"Why do they make things so complicated?" he asked the Englishman one night.
“他们为什么把事情搞得这么难懂？”一天晚上，男孩问英国人。
The boy had noticed that the Englishman was irritable, and missed his books.
他发现，英国人有点不耐烦，想要回自己的书。
"So that those who have the responsibility for understanding can understand," he said.
“为的是只让那些有责任心的人读懂它们。”他说，
"Imagine if everyone went around transforming lead into gold. Gold would lose its value."
“你想想看，如果所有人都能把铅块变成金子，那么金子很快就会一文不值了。”
"It's only those who are persistent, and willing to study things deeply, who achieve the Master Work.
只有那些坚持不懈的人，只有那些不断钻研的人，才能够获取元精。
That's why I'm here in the middle of the desert.
我正是为此才来到这沙漠之中的。
I'm seeking a true alchemist who will help me to decipher the codes."
我要寻找一位炼金术士，请他帮助我解读那些密码。”

"When were these books written?" the boy asked.
“这些书是什么时候写成的？”男孩问道。
"Many centuries ago."
“好多个世纪以前了。”
"They didn't have the printing press in those days," the boy argued.
“那时候还没有印刷术呢。”男孩争辩说，
"There was no way for everybody to know about alchemy.
“不可能所有的人都了解炼金术。
Why did they use such strange language, with so many drawings?"
这种语言为什么这么奇怪，而且满篇充斥着插图呢？”
The Englishman didn't answer him directly.
英国人没有回答男孩的问题，
He said that for the past few days he had been paying attention to how the caravan operated, but that he hadn't learned anything new.
只说几天来他一直注意观察商队，却根本没发现什么新东西，
The only thing he had noticed was that talk of war was becoming more and more frequent.
唯一让他挂心的事，就是有关打仗的议论越来越多。