评论
打印
Chapter Nine The Island Of The Voices
第九章 声岛
And now the winds which had so long been from the north-west began to blow from the west itself and every morning when the sun rose out of the sea the curved prow of the Dawn Treader stood up right across the middle of the sun.
刮了好多天西北风之后开始刮西风了。每天早上太阳从海平面升起, 黎明踏浪号的雕花船头就正好对着太阳。
Some thought that the sun looked larger than it looked from Narnia, but others disagreed.
有人觉得这里的太阳看上去比纳尼亚的大, 有的人不这么认为。
And they sailed and sailed before a gentle yet steady breeze and saw neither fish nor gull-nor ship nor shore.
他们就这样顺着风航行, 风虽小, 风向倒也不变。看不见鱼和海鸥, 看不见船, 也看不见海岸。
And stores began to get low again, and it crept into their hearts that perhaps they might have come to a sea which went on for ever.
船上的食物储备又开始变少, 大家心里偷偷地想, 也许他们要开到一个永远都到不了岸的大海。
But when the very last day on which they thought they could risk continuing their eastward voyage dawned, it showed, right ahead between them and the sunrise, a low land lying like a cloud.
就在最后一天, 他们本以为还要继续东航, 天刚刚明亮, 就看见前面有一片云层似的低矮陆地, 横亘在船和日出的海平线之间。
They made harbour in a wide bay about the middle of the afternoon and landed. It was a very different country from any they had yet seen.
大约在下午三点, 他们把船停靠在一个宽阔的海湾, 然后上了岸。这里与他们去过的地方都不一样。
For when they had crossed the sandy beach they found all silent and empty as if it were an uninhabited land, but before them there were level lawns in which the grass was as smooth and short as it used to be in the grounds of a great English house where ten gardeners were kept.
当他们走过沙滩时, 发现四下一片寂静, 空空荡荡, 像是个无人的荒岛。可是他们面前却是平坦的草地, 上面的草又短又柔滑, 就像英国名门大户有十个园丁侍弄的庭院一样。
The trees, of which there were many, all stood well apart from one another, and there were no broken branches and no leaves lying on the ground.
好多树木, 两两之间距离非常均匀, 地上没有断枝残叶。
Pigeons sometimes cooed but there was no other noise.
除了咕咕的鸽子叫, 没有别的声音。
Presently they came to a long, straight, sanded path with not a weed growing on it and trees on either hand.
他们很快来到一条又长又直的由沙子铺成的林荫道。路面上没有一棵草, 路的两边都栽满树。
Far off at the other end of this avenue they now caught sight of a house--very long and grey and quiet--looking in the afternoon sun.
在林荫道的尽头他们看见一排房子----长长的一排, 灰色的屋顶, 在午后的阳光下特别安静。
Almost as soon as they entered this path Lucy noticed that she had a little stone in her shoe.
就在他们要经过这条路的时候, 露茜觉得鞋里面有颗小石头。
In that unknown place it might have been wiser for her to ask the others to wait while she took it out.
在那种情况, 她本该让其他人等着她取出石头, 可是她没有。
But she didn't;she just dropped quietly behind and sat down to take off her shoe. Her lace had got into a knot.
她脱下鞋, 鞋带打结了, 就这样不经意落在后面了。
Before she had undone the knot the others were a fair distance ahead.
还没等她解开鞋带, 别人已经走了很远了。
By the time she had got the stone out and was putting the shoe on again she could no longer hear them.
等她掏出石头, 再穿上鞋, 周围已经没有了其他人的声音。
But almost at once she heard something else. It was not coming from the direction of the house.
然而她听到了其他的声音, 但是这声音不是从那一排房子那里传来的。
What she heard was a thumping. It sounded as if dozens of strong workmen were hitting the ground as hard as they could with great wooden mallets.
她听到一阵"砰砰砰"的声音, 像有十几个身强力壮的工人抡着大锤捶打地面,
And it was very quickly coming nearer.
而且声音越来越近。
She was already sitting with her back to a tree, and as the tree was not one she could climb, there was really nothing to do but to sit dead still and press herself against the tree and hope she wouldn't be seen.
她背靠着一棵树坐着, 爬不上去, 也只好一动不动地坐着, 紧紧贴着树, 希望那些人看不到她。
Thump, thump, thump... and whatever it was must be very close now for she could feel the ground shaking.
砰、砰、砰……虽然她不知道这是什么声音, 但是那声音越来越近, 她甚至感觉地面在震动,
But she could see nothing. She thought the thing-or things must be just behind her.
可是她什么也看不见。她甚至觉得那东西----或者那些东西----就在她身后。
But then there came a thump on the path right in front of her.
但她面前的小路突然又传来"砰"的一声,
She knew it was on the path not only by the sound but because she saw the sand scatter as if it had been struck a heavy blow.
她不仅听到声音还看到路面上尘土飞扬, 她突然想到声音来自那条小路,
But she could see nothing that had struck it.
可是她看不到是什么在击打地面。
Then all the thumping noises drew together about twenty feet away from her and suddenly ceased. Then came the Voice.
很快所有的"砰砰"声都集中到一起, 在离她大约二十英尺的地方突然停了, 只听到一些说话声。
It was really very dreadful because she could still see nobody at all.
真是太可怕了, 因为她一个人也看不见。
The whole of that park-like country still looked as quiet and empty as it had looked when they first landed.
整个公园就像之前他们刚登上小岛那样寂静和空旷。
