11.
As a little girl, I had always been afraid of the faces, and was terrified to find them staring at me when I woke in the middle of the night. My fear was not alleviated when Primus (so he was called at the time) told me sternly that inanimate objects could not hurt anyone.

作为一个小女孩,我总是害怕那些脸,每当半夜醒来发现他们盯着我都会被惊吓.当普里默斯(那时候他叫这个名字)严厉地告诉我没有生命的东西不会伤害任何人也没有减轻我的恐惧.

It was little Quartinus (Colin) who saved me. One day when he was playing sick, he sneaked from the infirmary, and stole nail enamel from the boudoir of Miss Daw, who was our music teacher, a fair-haired woman of ethereal beauty with skin as clear as fine porcelain. He then went out to steal a ladder from Mr. Glum’s shed. Somehow he carried a ladder all the way up three flights of stairs in midday without being seen, and all the way to the girls’ dorm.

是小夸特努斯(科林)救了我.一天他假装生病,然后偷偷地从医务室溜出来，在德沃小姐的闺房里偷了指甲油,德沃小姐是音乐老师,是一个有着漂亮的头发和像瓷器一样精致的皮肤的女人.然后他去格罗姆先生的工棚里偷了一张梯子.不知道他是怎么做到在正午偷偷把梯子抬过三层楼梯和整段到女生宿舍的.

There he was, balanced precariously eleven feet high, painting the noses red on the ugly metal faces, crossing their eyes, giving them moustaches and goatees, and he had managed to deface six out of the seven goblins when Mrs. Wren walked in and caught him.

然后他在十一尺高的地方摇摇晃晃地把那些丑陋的金属脸的鼻子涂上红色,在它们眼睛上画叉,并画上胡子,当瑞文女士走进来抓他的时候,他正打算丑化七个小妖怪中的第六个.

He was punished by being sent to his room without supper. I smuggled him part of the tuna fish casserole we had for dinner, wrapped up in my skirt. At that time, of course, the ash tree outside the North window gave me easy access to the ground. I tied the skirt in a bundle and threw it through the window of the boys’ dorm. Quartinus thanked me the next day, but he never returned the skirt.

他被罚关禁闭而且不准吃晚饭.我用裙子里偷偷包了一点我们在晚餐上吃的金枪鱼带给他.那个时候,当然,北面窗口外的白腊树让我们很容易就能到外面.我试着把鱼用裙子包着从男生宿舍的窗子里扔进去.夸特努斯第二天感谢了我,但是再也没有还给我裙子.

I asked him why he defaced the goblins. He told me: “Your fear gives them energy. When you see them as stupid-looking, though, you get energy from them.”

我问他为什么他要涂抹那写小妖怪.他告诉我:"你的恐惧给了它们力量.当你用看傻瓜的眼神看它们,你就可以它们那里获取力量."

Whatever the reason, it worked. They always looked silly to me after that; all except the one on the far end, whom little Quartinus had not gotten to.

不管原因是什么,它确实有效.从那以后它们在我看来总是很蠢;除了最边上那个,小夸特努斯还没来的及涂.

12.
Vanity stood with her cheek pressed to the stones, her eyes closed, as if she were listening intently. She motioned with one hand, pointed to the long-handled candle snuffer which (we assumed) had been in the room since before the candelabra had been electrified.

12.

瓦妮特脸贴着墙站着,闭着眼睛,就像她在专心听着什么.她摇了摇手,指着(我们认为)在烛台被换成电灯之前留在屋子里的长柄烛花剪.

I handed her the pole, and she put the hook end (used for lighting candles) in the mouth of one of the gargoyle faces. It was the one at the far end. She tugged.

我把烛花剪递给她,她把带勾的一头(用来点蜡烛的)伸进一张怪兽脸的嘴里.是最边上那张脸.她用力拖.

With a sigh and a click, a section of stone moved forward and then swung out, revealing a secret passage beyond.

随着一声叹息和滴答一声,一块石头向前移动了一段距离然后向外打开,露出一条秘密通向外面的通道.

“That’s impossible!” I said, flabbergasted.

"不可思义!"我目瞪口呆地说道.

The door was small and square, no more than three feet by three. The stones, which had seemed so thick and sturdy, were merely an eighth-inch of shaved granite face affixed to a wooden door.

那是一扇方形的小门,只有不到三平方英尺大.那些看上去如此坚厚的石头,仅是贴在木门上的一块八英寸厚的花岗岩.

The door was set to the frame with sets of hinges of a type I had not seen before: each hinge was riveted to a second and a third, to form a little metal W-shape. The triple hinges unfolded like an accordion when the door was opened, allowing the door to move directly out from the wall for a half-inch, before swinging to one side. This also allowed the door to swing outward, even though the hinges were on the inner side.

那扇门固定在一个门框上,门框上有一副我以前从来没有见过的铰链:每根铰链都和第二,第三根铆在一起,形成一个小金属的W形.当门打开时,三个一组的铰链就像手风琴一样折叠在一起,当要把门关上时,门可以从墙上向外移动半英尺.这样即使铰链是在朝里的一面,门也能朝外打开.

The crawl space beyond had a floor of unpainted, unvarnished wood, and narrow walls of brick. The three-foot ceiling was curved in an arch. It looked like a chimney lying on its side.

另一面的管道地板是没有漆过的木板,两边是窄窄的砖墙.三尺宽的天花板弯曲成拱形.看上去像一个横放着的烟囱.

“When did you find this?” I asked Vanity. I was kneeling, with my head in the door, and she was peering over my shoulder.

"你什么时候发现这个的?"我问瓦妮特.我跪着,把头伸进门里,她从我的肩膀上探着头看.

“During the summer, after Mr. Glum chopped down the Great Escape Tree. I would check for panels every night. I could only find it, for some reason, if it was the thirtieth or thirty-first of the month. Weird, huh? I bet it’s on a timer.”

"夏天的时候, 当格罗姆先生砍倒大逃生树之后.我每个晚上都检查面板.由于一些原因,我只能在每个月的最后一天找到这个.不可思义,是吧?我打赌它是由一个记时器控制."

I turned on my knees to look up at her. “Dr. Fell gives us our injections on the first of the month.”

我跪着转过身来抬头看着她."费尔医生在每个月的第一天为我们注射."

She blinked at me, her wide, emerald-green eyes brimming puzzlement. “What has that got to do with anything?”

她惊愕地看着我,她那大大的,鲜绿色的眼睛充满了迷惑."和那有什么关系?"

Now I knew how Victor felt about me when I asked a question about something he thought obvious.

现在我知道维克托对我的感受了, 当我问一些他觉得很明显的事情的问题时.

I nodded toward the dark hole: “Where does it go?”

我朝黑洞点了一下头:"它通向哪里?"

“I was never able to get a light in here. If you follow the lefthand wall through two turns, you come out near the clock in the Main Hall. There are two other ways I never explored.”

"我从来没能在里面点灯.如果你顺着左手边的墙壁走,拐两个弯之后,就可以在大厅的钟附近出现.还有两条路我从来没有走过."

“Left? You mean right, surely?”

"左边?你是指右边吧,确定吗?"

“Just go as I tell you.”

"照我告诉你的走就行了."

We crawled in the pitch dark. My fingers felt occasional spiderwebs or splinters along the dusty wood floor. Once or twice I banged my head against the brick ceiling, and was glad for the humble protection of my aviatrix helmet.

我们在伸手不见五指的黑暗中爬行着.我的手指在布满灰尘的地板上偶然会碰到蜘蛛网或蜘蛛.有一两次我的头撞到了天花板的砖块上,并庆幸我的飞行员头盔有一点点保护作用.

The stale air was warm and close, and I was grateful for the warmth on a cold night like this. Once or twice I heard a noise: it sounded like the rumble of breakers.

这个陈旧的地方温暖有狭窄,在这样一个寒冷的夜晚,我很感激这样的温暖.有一两次我听到了声音:听上去像是下水道的轰鸣声.

“I hear the sea,” I whispered over my shoulder.

"我听到了海的声音,"我扭过头小声说到.

Her voice sounded very close in the pitch darkness. “Some trick of the acoustics, I doubt not. Like a whispering gallery. Maybe there is a tunnel which leads down to the sea cliffs . . . ?”

在黑暗中,她的声音听上去就在耳边."声学的一些骗局而已,我怀疑那不是.就像回音走廊一样.也许这是里有条一直向下通向海崖的隧道....?"

“Ow! I found where the wall ends. It goes left and right.” I was glad I had bundled my hair into a cushion under my cap. I took a moment to adjust my goggles so they rode atop my head. Another extra inch of leather and glass might mute the next skull impact.

"噢!我发现墙的终点在哪了.它转左再转右."我庆幸我把头发扎在了帽子下面.我花了一会儿调节了一下护目镜,把它顶在头上.这样可以更厚一点的皮革和玻璃可以在下一次撞头的时候减轻一些疼痛.

“Take the left-hand way.”

"往左走."

We turned left, which was impossible. By my reckoning, that would take us further East than the East Wing.

我们转向了不可能的左面.以我估计,那会让我们去到比东翼更远的东边.

At the next fork, we turned left again. By my reckoning, this should have put us in the middle of the North Lawn.

在下一个岔路,我们又走了左面.以我估计,这会把我们带到北边的草坪中央.

“But how on earth did you get the notion to look for it in the first place?”

"但是,首先,究竟是什么让你产生去寻找的想法."

“Sometimes, in the night, I would get the feeling I was being watched,”Vanity explained. “So I figured there was a peephole.”

"有时候,在晚上,我感觉我在被人盯着,"瓦妮特解释说."所以我认为那里有一个窥视孔."

I thought that if there was a peephole, Mr. Glum might be using it, to watch us when we doffed our clothes before bed. I didn’t say anything, for fear of frightening her.

我认为如果那里有一个窥视孔的话,可能是格罗姆先生弄的,用来偷看我们上床前脱衣服.为了不让她害怕,我什么也没有说.

There came a tapping noise ahead, regular and rhythmic, like the noise of a sentry, in metal boots, pacing.

前面发出一连串也规则节奏的敲击声,像是岗哨穿着金属鞋子走路的声音.

“What’s that?” I hissed.

"那是什么?"我悄悄说.

Vanity ran into my bottom. “Oh, you! It’s the clock. Just keep on. We’d better hurry.”

瓦妮特撞到了我的屁股上."噢,你!那是钟.继续走.我们最好快点."

But the noise unnerved me, and I did not hurry. Instead, I put one cautious hand in front of another. And I was glad I did, for my forward hand suddenly felt nothing.

但是那个声音让我紧张,我没有赶快走.反而,我小心地将一只手移到另一只前面.我庆幸我这样作了,因为我移到前面的一只手没有摸到任何东西.

Was I poised over a brink? I felt around in the air, and encountered a wooden step a few inches below, and another below that.

我已经爬到了边缘了么?我感到暴露在空气中,前面几英尺下面有一级木台阶,台阶的下面还有另一个.

We were at the top of a stairway. I squirmed around so that I could go down feet first and, keeping my other hand on the stone overhead, I found that the ceiling did not drop as the stairs did but drew away as the stair descended. The ticking now was very loud; it seemed to come from directly ahead.

我们在楼梯的顶部.我蠕动着转过身,这样我就能先把脚伸下去,并把我的一只手放在头顶的石头上,我发现天花板没有随着楼梯降低.现在滴答声变得很大;感觉声音就像从前头直接传过来一样.

The stairway was only five stairs long, dropping just enough so that, by the last step, Vanity could stand upright, and I had to stoop.

楼梯只有五阶,下降的高度已经足够了,以至于在最后一阶时,瓦妮特可以站直身体,而我只能弯着腰.

There was a surface before me. In the dark, I could not tell what material it was, except that it was smoother than stone. It could have been wood, but it was so cold it felt like metal.

我前面有一层东西.在黑暗中,我不知道它是什么材料,除了感觉它比石头光滑.它可能是木头,但是摸上去又像金属一样冷.

“Now what?” I whispered.

"现在呢?"我小声说.

“There’s a switch, I suppose,” she said.

"我猜这里有个开关."她说.

“You suppose? How did you get out this way before?”

"你猜?你以前怎么从这里出去的?"

“I suppose I found a switch.” And she crowded up against me in that little space, tighter than a phone booth. I could hear the soft noise of her hand fumbling along the panel.

"我猜我找到了一个开关."她在那个比电话亭狭小的空间中把我挤开.我能听到她的手在面板上摸索的轻微声音.

“You don’t remember?”

"你不记得了?"

“I think I wasn’t exactly awake last time I did this. You have to be in the right state of mind. Sometimes it’s hard to remember nighttime thoughts during the day.”

"我想我最后一次做这个时候没有完全醒来.你必须保持正确的精神状态.有时候在白天很难记住晚上的想法."

“You think? What do you mean you think you weren’t awake?”

"你想?你想你没有醒来是什么意思?"

“Well, how else do you explain the fact that you never saw me searching for the panel with a ten-foot pole in my hand every night before we went to bed? Now, hush!”

"好吧,除了这样你怎么解释你从来没有见过我每天晚上上床前拿者一根十尺长的杆子在面板上找东西?现在,安静!"

“This is ridiculous—!”

"这很荒谬--!"

“Just be quiet! Don’t think you are too old to be spanked!”

"安静!你不认为你已经太老了不适合打屁股了么!"

“I’m taller and stronger than you, and I don’t fight like a girl.”

"我比你高也比你壮,我打起架来可不像一个女孩."

“I’ll get Colin to do it. You’d like that.”

"我会让科林打你屁股.你喜欢那样."

I was so shocked that I actually did shut up. I was glad it was dark; I could feel my face burning.

我是如此震惊,立刻闭上了嘴.我庆幸现在是在黑暗中;我能感到我的脸在发烧.

A crack of light appeared. Vanity pushed the panel aside.

一丝亮光出现了.瓦妮特推开了面板.

13.
This was about four feet tall and a little over a foot wide. A metal blade, tipped with a weight, swung past, inches from our faces.

13.

这大约有四尺高和一尺多一点宽.一块金属刀片从我们脸前几英尺的地方划过.

I tried to shrink back, but Vanity and I were pressed up together too closely. She made an annoyed noise in her throat. I blinked and looked again. Blade? We were looking out at a pendulum, swinging back and forth, back and forth.

我试着后退,但是瓦妮特和我在一起挤得太紧了.她喉咙里发出一声烦恼的声音.我眨了眨眼又看了一眼.刀片?我们正面对着钟摆,摆来摆去,摆来摆去.

Beyond that was a pane of dusty glass, blurred with age. On the other side of the glass, moonlight fell across carpet, heavy chairs, two mannequins in Norman helm and mail carrying pikes.

钟摆前面是一块很长时间没有擦过的,脏兮兮的玻璃.玻璃的另一面,月光照在地毯上,重椅子,戴着诺曼底头盔,穿着鳞甲,拿着长矛的假人.

This was the Main Hall. We were in the grandfather clock, looking out.

这里是大厅.我们正在落地摆种里面,面朝大厅.

Vanity whispered, very quietly, “The watchers will notice if the ticking stops. We have to slip past the pendulum without touching it, and get to the main doors and outside. Ready?”

瓦妮特非常小声地说道,"如果钟的滴答声停下来会被看守人注意到.我们必须闪过钟摆不碰到它,然后从大门出去.准备好了吗?"

I would have pointed out to her that, as a matter of mathematics controlling such things as volumes, moving bodies, and areas swept out by pendulums, that two girls (four-and-a-half and five-and-a-half feet tall, respectively), cannot turn sideways, and climb out of a one-foot-wide box, open the inner latch of a rusted antique clock, and get clear in the time it takes for a three-foot pendulum to swing back and forth once. Not to mention that there were weights and chains hanging in front of us as well.

我想对她指出,从数学上来说,两个女孩(分别是4英尺5英寸和5英尺5英寸高)不可能在一个三尺长的钟摆来回摆动的间隙,穿过钟摆扫过的区域到达另一边,然后再爬出一个一英尺宽的盒子,打开一个生了锈的古董钟的内部插销.更不用说我们前面还悬挂着砝码和链条.

But I did not get the chance. Vanity was already thrusting herself through the narrow opening. The pendulum jarred against her arm, of course, while she was yanking the latch free to open the glass panel of the clock.

但是我没有机会.瓦妮特已经从那个狭小的空间穿了过去.当然,在它用力拉插销打开钟的玻璃面板时,钟摆撞到了她的手臂.

The ticking stopped. The silence was enormous.

滴答声停了下来.深深的安静.

“Quick!” she hissed.

"快!"她小声喊道.

But we were not quick. We had to move the now-still pendulum aside, squeeze her out, squeeze the somewhat taller me out, and fumble with the pendulum to see if we could get it into motion again . . .

但是我们没快起来.我们必须把静止的钟摆移到一边,让她挤出去,并让更高一些的我也挤出去,然后笨手笨脚地看我们是否能把钟摆在弄动起来...

Tick tock. We could. The noise started up again. “Yeah!” cheered Vanity.

滴答.我们作到了.声音又响了起来."耶!"瓦妮特欢呼道.

I closed the cabinet door. “Quiet! We’re trying to be quiet!”

我靠近橱柜."安静!我们得保持安静!"

“Well, you’re making all the noise saying ‘quiet’!”

"好啊,所有的声音都是你在说'安静'!"

We both heard Mr. Glum’s voice, in the distance, querulous.And footsteps.

我们都听到了格罗姆先生在远处发牢骚的声音.还有脚步声.

14.
There was a drapery that hung before the alcove of a window opposite, between the two mail-wearing mannequins. We scampered over to it, quick as mice. Inside, in the angle between three windows, was a little table holding one of Mrs.Wren’s potted plants. Vanity stood on the table. I put my heels on the window casement but the ledge was precarious, so I put my hands against the window opposite to support my weight.

在两个穿着盔甲的假人之间,是朝外的窗户,窗户凹室前悬挂着一块帏帐.我们像老鼠一样地穿过了它.在里面,三个窗口间的角落里有一张小桌子,桌子上放着瑞文女士的盆栽.瓦妮特站在桌上.我用脚后跟站在窗扉上,但是窗架并不牢固,所以我抓住窗户来支撑我的体重.

This required Vanity to crouch into a ball so that I could lean across her.

瓦妮特必须倦缩成一团,让我能靠向她.

There were actually two sets of men’s footsteps, and a clattering of dog’s nails on the floorboards.

外面确切地传来两个男人的脚步声,还有狗链在地板上拖动的哗啦声.

“Who’s there?” growled Mr. Glum. His boots made little creaking noises on the carpet and the floor boards. We could hear the deep, slow breathing of his great mastiff dog, the rattle of its neck chain. We saw the splash of light from an electric torch pass back and forth. There was an inch or two of clearance beneath the drapes; the light shone clear.

"谁在那里?"格罗姆先生咆哮着.他的靴子在地毯和地板上发出叽叽声.我们能听到他的大獒犬发出沉重,缓慢的呼吸.我们看到从一支手电桶中发出的光在扫来扫去.手电的光照亮了窗帘下一到两英尺的间隙.

The other set of footsteps was sharp and crisp. They clattered as if steel soles had been affixed to the bottom of the boots, click-clack, in time with the clockwork.

另一个脚步声尖利而有节奏.它们的声音听上去就想鞋底贴了钢片一样,噼--啪--噼--啪,就想时钟一样.

“Eyah, ’tis you, Doctor. You give a body a fright, walking along without no light, in the dark. What would you be doing astirring at this hour, sir?”

"呀,是你,医生.你在黑暗中一个人没点光亮地走路,让人吓一跳.你这个时候出来做什么呢?先生?"

Dr. Fell’s precisely measured nasal tones answered him: “All things must be in order before the Visitors and Governors manifest tomorrow, Grendel. An Envoy from the Pretender will be in attendance, and no doubt the True Heir will force the Visitors to make a final disposition of our charges.”

费尔医生用他那非常标准的鼻音回答他:"在明天访客和地方官出现之前,所有事都必须准备好,格伦德尔.有一个觊觎王位者的使节也会出席,无疑,真正的继承人会强迫来访者对我们的指示作出最后的决定.

“I want the redhead. She were capering and flaunting at me today at the breakfas’ hour, and giving me the eye. Ever since she were twelve year old, I’ve set my cap for her. She’s to be mine. I have the skull of a preacher I kill’t set on a post at the bottom of my well, and he can do the service. I kill’t him clean, so that makes him still a holy man, right?”

"我想要那个红头发的.今天早上吃早餐的时候她挑逗我,还对我抛媚眼.自从她十二岁的时候,我就在追求她.她是我的.我的井底有一个我干掉的教士的头骨,他可以主持婚礼.我利落地干掉他的,所以他仍然是个圣洁的人,对吧?"

“The disposition of our charges is not a matter within our discretion, my dear Grendel. I, for one, can only operate within the latitude allowed by my maker’s instruction. Had I free will in the matter, certainly there are interesting experiments I would perform on all of them. It is a crime against science that such specimens will escape from the anatomy scalpel!”

"对我们的指示的控制不在我们的判断能力之内,我亲爱的格伦德尔.举例来说,我只能在我的造物指示的范围内作手术.让我自由去做就会带来麻烦,当然,如果我可以去做的话,那些都是很有趣的实验.这是违反科学的犯罪,这些实验体会从解剖刀下逃走!"

“Nonetheless, sir, the redhead were promised me. I heard a voice in the wood.”

"虽然如此,先生,红头发那位答应了给我.我听到树林里的声音."

“Did you recognize this voice?”

"你认出了这个声音吗?"

“Naw, not at all, sir.”

"没有,完全没有,先生."

“Then, on what grounds do you conclude that this person or persons had authority to treat with the matter, may I ask?”

"那么,在什么基础上你推测这个或这些人有权利处理这个问题, 我可以问吗?"

“A damn fine question, Doctor, and one where’s I got a set and goodly answer.”

"真他妈是个好问题,医生,对于这个我有一个漂亮的回答."

“Please share it, my dear Grendel.”

"那就请分享它,我亲爱的格伦德尔."

“I figger that if’n it were someone trying to trick me, he would’f em-personated some voice what was known to me. As this were no voice known to me, then it were no one trying to trick me. Asides, I were dead drunk at the time, it being Sunday morning, when what’s I’m off duty.”

"我假设如果有人想要试图耍我,那他就会装作是我熟悉的声音.既然没有我认识的声音,那么就没有人在耍我.另外,我那时候喝得烂醉,那是礼拜天早上,在我下班的时候."

“That is, perhaps, not the most reliable and cogent test of authenticity. Have you approached the Headmaster? He has given us all strict orders to communicate with him immediately if any of our original principals attempt to contact us.”

"那可能不是最可靠和最有力的真实性检验.你有告诉校长吗?他给了我们严格的命令,任何我们的最终首长试图联系我们的时候,都要立刻和他通话."

“Brrr! I ain’t going no damn where near that one, if’n I can help it. You talk to the Headmaster. He respekt you, he does. You ain’t show no fear of his kind.”

"哦!我他妈的没有走进那个东西,如果我能做到的话.你和校长去说.他尊重你,他真的尊重你.你对他的和蔼不会表现出害怕."

“It is not an emotion I have been instructed to suffer.”

"我没有被命令去承受那种感觉."

My arms were beginning to tell me I had not picked the most comfortable posture to support my weight. I am sure Vanity was having similar problems, folded in double above a leafy plant, which threatened to rattle at her least breath. We held our breaths and waited. It reminded me of those medieval tortures where witches were strapped into various positions and unable to move. And Vanity and I were in the role of the witches.

我的手臂开始告诉我,我没有选择最舒服的姿势来维持我的体重.我肯定瓦妮特也有类似的问题,在一盆阔叶植物上缩着身体让她只能急促地小声呼吸.我们屏住呼吸等待着.这让我想起那些中世纪的刑罚,女巫被用皮带绑成各种各样的姿势不能移动.现在瓦妮特和我在扮演那些女巫的角色.

“Well, if’n that’s all, Doctor . . .”

"好吧,如果那样的话,医生..."

“I do admit to a curiosity, Mr. Glum. I distinctly heard the clock operation suspend itself. If I may ask, were you the party who interrupted the movements of the clock, and, if so, for what purpose did you do this?”

"我得承认我的好奇心,格罗姆先生.我清楚地听到钟自己停了一段时间.如果我可以问的话,你是中断钟运行的那个人吗?并且,如果是的话,你这样做的目的是什么?"

“Eyah? I were thinkin’ you did it.”

"呀?我还以为是你做的."

“An unwarranted assumption. As your own finely honed senses no doubt imparted to you, I walked up from the Portrait Gallery while you were within view of the clock, and therefore could not have been at that spot at the time when it was meddled with, absent a certain amount of brisk jogging, which, I hope you will agree, is not in keeping with the dignity of my profession.”

"没有根据的推测.你自以为是的判断力无疑误导了你,当你在看着钟的时候,我正从肖像走廊过来,因此当它被人乱动的时候我不可能在现场,至于事先跑开,我希望你会同意,这和我高贵的职业并不一致."

“Hoy. Hum. We should look around. Of course, we sat here jawing for minute atop minute, so the scamps may be well away by now.”

"嗬.嗯.我们应该四处看看.当然,我们坐在这里聊了几分钟,所以那些流氓现在已经跑了."

