《鐵路邊的孩子們》——有愛就有希望

伊迪絲·內斯比特（Edith Nesbit， 1858～1924），英國著名小說家和詩人，其代表作包括奇幻魔法故事系列三部曲《五個孩子和一個怪物》（Five Children and It）、《五個孩子和鳳凰與魔毯》（The Phoenix and the Carpet）、《五個孩子和一個護身符》（The Story of the Amulet）以及兒童小說《鐵路邊的孩子們》（The Railway Children）等。

《鐵路邊的孩子們》于1904年在《倫敦雜志》（The London Magazine）上連載，1906年正式出版，后被譯成幾十種語言，還曾多次被改編成音樂劇、電影、電視劇和動畫片等。這部小說講述了三個孩子在父親蒙冤被捕后隨母親從大城市搬到鐵路附近的鄉下居住，在那里發生了許多傳奇故事，最后父親在好心人的幫助下洗清了冤屈。

下文選自小說第六章，講述了三個孩子勇敢拯救一列火車及車上乘客的故事。

\"Look\"—cried Peter， suddenly—\"the tree over there！\"

\"It's moving！\" cried Bobbie. \"Oh， look！ And so are the others.\"

\"It's ALL coming down，\" Peter tried to say， but he found there was hardly any voice to say it with. And， indeed， just as he spoke， rock and trees and grass and bushes slipped and fell on the line with a blundering1） crash.

\"Look what a great mound2） it's made！\" said Bobbie.

\"Yes，\" said Peter， slowly. Then he stood upright. \"The 11.29 down hasn't gone by yet. We must let them know at the station， or there'll be a most frightful accident.\"

\"Let's run，\" said Bobbie， and began.

But Peter cried， \"Come back！\" and looked at Mother's watch. \"No time，\" he said， \"it's two miles away， and it's past eleven. If we had anything red， we could get down on the line and wave it.\"

\"But the train wouldn't see us till it got round the corner， and then it could see the mound just as well as us，\" said Phyllis.

\"If we only had something red，\" Peter repeated， \"we could go round the corner and wave to the train.\"

\"We might wave， anyway.\"

\"They'd only think it was just US， as usual. We've waved so often before. Anyway， let's get down.\"

They got down the steep stairs. Phyllis was red-faced. \"Oh， how hot I am！\" she said， \"I wish we hadn't put on our flannel3） petticoats4）.\"

\"Oh， yes，\" Bobbie cried. \"THEY'RE red！ Let's take them off.\"

They did， and with the petticoats rolled up under their arms， ran along the railway. Peter led， but the girls were not far behind. They reached the corner that hid the mound.

\"Now，\" said Peter， taking hold of the largest flannel petticoat.

\"You're not\"—Phyllis faltered5）—\"you're not going to TEAR them？\"

\"Shut up，\" said Peter.

\"Oh， yes，\" said Bobbie， \"tear them into little bits if you like. Don't you see， Phil， if we can't stop the train， there'll be a real live accident， with people KILLED. Oh， horrible！\"

Peter divided each petticoat into three pieces. \"Now， we've got six flags.\" He looked at the watch again. \"And we've got seven minutes. We must have flagstaffs6）.\" The young saplings7） had to be broken off. Two came up by the roots. The leaves were stripped from them.

\"We must cut holes in the flags， and run the sticks through the holes，\" said Peter. And the holes were cut. Two of the flags were set up in heaps of loose stones between the sleepers8） of the down line. Then Phyllis and Roberta took each a flag. \"I shall have the other two myself，\" said Peter.

Perhaps Peter had not rightly calculated the number of minutes it would take the 11.29 to get from the station to the place where they were， or perhaps the train was late. Anyway， it seemed a very long time that they waited.

And Bobbie began to feel sick. Her hands grew very cold and trembled so that she could hardly hold the flag. And then came the distant rumble9） and hum10） of the metals.

\"Stand firm，\" said Peter， \"and wave like mad！ When it gets to that big furze11） bush step back， but go on waving！ Don't stand ON the line， Bobbie！\"

The train came along very， very fast.

\"They don't see us！ They won't see us！ It's all no good！\" cried Bobbie.

The two little flags on the line swayed12） as the train shook and loosened the heaps of loose stones. One of them fell on the line. Bobbie jumped forward and caught it up， and waved it； her hands did not tremble now.

\"Keep off the line， you silly cuckoo！\" said Peter.

But Bobbie cried， \"Not yet， not yet！\" and waved her two flags right over the line.

\"Oh， stop， stop， stop！\" cried Bobbie. No one heard her. At least Peter and Phyllis didn't， for the oncoming rush of the train covered the sound of her voice with a mountain of sound. But afterwards she used to wonder whether the engine itself had not heard her. It seemed almost as though it had—for it slackened13）swiftly， slackened and stopped， not twenty yards from the place where Bobbie's two flags waved over the line. She saw the great black engine stop dead， but somehow she could not stop waving the flags. And when the driver and the fireman had got off the engine and Peter and Phyllis had gone to meet them and pour out their excited tale of the awful mound just round the corner， Bobbie still waved the flags but more and more feebly14） and jerkily15）.

When the others turned towards her she was lying across the line with her hands flung forward and still gripping the sticks of the little red flannel flags.

