The Butterfiy in a Bottle瓶中的蝴蝶

Sanyukta Chaudhuri

楊舟選譯

Poltu was wide awake in his bed. He had had a good dream in which he had won thefootball match in the inter-school competition. He was getting ready to receive the trophy lwhen the alarm rang. So loudly that he was woken up.

波爾圖在床上完全清醒過來。他做了一個美妙的夢，夢見自己在校際足球比賽中獲勝。他正準備領取獎杯時，鬧鐘響了。聲音太大，他被吵醒了。

But Poltu wasn't too unhappy at the intrusion 2. He ran straight to his study table. There，in an empty jam bottle， was the treasure.A colourful little butterfly. How difficult it had beento catch it.It had kept flying away from his grasp. But he did catch it.Without a net. too.And now it was going to be part of his biology project in school.

但波爾圖對這次打擾并沒有太大不滿。他徑直跑到書桌旁。在那里，在一個空果醬瓶里，有他的寶藏。那是一只彩色的小蝴蝶。抓住它是多么困難呀。它一直想從他的手中飛走，但他抓住了它，也沒有用網。現在它將成為他在學校生物課題的一部分。

The biology prOJect required Poltu to hand in a report of the study of a living creatureevery month. Most of his classmates drew diagrams3 from their books as part of this exercise.But Poltu was going to do something different. He was going to present a live creature-thisbutterfly.

生物課題要求波爾圖每月提交一份關于某個生物的研究報告。他的大多數同學都照著書本上的一些圖表畫，作為這個練習的一部分。但是波爾圖要做些與眾不同的事情。他要展示一個活生生的生物——這只蝴蝶。

Poltu loved the different colours on the wings of the butterfly. Red， green and blue. Howbeautiful it looked when it fluttered4 the wings. Poltu had made a few holes on the cap of thebottle to let air pass through， and added tender5 leaves for the butterfly. He might havetrapped the creature， but he cared for it.

波爾圖喜歡蝴蝶翅膀上不同的顏色。紅、綠、藍。當它振動翅膀時，它看起來多么美麗啊。波爾圖在瓶蓋上打了幾個洞讓空氣流通，還為這只蝴蝶加了些嫩葉。他困住了這個生物，但他很關心它。

Excited about showing his butterfly to the biology teacher， Poltu dressed hurriedly， andleft for school. His school was walking distance from his house. He took a short cut throughthe backyard of Aunty Sinha's house. a stretch he loved walking through. The breeze 6 wasvery pleasant as it had rained slightly the night before. The garden smelt of sweet-smellingflowers. Poltu glanced at his bottle every now and then and smiled at the butterfly flutteringt its

波爾圖對于向生物老師展示他的蝴蝶這件事兒感到興奮，他匆匆穿好衣服，動身去上學。學校離他家僅幾步之遙。他抄近路穿過辛哈阿姨家的后院，這是他喜歡走的一段路。微風很宜人，因為前一晚稍微下了點雨。花園里飄蕩著花的芬芳。波爾圖時不時地瞥一眼他的瓶子，對著那只振翅的蝴蝶笑。

When he reached school， gate wasn't wholly open yet. For once Poltu was early toschool.A few boys were playing football in the field. Any other day you would have seen Poltujoining them without a second thought. But today. he walked straight into his class. He openedthe window and placed the bottle on the windowsi117.

當他到達學校時，大門還沒完全打開。波爾圖這一次到校很早。幾個男孩正在操場上踢足球。其他任何一天你都會看到波爾圖不假思索地加入他們。但今天，他徑直走進教室。他打開窗戶，把瓶子放在了窗臺上。

The golden ravs of the sun streamed through the glass， on the colourful wings of thebutterflv， and added a sheen 8 to them. In a few minutes. the area was full of boys. even fromthe other seclions， gaping at lt.

金色的陽光透過玻璃灑在蝴蝶彩色的翅膀上，給它們增添了光彩。幾分鐘后，這里就擠滿了盯著蝴蝶看的男孩，甚至有其他班上的男孩。

That day's biology class was the most interesting in a long time. Poltu's teacher was veryhappy with his initiative 9 and asked everyone in class to thank him as he had made it possiblefor them to study a butterfly so closely. Poltu felt like a star for being treated like royalty 10.