“You have your suspicions, then?”

"那么,你有你的怀疑?"

“Doctor, you is a bright fellow, I know. Here on the grounds there are five of us, our servants and our creatures, and some human beings what teach some of the classes. Who do you s’pose would be sneaking and spying around in the wee hours?It’s Colin, I’ll warrant, maybe the priggish Victor, or the sly one what don’t talk much.”

"医生,你是一个聪明的人,我知道.这个地方只有我们五个人,我们的仆人和我们的造物,和一些教授某些课程的人类.你猜谁会在凌晨偷偷在互近调查?是科林,我可以保证,也许是自负的维克托,或者是那个不多说话的狡猾的家伙."

“May I suggest, then, my dear Grendel, that we have Lelaps scent around the base of the clock? He can tell us who passed by here. Meanwhile, I will check the reading of the hand against my pocket watch, which will enable us to deduce—if both timepieces had been in perfect synchronicity to begin with—how long the grandfather clock was interrupted in operation. The difference between the two times, you see . . .”

"那么,亲爱的格伦德尔,我可以建议我们让勒那普在钟的底部嗅一嗅吗?他能告诉我们谁路过过这里.同时,我会和我的怀表对一下钟的时间,它能让我们推测--如果两个钟的时间一开始是完全同步的话--落地摆钟中断运行了多长时间.两个时间的差,你看..."

“Your pardon, sir, but old Lelaps can’t talk no more. All these years in the sunlight have robbed the voice clean out of him. He misses the shadows of the Darker World. The trees there are a proper size, and blot up the sun; and he’s a bit bigger himself, deep in the wood. I don’t think he’s going to talk.”

"请您原谅,先生,但是老勒那普不能再说话了.这些年暴露在阳光下夺去了它的声音.它没有得到黑暗世界的阴影.吸收阳光的树木都差不多大,而他在树林深处有一点大了.我不认为他还能说话."

But there was a cough, and the breathing of the huge hound stopped, and then a breathy whisper came, hoarse, and sounding just as a dog would sound if dogs could talk.

但是随着一声咳嗽,那条大猎犬的呼吸声停了下来,然后响起嘶哑的,喘息的低语,就像一只能说话的狗发出的声音.

“Two walked here, light of foot, slim and fair. One has hair of sunlight-hue, one as red as flame. The first is a Prelapsarian, from time before the Fall of Man; the second is the Daughter of a King, Alcinuous his name. Neither bears scent of any crime to merit the fate Fates have assigned. Perhaps they are near; or yet perhaps far. Perhaps they will recall what Lelaps did, or did not do, when they have the ascending star.”

"两个人走过这里,踮着脚,身材佼好.一个的头发是金黄色,一个的头发像火焰一样红.第一个是Prelapsarian,来自人类堕落前的时代;第二个是一位国王的女儿,他的名字是Alcinuous.两个都没有命运女神赋予的罪恶气息.也许他们在附近;也有可能在远处.也许他们记起了勒那普做过了什么,也许不记得,当他们拥有上升的星星的时候.

“Up now, me bully!” said Mr. Glum. “If you have the scent, go find them! Go!”

"快起来,我的恶棍!"格罗姆先生说."如果你闻到了气味,就去找他们!快去!"

We heard the noise of the chain rattling, and a scuffling sound. Mr. Glum was no doubt booting the dog in the rear. The dog growled a bit, but nothing further happened.

我们听见的链条滚动和一阵混乱的声音,格罗姆先生无疑踢了了狗的屁股.那条狗小声咆哮了一下,但是就没有再做什么.

Dr. Fell said in a polite and distant voice: “I have a chemical in my office which may render the beast more pliant.”

费尔医生说用冷漠而客气的语调说:"我办公室里有一种药可能让畜生更加顺从."

“Garn! (He just want the redhead for himself, don’t he?) Well, she’s not for you!”

"接着说下去!(他只是想要红头发那个,不是吗?)好吧,她不是你的!"

“I suppose the matter is moot, my dear Grendel. All we need do is inform Mrs. Wren that her charges are absent from their beds. This permits us to levy a punishment. Although, I must admit that antics of this type are the very things which, should they be discovered by the Board of Visitors and Governors,might lead to decapitation, defenestration, or crucifixion for all of us. This whole matter would have been more easily arranged if, from the first, we had pretended to be a hospital for the criminally insane, or a penitentiary, rather than an orphanage.”

我认为问题是审议会,我亲爱的格伦德尔.所有我们应该做的是通知瑞文女士,她管理的那些孩子离开了她们的床.这能让我们给她们一个惩罚.虽然,我必须承认这类古怪的事是很重要的,如果他们被监事会和地方官发现,可能会让我们所有人都被处死,扔到大街上或者钉上十字架.这整件事都可以安排得更简单,如果一开始,我们假装是一所精神病罪犯医院,或者教养所,都比一所孤儿院要强."

“Oh, to be sure, Doctor. To be sure. No one would cock an eye at a jailhouse full of babies and toddlers, no one at all. Har har. We should’ve just kept them in the pantry in my mother’s house far beneath the lake water, like what my folk wanted.”

"噢,当然,医生.当然.没有人会盯着一所全是孩子和刚会走路的婴儿的监狱,根本没有人会.哈哈.我们应该把他们关在我妈妈那间在湖水底下的食品室里去,就想我的子民期望的那样."

“Originally, we thought the imposture would be needed for a few months, perhaps a year at most. No one foresaw these unfortunate events. It is a shame we were not allowed to kill them once they reached puberty. We certainly do not have the facilities for dealing with fully matured Uranians.”

"最初,我们认为这种伪装只需要几个月,也许最多一年.没有人预见这些不幸的事.不允许我们在他们成长到青春期的时候杀死他们真是遗憾.我们肯定没有可能对付完全成熟的Uranians."

“Aye, well, there’s no help for it. Even Lelaps is turning against us. Let’s go wake Mrs. Wren.”

"是啊,好吧,现在说这些已经没有用了.甚至勒那普都和我们敌对了.我们去叫醒瑞文女士吧."

And they moved off down the corridor, loud footstomps and sharp staccato footfalls. We continued to hold our breath and hold our positions till the silence was complete.

然后他们走下了走廊,响亮的跺脚声和尖利而不连贯的脚步声.我们继续屏住呼吸并保持着我们的姿势,直到完全安静下来.

Then we both collapsed on top of the potted plant, and knocked over the little table. The drape was flung wide by the fall, and dirt from the pot was scattered in a fan across the carpet. Vanity was laying atop me, her face slack with fear at the huge echoes we had raised, and she said, “We must agree never to tell Victor about this.”

然后我们两个都虚脱地倒在阔叶盆栽上,还撞到了小桌子.窗帘由于我们摔倒而被大大地扯开,花盆里的泥土在地毯上程扇形地洒开.瓦妮特躺在我的身上,她的脸被我们弄出来的大大的回声吓得呆呆的,她说,"我们必须同意永远不告诉维克托这些."

The clatter and noise we had made was so loud, that we ran pell-mell to the front doors, yanked them open, closed them behind us, and threw ourselves headlong over the railing into the bushes to one side of the Main Hall’s stairs.

我们弄出来的声响太大了,于是我们慌忙地跑到了大门,拉开它,然后关上,一头爬过栏杆跳到大厅一旁的灌木从中.

We held silence for an endless time, while Mr. Glum’s electric torch came back, playing across windows of the Main Hall.

当格罗姆先生的手电桶又照回来,在大厅的窗户上来回照的时候,我们保持安静了一段无穷的时间.

He opened the door and peered out into the cold moonlight.

他打开了门,在寒冷的月光中盯着外面看.

His giant mastiff came bounding out, looked between the marble pilings of the rail, and cocked his head to one side. He seemed to grin. He was looking right at us.

他的大猎犬跳了出来,在栏杆的大理石桩之间看,并把它的头竖向一边.它看上去像是在笑.它正看着我们.

Vanity and I just stared back at him.

瓦妮特和我也盯这它看.

The dog threw back his head, and gave tongue.

那只狗把头退了回去,伸出舌头.

Mr. Glum, stumping up from behind, said, “You scent ’em boy? You got ’em?”

格罗姆先生从后面走上来,说,"你闻到了,恩,孩子?你闻到了,恩?"

Howling, the dog now raced away across the lawn, going South, toward the blacksmith sheds.

那只狗嚎叫起来,跑着穿过了草坪,跑向南方,铁匠工棚的方向.

15.
We crawled on all fours in the other direction, our hands slowly getting numb with the frost. Eventually we got to our feet and ran across the North Lawn to the nearest copse of trees.

15.

我们四肢着地爬到了另一边,手渐渐被霜冻得失去知觉.最后,我们站了起来跑过北草坪到最近的灌木林里.

I turned to Vanity. My breath came in cold plumes. “Not tell Victor about what? About the talking dog? We have to tell about that.”

我转向瓦妮特.我的呼吸凝成了白雾."不告诉瓦妮特什么?那个会说话的狗吗?我们必须告诉他那个."

“And I cannot believe his first name is Grendel. What kind of name is Grendel Glum?”

"我不相信他的名字是格伦德尔.格伦德尔.格罗姆是一个什么样的名字?"

“What kind of name is Vanity Fair?”

"瓦妮特.费尔是一个什么样的名字?"

“Better than Vanity Glum! I don’t want to have a severed head on a post do my wedding. No, we can certainly tell Victor all of that. We just can’t tell him how easily we were caught, knocking the plant over, stopping the clock, all that stuff. The official version is, we were cleverer than the Scarlet Pimpernel, agreed?”

"比瓦妮特.格罗姆要好!我可不想让一个放在柱子上的头来主持我的婚礼.不,我们得告诉维克托所有那些.我们只是不能告诉他我们几乎被抓到,打翻了花盆,弄停了钟,所有这类的事.官方的版本是,要比Scarlet Pimpernel聪明,同意吗?"

“We should go back. If we are found in bed when Mrs. Wren comes, then we might not be punished.”

"我们得回去.如果瑞文女士发现我们在床上,那我们可能不会被惩罚."

“It’s probably too late already, Amelia! Dr. Fell went to go get Mrs. Wren minutes and minutes ago!”

"可能已经太晚了,阿米莉娅!费尔医生好几分钟前就去找瑞文女士了!"

“You know how long it takes to get her awake when she’s been drinking. Come on. We can make it. What other evidence do they have that it was us? I mean, it sounds like they’re pretty skeptical. They’ll think the talking dog was lying.”

"你知道她喝醉的时候叫醒她要多长时间.来吧.我们可以作到.他们还有什么其他证据证明是我们?我的意思是,他们语气听上去有一点怀疑.他们会认为那只会说话的狗在说谎."

“Say that again.”

"再说一遍."

“Say what again?”

"再说什么?"

“They’re skeptical. They’ll think the talking dog was lying.”

"他们在怀疑.他们会认为那只会说话的狗在说谎."

16.
Vanity and I put all our faith in speed, and did not even try to be quiet. We ran back to the Main Hall. I arrived long before she did. As we agreed, I did not wait for her, but pushed aside the pendulum and stepped into the clock. The panel had not been slid shut (how had Glum missed seeing that?) so I was able to slide through without stopping the clock.

16.

瓦妮特和我以最快的速度,甚至都没有试图保持安静.我们跑回了大厅.我比她先到很多.按照我们约定的,我不等她,避开钟摆爬进钟里.面板并没有关上(格罗姆怎么会没看见的?)所以我能不弄停钟就穿过去.

I heard the noises of something crawling after me in the tunnels. I dared not call out to discover if it was Vanity, in case it was not. In the fear and stale air and utter darkness of the blind labyrinth, however, I said my prayers to the Archangel Gabriel, and told him that I wanted to meet him some day, but not yet.

我听见在隧道里有什么东西在我后面爬.我不敢叫她来确定是不是瓦妮特,万一那不是的话.伴随着害怕,在迷宫腐臭的空气和黑暗中,实际上,我说过我想大天使加百利祈祷,告诉他有一天我想见到他,但是还没有.

I could see, in the distance, the square of moonlight indicating that the little secret panel was open. I could see a bit of the girls’ dorm, and could hear someone at the door. The key was scraping in the lock.

我能看到,在远处,那块方形的月光标志着那个秘密小面板还开着.我能看到女生宿舍的一点点,还能听到有人在门边.钥匙在锁里转动.

I won the world’s women’s championship for the hundredmeter crawl in the next two seconds, as well as the women’s across-the-bedroom broad jump. I yanked off my cap and pulled the covers up to my nose just as the door swung open, and an angle of lamplight fell across my bed.

接下来的两秒,我打破了女子"百米爬行"和女子"穿越卧室跳远"的世界记录.当门打开时,我正好扯下我的帽子,把被单拉到鼻子,一束灯光照到我的床上.

Here was Mrs. Wren, blinking and looking as irritable as her kindly face was capable of looking. I could see the thin, tall silhouette of Dr. Fell behind her. The lamplight caught his round,rimless spectacles, turning them opaque, and gleamed against the short brush of his white hair, against his pallid skin, so as to make him look like a thing made of metal, with lenses instead of eyes.

是瑞文女士,可以看到她眯着眼睛以她和蔼的脸上最烦躁的神情在看.我能看到费尔医生瘦高的轮廓在她身后.灯光照在他的圆形无边眼镜上,让它们变得不透明,在他的白色短发和苍白的皮肤衬托下,他看上去想是金属做的东西,用镜头取代了眼睛.

I tried to impersonate a yawn, but it came out so fake and forced, that I was sure Mrs. Wren was going to break out laughing on the spot. I was sure that Dr. Fell was going to smile at how foolish my attempts to trick them were, and he would no doubt make a small gesture with his hand; then Mr. Glum would come in, and stave in my skull with a shovel, and have my bloody corpse stuffed in a bag and taken out with the morning rubbish.

我试图假装打个哈欠,但是表现的太强迫,太假了,我肯定瑞文女士会当场笑出来.我肯定费尔医生会嘲笑我有多么蠢想要欺骗他们,他无疑会作上一个手势让瑞文女士走了进来,用一个铁铲敲开我的头骨,把我血淋淋的尸体塞到袋子里面和早晨的垃圾一起扔出去.

None of that happened. Instead, Mrs. Wren said, “Sorry to wake you, my ducklings.”

但是我想象的并没有发生.取而代之的是,瑞文女士说,"很抱歉吵醒你,我的小鸭子."

I tried to impersonate a sleepy voice, and, again, failed miserably.

我试着假装刚睡醒时的声音,而有一次悲惨地失败了。

“Wha—” (fake yawn) “—wha’sa’matter Mrrs. Wen?”

"什--"(假装打哈欠)"-什么事瑞文女士?"

Dr. Fell, whose night vision was apparently better than most, said, “I do not detect that Miss Fair is in her bed.”

费尔医生,他的夜视能力明显比大多数人要好,说道,"我没有发现费尔小姐在她的床上."

I said, “She’s curled up with me, on account of it is so cold.Her head is just under the cover. Should I wake her? It is so hard for us to fall asleep in this terrible cold. Can’t we have a fire in our room?”

我说,"她和我缩在一起,由于太冷了.她的头在被子底下.要我叫醒她吗?在这么冷的天我们可不容易睡着.我们可以在屋子里生一堆火吗?"

Mrs. Wren said in her bleary, unsteady voice, “Now, now. You just quiet down, my gosling. Dr. Fell just has a bit of constipation or something, and maybe is imagining too much.Come away, Doctor, we’ll wake up Cook and get something for your bowels, there’s a nice whippet!”

瑞文女士用她那朦胧的,颤动的声音说到,"现在,现在.你安静下来,我的小鹅.费尔医生只是有一点便秘或者其他什么,这可能让他想象得太多了.走吧,医生,我们去作点东西来添满你的肠胃,这里有只漂亮的惠比特犬.

Dr. Fell stepped forward with a stiff-legged stride. “I sense a magnetic anomaly in the chamber. If you will permit me to enter for an inspection . . . ?”

费尔医生向前走了一大补."我感到房间里有地磁异常.你能否允许我进去检查...?"

He was at the doorway when Mrs. Wren said, “Halt! You may not pass my wards without permission!”

他到门口时瑞文女士说到,"站住!你不能在没有允许的情况下进我的监护区域."

I heard, very dimly, the notes of a violin in the distance. It was Miss Daw, the music teacher, in the conservatory. But why would she be playing now, at this hour of the night? The music was haunting and dim, as if it had come from very far away, and I could not shake the feeling that Mrs. Wren had summoned it.

我听到,非常微弱地,在远处有小提琴的音符响起.是道恩小姐,那个音乐老师,在音乐室里.但是她为什么现在演奏,在晚上的这个时候?音乐的曲子悲伤萦绕,像是从很远的地方飘来,我无法摆脱这个感觉--瑞文女士命令他.

Dr. Fell now stood in the door, his face blank (well, blanker than usual, anyway), making tiny motions with his shoulders and knees. It was very odd, as if he were pinned in place against a glass wall across the door frame.

费尔医生现在站在门里,面无表情(好吧,无论如何,比平常更面无表情),轻微地晃动了一下肩膀和膝盖.动作非常奇怪,就像他被门框上的一块玻璃墙档住了路.

Mrs. Wren said, “The care of the young girls was given to poor Mrs. Wren, long after my darling Robin never came for me again. Year by year, the Headmaster has taken my prerogatives from me, till little enough remains this day. Yet I still have this privilege; no man may step into the girls’ dormitory, not without my say.”

瑞文女士说,"这些小女孩的照看权被给予了可怜的瑞文,在我亲爱的罗宾再也不来我身边很就之后.一年又一年,校长不断地夺去我的特权,到今天只剩下很少了.但是我仍然有这个权利;我不允许的话,没有男人能够进入女生的宿舍.

“There is something odd in the room, my dear Jenny. Further investigation is warranted.”

"这屋子里有什么古怪的东西,我亲爱的珍妮.有理由做更深入的调查."

“My head is a whirl of aches, Doctor. Surely it will wait till morning.”

"我的头有一点头痛的眩晕,医生.肯定会一直持续到早上."

“But if there is something amiss, it is our duty to examine . . .”

"但是如果这里有什么问题,我们有责任检查..."

“Those who set those duties on us are long gone, as you well know. Life is hard, and there is little enough joy in it for anyone, Dr. Fell. Let us let the wee children sleep and dream of fine things, true loves, handsome princes. It is a joy I no longer have, since I lost the key to my dreaming. Come away, come away.”

"就像你知道那样,那些赋予我们职责的人已经远去了.生活如此艰难,任何人都很少有足够的快乐,费尔医生.让我们让这些小孩子睡下并作个好梦吧,真爱,英俊的王子.这是我不在拥有的快乐了,自从我丢失了我梦的钥匙.走吧,走吧."

And the door closed, and the lock turned.

然后门被关上,锁在转动.

Vanity came out of the secret door a moment later and closed it silently behind her.

一会儿之后,瓦妮特从秘密的门中走出来并静静地关上了它.

17.
We climbed back into bed together, and lay there discussing the night’s events.

我们一起爬进了被窝,躺在床上讨论这个晚上的事情.

I said to her, “That secret passage made two left turns and dropped about six feet. It came out, however, at the Main Hall, in the West Wing, about three stories below us. How was that possible?”

我对她说,"那条秘密通道向左转了两次然后朝下降了六尺.可是,它的出口,在大厅的西侧,我们下面的三层楼.这怎么可能呢?

Vanity said, “The turns may not have been right angles; the floor may not be level. What if it sloped slightly all the way to the West?”

瓦妮特说,"弯道可能不是直角;地板可能不是水平的.如果它所有的路都略微向西倾斜会怎么样?"

“That wall is not thick enough to have that crawl space inside it. Look. There are windows above the gargoyle heads. Those casements are not six feet thick.”

"那面墙不够厚,内部能容得下一个槽隙.看.那些怪兽头上的窗户.那些窗扉没有六尺厚."

Vanity yawned; a real, sincere-sounding yawn, and said, “I think things like feet and measurement and all right angles being equal are not real unless you pay attention to them. If you don’t know for sure what shape the walls are, they could be any shape, couldn’t they?”

瓦妮特打着哈欠;一个真正的,毫无虚假的哈欠,说道,"我想像英尺,测量和所有直角这类的事情不是真正相等,除非你注意它们.如果你不确信那些墙的形状,它们就可能是任何形状,是吧?"

“You are saying this mansion is multidimensional?”

"你是说这座大厦是多维的?"

“I don’t even know what that word means,” she said.

"我都不知道那个词是什么意思,"她说.

I lay in bed trying to calculate what degree of curvature in the fourth dimension a plane figure with two right angles would need to have in order to have lines built on those angles also be at right angles with each other. It occurred to me that two lines could be drawn on the surface of a sphere, intersecting at right angles at the North and South poles, and still be parallel at the equator. A third line following the equator also would intersect at right angles. If the mansion stood on a hypersphere slightly greater in diameter than the mansion grounds, a person could move from any point to any other with what, in three-space, would seem to be right angles.

我躺在床上,试图计算在四维空间的弯曲程度,一个平面上需要有两个直角,才能让组成直角的线相互之间也成直角.它让我想到在一个球体的表面可以画出两条线,两条线在南北两极相交成直角,但是在赤道上仍然是平行线.第三条延着赤道的线也会和它们相交成直角.如果这座大厦建造在一个比地基更多维的超球面上,一个人就可以从任意在三维空间内看上去是直角的地方从一点移动到另一点.

How many equal three-dimensional spaces would a hypersphere be cut into by hyperplanes at right angles to each other?

一个超球面被切割成相互垂直的超平面会产生多少三维空间?

A circle can be cut into four pie quadrants; a globe into eight round-bottomed pyramids . . . Was it sixteen . . . ?

一个圆可以被切成四个象限;一个球体可以被切割成八个圆锥...还是十六个...?

I was trying to visualize how to construct a tesseract around a four-dimensional sphere when I drifted away to sleep.

当我渐渐睡着时,我还在想象在一个四维球体周围怎样构造一个超正方体.

 

4.
You must have guessed what was on those papers. I read the tales we had told each other that night in the coal cellar. I had forgotten every single one of them, including my own. The paper trembled in my hands when I held it, and the tears blurred my vision.I did not for a moment doubt the truth of them. Titans trapped in ice. Werewolves running through trees so tall their branches caught the stars. Magic dogs who sit by the door, and poets who sing tales of yore. A city in outer space, inhabited by creatures wiser than man, meant somehow to protect the world. A castle of light, where a throne sits on a magic glass where everything in every world can be seen.

4

你一定猜到了那些纸上写着什么.我读到了我们那天在煤窖里为彼此讲述的故事.我那时忘记了它们中的所有的故事,包括我自己的.当我拿这它时,纸张在我的手里颤抖,泪水模糊了我的视线.那一刻我没有怀疑它们的真实性.困在冰中的泰坦巨人.奔跑着穿越树林的狼人和那些树枝能触及星星的高大树木.坐在门旁边的魔力狗,吟唱着古老的传说的诗人.外太空的城市,居住着比人类智慧的生物,他们因为某种原因保卫着个世界.在光明城堡中,一个君王坐在能看到世间一切的魔法玻璃上.

One moment, it merely sounded familiar, like a dream you can half recall. The next moment I remembered the coal cellar, that night of terror. Victor had saved Quentin from freezing to death. He made a vow never to forget stories that were obviously already half-forgotten things, pages torn at random from lost diaries.

某一瞬间,仅仅是听上去感到熟悉,就像你能回忆起一半的一个梦.下一刻我就会记起煤窖和那个恐怖的夜晚.维克托把快要冻死的昆廷救活过来.他许下一个永不忘记这些故事的誓约,那些故事明显已经被忘了一半,不过是某本日记上胡乱撕下的几页.

But I did not remember the events captured in the Tale. I remember telling the others about my mother and father, but I did not remember my mother and father. Nothing. Not a face, not a sound of voice, not the feel of a hand holding mine.

但是我不记得故事中的事件发生过.我记得告诉过其他人关于我的母亲和父亲,但是我不记得他们.什么也不记的.没有容貌,没有声音,没有拥抱我的感觉.

I told Victor what I had found. He was as tall as a man at that time, but it was before the hair appeared on his lip, so perhaps this was a year or so before the experiment when he tried to measure the moon, and prove Einstein’s theory false.

我告诉维克托我找到了什么.他那个时候和一个成人一样高了,不过嘴上还没有长出胡须,所以可能是在他作测量月亮来证明爱因斯坦相对论是错误的那个实验之前的一年或更早的什么时候.

It shook him. I had never seen him actually so frightened before.He kept wiping his eyes, as if the fear was making him want to cry.

那东西震撼了他.我从来没有看到他以前有过如此害怕.他一直在擦眼睛,就像恐惧使他哭泣.

He said, “If they can erase our thoughts, if they can blot out our past, what chance do we have?”

他说,"如果他们可以抹去我们的思想,如果他们能抹去我们的过去,我们还有什么机会?"

I was more shaken by the fact that he was shaken than I was by the fact itself. “You believe it? All this stuff?”

他所畏惧的东西比故事本身给我的震撼还要大."你相信它吗?所有这些?"

He shook his head, but it was one of those head shakes where you don’t know if you mean yes or no. “I don’t see why not. It is no stranger than some of the things we learn in science. All this time, I was thinking we were from France, or maybe Asia, or, well, at least the planet Mars. Or . . .”

