牛津書蟲系列 五個(gè)孩子和沙精 3 翅膀

The next day was very wet. It rained all day and the children could not go to see the Psammead. They stayed at home and wrote letters to their mother. But none of them told her about the Psammead. And the day after that， their Uncle Richard came and took them out，so they did not see the Psammead for two days. But Anthea spent a lot of time think-ing about what to wish for.

第二天外面很濕。雨下了一天，孩子們不能去看賽米德。他們呆在家里給母親寫信。可誰也沒把賽米德的事告訴她。又過了一天，他們的理查德叔叔來了并帶他們出去了，所以他們兩天沒見賽米德?？砂参鲖I花了很多時(shí)間想她該許些什么愿。

The next morning， while Martha was busy with Baby， the children left the house quietly and went to see the Psammead. On the way， Anthea said to the others，' I know what we can ask for—— wings!'

再一天的早上，馬莎正忙著照顧小弟弟時(shí)，孩子們悄悄離開家去看賽米德。在路上安西婭對(duì)大家說：“我知道我們希望要什么了——翅膀!”

The others were silent for a minute， but then they all agreed that they too would like to have wings.

一時(shí)別人都沒說話，可然后他們都贊成，他們也愿意長(zhǎng)出翅膀。

They found the Psammead easily. ' I wish we all had beauti-ful wings to fly with，'Anthea said.

他們沒費(fèi)勁就找到了賽米德。“我希望我們都有美麗的、可以用以飛翔的翅膀，”安西婭說。

The Psammead made itself very big and then went small again. The children felt strange for a minute and when they looked， they saw that they had beautiful soft wings of many colours. They moved them about and jumped up and down， and soon they could see the green fields and sunny woodsbelow them and the blue sky above. They could fly! It was wonderful， and they flew over the woods and trees， the townsand villages， for a long time. But they began to get hungry.

賽米德把自己變得非常大，然后又變校一時(shí)孩子們覺得有些異樣，可當(dāng)他們一看，他們看見自己已長(zhǎng)出了五顏六色的、軟軟的、美麗的翅膀。他們拍著翅膀跳上跳下，很快看見他們下方綠色的田野和陽光照耀著的小樹林以及上方蔚藍(lán)色的天空。他們會(huì)飛了!這太棒了。他們飛過樹林、城鄉(xiāng)，飛了好久?？伤麄冮_始餓了。

Just then they saw below them some trees full of large red plums. ' We mustn't steal，'Cyril said.

正在這時(shí)他們看見下面有些樹，樹上滿是又大又紅的李子。“我們可不能偷埃”西里爾說。

' We've got wings，'Jane answered quickly，' so we're birds. It's all right for birds to take things. Birds can't steal. '

“我們長(zhǎng)了翅膀，”簡(jiǎn)很快地答道，“所以我們就是鳥。鳥拿點(diǎn)東西沒關(guān)系。鳥不會(huì)偷。”

So they flew down onto the trees， and they ate as many of the plums as they could.

所以他們飛下來落在樹上，盡情地大吃李子。

They were finishing the plums when they saw a very angry little fat man，who was hurrying through the trees. They were his plums and the poor man thought that boys from the village were stealing them. But when he saw that the children had wings， his mouth fell open and his face went green. Anthea did not want to steal anything，of course， so she flew down and pushed some money into his pocket.

他們正要吃完的時(shí)候，突然看見一個(gè)非常生氣的小矮胖子。他正急急忙忙地在樹間穿梭。那是他的李子，那可憐的人認(rèn)為是村里的孩子們?cè)谕邓睦钭?。但是?dāng)他看見這幾個(gè)孩子長(zhǎng)著翅膀時(shí)，他張大了嘴巴，臉色蒼白。安西婭當(dāng)然不愿偷東西，所以她飛下來把一些錢塞在他兜里。

'Don't be afraid，'she said. ' We've had some of your plums. We thought that it wasn't stealing， but now I'm not so sure. So that was some money to pay for them. '

“別怕，”她說，“我們吃了你的一些李子。我們起初覺得這不是偷，可現(xiàn)在我也不敢那么肯定。所以那是付給你的些李子錢。”

The little man sat there on the ground and looked up into the sky. 'Talking birds! Children with wings! This is a lesson for me. From now on，I'm going to live a better life，'he said. And he went into the house and was very kind to his wife.

