11 RAM DASS拉姆·达斯-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《小公主A Little Princess》

11 RAM DASS THERE were fine sunsets even in the square,sometimes.One could only see parts of them,however,between the chimneys and over the roofs.From the kitchen windows one could not see them at all,and could only guess that they were going on because the bricks looked warm and the air rosy or yellow for a while,or perhaps one saw a blazing glow②strike③a particular pane④of glass somewhere.There was,. however,one place from which one could see all the splendor of them: the piles5 of red or gold clouds in the west;or the purple ones edged with dazzling brightness;or the little fleecy,floating ones,tinged with rose-color and looking like flights of pink doves scurrying across the blue in a great hurry if there was a wind.The place where one could see all this,and seem at the same time to breathe a purer air,was,of course,the attic window.When the square suddenly seemed to begin to glow in an enchanted way and look wonderful in spite of its sooty trees and railings,Sara knew something was going on in the sky;and when it was at all possible to leave the kitchen without being missed or called back,she invariably stole away and crept up the flights of stairs,and, climbing on the old table,got her head and body as far out of the ·238· 11 拉姆·达斯 ①sunset/'sAnset/m.日落 有时在广场上恰好可以看到美丽的晚霞。然 而，人们只能从烟囱之间和屋顶上看到部分晚 霞。从厨房窗口中，人们却什么也看不见，只能 猜想有晚霞，因为有一段时间砖墙看上去是暖色 的，空气呈玫瑰色或黄色，或者人们也许会看到 耀眼的红光照在某处的某块窗玻璃上。然而有一 ②glow /glau/n.光亮，光辉 ③3 strike/straik/g击打 个地方，总可以看到晚霞的全部壮丽景象：西边 ④pane/pein/i.窗玻璃 是朵朵红云或金黄色的云；或者是攘着亮边的紫 ⑤pile /pail/n堆 ⑥dazzling'daezlin/a.耀眼 红色的云：要是刮风的话，一小朵一小朵玫瑰色 的，眼花缭乱的 ⑦fleecy /fli:si/a羊毛似的 的浮云，看上去像一群粉红色鸽子急匆匆地飞过 tinge作ind3/.微染 蓝天。可以看到这一切，似乎同时又能呼吸到比 flight /flait/n.飞行 dove/dbuv/m.鸽子 较清新的空气的地方，当然就是那个阁楼的窗 口。广场上的树木和栅栏尽管被煤烟弄脏了，但 只要突然出现迷人的光辉和奇妙的景象，萨拉就 知道天空中发生了什么变化：只要有可能离开厨 房不会被发觉或者被叫回去的话，她一定会偷偷 溜掉，走上四段楼梯，爬到那张旧桌子上，把脑 袋和身子尽可能伸到窗外。她一完成这些动作， 总是深深地吸一口气，而后往四周张望。这情形 ·239· A Little Princess window as possible.When she had accomplished this,she always drew a long breath and looked all round her.It used to seem as if she had all the sky and the world to herself.No one else ever looked out of the other attics.Generally the skylights were closed;but even if they were propped open to admit air,no one seemed to come near them.And there Sara would stand,sometimes turning her face upward 2 to the blue which seemed so friendly and near-just like a lovely vaulted ceiling- sometimes watching the west and all the wonderful things that happened there:the clouds melting or drifting3 or waiting softly to be changed pink or crimson or snow-white or purple or pale dove-gray.Sometimes they made islands or great mountains enclosing 5 lakes of deep turquoise-blue,or liquid amber,or chrysoprase-green;sometimes dark headlands jutted into strange,lost seas;sometimes slender strips of wonderful lands joined other wonderful lands together.There were places where it seemed that one could run or climb or stand and wait to see what next was coming-until,perhaps,as it all melted,one could float away.At least it seemed so to Sara,and nothing had ever been quite