他摇了摇头,但是那种摇头让你看不出来是表示"是"或"不是"."为什么不信.它不比我们在科学课程上学的东西更奇怪.我始终认为我们来自法国,或者可能是亚洲,或者,恩,甚至是火星.或者..."

He took a deep breath, and calmed himself.

他深呼吸了一口气,使自己平静下来.

I said, “Let’s not tell the others.” I was thinking that if Victor,who was (in my mind) the paragon of self-control, was frightened by this, Quentin would go mad.

我说,"我们去告诉其他人吧."我想如果维克托(在我印象中)这样一个自制力的模范生都害怕这个,昆廷会发疯的.

Victor said curtly, “We keep no secrets from each other.”

维克托简单地说,"我们彼此没有秘密."

5.
Vanity did not faint; she was delighted. “My mother has red hair!” I remember how she used to whisper that to herself as she was falling asleep in the dormitory bed next to me, as if it were her own form of prayer.

瓦妮特没有吓晕;反而很高兴."我妈妈有红色的头发!"我记得她在宿舍里我旁边那张床上经常这样说梦话,就像那是她自己的祈祷方式.

We did not have many chances to speak together without being overheard. But, from time to time, Colin would create an opportunity, such as by pulling the fire alarm.

我们没有多少机会在不被偷听的情况下彼此交谈.但是,有的时候,科林会创造一个机会,比如按下火警按钮.

I told him the story in hurried whispers as the alarm was ringing and ringing in the hall, and slipped him the papers quickly. He had some questions for me, so there were fire alarms the next day, and the next.

当大厅里警铃大作的时候,我匆忙低声地把故事告诉了他,并把那些纸迅速塞到他怀里.他有一些问题要问我，所以第二天火警铃又响了,还有第三天.

Colin acted as if he did not believe it. “They might have faked your handwriting. Put those notes up to fool us, ruin our morale,” he said. But I overheard him asking Quentin a few weeks later, “People don’t really die from grief, right? That’s just a saying, right . . . ?”

科林装作不相信它."他们可能伪造了你的笔记.用那些笔记来愚弄我们,摧毁我们的士气,"他说.但是几周后我偷听到他问昆廷,"人不会真的死于悲伤,会吗?那只是说说,对吧...?"

Quentin’s reaction was the opposite, when he found out. He was not skeptical at all. I remember it was after he got the copy of the papers from Colin that he began, during our very rare trips into town, to ask the librarian, or the local fishermen, or the granny selling flowers on the street corner, about tales of Welsh witches, King Arthur, or the Great Gray Man of the Hill.

当昆廷得知这些故事的时候反应相反.他丝毫没有怀疑.我记得在他从科林那里得到了那些纸的手抄版以后,在我们极罕有的去镇里的旅行期间,他开始像图书馆理员,或当地渔民,或在街脚卖花的老奶奶,打听威尔士女巫,亚瑟王,和山里伟大的先知的传说.

He took in every little story he could find, and asked for extra homework, just to get the chance to spend more hours than normal in the library, leafing through Ovid’s Metamorphosis, or the Malleus Maleficarum.

他收集他能找到的每一个小故事,并要求额外的家庭作业,仅是为了能比平时多呆在图书馆里几个小时,快速地翻阅奥维德的"变形记",或者"达芬奇密码".

By that time, Colin had bored a hole through the locker room wall into the girls’ shower, with an awl he stole from Mr. Glum, so we could have longer conversations in private, so he said.

那个时候,科林用他从格罗姆先生那里偷来的锥子在衣帽间的墙上凿的一个到女浴室的洞,那样我们就可以有更多的时间私下交谈,他是这样说的.

Myself, I just got into the habit of squirting hairspray into any hole I saw in or near the shower. I never heard Victor’s voice suddenly cry out in pain from behind the wall, and Quentin’s only once.

而我产生则了一个兴趣,就是在浴室里或附近的任何洞里喷头发定型剂.我从来没有听到墙后面发出维克托的惨叫,昆廷也只有一次.

But nearly a month passed while that whisper hole was in place, and no teacher really minded if you spent a long time in the shower. And we supposed the sound of the water might hide our voices.

在那个"说悄悄话的洞"被钻出来大约一个月以后,我们没有老师真的在意你在浴室里呆了多长时间.我们也认为流水的声音应该能盖住我们的声音.

That was the summer Victor formalized our rules, and put them to quick votes which we registered in whispers, or by a quick knock on the wall.

那个夏天维克托指定了我们的规则,然后通过耳语或者敲墙来对其中的具体项进行了投票.

It was Quentin who insisted we all take once more the vow we had made, and forgotten, in the coal cellar. “Vows are powerful things,” he said. “They set things in motion.”

昆廷坚持我们再宣一次誓,就像我们在煤窖里做过、但已经忘记了的那次一样."宣誓是有力的事情"他说,"它让事情运作起来."

We could not all put our hands together through the tiny hole in the locker room, so Vanity and I held hands, while the boys (I assume) did their Three-Musketeers slogan.

我们没办法把我们的手伸过衣帽间的小洞叠在一起,所以瓦妮特和我牵着手,当男孩们也牵着手(我猜想)说出三个火枪手的口号时.

And Quentin added one personal codicil to the group oath.“Whatever has been hidden in darkness, I will discover. I will learn the secret, I will find the key, I will dare to turn it; I will pass through the door. The sleeper slumbers; he shall awaken.” Quentin was the one who discovered the secret. It was more than a year, but he kept his word.

昆廷在团体誓言的后面加了一份个人附录."无论黑暗中藏这什么,我都会揭示.我会发现秘密,我将找到答案,我敢于去扭转它;我将穿过那扇门;沉睡者应当被唤醒."昆廷是发现秘密的那个人.发生在一年以后,他作到了他的誓言.

6.
We had been told that the boundaries were bad for our health, that we would become ill if we passed too far beyond them. Victor dismissed this alarming news as a trick, something to keep us away from the estate boundaries, gathered in toward the center of the grounds. He defied this ban as often as he could, and the Headmaster could invent no reason to keep Victor from climbing among the rocks and slopes of the Eastern Downs, provided he stayed inside the bounds.

我们被告知那些边界以外的地方对我们健康有害,如果我们越过边界太远的距离就会生病.维克托认为这个警告根本就是一个骗局,不过是为了让我们不接近边界,把我们集中在这块土地中央.他一有机会就挑战这条禁令,如果只要他留在边界内,校长就不会反对他爬到竖石或者西边唐斯山脉的斜坡上去.

As I said, it was Quentin who discovered the first of the secrets.He had been among the barrows and ancient graves of the North, perhaps in some place told to him by a winged shape which flew at night, late in the year.

就像我提到过那样,是昆廷发现了头等的秘密.在那一年的冬天,在北边的那些坟堆和远古墓穴中,或者是其他什么地方,那天晚上飞走的翼形生物告诉了他.

It was an autumn day, then. It was cold for the time of year.Morning dew formed frost on the windowpanes. I remember how, in that season, the rising red-gold sun sent weakened beams to bring a mist rising from the North Lawn like steam from a cauldron. The trees to the South seemed to be afire, if fire could burn cold. We had icicles hanging from the rainspouts and the saints in the chapel, even before the leaves had
turned.

那是秋季的一天.一年中的那个时候天气已经凉了下来.晨露在玻璃窗上结成了霜.我记得,在那个季节里,初升的红日发出微弱的光,北面草地上升腾起薄雾,就像锅炉里升起水蒸气一样.

I remember it was not long after Quentin’s first experiment with shaving. He appeared at the breakfast table, dressed, as we all were, in formal morning clothes, but with daubs of cotton clinging to his cheek where he had nicked himself. I remember this was about nine months after Colin’s first attempt to grow the stringy mess he called a goatee, and almost two years after Victor’s lip began to show fuzz.

我记得发生在昆廷"刮胡子实验"后的不久.他出现在早餐桌上,和我们所有人一样,穿着正式的早礼服,但是在他脸上被自己刮破的地方胡乱贴着胶布.我记得差不多是在科林第一次尝试长出他叫做胡子的东西后的九个月,也差不多是在维克托唇上出现绒毛后的两年.

On that day, Quentin announced at the breakfast table that he had learned how to fly. He spoke in a very low voice, without moving his lips.

那天.昆廷在早餐上宣布他学会了飞翔.他说的声音非常小,连嘴唇都没有动.

Dr. Fell and Mrs. Wren, who normally sat at the great walnut table at breakfast, had been called away that morning to prepare for some important meeting of the Board of Visitors and Governors (who were due later that week). Only Mr. Glum was there to watch us, but he was not allowed to sit at the table as the teachers were. There was a window seat at the bay window, and the morning sun was sparkling off the diamond-shaped panes. Mr. Glum sat there, yawning and grumbling over his porridge.The sunlight glanced off his balding head, and he kept pushing
aside the drooping ferns Mrs. Wren had placed in the hanging pots before the bay window.

早餐时通常坐在那张大胡桃木桌上的费尔医生和瑞文女士早上被叫去准备监事会和地方长官(在那个周末任命的)的一个重要会议.只有格罗姆先生在那里看管我们,但是他不被允许坐在老师坐的那张桌子上.在凸窗那里有一个靠窗座位,早晨的阳光从钻石形的窗格中照进来.格罗姆先生坐在那里,边打哈欠边抱怨他的麦片粥.阳光照在他的秃头上,并不停把瑞文女士挂在凸窗上的吊盆植物垂下的叶子拨开.

He was too far away to hear us, and Quentin had given Colin the secret sign (asking for the butter twice) that told Colin to make a racket. Colin was asking Mr. Glum about the trees in the orchard, whether they moved at night, or spoke to each other in leaf-language when the wind blew, or if they felt pain when their branches were lopped off.

他离我们的距离很远,听不到我们谈话,昆廷给了科林一个暗号(要两次黄油)让科林大声喧哗.科林就问格罗姆先生果园里的树在晚上会不会走动,或者在风吹过的时候彼此以树叶语言交谈,或者当它们树枝被砍掉的时候会不会感到痛.

I held a piece of buttered toast before my lips and hissed to Quentin, “Where did you get an airplane? The nearest airfield is in Bristol.”

我拿起一块奶油土司挡在嘴前偷偷对昆廷说,"你从哪里弄到的飞机?最近的机场在布里斯托尔."

I remember feeling green with jealousy. But I do not remember doubting him, not for an instant.

我记得我感到一种幼稚的嫉妒.但是我不记得我有怀疑他,一瞬间的怀疑都没有.

“No plane. I don’t use a machine. I can make the wind dense.Its essence is to give way, but other essences obtain when the signs are right.”

"没有飞机.我不是用机械飞翔.我可以让气流变得稠密.它的特性是下落,但是当符文正确时能够得到其他特性."

I daubed my lip with a napkin. “You’re going to show me tonight.”

我用餐巾擦了擦嘴."今天晚上你要表演给我看."

Victor leaned across the table, teapot in hand as if to pour some tea into my (full and untouched) teacup. Victor whispered,“Not tonight. There are workmen and a cleaning crew going over the Great Hall. We’ll be locked in early. Tomorrow.Their guard will be relaxed.”

维克托从桌子对面探过身来,手里拿着茶壶假装要往我的茶杯里倒茶(满的,还没碰过).维克托小声说到,"今天晚上不行.工人和清洁工会检查大厅.我们会被早早地关起来.明天.他们的看守会松懈些."

He was right. We knew the Headmaster had ordered a large antique table, made of a single huge slab of green marble, to be moved into the Great Hall to prepare for the meeting. It was too large for the main doors. Workmen were tearing shingles off the roof and were going to lower the enormous table in on a crane. The table was resting in a temporary shed on the North Lawn, covered in rope and canvas.

他是对的.我们知道校长定购了一张大古董桌,是用一整块的绿色大理石做的,今天晚上会被搬到大厅里以准备会议.桌子比门还要大.工人们拆掉屋顶上的木瓦,然后用起重机把那个巨大的桌子放进去.桌子现在被放在北边草坪的一个临时搭建的棚子里,用绳子和帆布裹着.

We also knew the teachers kept a closer eye on us whenever there were outsiders around.

我们也知道只要我们在屋外,老师们就会紧紧盯着我们.

And yet it was Vanity who said, “Oh! I’ve an idea! Oh! Listen! Being locked up is better! No one searches for a locked-up person.”

然后是瓦妮特说到,"噢!我有一个办法!噢!听着!被关起来更好!没有人会找一个被关起来了的人."

Victor looked dubious.

维克托看上去有些犹豫.

Quentin rubbed his nose, so that his hand hid his mouth. He whispered in his soft, smooth voice, “Triune of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn tonight. Jupiter moderates between the warm violence of Mars and the leaden coolness of Saturn. Good time for transitions. Should be tonight.”

昆廷假装擦了擦他的鼻子,用手把嘴遮住.用他细小的声音偷偷说,"火星,木星,土星三星连珠.木星中和了火星强烈的炙热和土星沉暗的阴冷.是一个跃迁的好时机.就是今晚."

Vanity wiggled and whispered excitedly, “I can get us out of the girls’ dorm room. Secretly. It’s my Talent. If you can get out of the boys’, we’ll meet. Where?”

瓦妮特摇动着身子兴奋地小声说,"我可以把我们从女声宿舍里秘密地弄出去.这是我的本事.如果你们可以从男生宿舍里出来,我们就能碰头了.在哪里碰面?"

Quentin muttered, “Barrows. Midnight. Look out—!”

昆廷嘟哝道,"古坟堆.午夜.小心-!"

Mr. Glum straightened up from his porridge. Evidently Colin had not completely distracted him, or maybe he had been resting his eyes on Vanity, and had seen her lips move. She had also been louder than the rest of us.

格罗姆先生从他的麦片粥旁站起来.很明显科林没能转移他的注意,或这他在盯着瓦妮特,看到了她的嘴唇在动.她的声音也比我们的大.

Now Mr. Glum stood up. “What’s all this peeking and whispering,then? What plot are you lot hatching?”

现在格罗姆先生站起来."你们在偷偷说些什么?你们这群家伙在计划什么阴谋?"

Vanity half-rose from her seat, and leaned forward, palms on the table top, exclaiming in her cheerful, earnest voice: “But Mr. Glum! Dear, dear Mr. Glum! We were just talking! It cannot be wrong to talk: you did it just now, when you told us not to talk!”

瓦妮特从她位置上半站起来,前倾着身体,手掌撑着桌子,用她愉悦而热诚声音大声说道,"但是,格罗姆先生!尊贵的,亲爱的格罗姆先生!我们只是在交谈!交谈并没有错:你现在正在交谈,当你告诉我们不要说话的时候!"

Whether she intended it or not, her posture was such as to afford Mr. Glum a clear view down her shirt.

不知道她是否是故意的,她的姿势就像是要给格罗姆先生一个机会清楚地看到她的衬衣里头.

That same youthful electricity, which often I found annoying in her, adults (especially adult men) found fascinating. She was so fair skinned that she blushed at the slightest emotion;her eyes flashed like emeralds. Between her red lips, red eyebrows, and red hair, Vanity was an incandescent thing,glowing.

她身上发出朝气的电流,经常让我感到讨厌,却让成人(特别是成年男人)感到迷人.她的皮肤如此洁白光滑,即使在最小的情绪波动下都会泛起红晕;她的眼睛想绿宝石一样闪着光芒.在她的红唇,红色睫毛,红头发的衬托下,瓦妮特就像一团白色的炽热火焰.

Mr. Glum was not what could be called handsome in any part of him. His nails were grimed with dirt, always. I assumed the only woman who ever spoke to him was Mrs. Wren; I don’t think he ever saw any pretty young girls, except us. Usually he was out in the garden, weeding, and we were behind the windows of the classrooms, gazing outside with longing. I wondered in pity if perhaps he ever looked up and saw Vanity and me staring out,dreamy-eyed, and wished we were dreaming of him.

格罗姆先生身上任何部位都不能被称作英俊.他的指甲缝里经常充满了肮脏的污垢.我怀疑瑞文女士是唯一曾对他说过话的女人;我相信他从来没有见过漂亮的年轻女孩,尤其是像我们这样的.他通常待在外面的花园里除草,而我们在教室的窗户后面充满渴望地凝视着户外.我同情地想,他看到我和瓦妮特那凝视窗外的,充满幻想的眼睛时,会不会以为我们在幻想他.

Mr. Glum was confounded with lust for a moment. He could not take his eyes from where Vanity’s bosom strained against her starched white shirt.

格罗姆先生那一刻被欲望冲昏了头脑.他的视线无法离开瓦妮特那将白衬衫撑得紧紧的的胸脯.

But he gathered himself and barked at her, “Enough of your jaw! Impertinence! Rule of silence! You’ll eat your food as quiet as Jesuits, you will. Rule is on!”

但是他很快回过神来对她咆哮,"你们的闲谈可以结束了!无礼的!安静的规矩!你们吃东西的时候要教士一样安静,你们必须这样.这是规矩!"

Victor said stiffly, “But I didn’t talk back to you, sir. I wasn’t talking at all.”

瓦尼特顽固地说到,"但是,我不是在和你顶嘴,先生.我根本没有说话."

“Then you won’t notice any difference, will you? And you’ll have detention for talking when I just put the rule on! Rule is on for all of you! Any more back talk? Eh? No? And no passing notes nor making signs with your fingers, neither!”

"你会发现没有什么不同.只要我负责定规矩你就会被因为说话而关禁闭!规矩对你们所有人都有效!还有顶嘴的吗?恩?没有了?不要再传纸条也不要再用手指打暗号,永远!"

And so Victor had no chance to overrule our plan. Tonight was to be the night.

然后瓦妮特就没有了机会否决我们的计划了.就是今天晚上行动.

7.
As was her custom, Mrs. Wren had taken a nightcap or two before she came in for evening inspections. This evening, her breath, as usual, stank of sherry; her eyes were blurred.The routine was always the same: we would stand in the nude,usually on tiptoe because the floor was cold, with our hands out in front of us, either palm up or palm down depending on whether or not she was looking at our nails. She would hand one
of us a tape measure, and would have us measure the other one:neck, bust, waist, hips, inseam. Vanity always tried to tickle me or get me to break attention; I tried to pinch her when Mrs. Wren was not looking when it was my turn. Meanwhile, Mrs. Wren would jot down in an unsteady hand the numbers we called out.We had decided long ago always to call out the same numbers,no matter what the measurements were, or how different they were from night to night.

作为她的习惯,瑞文女士晚上来检查前会喝上一两杯.这天晚上,像往常一样,她的嘴里发出雪利酒的臭味,醉眼迷蒙.过程总是一样的:我们都光着身子站着,因为地板很冷经常是掂着脚,把手伸到前方,手掌向上或向下,取决于她是否在看我们的指甲.她会给我们中的一个一把卷尺,用它来量另一个的脖子,胸脯,腰,臀部和腿.瓦妮特总是设法挠我痒或是打断我的注意力;当轮到我时,我就会试图在瑞文女士不注意的时候掐她.其间,瑞文女士会用摇晃的手草草记下我们报出的数字.很早以前我们就决定不管测量结果是什么或这每个晚上它们有什么不同,我们都报出同样的数字.

Then she would have us stand at attention and she would peer at us while we were ordered to smile and show our teeth. I have no idea why she would stare at our teeth. When I was young, I thought it was to make sure we were brushing. But she stared and never said anything whether we brushed or did not.Then she would ask, “Any moles or skin discolorations today?Aches? Pains? Strains? Strange dreams?”

然后她会让我们立正,命令我们像微笑一像张开嘴露出牙齿,盯着我们看.我不知道她为什么要盯着我们的牙齿.当我小的时候,我认为是确定我们有刷过牙.但是她看完了从来不说任何话,无论我们有没有刷牙.然后她会问,"今天皮肤上有没有什么黑痔或皮肤变色?疼痛?疲劳?或奇怪的梦?"

Vanity would usually answer back: “I’ve got freckles! Does that count?”

瓦妮特经常会回答说:"我有雀斑!这个算吗?"

Mrs. Wren never seemed disturbed by back talk. She had a melancholy face, and eyes that always seemed to be staring somewhere else. There was no sign of gray in her hair, no wrinkles on her skin, and yet she never stood fully erect, and walked with a stoop-shouldered shuffle, as if weights were on her shoulders. Her hair was a mouse-colored bun, with wisps and unruly curls always escaping it; her eyes were half-hidden behind coke-bottle-glass spectacles. She always wore the same gray sweater, which had as many loose threads and escaping wisps as her hair.

瑞文女士从来不被顶嘴扰乱.她有一张忧郁的脸,眼睛看上去总是在盯着其他什么地方.她的头发没有一丝班白,皮肤上没有皱纹,可是她从来不完全挺直腰站着,总是弯着腰拖着脚走路,就像重量都压在了她的肩上一样.她有一头曲卷的深色头发,头发扎着,但总有不规则的卷发散开来;她的眼睛藏在瓶底厚的眼睛后面.她总是穿着一件同样的灰色羊毛衫,羊毛衫上有很多松散的线头,就像她的头发一样.

“Well, duckies,” she would answer, “don’t fret about a few spots. I am sure, in time, you will appear as howsoever fair or foul you wish to appear. In time, in time. All chickens come home to roost in time.”

"很好,好极了,"她会回答,"不要在乎那么少一些斑点.我可以肯定,总有一天,无论你像变得多么漂亮或丑陋,你都可以做到.总有一天,总有一天,总有一天小鸡们都会物归原主.

And she would sigh.

然后她会叹一口气.

Then she’d say: “Hold out your pretty fingers for the needle, my chicks, ’twill only prick a slight prick.”

她会说:"伸出你们可爱的指头来打针,我的小鸡们,只是很轻微的刺痛."

She would take a small blood sample from a forefinger or an elbow, and spend (what always seemed to me) several minutes fumbling with the self-adhesive label, onto which she had written the date in her wandering hand. No matter how long she muttered and fretted (and it always seemed long to me) the labels always went onto the little plastic sample bottles crookedly,or wrinkled, or with their sticky sides stuck to each other.

她会从食指或手肘取一点血样,然后要(经常是我)花几分种笨手笨脚地贴不干胶标签,在标签上有她用晃动着的手写下的日期.无论她焦虑地嘟囔多长时间(经常比我干的时间要长),标签经常被歪着贴到塑料样本瓶里,或者贴皱了,要么就是两片标签粘到了一块.

Finally we could don our nightgowns.

最后我们才能穿上我们的睡衣.

When we were younger, Mrs. Wren would watch us carefully while we took the little cup of medicine Dr. Fell left each night on our nightstands. And she would stand over us while we put our pillows on the cold floor, to kneel upon while we said our nighttime prayers. We had to pray aloud, in Latin, with Mrs. Wren standing by with a stopwatch, to make sure we got the cadence and the rhythm correct.

当我小的时候,瑞文女士会仔细地看着我们服下费尔医生每天晚上放在我们床头几上的一小瓶药.然后她会监督我们把枕头放在冰冷的地板上,跪在上面作晚祷告.我们必须大声地祷告,用拉丁文,瑞文女士拿着个秒表站在一旁,确定我们的语调和节奏正确.

But all that had stopped long ago. Perhaps she had lost her religion as she got older, perhaps she wanted to depart from our chill room as soon as the blood samples were gathered. These days, she would merely wave her hand in the direction of the cups and say, “Take your medicine, my poppets, and remember your prayers. Angels heed the young and sweet more closely than you know.”

但是这一切很就以前就终止了.大概随着她变老也丢失了信仰,也许是她想在收集到我们的血样后尽快离开我们寒冷的屋子.这些天她只是摇晃着手说道,"吃药,我的乖孩子,记得祷告.天使会比你想象得还要关怀年幼而甜美的孩子."

Recently she was in the habit of adding, as she turned to the door, “And say a good word to the Good Lord for poor old Jenny Wren. Ask on my behalf: your voices will carry farther than hers, I am sure.”

最近她增加了一个兴趣,就是转身面向门,说,"为可怜的老珍妮.瑞文向万能的上帝说句好话吧.为我祈祷:你们的声音会比她的传的更远,我可以肯定."

Then she would depart.

然后她才会离开

8.
Neither one of us took the medicine, of course. It was Victor’s most strict rule: no matter how sick we were, take nothing Dr.Fell gave out, if it could be avoided. Anything he made you take orally, hold in your mouth; if you absolutely had to swallow,vomit it up at the first opportunity. We poured our little cups into the chamber pot.

当然,我们一个都没有吃过那些药.这是维克托最严格的规矩:无论我们病得有多重,都不吃费尔医生开的药,即使它可以治病.他让你张开嘴放到你嘴里的任何东西;如果你完全不得不吞下,在第一时间呕吐出来.我们把小瓶里的东西倒进了夜壶里.

(Yes, we had a chamber pot. I remember once talking to a boy from the village, who envied us for living in such a fine manor house. I asked him if he was allowed to visit a bathroom with indoor plumbing when he had to go at night, or whether he was locked into his room. He stared at me, uncomprehending. I envied that incomprehension.)

(是的,我们有一个夜壶.我记得有一次和一个镇上的男孩说话,他嫉妒我们住在那样一个漂亮的庄园里.我问他,他在晚上不得不上厕所的时候是否被允许去使用浴室的抽水马桶,还是他被关在自己的屋里.他不解地看着我.我嫉妒那中不解.)

