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She set out on her journey. The carpet was so thick that her feet made no noise.
她的每一步都越来越难走, 地毯很厚, 所以她踩上去没有声音。
"There's nothing whatever to be afraid of yet, "Lucy told herself.
"没有什么好怕的。"露茜暗自说。
And certainly it was a quiet, sunlit passage; perhaps a bit too quiet.
这条走廊非常安静, 太安静了。
It would have been nicer if there had not been strange signs painted in scarlet on the doors twisty, complicated things which obviously had a meaning and it mightn't be a very nice meaning either.
如果那些门上没漆着猩红的古怪符号会更好。因为这些符号歪歪扭扭, 非常复杂, 显然有什么含义, 可能是不好的含义。
It would have been nicer still if there weren't those masks hanging on the wall.
要是墙上没挂着那些面具就好了, 倒不是说那些面具丑陋不堪,
Not that they were exactly ugly-or not so very ugly-but the empty eye-holes did look queer, and if you let yourself you would soon start imagining that the masks were doing things as soon as your back was turned to them.
其实并不丑, 只是面具上那些空洞的眼窝看上去真的很奇怪。如果任由暇想, 立刻就会想到自己一个转身, 面具就会向自己袭来。
After about the sixth door she got her first real fright.
走到第六扇门, 她才真正被吓了一跳。
For one second she felt almost certain that a wicked little bearded face had popped out of the wall and made a grimace at her.
刹那间她看到一张长着胡子, 邪气十足的小脸冲出墙壁, 对她做个鬼脸。
She forced herself to stop and look at it. And it was not a face at all.
她勉强站住, 望着鬼脸。原来这不是一张脸,
It was a little mirror just the size and shape of her own face, with hair on the top of it and a beard hanging down from it, so that when you looked in the mirror your own face fitted into the hair and beard and it looked as if they belonged to you.
而是一面小镜子, 大小形状跟她的脸差不多, 镜子上边有头发, 下端挂着一把胡子, 所以朝镜子里一看, 她的脸就正好配上头发和胡子, 看上去像长在她头上似的。
"I just caught my own reflection with the tail of my eye as I went past, "said Lucy to herself.
"我只是走过去时看见自己的影子, "露茜暗自说,
"That was all it was. It's quite harmless. "But she didn't like the look of her own face with that hair and beard, and went on.
"原来是这么回事, 没事的。"不过她并不喜欢自己的脸长着那种头发和胡子, 继续往前走。
(I don't know what the Bearded Glass was for because I am not a magician. )
( 我不是魔法师, 不知道长胡子的镜子能有什么用处)
Before she reached the last door on the left, Lucy was beginning to wonder whether the corridor had grown longer since she began her journey and whether this was part of the magic of the house.
露茜还没走到最后一扇门, 心里开始纳闷, 这条走廊好像越来越长了, 这会不会是魔法的一部分呢。
But she got to it at last. And the door was open.
可是她终究走到了, 门敞开着。
It was a large room with three big windows and it was lined from floor to ceiling with books; more books than Lucy had ever seen before, tiny little books, fat and dumpy books, and books bigger than any church Bible you have ever seen, all bound in leather and smelling old and learned and magical.
这是间大房间, 有三扇窗, 一排排的书从地板上一直堆到天花板。露茜从来没见过这么多书, 有的书小巧玲珑, 有的书笨重厚实, 有的书比你见过的任何教堂的《圣经》还要大, 全是皮面精装的, 弥漫着一股陈旧的书卷气和魔法的味道。
But she knew from her instructions that she need not bother about any of these.
还好已经有人跟她说过了, 她用不着为哪一本书操心。
For the Book, the Magic Book, was lying on a reading-desk in the very middle of the room. She saw she would have to read it standing(and anyway there were no chairs)and also that she would have to stand with her back to the door while she read it. So at once she turned to shut the door.
因为那本魔法书就被放在房间中间的书桌上。她得站着看( 反正没有椅子), 而且她看书时得背对着门站着, 于是她马上转身去关门。
It wouldn't shut.
可是门却关不上。
Some people may disagree with Lucy about this, but I think she was quite right.
肯定会有人不赞成露茜这么做, 可是我却认为她这么做没错。
She said she wouldn't have minded if she could have shut the door, but that it was unpleasant to have to stand in a place like that with an open doorway right behind your back.
她说她感觉关上门就不那么担心了, 因为如果你站在一个背对着门口的地方读书, 而门是打开的, 你总会觉得不自在。
I should have felt just the same. But there was nothing else to be done.
我也有这样的感觉, 但是又没其他的办法。
One thing that worried her a good deal was the size of the Book.
有一件事情很伤脑筋, 因为那本书很厚,
The Chief Voice had not been able to give her any idea whereabouts in the Book the spell for making things visible came.
那个为首的隐形人没告诉她那段咒语在哪一页。
He even seemed rather surprised at her asking. He expected her to begin at the beginning and go on till she came to it; obviously he had never thought that there was any other way of finding a place in a book.
他听到她这么问却非常惊讶, 因为他的意思是让她从头看起, 直到看到咒语。很显然他没想过能在目录里查找这一段。
"But it might take me days and weeks !"said Lucy, looking at the huge volume, "and I feel already as if I'd been in this place for hours. "
"这样也许要花上我好几天, 甚至好几个星期。"露茜看着那本厚书说, "我觉得我好像已经在这里待了好几个小时了。"
She went up to the desk and laid her hand on the book;her fingers tingled when she touched it as if it were full of electricity.
她走到书桌前, 把手放在书上。可是手刚碰到书, 就像被电击了一样。
She tried to open it but couldn't at first; this, however, was only because it was fastened by two leaden clasps, and when she had undone these it opened easily enough.
她试图打开那本书, 可是刚开始怎么也打不开。因为这本书被两个铅制的扣子给夹住了。等她解开那两个扣子, 书才翻得开。
And what a book it was !
多奇怪的书啊!