so beautiful to her as the things she saw as she stood on the table- her body half out of the skylight-the sparrows twittering with sunset softness on the slates.The sparrows always seemed to her to twitter with a sort of subdued softness just when these marvels"were going on. There was such a sunset as this a few days after the Indian gentleman was brought to his new home;and,as it fortunately happened that the afternoon's work was done in the kitchen and nobody had ordered her to go anywhere or perform any task,Sara found it easier than usual to slip away and go up-stairs. She mounted her table and stood looking out.It was a wonderful moment.There were floods of molten gold covering the west,as if a ·240· 小公主 (D accomplish /a'komplif/v. 往往像是她自己拥有整个天空和整个世界。其他 完成 阁楼中没有人向外张望。一般说来，屋顶的天窗 都是关着的；不过它们即使开着也只是透空气， 似乎没有人靠近天窗。萨拉却总是站在那里，有 时仰脸望着蓝天，它似乎是那么友善，那么接 近—就像是美丽的拱形天花板—有时她注 ②upward'pwad/ad..向 上，上升 视着西边和那里发生的奇妙的一切：云朵在消 散、在飘浮或在温柔地等待幻变成桃红、深红、 雪白、紫红或紫灰色。有时它们幻变成岛屿或 ③drift/drift/飘移，漂浮 ④crimson/'krimzn/a深红 大山，围绕着一些深天蓝色，透明的琥珀色或 色的 绿玉色的湖泊；有时像一些阴暗的海角伸入奇 5 enclose /in'klauz/.围绕 turquoise /'ta:kwa:z 异的茫茫大海之中；有时则像细长条状奇异的 kwiz/n.蓝玉 7amber'emba/a.琥珀色 陆地，同其他奇异的陆地连在一起。有些地方 的 人们好像可以在那里跑步、攀登或站着等待， headland /hedland山n.岬 ©jutd3t/伸出，突出 看看接下去会出现什么一也许直到它全部消 散，人们才可以飘然而去。至少对萨拉来说是 这样，从来没有什么比她站在桌子上看到的东 西更美的了，她半个身子都在天窗外面，麻雀 在石板瓦上像落日一样柔和地鸣叫着。她总觉 得，就在这些奇景出现的时候，麻雀总是以一 subdued /s3b'djud/a.柔 种轻柔的声音鸣叫 和的 那位印度绅士搬进新居以后的几天里一直出 I marvel /'ma:v:3n.奇异 的事务 现这样的晚霞；幸运的是，碰巧这天下午厨房里 的活儿干完了，没有人打发她去什么地方或干什 么事，因此萨拉觉得要溜到楼上去比平时容易。 她登上桌子，站着朝外看。这是一个奇妙的 时刻。西边的天空金光灿烂，宛如波澜壮阔的潮 水正在席卷世界。空中充塞着美丽的深黄色；飞 molten /'m3 uitan/a.炽热 的，融化的 过屋顶的鸟儿在金光的衬托下显得颜色分外暗 ·241· A Little Princess glorious tide2 was sweeping over the world.A deep,rich yellow light filled the air;the birds flying across the tops of the houses showed quite black against it. “It's a splendid one,”said Sara,softly,to herself..“It makes me feel almost afraid-as if something strange was just going to happen.The splendid ones always make me feel like that." She suddenly turned her head because she heard a sound a few yams away from her.It was an odd sound like a queer little squeaky chattering. It came from the window of the next attic.Someone had come to look at the subset as she had.There was a head and part of a body emerging from the skylight,but it was not the head or body of a little girl or a housemaid;it was the picturesque white-swathed form and dark-faced, gleaming-eyed,white-turbaned head of a native Indian man-servant,- "a Lascar,"Sara said to herself quickly,and the sound she had heard came from a small monkey he held in his arms as if he were fond of it, and which was snuggling and chattering against his breast. As Sara looked toward him he looked toward her.The first thing she thought was that his dark face looked sorrowful and homesick.She felt absolutely sure he had come up to look at the sun,because he had seen it so seldom in England that he longed for a sight of it.She looked at him interestedly for a second,and then smiled across the slates.She had learned to know how comforting a smile,even from a stranger,may be. Hers was evidently a pleasure to him.His whole expression 5 altered,and he showed such gleaming white teeth as he smiled back that it was as if a light had been illuminated in his dusky face.The friendly look in Sara's eyes was always very effective when people felt tired or dull. ·242· 小公主 D glorious/'glb:ri3s/a.