Vanity sometimes said prayers, sometimes not, depending on whether or not there was something she wanted for Christmas,or a birthday rumored to be in the works. She prayed in her ungrammatical Latin. I don’t know if that officially made her “Low Church.”

瓦妮特有时候祷告,有时候不,取决与她圣诞节她是否想要什么东西,或谣言中计划安排生日.她用她不合文法的拉丁文祷告.我不知道是不是这个让她正式成为"低教会派".

Me, I had stopped praying not long after I had read The Talisman, by Sir Walter Scott. I had fallen in love with the character of Saladin, and it occurred to me that the God of the Saracens, Allah, might be the real one after all. Judging by surface area, the Mohammedans had conquered more territory more quickly than the Christians; in fact, the Byzantines had lost ground every year since Constantine.

我,在我读了沃尔特.斯科特爵士的《魔符》之后就停止了祈祷。我爱上了书中的萨拉丁，我想起撒鲁迅人的上帝，阿拉，可能才是真正的神.从表面上判断,穆罕默德教徒比基督徒更快占领了更多的领土;实际上,自从康斯坦丁一世之后,拜占厅每年都在失去领土.

This thought had led to the fear that I might pick the wrong God to pray to. I thought that, because praying to the wrong God was expressly a sin, and because a merciful God might forgive me for forgetting to pray, it therefore followed that, even without knowing which one was the right one, my best chances lay in staying quiet and hoping for the best. That strategy worked in class when I didn’t know the answer, so I supposed it might work in the arena of theology, also.

这个想法导致我感到害怕,我可能选择了一个错误的上帝去祈祷.我想,向一个错误的上帝祈祷是一个明显的罪过,而一个仁慈的上帝可能会原谅我忘了祈祷,由于这个原因,甚至在我不知道哪个上帝是正确的时候,我最好的选择就是报着乐观的态度保持安静.这个策略在课堂上当我不知道答案的时候很有效,所以我认为它可能在在神学领域也会有效.

I do admit that sometimes, when I was particularly depressed, or sad, or hoping for some point or purpose to my life,I would pray to the Archangel Gabriel. Jews, Christians, and Mohammedans all believe in Gabriel, and apparently it is the selfsame Gabriel. Or Jibrael, as he is also called. I figured Gabriel, if anyone, would know what the situation was in Heaven, who was in authority there, and he could get the
prayers to the right God.

有时候我不承认,当我特别沮丧或悲伤的时候,或者期望生命中的一些东西的时候,我会向大天使长加百列祈祷.尤太人,基督徒,或者穆罕默德都信奉加百列,并且很明显是同一个加百列.或者,他也被叫做吉伯利.我认为如果有人知道天堂里的情况,那就是加百列,他掌管那里,他能向正确的上帝祈祷.

After prayers or the lack of prayers, as the case may be, we would go to bed. If it was cold, Vanity and I would have a brief argument about whether she should crawl into my bed or I should crawl into hers, depending on who had done it last time, who was colder, and other esoteric considerations. We would pile both sets of blankets on one bed and cuddle up with our arms around each other for warmth.

在祈祷之后,或不祈祷,看情况而定,我们就会上床了.如果天很冷,瓦妮特和我会关于是她爬到我被子里还是我爬到她被子里有一个小小的争吵,这取决于上次这样做的是谁,谁更冷,和其他一些深奥的考虑.我们把两套被子铺在一张床上,并互相抱着蜷缩起身体以获取温暖.

9.
One of our windows faces North. Last winter, when we had many very clear nights, Victor spent hours in our bedroom, using a compass and straightedge, and scarring the glass with a glass cutter to make a star dial for us. The position of the polestar was marked; the motions of the major stars in Ursa Minor and Ursa Major were plotted against the time of year. In effect,Alioth, Mizar, and Arcturus in Bootes became the hands of our clock, telling us the hour as they swung around the polestar.To hide our marked-up window, all we need do is raise one sash, lower the other, and keep the blind at half-mast.

9.

我们有一扇面北的窗户.上个冬天,很多天气特别晴朗的夜晚,维克托都会呆在我们卧室里几个小时,用指南针,尺子和玻璃刀在玻璃上为我们画出一个星晷.标记出北极星的方位;小熊星座和大熊星座的变换可以用来划分一年的时间.有用的是,牧夫座的北斗五,北斗六和大角星变成了我们时钟上的指针,它们绕着北极星旋转以告诉我们时间.为了藏起我们作了标记的窗户,我们得把一个窗格升得比其他低一些,来保持无法被看到.

I think Victor enjoyed standing in our room, late at night,night after night, with his back to us, meticulously scratching the glass, while we girls in our nightgowns peered at him over the top of our blankets. He worked with his nose almost touching the pane, and his breath fogged the glass.

我想维克托喜欢在我们屋子里,在一个有一个深夜,背对着我们小心翼翼地刻着玻璃,而我们女孩则穿着睡衣躺在毯子上面看着他.他工作的时候鼻子几乎贴着窗玻璃,他鼻子喷出的气息在窗上凝成了雾.

10.
Tonight, Vanity and I waited, our heads under the covers, arms around each other, her chattering in whispers, and me trying to take a nap until the appointed hour. Every now and again (after a brief debate as to whose turn it was) one of us would raise a nose above the covers like the periscope of a submarine, and look at the positions of the stars through our Northern window.

10

今天晚上,瓦妮特和我缩着头,抱在一起等着,她一直在小声唠叨,而我试图在指定的时间之前小睡一会儿.每过一会(在一次该轮到谁了的小争论之后)我们中的一个会把头像潜水艇一样探出被子,从我们背面的窗户上看星星的位置.

When finally Arcturus had reached the position marked XI (DEC), we slid, shivering, out from under the sheets.

当大角星终于到标记着XI(DEC)的位置时,我们颤抖着从被褥下溜出来.

I stepped over to the door, hopping a little from the icy touch of the floor stones on my feet. I have seen doors in modern houses; they are flimsy. If you want to see a solid piece of seasoned oak, bound with iron and riveted to huge hasps and hinges, visit a nice old-fashioned chamber in a manor house.

我们在冰冷的地板上踮着脚走到门口.我见过现代房屋的们;它们很容易坏.如果你想见到一扇用一整块老像木作的,并包着铁,用铆钉钉牢门环和铰链的门,你得去参观一座漂亮的老式城堡的房间.

Our door was massive and stern, heavy enough to keep any noise in or out. I yanked on the lock, just in case it had not been padlocked, for once. The door did not even tremble.

我们的门是坚固而厚实的,沉重地足够把里外的声音隔离.我用力拉了一下锁,以防万一它没有被关掉.门连动都没有动.

“What do they expect us to do if there is a fire?” I asked scornfully, hugging myself and hopping from one foot to another.

"如果这里着火了他们想让我们怎么办?"我轻蔑地问,抱着肩膀不停地换撑在地面的脚.

Vanity’s teeth chattered. She said mournfully: “Quentin says Mr. Glum should not have cut down the Great Escape Tree. He says there was a Dryad living there, who now wanders, houseless,among the winds.”

瓦妮特的牙齿在打颤.她悲伤地说:"昆廷说格罗姆先生不应该砍倒'大逃生树'.他说有一个森林女神住在那里,她现在没有了屋子,只有在风中流浪."

“And it was our only way down from the window. You don’t think Dryads exist, do you?”

"那是我们唯一从窗户下去的办法.你不认为森林女神离开了,是吗?"

“Well, that one doesn’t any more, obviously. Are you going to get dressed? Not there!” she added when I hopped over to the dresser. “Those will be ice-cold. I wrapped up things for us to wear in our pillows. They were under the sheets with us, nice and toasty.”

"好吧,那个办法现在明显行不通了.你想去穿衣服吗?不在那里!"当我跳着脚到梳妆台的时候她补充到."外面冰一样冷.我把我们要穿的东西藏在了枕头里.它们在我们的床单下面,有暖和又漂亮."

“Clever, clever!” I said. She also happened to pick out my favorite out-of-door outfit: jodhpurs and a heavy blouse, and high-waisted jacket of buff leather that went with it.

"聪明,聪明!"我说道.她也挑选了我最喜欢的户外装备:短马靴和大衣,和搭配的高腰牛皮夹克.

From the top shelf of the wardrobe I pulled my leather aviatrix cap and my goggles. I buckled the chin strap and slung the goggles around my neck. There was also a six-foot scarf which wound around my neck.

我从衣柜的最上面一层拿出了我的飞行员皮帽和护目镜.我扣上了帽子系在下巴的带子,把护目镜挂在脖子上.还在我的脖子上围了条六尺长的围巾.

Vanity was staring at me in disbelief. “We are not going to a fancy dress ball. Why are you putting on a . . . costume?”

瓦妮特怀疑地看着我."我们不是去参加化装舞会.你干嘛穿成....这样?"

“What? This? This is my lucky helmet,” I said, tucking strands of hair beneath the cap. “Besides, how are we going to end up going anywhere? Are you going to pick the locks without touching them, the way Victor does?”

"怎么?这个吗?这是我的幸运头盔,"我说,把一缕头发压在帽子下面."另外,我们到底怎么出去?你能像维克托一样不碰到锁就将它摘下来吗?

Vanity said, “I don’t think Victor actually can do that. Who has ever seen him?”

瓦妮特说,"我不认为维克托真的能作到那样.谁看到他做过?"

“The sun will come up in the West before Victor Triumph tells a lie!” I said. I was seated, pulling on my high-heeled boots.

"要是维克托.图兰夫会说谎太阳就从西边升起来了!"我说.我坐下来,套上我的高跟鞋.

But Vanity had pressed her cheek up to the stones along the East wall of the room.

瓦妮特没有说话,却把她的脸贴到房间东面的石墙上.

On the other two walls, the stones were covered with white plaster and wainscoting. This wall was irregular granite blocks, cemented together, for about ten feet. Above that were deep casements and small, barred windows looking East, surrounded by plaster and uncarved wooden frames. Below these frames were massive iron mountings, carved into gnome faces. What these mountings were originally supposed to hold, either
torches, or curtain rods, or other fixtures, I did not know.

在其他两堵墙上,石头被刷上了白灰并贴了壁板.这面墙是不规则的花岗岩石块,用水泥粘和在一起,大约有十尺高.上面是朝东的深窗扉和钉死的小窗,周围是石膏和没有雕刻的木框.在木框的下面是刻着矮人脸的厚重的铁底座.这些底座上面原来是什么?火炬?窗帘支架?我不知道.

P40

1.
How did we all start debating about boundaries? When did we become convinced we were all something other than human? Every starting point has an earlier starting point before it. Some of the roots of how it came about, I remember. Others have become misty and autumn-colored with time.

1.

是什么让我们开始关于边界的争论?我们什么时候确信我们都不是人类?所有事情的开端都有预兆.我记得一些导致它发生的根源,其他的已经随着时间被蒙上了薄沙,在记忆中泛黄.

If I had to choose a starting point, there were three I would select, not one. I remember when Victor made us all put our hands together and promise. I remember when Vanity found the notes, which had our lost tales in them. And then, many years later, Quentin discovered the secret.

如果一定要让我选择一个开端的话, 我会有三个选择, 而不是一个. 我记得当维克托让我们所有人把手叠在一起发誓. 我记得当瓦妮特发现了记载着我们传说的笔记.还有,很多年以后,昆廷发现了秘密.

2.
I don’t know how old I was. Vanity (or Tertia, as she was called then) only came to my shoulder, and Quentin was small enough that Victor (Primus) could carry him in his arms. When he stood up, Quentin’s head only came to the level of Victor’s elbow. Quentin was too young for lessons; I remember being jealous when he was allowed to sit on the floor and play with a wooden horse on wheels while I had to practice penmanship, making rows and endless rows of slightly lopsided O’s and Q’s.

As for me, the doorknob to the coal cellar was right below the level of my eye, because when Mr. Glum slapped me roughly on the back of my head (I was afraid to open the door to the cellar) the doorknob struck me on the cheek, and I had a bruise there for a week.

2.

我不记得那时候我多大.瓦妮特(那时候她叫特西娅)只到我的肩膀,昆廷也很小,维克托(普里墨斯)能把他抱在手里.当他站起来的时候,昆廷的头只到维克托的手肘.昆廷那时还小,不用上课;我记得我的嫉妒,因为当我不得不练习书法,写一行又一行轻微倾斜的O's和Q's的时候,他却被允许坐在地上玩带轮子的木马.

那个时候, 煤窖的门把手的高度刚好到我的眼睛下方,由于格罗姆先生粗鲁地拍我的后脑勺(我害怕打开煤窖的门)门把手撞在了我的脸颊上,然后我的脸瘀了一个礼拜.

I don’t remember why they were locking us in the coal cellar, but I do remember wishing and hoping that the Headmaster would come back from wherever he was, and set things to rights. He and Dr. Fell had dressed up in dark clothing, with black scarves fluttering from their top hats, looking grim and terrible. A funeral, I suppose. I remember the two stalking silently off into the freezing rain, wide black umbrellas overhead. The rest of the staff was particularly cruel to us that evening, or so it seemed to me. Mrs. Wren was raging up and down the corridors, howling like a banshee, toppling suits of armor on racks and pushing over floral vases that stood on the pillars next to the main doors. I think this was before she took up strong drink.

我不记得他们为什么要把我们关在煤窖里,但是我清楚地记得十分期待和盼望校长回来,无论他在哪, 然后让一切事情都恢复正常.他和费尔医生出去时穿着黑色衣服,礼帽上飘动着黑色的丝巾,看上去严肃而可怕.是去参加葬礼,我猜想.我记得他们两个撑着黑伞,昂首阔步,安静地消失在冰冷的雨里.那天晚上其他人对我们特别严酷,或着是对我特别严酷.瑞文女士在走廊里暴怒,想女妖精一样嚎叫,推倒架子上的盔甲,掀翻大门旁边柱子上的花盆.而且这还是在她喝了烈酒之前做的.

They locked us in the dark and cold. Whatever our crime had been, I did not know. It was dark and starless that night, the drafts smelled of snow, and the dirt floor was colder than ice. I was shivering and my teeth were chattering. I remember Vanity saying, “Quentin’s all cold. He stopped moving. Is he going to die?” her voice was as thin and high as a flute.

他们把我们关在又黑又冷的煤窖里.我不知道我们究竟犯了什么罪.那是一个漆黑的没有星星的夜晚,天上厚厚的云,有下雪的倾向,肮脏的地板比冰还要冷.我打着寒颤,牙齿发抖.我记得瓦妮特说,"昆廷全身冰冷.他不动了.他是不是快死了?"她的声音像长笛一样又细又高.

Victor told us all to gather up in a huddle for warmth. His voice was high-pitched then, but it was very earnest, and just hearing it made me feel better. I could hear him rummaging around in the dark.

维克托告诉我们全身缩成一团可以暖和些.他那是正在变声,嗓音很尖,但是非常热诚,听到他使我感觉好多了.我听到他在黑暗中翻箱倒柜地找着什么.

“This is a coal cellar,” young Victor said. “There is wood and kindling in the wood box.” There was a tremble in his voice,too, but I could hear how he forced himself to speak calmly.Colin, or as he was called back then, Quartinus, said,“Boogers! There’s nothing to start a fire with! Mrs. Wren’s had a nightmare, and we’re all going to die for it.”

"这是一个煤窖,"年幼的维克托说."木盒子里有木头和引火的东西."他的声音也在颤抖,但是我可以听到他在强迫自己保持冷静.科林,或者说他那时候的名字,夸特努斯,说道,"没有用的!这里没有什么可以用来生火的东西!瑞文女士在发疯,我们都会被她弄死的."

In the pitch blackness, Quentin’s voice came up from the pile where we all lay together, “A ghost. She saw her husband’s ghost.” I was relieved to hear him, because I was so very afraid he had passed away. Certainly his skin felt like ice up against mine.

在伸手不见五指的黑暗中,昆廷的声音从我们挤在一团的地方响起,"鬼魂.她看到了她丈夫的鬼魂."听到他的声音我放心下来,因为我非常担心他已经死了.他的皮肤摸上去就像冰一样冷.

Victor laid his coat over the pile of us. I wondered how he could stand the cold in his thin shirt, but he did not complain.Victor never complained. “I’ll start a fire. I’ll make something.Lend me your tie. I found a bent stick in the woodpile, and I can make a drill.”

维克托脱下他的外衣盖在我们身上.我不知道他就穿着薄薄的衬衣怎么抵御寒冷,但是他并没有抱怨.维克托从不抱怨."我要生一堆火.我得做些什么.借我你的带子.我在木料堆里找到几捆杂草,我可以用来钻木取火.

Minutes passed, and it grew colder. I could hear Victor sawing away at something, the hissing noise of wood on wood, but no fire came.

几分钟过去了,感觉变得更冷了.我听到维克托在什么东西上锯着,发出木头和木头摩擦的嘶嘶声,但是没有出来火.

“Boogers!” shouted Colin, who did not know any of the many foul words he was to learn later in life. “Do you think you are a Red Indian? Rubbing two bloody sticks together? We’re all going to die, and it will be your fault!”

"废柴!"科林叫到,他那时还没学会后来那么多的脏话."你以为你是印地安野人吗?拿着着两根带血的棍子摩擦?我们都要死了,这都是你的过错!"

Victor said to me, “Secunda. Get them talking. Keep their mind off it, you know? We’ve all got to hang together.” My teeth wanted to chatter, but I made myself speak. “OK,attention, everyone! I know we are all cold and afraid. But we have something we have to do. We have to remember our Tales.”

维克托对我说,"西根达.和他们说话.吸引他们的注意力,你知道怎么做吗?我们必须同心协力."我的牙齿打颤,但是我还是努力说道."好了,所有人注意!我知道我们都又冷又怕.但是有的事我们必须去做.我们必须住我们的故事."

I do not remember a time when I had not been the unofficial Keeper of the Tales for our group. It had always been my task.Colin used to joke that I was to be the Tale Keeper because my memory was so good. (“Whenever I do something wrong, she always remembers to remind me, eh?” so he would say.)

我不记得有什么时候我不是我们故事的非官方保管人.那总是我的任务.科林经常开玩笑说我以后会作一个故事保管员,因为我的记忆力是那么好.("但我做错什么事的时候,她总是记得提醒我,恩?"他会这样说.)

I spoke gently to young little Quentin. “The Tales are the only thing we know about our home. Our real home. Quentin, you start.”

我轻轻地对小昆廷说."那些故事是我们知道的唯一关于我们家园的事情了.我们真正的家.昆廷,从你开始."

“I-I’m t-too cold.”

"我...我...太冷了."

“Quentin, you must start. We can’t lose our Tales. You have to tell.”

"昆廷,你必须开始.我们不能忘记我们的故事.你必须说."

But Quentin simply whimpered and did not answer.

但是昆廷只是在哼哼,没有答话.

Colin said, “C’mon you great booger. Talk! You don’t want them to win, do you?”

科林说,"说吧,你这个大废物.说话!你不想让他们赢,对吧?"

I felt Quentin’s cold body stir in my arms.

我感到昆廷冰冷的身子在我的怀里挪动.

He spoke in a voice so weak and thin that I could barely hear him, even though my ear was but inches from his mouth. “I remember my mum. Her hair is gray. She’s blind. I remember how I would run and she would spread her arms and say, ‘Where’s my little shadow? Where’s my little shadow?’ and I would run and jump into her arms, and mum would hug me, and give me a kiss, and she would say, ‘I know you, little one. I will always know you.’ And I would say, ‘How’d’ you know it’s me? How’d’ you know it’s me?’ and she would say, ‘My soul knows your soul,
little one, my heart knows your heart.’ That’s what I remember.”

I said, “Tell us more. Tell us about the giant. You’ve got to remember the whole of the Tale. It is your Tale.”

他说话的声音非常微弱,即使我的耳朵只离他的嘴一英尺,也是能刚好听见他的声音."我记得我的妈妈.她的头发是灰色的.她蒙着眼.我记得我在一边跑,而她张开双臂说,'我的小尾巴在哪?我的小尾巴在哪?'然后我跑着跳进她的怀里,妈妈抱着我,吻我,她说,'我知道是你,小家伙.我知道总是你.'然后我说,'你怎么知道是我?你怎么知道是我?' 她回答说,'我的灵魂感到了你的灵魂,小家伙,我的心感到了你的心.'这就是我记得的."

我说,"告诉我们更多.告诉我们关于巨人的事.你一定记得整个故事.这是你的故事."

Quentin said, “My dad. He lives in a room with statues. Statues and chessmen and dolls. His beard is gray and comes to the floor, and his hair is gray, too. He has a harp that sits in his lap. And when he plays, the statues dance. Once upon a time, he took me and took his harp, and sat on the statue of a big crow, and he played, and the crow flew up in the air.”

昆廷说,"我的爸爸.他住在一个有雕像的房子里.雕像,象棋和洋娃娃.他灰色的胡子拖到了地上,他的头发也是灰色的.他的腿上放着一张竖琴.他弹的时候,雕像就会跳舞.以前,他带着我和他的竖琴,坐在一个大乌鸦的雕像上,他演奏的时候,乌鸦就飞上了天空.

Vanity said, “That couldn’t really happen, could it?” Victor, from somewhere in the gloom, said, “Maybe it was an airplane. Only looked like a crow.”

瓦妮特说,"那不会真的发生,会吗?"维克托在黑暗中的某处说到,"也许那是一架飞机.只是看上去像乌鸦."

I said sternly, “Stop! You can’t talk back to the Tales. You can’t change them or make fun of them! That’s the rule! If you start changing the Tales, they might go away, and then we won’t have anything!”

我不高兴地说,"闭嘴!你们不能反驳这个故事.你们不能改动它或用它开玩笑!这是规矩!如果你开始改动故事,它们就会离去,然后我们就什么都没有了!"

Victor said, “She’s right.”

维克托说,"她是对的."

I said, “Go on, Quentin. Tell us about the giant.”
Quentin was quiet, and then he spoke in a sad whisper. “I don’t know the rest.”

我说,"继续,昆廷.告诉我们巨人的事."

昆廷保持沉默了一会儿,然后悲伤地低声说到."我不知道剩下的了."

“Sure you do! Your father took you to see the Shining Mountains! Instead of snow, the mountains all have light, silver light,all along the tops. Do you remember what he said? He told you,‘This is the place where the falling stars fall whenever stars fall down.’ ”

"你当然知道!你爸爸带你去看会发光的山!山上没有雪,全是光,银色的光,整个山顶都是.你记得他说了什么吗?他告诉你,'这里是流星坠落的地方,任何时候星星坠落了,它们都会掉到这里."

Quentin said, “I don’t remember. I don’t. Leave me alone.”

昆廷说,"我不记得了.不记得了.别来烦我."

I said insistently, “In the dark valley between the mountains of light, your father the magician took you to see the giant, who was trapped up to his neck in the ice. There were dwarfs all digging and digging, chipping away at the ice, to get him out.”

我坚持说道,"在发光的山脉下面的黑色山谷中,你的魔法师父亲带你看到了巨人,巨人被封在了冰里.有很多矮人在冰上不停的挖,想要救他出去.

Quentin said, “It was cold. It was so cold. I saw his hand. It was a mile below me. Under the ice. The fingers. I thought it was five rivers coming to a lake, it was so big. So cold.”

昆廷说,"我冷.我好冷.我看到了他的手.它就在我下面一里的地方.在冰下面.那些手指.我以为那是五条汇入湖泊的河,它是那么大.好冷."

I said, “Yes! Yes! And the giant said—do you remember what the giant told you—once he was free, the bad people would be punished, and the good people would all live happily ever after? The Golden Age would come again. Do you remember?”

我说,"对!对!然后巨人说--你记得巨人对你说了什么吗?--一旦他自由了,坏人将会受到惩罚,好人将会一直快乐的生活.黄金时代再次降临.你记得吗?

“It was so cold.”

"我好冷呀.

“Quentin, maybe the giant has gotten out of the dark valley! Maybe he is coming to save us, right now!”

"昆廷,也许巨人已经从黑暗山谷里出来了!也许他赶过来救我们,现在!"

Quentin sniffled and shivered, but did not answer.

昆廷鼻子发出哼哼声,不断打颤,没有说话.

Vanity spoke up next: “I remember my Tale! Me next! Oh, pick me! Oh, me!”

瓦妮特接下来说:"我记得我的故事!下一个让我说!噢,选我!噢,我!"

“OK. It is your turn, Tertia.”

"好的.轮到你了,特西娅."

“My house is in fairyland,” Vanity said primly. “There is a gold dog who sits by my front door, and a silver dog, too. They come to life when you want them to, and fetch a stick or chase away someone making fun of you. When you don’t need them, they just sit still. There is a singer who sings to me, and he sits in the sunlight in his chair of ivory, and beats the ground with his stick when he sings. He sings of wars and ships and deeds of kings. There are bowls made of silver that hop on three legs like bugs. Hop! Hop! Hop! They walk around and give you fruit and candy. If you’re good. It is always springtime there. My mommy has red hair like me. My daddy is the king there, but Mommy is the one who actually runs the kingdom. My brothers play out in the green field, and throw spears and throw disks.And they run. Sometimes Daddy takes me sailing, and our boat is faster than the wind. Sometimes Mommy plays hide-andseek with me, and she pops out of the floor! Pop! And she puts her arms around me. She tells me to be good, because she loves me. That’s all.”

