Chapter17 When Wendy Grew Up温迪长大以后-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《彼得潘Peter Pan》

Chater17 WhenWendy GreuUp I hope you want to know what became of the other boys. They were waiting below to give Wendy time to explain about them: and when they had counted five hundred they went up. They went up by the stairs, because they thought this would make a better impression. They stood in a row in front of Mrs Darling, with their hats off, and wishing they were not wearing their pirate clothes. They said nothing, but their eyes asked her to have them. They ought tc have looked at Mr Darling also, but they forgot about him Of course Mrs Darling said at once that she would have them: but Mr Darling was curiously depressed{}, and they saw that he considered six a rather large number. "I must say,"he said to Wendy, "that you don't do things by halves,"a grudging remark which the twins thought was pointed at them The first twin was the proud one, and he asked, flushing, "Do you think we should be too much of a handful, sir? Because if so we can go away." “Father!" Wendy cried. shocked: but still the cloud was on him. He knew he was behaving unworthily{②},but he could not help it. "We could lie doubled up,"said Nibs. "I always cut their hair myself," said Wendy "George!" Mrs Darling exclaimed, pained to see her dear one showing himself in such an unfavourable^{} light .270. 第十七章 温#长大后 我希望你们都想知道其他男孩怎么样了。他们都在 楼下等着,等温迪向父亲母亲说明一切。他们在心里数 了五百下之后,就一起上楼了。他们是沿着楼梯走上来 的,没有飞上楼去,因为他们认为这样会给人留一个好 印象。他们摘下帽子,排成一排站在达林夫人面前,心 想要是没穿海盗服该多好。他们尽管什么都没有说,但 是他们的眼神在哀求达林夫人留下他们。他们本该也哀 求达林先生,可是他们忘记这样做了。 当然,达林夫人立刻答应说愿意收留他们。但是, ① depressed [di'prest] a. 情 绪低落的 达林先生有些不乐意。孩子们知道,他是嫌六个孩子太 多了。 “我得告诉你,”达林先生对温迪说,“做事可不 能半途而废。”这话里有抱怨意味,双胞胎觉得这话是 冲他们说的。 双胞胎的老大自尊心比较强,他满脸通红地对达林 先生说:“先生,你是嫌我们人太多吧?如果是这样, 我们可以离开。” ② unworthily JAn'wa:òilil ad 与身份不相称地 “父亲!”温迪激动地大叫了一声。但是,达林先 生还是脸色阴沉。他知道这样做很不通情达理,可他不 得不这么做。 “我们可以挤一挤。”尼布斯说。 ③ unfavourable [An'feivorobl “我给他们剪头发。”温迪说。 a.反对的 “乔治!”达林夫人喊道,看到丈夫表现得这样不 招人喜欢,她心里很难过。 ·271· Chapter 17 when Wendy Grew p Then he burst into tears, and the truth came out. He was as glad to have them as she was, he said, but he thought they should have asked his consent^{ as well as hers, instead of treating him as a cypher^{②} in his own house. "I don't think he is a cypher," Tootles cried instantly. "Do you think he is a cypher, Curly?" "No, I don't. Do you think he is a cypher, Slightly?" "Rather not. Twin, what do you think?" It turned out that not one of them thought him a cypher: and he was absurdly{③} gratified, and said he would find space for them all in the drawing- room, if they fitted in. “We'll fit in, sir."they assured him "Then follow the leader," he cried gaily. "Mind you, I am not sure that we have a drawing-room, but we pretend we have, and it's all the same. Hoop la!" He went off dancing through the house, and they all cried "Hoop la!" and danced after him, searching for the drawing-room: and I forget whether they found it. but at any rate they found corners, and they all fitted in As for