“看，”彼得突然大叫，“那邊的那棵樹！”

“它在動！”伯比大喊，“哎呀，看啊！其他的樹也在動！”

“全都在往下滑。”彼得竭力想說，卻發現自己幾乎發不出一點兒聲音。事實上，就在他說這話的時候，石頭、樹木、青草和灌木全都滑落了下來，笨拙地砸落到了鐵軌上。

“看啊，落了好大一堆！”伯比說。

“是啊。”彼得慢悠悠地說，然后站了起來。“11：29的下行列車還沒有經過這里，我們必須得讓車站的人知道，要不然就會發生一場很恐怖的車禍。”

“我們跑著去吧。”伯比說著就跑了起來。

但彼得卻大喊：“回來！”他看了眼媽媽的手表。“來不及了，”他說，“車站離這兒有兩英里，而且現在已經過了11點了。我們要是有紅色的東西，就可以跑下去到鐵軌上揮動它。”

“可是火車要拐過彎來才會看到我們，那時他們不光能看見我們，也同樣能看到那個大土堆了。”菲莉絲說。

“要是我們有紅色的東西就好了，”彼得重復道，“我們就能到拐彎的地方，朝著火車揮動它。”

“至少我們可以揮揮手啊。”

“他們只會覺得那不過是我們而已，就像平常一樣。我們以前就經常朝火車揮手。不管怎樣，我們先下去吧。”

他們下了那陡峭的臺階，菲莉絲滿臉通紅。“哦，熱死我了！”她說，“我真希望我們沒穿這些法蘭絨襯裙。”

“哎呀，對啊，”伯比大喊，“裙子是紅色的！我們把裙子脫下來吧。”

她們脫下裙子，把它們卷起來夾在胳膊底下，然后沿著鐵路跑。彼得打頭，但女孩們也沒落下多遠。他們來到正好擋住了那個大土堆的拐彎處。

“現在。”彼得手里握著那條最大的法蘭絨襯裙說。

“你不是，”菲莉絲結結巴巴地說，“你不是要把它們撕開吧？”

“閉嘴。”彼得說。

“哦，好吧，”伯比說，“如果你想這樣做就把它們撕成小塊吧。菲爾（編注：菲莉絲的昵稱），難道你還不明白，如果我們不能使那趟火車停下來，就會有一場真實的車禍上演，會死人的。哦，太可怕了！”

彼得將每一條襯裙撕成了三片。“現在，我們就有六面旗子了。”他又看了一眼表。“我們還有七分鐘。我們還得有旗桿。”他們只得去折小樹苗了。兩棵樹苗被他們連根拔起，上面的葉子也被擼掉了。

“我們必須在這些旗子上戳幾個洞，再把樹枝穿過去。”彼得說著在旗子上戳了幾個洞出來。然后他們將兩面旗子插在下行鐵路兩條枕木中間那堆松散的石頭上。接著菲莉絲和羅伯塔（譯注：伯比的大名）一人拿了一面旗子。“另外兩面旗子我來拿。”彼得說。

或許是彼得沒有算對11：29的下行列車從火車站開到他們現在待的地方需要的分鐘數，又或許是火車晚點了。總之，他們似乎等了很長一段時間。

伯比開始覺得難受了。她的手變得十分冰涼，還不住地顫抖，幾乎都拿不住旗子了。正在那時，遠處傳來金屬碰撞鐵軌發出的隆隆聲。

“站穩了，”彼得說，“拼命揮旗子！當火車開到那株巨大的荊豆灌木時就向后退，但一定要接著揮旗子！別站在鐵軌上，伯比！”

火車一路前行，開得很快，很快。

“他們沒有看見我們！他們不會看見我們的！這樣一點兒用也沒有！”伯比叫道。

火車引起的震動使得鐵路上原本就松松垮垮的那堆石頭愈發松散，插在上面的那兩面小旗也因此搖搖晃晃，其中一面倒在了鐵軌上。伯比向前一躍將它撿起來，握在手里揮動起來，她的手現在不抖了。

“快離開鐵軌，你這個傻妞！”彼得說。

但伯比一邊大喊道：“還不行，還不行！”一邊站在鐵軌上揮動著她手里的兩面旗子。

“喂，停下，停下，停下！”伯比大喊。沒有人聽見她的喊聲。至少彼得和菲莉絲沒有聽見，因為迎面沖過來的火車發出的巨大轟鳴聲蓋住了她的聲音。但事后她總想知道是否火車頭沒有聽見她的聲音。看上去就好像是火車頭聽見了她的聲音似的，因為它迅速減速，減速，并停在了距離伯比在鐵路上揮動兩面旗子的位置不到20碼的地方。她看見那個巨大的黑色火車頭完全停下來了，但不知為何她卻無法停止揮動手里的旗子。當火車司機和司爐工從火車頭上下來時，彼得和菲莉絲早已迎上前去，激動地向他們講述拐彎處出現那堆可怕東西的事情，而此時伯比還在揮動著旗子，不過越來越沒有力氣，越來越不穩。

當其他人轉向伯比時，她正橫躺在鐵路上，雙手耷拉在身前，手里還緊緊握著插有那兩面小小的紅色法蘭絨旗子的棍子。

1.blundering [?bl?nd?r??] adj. 極笨拙的

2.mound [ma?nd] n. 一大堆；土墩，小丘

3.flannel [?fl?nl] n. 法蘭絨

4.petticoat [?pet?k??t] n. 襯裙

5.falter [?f??lt?（r）] vt. 結結巴巴地說；支支吾吾地說

6.flagstaff [?fl?ɡstɑ?f] n. 旗桿

7.sapling [?s?pl??] n. 樹苗；幼樹

8.sleeper [?sli?p?（r）] n. <英>枕木

9.rumble [?r?mbl] n. 隆隆聲

10.hum [h?m] n. 嗡嗡聲

11.furze [f??z] n. [植]荊豆（花）

12.sway [swe?] vi. 搖擺；搖動

13.slacken [?sl?k?n] vi. 放慢

14.feebly [?fi?bli] adv. 無力地

15.jerkily [?d???k?li] adv. 不平穩地；時斷時續地