Chapter9 In the Witch's House在白巫的府邸-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《纳尼亚传奇 狮子,女巫和魔衣橱The Chronicles of Narnia》

Chapter Nine In the Witch's House And now of course you want to know what had happened to Edmund.He had eaten his share of the dinner,but he hadn't really enjoyed it because he was thinking all the time about Turkish Delight-and there's nothing that spoils the taste of good ordinary food half so much as the memory of bad magic food.And he had heard the conversation,and hadn't enjoyed it much either,because he kept on thinking that the others were taking no notice of him and trying to give him the cold shoulder. They weren't,but he imagined it. And then he had listened until Mr Beaver told them about Aslan and until he had heard the whole arrangement for meeting Aslan at the Stone Table.It was then that he began very quietly to edge himself under the curtain which hung over the door.For the mention of Aslan gave him a mysterious and horrible feeling just as it gave the others a mysterious and lovely feeling. Just as Mr Beaver had been repeating the rhyme about Adam's flesh and Adam's bone Edmund had been very quietly turning the door handle;and just before Mr Beaver had begun telling them that the White Witch wasn't really human at all but half a Jinn and half a giantess,Edmund had got outside into the snow and cautiously closed the door behind him. You mustn't think that even now Edmund was quite so bad that he actually wanted his brother and sisters to be turned into stone.He did want Turkish Delight ·104· 第九章在白巫的府邸 现在，你一定想知道埃德蒙到底发生什么事了。原 来在进餐时，埃德蒙一点胃口也没有，他心里一直在惦 ①spoil[spail]v.破坏，毁 念着土耳其软糖的味道一这种对那邪恶魔法食物的惦 坏 念，最能破坏人们对普通美食的胃口了。他在一边听着 谈话，可对此也没有多少兴趣，因为心中一直怀疑其他 2 give sb.the cold shoulder 人故意冷落他，对他不闻也不问。其实大家谁都没有忽 爱答不理 略他，只是他在胡思乱想罢了。 埃德蒙一直听到河狸先生讲到阿斯兰，以及将与阿 斯兰在石桌会见时，才悄悄地起身挪到门帘后面。阿斯 兰让他感到既神秘又恐惧，完全没有其他人感到的那份 ③edge[ed3]新移，徐 移，徐徐移动 喜悦。 ④hang over悬挂在…之 河狸先生说到亚当骨肉的歌谣时，埃德蒙正偷偷地 扭动门把手：当河狸先生讲到白巫根本不是人类，而是 邪灵与巨人的后裔时，埃德蒙已经踏出门外，小心翼翼 地把身后的门掩上了。 即使此时，我们也不能轻易就断定埃德蒙品质卑 5 giantess ['dsaiantes]n. 劣，希望他的兄弟姐妹全都变成石头。只是埃德蒙太渴 女巨人 6cautiously[kafasli]ad. 慎重地，谨慎地 ·105· Chapter Nine In the Witch's House and to be a Prince (and later a King)and to pay Peter out for calling him a beast.As for what the Witch would do with the others,he didn't want her to be particularly nice to them-certainly not to put them on the same level as himself;but he managed to believe,or to pretend he believed,that she wouldn't do anything very bad to them,"Because,"he said to himself,"all these people who say nasty things about her are her enemies and probably half of it isn't true.She was jolly nice to me, anyway,much nicer than they are.I expect she is the rightful Queen really.Anyway, she'll be better than that awful Aslan!"At least,that was the excuse he made in his own mind for what he was doing.It wasn't a very good excuse,however,for deep down inside him he really knew that the White Witch was bad and cruel. The first thing he realized when he got outside and found