辉煌 淡。 的 ②tide /taid/n.潮，潮流 “这是一种壮观的景色，”萨拉轻声地自言自 语。“它几乎使我害怕—仿佛某种奇怪的，事 情要发生。壮观的景色老使我有这种感觉。” 她陡然回过头来，因为她听到离她不远处有 声音。这是种奇怪的声音，好像是一种古怪的、 刺耳的轻声叽叫。它是从隔壁那个阁楼窗口传来 的。有人跟她一样来看晚霞了。有个脑袋和一部 分身子露在窗外，不过这不是一个小姑娘或一个 女仆的脑袋或身子；这是一个土生土长的印度男 仆，身上独特地裹着白布，面孔黝黑，眼晴雪 亮，白布缠头，“一个拉斯卡（印度仆人）”，萨 拉立即想道，她听到的声音是他抱在怀里的、似 ③swathe/sweio/k绑紧，裹 乎是他很喜爱的一只小猴子发出的，这只小猴正 偎依在他的怀里，叽叽地叫着。 萨拉看着他，他也看着萨拉。她首先觉得他 那黝黑的面容显得很忧郁，好像在思念故乡。她 可以绝对肯定，他上阁楼来是为了看太阳，因为 他在英国很少见到太阳，所以渴望见到它。她很 感兴趣地看了他一下，然后她在石板瓦的这一边 微微笑了笑。她已经懂得，哪怕是陌生人的微 笑，也可能令人感到莫大的安慰。 ④ongb0.渴望，热望 她的微笑显然使他感到高兴。他的整个表情 都变了，他也报以微笑，露出闪闪发亮的白牙 齿，仿佛有道光照亮了他那黑黝黝的面庞。萨拉 5 expression /iks'prefan/n. 表情 眼晴中的友好神色往往使人们在疲劳和烦闷时感 illuminate /i'lju:mineit/v. 到十分亲切 照明，照亮 ⑦dusky /daski/a.微黑的， 他在向她致意时，也许没有抱紧猴子。这是 带黑的 一只顽皮的猴子，随时准备冒险，见到一个小姑 effective /i'fektiv/a.有效 的，有用的 娘可能使它感到兴奋。它突然挣脱出来，跳到石 ·243· A Little Princess It was perhaps in making his salute to her that he loosened his hold on the monkey.He was an impish2 monkey and always ready for adventure,and it is probable that the sight of a little girl excited him.He suddenly broke loose,jumped on to the slates,ran across them chattering,and actually leaped on to Sara's shoulder,and from there down into her attic room.It made her laugh and delighted her;but she knew he must be restored to his master-if the Lascar was his master -and she wondered how this was to be done.Would he let her catch him,or would he be naughty and refuse to be caught,and perhaps get away and run off over the roofs and be lost?That would not do at all. Perhaps he belonged to the Indian gentleman,and the poor man was fond of him. She turned to the Lascar,feeling glad that she remembered still some of the Hindustani she had learned when she lived with her father. She could make the man understand.She spoke to him in the language he knew. “Will he let me catch him?”she asked. She thought she had never seen more surprise and delight than the dark face expressed when she spoke in the familiar tongue.The truth was that the poor fellow felt as if his gods had intervened,and the kind little voice came from heaven itself.At once Sara saw that he had been accustomed to European children.He poured forth 5 a flood of respectful thanks.He was the servant of Missee Sahib.The monkey was a good monkey and would not bite;but,unfortunately,he was difficult to catch.He would flee from one spot to another,like the lightning.He was disobedient,though not evil.Ram Dass knew him as if he were his child,and Ram Dass he would sometimes obey,but not always,if Missee Sahib would permit Ram Dass,he himself could cross the roof to her room,enter the windows,and regain the unworthy little animal. ·244· 小公主 D salute /sa'lu:t,-'Iju:t/n. 板瓦上，吱吱叫着跑过石板瓦，居然跳到萨拉肩 行礼，致意，何候 impish /'impif/a.顽皮的 上，而后又从那里窜进她的阁楼。这使她觉得好 笑，也使她高兴；可是她知道，一定要把它还给 主人一假如这位印度仆人是它的主人的话，她 不知道该怎么办。它会让她抓住，或者它很淘气 不愿意被抓住，也许还要逃掉，跑过屋顶，逃得 ③restore /ris't3:/.归还 不知去向？这是绝对不行的。也许它是那位绅士 的，而那个可怜的人很喜欢它。 她转过脸看着那个印度仆人。