我喜好旅游，猎奇心强。八月，正是旅游的黄金季节，我沿着拉萨、格尔木、西宁一线漫游。

　　I love travel, and my curiosity is strong. August is a golden season for travel, so I began my journey along the route of Lhasa-Gomud-Sining.

　　这是一条举世瞩目的世界屋脊旅游线，以青藏高原的雪山、湖泊、草原、沙漠、河谷、寺庙等壮丽景观和神秘风情吸引中外游人。有幸的是我在这条线上，意外地看见了海市蜃楼。

　　As a world-famous travelling route on the roof of the world, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are attracting Tourists all over the world with its mysteries and splendid jokuls, lakes, grasslands, deserts, valleys, temples, and so on. And it is especially lucky for me since I saw the mirage on this route unexpectedly.

　　在布达拉宫游览时，由于我一人旅游，我想拍一张布达拉宫留影的金景，却不好自拍。我看见游人中有一高一矮两个男子，我请瘦高的中年男子为我拍照。照毕，他讲他们是师徒俩，他姓贺，矮胖的是他徒弟，小名“胖子”。他承包了单位大货车，才从西宁拉冻鸡来拉萨，顺便来游布达拉宫，没带相机，想请我给他们也拍几张，给我钱。我说钱不用给，地址给我就行。于是我们一同游布达拉宫，当我们游览完布达拉宫从红山下来时，也成为朋友，得知我也要沿着拉萨，格尔木、西宁一线游时，他们热情地邀请我搭他们的车，说搭他们的车，沿途哪里风景好就可以在哪里停车拍照，说不定还会摄到戈壁瀚海中蜃楼奇景，而乘旅游班车就不可能。我被他们说得有点心动，虽说已成朋友，但毕竟认识不到几个小时，我怕他们是坏人。我对贺师傅讲，我很想搭你们的车，但我怕你们在路上把我卖了，或分尸大沙漠。贺师傅一点不生气地说：“你看我们像卖人的吗?”

　　When I was traveling at the Potala Palace, I wanted to take a photo of myself before this famous sight. Since I was traveling alone, it was a little difficult to realize this desire. At that moment, I saw two men, one was taller and the other was shorter, among the tourists, so I asked the tall and thin one to take a photo for me. After that, he said that he was named He, and the short and fat one was his prentice, whose nickname was “Pangzi”. They had contracted with their company to hire a truck for transportation. At that time they had just come to Lhasa form Sining with a truck of frozen chicken and had a travel at the Potala Palace by the way. They wanted to have some photos too, but they had no camera. So they asked me to take photos for them and they would pay for that. I said that’s no need for payment, just an address would be ok. So we visited the Potala Palace together and turned into friends when we went down from the Maburi Hill (Red Hill). When they knew that I would travel along the route of Lhasa-Gomud-Sining too, they enthusiastically offered me a lift and said that, on the journey, they would stop at any place where the scenery was beautiful to let me to take photos, and maybe I could photo the mysterious mirage in the Gobi, which I could not make by taking the tourism regular bus. I was a little tempted by their words but afraid that they would be bad guys. Though we had become friends, we had got off with each other for only several hours. I said to Master He, “I want to hitchhike your car so much, but I’m afraid that you will sell me on the way or kill me in the great desert.” Master He was not offended at all and said, “Do us look like traders in human beings in your eyes?”

　　就凭这车上的牌照，也无法跑掉。我在不放心和冒险的心态下搭上了他们的车。

　　Judged by the license plate of the truck, I thought that I might not be that unlucky, so I got on their truck with a fearful and venturesome heart.