the snow falling all round him,was that he had left his coat behind in the Beavers'house.And of course there was no chance of going back to get it now.The next thing he realized was that the daylight was almost gone,for it had been nearly three o'clock when they sat down to dinner and the winter days were short.He hadn't reckoned on this;but he had to make the best of it.So he turned up his collar and shuffled across the top of the dam(luckily it wasn't so slippery since the snow had fallen)to the far side of the river. It was pretty bad when he reached the far side.It was growing darker every minute and what with that and the snowflakes swirling all round him he could hardly see three feet ahead.And then too there was no road.He kept slipping into deep drifts of snow,and skidding on frozen puddles,and tripping over fallen tree- trunks,and sliding down steep banks,and barking his shins against rocks,till he was wet and cold and bruised all over.The silence and the loneliness were dreadful.In fact I really think he might have given up the whole plan and gone back and owned up and made friends with the others,if he hadn't happened to say to himself,"When I'm King of Narnia the first thing I shall do will be to make some decent roads."And of course that set him off thinking about being a King and all the other things he would do and this cheered him up a good deal.He had just settled in his mind what sort of palace he would have and how many cars and ·106· 第九章在白巫的府邻】 望吃到土耳其软糖，太想当上王子（未来的国王），也 太想报复彼得了，谁让彼得把自己叫坏蛋来着。至于白 巫会怎样对待他的兄弟姐妹，他也曾想过一白巫不能 对他们好过自己。但是埃德蒙也让自己相信，或者假装 相信，白巫不至于对他们太坏，“因为，”他劝自己说，“所 有诋毁白巫的人都是她的敌人，他们说的很有可能一半 都是不实之词。她对我那么好，不管怎么说，比他们对 我都要好。我想她的确是真正的女王。反正，她要比那 个可怕的阿斯兰要好得多！”这些只不过是他给自己的 背叛寻找到的借口而已，但是这个借口极其整脚，因为 在埃德蒙的内心深处也清楚白巫的凶狠。 一走出屋外，他立刻就被漫天的雪花包围，突然 ①leave behind落下 意识到外套还落在屋里。可现在没机会回去拿了。接 着他意识到天快黑了，因为他们坐下吃饭的时候就快 三点了，冬天的天又很短。之前他根本没想过这些， ②reckon['rekan]v:[口语] 指望 只能尽可能地补救了。于是埃德蒙把衣服领子竖起来， ③shuffle[fa拖着 沿着堤坝顶着风雪艰难地向对岸走去，好在下雪时冰 (脚）走 面不是太滑。 要走到对岸很不容易，天在迅速变黑，风挟裹着 雪花罩在四周，他几乎看不见自己迈出去的脚。路也 ④swirl[swa:I]打旋，旋 消失得无影无踪，有时踩入深深的雪坑，有时滑倒在 动 冰冻的地面上，有时被倒下的树干绊倒，有时还滑下 ⑤puddle[pAdl].水坑 陡峭的河堤被石头擦破了皮。最后，弄得浑身又湿又 ⑥shin[inn.外胫，胫部 冷，到处都是伤。寂静与孤独更令他感到恐惧。事实上， ⑦bruise[bnrz擦伤（表 我想他本来可能会放弃整个打算，转身向回走，承认 皮、表面) 自己的错误，与其他人重新做朋友。要是当时他没有 对自己发誓“等我做了纳尼亚国王，第一件事就是修 路”的话，他没准会退缩的，但这誓言激起了他当国 ⑧decent[di:sant)a.像样 王的幻想，而这种幻想确实给了他许多鼓励，支持他 的 ·107· Chapter Nine In the Witch's House all about his private cinema and where the principal railways would run and what laws he would make against beavers and dams and was putting the finishing touches to some schemes for keeping Peter in his place,when the weather changed.First the snow stopped.Then a wind sprang up and it became freezing cold.Finally, the clouds rolled away and the moon came out.It was a full moon and,shining on all that snow,it made everything almost as bright as day-only the shadows were rather confusing. He would never have found his way if the moon hadn't come out by the time he got to the other river you remember he had seen (when