那個(gè)胖子坐在那兒地上，仰望著天空。“會(huì)說話的鳥!長(zhǎng)翅膀的孩子!這對(duì)我可是一課。從今以后，我要過得好點(diǎn)兒，”他說。他進(jìn)房里去，對(duì)他的妻子很和藹。

Plums are very nice， of course， but you soon feel hungry again. So the children stopped first at one house，then another， to ask for something to eat. They didn't get anything because everyone was afraid of them and screamed and ran away when they saw them. By four o'clock they were getting very tired and hungry，so they flew down onto the roof of a church，to think what to do.

李子當(dāng)然很好吃，可很快你就又餓了，所以孩子們?cè)谝淮庇忠淮狈孔忧巴Ｏ聛?，想要些東西吃。他們什么也沒得到，因?yàn)樗械娜艘姷剿麄儠r(shí)都很害怕，尖叫著跑開了。到4點(diǎn)時(shí)他們變得又累又餓，于是就飛落在教堂的屋頂上，想想怎么辦。

' We can't possibly fly all the way home without something to eat，'said Robert.

“我們要是沒有東西吃，就不可能飛回家去。”羅伯特說。

In the end they decided to take some food from the vicar's house next to the church.

最后他們決定從緊挨著教堂的牧師家里拿些食物。

' He's a good man . He'll understand. We'll leave some money for the food，'Cyril said，'and a note saying that we're sorry. '

“他是好人。他會(huì)理解的。我們留些食品錢，”西里爾說，“再留張便條說我們很抱歉。”

Cyril got in through the window and gave the food to the others， who were outside. There was some cold meat， half a cold chicken， some bread and a bottle of soda-water. Then they all flew back up onto the church roof to eat it. They were very hungry， so they really enjoyed it. But when you are very hungry， and then you eat a big meal and sit in the hot sun on a roof， it is very easy to fall asleep. And so they did— while the sun slowly went down in the west.

西里爾從窗子進(jìn)去，把食物拿給在外邊的其他孩子。有些冷肉、半只冷雞、一些面包和一瓶汽水。然后他們?nèi)w回到教堂房頂上吃起來。他們很餓，所以吃得很香?？墒钱?dāng)你很餓的時(shí)候大吃了一頓、又在屋頂上曬著太陽時(shí)，那是很容易睡著的。他們就睡著了——這時(shí)太陽慢慢地從西邊落下去。

They slept for a long time. When they woke up it was dark —and，of course， they had no wings.

他們睡了好長(zhǎng)時(shí)間。他們醒來的時(shí)候天黑了——當(dāng)然了，他們也沒有翅膀了。

' We must get home，'Cyril said. ' There's a door over there. That's the way down. '

“我們得回家了。”西里爾說，“那兒有個(gè)門。那是下去的路。”

But when they tried the door，they found that it was locked from the other side. They were on top of the church and they had no wings! How were they going to get down?

可他們?cè)囍_門時(shí)才發(fā)現(xiàn)門是從另一面鎖上的。他們?cè)诮烫庙斏?，又沒有了翅膀!他們?cè)趺聪氯ツ?

Anthea put her arm round Jane， who was beginning to cry. 'It will only be for one night，'she said.

安西婭用單臂挽住簡(jiǎn)，簡(jiǎn)這時(shí)已開始哭起來了。“只不過呆一夜，”她說。

Then Cyril said，'I know. Let's shout! The lights are on inthe vicar's house. Someone will hear us and get us down. '

接著西里爾說：“我知道了。我們喊吧!牧師的家里有燈光。會(huì)有人聽見并幫我們下去的。”

So they shouted and screamed as loudly as they could， and the people in the house heard them. The vicar ran out with his servant.