"我的家在一个仙境里面,"瓦妮特一丝不苟地说."一只黄金狗坐在我的前门,还有一只白银狗.当你想让他们活过来的时候,他们就会有生命,然后衔来树枝或追赶什么来取悦你.当你不需要他们时,他们就仍然坐着.有一个歌手为我演唱,他坐在阳光下的象牙椅子上,当他歌唱的时候用手杖敲打地面.他歌唱战争,海船,还有国王的事迹.银做的碗像发了疯似地在三角架上跳!跳!跳!跳!它们装满了水果和糖果在你身边转圈.如果你感到愉快.那里就总是春天.我妈妈有和我一样的红头发.我爸爸是那里的国王,但是妈妈才是实际上掌管国家的人.我的兄弟们在草地上嬉戏,投掷标枪和飞盘.他们互相追逐着.有的时候我爸爸带我去航海,我们的船比风还快.有的时候我妈妈和我玩捉迷藏,她从地下钻出来!突然钻出来!然后她用她的双臂抱着我.她告诉我要快乐,因为她爱我.这就是我的全部故事了."

I said, “There is another part. Something about being watched.”

我说,"还有另一部分.被关注的事情."

“Oh, that. It is not like here. Nothing pays you any mind here. The rocks and the wind and the grass. It’s all dead. Where I come from, they are all friends. They are all alive. You can feel them watching you, like a tingling all over your skin. It is like being at the recital, when everyone applauded. Like being on stage. Remember how nice that was? It tingled. It wasn’t lonely. I am always lonely here. I want to go home. I don’t want to be alone any more. When can we go home?”

"噢,那个.不像在这里.这里没有人注意你.石头,风和草.都是死物.在我来的地方,它们都是朋友.他们都有生命.你可以感觉到它们正看着你,感到它们的视线包围着你.就像在朗诵会上,人人都在对你鼓掌.就像在舞台上.记得那又多美吗?很兴奋.你不会感到孤独.在这里我总是感到孤独.我想要回家.我再也不想孤独了.我什么时候才能回家?"

Victor said, “I will get you home. I promise. I will get us all home.”

维克托说,"我会带你会家.我发誓.我会让我们所有人回家."

I said, “You next!”

我说,"你下一个!"

Victor said, “Let Quartinus go first.”

维克托说,"让夸提努斯先说."

Colin said, “My story is better than his. My turn. I climbed up the pole of my da’s longhouse, all the way to where it holds up the sky. That’s where he keeps his cloak, in the North Star. My brothers all sent me to get it, because I was the youngest and lightest, and the roof pole wouldn’t break under me. They said I would not get punished for stealing it, on account of I was too young.“I put on the cloak and told it to make me into a wolf. A big,ferocious, giant wolf. So I turned into a wolf, and jumped out the window, and I ran through the forest. The trees are so tall there that sometimes the stars get caught in them. The stars are these beautiful women with lanterns, and when their robes get caught in the branches, they sing, and the trees feel sorry for them, and let them go. Anyway, I remember I was running to this spot my brothers had told me about. This black cave where my uncle lived, guarded by this big three-headed dog. I figured I could take on the dog, seeing as I was a big wolf. Then a storm came, and the clouds fell down through the trees, and it was my ma. She took me around the throat and yanked da’s cloak clean off me. I thought she was going to be mad, but it was weird, because she just cried and cried and held on to me. Like she was afraid. And she pushed my hair back and she said, ‘If ever you go away from me, oh my beloved son, on that day sorrow surely will slay me.’ She took me home and fed me from this big pot we had over the fire in the middle of the house.

科林说,"我的故事比这个好.该我了.我爬到了我爸爸塔楼的塔尖上去,那座塔支撑着天.在北极星上放着他的斗篷.我的所有兄弟都让我去取,因为我最小,也最轻,塔尖顶端不会被我压断.他们说我偷走它不会被惩罚,因为我还太小."我穿上了斗篷,告诉它把我变成狼.一只又大又凶猛的狼.然后我就变成了狼,跳出了窗子,在森林里奔跑.那些树是那么的高,有的时候星星都被它们拦住.星星是漂亮女子手中的灯笼,当她们的礼服被树枝拦住的时候,她们就歌唱,然后树就会对她们感到抱歉,并放它们离开.无论如何,我记得我跑到了一个我兄弟们告诉过我的地方.我叔叔住的一个黑色洞穴,那里由一个三头的大狗看守.我认为我可以威吓住狗,因为我看上去是一只大狼.然后一场暴风来了,乌云压着树林,那是我妈妈.她掐住我的喉咙把我爸爸的斗篷从我身上扯下来.我想她就要发疯了,但是很奇怪,她只是是哭着抱住我.就像她很害怕.她抚摩着我的头发说道,'如果你离开了我,噢,我爱的儿子,那一天来临时我一定会悲伤而死.'她带我回家,用屋子中间火堆上的大罐里的食物喂我.

“I sat in the middle of the pot and ate stew, and da beat the tar out of my brothers. I have three. One wears a mask. One wears an animal pelt. The third has leaves and twigs in his hair. And they were right. I didn’t get punished. They did. That’s all I remember about it. Cool, huh?”

"我坐在罐子的中间吃着炖肉,爸爸狠狠地揍了我的兄弟.我有三个兄弟.一个戴着面具.一个穿着动物的毛皮.还有一个头发里有叶子和树枝.我没有被惩罚.而他们都被惩罚了.这就是我记得的全部了.很酷,对吧?"

Colin was silent for a while, shivering in the cold. Then he said, “You don’t suppose my ma’s really dead, do you?”

科林沉默了一会儿,在寒冷中颤抖着.然后他说,"你不认为我妈妈真的死了,是吧?"

I said, “No, she is not dead. No one is dead. My father told me.”

我说,"不,她没有死.没有人会死.我爸爸告诉我的."

Victor said to me, “Your turn.”

维克托对我说,"轮到你了."

I said, “It is warm there. My home is filled with light. I am a princess and I live in a palace. My father is the king, and he knows everything. He sees everything. I remember once my mother, the queen, took me swimming in our pool. But the pool hangs like a ball in midair. It is bigger on the inside than on the outside. There are stars inside it. And planets. You can swim right up to them and look at them with your eye. I remember once I was swimming. I saw a dark world and it was filled with dead bodies. Mother folded her arms around me, and took me
back up out of the pool. I remember how afraid I was that something from the Dark World would get me. My mother sang a song for me, ‘My little spark, my shining one, never fear, never fear. The darkness is so very small, and the world of light is endless, here.’

我说,"那里很温暖.我的家里面充满了阳光.我是一个住在宫殿里的公主.我的爸爸是国王,他知道所有的事.他什么都见过.我记得有一次我妈妈,她是皇后,带着我去我们的游泳池游泳.那个游泳池像球一样悬浮在半空中.它的内部要比外面看上去要大的多.里面有星星.也有行星.你可以游向它们并用你的眼睛看它们.我记得一次我游泳的时候.我看到一个充满了尸体的黑暗世界.妈妈用她的双臂环绕着我,然后带着我离开了游泳池.我记得我有多么害怕,因为黑暗世界中的什么东西将要抓到我.我的妈妈为我唱了一支歌,"我的小火花,闪亮的小火花,永远不要害怕,永远不要害怕.黑暗会变得渺小,世间的光明永不停息,在这里."

“I remember she took me to the tower where she said she first saw my father. It was a palace that floated, and everything was rose-red marble. The windows were pink and the walls were scarlet. I remember he had a throne set in the very middle of a floor of glass, and the floor was one hundred miles wide. When you sat on the throne, you could look down at the world, and see everything in it. It was like a telescope, but bigger. Bigger than the moon. Father made me look at the Dark World again, even though I was scared and didn’t want to. I remember he held my hand, and said, ‘Shining daughter, do not be afraid to look into the darkness. There are no dead, no ghosts, no shadows. Look,
look closely, and you will see the happy gardens made of light,into which all of those who have been hurt by Time are brought,once Time has no more power over them.’ I looked and I looked,but I did not find the happy place anywhere in the picture. That made him sad, and Mother was sad, too, and Father kissed me right here on the forehead, and said, ‘I have commanded all my people to love you, but there are those whom I cannot command.You will be taken from us for a time, brought into a cold,dark land. But you shall soon be free, and return to the land of
light, and return to be with your mother and me.’ He promised. My father promised. He will come save me.”

"我记得她带我去了她第一次见到我父亲的那座塔.那是一座漂浮的宫殿,那里一切都是玫瑰红的大理石作的.粉红的窗户和猩红的墙壁.我记得他有一个王座在一块玻璃地板的正中央,那块地板有一百里那么宽.当你坐到王座上时,你就能俯视世界,看到世间的一切.就像一台望远镜,但是更大.比月亮还大.爸爸让我在看了一次黑暗世界,即使我仍然怕得要命不想去看.我记得他拉着我的手,说道,'漂亮的女儿,不要害怕观察黑暗.那里没有死亡,没有鬼魂,没有阴影.看吧,靠近看,你将会看到充满光明的欢乐花园,花园里面是那些被时间伤害的人们,现在时间对他们不起作用了.'我看啊看啊,但是我没有找到欢乐的地方.这让他很悲伤,我妈妈也很悲伤.然后爸爸吻了我额头这里,说,'我命令了我所有的子民爱你,但是那些是我不能命令的人.你将从我们身边被带走一段时间,带到寒冷,黑暗的地方.但是你很快就会自由了,然后回到光明的土地,回到你妈妈和我的身边.'他发誓.我爸爸发誓.他会来救我."    

Victor said, “No one is coming to save us. No giants, no kings. We are going to save ourselves.”

维克托说,"没有人会来救我们.没有巨人.没有国王.我们只有自己救自己."

I shouted, “That’s not fair! You can’t talk back to the Tales! They are all we have!”

我喊到,"这不公平!你不能反驳我们的故事!这是我们唯一拥有的了!"

Colin said, “It’s his turn. Tell us your dumb story about the worm, Prime.” By which he meant Victor.

科林说,"轮到他了.告诉我们你那关于虫子的蠢故事,普里墨."他是在说维克托.

Victor said, “There’s not much to tell. I don’t remember any mother or father. We lived in a space station. Once I put my hand out the window into the rain. How there was rain in outer space, I don’t know, but that’s what I remember. The raindrops rolled together in my palm and made a puddle. I stuck my finger in the puddle and it thickened into clay. I rolled the clay between my palms and made a worm. Then the worm came to life, and started climbing up my arm. I thought it was gross, so I threw it out the window into outer space, where it fell forever. “They took me to see a man. I don’t remember who the man was, but I was scared of him. He was like a teacher or something.He had a lamp in his forehead like a miner’s torch. He said, ‘Life is a set of rules. If those rules break, life ends. Here is our first rule: Any life you create is yours, and must be cared for. No matter how humble or small, it is still yours, and you must answer for it. Do you understand?’

维克托说,"没有什么可说的.我不记得妈妈或爸爸.我们住在一个太空站里.有一次我把手伸到窗户外的雨里.外太空怎么会有雨,我不知道,但是我记得是那样.雨点打在我的手掌上形成了一个浑浊的水坑.我把手指伸入水坑,它就变成了更稠的黏土.我在手掌间搓着黏土作了一条虫子.然后虫子有了生命,开始爬上我的手臂.我感到它毛绒绒的,所以我把它扔进了窗外的外太空,它在那里永远不停地坠落."他们带我见了一个人.我不记得那个人是谁了,但是我很害怕他.他看上去像是一个老师或其他什么.他的额头上有一盏像矿工一样的灯.他说,'生命是一系列的规则.如果规则打破了,生命也就结束了.我们的第一条规则是:任何你创造的生命都属于你,你必须照顾它.不管它是多么卑微或渺小,它都属于你,你必须对它负责.你明白吗?"

“I remember I answered some smart answer back. I don’t know what it was, though.

"我记得我回答了一些巧妙的顶嘴.虽然我不记得说了什么了.

“The teacher said, ‘Your own death is nothing, because death is nothing but the disintegration of the atoms of your body. There is no pain and no sorrow afterwards. But to kill another living thing is wrong, and is forbidden by our law.’ “I said, ‘Human beings kill each other.’

"那个老师说,'你自己的死亡什么也不是,因为死亡只是你身体原子能的瓦解.然后就会没有痛苦和悲伤.但是杀死另一个生命是错误的,在我们的法律中是被禁止的.' "我说,'人们总是互相残杀.'

“The teacher said, ‘In every human being, there is a spark of divine fire, which makes them sacred. We have nothing like that in us. We are mightier, older, wiser than man, and we do not violate our laws; but Mankind is a finer thing than we are, and some day we will save them from the Demiurge, who made them merely to be playthings. He did not know what he made.’

"那位老师说到,'在每个人的体内,都有闪动着一团神圣的火焰,它让人变得庄严.在我们的身体里没有那些.我们比人类更强大,更古老,更有智慧,我们不会亵渎我们的法律;但是人类是一种比我们更漂亮的东西,造物主创造他们仅仅是为了好玩,他不知道他创造了什么.总有一天我们要把他们解救出来.

“I said, ‘If we are greater and stronger, why must we serve them?’

"我说,'如果我们更伟大,更强壮,什么我们还要为他们服务?"

“The teacher said, ‘The great must protect the weak. If this law is broken, those who are greater than us, those who made us, would destroy us. The same logic applies to all beings. I am putting this memory into your permanent storage, so that you will not be able to forget it, even after all else is lost.’ And a light came from his head.

"老师说,'伟大的必须保护弱小的.如果打破了规则,那些比我们更伟大了,创造我们的,将会摧毁我们.同样的逻辑对所有生物都有效.我将这个回忆放到你的永恒记忆中去,那样你就不会忘记他,甚至所有其他的都遗失的时候.'然后他的头上亮起了一束光.

“That is all I remember,” Victor said.

"这就是我所有记得的了."维克托说.

And he smiled, and I was able to see him smile, because a little spark had come to life where he was drilling a stick back and forth with a crude bow he had made. Gently, he breathed on the spark, and gently the darkness receded.

然后他微笑了,我可以看到他在笑,因为在他用自制的简陋的弓来回钻的树枝上闪出一个小火花.他轻轻地吹着小火花,黑暗渐渐退却.

One twig, one dry stick at a time, he fed the flame, until it was large enough to accept a lump of coal.

他把一枝枝干燥的小树枝扔进火里,只到火堆大得足以接纳一块煤.

That night, in the cold cellar, Victor told us all to put our hands together like the Three Musketeers.

那天晚上,在老煤窖里,维克托告诉我们都把手像三个火枪手那样叠在一起.

He said to me, “We must all promise not to forget. We have to remember our Tales. We must all remember Quentin’s giant, and Quartinus’ wolf cloak, and the golden dogs that sit outside the House of Tertia in Fairyland, and the palace of light where the father of Secunda is a king, and the city in the void where my Teacher lived, and told me what my duty was. We must all keep our Tales for each other, if one of us loses or changes or forgets them, the others will remind him. Everything in this world will try to convince us that these are nursery tales, or
dreams, or that we’re mad, or that we’re just playing pretend.We must promise never to forget. We must promise never to give up. We must promise we will escape from this place, and find the mothers and fathers who love us, our friends, our kin, our real world. Promise!”

他对我说，“我们必须都发誓不要忘记.我们必须记得我们的故事.我们必须都记住昆廷的巨人,夸特努斯的狼斗篷,坐在特西娅仙境中的家门口的黄金狗,还有西根达父王那发光的宫殿,和我老师生活的那座空中城市,以及他告诉我的职责.我们必须为彼此记住我们的故事,如果我们中的一个遗失了,改动了,或忘记了它们,其他的人要提醒他.这个世界的一切都会试图让我们相信这些是托儿所的谣言,或者是梦,或者我们疯了.或者我们只是在玩扮演游戏.我们必须发誓永不忘记.我们必须发誓永不放弃.我们必须发誓我们将会逃离着片土地,找到爱我们的父母,我们的朋友,我们的亲人,我们的世界.发誓!"

And then he promised us that he would see to it that we would all get out of here together.

然后他对我们发誓,他会看到我们所有人都从这里一起出去.

Oh, and it was warm when he said that.

噢,当他说那些话的时候,我感到了温暖.

3.
I do not know how old I was when I found the notes, but I must have been quite young, because I remember that I had to stand on tiptoe to reach the handles of the cabinet where the cleaning things were kept. We had been told to scrub the floor of the dining hall, a task usually done by the servants, because of some prank Colin had pulled involving a bucket of fishheads. None of us was willing to turn Colin in, not even Vanity, even though (I am sure) everyone knew who had done it. This was back before we chose names, so it was Quartinus we were all mad at for getting us in trouble. I remember it was spring, and the great windows were wide open, and I could smell the new-mown grass of the playing field outside, and I remember how dearly I wanted to jump and run and play, rather than kneel and scrub.

3.

我不知道当我发现笔记的时候几岁,但是我那时一定很小,因为我记得我必须踮着脚才能够到装有洗涤用品的那个橱柜.我们被叫去擦洗餐厅地板,这通常由仆人干的活,因为胡闹的时候的科林打翻了一桶鱼头.我们没有人愿意出卖科林,甚至瓦妮特,即使(我肯定)每个人都知道是谁做的.这件事发生在我们选名字之前,所以我们都恨死夸特努斯把我们所有人都卷入麻烦了.我记得那是春天,大窗户都大大地打开着,我可以闻到外面运动场上新割的草的味道,我也记得我多么想去外面又跳又跑又玩,而不是在这里跪在地上擦地板.

I was wearing a smock from the art room, and had my hair tucked into a kerchief. I remember there was a bucket of smelly stuff I was rubbing into the floor boards with a brush. I had taken the bigger bucket, because I thought Tertia (Vanity) was too small to carry it. I remember how proud I was when I picked up that bucket, because I felt like a grown-up girl; and I remember how terrible it was, once I had walked out to the
spigot and filled it, that I could not carry it. I staggered and stumbled as I waddled up the steps (and the steps were taller back then) and there were tears in my eyes, because I was so afraid I would be punished if I spilled it.

我穿着从美术室拿来的工作服,把用方巾盖着头发.我记得我用刷子从地板缝隙刷出了一桶臭东西.我拿了一个较大的桶,因为特西娅(瓦妮特)那时还太小拿不动它.我记得当我拿起那个桶时我有多么骄傲,因为我感到自己是个成熟的女孩了;我也记得那有多么糟糕,有一次我不得不到外面的水龙头把它装满,可是我拿不动它.我摇摇摆摆地蹒跚地迈着步子(进一步退两步),泪水在我眼框中晃动,因为我十分害怕打泼它会遭到惩罚.

We had been studying astronomy in Lecture Hall that morning, and I remember thinking that if the five of us could build a rocket ship, we could fly to the moon, and be away from this place forever. And I remember my plan was to ask Tertia to stay aboard the ship once we landed, so I could be the first woman on the moon; and the moon people would be so grateful they would make me their princess; but I was going to let her be the first off the ship when we landed on the next planet, Mars or Venus, to make it up to her.

那天早上我们在讲堂学习天文学, 我记得我在想如果我们五个能造一艘太空船,我们就能飞到月亮上去,永远地离开这个地方.我的计划是当我们降落时让特西娅留在飞船上,那样我就能成为第一个登上月球的女性;月亮上的人们很友善,他们会让我作他们的公主;但是当我们降落到下一个行星的时候,比如火星或者金星,我会让她先下飞船,以和她扯平.

It was actually Tertia who found the notes, some sheets of foolscap paper folded and refolded and crammed into a little crack where the wainscoting had become separated from the wall. We were both kneeling and scrubbing, and we exchanged a quick glance at each other. By the look in her eye, I knew she knew (as I did) that we had found a great treasure, which must be kept away from the grown-ups at all costs.

实际上发现笔记的是特西娅,几页打印纸被折了又折然后塞进了一个从墙上裂开壁板缝里.我们在跪着擦地板的同时迅速交换了一个眼神.从她的眼里,我知道她明白(就像我明白一样)我们发现了一个大财宝,它必须不惜一切代价保管在成人触及不到的地方.

I pretended I had to go to the lavatory and made a fuss, while Vanity stole a fork from the silver drawer. Mrs. Wren, of course, did not let me go until chores were done. So we both diligently pretended to scrub the section of wainscoting where our treasure was, and Vanity would pluck at the papers with the tines of the fork when Mrs. Wren was idling near the liquor cabinet.

当瓦妮特从餐具抽屉里偷出一把叉子时,我假装大惊小怪地要去厕所.当然,瑞文女士不然我去,除非把活干完.所以我们两一直假装擦我们宝藏所在的那一块壁板,当瑞文女士在酒柜附近偷懒的时候瓦妮特就用叉子的尖端把纸往外拨.

Like a fluttering pale moth, the papers came free with a rustle of noise, and I quickly stuffed them down my shirtfront. We were let out for recess and exercise, but I was too cunning to take them out where someone might see, so I quickly folded them into my uniform shirt when I was changing into my field hockey gear, and then ripped a button from the shirt. Sadly, I displayed the torn shirt to Mr. ap Cymru, who was coach then, and I got permission to go put it in the hamper in the East Hall for the maid to repair, and told to get a new blouse from the dormitory,
so that I would have something to change into after practice.

像一只拍打翅膀的飞虫一样,那些纸在"沙沙"的声音中被弄了出来,我立刻把它们塞到胸口处贴身藏着.在我们被放出去休息和运动的时候,我十分狡猾地在没有人可能看到的地方把它们拿了出来,当我换上我的曲棍球服装时,我迅速地将它们塞到制服里面,然后从衬衫上扯下一个按钮.我难过地把撕坏了的衬衫给A.P.塞默鲁先生看,他那时是教练,然后我被允许把它放到东大厅的篮子里给女佣去修补,并从宿舍换一件新的宽松上衣以备练习后换上.

Easy as pie. The notes were soon hidden in my room. I gazed at the handwriting, seeing the fine but strong feminine penmanship, and thinking how lovely it would be to have a hand as fine as that. Whoever wrote this (I remember thinking) would never have her knuckles rapped because her Q’s and O’s were lopsided.It was some sort of fairy tale, but one that made no sense, merely fragments; and I remember thinking that I was too old for fairy stories.

易如反掌.笔记很快就被藏到了我的房间里.我盯着那些笔迹,看着那漂亮并带着浓重女性化的字体,想象着有那样一只美丽的手是多么可爱.写这个的人(我记得那时候在想)从来都不敲指关节,因为她的Q's和O's都向同一个方向倾斜.那是一系列美丽的童话,但是它们没有什么意义,仅仅是故事的片段;我记得那时我想,我对于童话来说太老了.

This will seem strange, and impossible to explain, but I did not recognize the stories, the handwriting, any of it. I wrapped the sheaf of paper in a plastic bag and took it to a hidden spot, a dry deep hole in the bark of a tree on the back campus, deep enough so that rain could not reach. And left it.A year, perhaps two, went by before I was old enough not to be ashamed of my interest in children’s tales, and I thought to look at it again.

这看上去很奇怪,也很难解释,但是我没有认出这些故事和笔迹,有关它的任何事.我用塑料袋把这一卷纸包起来藏到一个隐蔽的地方,校园后面的一个又黑又深的树洞里,树洞足够深所以雨水不会淹到它.放下它以后.一年,也许两年后,随着时光流逝,我长大到不再因为对童话故事感兴趣而感到羞愧的时候,我想起来再一次读它.

By that time, I had learned my penmanship. My cursive letters flowed in a fair, clean hand from my pen, far better than the crooked scrawl I had been using even a year before.

那时候,我已经学会了我的书法.我的连写体字母衔接得非常漂亮,比我那一年前歪歪扭扭的,潦草的字迹要好了很多.

And here were these papers at least ten years old, or more.It was my handwriting.

那些纸至少有十年历史了,或者更长.我认出纸上我自己的笔迹.

 

P29

I do not know how young I was when I performed the experiment that required me to conclude that something was wrong in my life.

我不知道那时候我多小,我做一个实验让我明白一些事在我生命中是错误的.

Victor—so I may call him, though he was still called Primus at the time—had grown a trace of down on his upper lip, finer than the fuzz of a peach. With even this small hint of manhood, he seemed more our leader than before, and there was a newfound glamour to him that touched my heart and troubled my dreams.

维克托——现在我可以这样叫他,虽然他那个时候仍然叫作普里莫斯——上唇长出了细微的绒毛,比桃子上的绒毛都要细.因为这个小小的成年特征,让他看上去比以前更加像我们的头了,而这也产生了一种新的魔力，触动我的心，扰乱我的梦。

We had crept by stealth from the orphanage grounds, and stood among the rocks and bald hills of the West. Below us and to the East, we could see the lights from the Main House, the servants’ quarters, the outbuildings, the stables.

我们偷偷地溜出孤儿院，站在西边光秃秃的山丘上的岩石堆里。往我们下方的东侧望去，能看到主楼上的灯光，职工宿舍，谷仓，和马厩。

Dr. Fell had bought Victor the instrument he was using for his experiment from a scientific catalogue. At the time, I thought it normal and unexceptional. Now, I realize that such an instrument was fabulously expensive: a piece of precision machinery even an observatory would envy.

