獅子·女巫·魔衣櫥

C. S.劉易斯（萬(wàn)潔譯）

“I wish the Macready would hurry up and take all these people away，” said Susan presently. “Im getting horribly cramped.”

“And what a filthy smell of camphor！” said Edmund.

“I expect the pockets of these coats are full of it，” said Susan， “to keep away the moths.”

“Theres something sticking into my back，” said Peter.

“And isnt it cold？” said Susan.

“Now that you mention it， it is cold，” said Peter， “and hang it all， its wet too. Whats the matter with this place？ Im sitting on something wet. Its getting wetter every minute.” He struggled to his feet.

“Lets get out，” said Edmund. “Theyve gone.”

“O-o-oh！” said Susan suddenly， and everyone asked her what was the matter.

“Im sitting against a tree，” said Susan， “and look！ Its getting light—over there.”

“By Jove， youre right，” said Peter， “and look there—and there. Its trees all round. And this wet stuff is snow. Why， I do believe weve got into Lucys wood after all.”

“我真希望麥克雷迪太太趕快把這些人帶走。”不一會(huì)兒，蘇珊就忍不住說(shuō)，“我有點(diǎn)抽筋，真難受。”

“樟腦球的氣味太難聞了！”愛(ài)德蒙接著說(shuō)。

“我倒希望這些大衣的口袋里多放些樟腦球，”蘇珊說(shuō)，“這樣就不會(huì)有衣蟲(chóng)了。”

“有什么東西戳到我背上了。”彼得說(shuō)。

“你們感到冷嗎？”蘇珊?jiǎn)枴?/p>

“你這么一說(shuō)，我倒真覺(jué)得冷了。”彼得說(shuō)，“真該死，這里還有點(diǎn)潮濕呢。這地方到底怎么回事？我坐的地方一下子變得濕漉漉的了。”他一下子跳了起來(lái)。

“我們還是出去吧。”愛(ài)德蒙說(shuō)，“他們已經(jīng)走啦。”

“喲！”蘇珊突然尖叫一聲，大家都問(wèn)她怎么了。

“我正靠著一棵樹(shù)呢。”蘇珊說(shuō)，“看，那邊有亮光了。”

“啊，真的，”彼得說(shuō)，“瞧那兒，還有那兒，到處都是樹(shù)。潮乎乎的東西是雪。啊，我現(xiàn)在覺(jué)得我們一定是到了露茜來(lái)過(guò)的森林里了。”

And now there was no mistaking it and all four children stood blinking in the daylight of a winter day. Behind them were coats hanging on pegs; in front of them were snow-covered trees.

Peter turned at once to Lucy.

“I apologize for not believing you，” he said. “Im sorry. Will you shake hands？”

“Of course，” said Lucy， and did.

“And now，” said Susan， “what do we do next？”

“Do？” said Peter， “Why， go and explore the wood， of course.”

“Ugh！” said Susan， stamping her feet， “Its pretty cold. What about putting on some of these coats？”

“Theyre not ours，” said Peter doubtfully.

“I am sure nobody would mind，” said Susan. “It isnt as if we wanted to take them out of the house; we shant take them even out of the wardrobe.”

“I never thought of that， Su，” said Peter. “Of course， now you put it that way， I see. No one could say you had bagged a coat as long as you leave it in the wardrobe where you found it. And I suppose this whole country is in the wardrobe.”

They immediately carried out Susans very sensible plan. The coats were rather too big for them so that they came down to their heels and looked more like royal robes than coats when they had put them on. But they all felt a good deal warmer and each thought the others looked better in their new get-up and more suitable to the landscape.