所以他們用最大的聲音喊叫起來，房子里的人聽見了他們的叫聲。牧師和他的仆人跑了出來。

' Someone is murdering somebody in the church!'the vicar said， afraid. 'Perhaps it's the thief who stole the cold chicken and things. '

“教堂里有人在殺人!”牧師害怕地說，“可能是偷了冷雞和別的東西的小偷。”

But they could not understand why the voices were coming from the sky. So the children shouted，' We're up here —on top of the church!'

可他們不明白為什么聲音是從空中傳來的。于是孩子們就嚷：“我們?cè)谶@兒——在教堂頂上!”

The two men were still afraid，but，slowly and carefully，they went up the stairs inside the church. When they came to the top， the vicar shouted through the closed door，'How many of you are there? Have you got guns?'

這兩個(gè)人還很害怕，可他們慢慢地、小心地從教堂內(nèi)的樓梯走上來。當(dāng)他們到了頂上時(shí)，牧師在鎖著的門的另一邊叫道：“你們幾個(gè)人?有槍嗎?”

' There are four of us，and， no， we haven't got guns，'Cyril answered.

“我們四個(gè)人;沒有，我們沒有槍。”西里爾回答。

Slowly， the vicar opened the door.

牧師慢慢地打開門。

'Good Heavens!'he cried. 'They're children!'

“天哪!”他叫道，“是些孩子!”

' Oh， please take us down，'cried Jane.

“哦，請(qǐng)帶我們下去吧。”簡(jiǎn)哭著說。

So the vicar and his servant took them down and into the vicar's house. Of course， the vicar wanted to know why the children were on the church roof.

牧師和他的仆人帶他們下來，進(jìn)了牧師屋里。當(dāng)然嘍，牧師想知道孩子們?yōu)槭裁丛诮烫庙斏稀?/p>

' We went up there because we wanted to see what it was like，'said Cyril. 'But then we couldn't get down again be-cause the door was locked. 'He didn't say anything about the wings，of course.

“我們上那兒去是因?yàn)槲覀兿肟纯茨鞘鞘裁礃幼印?rdquo;西里爾說，“可是我們下不來了，因?yàn)殚T被鎖上了。”關(guān)于翅膀的事他當(dāng)然什么都沒說。

' But who locked the door?'the vicar asked.

“可誰鎖的門?”牧師問。

' We don't know，'Jane answered. ' But we're not telling you everything. '

“不知道。”簡(jiǎn)說，“可我們不會(huì)把一切都告訴你的。”

'Ah! There's a friend in it， then，'said the vicar's servant man， who was called Beale.

“啊!那么是有個(gè)朋友參與其中吧。”牧師的男仆說。他叫比伊爾。

' Yes， but we can't tell you about him，' said Anthea， think-ing of the Psammead. ' We really are very sorry， and please，can we go home now? '

“是的，可我們不能告訴你他的事。”安西婭說，想起了賽米德。“我們真的非常抱歉;還有，請(qǐng)問，我們可以回家了嗎?”

The vicar still did not understand，but he was a kind man， so he sent the children home in a carriage with his servant. Martha，of course， was very angry with them， but Mr Beale explained everything very well. He was a good-looking young man with a nice smile，and after a while Martha forgot to be angry.

牧師仍然不明白，可是他是個(gè)好心的人，所以他讓仆人用馬車送孩子們回家。馬莎當(dāng)然十分生他們的氣，可是比伊爾先生把事情解釋得很好。他是個(gè)漂亮的、臉上帶著愉快的笑容的青年，不一會(huì)兒馬莎就忘了生氣了。

So the day ended happily after all.

所以，這一天總算快樂地結(jié)束了。