费尔医生给维可托买了一台机器，他用它来做科学手册上的实验。那个时候，我认为它很平常也不独特。现在，我认识到那样一台机器是难以想象的昂贵：一台即使是天文台都要嫉妒的精密仪器。

The moon rose not long after sunset, and we pointed the lenses of the instrument to the East. Victor held his eye to the eyepiece and made minute adjustments to the vernier dials. He thumbed a red switch with a grimace of satisfaction.

在太阳落下后不久，月亮就升起来了，我们用机器的镜头对准东方.维克多眼睛对着目镜,并在微调刻度盘上调节了几分钟.然后他作出一个满足的鬼脸并按下红色开关.

He said, “An internal computer will track the path of the moon as it rises, and send out periodic pulses. We want to gather a number of samples, to correct for the different cords of atmosphere the signal passes through. The return signal is received by the large dish on the tripod over there, whose motors are slaved to these wheels here. And voila!”

他说,"一个内嵌的计算机将会在月亮升起时跟踪它的轨迹, 然后发出周期脉冲.我们可以收集一系列的样本,来校正大气中通过的不同信号束.返回的信号会被那里三角架上的大圆盘接收,它的马达供这些圆盘运转.看!"

A numerical readout lit up. It was two point something something. 2.8955. Almost three seconds.

一个数字读出器亮了起来.是二点几几.2.8955.将近三秒.

I said, “What now?”
He said, “And now we wait four hours.”
“Did you bring anything to read?”
He just looked at me oddly.
“Or smoke?” I said.
“You are too young to smoke. Besides, it’s bad for you.”
“Quentin said you tried it. You experimented with it.”

我说,"现在做什么?"
他说,"现在我们等四小时."
"你带了什么书来读吗?"
他仅是奇怪地看着我.
"或着烟?"我说.
"你太小了,还不能吸烟.另外,它对你有害."
"昆廷说你试过.你用它作实验."

He shook his head. “It wasn’t me. Trying things common sense abundantly demonstrates are bad for you is not an experiment;such things show you nothing but what your own tastes are. That does not constitute knowledge. This is an experiment!”

他摇摇头."不是我.去做常识充分证明了对你有害的事不是一个实验;那些事不会对你有任何帮助,除了你自己经历坏事.那不会形成任何知识.这才是实验!"

“Then who was it?”
“Who was what?”
“Quentin said he smelled smoke in the boys’ bathroom. Cigarette smoke.”
He looked at me with scathing condescension, but said othing.
“What?” I said.
“Logic. If it wasn’t me, and it wasn’t Quentin, and it wasn’t a girl, who was it?”
“Oh,” I said, feeling sheepish.

"那么是谁?"
"什么是谁?"
"昆廷说他在男浴室闻到了烟味.香烟."
他非常鄙视地看了我一眼,但没有说话.
"怎么?"我说.
"逻辑.如果不是我,也不是昆廷,也不会是个女孩,那会是谁?"
"哦,"我感到有些窘困地说.

Hours passed. I fidgeted. I paced. I complained about the cold. I sat on the ground, which made me colder. I asked him for his down jacket, which he doffed without a word and tossed to me. I rolled it up and used it as a pillow.
I must have slept.

几个小时过去了.我坐立不安,走来走去,抱怨天太冷.然后我坐在了地上,那使我更冷了.我问他要他的夹克,他一声不吭地脱下来扔给了我.我把它卷了起来当做枕头.

I dreamed that I was on a boat. A man held me roughly in one arm, dangling me over the side. The boat pitched and tossed terribly; rain pelted my face and ran in icy ribbons down my flesh. The man held some sharp, horrible thing near my face: a knife, or something larger than a knife.

我梦到我在一条小船里.一个人用一只手粗暴地抱着我,拖着我上船.小船倾斜着并摇晃的厉害;雨打在我的脸上,冰冷的雨水沿着我的身体向下流.那个人拿着一个锋利,可怕的东西贴近我的脸:一把刀,或者比刀更大的什么东西.

In the dream, the water, which had been black and rolling,webbed with white foam and spray, suddenly grew clear as crystal. A figure that was so large as to make our ship seem the size of a lifeboat was gliding beneath the waves, parallel to our course. The figure had his hands back along his sides and his head down; he did not kick his feet. Instead, the water streamed past him, like wind streaming past a man falling effortlessly through the air.

在梦中,覆盖着白色的泡沫并翻滚着浪花的黑水,突然变得和水晶一样清澈.一个巨大的人影同我们并排行进,让我们的船看上去像一艘在波浪下滑行的救生艇.人影的双手背在身后,低着头;他没有用力抬腿.反而,水从他脚下流过,就向风从身边轻柔地飘过.

“Tell him to quell the storm,” said the voice of the doctor in my ear.

"叫他平息暴风,"医生的声音在我耳边响起.

The figure turned its head and regarded us both. Its eyes were lamps, eerie with a greenish light, and it had a third eye, made of metal, embedded in its forehead.

人影转过他的头,也注意到了我们.他的眼里闪耀着怪异的绿色光芒,并且他还有第三只金属做的,嵌入额头的眼睛.

Instead of being terrified that I was going to be pitched overboard or stabbed, I was overcome with a painful embarrassment to realize that the gigantic figure was utterly nude and that, as he kept turning, I would soon see a penis larger than the member of an elephant, rippling through the water like a periscope.What made it more embarrassing was that the figure had Victor’s features.

我没有感到将会被抛出船外或被伤害的那种恐惧,而是在克服巨大的窘迫感,因为我发觉那个巨大的身影是全裸的,而且他还在继续转过来,很快我就看到一个比大象的还要大的阳具,像潜望镜一样在水面划起涟漪.让我更加窘迫的是,这个人影看起来像维克托.

The third eye, the metal one, seemed to be the only one with a soul in it. In the senseless way things are known in dreams, I knew that the mere fact that it could see me with this eye meant he could speak to me, despite all the water between us, and the noise and wrack of the storm. “I am embedding this message by means of cryptognosis into a preconsciousness level of your nervous system. The paradigms of Chaos have agreed only on this one point. We will wait for you . . .”

那只金属的第三只眼睛,看上去是唯一有神的一只.下意识地,就像在梦中知道的,我明白他既然能看到我,也就意味着他能够对我说话,不管我们之间隔着海水,或是噪音和暴风."我将这个消息通过神秘灵觉埋藏在你神经系统的前意识里.混沌的规则只允许这一点.我们将等待你..."

“Tell him to make the clouds move.”
“What?”
“I said, I hope the clouds move. We need to get a clear reading when the moon reaches zenith.”
I was awake again, with Victor, on the cold hillside. A knotted texture of charcoal-black and gleaming silver hung like a ship out of fairyland high above us. The cloud covered the moon, and limned the edges with swirls of argent.

"叫他把乌云驱散."

"什么?"

"我说,我希望乌云散开.我们要清楚地看到月亮到达顶峰."

我醒了过来,和维克多一起,在寒冷的山坡上.碳黑色并闪着微弱银色光芒的云团像漂离仙境的小船一样,高高地挂在我们的上方.乌云遮住了月亮,边缘描绘出银色的光晕.

Victor was still standing.
“How long have I been asleep?”
“Two hours, fourteen minutes.”
“Oh.”

维克托仍然站着.

"我睡了多久."

"两小时十四分钟."

"喔."

Silence.
Then I said, “Why are you doing this? We could get caught.It’s not as if Michelson and Morley hadn’t done this experiment one hundred years ago.”

安静.

然后我说,"你为什么要作这个实验?我们会被抓住的.象迈克逊和莫雷在一百年前就已经作过这个实验了."

He said, “One hundred eight. They’ve been saying untrue things to us. The teachers. The readings we got from the interferometer in lab class had been meddled with. When I did the experiment under controlled conditions, I got results consistent with the theory that light is conveyed via luminiferous aether.”

他说,"一百零八年.他们对我们说的话并不是事实.老师们,我们在实验课的干涉仪上看到的现象被干扰了.当我在可控的条件下实验时,我得到的结论是光通过光介质传播."

I sat up. “Are you saying there’s no Einsteinian relativity?But there have been other experiments. The procession of the axis of Mercury. Cesium clocks in a fast-flying airplane. Light was seen to bend around the sun during an eclipse.”

我坐起来."你是说没有爱因斯坦相对论?但是有其他的证据.水星轨迹轴心.高速飞行的飞机上的铯原子钟.在日蚀期间光线看上去在太阳周围弯曲.

“We have only hearsay for that.”

"我们只是听说那些."

I was astonished. The sheer magnitude of his skepticism was beyond words. It was like an elephant I had seen once during a rare field trip to Swansea Zoo. As soon as you think you understand how big it is, you look again, and it is bigger.

我惊讶了.无法用言语形容他这样完全彻底的怀疑论.就像我在一次难得的,去斯旺西动物院实地考察期间看到大象是那样.就在你以为你知道它有多大是时候,再看一眼,发现它更大了.

He said, “Picture this. According to relativity, objects compress in the direction of motion, right? And yet it also says that the same objects and events appear from each other’s ‘frames of reference’ to be symmetrical, right?”

他说,"这样设想.依照相对论,物体在它运动的方向压缩,是吧?然而,它也说出现在彼此的'参照系'中的对象和事件是对称的, 是吧?"

“Right.”

"对."

“Take a cup with a tight-fitting lid. The cup and lid fit together, correct? Now move the lid and cup away at right angles, the lid horizontally, the cup vertically. Got the picture?”
“Got it.”
“What happened when you bring the lid and cup back together at near light speed?”
“Um . . . I am sure you are about to tell me . . .”

"拿着一个拧紧盖子的杯子.杯子和盖子被拧在一起,对不对?现在把盖子拧下来,和杯子摆成一个直角,盖子平放,杯子直放.能够想象这个画面吗?"

"可以."

"这时候你用接近光速的时间将盖子和杯子拧在一起会发生什么?"

"恩.....我认为你打算告诉我..."

“From the point of view of the lid, the cup is compressed in its direction of motion, horizontally. The cup is shorter, but still a cylinder. The lid, to itself, suffers no distortion, of course. When the two meet, the lid will fit on the cup. But from the point of view of the cup, the lid is foreshortened in its direction of motion, vertically. Which means the lid is now an oval. The cup still appears round to itself. When the two meet, the lid cannot fit on the cup. The same event has two different results from two different points of view.”

"从盖子的观点看,被子在它的运动方向上被压缩了,水平方向.杯子变短了,但是仍然是一个圆柱.当然,盖子本身没有受到扭曲.当它们两个向遇时,盖子可以和杯子合盖.但是从杯子的观点看,盖自从它的垂直运动方向被缩短了.这意味着盖子现在是椭圆形.杯子仍然保持着原来的圆形.当两者向遇时,盖子就不能和杯子合盖.同样的事件从两个不同的视角看有不同的结果."

I looked at him sidelong, wondering if he were kidding. For the first time, I wondered whether other people have more trouble visually picturing things in their imagination than I did. I mean, it is not as if I could look into their heads to see.

我斜眼看着他,觉得他是不是在开玩笑.第一次,我怀疑是否其他人在他们的想象中有比我更多的,令人困惑的真实画面.我的意思是,我不能透视到他们的脑袋里去看.

I opened my mouth to say that both observers would see the motion vector as a diagonal, but then I closed it again. I did not like arguing with Victor.

我张开嘴,想说两边的观测者都会看到运动适量呈一条对角线,但是我又闭上了嘴.我不喜欢和维克托吵架.

“What in particular happened?” I said.

"有什么特别的发生?"我说.

For a moment I thought he was going to ask me what I meant, but then he said, “You know Mrs. Lilac from the village, whom Mrs. Wren uses to carry burdens and packages when she has done too much shopping?”

那时,我以为他会问我是什么意思,但是他说道,"我在村庄里认识了莱勒克夫人, 当她买了很多东西的时候, 经常让瑞文女士帮她拿包裹.

“Sort of the way you do me,” I said archly. I had carried the equipment up the slope from the hedges behind the lab shed.
“I don’t see the analogy.”

"就像你对我那样,"我简短地说.我把仪器从实验室后面的树篱里抬到了上坡上。

"我不认为这是一会事."

“Go on with your story.”

"继续说."

“Mrs. Lilac passed me in the hall. She said her daughter Lily was going to graduate from upper school soon and, seeing as how I had helped Lily learn her letters when she was in grammar school, would I care to attend the graduation ceremony? You know who Lily is, don’t you?”

"莱勒克夫人在大厅里遇到我.她说她女儿莉丽就要从中学毕业了,因为我在她上小学的时候帮她学过字母, 问我是否愿意去参加她的毕业典礼?你知道莉丽是谁,对吧?"

“Yes. I know who she is,” I said shortly.

"对.我知道她是谁,"我简略地说.

I was thinking that Victor had been to see Lily Lilac on every occasion that the Headmaster would allow. She was fairhaired and fine boned, with a breezy, insincere manner I found exasperating.

我想起只要校长允许,维克托一有机会就去见莉丽.莱勒克.她有着漂亮的头发和身材,还有另我讨厌的傲慢和虚伪的态度.

Her father owned the fish cannery, and was counted as being one of the more influential people, among the working class, in town. Lily owned her own outboard motor, and she went boating on every possible occasion.

她的父亲拥有一家鱼罐头厂,在镇上工人阶级中算得上是一个很有影响里的人.莉丽有自己的马达船,只要一有机会就出海.

From time to time I had seen Victor watching Lily Lilac from the sea cliff. He would stand among the rocks with a telescope, and watch her fly by, her boat bouncing along the waters of the bay, her blond hair bouncing in the wind. She was always with a different boy each time. She seemed to be able to do what she liked, and go where she liked, when she liked. I do not recall hating any other living being so fiercely.

有时我看到维克托从海崖上看莉丽.莱勒克.他拿着望远镜站在石头上,看她经过,看她的船在海湾中飘荡,看她棕色的头发在风中飞扬.她每次都和一个不同的男孩在一起.她看上去可以作一切她想作的事, 去任何她想去的地方, 只要她喜欢.我从没有这么强烈地恨过其他人.

“I know her,” I said with a sniff. “So you’ve been invited to a graduation. I doubt Headmaster will allow you off the grounds.”I remember I was being fiercely loyal to Headmaster Boggin in those days, and thought he could do no wrong.

"我知道她,"我轻蔑地说."所以你被邀请去参加毕业典礼.我怀疑校长不会允许你离开这里."记得在那些日子里我万分地忠于伯金校长,并认为他没有做错事.

Victor favored me with another one of his withering glances.

维克托又给了我一个讽刺的斜视.

“What?” I said. “What?”

"怎么?"我说."怎么了?"

“Logic. How young do you think a person has to be to not know her letters and numbers? And I must have been old enough to know mine. Let’s assume I was unduly precocious,and she was unduly slow.”

"逻辑.你觉得一个人还不认识字母和数字的时候有多大?我肯定足够大,已经认识了.让我们假设我过度地早熟, 而她过度晚熟."

“Yes, let’s do,” I said, perhaps with a note of venom in my voice.

"好的, 就着样做,"我说,我的声音也许中带着怨毒的音符.

“I could have been what, three? Have you ever heard a child know his letters at two? How late could she live and not know her letters? Let’s say five. She would be nineteen when she graduated. If she skipped a grade, eighteen. That makes me how old now?”
“Fifteen.”

"我那时多大, 三岁?你曾听说过有个孩子在两岁就认识字母了吗?她多大了还不认识字母?就算五岁吧.那她毕业的时候就是十九岁.如果她跳了一级,就是十八岁.那样的话我现在多大?"

“But suppose the numbers were reversed. What if I had been around five when I taught a two- or three-year-old? How old does that make me?”

"但是假设数字颠倒了.如果我在大约五岁的时候教一个两到三岁的孩子会怎样?那样我是几岁?"

I said, “If you were twenty-and-one, you’d be an adult. They would have let you out of here. They’d have let you out three years ago.”

我说,"如果你是二十一岁,你就是成年人了.他们就会让里离开这里.他们三年前就应该让你离开."

“Would they have?”
“Why would they keep you?”
“Perhaps they get money from the trust for my upkeep. Who knows?”
“But how could they tell such a lie, and not get caught?”
“Who is to catch them? The townspeople are afraid of the Headmaster.”

"他们会吗?"

"他们为什么要留住你?"

"也许他们照看我以从托管人那里得到钱,谁知道?"

"但是他们怎么能说这样一个谎话, 那样不会被捕吗?"

"谁去抓他们?镇上的人都害怕校长."

The idea that anyone could be “afraid” of the kindly old headmaster, with his gentle smile and mild humor, was beyond belief. Had it been anyone other than Victor, I would have laughed aloud.

认为所有人都"害怕"和蔼的校长,那个有温和笑容和适度幽默的校长,的想法是难以另人置信的.如果说这话的是除了维克托的任何人,我都会哈哈大笑的.

But I didn’t laugh. “Someone would tell. They can’t just go on keeping us here forever.”

但是我没有笑."总有人会说.他们不能永远留住我们."

“Who is to tell?” he said. “Who will question their statements?Suppose they say I am fifteen. Don’t I look it? Who questions them? Who doubts them? Who is skeptical enough to go to the trouble to check?”

"谁会说?"他说."谁会质疑他们的声明?假设他们说我是十五岁.我看上去不像吗?谁质疑他们?谁怀疑他们?哪个好怀疑的人会自找麻烦去检查?"

At that moment, a timer on the instrument bleeped.Victor leaned in and looked at the eyepiece. He clicked the red button with his thumb. A moment later the LED readout lit up. 3.3214 . . .

就在这个时候,仪器上的一个记时器响了起来.维克托弯下腰对着目镜看.他用拇指按下了红色按钮.一会儿过后,LED显示屏亮了起来. 3.3214....

He said grimly, “The difference between the reading now and the reading at dusk is merely the angular momentum of the turning of the Earth. Light shot forward, tangentially to the turn, has the velocity of the Earth added, and travels faster. Light shot at a right angle, away from the axis, has no velocity added, and is slower. If we wait till dawn, the component of Earth’s rotation will be subtracted, and the velocity will be slower yet.”

他冷冷地说,"现在读到的和傍晚时读到的差距不过是地球自转的角动量.光直线照射,不受自转影响,由于地球附加的速率,传播的更快.光照程一个直角,远离地轴,没有附加速率,就会传播的更慢.如果我们等到黎明,地球自转的那部分将会减去,速率又会变得慢下来."

“There must be a mistake,” I said slowly. “The instrument must be off.”

"这一定是错了,"我慢慢地说,"机器肯定是关了."

“Is that the most reasonable explanation?”

"那是最合理的解释吗?"

He turned and squinted. The light in the boys’ bathroom off the dormitory was flickering off and on, off and on. That was the signal that Mr. Glum had been seen leaving his little house on the back grounds, no doubt to pull a surprise inspection of the boys’ dorm.

他转过身眯着眼睛看.男生浴室的灯灭了,宿舍的灯一开一关地闪烁着.那是发现格罗姆先生离开他后院的小屋的信号,无疑是去对男生宿舍作突然检查.

There was no light in the girls’ bathroom. Either Mrs. Wren had not stirred and the girls’ dorm was safe, or else Vanity had fallen asleep at her post.

女生浴室里没有光.要么是瑞文女士没有行动,女生宿舍是安全的,要么是瓦妮特在她的"岗位上"睡着了.

Victor stood. “I must run. Don’t let the equipment get damaged when you carry it back down the rocks.”
“Yes, master,” I said sarcastically. But he did not hear me, because he was already jogging down-slope.
Now I was alone, in the cold, with no one but the moon to look after me.

维克托站起来."我得跑了.你从石头上把仪器拿下来的时候别把它弄坏了."

"是,主人,"我讽刺地回答.但是他没有听到,因为他已经跑下山坡了.

Well, there was no need to delay. I started doing, in my mind,that trick I had learned that made all burdens seem lighter than they were when I hoisted them, and I put my hands out toward the instrument.

好吧,没有必要耽搁了.我开始作事,在我的记忆里,我学会了一种诀窍,它能让我提起重物时看上去比实际上要轻,然后我把手伸像仪器.

I was thinking: it was impossible.

我突然想到:这不可能.

The angular momentum of the Earth’s rotation was so small a fraction of the speed of light, I know, that no possible instrument could detect a difference; and surely not a difference of nearly half a second over the (relatively) short distance between Earth and Moon. To be a valid experiment, the second reading would have to be taken half a month later, not half a day later,so that the velocity component added would have been that of the Earth’s motion around the sun.

地球自转的角动量只是光速的很小一部分,我知道,不可能有仪器能检测到一个差值;光在地球与月亮之间传播的时间差不多半秒,这么(相对)短的距离也肯定不会产生一个差值.要作一个有效的实验,第二次读数的时间必须在半个月以后,而不是半天以后,因此增加的分速度应该是由于地球绕太阳旋转的带来的.

So, instead of lifting the instrument just yet, I put my eye to the eyepiece, made sure the instrument was still centered on the same crater of the moon as it had been at dusk, reached, and hit the red switch.

所以,我没有立刻拿起仪器,而是把我的眼睛对向了目镜,确认仪器仍然对准了黄昏时瞄准的月球上的一个陨石坑,伸出手,然后按下了红色按钮.

The dish hummed as a radar beam was sent out, bounced off the moon, came back.
The LED readout lit up. 2.8955.

圆盘发出嗡嗡声并发出雷达波束,被月球反弹,然后返回.

LED屏幕亮了.2.8955

I had little trouble getting the tripod folded and the instrument case packed up, and getting the whole thing hidden under the bushes, where Victor would sneak them back into the lab in the morning, while he had cleanup duty.

我有一点费力地将三脚架折叠起来,并把仪器打包,然后把它们一起藏在灌木从下面,维克托会在明天早上清理它们之后再偷偷带回实验室.

But I had a great deal of trouble falling asleep that night.
Surely it was just a quirky reading from a misaligned instrument,right?

但是那天晚上我始终难以入睡.

当然,那只是一个没有调准的仪器上的一个诡异读数,难道不是吗?

Either that, or the speed of light acted differently when I was watching it than it did when Victor was watching it. Which is impossible, isn’t it? That is not what the Theory of Relativity means. Our notions of reality can change as we learn more; but reality itself, the great unknown, cannot change.But if reality was unknown, how did I know it could not change?

或者,光的速度在我看的时候和维克托看的时候不同.这不可能,不是吗?相对论理论不是这个意思.当我们学习到更多知识的时候,我们对于真相的观点会改变;但是真相本身,那伟大的未知,不会变.但是如果真相是未知的,我又怎么知道它不会改变.

I had a dream about the ship again that night. The man holding me overboard, holding a sword to my throat, was Dr. Fell.

那天晚上我又作了那个关于船的梦.那个拖着我上船,在我喉上架着剑的人,是费尔医生.

5.
Vanity was of the opinion that if we did not know where the boundary was, it could not affect us.Her argument ran along these lines: we had been warned something bad would happen to us if we went over the boundaries, or tarried too long on the far side. But boundaries do not exist in the material world. A rock or a tree on one side or the other of an imaginary line is still a rock or a tree, is it not?

瓦妮特认为如果我们不知道边界在哪,那它就不能影响我们什么.她的意见是沿着这些线跑:我们被警告过如果越过这些边界或在另一边停留过长时间,就会有坏事发生在我们身上.但是边界在物理世界中并不存在.虚构的线的一边是一块石头或一棵树,另一边也同样是一块石头和一个树,不是吗?

Therefore the boundaries only exist, as Vanity put it, “in our fancy.”

“Think of it this way,” she would say, between various ejaculations
and digressions. “If everyone woke up tomorrow and agreed we should spell ‘dog’ C-A-T, why, dogs would be cats as far as we could tell. But the dogs would not care what we called them. If everyone woke up and said, ‘Vanity is the Queen of England!’ why, then, I’d be the Queen of England, provided the army and the tax gatherers were among the people who said it.If only half the army said it, we’d have a civil war.”

所以边界也就是仅仅存在而已,就像瓦妮特表达的,"在我们的想象中."

"这样想,"她会在各种离题的、突发其想的句子中说道,“如果每个人早上醒来都同意我们应该把‘dog’拼成C-A-T，哇噢，只要我们能说话，狗就会一直成为猫。但是狗并不在乎我们叫它们什么。如果每个人醒来之后都说，‘瓦妮特是英格兰女皇！’，哇噢，倘若军队和税务官在说这些话的人们当中，我就将成为英格兰的女王。如果一半的军队这样说，我们将发生一场内战。"

The boundary to the South was no different. As one moved South there were trees upon the south lawn, a few, and then more, and then scattered copses, then thick copses. At some point, you would find yourself in a place with no grass underfoot,where no one had stepped before, and see trees which had never felt the bite of an axe. But where exactly was the dividing line?

南边的边界没有什么不同。如果你向南一直走,将会看到草地上越来越多的树木和稀疏的灌木丛,然后是浓密的灌木丛.在有的地方,你会发现你脚下是一块从来没有人来过的没有长草的土地,并且能看到没有任何斧痕的树木.但是到底哪里才是确切的分界线呢?