Peter, he saw Wendy once again before he flew away. He did not exactly come to the window, but he brushed against it in passing, so that she could open it if she liked and call to him. That was what she did "Hullo. Wendy, good-bve."he said "Oh dear, are you going away?" “Yes.” "You don't feel, Peter," she said falteringly, "that you would like to say anything to my parents about a very sweet subject?" “No.” "About me, Peter?" “No.” Mrs Darling came to the window, for at present she was keeping a sharp eye on Wendy. She told Peter that she had adopted^{} all the other boys, and would like to adopt him also. "Would you send me to school?" he inquired craftily{}. “Yes.” “And then to an office?" 第十七章 温地长大以后 这时,达林先生突然哭了起来,然后他说出了真 ①consent kon'sentl n. 允许 相。实际上,他和达林夫人一样很愿意收留他们,只不 ②cypher I'saifaln. 不重要 过他们在征求达林夫人的意见时,也应该征求他的意见 的人 才对,不应该把他看成一个无足轻重的人 “我并不认为他是个无足轻重的人。”图图立刻大 声说,“你觉得他是个无足轻重的人吗,卷毛儿?” “我不觉得。你觉得他无足轻重吗,斯莱特利?” “当然不是。双胞胎,你们呢?” 结果表明,没有孩子认为达林先生是个无足轻重的 ③ absurdly [ob'so:dlil ad. 荒 人。达林先生感到非常满足。他立即表示,如果孩子们 唐地 愿意的话,他可以把他们统统安置在客厅里。 “我们很愿意,先生。”孩子们纷纷表示赞成 “那么,跟我来吧,”他兴高采烈地喊,“请注 意,我分不清我们家有没有客厅,不过,我们可以假装 有间客厅,没什么不同。啊哈!” 他跳着舞在满屋子乱转找客厅,孩子们也跟在他 身后跳着舞高喊:“啊哈!”我记不清他们到底有没有 找到客厅,不管怎么样,他们最后找到了一个落脚的地 方,正好安顿得下所有孩子。 至于彼得,他飞走之前来看过温迪一次。他没有特 意来到窗前,只是飞过时蹭了一下窗户。他想,要是温 迪想见他的话,她会打开窗户呼唤他。果然,温迪真的 这样做了。 “喂,温迪,再见了。”他说。 “啊,亲爱的,你要走了吗?” “是啊。” “彼得,你不打算跟我父母谈谈我们甜蜜的未来 吗?”温迪有些害羞地说。 “不。” “和我有关的事呢,彼得?” “不。” ④adopt [o'dopt]v 收养 这时,一直在密切地关注着温迪举动的达林夫人走 到窗前,她告诉彼得,她已经收留了那些孩子,她也愿 craftily ['kra:ftili] ad. 狡 意收留他。 猾地 “你要送我去上学?”彼得警觉地问。 “是的。” ·273· Chapter 17 when Wendy Grew p "I suppose so." "Soon I should be a man?" “Very soon." "I don't want to go to school and learn solemn things," he told her passionately. "I don't want to be a man. O Wendy's mother, if I was to wake up and feel there was a beard!" "Peter," said Wendy the comforter, "I should love you in a beard": and Mrs Darling stretched out her arms to him, but he repulsed^{①} her. "Keep back, lady, no one is going to catch me and make me a man." “But where are you going to live?" "With Tink in the house we built for Wendy. The fairies are to put it high up among the tree tops where they sleep at nights." "How lovely," cried Wendy so longingly② that Mrs Darling tightened her grip{③ "I thought all the fairies were dead," Mrs Darling said "There are always a lot of young ones," explained Wendy, who was now quite an authority, "because you see when a new baby laughs for the first time a new fairy is born, and as there are always new babies there are always new fairies. They live in nests on the tops of trees: and the mauve{④} ones are boys and the white ones are girls, and the blue ones are just little sillies who are not sure what they are." "I shall have such fun," said Peter, with one eye on Wendy "It will be rather lonely in the evening," she said, "sitting by the fire." "I shall have Tink." "Tink can't go a twentieth part of the way round," she reminded him a little tartly. "Sneaky{} tell-tale!" Tink called out from somewhere round the corner. "It doesn't matter,"Peter said. ·274· 第十七章 温迪长大以后 “然后还要送我去办公室上班?” “我想是的。 “不久我就会变成一个大人?” “是的。” “我才不要去学校学那些严肃又没意思的东西,” 彼得激动地对达林夫人说,“我也不要变成大人。温迪 母亲,我实在无法想象一觉醒来,我摸到自已长胡子 了!” ①repulse [ri'pals]v 拒给 “彼得,”温迪安慰他说,“即使你长胡子了,我 也会爱你的。”达林夫人向他伸出双臂要拥抱他,但是 彼得拒绝了她。 “夫人,不要靠近我,谁也不能把我变成一个大 人。 ② longingly ['loninli]ad. 渴 “可是,你要住在哪呢?” 望地 “和叮叮拎一起住在我们给温迪善的小房子里。 ③grip [grip]n. 紧掘 仙子们会把它高高地挂到树梢上,夜里她们也会住进 来。” “多有趣啊!”温迪羡慕地喊道。达林夫人急忙牢 牢地抓紧她。 “我以为所有的仙子都死去了。”达林夫人说。 ④mauve [mauyla. 紫色的 “总会有许多年轻的仙子诞生。”温迪解释说。她 现在对仙子的事已经非常了解了。“每个婴儿第一次笑 出声时,就会有一个新的仙子诞生。只要有新的婴儿诞 生,就总是有新的仙子出现。他们住在树梢上的巢里, 紫红色的是男的,白色的是女的。还有一些蓝色的是些 小笨蛋,说不准他们是男是女。” “会有好多好玩儿的事情。”彼得说着瞅了温迪一 眼。 “夜里你自己坐在火炉边会相当寂寞的。”温迪 sneaky lsni:kila. 鬼鬼祟 说。 祟的 “我有叮叮拎做伴。” “有些事情叮叮可干不了。”她有点酸溜溜地提 醒他。 “背后嚼舌头的家伙!”叮叮拎不知从哪儿钻出 来,骂了温迪一句。 “无所谓的。”彼得说。 ·275· Chapter 17 when Wendy Grew p "O Peter, you know it matters." "Well, then, come with me to the little house." "May I, mummy?" "Certainly not. I have got you home again, and I mean to keep you." "But he does so need a mother." "So do you, my love." "Oh, all right," Peter said, as if he had asked her from politeness merely: but Mrs Darling saw his mouth twitch, and she made this handsome offer: to let Wendy go to him for a week every year to do his spring cleaning. Wendy would have preferred a more permanent arrangement: and it seemed to her that spring would be long in coming: but this promise sent Peter away quite gay again He had no sense of time, and was so full of adventures that all I have told you about him is only a halfpenny-worth of them. I suppose it was because Wendy knew this that her last words to him were these rather plaintive^{} ones: "You won't forget me, Peter, will you, before spring-cleaning time comes?" Of course Peter promised: and then he flew away. He took Mrs Darlings kiss with him. The kiss that had been for no one else Peter took quite easily Funny. But she seemed satisfied Of course all the boys went to school: and most of them got into Class III. but Slightly was put first into Class IV and then into Class V. Class I is the top class. Before they had attended school a week they saw what goats{②} they had been not to remain on the island: but it was too late now, and soon they settled down to being as ordinary as you or me or Jenkins minor. It is sad to have to say that the power to fly gradually left them. At first Nana tied their feet to the bed- posts so that they should not fly away in the night; and one of their diversions③ by day was to pretend to fall off buses: but by and by they ceased to tug{④} at their bonds in bed, and found that they hurt themselves when they let go of the bus. In time they could not even fly after their hats. Want of practice, they called .276. 第十七章 温迪长大以后 “彼得,你要知道,那很重要的。”温迪说。 “既然如此,你跟我一起回小房子去吧。” “母亲,我可以去吗?” “当然不可以,你好不容易回家了,我不会再让你 离开。” “可是他需要一个母亲啊。” “你也需要一个母亲啊,亲爱的。” “那好,就这样吧。”彼得说,好像他只是出于礼 貌才激请了温迪。但是,达林夫人看到彼得的嘴在微微 抽动,于是她心软了,提出了一个慷慨的建议:每年让 温迪去彼得那儿住上一个礼拜,帮他搞春季大扫除。温 迪本来希望有一个更长远的安排,而且她知道下个春天 还要等很久才到来,但是彼得很满意这个决定,于是他 非常高兴地飞走了。他一直没什么时间概念,而且他还 ① plaintive I'pleintiv]a. 悲 要去做更多冒险的事情,我告诉你们的只不过是其中的 哀的 一点点而已。