那天的生物課是很長一段時間以來最有趣的一節。波爾圖的老師對他的積極性非常滿意，并讓班上的每個人都感謝他，因為他使他們能夠如此近距離地研究一只蝴蝶。受到好似皇室成員一般的待遇，波爾圖覺得自己像個明星。

While going back home， he again took his favourite route through Aunty Sinha's garden.In the bottle. the butterfly still fluttered its wings. On the way， whatever small creature Poltucame across. he felt like putting it into the bottle. Buthe checked himself as he wanted to give breathingspace to his butterfly。

回家的時候，他又走了他最喜歡的路線，穿過辛哈阿姨的花園。在瓶子里，蝴蝶仍然在拍打著翅膀。在路上，波爾圖無論遇到什么小東西，都想把它放進瓶子里。但他克制住了，因為他想給他的蝴蝶喘息的空間。

Poltu woke up around midnight suddenly. He went to the studv table and lightly pattedthe lid 11 of the bottle. The butterfly did not move. Poltu thought it must be sleeping. He shookthe bottle some more， but still no response. Poltu was scared all of a sudden. He poured alittle water from the drinking-glass in his table into the bottle.

波爾圖在午夜時分突然醒來。他走到書桌旁，輕輕地拍了拍瓶蓋。蝴蝶一動不動。波爾圖認為它一定在睡覺。他又搖了搖瓶子，但蝴蝶還是沒有反應。波爾圖突然嚇了一跳。他從桌上的玻璃水杯里倒了一點點水到瓶子里。

The water seemed to help as the butterfly shivered 12 a little. Poltu breathed a sigh 13 0frelief 14. Sitting on his bed， he stared at the bottle for a long time. The butterfly was stillagam.

蝴蝶微微顫抖，水似乎起了作用。波爾圖松了一口氣。他坐在床上，盯著瓶子看了很久。蝴蝶又安靜了下來。

After a while Poltu got up， and， holding the bottle tightly in his hand， ran outside. Theair was so fresh and cool. He went to the backyard of his house， quickly opened the lid of thebottle and started shaking it gently. The butterfly started to move， but slowly， as if wakingfrom a deep sleep. It stopped on the edge of the bottle and flapped 15 its colourful wings. Itwaited there for a long time. Poltu also waited.

過了一會兒，波爾圖站起來，手里緊緊地攥著瓶子，跑了出去。空氣是如此清新涼爽。他跑到自家后院，迅速打開瓶蓋，開始輕輕搖晃瓶子。蝴蝶開始移動，但是很慢，就像正從沉睡中醒來。它停在了瓶子的邊緣，拍動著彩色的翅膀。它在那兒停了很久。波爾圖也在等著。

All of a sudden it began to flutter its wings. To Poltu， the tiny noise of the flutteringwings was musical. Suddenly there was a loud dull sound behind him， and he turned around.A coconut 16 had fallen from the tree. When Poltu looked at the bottle again， he found thebutterfly gone. He sat staring at the empty bottle for a while， feeling a little empty himself.But he was happy that he had sent the butterfly back to where it belonged-nature.

突然，它開始扇動翅膀。對波爾圖來說，這拍動翅膀的微小聲音十分悅耳。突然，波爾圖身后傳來一聲沉悶的巨響，他轉過頭去。是一顆椰子從樹上掉了下來。波爾圖再次看向瓶子，發現蝴蝶不見了。他坐那兒盯著空瓶子看了一會兒，覺得心里空落落的。但他很高興，因為他把蝴蝶送回了屬于它的地方——大自然。

（英語原文選自：pitara.com）

[Note]

1.trophy [?tr??f?]n，獎品

2.intrusion [?n?tru???n] n.打擾;侵擾

3.diagram [?da???ɡr?m] n.圖表

4.flutter[?fl?t?] v.撲動;鼓翼

5.tender[?tend?] adj.脆弱的;嫩的6 breeze [bri?z] n.微風

7.widowsill [?w?nd???s?l] n.窗臺

8.sheen [?i?n] n.光澤，光彩

9.initiative[?n????t?v] n.積極性

10. royalty [?r???lt?] n.皇室

I1. lid [l?d] n.蓋子

12. shiver [???v?] v.顫抖

13.sigh [sa?] n.嘆息

14. relief [r??li?f] n·寬慰;安心

15. flap[fl?p]v.拍動

16. coconut [?k??k??n?t] n.椰子