The trees were thick around the servants’ quarters, the stables,and the pump house. They were thicker beyond the old brick smithy. They were thicker still beyond the even older green mound connected with local King Arthur tales; but that mound was bare of trees itself, and one came from the shadows of silent leaves into a wide round area of surprising sunlight,where four standing stones held a tilted slab high above wild grass. The stones were gray, and no moss grew on them, and no sunlight ever seemed to warm them.

职工宿舍、马厩、和泵房周围的树木十分茂密。它们比老砖窑周围的树茂密。也比同样古老的，让人联想到亚瑟王的圆桌的绿色丘陵上的树木茂密；那个丘陵上本身并没有长树，在安静的树叶阴影中出现一块广阔的，阳光炽热的圆形区域，那里有四块竖石把一块倾斜的石板高高托起，远离地面的野草。

Vanity said that Arthur’s Table clearly could not be in the forest,because there were no trees there. A forest, by definition(Vanity would exclaim) was a place full of trees, wasn’t it?So (she would conclude triumphantly), there was no Southern boundary, provided we all agreed that there was none.What other people said amongst themselves was their own affair.

瓦妮特说亚瑟的圆桌明显不是在森林里，因为那里并没有树。一片森林的定义（瓦妮特大声说），是一片到处都长满树木的地方，不是吗？所以（她成功地断定），根本没有南边界——如果我们都同意没有边界的话。其他人怎么说是他们自己的事.

Colin would ask sarcastically, “And when they send Mr.Glum and his savage dog to hunt us down and maul us, does it then, at some point, become our affair?”Vanity would roll her eyes and say, “If the dog mauls us on this side of the boundary, we could still say he was on the other side, couldn’t we? Things like boundaries don’t exist if you don’t see them when you look for them, do they?”

科林讽刺地问道,"当他们派格罗姆先生和他凶猛的大狗来抓获我们的时候,那么,那个时候,是不是成了我们的事了?"瓦妮特转动着她的眼睛说道,"如果狗在边界的这边咬我们,我们仍然可以说它在另一边,不是吗?像边界这种你实际看不到东西并不存在,难道不是吗?"

“And I guess dog fangs don’t exist if you don’t feel it when your arm gets ripped off, right?”
“Exactly! Suppose the dog only thought he mauled us, but we did not see him nor feel him when he came to attack us!How do you know the dog hadn’t just dreamed or imagined he attacked us? We could agree he hadn’t done it, couldn’t we? We could even agree the dog had agreed not to hunt us!”

"我猜狗的尖牙也并不存在,如果你手臂断掉感觉不到它的时候,是吧?"

"太对了!假设狗是想伤害我们,但当它攻击我们时,我们并没有看见它,也没有感觉到它!你怎么知道狗没正在梦想或想象它已经攻击我们了?我们可以认为它并没有作到,难道不是?我们甚至可以认为狗也认为没有伤害我们!"

Colin would respond with something like, “Why bother arguing with me? Why don’t you just agree that I agree, so that, in your world, I have?”
Vanity would rejoin, “Because I prefer to agree that you argued and you lost, as anyone who heard the dumb things you say would agree.”
Colin was not one to give up easily. “If you merely dreamed you had found a secret way out of here, that would not let you walk through a solid stone wall, would it?”

科林则会以一些类似这样的话来回答,"为什么费心和我争论?为什么你不能同意我所同意的,那样,我也会同样对你的,不好吗?"

瓦妮特则会辩论,"因为我认为你提出的观点是错的, 任何听到你蠢话的人都会同意这点."

科林并不是一个容易放弃的人."如果你你仅仅是幻想你已经找到了一条离开这里的秘密通道,那也不能让你穿过一堵实心的石墙,你可以吗?"

“Of course not. But no one knows which walls are solid and which are hollow because no one can see the inside of the solid ones, can they? The ones you can see inside aren’t hollow, are they? No one else has any proof one way or another.”

"当然不.但是没有人知道哪堵墙是实心的,哪堵是空心的,因为没人能看到实心墙的内部,有人能看到吗?你能看到哪堵墙的内部不是空心的,是吗?无论如何,没有人有任何证据."

Vanity’s argument was as incomprehensible as Quentin’s,and as brief (when pared down) as Victor’s. Apparently as long as she, Vanity, in her solipsistic purity, did not believe the Southern boundary existed, then, for all practical purposes, it would not.

瓦妮特的观点和昆廷的一样不能让人理解,和维克多的一样简洁(总结过之后). 很明显,瓦妮特一直以来,在她的纯粹唯我主义观点中, 并不相信南边界存在, 然后,用实际的方法证明它不存在.

6.
Vanity was short, redheaded, with a dusting of freckles on her cheeks. Her eyes were the most enormous emerald, and they sparkled. She had a little upturned snub nose I always envied just a bit. She was fair skinned and always wore a straw skimmer to keep the sun off her face.

瓦妮特有一头红色短发,脸颊上布满雀斑.她的大眼睛就像闪耀着光芒的祖母绿.她还有一个令我有点嫉妒的略微上翘的小鼻子.她皮肤白皙,经常戴一顶草帽来遮挡照在脸上的阳光.

With her lips so pale a rose color, and her eyebrows so light,I always thought she looked like a statue of fine brass, held in a furnace of flame so hot as to be invisible, so that she seemed to glow. Even when frowning, she seemed to be smiling.

她的嘴唇呈浅玫瑰色,眉毛颜色很淡,我常常觉得她看上去像一尊纯铜塑像,在一个燃烧着看不见的高温火焰的熔炉里,看起来像在发光.甚至在她皱眉的时候,也象是在微笑.

She was curvy and she took wry amusement at the fact that the boys, the male teachers, even Mr. Glum, could have their gazes magnetized by her when she walked by.

她曲线姣好,笑起来嘴角微微扬起,每当她走过时,那些男孩,男教师,甚至格罗姆先生的眼神都不有自主地被她吸引过去.

I always thought Vanity was a little sweet on Colin, because she yelled at him and called him names. In the romances I read,that was a sure sign of growing affection.

我猜想瓦妮特有一点喜欢科林,因为她总是冲他吼叫并直呼其名.在我读过的罗曼故事中,这是产生爱情的明显特征.

As I grew older, I noticed how carefully she noticed everything Quentin did, Quentin the quiet one, and I realized she doted on him. And I began to realize Vanity actually was annoyed and exasperated by Colin.

当我长大一点以后,我发现她十分仔细地注意昆廷所做的一切,昆廷是那个安静的孩子,然后我认识到她喜欢他.同时也开始明白瓦妮特是真的讨厌科林.

That was when I realized, for the first time, that the five of us were not the tightly knit band of Three Musketeers Plus Two that Victor said we were, one for all and all for one, and all that.It was not until I was around an age which, in a human being,would be between sixteen or eighteen or so, when I had the thought that with two girls and three boys, one of the boys in our merry band would end up a bachelor, or married to a stranger.

当我长到(以人类的眼光来看)大约十六或十八岁的时候,我考虑我们有两个女孩和三个男孩,那么在我们的婚姻纽带中就会有一个男孩成为单身汉,或者和一个陌生人结婚.那是我第一次认识到我们五个并不是像维克托说的那样,像"三个火枪手加上两个"那样紧紧纽成一股绳,一个为了大家,大家为了一个,诸如此类.

I remember where I was when this thought came to me. I was sitting on the lip of the Kissing Well, with my skirts flapping in the gusts coming from the bay, quite alone. I had just come from the infirmary, and was still seasick from Dr. Fell’s most recent round of vaccinations. We were usually allowed to skip lessons any afternoon when Dr. Fell worked on us, provided we made up the lessons later. The well was high on a hillside, and overlooked the water. Sea mews were crying, and the sad sound lingered in the air.

我记得这些念头冒出来的时候我在哪里.我坐在"亲吻井"的边缘,裙子在来自海湾的风中飘曳,感到十分孤独.我刚从医务室出来,仍对费尔医生给我们注射的最新一轮疫苗感到眩晕.当费尔医生来为我们工作的所有下午,我们都被允许停课,只要以后补上就行.井在山坡高处,可以眺望到海.海鸥在鸣叫,悲伤的声音在耳际徘徊.

It was spring, I remember, and two male birds were fighting.That was what prompted my thought.

我记得那是春天,两只雄鸟在打架.那是引起我产生想法的原因.

That was also when I started wondering what my future would be. I wanted to be a pilot, an explorer. A cowgirl with a pistol. Anything that got me away from here. The idea of being a housewife seemed intolerably dull and lacking in glamour.On the other hand, the idea of never having a child was like death.

那也是我开始想知道我将来会怎样的时候.我想成为一个飞行员,一个探险家.一个带枪的女牛仔.任何能让我离开这里的事.成为一个家庭主妇的想法看上去是那么难以忍受的枯燥和缺乏魅力.另一方面,一个孩子永远也不会想到一些事,比如死亡.

And then I said aloud to the well, “But what if they never let us go?”
The voice in the well said back softly, “. . . never let us go . . . ?”

然后我大声对着井说,"如果他们永远不让我们离开怎么办?"

井里的声音温和地回答,"...永远不让我们离开...?"

7.
My name is Amelia Armstrong Windrose. I should say, I call myself that; my real name was lost with my parents.

我的名字是阿米莉娅.阿姆斯特朗.温德洛斯.我应该说,我是这样叫我自己;我的真名和父母一起丢失了.

We chose our own names when we were eight or ten or so.It was not until we started sneaking off the estate grounds that we realized that other children in the village were christened at birth, and kept anniversaries of their birthdays, and knew their ages.

当我们大约八或十岁的时候,我们选择了自己的名字.在我们开是逃离这里之前,我们都没有认识到村子里的其他孩子都是以生日命名,纪念他们的生日,分辨他们的年龄.

We knew about birthdays from various readings, of course.There were references to such things from histories, where boy kings had to be killed before they ascended the throne, or from gothic romances, where girl heirs had to be wedded before they came into their majority. We knew, in a general way, what a birthday party was.

当然,通过各种读物我们知道什么是生日.这涉及到一些历史:可能成为国王的男孩必须在他们篡取王位之前被杀死,或者像哥特式罗曼史中说的,女继承人必须在她们成年前结婚.一般情况下,我们知道什么是生日宴会.

Mrs. Wren started holding them for us, with snappers and barkers and wrapped gifts, and candles on cake with icing, and toasts and games, when we complained. But her notion was to have them twice or three times a year, usually during months with no other holidays of note. And the number of candles she put on the cake could be anywhere from one to one score, depending on her mood, or the success of her shopping.

当我们抱怨时,瑞文女士开始为我们举行生日宴会,宴会上有笛鲷鱼、杂耍和带包装的礼物, 糖衣蛋糕上的糖果, 还有面包和游戏.但是她的打算是一年举办两到三次，通常在没有重大节日的月份举办。她放在蛋糕上的糖果数目可能是一或二十之间的任何数，这取决于她的心情，或者她购物是否成功。

The gifts we got from her did not seem odd at the time, for we had no other basis of comparison. Once I got a wrapped roast duck, which had turned cold in the cardboard box, and lay amid its own congealed grease. Another time, a box of nails.Colin got one of Mrs. Wren’s shoes at that same party; Vanity got a drawer from the kitchen with knives and spoons in it.And yet, other times, her gifts were things of wonder and pleasure:a wooden rocking horse, painted fine, brave colors; a toy train set with an electric motor and a cunning little chimney that puffed real smoke; a dress of breathtaking beauty, made of a soft scarlet fabric, perhaps satin; an orb of pale crystal that glowed like a firefly when you held it in your hand and thought warm thoughts; a walking stick with a carved jackal head with silver ears, which Quentin was convinced could find buried streams and fountains underground.

那时我们不会觉得从她那里得到的礼物看上去很奇怪,因为我们也没有其他人可以比较,有一次我得到了一只包装好了的烤鸭,它已经在硬纸盒里变凉了,躺在它自己冻结了的油脂中.还有一次，是一盒图钉.在那次宴会中,科林得到了瑞文女士的一只鞋子;瓦妮特得到了厨房里的一个装着刀叉的橱柜.可是,其他时候,她的礼物倒是另人惊喜:一匹精心上了华丽颜色的摇摆木马;带有电动马达的玩具火车,上面还有可爱的会喷真烟的小烟囱;一套极漂亮的深红色衣服,有可能是丝绸织的;还有一个白色的水晶球,当你把它拿在手里,并想像温暖的感觉,它就会像萤火虫一样发光; 一个雕有银耳豺头的手杖,昆廷深信可以用它找到地下河和地下泉水.

One birthday party, the Headmaster simply announced we were to choose names for ourselves, and put our baby-names behind us. Only Quentin refused to choose, and kept his original name. I, who had been Secunda, used the chance to name myself after my heroine, the American aviatrix, Amelia Earhart. My family name I took from that eight-pointed star which decorates maps and determines North.

一次生日宴会上,校长简单地宣布了让我们自己选择名字,不再使用我们的小名.只有昆廷拒绝,他还使用他原来的名字.我,曾叫塞康达,则利用这次机会以我的女英雄,美国女飞行员,阿米莉娅.埃尔哈特给自己命名.而我的姓来自于地图上用来装饰和标记方向的八角星.

You see, I had always felt closed-in and trapped by the walls and boundaries of our estate. No matter how handsome and fine the grounds, it was still a cage to me. My dreams were for far, unguessed horizons, hidden springs of unknown rivers, unclimbed mountains shrouded in cloud. The edges of maps interested me more than the middles.

你知道,我经常感到被我们这里的墙和边界困在其中.无论这里多么广阔和美丽,它对我来说仍然是一个笼子.我的梦想是遥远的未知的地平线,不知名河流隐藏的源头,高耸云霄未被攀登过的山脉.地图的边缘比中央更加吸引我的兴趣.

Naturally, such dreams led me to admire that breed of men who sailed those horizons, found those springs, conquered those mountains. Roald Admussen was my idol, along with Hanno, Leif Erickson, and Sir Francis Drake. My favorite books from Edgar Rice Burroughs were those where the lost city of Ophir appeared.

自然,这些梦想让我羡慕那些航行到地平线,找到河流的源头,征服山峰的人.罗纳德.爱德默森是我的偶像,还有哈诺, 李夫.艾里克森,以及弗朗西斯.德雷克爵士.我最喜欢的书是埃德加.赖斯.波偌夫斯写的那些关于消失的城市俄斐重新出现的故事.

Amelia Earhart seemed so brave and gay, her smile so cheerful and fearless, in the one picture in the little encyclopedia entry I found of her, that only she could be my namesake.

阿米莉娅.埃尔哈特是那么勇敢和快乐,我在一本小百科全书的条目中找到了一张她的照片,她的微笑如此欢快无畏,只有她才配与我同名.

I told myself she had not been lost at sea, but had discovered some tropic island so fair and so like Eden, that she landed her plane at once, knowing no one else would ever be daring and cunning enough to find the route she had flown. All the years that had gone by, with her still not found, seemed to confirm my theory. My name, invented when I was perhaps a twelve-year-old,may seem silly now. But I console myself that young Tertia named herself after a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray,so that she could be called Miss Fair. We are lucky she did not
end up called Miss Pride N. Prejudice.

我告诉自己,她并没有在海上失踪,她只是发现了一些美丽的,像伊甸园般的热带岛屿,然后就立刻在上面降落了,她知道没有人会像她一样大胆和灵巧,能够发现和她同样的飞行路线.这么多年过去了,她仍然没有被找到,看上去证实了我的理论.在我十二岁的时候编出来的名字,现在看来有些蠢.但我安慰自己,年轻的特西娅(瓦妮特)以一本威廉.梅克皮斯.萨克雷的小说(Varnity Fair)给自己取了名字,所以她可以被叫做费尔小姐.很幸运她最后不用被叫作傲慢与偏见小姐(Miss Pride N. Prejudice).

8.
I cannot describe myself except to say that I am either very vain or very beautiful, and that I hope I am the latter, while suspecting I may be the former. My hair is blond, beyond shoulder length, and I liked to wear it queued up and out of the way. My complexion has been tanned by spending much time out of doors in the wind and weather.

除了说要么我很自负,要么我很漂亮,否则我无法描述自己,我希望我是后者,有时候我猜想我可能是前者.我的头发是金色的, 我喜欢把它不合适宜地编成马尾辫留在脑后.我的肤色被晒成了褐色,因为我在户外的风和阳光中花费了很多时间.

I always had the idea, when I was young, that if I stared in the mirror long enough at some feature, my lips or eyes, some sun freckles I did not care for, or a mole, I could somehow, by force of will, “stare” my face to a more perfect shape—clearer skin,higher cheekbones, eyes greener, or more long-lashed, perhaps slightly tilted and exotic.

当我小的时候,我经常有个想法,如果我盯着镜子里的一些特征看足够长的时间,我的嘴唇或眼睛,一些我不在意的太阳斑和痣,我会不知为何,被某种意愿驱使着,"盯"着我的脸成为一个更加完美的形状——更光洁的皮肤,更高的颧骨,更绿的眼睛,或着更长的睫毛,可能还有些轻微的翘起和异国情调.

And because this does indeed describe me, then as now, I had always had the unspoken, haughty assumption that plain girls either lacked willpower, or lacked imagination. It is my least attractive feature, this prejudice against the unsightly, and it is based on a very wrong notion of what life is like for normal people. It gives me no pleasure to notice that many normal people have the selfsame prejudice against the plain, but with far less reason than I.

因为这样确实能够描述我,一直以来,我总是有一种没说出口的,傲慢的设想:那些寻常的女孩要么是缺乏意志力,要么是缺少想象力.这是我最没有吸引力的特征,这种对难看人的偏见,建立在一个十分错误的观点上——对于寻常人来说生命是什么.它让我没有发觉很多普通人有完全相同的,对难看人的偏见,但是这种偏见远不及我的理由多.

I am tall. Rather, I should say, I am tall for a girl, but I hope you will understand me if I say I was taller when I was younger.Everyone but Primus, who became Victor Invictus Triumph,was smaller than me, and I could outrun and outwrestle my two younger brothers.

我很高.更正确地说,作为一个女孩,我很高,但是我希望你能明白我的意思,如果在我小的时候说我很高.除了普里默斯(取名成了维克托.因维科特斯.图兰)所有人都比我小,我比我的两个小弟弟都跑得快,还能摔倒他们.

9.
I remember the day when Quartinus, who turned into Colin Iblis mac FirBolg, proved he could master me. There was some quarrel over who was to pluck apples from the tree, and I threw one at his head hard enough to raise a bruise. He grinned, as he did when he was angry, and chased me down. You see, I laughed because the last time we had raced, I had beaten him.Now he tackled me, rolled me on the ground, and took my hair
in one hand to yank my head back—something he would never have done to a boy. Still, I grinned, because the last time we fought, I had toppled him downhill.

我记得夸汀努斯(取名成了科林.依卜历斯.迈克.费尔伯格)证明他可以打赢我的那天.由于我们去树上摘苹果时的一次争吵,我仍了一个苹果到他头上,那个苹果硬得足够砸起一个大包.他直咧嘴,就像他发火时那样,然后发现是我干的.你知道,我哈哈大笑,因为上次我们比赛跑,我击败了他.可是这次他抓住了我,把我扭倒在地上,然后用一只手向后拉我的头发--他从来没有对男孩做过这些事.尽管如此,我还是很得意,因为上次我们打架时,我把他推下了山坡.

And so I struck and I wrestled and I pushed and I kicked, but my blows seemed, by some magic, to have been robbed of their force. Just one year before, he had been a child, and I could bully him. Where had my strength gone?

然后任凭我抓、扭、推、踢,只有我自己气喘吁吁,像是被某种魔法,被夺走了力量.还是一年以前,他还是个可以被我欺侮的孩子.我的力气到哪里去了?

He pinned my wrists to the ground, and knelt on my legs to prevent me from kicking. Suddenly, the game turned into something serious, mysterious, and somehow horrible. I writhed and struggled in his grasp, and I somehow knew, knew beyond doubt, that I would never be stronger than a man again.Not ever.

他把我的手腕按在地上,然后跪在我的腿上防止我踢他.突然间,游戏变的有点严重,神秘,和不知何故地可怕起来.我努力在他手下扭动挣扎,然后我开始明白,毫无疑问地明白,我永远也不可能比男人强壮了.永远.

Colin smiled, and ordered me to apologize, and he bent his head forward to stare into my eyes. I wonder if he was trying to awe me with his frowning gaze, to hypnotize me with his luminous blue eyes.

科林笑了,然后要求我道歉,把他的头倾向我,盯着我的眼睛.我怀疑他在试图用他皱眉的凝视来让我感到敬畏, 用他明亮的蓝色眼睛催眠我.

If so, he succeeded beyond his dreams. This boy, whom I had never really liked, now seemed inexpressibly powerful to me:manly, potent, confident. I will not tell you all my wild thoughts at that moment. But I wanted him to kiss me. Worse yet, I wanted not to want it, and to have him steal a kiss from me nonetheless.

假如是这样的话,他比他想象的要成功.这个我从来没有真的喜欢过的男孩,现在看起来难以形容地强大:男子气概,强壮有力,自信.我不会告诉你那一刻我所有疯狂的想法.但是我想要他吻我.但更糟的是,我不该这样想,想让他从我这里偷走一个吻.

I did not apologize, but snapped defiantly at him, “Do your worst!” And I tossed my head and yanked at my wrists in his grip. My fists seemed so little compared to his, and his grip seemed as strong as manacles. I felt entirely powerless, but the sensation seemed oddly intoxicating, rather than dreadful.

我没有道歉,还厉声对他挑,"拿出你的真本事!",我甩着头用力拉我被他抓住的手腕.我的拳头和他的比起来如此之小,而他的手像镣铐一样坚固.我感到完全无力了,但是感觉有种怪异的兴奋,这种兴奋胜过了讨厌.

He did not do his worst. Instead, baffled, he stood up suddenly,releasing me, and seemed suddenly a boy again, a child I could defeat.

他没有用他的真本领.反而,另人困惑地,他突然站起来,放开了我,突然看上去又成了一个男孩,一个我可以欺负的孩子.

I remember we raced back toward the house, apples in our hands. We had just enough that we could throw one or two at each other, trying to bruise shins and legs.

我记得我们跑回了屋子,苹果在我们手上.我们有足够的苹果,因此我们能互相仍一两个,试图打伤对方的腿和脚.

And I won that race, that time, but he grinned and tried to make me believe he had allowed me to win.

然后我赢了那场比赛,但是他冲我裂口笑,试图让我相信是他让我赢的.

Strangely enough, I knew he thought he was lying. And I knew he had not been.

说来也奇怪,我知道他明白他在撒谎.我也知道他不明白.

1.
The estate grounds were, at once, our home, our academy, and our prison. We were outnumbered by campus staff, and by the imposing old Georgian and Edwardian edifices. There were more mares in the stables than there were students in the classrooms.It was only the five of us.

那里曾是我们的家,我们的学校,同时也是我们的监狱.我们的数量没有学校职工多, 也没有老乔治王和爱德华七世时代壮丽的建筑物多。甚至马厩里的母马都比我们教室里的学生更多.我们一共只有五个人.

The estate was bound to the North by the Barrows, to the West by the sea cliff, to the East by the low, gray hills of the Downs. What bound us to the South is a matter of dispute.

那里的北边界是坟堆,西边界是海崖,东边界是唐斯山脉低矮、灰暗的丘陵.而我们南面的边界则是一个有争议的问题.

2.
Colin claimed the forest was the only boundary to the South.His story was that the wood had no further side, but extended forever, with the trees growing ever taller, the shade ever darker, and beasts within it ever more dangerous, huge, and savage. He said that beyond the world’s end the trees were titanic,the darkness was from Tartarus, and the beasts were vast enough to swallow the sun and moon.

科林声称南边的一切都是森林.在他的故事里，那雪些树木没有边界,无尽地延伸,树越来越高,阴影越来越暗,里面的野兽也越来越危险、巨大、和凶残.他说世界末日来临之后,树木将巨大无比,黑暗犹如来自地狱深渊,猛兽巨大得能够吞噬日月.

When the two of us broke into the Headmaster’s library, I climbed up to wipe with my skirt the dust from the glasscovered map that stood above the volumes and antique folios of the oaken bookshelf. The map showed Wales to the North and Cornwall to the South. To the East were English towns famous from history and legend: Bristol and Bath, Hastings and Canterbury and Cambridge. There was London, queen of all cities.

有一次我们两个溜进校长的图书馆, 我爬上装满卷籍和古老手稿的橡木书架, 撩起裙角擦去一张玻璃压着的地图上的灰尘, 地图上画着我们北边是威尔士,南面是康尔沃.东方是历史上和传说中著名的英国城镇:布里斯托尔和巴思, 黑斯廷斯、坎特伯雷和剑桥. 还有伦敦, 所有城市的女王.

Beyond the White Cliffs of Dover was the Channel and Calais on the coast of France, gateway to the continent, to places rich and bright and beautiful and ever so far away.Colin rolled his eyes, which were large, startlingly blue, and very expressive. “And you believe our world is the one depicted on that map?” His voice dripped silky contempt.He ducked his head to peer up at my under-things, but scampered back when I aimed a kick at his head.