they first arrived at the Beavers')a smaller river flowing into the great one lower down.He now reached this and turned to follow it up.But the little valley down which it came was much steeper and rockier than the one he had just left and much overgrown with bushes, so that he could not have managed it at all in the dark.Even as it was,he got wet through for he had to stoop under branches and great loads of snow came sliding off on to his back.And every time this happened he thought more and more how he hated Peter-just as if all this had been Peter's fault. But at last he came to a part where it was more level and the valley opened out.And there,on the other side of the river,quite close to him,in the middle of a little plain between two hills,he saw what must be the White Witch's House.And the moon was shining brighter than ever.The House was really a small castle.It seemed to be all towers;little towers with long pointed spires on them,sharp as needles.They looked like huge dunce's caps or sorcerer's caps.And they shone in the moonlight and their long shadows looked strange on the snow.Edmund began to be afraid of the House. But it was too late to think of turning back now. He crossed the river on the ice and walked up to the House.There was nothing stirring not the slightest sound anywhere.Even his own feet made no noise on the deep newly fallen snow.He walked on and on,past corner after corner of the House, and past turret after turret to find the door.He had to go right round to the far side before he found it.It was a huge arch but the great iron gates stood wide open ·108· 第九章在白巫的府氐部【 D principal ['prinsapal]a. 继续走下去。他在脑子里幻想着要住怎么样的宫殿， 主要的 要有多少辆汽车，要有什么样的私人电影院，铁路干 ②scheme[ski:m]m.阴谋， 道要经过哪些地方，并且要制定法律制裁河狸，规范 诡计 堤坝修筑，等等。正当他盘算怎样控制彼得时，天气 ③spring up出现，发生 起了变化。雪停了，接着刮起了风，冷得刺骨。最后 云也散开了，露出一轮满月，月光照在雪地上，周围 1 confusing [kan'fju:zin]a. 亮得像白天一样一只是那些阴影使他感到困惑迷茫， 混乱的 找不到路。 当他刚摸到另一条河边时，幸好月亮及时出来， 否则埃德蒙可能一直迷路下去。你记得他见过这条小 河（在去河狸家的路上），它一直流到下游的大河里。 现在他开始沿着这条河向上游走，可是小河流经的小 峡谷比他刚才离开的地方崎岖陡峭得多，灌木也长得 老高，摸黑根本无法从这里走出去。即使现在有了明 亮的月光，他也湿透了全身，因为钻灌木林时，灌木 上厚厚的积雪时不时滑落到他的背上。每当这时，埃 德蒙就在心里暗骂彼得一一都是彼得让自己遭受这 份罪。 最后，埃德蒙来到一片地势较平的地方，峡谷在这 ⑤plain[plein]n.平原，平 里变得开阔起来。从那里可以看见，白巫的住宅建在河 地 对岸两座小山之间的一块平地上，离这儿很近。此时， ⑥spire['spaia]n.尖塔顶 月亮比刚才更加明亮了。白巫的住宅其实是座小城堡， ⑦dunce[dns]n.愚昧无 全是塔状的建筑，矮小的塔带着长长的尖顶，像锋利的 知的人，蠢人 针。这些塔仿佛愚人的尖高帽，又像是巫师的帽子，在 ⑧sorcerer[sa:saro]n.术 士，魔法师 明亮的月光下闪着光，长长的黑影投在雪地上显得十分 诡异。埃德蒙不禁对这座宅邸感到有点害怕。 但是这时想回去已经太迟了。 他跨过结冰的河面，走向宅子。周围没有任何纷扰， ⑨stirring['starin]a.活跃的 也听不见一丝的声响，就是他的鞋子踩在厚厚的积雪上 也没有发出任何声音。他一步一步向前走，过了一个又 ⑩turret['tArit]n.塔楼，角 楼 一个拐角，一座又一座塔楼，绕了好大的弯才找到门。 @arch[art]n.拱门 这是一个巨大的拱门，大铁门敞开着。 ·109· Chapter Nine In the Witch's House Edmund crept up to the arch and looked inside into the courtyard,and there he saw a sight that nearly made his heart stop beating.Just inside the gate,with the moonlight shining on it,stood an enormous lion crouched as if it was ready to spring.And Edmund stood in the shadow of the arch,afraid to go on and afraid to go back,with his knees knocking together.He stood there so long that his teeth would have been chattering with cold even if they had not been chattering with fear.How long this really lasted I don't know,but it seemed to Edmund to last for hours. Then at last he began to wonder why the lion was standing so still-for it hadn't moved one inch since he first set eyes on it.Edmund now ventured a little nearer,still keeping in the shadow of the arch as much as he could.He now saw from the way the lion was standing that it couldn't have been looking at him at all.("But supposing it turns its head?"thought Edmund.)In fact it was staring at something else namely a little dwarf who stood with his back to it about four feet away."Aha!"thought Edmund."When it springs at the dwarf then will be my chance to escape."But still the lion never moved,nor did the dwarf.And now at last Edmund remembered what the others had said about the White Witch turning people into stone.Perhaps this was only a stone lion.And as soon as he had thought of that he noticed that the lion's back and the top of its head were covered with snow.Of course it must be only a statue!No living animal would have let itself get covered with snow.Then very slowly and with his heart beating as if it would burst,Edmund ventured to go up to the lion.Even now he hardly dared to touch it, but at last he put out his hand,very quickly,and did.It was cold stone.He had been frightened of a mere statue! The relief which Edmund felt was so great that in spite of the cold he suddenly got warm all over right down to his toes,and at the same time there came into his head what seemed a perfectly lovely idea."Probably,"he thought,"this is the great Lion Aslan that they were all talking about.She's caught him already and turned him into stone.So that's the end of all their fine ideas about him!Pooh!Who's afraid of Aslan?" ·110· 第九章在白巫的府邻】 ①creep[krip]g慢慢地移 埃德蒙蹑手蹑脚地走到拱门下，向庭院里面张望， 动 第一眼看到的东西差点把他吓死。在门内明亮的月光 ②crouch[kraut/门（动物 中，卧着一只壮硕无比的狮子，好像随时都能扑过来。 准备跳跃而)蜷伏，伏 站在拱门阴影下的埃德蒙吓得两腿发抖，既不敢朝前 下身来 走，也不敢向后退。在进退两难中，他站了好长时间， ③spring[sprin]跳，跃起 牙齿不是吓得也是冻得直打架。到底站了多长时间， 我不得而知，可对埃德蒙来说，仿佛经过了漫长的几 个小时 最后，他开始怀疑狮子为何卧在那里一动不动一 从看见它第一一眼起，就没见它移动过。现在，埃德蒙 ④venture['ventfa]v.冒险 前进 壮着胆子稍稍靠近了一点，但还是尽量躲在拱门的阴 影下。他发现，狮子以现在这个姿势，根本没有在看 他(“万一狮子转过头怎么办？”埃德蒙心里一直在想)。 事实上，狮子正盯着其他东西一确切地说，正盯着 小矮人，小矮人背对着狮子，他们之间相距约四英尺。 “啊哈！”埃德蒙心想，“它如果扑向小矮人，我就有机 会溜走了。”但是，狮子并没有动，小矮人也没有动。 这时，埃德蒙终于想起别人说过，白巫会把人变成石 头。或许这就是一只石头狮子。他又发现狮子的背脊、 头顶已被积雪覆盖。确定无疑，这就是一座石像，活 着的动物绝不会让雪落在身上的。于是，埃德蒙冒险 慢慢地靠近狮子，心脏在怦怦地跳，好像就要爆炸似 的。他此时仍不敢触摸狮子。最后，他终于鼓足勇气 伸出手迅速地摸了一下，确实是块冰冷的石头。原来 他被一座石像给吓着了。 埃德蒙一下子松了一口气，尽管天很冷，但觉得全 身上下开始回暖。“很有可能，”他想，“这就是他们所 说的伟大的狮王阿斯兰。白巫已经抓住了他，把他变成 石头了。他们的如意算盘落空了，呼！