彼得的話一點(diǎn)也不錯(cuò)。四個(gè)孩子全站在那兒，在冬天陽(yáng)光的照耀下，他們眨巴著眼睛。他們身后是掛在衣鉤上的外套，面前則是覆蓋著積雪的樹(shù)木。

彼得隨即轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)身看著露茜。

“我以前不相信你說(shuō)的話，”他說(shuō)，“現(xiàn)在我向你道歉。真對(duì)不起，我們握手言和吧，好嗎？”

“好。”露茜一邊說(shuō)，一邊和他握手。

“那么，”蘇珊說(shuō)，“我們下一步該做什么？”

“做什么？”彼得說(shuō)，“還用說(shuō)嗎，當(dāng)然是到森林里去探險(xiǎn)嘍。”

“哦，”蘇珊跺著腳說(shuō)，“多冷呀，拿幾件外套先穿上，你們說(shuō)好嗎？”

“這怎么行，衣服不是我們的。”彼得猶豫不決地說(shuō)。

“我相信沒(méi)人會(huì)在乎那幾件大衣的。”蘇珊說(shuō)，“我們又不把它們穿到屋外去，我們甚至都不算把它們帶出衣櫥。”

“我倒沒(méi)考慮到這一點(diǎn)，蘇珊。”彼得說(shuō)，“要是這樣的話，當(dāng)然可以了。只要我們穿完之后放回原地，就不會(huì)有誰(shuí)說(shuō)我們是小偷了。據(jù)我猜測(cè)，這整個(gè)國(guó)家都在衣櫥里邊。”

于是，他們立即實(shí)施了蘇珊的這個(gè)合情合理的計(jì)劃。衣服太大，套在他們身上，一直垂到腳后跟，就像是穿了皇族的長(zhǎng)袍一樣。但他們都感到暖和多了，相互一打量，也都覺(jué)得這樣打扮顯得更好看了，與周遭天寒地凍的環(huán)境也更相配了。

“We can pretend we are Arctic explorers，” said Lucy.

“This is going to be exciting enough without pretending，” said Peter， as he began leading the way forward into the forest. There were heavy darkish clouds overhead and it looked as if there might be more snow before night.

“I say，” began Edmund presently， “oughtnt we to be bearing a bit more to the left， that is， if we are aiming for the lamp-post？” He had forgotten for the moment that he must pretend never to have been in the wood before. The moment the words were out of his mouth he realized that he had given himself away. Everyone stopped; everyone stared at him.

Peter whistled. “So you really were here，” he said. “That time Lu said shed met you in here—and you made out she was telling lies.”

There was a dead silence. “Well， of all the poisonous little beasts—” said Peter， and shrugged his shoulders and said no more. There seemed， indeed， no more to say， and presently the four resumed their journey; but Edmund was saying to himself， “Ill pay you all out for this， you pack of stuck-up， self-satisfied prigs.”

“我們可以裝扮成北極探險(xiǎn)家。”露茜說(shuō)。

“就這樣，不用什么裝扮，也夠威風(fēng)的了。”彼得一邊說(shuō)，一邊領(lǐng)著大家朝森林前進(jìn)。頭上烏云密布，似乎在傍晚前還要下一場(chǎng)大雪。

“喂，”走了一會(huì)兒以后愛(ài)德蒙說(shuō)，“如果我們要到燈柱那邊去的話，我們就應(yīng)該向左邊走一點(diǎn)兒。”他一時(shí)忘記了必須要裝成以前沒(méi)來(lái)過(guò)這兒的樣子。話剛說(shuō)出口，他就意識(shí)到自己穿幫了。大家都停下腳步盯著他看。

彼得吹了一聲口哨。“這么說(shuō)，你真的到過(guò)這兒。”他說(shuō)，“那次露茜說(shuō)在這兒碰見(jiàn)你，你卻一口咬定她說(shuō)謊。”

接著是死一般的沉寂。“唉，你可真是個(gè)居心叵測(cè)的小人……”彼得說(shuō)著，聳了聳肩膀，就沒(méi)有再說(shuō)什么了。看來(lái)，也確實(shí)沒(méi)有更多的話可說(shuō)了。過(guò)了一會(huì)兒，四個(gè)人又繼續(xù)踏上他們的旅程。愛(ài)德蒙暗暗在想：我總有一天要懲罰你們一下，你們這伙自命不凡的假正經(jīng)！

Word Study

struggle /'str?ɡl/ v. 掙扎脫身

How did she manage to struggle free？

blink /bl??k/ v. 眨眼睛

She was blinking her eyes rapidly.

apologize /?'p?l?d?a?z/ v. 道歉

We apologize for the late departure of this flight.

sensible /'sens?bl/ adj. 合理的;切合實(shí)際的

whistle /'w?sl/ v. 吹口哨