Chapter8-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《水孩子The Water Babies》

Chapter VIII and Last "Come to me,O ye children! For I hear you at your play: And the questions that perplexed me Have vanished quite away. "Ye open the Eastern windows, That look towards the sun. Where thoughts are singing swallows, And the brooks of morning run. 水率宋水水 "For what are all our contrivings And the wisdom of our books, When compared with your caresses, And the gladness of your looks? "Ye are better than all the ballads That ever were sung or said, ·316· 第八章及尾声 来啊，孩子们 听到你们欢快地玩耍； ①perplex[pa'pleks]v.使 那曾困扰我的种种问题 困惑：使茫然 顷刻间烟消云散。 打开东边， 那扇向阳的窗户，在那里 思想如嘤嘤歌唱的燕子， 又如清晨涓涓流淌的小溪。 *米米米米 我们一切的发明， 我们书本的智慧， 在你的抚摸和欢预面前 都不值一提。 你是世间最动听的歌曲， 最生动的诗句； ·317· Chapter VIII and Last For ye are living poems, And all the rest are dead." 一LONGFELLOW Here begins the never-to-be-too-much-studied account of the nine-hundred-and- ninety-ninth part of the wonderful things which Tom saw on his journey to the Other-end-of-Nowhere;which all good little children are requested to read;that, if ever they get to the Other-end-of-Nowhere,as they may very probably do,they may not burst out laughing,or try to run away,or do any other silly vulgar thing which may offend Mrs.Bedonebyasyoudid. Now,as soon as Tom had left Peacepool,he came to the white lap of the great sea-mother,ten thousand fathoms deep;where she makes world-pap all day long, for the steam-giants to knead,and the fire-giants to bake,till it has risen and hardened into mountain-loaves and island-cakes. And there Tom was very near being kneaded up in the world-pap,and turned into a fossil water-baby;which would have astonished the Geological Society of New Zealand some hundreds of thousands of years hence. For,as he walked along in the silence of the sea-twilight,on the soft white ocean floor,he was aware of a hissing,and a roaring,and a thumping, and a pumping,as of all the steam-engines in the world at once.And,when he came near,the water grew boiling-hot;not that that hurt him in the least: but it also grew as foul as gruel;and every moment he stumbled over dead shells,and fish,and sharks,and seals,and whales,which had been killed by the hot water. And at last he came to the great sea-serpent himself,lying dead at the bottom; and as he was too thick to scramble over,Tom had to walk round him three- quarters of a mile and more,which put him out of his path sadly;and,when he had got round,he came to the place called Stop.And there he stopped,and just in time. ·318· 第八章及尾声 你们是活的诗歌， 其余都是死的曲调。 -朗费罗 那么，让我们从汤姆前往“天外天”的旅途中所遇到 的奇事开始说起吧。虽然这里所描绘的只是他经历的奇妙 事情的九百九十九分之一，但是所有好孩子都应该读读： 这样，如果他们有朝一日也到达了那个“天外天”（他们 是很有可能做到的)，就不至于一会儿爆笑不已，一会儿 害怕得试图逃跑，或是做出什么愚蠢又丢人的事，冒犯到 惩恶仙女。 一离开和平池，汤姆便来到了伟大的海洋妈妈的白 ①knead[nid揉捏 色裙兜里。她的裙兜有一万英寻深，在那里海洋妈妈日 夜不停地做着世界食品，蒸汽巨人揉面团，火焰巨人烘 烤，之后这些食品渐渐上升、变硬，直到变成大山面包 和海岛糕饼。 在那里汤姆差一点儿就被揉进里去，变成化石水孩 子了。