谁还会害怕阿斯 兰呢？” ·111· Chapter Nine In the Witch's House And he stood there gloating over the stone lion,and presently he did something very silly and childish.He took a stump of lead pencil out of his pocket and scribbled a moustache on the lion's upper lip and then a pair of spectacles on its eyes.Then he said,"Yah!Silly old Aslan!How do you like being a stone?You thought yourself mighty fine,didn't you?"But in spite of the scribbles on it the face of the great stone beast still looked so terrible,and sad,and noble,staring up in the moonlight,that Edmund didn't really get any fun out of jeering at it.He turned away and began to cross the courtyard. As he got into the middle of it he saw that there were dozens of statues all about-standing here and there rather as the pieces stand on a chess-board when it is half-way through the game.There were stone satyrs,and stone wolves,and bears and foxes and catamountains of stone.There were lovely stone shapes that looked like women but who were really the spirits of trees.There was the great shape of a centaur and a winged horse and a long lithe creature that Edmund took to be a dragon.They all looked so strange standing there perfectly life-like and also perfectly still,in the bright cold moonlight,that it was eerie work crossing the courtyard.Right in the very middle stood a huge shape like a man,but as tall as a tree,with a fierce face and a shaggy beard and a great club in its right hand. Even though he knew that it was only a stone giant and not a live one,Edmund did not like going past it. He now saw that there was a dim light showing from a doorway on the far side of the courtyard.He went to it;there was a flight of stone steps going up to an open door.Edmund went up them.Across the threshold lay a great wolf. "It's all right,it's all right,"he kept saying to himself;"it's only a stone wolf.It can't hurt me,"and he raised his leg to step over it.Instantly the huge creature rose, with all the hair bristling along its back,opened a great,red mouth and said in a growling voice: "Who's there?Who's there?Stand still,stranger,and tell me who you are." "If you please,sir,"said Edmund,trembling so that he could hardly speak, "my name is Edmund,and I'm the Son of Adam that Her Majesty met in the ·112· 第九章在白巫的府氐部【 ①gloat[glout]v(幸灾乐 他站在那里，幸灾乐祸地打量着这个石头狮子，随 祸地)注视（或考虑、 后他做了件非常愚蠢且幼稚的事。他从口袋里掏出一个 对待) ②childish[faildij]a.孩 铅笔头，给石狮子的嘴唇画了小胡子，又给他画了副眼 子气的，幼稚的 镜，然后得意地嘲讽道：“哈！又蠢又老的阿斯兰，当 ③seribble「skribl]v.乱画 石头的滋味不错吧？你觉得自己很了不起，对不对？” 尽管脸上有了涂鸦，但石兽的表情看起来依旧令人可 畏，他抬着头向上看，月光下的神情既悲壮又高贵。而 埃德蒙从对他的奚落中得不到一一丝快意，于是他转身离 开，准备穿过庭院。 他走到中间时才发现，庭院里还有十几尊石像 ④satyr[seta]m.【希腊神 它们位置散乱，就像一盘下了一半的棋。有红羊人的石 话】半羊人（森林之神， 像，还有狼、熊、狐狸、野猫等石像。还有一些漂亮女 具部分人身和部分羊身、 子的石像，其实她们都是树精。还有一尊巨大的人马像， 马尾，好女色) ⑤catamountain 长着翅膀的天马像，以及一个又长又软的东西，埃德蒙 [kxte'mauntin]n.[古 认为是龙。这些石像在明亮冰冷的月光下，显得栩栩如 语]野猫，（尤指）豹 生，但纹丝不动，因此要穿过这样的一个院子很怪诞。 ⑥centaur['senta:]n【希腊 神话】肯陶洛斯（人面 就在院子中间，还站着一尊看起来像人的石像，像颗大 马身的怪物)，半人马 树那样高大，面目恐怖，胡须蓬松，右手握着一一根巨大 ⑦lithe [lai]a.柔软的，易 的棒子。尽管埃德蒙心里明白，这些只是石像，但还是 弯曲的 ⑧eerie[iara.引起恐惧 极不情愿从这里穿过去。 的 这时，他瞅见庭院远端的一个门洞里闪现一丝昏暗 ⑨shaggy[fegi时a.长有相 毛的 的灯光。他就朝着光走过去，那里有一段石头台阶一直 通向一扇打开的门，埃德蒙沿着台阶向上走，在门槛处 1threshold ['Orefhauld]n. 卧着一匹大狼。 门口，入口 “没事，没事，”他反复对自己说，“这只是石头狼， ①bristle['brisl]v.(因害 它伤害不了我。”他抬腿正要跨过它时，突然这匹大狼 怕、激怒等)毛发直立 立起来，背上的毛倒竖着，张开血盆大口，咆哮道： growling ['graulin]a. “谁？谁？别动，陌生人，告诉我你是谁。” 哮的 “遵命，先生，”埃德蒙颤抖着，几乎说不出话 来，“我叫埃德蒙，那天女王陛下在树林遇见的亚当 ·113·