多佛的白色悬崖对面是海峡和法国的海滨城市加来,通往大陆的要道, 通往遥远的,富有,光明,美丽的地方.科林转动着他灵动的蓝色大眼睛,"你相信我们的世界像地图上描绘的那样吗?"他声音中充满了轻蔑.同时,他正伸着头盯着我的裙下看,但在我对准他的头踢上一脚时逃了回去.

3.
Quentin, on the other hand, implied the Old Road (which ran through the forest) constituted the boundary to the South. He argued that the Straight Tracks were older than the Roman road built atop them; older than the standing stone we found among the gray hills of the Downs; older than the green mound on the South Lawn.

另一方面,昆廷暗示那条老路(那条穿过森林的路)也是南边界的一部分.他提出,那些直道比修建在上面的罗马路更古老;比我们在唐斯阴暗的丘陵中发现的竖石古老;也比南边草坪上的绿色土丘古老.

He spoke of ley lines, and energy paths and mysterious connections between certain hilltops, standing stones, the crumbled ruins of the tower on a rock in the bay we all called the “lighthouse.”He had charts to show their alignments with various rising and setting stars on certain dates. He used an astrology chart from the back of one of Mrs. Wren’s magazines to show, with some plane geometry, why the Straight Tracks defined the transition point between different astral domains. The argument was incomprehensible, and that made it easier to believe.

他谈到了某些小山顶、竖石、海湾岩石上那些坍塌了的塔楼遗迹(我们都把它叫做"灯塔")之间的能量轨道和神秘联系。他还有几张标记出在特殊日子里不同星星位置的排列图。他用一张从瑞恩女士的杂志背面撕下来的占星术图纸,加上一些平面几何学,演示了为什么那些直道定义了不同星形区域之间的变换点。他的观点不能让人理解，但这样一来，就使它更容易被人相信了。

Where Colin was loud, Quentin was quiet, indrawn, unassuming.He never claimed to be a warlock, and therefore we all thought he was.Vanity and I saw him on the Manor House roof tiles one October midnight, talking to a winged shape too large to be a crow. It took flight, and we saw its outline against the moon.

科林喧闹，昆廷则安静，内向，谦逊。他从不声称要作一个术士，也正是因为如此，我们都认为他是一个术士。在一个十月的午夜，瓦妮特和我看到他在主楼顶上和一块云一样大的翼形生物交谈。它很快就消失了,我们只在月光下看到了它的轮廓.

4.
Victor was more logical. He argued that the Southern boundary was the new highway B-4247, which led from the coast to Oxwich Green. This new highway was on our side of the forest,and cut through it in places. Following the highway toward the bay led to the fishing village of Abertwyi, from which the island of Worm’s Head could be seen. Victor said the highway right-of-way followed the legal boundary as defined in the courthouse records for Shire of West Glamorgan, which listed the metes and bounds of the Estate.

维克托更加严谨.他指出南边界是一条新的高速公路B-4247,它连通了海岸和奥克斯维奇.格林.这条新高速公路在森林的我们这边,并且它穿过森林,把它分为两块.沿着公路到海湾可以通向一个叫"阿伯特维夷"的鱼村, 在那里可以看到海堤.维克托说那条高速公路的通行权遵循西格拉摩根郡的法院档案中所规定的法律边界, 那份档案中还列出了土地的各条分界线.

 

We knew Victor had disappeared when the group all went to Mass one Sunday in Abertwyi-town. We did not know how he got over the stone wall surrounding the churchyard and courthouse unseen, or picked the lock on the massive iron grate, forged into fanciful shapes of leaves and black roses, which blocked the courthouse doors. Victor just was able to do things like that.

在一个星期天去了阿伯特维夷镇做弥撒之后,我们所认识的维克托消失了.我们不知道他是怎样翻过那些从未见过的墓地和教堂周围的石墙, 怎样取下那扇厚重的铁门的锁, 溜入刻着奇怪的叶子和黑色玫瑰的法院大门.维克托就是能做够到那样的事.

We know what he had been looking for, though. We all knew:records of our parents.

“I was naïve to expect our records to be there,” he confided in me curtly. “The adoption records and genealogies only apply to men.”

可是我们知道他在找什么:我们父母的记录.

"我天真地以为我们的档案会在那里,"他敷衍地对我说道."收养记录和家谱只有人类(man)的."

I cocked an eyebrow at him, and gave him an arch look. “And what about women, then?”
“The word refers to both sexes.”
“Does it, really? You’ll never talk me into going with you to the Kissing Well, if you sit there and say I look to you like a man.”
“Define your terms. We are certainly human. We are certainly not Homo sapiens.”

我对他挑了挑眉毛,惊讶地看着他."那女性的呢?"

"人类(men)的意思包括了男人和女人."

"真的吗?如果你坐在这里说:我看你像个男人(man),你就永远也别想说服我和你一起去'亲吻井'."

And, after a moment, he said, “Actually, I do not recall asking you about going to the Kissing Well. Your comment seems to be based on a false assumption.”Victor was, in some ways, the smartest one of the five of us.In other ways, he was just so stupid.

过了一会,他说道,"实际上,我想不起有请你一起去'亲吻井'.你的话似乎是建立在一个错误的假设之上."在某些方面,维克托是我们五个中最聪明的.但在另一些方面,他笨极了.

I should explain that, during that summer, the chapel attached to the estate had been undergoing repairs for water damage from the rains. When Mr. Glum, the groundskeeper,brought Victor, dragged by his ear, back to stand before the Headmaster, there was a consultation in the library among the Board of Trustees. The next Sunday we went to Mass in our own chapel, water-streaked walls behind the saints covered with tarp, scaffolding blocking the stained-glass windows, and everything.

我应该解释一下,在那个夏天,我们自己的小礼拜堂由于雨水的破坏需要修复.当馆长格罗姆先生揪着维克托的耳朵把他拉到校长面前时,理事会正在图书馆里举行会议.一个礼拜之后,我们就留在自己的小礼拜堂作弥撒了,圣徒雕像身后水痕斑斑的墙壁被用油布盖住,脚手架档住了彩色玻璃窗和其他的一切.

Further expeditions to Abertwyi were canceled.Victor’s argument was brief and solid. A boundary was a fiction defined by law; there were documents reciting the applicable law; and they named the new highway as the boundary. Q.E.D.(拉丁文缩写quod erat demonstrandum，既：这被证明了)

更多去阿伯特维夷的旅行被取消了.维克托的结论简短可靠.边界是法律中的一个虚构定义; 有文件陈述适用的法律;并且他们指定那条新的高速公路为边界.Q.E.D.(拉丁文缩写quod erat demonstrandum，既：这被证明了)

 

 

 

To the memory of Harry Golding, a man of sterling moral character,generous wit and charm, endless patience, and titanic intellect; this tutor of St. John’s College in Annapolis had many students who admired him with a profound love, of whom this author’s is not the least.

献给哈里.格罗丁,一个道德高尚、机智风趣、无比耐心、富有智慧的人;这位安那波里斯圣约翰学院的导师有很多深切爱戴他的学生, 本书作者对他的爱丝毫不亚于他的学生对他的爱.

Let it be not imagined by any reader that the rather sinister educational institution depicted in this fantasy is meant to resemble the author’s alma mater, for the spirit of St. John’s is one in bitter enmity to tyranny; the task of St. John’s is to make free men out of youths by means of books and balanced judgment: Facio liberos ex liberis libris libraque.

请任何读者都不要将这个玄幻故事中描述的,邪恶的教育机构想象成作者的母校,"痛恨专制"是圣约翰的灵魂；"用书籍和全面的见识将少年塑造成自由的人"是圣约翰的使命:Facio liberos ex liberis libris libraque.(拉丁文,圣约翰校训)

1.
The next morning they were watching us like hawks.

1.

第二天早上他们像鹰一样看着我们.

Dr. Fell sat at the head of the table, looking more severe and supercilious than usual. Mrs. Wren, for once, seemed not to have a hangover, and her hair was tied more neatly into her bun than was her wont. She was in a good humor, commenting happily on the flavor of the marmalade, the cool crispness of the air, the beauty of the weather. I found her cheer disquieting.

费尔医生坐在桌子前端,看上去比平时更加严肃和傲慢.瑞文女士第一次看上去没有塑醉,她的头发也比平常更加整齐地扎在发髻里.她心情很好,一直在快乐地评价橘子酱的口味, 凉爽的气候和好天气.我感到她的愉快让我不安.

It seemed even the smallest exercise of arbitrary authority could go to one’s head like wine. I told myself to remember this when I was older.

看上去甚至最小独裁权利的练习都会像酒精一样冲上人的头里.我告诉自己长大后要记得这个.

Even Miss Daw, the music teacher, was there, wearing her dress of blue chiffon set with ribbons of white and pale pink.

甚至道恩小姐,那个音乐老师,也在那里,穿着她系着白色和粉红相间缎带的蓝绸子衣服.

Miss Daw, as I have said, is graceful and delicate, a creature of impeccable manners, with a voice as soft as the coo of a dove.

道恩小姐,就像我说过那样,漂亮而优雅,彬彬有礼,声音像鸽子一样柔和.

She sat at the chair which was reserved for her, but which she almost never used, between Victor and Colin, and both the boys had subdued manners in her presence. She was eating a cold French soup, using a silver spoon so small it might have come from the place setting for a doll. She wore gloves at breakfast.

她坐在专门为她准备的椅子上,但是她几乎从没坐过那里,她的座位在维克托和科林中间,两个男孩都因为她的出席而拘束了很多.她用一把银勺喝着一碗法国冷汤,那把勺很小,也许是从洋娃娃餐具上拿来的.在早餐的时候她也戴着手套.

We were not allowed to speak, except when spoken to, or to ask someone to pass us something. I was burning to ask the boys what had happened last night.

我们被禁止说话,除了要求别人递给我们什么东西的时候.我十分急切地想问问男孩们昨天晚上发生了什么.

From Quentin’s subdued posture, and Colin’s expression, which was a mix of sleepy annoyance and an I-told-you-so smirk, I assumed failure surrounded last night’s expedition. But whether they had made it to the Barrows, or been caught along the way, was not something I could ask them with our simple pass-the-whathaveyou code.

从昆廷那拘束的姿势和科林的表情来看,混合了一种没睡够和"我告诉过你"的傻笑,我推测昨天晚上的探险充满了失败.但是他们到了坟墓没?或是在途中被抓到了?这些问题我没有办法通过我们简单的"传递你有的东西"代码来问.

Also, the cream was not on the table, so I could not ask for the cream, which was our code to ask if we were facing a punishment. If all were well, you poured the cream for the person who asked; if not, you spilled a little bit.

还有,奶油不在桌子上,所以我不能要奶油,那是我们询问是否面临惩罚的代码.如果万事大吉,你就把奶油倒给问你的人,如果不是,你就抖一点点。

I was waiting for breakfast to end, thinking there would be a moment of confusion while we queued up for our first lessons, and I could exchange a whisper or two with Victor and discover what happened. But even that hope was frustrated. Before breakfast ended, there came commotion at the door, and the Headmaster appeared.

我在等着早餐结束,想着在我们排队去上第一节课的时候会有一会儿的混乱,那时候我就能和维克托悄悄说上一两句知道发生了什么.但是甚至那个希望也落空了.在早餐结束后,门口一阵骚乱,然后校长出现了.

2.
The Headmaster was dressed, as he nearly always was, in his full academic regalia. Above his suit of charcoal gray, he wore his flowing academic robes of black, trimmed with white ermine and dark blue velvet. Around his neck he wore a chain of office, from which depended a jeweled starburst. Down his back draped that silly scarf academicians wear, which they call a hood. His mortarboard was trimmed with ermine.

2.

校长和几乎往常一样,穿着一整套的学院盛装.不同于他那套碳灰色的衣服,他穿着黑色的学院长袍,还装饰着白色的貂皮和蓝黑色天鹅绒.他的脖子上戴着条教会的项链,项链上挂着星形的宝石.在他的背后垂着那个愚蠢的学院头巾,他们把它叫做兜帽.他的学位帽上装饰着白色貂皮.

I do not know how many schools in England still have their professors dress in robes. Headmaster Boggin, in addition to whatever duties he had as Headmaster (heading things, I suppose),taught Astronomy, Philosophy, and Theology. For Astronomy, we were allowed to dress as normal. For the other two classes, we had to don black robes of our own before lecture, no doubt to impress us with the gravity of the subject.

我不知道英格兰还有多有学校还有教授穿长袍.伯金校长除了有他作为校长的所有职责外(负责事情,我猜),还教天文学,哲学和神学.在天文学课上,我们都被允许平常的穿着.在其他两门课上,我们就不得不在讲课前穿上自己的黑色长袍,这无疑让我们对课程的重要性有了深刻的印象.

Headmaster Boggin was broad at the shoulder and thick through the chest, like a wrestler or a blacksmith might be. His face was dark and weathered and craggy. His overhanging brow gave him a frown of stern command; yet the lines around his eyes and hook nose showed grave good humor.

伯金校长肩很宽,胸也很厚,像一个摔交选手或者铁匠.他的皮肤黝黑,脸上布满了沧桑的皱纹.他突出的眉毛让他皱眉的时候呈现一副严厉的表情;但是他眼旁的皱纹和鹰勾鼻展现了十足的幽默感.

His hair was red and, unlike every other man I had ever seen, he wore it long, though tied with a black ribbon in a ponytail flowing down his back, like a pirate or a Chinese mandarin. He was clean-shaven, and the tiny reddish stubble from his imperfectly shaven jaw seemed to give a rough blush to his cheeks, as if he were in high spirits, or red-faced from some passionate exertion.

他的头发是红色的,并且不像我之前见过的任何人,他把头发留得很长,可是用一个黑色带子把它扎成马尾垂在脑后.他的胡子刮得很干净,但是在他不太完美的下巴上残留着很小的红色胡渣,看上去让他的双脸颊呈一种粗旷的红色,就像他处于高度兴奋中,或者是一些充满热情的红色脸.

His jaw was large and strong. The ghost of a little smile seemed always to be fading in and out of existence on his lips. With him were his secretary, a thin and gray hollow-cheeked man named Mr. Sprat, and his rough-looking sidekick, Daffyd ap Cymru, who dressed in brown leather. We had to call him by his last name; the grown-ups called him Taffy. He was supposed to be some sort of groundskeeper or gamekeeper or something for the estate. None of us could ever remember seeing him do a lick of work.

他的下巴很大.他的嘴角总是看上去呈现出若有若无的小小的微笑.和他在一起的是他的秘书,一个叫做斯普瑞特,瘦小阴沉,双颊凹陷的男人,还有他那看上去粗野的伴当,Daffyd ap Cymru,他穿着褐色的皮衣.我们只能叫他的姓;大人们叫他塔菲.他应该是类似这里的场地管理员或者猎场管理员或者其他什么.我们一个也不记得见过他作过一丁点的工作.

When the Headmaster stepped suddenly through the door, with his two flunkies in tow, Dr. Fell rose to his feet and offered him his chair.

当校长和他的两个仆人一起走进门时,费尔医生站了起来把他的椅子让了出来.

“No need to stand on ceremony, Ananias,” said the Headmaster solemnly, while Mr. Sprat scuttled around to hold out the chair at the foot of the table for the Headmaster, and Mr. ap Cymru sauntered after, looking over the gathering as if trying to assess who might or might not be armed. When the Headmaster gathered his robes and sat, by some sleight of hand it seemed, he was now at the head of the table, and Dr. Fell was at the foot. Ap Cymru and Sprat took positions to either side of the Headmaster’s chair, like supporters on a coat of arms.

"不用客气,亚拿尼亚,"当斯普瑞特先生急忙跑过去把校长在桌子底下的椅子拉出来的时候,校长严肃地说道,同时,ap Cymru先生检查着我们,好象试图估计谁可能拿了武器.当校长熟练地拢起长袍坐下,就成了他坐在桌子首席,而费尔医生在末席.Ap Cymru和斯普瑞特分别占了校长椅子两边的位置,像盾形纹章上的拥戴者一样.

“Please don’t allow me to disturb your normal routine,” the Headmaster intoned in a genial voice. His voice was a deep basso profundo, like a thunderhead talking. “I am sure whatever your normal breakfast table conversation might be, is suitable for me. Think of me as your guest.”

"请别因为我打乱了你们的照常安排,"校长用一种抑扬而亲切的声音说道.他的声音低沉,就像是在厚云块中说话."我肯定你们通常早餐上的任何交谈都适合我.把我当作你们的客人吧."

No order was ever disobeyed so blatantly. Dr. Fell stared at the Headmaster without expression, like a machine on standby, awaiting further input. Mrs. Wren’s good humor had evaporated. She looked like a wild-eyed rabbit, petrified, and nibbled her toast with tiny bites. Even the cool Miss Daw seemed subdued, although, with Miss Daw, such a thing was hard to tell.

我们从来没有这么明显地违反过命令.费尔医生面无表情地盯着校长,像一台就绪的机器一样,等待其他指示.瑞文女士良好的幽默消失了.她看上去像一只狂暴的兔子,机械地小口啃着面包.甚至酷酷的道恩小姐也看上去很压抑,尽管,道恩小姐的表情很难用语言描述.

A few minutes crawled by in frozen silence. The Headmaster asked for nothing more than a cup of coffee with cream: but it required three members of the Cook’s staff to come scurrying out of the kitchen to make sure all was in order. The Headmaster sipped the coffee and thanked the Cook, who backed out of the room, bowing and smiling.

在冰冷的沉默中熬过几分钟后.校长只要了一杯加奶油的咖啡:但是需要三个厨师急忙跑出去到厨房里确保命令被执行.校长吸允着咖啡并谢了正在退出房间,弯着腰微笑的厨师.

Well, I saw a chance. I cleared my throat and said, “Please pass the cream?” For the Cook’s man had brought a silver creamer in on its own plate, surrounded by chips of ice, for the Headmaster.

好的,我看到了机会.我清了清嗓子说到,"请把奶油递给我?",厨师拿来了盘子托着的银制奶油壶给校长, 奶油壶周围还有小冰块.

Victor said, “Permit me . . .” and stood to reach for it. The Headmaster, however, picked up the creamer and, using his right hand to hold back the drapes of his left sleeve, leaned across the table toward me. He seemed to loom like an approaching thunderhead in my vision. I thought the distance too far, since there were two empty seats between us, but he leaned farther than I could guess, or the distance was less than I thought.

维克托说,"请允许我..."然后站起来够它.可是校长仍然拿起了奶油壶,用右手拖住左手的袖子,倾身过桌子靠近我.在我的视野里他看上去就像一团迫近的雨云.我认为距离太远了,因为我们之间有两个空座位,但是他比我能猜想的倾斜得更远,或者是距离没我想象得那么多.

“Ah, no; please permit me,” he said in a voice like a genial earthquake. “But, Miss Windrose, you seem to be drinking only orange juice this morning. This seems odd. For what particular purpose did you require the cream, Miss Windrose?”

"啊,不,请允许我,"他说话的声音像一次温和的地震."但是,温德罗斯小姐,你这个早上似乎只喝橙汁.这看上去很奇怪.你要奶油有什么特殊目的吗,温德罗斯小姐?"

Every eye was now riveted on me. Time seemed to slow, get slower, and finally freeze, as everyone around the table—Mr. ap Cymru, Mr. Sprat, and the assistant Cook—all waited for me to say something.

现在每个人都在盯着我.时间感觉过得越来越慢,然后停止了,就像围着桌子的人一样--ap Cymru先生,斯普瑞特先生,还有厨师助手--都在等着我说些什么.

Across the table from me, a slow sneer of impatience was forming on Colin’s features. Evidently, he did not think it should be so terribly difficult to think of something clever to say. Impatience? Disgust, rather. He thought I was letting the group down.

在我桌子的对面,科林的脸上慢慢呈现出一个不耐烦的嘲笑.显然,他不认为想到一个机智的回答有那么困难.不耐烦?更正确的是应该是厌恶才对.他认为我拖累了团队.

Whatever it was that was so obvious, I couldn’t think of it. Headmaster said, “Why did you want the cream again, Miss Windrose? Surely I am not to pour it over your kippers?”

无论如何,很明显,我想不到说辞.校长说,"再问一次,为什么你要奶油,温特罗斯小姐?确定不要我倒在你的熏鱼上吗?"

I sat in miserable silence.

我在痛苦的安静中坐着.

The Headmaster merely smiled, and said, “Here, well, why don’t you keep it near till your memory returns, then?” He set it down so abruptly on the tablecloth that a little cream slopped out onto the linen.

校长只不过笑了笑,说道,"这样,好吧,你什么不把它放在手边,直到你想起来,恩?"他把奶油罐突然放在桌布上,一点奶油都溅到了亚麻桌布上.

“Oh dear,” he said, smiling, settling back into his chair like a mountain sinking into the sea. “It seems that did not go as planned. Well, fortunate for me that, as Headmaster, there is no one to punish me for my little slips, is there? Rank hath its privilege, as they say, what?” He looked around, as if expecting a polite laugh.

"噢,亲爱的,"他笑着说到,像一座沉入大海的山一样靠在他的椅子上."看上去不是故意的.好吧,对我来说是幸运的,作为校长,这里没有人会因为我小小的打翻了奶油而惩罚我,有吗?'阶级特权',就像他们说的那什么?"他环顾四周,像是期待别人附和地笑笑.

No one laughed.

但是没有人笑.

“Very good,” he said, not one whit disturbed by this reception. He sipped his coffee, one sip, put it down in his saucer,and straightened up a little in his chair as if he were about to make an announcement.

"很好,"他说,没有人有一丁点的反应.他喝了一口咖啡,又放到了茶碟上,在椅子上稍稍坐直了些,就好像他准备发表声明一样.

“Since we are all sharing breakfast together so comfortably,let me just say to all of you, staff and students alike, that this institution
has a deep interest—I am tempted to say a crucial interest—in the upcoming meeting of the Board of Visitors and Governors. Fundamental changes are in the offing. Fundamental changes. There should be no real cause for alarm. We can go about our daily business as we always have done—one big, happy family, dedicated to learning and improvement.

"既然我们都感到一起共进早餐这么舒适,就让我对你们说两句吧,所有的职工和学生,这个学校里的人都有很深的兴趣--我想说的是非常大的兴趣--关于将要举行的监视会和地方官员的会议.大变革将会发生.大变革.没有真正的原因值得惊慌.我们仍然像往常一样进行我们的日常工作--我们快乐的大家庭,献身于学习和进步.

“However, I would like to emphasize that we must put our best foot forward. Our institution here, is, I dare say, unique, and some of what goes on here may be subject to misinterpretation by certain less generous souls. But is there a way to lessen, may I say, mute, this threat?

"可是,我想要强调,我们必须全力以赴.我们这里的制度,是..我敢说,是唯一的,这里进行的有些事可能会遭到世俗灵魂的误解.但是有办法减轻,或这我可以说,消除,这种威胁吗?

“Well, ladies, gentlemen, children, we have all been on this Earth for some years now, and I trust that we all know how to act.We all have high spirits; some of us have very interesting hobbies.But let us all dedicate ourselves, yes, dedicate, in keeping those high spirits and those unusual habits in their proper orbit.

"女士们,先生们,孩子们,我们都来到这个世上有些年头了,我也相信我们所有人都知道怎么去表演.我们都有高尚的灵魂;我们中的有些人有非常有趣的爱好.但是都让我们自我奉献,是的,奉献,克制那些高尚的灵魂和不寻常的爱好在适当的范围内.

“I am speaking as much to the staff here as to the student body, for how our charges behave, is, ultimately, a reflection on the care with which we have carried out our duty.

"我是在对这里的所有教师说,也是对学生说,我们怎样控制行为,从根本上来说反映了我们我们对于履行的职责的关注程度.

“Oh, I realize what some of you must be thinking . . .”Mrs. Wren turned pale as a sheet of paper when he said this . . .

"噢, 我想你们中的一些人必须想想...."在他说这些话的时候,瑞文女士的脸变得和纸一样苍白.

“. . . and I know what is in your hearts. You think that the students have grown now to an age where we can be a little more relaxed in the discharge of our duties, that we can encourage the young birds to fly, so to speak.

"...我也知道你们心里在想什么.你们认为学生们现在都长大了,我们可以对于我们责任可以稍微放松一些,我们可以鼓励小鸟去飞翔,之类的.

“And you youngsters are no doubt thinking that you are as old and wise as can be, and have no more need of our guidance and instruction.
“Well, such thoughts must be held in check. This institution does not look favorably upon any act of insubordination or impertinence, no matter who the originator might be. Especially now, at this crucial time, when the situation here—in which we have all been so comfortable for so long—may be in danger of upset.

"还有你们年轻人无疑在想你们已经足够大和聪明了,不再需要我们的指导和教育.

"是的,这些想法必须被控制.

“Dedication is the key. As long as we are all, as a group, I dare say, as a family, dedicated to preserving a proper appearance before each other, before society, and before the rather important guests we are about to receive, then all will be well. I assume I can count upon all of you. Remember that whichever link in the chain proves to be weakest is the one that shall be broken first. Broken. This is the significant word here.”

He stood, told us to return to our breakfast, and sailed out, Mr. ap Cymru and Mr. Sprat trailing in his wake.

Victor and Quentin were staring with grave disquiet at the little puddle of cream the Headmaster had made upon the tablecloth. It did not seem as if all would be well after all.

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