　　正是炎夏，车在坦荡如砥的膏藏公路上奔驶，沿途真是人烟罕见，除了列队的路标、等距离的电话线杆，就是一望无际的戈壁，蒙语，意为“难生草木的土地”，这里深居内陆，远离海洋，河流很少，出隘岭隔，气候干旱，浸蚀作用微弱，亿万年来一直保持着广阔无垠的高原面貌。抬眼遥望，天空蓝得象被水洗过一样透明，飘浮的自云特别耀眼。我以为海市蜃楼出现在大海或蓬莱阁的机会多，不想这几百公里的大壁，沿途都会饱览海市蜃楼。从车窗放眼荒漠，只见在天地相接之处，仿佛有滔滔海水向我们奔涌而来，迷幻雾气之中，出现了高楼大厦，亭台楼阁。我根本不相信这是海市蜃楼。我确信就在车的前方不远处，车就会开到城里去。我甚至看到城市飘着的彩旗、高悬的广告牌。我完全被这五光十色的光环迷住了。随着车的前行，我看见了光环中的工厂、田野、车水马龙般的闹市。所有这些景致都若隐若现，掩映在奇异的光彩之中。当汽车行驶到有条沙坎的地方，贺师傅指着窗外说，这些沙脊梁子、沟沟坎坎地，从远处看，就象是千万条海浪向你奔来，你现就到那些沙沟子里去洗“海水浴”吧。

　　It was right midsummer. The truck was running fast on the broad and level Qinghai-Tibet Highway, and it was really untraversed at the both sides of the road. Except for rows of landmarks and equidistant telephone line poles, there was only the Gobi (Mongolian word, means land where plants are hard to grow) stretching to the horizon. Here is deep in the interior of the land and far away from the sea, with few rivers and continuous mountains around. The weather here is droughty, and the abration here is weak, so the unmeasured vastness of the plateau has been kept intently for billions of years. Looking far into the distance, the blue sky was transparent as if it had been washed by water, and the floating white clouds were so brilliant. I had thought that the mirage would mostly probably appear in the sea or Peng Lai Pavilion as described in the fairy tales, but it was unexpectedly that I could feast my eyes with this marvel along the way in the great Gobi extending for hundreds of kilometers. Scanning the desert through the window, it seemed that there was plenty of torrential sea water surging toward us, and there appeared pavilions, buildings, mansions, etc. in the illusory mist. I did not believe that was the mirage at all, and I was sure that our truck would quick run into the city which was not far before us. I even saw the hanging advertisement plates and weaving flags of the city. I was totally enchanted by this prismy aura. With our truck’s running ahead, I saw factories, fields and busy markets in the aura. And all of these sceneries were gleamingly set in the bizarre luster. When our truck ran before a sand threshold, Master He pointed out of the window and said, “From the distance, these sand ridges, grooves and pits are running toward you like thousands of weaves. Now you can go to have a ‘sea water bath’ in these sand grooves.”

　　我所看到的美丽景观，就是“海市蜃楼”，这是大气中由于光线的折射作用而形成的一种自然现象。当空气中各层的密度有较大的差异时，远处的光线通过密度不同的空气层就会发生折射或全反射，这时可以在空中或地面看到远处物体的影象。古人因误认为蜃吐气而成，所以叫海市蜃楼，也叫蜃景。

　　The beautiful scenery I saw was the mirage, which is a kind of natural phenomenon engendered by the refraction effect of light in the atmosphere. When there are obvious differences between the densities of different air layers, the light in distance will be refracted or totally reflected when it shines on the air layers, when people can see images of objects in distance in the air or on the ground. Ancient people mistook this phenomenon as the exhalation of big clams, so they called it Hai Shi Shen Lou (sea market and clam pavilion), or clam scenery.

　　其实红尘中的“海市蜃楼"跟这大沙漠的海市蜃楼一样，同样是虚幻而美丽，也常常迷惑我。但此时我终于明白，如果不从这虚幻中走出来，那将是生命的浪费。

　　Actually as the mirage in this great desert, the mirage of human society is visional but beautiful, and it often puzzles me too. But at this moment I understand that if I do not walk out of this illusion, it would be a waste of my life.