要真是那样的话，几十万年后新西兰地质学会一 定会大吃一惊的。 伴着寂静的大海黄昏，汤姆正行走在柔软的白色海 底。突然，他听到了一阵阵的嘶嘶声，轰隆隆，嘭嘭作 响，好像全世界的蒸汽机同时发动了一样。当他走近一 些时，海水变得热起来，但这一点儿也不会伤到他，可 是海水也变得越来越难闻，像粥一样浑浊黏腻。他不断 地被贝壳、鱼、鲨、海豹、鲸鱼的尸体绊倒，他们都是 被这热水烫死的。 最后，他撞上了一条大海蛇，这条死去的大海蛇躺 在海底，身体非常粗。汤姆爬不过去，只好绕道走了四 分之三多英里的路，这样一来，他就偏离自己的路线很 远了。当他回到原来的路线上时，便来到了一个叫“停 ·319· Chapter VIII and Last For he was on the edge of a vast hole in the bottom of the sea,up which was rushing and roaring clear steam enough to work all the engines in the world at once;so clear,indeed,that it was quite light at moments;and Tom could see almost up to the top of the water above,and down below into the pit for nobody knows how far. But,as soon as he bent his head over the edge,he got such a rap on the nose from pebbles,that he jumped back again;for the steam,as it rushed up, rasped away the sides of the hole,and hurled it up into the sea in a shower of mud and gravel and ashes;and then it spread all around,and sank again,and covered in the dead fish so fast,that before Tom had stood there five minutes he was buried in silt up to his ankles,and began to be afraid that he should have been buried alive. And perhaps he would have been,but that while he was thinking,the whole piece of ground on which he stood was torn off and blown upwards,and away flew Tom a mile up through the sea,wondering what was coming next. At last he stopped-thump!and found himself tight in the legs of the most wonderful bogy which he had ever seen. It had I don't know how many wings,as big as the sails of a windmill, and spread out in a ring like them;and with them it hovered over the steam which rushed up,as a ball hovers over the top of a fountain.And for every wing above it had a leg below,with a claw like a comb at the tip,and a nostril at the root;and in the middle it had no stomach and one eye;and as for its mouth,that was all on one side,as the madreporiform tubercle in a star-fish is.Well,it was a very strange beast;but no stranger than some dozens which you may see. “What do you want here,.”it cried quite peevishly,“getting in my way?, and it tried to drop Tom:but he held on tight to its claws,thinking himself safer where he was. So Tom told him who he was,and what his errand was.And the thing winked its one eye,and sneered: ·320· 第八章及尾声【 止”的地方，于是便在那里及时停下了脚步。 他当时站在海底的一个大洞的边上。大洞的上方， 透明的水蒸气呼呼地向上喷着，力量非常大，足以让世 界上所有的蒸汽机同时发动起来。这里的水蒸气非常清 澈，海里很亮。向上看，汤姆几乎可以看到海面：向下 看，没人知道这个洞到底有多深。 汤姆刚刚弯下腰，探头朝洞里看时，鼻子就被喷出的 卵石“嘭”地打了一下，他连蹦带跳地缩了回去，原来是 水蒸气向上喷时冲到洞壁，把泥土、砂石和灰等一齐冲到 海里，之后，它们便向四周弥漫开来，再次沉积，很快就 覆盖了死鱼的尸体，汤姆站在那儿不到五分钟，淤泥就已 经埋到了他的脚踝。他开始害怕自己也会被活埋。 也许他真的会被活埋，他正想着的时候，脚下的那 片地就被整个扯掉，掀了起来。汤姆被弹了上去，飞出 一英里高，当时他完全不知道将会发生什么事。 最后他终于停了下来，砰！他发觉自己被几条腿紧 紧地缠住了，这是一种他从未见过的海怪的腿。 我不知道海怪有多少翅膀，它们像风车的叶片那么 大，而且和风车的叶片一样，展开形成一个圈。凭着这 些巨大的翅膀，这个怪物在喷出的蒸气上方盘旋，就像 喷泉上一只翻滚的球。在它的每个翅膀下面都长着一条 腿：每条腿的末端都长着一只像梳子一样的爪子，腿根 部还长有一只鼻孔；中间没有肚子，只有一只眼晴：嘴 巴则全部长在了一边，就像海星身体上长出的石珊瑚状 瘤一样。