《魔法师的外甥》第32期:发生在前门的事(3)

It seemed in the end that the only thing he could do was to wait and hope that Uncle Andrew and the Witch would come back. If they did, he must rush out and get hold of the Witch and put on his yellow Ring before she had a chance to get into the house. This meant that he must watch the front door like a cat watching a mouse 8217;s hole; he dared not leave his post for a moment. So he went into the dining-room and 8220;glued his face 8221; as they say, to the window. It was a bow-window from which you could see the steps up to the front door and see up and down the street, so that no one could reach the front door without your knowing. 8220;I wonder what Polly 8217;s doing? 8221; thought Digory.

最后,似乎他能做的惟一的事就是等候和盼望安德鲁舅舅和女巫回来。如果他们回来,他必须冲出去抓住女巫,趁她来不及踏进房子就截上黄戒指。这就意味着他必须像猫守着老鼠洞一样监视着前门,一步也不能离开岗位。所以,他进了餐室,像人们常说的那样,把脸“贴”在窗户上:那是一扇凸肚窗,可以从里面看见通向前门的台阶,而且能看清整条街道,任何人走到前门都逃不出你的视线。”波莉在干什么呢?”迪格雷想。

He wondered about this a good deal as the first slow half-hour ticked on. But you need not wonder, for I am going to tell you. She had got home late for her dinner, with her shoes and stockings very wet. And when they asked her where she had been and what on earth she had been doing, she said she had been out with Digory Kirke. Under further questioning she said she had got her feet wet in a pool of water, and that the pool was in a wood. Asked where the wood was, she said she didn 8217;t know. Asked if it was in one of the parks, she said truthfully enough that she supposed it might be a sort of park. From all of this Polly 8217;s mother got the idea that Polly had gone off, without telling anyone, to some part of London she didn 8217;t know, and gone into a strange park and amused herself jumping into puddles. As a result she was told that she had been very naughty indeed and that she wouldn 8217;t be allowed to play with 8220;that Kirke boy 8221; any more if anything of the sort ever happened again. Then she was given dinner with all the nice parts left out and sent to bed for two solid hours. It was a thing that happened to one quite often in those days.

第一个半小时慢吞吞地过去了,他在这段时问里一直考虑着这个问题。但你不用着急,我来告诉你。波莉回家吃饭迟到了,鞋袜也是湿漉漉的。当被问到她去了哪里,干了些什么时.她说跟迪格雷·

So while Digory was staring out of the dining-room window, Polly was lying in bed, and both were thinking how terribly slowly the time could go. I think, myself, I would rather have been in Polly 8217;s position. She had only to wait for the end of her two hours: but every few minutes Digory would hear a cab or a baker 8217;s van or a butcher 8217;s boy coming round the corner and think 8220;Here she comes 8221;, and then find it wasn 8217;t. And in between these false alarms, for what seemed hours and hours, the clock ticked on and one big fly 8211; high up and far out of reach buzzed against the window. It was one of those houses that get very quiet and dull in the afternoon and always seem to smell of mutton.

柯克出去了。再一追问,她说是在一个水潭里涅了脚的,那水潭在一片树林里。问及树林在哪儿,她说不知道。再问是否在一个公园里,她老老实实地说,她想也许是在一个公园里。波莉的妈妈由此得出结论:波莉未经允许,悄悄地跑到伦敦某个她不知道的地方,进了一个陌生的公园,跌进水坑里玩水。最后,波莉被告知,她实在太调皮了,以后如果再发生这样的事,便不准她和“那姓柯克的男孩”一起玩了。然后,她被允许吃了一些残羹剩饭,就被赶到床上,整整两小时后才能下床。这样的事情在那时候是常常发生的。

During his long watching and waiting one small thing happened which I shall have to mention because something important came of it later on. A lady called with some grapes for Digory 8217;s Mother; and as the dining-room door was open, Digory couldn 8217;t help overhearing Aunt Letty and the lady as they talked in the hall.

所以,当迪格雷从餐室的窗户向外看时,波莉不躺在床上。两人都在想,时间过得多么慢啊,我个人认为,我宁肯处在波莉的位置上。她只是等候那两小时的结束,而迪格雷呢,每隔几分钟,只要听到马车声、面包匠送货车的声音或肉铺小伙计转过街角的声音,就以为”她来了”,然后却是一场空。除了这此令人惊悸的谬误外,其余时间里,只听见嘀嘀嗒嗒的钟声,像过了无数个小时一样漫长难熬。在头上高不可及的地方,一只大苍蝇嗡嗡地碰撞老窗玻璃。这幢住宅在下午往往显得非常安静和枯燥,而且,总有一股淡淡的羊肉味。

8220;What lovely grapes! 8221; came Aunt Letty 8217;s voice. 8220;I 8217;m sure if anything could do her good these would. But poor, dear little Mabel! I 8217;m afraid it would need fruit from the land of youth to help her now. Nothing in this world will do much. 8221; Then they both lowered their voices and said a lot more that he could not hear.

在漫长的等待和监视中,发生了一桩小事。我之所以要提它是因为以后有件,要的事情与之相关。一位女士带着葡萄酒来看迪格雷的妈妈。由于餐室的门开着,迪格雷很自然地听到了蕾蒂姨妈和那位女士在大厅里的谈话。

If he had heard that bit about the land of youth a few days ago he would have thought Aunt Letty was just talking without meaning anything in particular, the way grown-ups do, and it wouldn 8217;t have interested him. He almost thought so now. But suddenly it flashed upon his mind that he now knew (even if Aunt Letty didn 8217;t) that there really were other worlds and that he himself had been in one of them. At that rate there might be a real Land of Youth somewhere. There might be almost anything. There might be fruit in some other world that would really cure his mother! And oh, oh 8211; Well, you know how it feels if you begin hoping for something that you want desperately badly; you almost fight against the hope because it is too good to be true; you 8217;ve been disappointed so often before. That was how Digory felt. But it was no good trying to throttle this hope. It might really, really, it just might be true. So many odd things had happened already. And he had the magic rings. There must be worlds you could get to through every pool in the wood. He could hunt through them all. And then Mother well again. Everything right again. He forgot all about watching for the Witch. His hand was already going into the pocket where he kept the yellow ring, when all at once he herd a sound of galloping.

“多可爱的葡萄!”蕾蒂姨妈的声音,“我想这些葡萄一定会对她有好处的。唉,可怜的亲爱的小玛贝尔!恐怕现在她需要年轻的土地上长出的果子来治病。这个世界里任何东西都没有多大的效果。”后来,她们两人都压低了声音,说了许多迪格雷听不见的话。

标签:   发布日期:2024-02-11 08:32:00  投稿会员:Aucao