她感到高兴的 是，她还记得自己同父亲住在一起时学过的一些 印地语。她可以使他听懂。她用他所熟悉的语言 对他说： “它会让我抓住吗？”她问。 她用他熟悉的语言说话时，她觉得从来没有 见到过比那黝黑的脸上表现出的更强烈的惊奇和 喜悦。事实是这个可怜的家伙觉得像是菩萨在显 灵，这种亲切纤细的嗓音来自天上。萨拉立刻发 现，他已经习惯于和欧洲孩子在一起。他滔滔不 ④tongue /tA/h.语言 绝地说了许多恭敬感谢的话。他是小姐的仆人。 这只猴子是好猴子，不咬人；不过不幸的是很难 5 pour forth流出（倾泻而 捉住它。它会像闪电似地逃来逃去。它不听话， 出，使…流出) @"flood of大量的 不过并不坏。拉姆·达斯了解它，好像它是他的 孩子似的，它有时听拉姆·达斯的话，但并不总 是这样。小姐许可的话，拉姆·达斯可以爬过屋 顶，钻窗子进到她的房间去，重新逮住这个可恶 ⑦evil /i:vl/a.邪恶的，坏的 ⑧regain/ri'gein/复得 的小畜生。可他显然怕萨拉会认为他太冒失，也 unworthily /An'wa:oili/ 许不会让他去。 ad不值得尊数的，可恶的 但是萨拉马上就同意了。 “你能过来吗？”她问。 ·245· A Little Princess But he was evidently afraid Sara might think he was taking a great liberty and perhaps would not let him come. But Sara gave him leave at once. “Can you get across?”she inquired. “In a moment,”he answered her. “Then come,”she said,“he is flying from side to side of the room as if he was frightened." Ram Dass slipped through his attic window and crossed to hers as steadily and lightly as if he had walked on roofs all his life.He slipped through the skylight and dropped upon his feet without a sound.Then he turned to Sara and salaamed again.The monkey saw him and uttered a little scream.Ram Dass hastily took the precaution of shutting the skylight,and then went in chase of him.It was not a very long chase. The monkey prolonged it a few minutes evidently for the mere fun of it, but presently he sprang chattering on to Ram Dass's shoulder and sat there chattering and clinging to his neck with a weird little skinny arm. Ram Dass thanked Sara profoundly.She had seen that his quick native eyes had taken in at a glance all the bare shabbiness of the room, but he spoke to her as if he were speaking to the little daughter of a rajah,and pretended that he observed nothing.He did not presume to remain more than a few moments after he had caught the monkey,and those moments were given to further deep and grateful obeisance5 to her in return for her indulgence.This little evil one,he said,stroking the monkey,was,in truth,not so evil as he seemed,and his master,who was ill,was sometimes amused by him.He would have been made sad if his favorite had run away and been lost.Then he salaamed once more and got through the skylight and across the slates again with as much agility as the monkey himself had displayed When he had gone Sara stood in the middle of her attic and thought ·246· 小公主 “马上就到。”他回答她说。 “那么来吧，”她说，“它在房间里到处飞 跑，好像受了惊吓。” 拉姆·达斯又稳又轻地爬出他的阁楼窗口， 进入她的窗口，好像他一辈子都在屋顶上行走似 的。他穿过天窗，双脚落地也没有一点声响。这 时他转身向着萨拉，再次向她行礼。猴子瞧见 他，发出轻微的尖叫声。拉姆·达斯赶紧采取预 防措施，关上天窗，接着就追捕它。追逐的时间 并不很长。猴子把时间拖延了几分钟，显然只是 为了闹着玩，可它立刻叽叽叫着跳到拉姆·达斯 D precaution /pri'ko:fon/v. 的肩上，而后叽叽叫着坐在那里，用一只极瘦的 预防，警戒 ②chase/tfeis/n追逐 小胳膊紧紧搂住他的脖子。 拉姆·达斯深深感谢萨拉。她发现他那敏锐 的纯朴的眼睛一下子就注意到室内几乎空无所有 的寒酸样，可他对她说话时，仿佛是在和印度王 8 skinny /'skini/a.皮包骨 头的 公的小女儿说话一样，假装什么也没有注意到。 他在速住猴子以后不肯擅自多停留一会儿，而在 停留的时间里也是用来对她的恩惠深表谢意。这 ④presume/pri'zju:m/g.推 个小坏蛋，他拍着那只猴子说，其实并不像它看 测，假定 5 obeisance/au'beisns/n. 上去那么坏，它的生病的主人有时以逗它为乐。 鞠躬，敬礼 要是他喜爱的动物逃跑或失踪了，他会感到难受 6 indulgence /in'dald3(o)ns/ 的。这时他再次向她敬礼，重又爬出天窗和经过 .纵容，宽容 石板瓦，跟刚才那只猴子一样灵活。 他一离开，萨拉就站在房间中央，想到他的 表情和举止使她回忆起的许多事情。看到他的本 国服装和极恭敬的态度，使她想起了过去的一 Dagility'd3 iliti/n.灵活， 敏捷 切。回想起来好像很奇怪，她 个苦工，一 display /di'splei/表现 小时以前厨娘还曾辱骂过她一只有几年以前， ·247·