛屿，其所造船只用色大胆，装饰着栏杆、精美雕刻和条纹遮蓬，一时名声大噪。艺术家、作家和有钱人纷纷涌入岛上。
Fred Westcott watched with envy. Busking near Hampton Court lock, he dreamed of living by the teardrop-shaped island.
弗雷德·威斯克（Fred Westcott）的眼中满是羡慕。在汉普顿宫（Hampton Court）的门前卖艺之时，他曾梦想着有朝一日能在这个泪滴状的小岛上安居乐业。
Changing his surname to Karno, he launched a circus with a troupe of then-unknown performers including Charlie Chaplin and Max Miller, and invented the custard-pie-in-face gag. Fortune made, he moved to Taggs in 1903, ensuring his was the biggest and most luxurious boat circling the land.
后来，他改姓卡尔诺（Karno），与查理·卓别林（Charlie Chaplin）和马克斯·米勒（Max Miller）等一群当时名不见经传的演员成立了一个马戏团，并发明了蛋奶馅饼掷脸的笑话。赚到钱之后，他于1903年搬到了塔格斯岛，拥有的船只在这一带最大、最豪华。
The richly-textured tapestry of history and culture on these 180 isles, of which 30 are inhabited, deserves to be preserved and shared. Michele Whitby, who rents a houseboat moored to Eel Pie Island, is working on doing just that.
泰晤士河中有180个小岛，其中30个有人居住，泰晤士河中岛的历史和文化理应保护与传承。在Eel Pie岛租住的船屋居住的米歇尔·惠特比（Michele Whitby）做的就是这件事。
Whitby has been gathering oral histories from the island’s residents for her Eel Pie Museum, set to open in Twickenham by early 2018.
惠特比一直在收集岛上居民的口述历史，她创办的的Eel Pie博物馆（Eel Pie Museum）将于2018年初在特威克纳姆对外开放。
“The first buildings were beach huts,” she said. “There are stories of rich businessmen spending weekends there with their mistresses.”
"最初的建筑物是一些海滩小屋。"她说。"据说有些富商周末会来这里与情妇们寻欢作乐。"
For Eel Pie residents, who are aged 17 to 70, the common thread that binds them is an "adventurous spirit".
对Eel Pie岛上的17岁至70岁的居民来说，正是"冒险精神"将他们仅仅联系在一起。
“This life isn’t for everyone. Sometimes you have to wade through water to get home because the tide has risen across the bottom of the bridge,” Whitby said. “But our world is the real world. People either leave within a year, or leave in a wooden box.”
"这里的生活并不适合每一个人。有时河水涨过桥面，必须涉水回家，"惠特比说。"但是我们的世界活得实实在在。大家要么不到一年就离开，要么至死才离开小岛。"
Baylis won’t leave any other way. At 80, the bachelor still has a spring in his shuffle. His house and studio, The Haven, is tucked down a dusty track off the main path. Entering is like diving into Mary Poppins’ carpet bag.
贝利斯无论如何都不会离开。这个80岁高龄的单身汉在这场人生牌局中依然活得风生水起。他的避风港既是住房又是工作室，隐匿在尘土飞扬的主干道分支小路上。一进门就像钻进了仙女玛莉（Mary Poppins）的旅行包。
I was greeted by a tiny, white, stuffed cat, curled in permanent sleep on a drawing board. Beyond were higgledy-piggledy racks of tools, plastic trays overflowing with nuts and bolts and steering wheels hooked to the wall. Baylis invented the wind-up radio, and a dozen early models were dotted around the workshop.
只见一只毛茸茸的白色小猫正蜷缩在绘图板上沉沉地睡着。往上看，杂乱无章地摆放着一些工具架子，塑料托盘上盛满了螺母和螺栓，墙上挂着舵轮。贝利斯发明了发条收音机，十几个早期模型仍零星点缀在工作室周围。
“I built the house of my dreams,” he said, escorting me past his swimming pool to his living area. The walls were a collage of photos – a gaggle of girlfriends, posters of Audrey Hepburn (Baylis’ all-time favourite actress) and a picture of Nelson Mandela with the inventor, proudly holding the radio that helped educate people about the spread of HIV and Aids in Africa. The pair became “good pals,” Baylis told me.
"这就是我梦寐以求的房子，"他一边说着，一边引我经过游泳池前往客厅。墙上贴满了照片，有一群嘻嘻哈哈的姑娘们、奥黛丽·赫本（Audrey Hepburn）的海报（贝利斯一直以来最喜欢的女演员），还有他与纳尔逊·曼德拉的合照。正是贝里斯发明的发条收音机，帮助教育了非洲人民了解艾滋病和艾滋病毒的传播。贝利斯告诉我，他和曼德拉后来成了"好朋友"。
Bookshelves buckled under encyclopedias. A wine rack made with leftover piping was built into the wall. Smudged glass doors led out to the turfed terrace overlooking the river. Upstairs, Baylis sleeps surrounded by more books and under a huge poster of Audrey.
百科全书把书架都压弯了。由多余管道制成的酒架固定在墙上。玻璃门污迹斑斑，通往铺设草皮的露台，可以俯视河流。楼上是贝利斯的床铺，四周放满了书籍，上面还挂了一张奥黛丽的巨型海报。
Trevor’s CV (he gave me a copy) reads like the achievements of an entire alumni. There’s his OBE in recognition of his inventions; his career as a stunt double for Peter Cook and Dudley Moore; the fact he swam for the British National team when he was 15.
特雷弗给了我一份他的简历，简历读来就像所有校友的成就的总集合。因为发明被授予大英帝国勋章（OBE），做彼得·库克（Peter Cook）和达德利·摩尔（Dudley Moore）的特技替身，15岁时为英国国家游泳队效力。
He even built a car, designed and cobbled together by hand, despite the island having no roads.
虽然岛上没有公路，他甚至通过手工设计制作，造了一辆汽车。
“She has about 5m on the clock,” Baylis chuckled, sweeping a hand towards the lipstick-red motor that’s permanently parked on his lower terrace.
"这辆车只跑了5米里程，"贝利斯咯咯地笑了起来，用手指了指唇膏般红色的汽车，一如既往地停在底下的露台上。
Blondie, a Hokkaido dog, lolled by the counter as Baylis brewed tea in his tiny kitchen. Back on the terrace, we listened to one of his wind-up radios.
布隆迪（Blondie）是一只北海道犬，贝利斯在他狭小的厨房里泡茶时，它懒洋洋地躺在柜台旁边。返回露台之后，我们听了听他发明的发条收音机。
On the opposite bank, a jogger appeared intermittently through the trees. A lone kayaker paddled by. Occasionally, large tourist boats pass by and guides point Baylis out as a local attraction.
河对岸，有个慢跑者时不时在林间穿行，若隐若现。河中有只皮划艇，形单影只，飘然而过。偶尔会有大型游船经过这里，导游会指一指贝利斯，就像他也是当地的旅游景点。
A raven squawked above our heads, hopping from side to side on a branch. “There’s my neighbour,” Baylis joked. Reclining and puffing on his pipe, he heaved a contented sigh.
一只乌鸦一边在我们头顶嚎叫，一边在树枝上跳来跳去。"瞧，这便是我的邻居，"贝利斯开玩笑说。他斜躺抽着烟斗，长长地舒了一口气，甚是满足。
“I’ve been a lucky guy,” he said, eyes crinkling in a smile. “What more could I want?”
"我真是一个幸运的家伙啊，"他眯起眼睛笑着说。"还有什么好奢望的呢？"