我想,温迪非常了解他这一点,所以她最 后向他说了一句颇为悲伤的话: “彼得,在春季大扫除以前,你不会忘记我吧?” 彼得当然向她担保他不会的,然后他飞走了。达林 夫人吻也被他带走了,就是那个谁也得不到的吻,彼得 却轻而易举地得到了。这真是太奇妙了,达林夫人对此 也感到很高兴。 ②goat fgautln. 替罪羊 这之后,孩子们都被送进了学校。除了斯莱特利之 外,他们都进了三班。斯菜特利最先进了四班,后来又 换成五班(一班是最高班)。上学不到一个星期,他们 就开始感到懊悔,觉得离开永无岛真是痛苦,可是太迟 ③ diversion [dai'vo:fn] n. 消 遣的游戏 了。不过,他们很快就适应了,像你、我或小詹金斯一 ④tugIwg]v用力拉 样过着普通人的生活。说来挺悲伤的,他们渐渐失去了 飞行的能力。刚开始时,一到夜里,哪娜就会把他们的 脚绑在床柱上,防止他们飞走;在白天,他们喜欢做一 种游戏,就是假装从公共汽车上跌下去再飞起来站稳。 可是渐渐地,他们不再去拽那根绑着双脚的绳子了;接 着,他们发现从公共汽车掉下时,自已会受伤。到后 来,当帽子被风刮起来的时候,他们都不能飞起来抓住 它了。孩子们觉得这是缺少练习的缘故。其实真正的原 ·277· Chapter 17 when Wendy Grew p it: but what it really meant was that they no longer believed Michael believed longer than the other boys, though they jeered^{①} at him: so he was with Wendy when Peter came for her at the end of the first year. She flew away with Peter in the frock{②} she had woven③ from leaves and berries{④ in the Neverland. and her one fear was that he might notice how short it had become: but he never noticed. he had so much to say about himself She had looked forward to thrilling talks with him about old times, but new adyentures had crowded the old ones from his mind “Who is Captain Hook?" he asked with interest when she spoke of the arch enemy. “Don't you remember." she asked. amazed. "how you killed him and saved all our lives?" "I forget them after I kill them,"he replied carelessly When she expressed a doubtful hope that Tinker Bell would be glad to see her he said. "Who is Tinker Bell?" "O Peter," she said, shocked: but even when she explained he could not remember. "There are such a lot of them."he said. "I expect she is no more." I expect he was right, for fairies don't live long, but they are so little that a short time seems a good while to them. Wendy was pained too to find that the past year was but as yesterday to Peter: it had seemed such a long year of waiting to her. But he was exactly as fascinating as ever, and they had a lovely spring cleaning in the little house on the tree tops. Next year he did not come for her. She waited in a new frock because the old one simply would not meet: but he never came "Perhaps he is ill." Michael said "You know he is never ill." Michael came close to her and whispered, with a shiver^*, "Perhaps there is .278 第十七章 温地长大以后 因是,他们已经不再相信过去的一切了。 ①jeer [d3io]v 嘲笑 对过去的事情,迈克尔比别的孩子相信得时间更长 些,因此其他孩子老是会嘲笑他。因此,在第一年的年 ② frock [frok]n. 连衣裙 末彼得来找温迪时,只有迈克尔陪着温迪一起等他。温 ③weave [wi:vlv织 迪和彼得一起飞走时,身上穿着她在永无岛时用树叶和 ④berry ['beri]n. 浆果 浆果编织成的外衣,她还担心彼得看出这外衣已经变得 这么短了。但是,彼得一直忙着说自已的事情,他根本 没在意。 温迪希望和彼得一起回忆那些激动人心的往事,可 是新的冒险趣事已经把这些往事从彼得的脑中挤走了。 the arch enemy 最主要的 当温迪提起那个死对头时,彼得还很感兴趣地问 敌人 “胡克是谁?” “你不记得了吗?”温迪惊讶地问,“你是怎么杀 的他,救了我们大家的命?” “我杀了他们以后,就把他们忘记了。”彼得漫不 经心地回答。 温迪迟疑了一下,然后告诉彼得她想见见叮叮拎。 彼得却问:“叮叮拎是谁?” “啊,彼得!”温迪很震惊地说。她做了一番解 释,但是彼得仍然想不起来。 “像她这样的仙子多的是,”他说,“我估计她已 经不在了。” 彼得说的对,因为仙子们的寿命不长。不过,因为 他们是那么娇小,所以在他们看来,即使很短的时间也 显得很漫长。 让温迪感到难过的还不止这些,她还感到过去的一 年时间对彼得来说仿佛只是昨天,而在她看来,这一年 等起来真是煎熬啊。不过,彼得还是像以前一样招人喜 欢。他们在树上的小房子里进行了一次快乐的春季大扫 除。 第二年,彼得没有来接温迪。温迪穿了一件新衣服 shiver ['fiva]n. 寒战 等他,因为那件旧的已经不合身了。可是,彼得没有来 接她。 “彼得可能生病了吧。”迈克尔说 “你知道,彼得是从来不病的。” 迈克尔打了个寒战,然后凑近温迪悄悄地说 “也 ·279·