嗯，这真是个奇怪的海兽，但比起你可能见到 的动物，它也奇怪不到哪儿去。 ①peevishly[pi:vi/li] “你想干什么？”它十分不高兴地叫道，“想挡我 ad.易怒地；脾气坏地 的路？”它想甩开汤姆，但汤姆紧紧地抓住它的爪子不 放，因为他觉得这样更安全些。 汤姆告诉了它自己是谁以及自己的任务，那海怪眨 了眨独眼，嘲讽地说道： ·321· Chapter VIII and Last "I am too old to be taken in in that way.You are come after gold-know you are.” "Gold!What is gold?"And really Tom did not know;but the suspicious old bogy would not believe him. But after a while Tom began to understand a little.For,as the vapours came up out of the hole,the bogy smelt them with his nostrils,and combed them and sorted them with his combs;and then,when they steamed up through them against his wings,they were changed into showers and streams of metal.From one wing fell gold-dust,and from another silver,and from another copper,and from another tin,and from another lead,and so on,and sank into the soft mud, into veins and cracks,and hardened there.Whereby it comes to pass that the rocks are full of metal. But,all of a sudden,somebody shut off the steam below,and the hole was left empty in an instant:and then down rushed the water into the hole,in such a whirlpool that the bogy spun round and round as fast as a teetotum.But that was all in his day's work,like a fair fall with the hounds;so all he did was to say to Tom- "Now is your time,youngster,to get down,if you are in earnest,which I don't believe..” "You'll soon see,"said Tom;and away he went,as bold as Baron Munchausen, and shot down the rushing cataract like a salmon at Ballisodare. And,when he got to the bottom,he swam till he was washed on shore safe upon the Other-end-of-Nowhere;and he found it,to his surprise,as most other people do,much more like This-End-of-Somewhere than he had been in the habit of expecting. And first he went through Waste-paper-land,where all the stupid books lie in heaps,up hill and down dale,like leaves in a winter wood;and there he saw people digging and grubbing among them,to make worse books out of bad ones, and thrashing chaff to save the dust of it;and a very good trade they drove ·322· 第八章及尾声【 “我年纪大，你休想骗我。你是来寻金子的，我就 知道。” “金子？什么金子？”汤姆确实不知道，但这个多 疑的老海怪怎么可能相信他。 过了一会儿，汤姆开始明白了。蒸气从洞中喷上来 后，海怪就用它的鼻子去嗅，接着用它梳子一样的爪子 梳理分类：之后蒸气冲上去撞到它的翅膀，变成金属雨 一样落下来。一只翅膀落下来的是金雨，另一只是银雨， 再一只是铜雨，再一只是锡雨，还有一只是铅雨，等等 等等。这些金属雨落入柔软的泥土中，落入矿脉和大地 裂缝中凝固下来，这就是岩石中有大量金属的原因。 突然，有人在下面把蒸气关掉了，大洞突然变得空 洞洞的，然后水向下冲进洞中形成了一个漩涡。海怪在 漩涡上面打转，快得像个陀螺一样。但是它对此习以为 常，就像纵狗打猎常常会摔跤一样平常。于是海怪若无 Dteetotum ['ti:tou'tAm] n.手转陀螺 其事地对汤姆说道： “年轻人，现在轮到你了。如果你是真心想完成任 务的话，就下去，反正我也不相信你会来真的。” “你看着吧。”汤姆说道，紧接着就纵身跳了下去， 像吹牛大王巴伦伯爵'一样大胆。他随着瀑布一般奔流 的水冲了下去，像波里索戴尔瀑布里的一条大马哈鱼。 到达洞底以后，他游啊游啊，最后平安地被冲到了 天外之境的岸边上。就像大多数人一样，他惊奇地发现 这里并不是自己以为的那样，而是和自己之前生活的人 间世界没有什么不同。 汤姆首先经过了废纸国。在那里，到处都是成堆成 堆的无聊的书，漫山遍野，就像冬天树林里的落叶一样。 他看到人们又是挖又是刨的，从不好的书中弄出更糟糕 的书出来，把谷壳去掉为的是保留尘士。这可真是好营 ②chaff[a:门n.谷壳：糠 1由德国埃·拉斯伯和戈·毕尔格两位作家创作而成的童话，取材 于德国民间故事，主人公为巴伦伯爵，为人勇敢。 ·323· Chapter VIII and Last thereby,especially among children. Then he went by the sea of slops,to the mountain of messes,and the territory of tuck,where the ground was very sticky,for it was all made of bad toffee(not Everton toffee,of course),and full of deep cracks and holes choked with wind-fallen fruit,and green goose-berries,and sloes,and crabs,and whinberries,and hips and haws,and all the nasty things which little children will eat,if they can get them.But the fairies hide them out of the way in that country as fast as they can,and very hard work they have,and of very little use it is.For as fast as they hide away the old trash,foolish and wicked people make fresh trash full of lime and poisonous paints,and actually go and steal receipts out of old Madame Science's big book to invent poisons for little children,and sell them at wakes and fairs and tuck-shops.Very well.Let them go on.Dr. Letheby and Dr.Hassall cannot catch them,though they are setting traps for them all day long.But the Fairy with the birch-rod will catch them all in time, and make them begin at one corner of their shops,and eat their way out at the other:by which time they will have got such stomachaches as will cure them of poisoning little children. Next he saw all the little people in the world,writing all the little books in the world,about all the other little people in the world;probably because they had no great people to write about:and if the names of the books were not Squeeky,nor the Pump-lighter,nor the Narrow Narrow World,nor the Hills of the Chattermuch,nor the Children's Twaddeday,why then they were something else.And,all the rest of the little people in the world read the books,and thought themselves each as good as the President;and perhaps they were right,for every one knows his own business best.But Tom thought he would sooner have a jolly good fairy tale,about Jack the Giant-killer or Beauty and the Beast,which taught him something that he didn't know already. And next he came to the centre of Creation (the hub,they call it there),which lies in latitude 42.21 degrees south,and longitude 108.56 degrees east. ·324· 第八章及尾声【 生，尤其是在孩子中间兜售这些东西。 ①slop[slop]n.烂泥海 之后他经烂泥海来到了乌七八糟山和糖果糕点地， 那里的地面黏糊糊的，因为是用坏了的太妃糖（当然不 是用埃弗顿太妃糖)铺成的。路上到处都是很深的裂缝 和大洞，里面全是风吹落的烂果子：生醋栗、黑刺李、 ②haw[ho:n.山楂果 酸苹果、茎豆浆果、蔷薇果、野山楂等等一切有害的东 西。这些东西孩子只要弄到手，就会吃下去的。但是这 里的仙女们会尽快地把它们藏起来，尽管仙女们非常卖 力地工作，但是收效甚微，因为她们一把旧的垃圾藏起 来，邪恶愚蠢的人们便制造出新的垃圾。这些人往垃圾 上涂上石灰和有毒的颜料（事实上他们从科学夫人的大 书那里偷来配方，用来制作给小孩子们吃的有毒食品)， 然后再在集市和糖果店出售。好吧，就让他们继续这么 干吧。尽管“由他去吧”博士和“包罗万象”博士整日 设下陷阱也无法抓住他们，但是拿着桦木杖的仙女们会 及时地把他们全部抓起来，叫他们从商店的这一头吃到 那一头，把卖的东西全部吃下去。那时他们就会肚子疼， 这样才能治好他们毒害小孩子的毛病。 紧接着他看到了所有世界上的小人，他们正忙着写 世界上所有的小书，书里写的是世界上其他小人的故 事。也许是因为这里没有大人可以写，书名不是《吱吱 响》，就是《驳船打火机》，不是《小小国》，就是《唠 唠叨叨的小山》，再有就是《孩子们的废话日》一总 之就是这一类的名字。世界上所有其他的小人都读这些 书，每个人都想象自己和总统一样棒。也许他们是对的， 因为只有自己才最了解自己。但汤姆却希望自己能读到 一些更好的童话故事，像《巨人杀手杰克》，或是《美 女与野兽》之类的，从那里他学到了一些自己不知道的 东西。 之后他来到了发明中心（当地人把那儿称为中心地 区)，这里位于南纬42.21度，东经108.56度。 ·325·