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"Well, that's rather a delicate question, "said the Magician.
"这个, 一两句说不清, "魔法师说,
"You see, it's only they who think they were so nice to look at before. They say they've been uglified, but that isn't what I called it.
"要知道, 只有他们觉得自己从前好看。他们说他们被变丑了, 可是我并不觉得,
Many people might say the change was for the better. "
好多人反而变好看了呢。"
"Are they awfully conceited ?"
"他们一直都这样自以为是吗?"
"They are. Or at least the Chief Duffer is, and he's taught all the rest to be. They always believe every word he says. "
"他们就是这样。至少为首的那家伙是这样, 他把其他人都教得跟他一样。他说什么, 他们就信什么。"
"We'd noticed that, "said Lucy.
"我看出来了。"露茜说。
"Yes-we'd get on better without him, in a way.
"是啊, 所以说, 没有他的话我们日子会更好。
Of course I could turn him into something else, or even put a spell on him which would make them not believe a word he said.
当然我能把他变成其他东西, 或者念一种咒语, 使他们对他一句话都不信。
But I don't like to do that. It's better for them to admire him than to admire nobody. "
可是我不想这么做, 还是让他们崇拜他吧, 总比对谁都不崇拜的好。"
"Don't they admire you ?"asked Lucy.
"难道他们不崇拜你吗?"露茜问。
"Oh, not me, "said the Magician. "They wouldn't admire me. "
"哎呀, 才不会呢, "魔法师说, "他们不愿崇拜我。"
"What was it you uglified them for-I mean, what they call uglified ?"
"你为什么把他们变丑----我的意思是, 他们所谓的变丑?"
"Well, they wouldn't do what they were told.
"说起来, 是他们自己不听话。
Their work is to mind the garden and raise food-not for me, as they imagine, but for themselves.
让他们照料照料花园, 种种粮食----不是像他们想象的那样, 那并不是为我, 而是为他们自己。
They wouldn't do it at all if I didn't make them.
要是我不逼迫他们干, 他们就不干。
And of course for a garden you want water. There is a beautiful spring about half a mile away up the hill.
打理花园当然少不了浇水, 山上大约半英里就有眼山泉,
And from that spring there flows a stream which comes right past the garden.
有条小溪从山泉一直流到花园旁。
All I asked them to do was to take their water from the stream instead of trudging up to the spring with their buckets two or three times a day and tiring themselves out besides spilling half of it on the way back.
我只是让他们从这条小溪里取水, 用不着一天两三回提着水桶, 爬上山到泉眼里打水再筋疲力尽的回来, 路上还会洒掉一半。
But they wouldn't see it. In the end they refused point blank. "
可是他们死活都不明白, 到最后他们直接不干了。"
"Are they as stupid as all that ?"asked Lucy.
"他们真的那么笨吗?"露茜问。
The Magician sighed. "You wouldn't believe the troubles I've had with them.
他叹了口气, 说："他们惹的麻烦, 说了你也不信。
A few months ago they were all for washing up the plates and knives before dinner: they said it saved time afterwards.
两三个月前, 饭前他们就去洗餐盘和刀子, 说这可以节约时间, 说饭后就不用洗了。
I've caught them planting boiled potatoes to save cooking them when they were dug up.
有一回他们刨地, 我发现他们在种煮熟的土豆, 说是吃的时候就不用煮了。
One day the cat got into the dairy and twenty of them were at work moving all the milk out; no one thought of moving the cat.
有一天猫溜进了牛奶房, 他们二十个人把牛奶桶搬了出来, 谁都没想过把猫赶出去。
But I see you've finished. Let's go and look at the Duffers now they can be looked at. "
唉, 我看你吃完了。那我们去看看这些笨蛋现在的样子吧。"
They went into another room which was full of polished instruments hard to understand-such as Astrolabes, Orreries, Chronoscopes, Poesimeters, Choriambuses and Theodolinds-and here, when they had come to the window, the Magician said, "There. There are your Duffers. "
他们走进一间房间, 里面全是让人搞不明白的仪表器具, 被擦得铮亮铮亮的。比如测天体位置的星盘、太阳系仪、瞬时仪、节奏测量仪、韵律计算仪, 经纬仪, 等等。他们走到窗口, 魔法师说："瞧, 这就是你要看的笨蛋。"
"I don't see anybody, "said Lucy. "And what are those mushroom things ?"
"我什么人都没看见啊, "露茜说, "那些长得像蘑菇的东西是什么?"
The things she pointed at were dotted all over the level grass.
她说的是草地上的那些东西。
They were certainly very like mushrooms, but far too big-the stalks about three feet high and the umbrellas about the same length from edge to edge.
确实很像蘑菇, 可是个头要大得多, 伞柄约三英尺高, 伞盖的直径也有这么长。
When she looked carefully she noticed too that the stalks joined the umbrellas not in the middle but at one side which gave an unbalanced look to them.
她仔细一看, 才发现蘑菇柄不是在伞盖中间, 而是偏在一边, 看上去不对称。
And there was something-a sort of little bundle-lying on the grass at the foot of each stalk.
每根蘑菇根部都有什么东西像一个小包袱一样躺在草地上。
In fact the longer she gazed at them the less like mushrooms they appeared.
这些东西越看越不像蘑菇。
The umbrella part was not really round as she had thought at first.
正如她开头所想, 伞盖部分并不圆,
It was longer than it was broad, and it widened at one end. There were a great many of them, fifty or more.
直径不一样长。有好多, 差不多有五十多个。
The clock struck three.
时钟敲响三声。
Instantly a most extraordinary thing happened.
离奇的事发生了。
Each of the"mushrooms"suddenly turned upside-down.
所有"蘑菇"忽然一下子都颠倒过来了。
The little bundles which had lain at the bottom of the stalks were heads and bodies.
根部的小包袱原来是脑袋和身子,
The stalks themselves were legs. But not two legs to each body.
柄是腿, 但不是每个身子都长着两条腿。
Each body had a single thick leg right under it(not to one side like the leg of a one-legged man)and at the end of it, a single enormous foot-a broadtoed foot with the toes curling up a little so that it looked rather like a small canoe.
每个身子下面只长着一条粗腿, 腿下是一只奇大无比的脚, 脚趾很粗, 略为上翘, 像一只小小的独木舟。
She saw in a moment why they had looked like mushrooms.
露茜突然就明白为什么看上去像蘑菇了。
They had been lying flat on their backs each with its single leg straight up in the air and its enormous foot spread out above it.
原来他们都仰天平躺在地上, 把那条独脚伸出来, 大脚正好在身子上面。
