Charlotte’s Web（Ⅱ）

◎E.B.White

在農(nóng)場中，時間一天天過去，威爾伯的日常生活也變得悠閑而愜意。然而，老羊的突然拜訪，卻讓威爾伯和他的伙伴芬震驚不已，同時也讓威爾伯陷入了恐懼和絕望之中。

Track 9

As the days went by, Wilbur grew and grew.He ate three big meals a day.He spent long hours lying on his side, half asleep, dreaming pleasant dreams.He enjoyed good health and he gained a lot of weight.One afternoon, when Fern was sitting on her stool, the oldest sheep walked into the barn, and stopped to pay a call on Wilbur.

“Hello!” she said.“Seems to me you’re putting on weight.”

“Yes, I guess I am,” replied Wilbur.“At my age it’s a good idea to keep gaining.”

“Just the same, I don’t envy you,” said the old sheep.“You know why they’re1)fattening you up, don’t you?”

“No,” said Wilbur.

“Well, I don’t like to spread bad news,”said the sheep, “but they’re fattening you up because they’re going to kill you.That’s why.”

“They’re going to what?”2)screamed Wilbur.Fern grew3)rigid on her stool.

“Kill you.Turn you into smoked bacon and ham,” continued the old sheep.

“Almost all young pigs get murdered by the farmer as soon as the real cold weather sets in.There’s a regular4)conspiracy around here to kill you at Christmas time.Everybody is in the plot—Lurvy, Zuckerman,even John Arable.”

1) fattenv.養(yǎng)肥；使充實

2) screamv.尖叫；高聲喊

3) rigidadj.僵硬的

4) conspiracyn.陰謀；密謀

很多天過去了，威爾伯長了又長。他一天的食量相當于三頭豬的食量了。他把時間都花在躺著、小睡和做美夢上。他的身體非常健康，體重也增長了許多。一天下午，當芬正在她的凳子上坐著時，那只老羊走到谷倉來拜訪威爾伯。

“你好！”她說，“我看你好像正在變胖。”

“是的，我想是，”威爾伯回答，“在我這個年紀胖起來是好事兒。”

“雖然如此，可我卻不嫉妒你，”老羊說，“你知道他們?yōu)槭裁匆涯沭B(yǎng)這么胖嗎？”

“不知道。”威爾伯說。

“呃，我不喜歡傳播壞消息，”老羊說，“但我還是要告訴你，他們喂胖你，其實是為了將來殺你，這就是原因。”

“他們將來要做什么？”威爾伯尖叫。坐在凳子上的芬也聽呆了。

“殺死你。把你做成腌肉和火腿。”老羊繼續(xù)說，“幾乎所有年輕的小豬等到冬天來了的時候都會被農(nóng)場主宰殺。這里有個盡人皆知的陰謀，就是你將在圣誕節(jié)被殺掉。每個人都在參與這個計劃——魯維、祖克曼，甚至約翰·阿拉貝爾。”