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"How exciting!" said Polly, "I never knew your house was so interesting."[qh]
“真带劲儿！”波莉说，“我从来不知道你们那幢房子这么有趣。”[qh]
"You may think it interesting," said Digory. "But you wouldn't like it if you had to sleep there. How would you like to lie awake listening for Uncle Andrew's step to come creeping along the passage to your room? And he has such awful eyes."[qh]
“你可能觉得有趣，”迪格雷说，“但你要是住在里面，你就不会开心了。你总不愿意半睡半醒的时候，听见安德鲁舅舅的脚步声穿过走廊，悄悄向你走来吧？而且他的眼睛那么令人讨厌。”[qh]
That was how Polly and Digory got to know one another: and as it was just the beginning of the summer holidays and neither of them was going to the sea that year, they met nearly every day.[qh]
暑假刚开始，波莉和迪格雷就这样认识了。他们几乎天天见面，那一年谁也没到海边去。[qh]
Their adventures began chiefly because it was one of the wettest and coldest summers there had been for years. That drove them to do indoor things: you might say, indoor exploration.[qh]
那年夏天是好几年以来最潮湿、最阴冷的夏季，他们的探险便因此揭开了序幕，而他们也只能在室内活动，也就是说，是室内探险。[qh]
It is wonderful how much exploring you can do with a stump of candle in a big house, or in a row of houses.[qh]
点上一截蜡烛，在一幢大房子或一排房子里东寻西探，实在妙不可言。[qh]
Polly had discovered long ago that if you opened a certain little door in the box-room attic of her house you would find the cistern and a dark place behind it which you could get into by a little careful climbing.[qh]
很早以前，波莉就发现，打开她家阁楼全储藏空的小门，就会看见贮水池后面有一块黑乎乎的地方，可以小心翼翼地钻进去。[qh]
The dark place was like a long tunnel with brick wall on one side and sloping roof on the other.[qh]
里面像一条长长的隧道，一边是砖墙，一边是斜屋项。[qh]
In the roof there were little chunks of light between the slates. There was no floor in this tunnel: you had to step from rafter to rafter, and between them there was only plaster.[qh]
屋项上的石板之间有缝隙，透出光线。隧道里没有地板，你必须从一根椽子到另一根橡子，椽子之间只有灰泥。[qh]
If you stepped on this you would find yourself falling through the ceiling of the room below. Polly had used the bit of the tunnel just beside the cistern as a smugglers' cave.[qh]
要是踩在灰泥上，你就会掉入下面的房间。波莉曾将隧道那近水池的那片地方当作“走私者的山洞”。[qh]
She had brought up bits of old packing cases and the seats of broken kitchen chairs, and things of that sort, and spread them across from rafter to rafter so as to make a bit of floor.[qh]
她把一些旧包装箱的散片和破厨房椅的座子一类东西搬上去，搭在椽子之间铺成地板。[qh]
Here she kept a cash-box containing various treasures, and a story she was writing and usually a few apples.[qh]
她还藏了一个钱箱，里面装着各种各样的宝贝，一本她正在写的小说，通常还有几只苹果。[qh]
She had often drunk a quiet bottle of ginger-beer in there: the old bottles made it look more like a smugglers' cave.[qh]
她常进去愉偷地喝上一瓶姜啤酒，废弃的酒瓶使那里看上去更像“走私者的山洞”了。[qh]
Digory quite liked the cave (she wouldn't let him see the story) but he was more interested in exploring.[qh]
迪格雷很套欢那个“山洞”（波莉是不会让他看见那本小说的） ，但他更想去探险。[qh]
"Look here," he said. "How long does this tunnel go on for? I mean, does it stop where your house ends?"[qh]
“唉呀，这条隧道有多长呢，我是说，它到你家房子的边上就为止了吗？”迪格雷问。[qh]
"No," said Polly. "The walls don't go out to the roof. It goes on. I don't know how far."[qh]
“不，”波莉说，“墙并没有在屋顶那儿为止。我也不知道隧道有多长。”[qh]
"Then we could get the length of the whole row of houses." "So we could," said Polly, "And oh, I say!" "What?" "We could get into the other houses."[qh]
“那么，我们可以把整排房子都走通。”“是的。”波莉说，“哎呀！”“怎么了？"“我们可以走到别人的房子里去嘛！”[qh]
"Yes, and get taken up for burglars! No thanks." "Don't be so jolly clever. I was thinking of the house beyond yours." "What about it?"[qh]
“是的，然后再被人当成夜盗抓起来！这可不好玩。”“别自作聪明，我刚才在想你家后面的那修房子。”“什么意思？”[qh]
"Why, it's the empty one. Daddy says it's always been empty ever since we came here."[qh]
“唔，那是幢空房子。爸爸说，自从我们搬到这毕来，它就一直是空的。”[qh]
"I suppose we ought to have a look at it then," said Digory. He was a good deal more excited than you'd have thought from the way he spoke.[qh]
“那我们该去侦察一番。”迪格雷说。从他说话的方式上，你还看不出他的内心要激动得多。[qh]
For of course he was thinking, just as you would have been, of all the reasons why the house might have been empty so long. So was Polly. Neither of them said the word "haunted".[qh]
当然，可能像你一样，他也在想，那幢房子为什么好长时间都是空的。他把可能的理由全想了一遍，波莉也在想。[qh]
And both felt that once the thing had been suggested, it would be feeble not to do it.[qh]
然而，谁也没提“闹鬼”二字。两人都觉得，事情一旦说出口，不去就显得太软弱了。[qh]
"Shall we go and try it now?" said Digory. "All right," said Polly. "Don't if you'd rather not," said Digory. "I'm game if you are," said she. "How are we to know when we're in the next house but one?"[qh]
“我们现在就去呜？”迪格雷问。“是的。”波莉说。“如果你不愿意就不勉强。”“只要你愿意，我就愿意。”波莉回答。“可我们怎么知道刚好到了隔壁一幢的房子里呢？”[qh]
They decided they would have to go out into the box-room and walk across it taking steps as long as the steps from one rafter to the next. That would give them an idea of how many rafters went to a room.[qh]
他们决定，先出去到储藏室，以两根椽子之间的距离为一步，这样走一遍，就知道要跨过多少根椽子才能走完一个房间。[qh]
Then they would allow about four more for the passage between the two attics in Polly's house, and then the same number for the maid's bedroom as for the box-room.[qh]
他们给波莉家两个阁楼间的通道留出稍多于四根椽子的距离，给女佣的卧室算上与储藏室一样多的椽子。[qh]
That would give them the length of the house. When they had done that distance twice they would be at the end of Digory's house; any door they came to after that would let them into an attic of the empty house.[qh]
加起来，便是那幢房子的总长度。走完两倍这段距离，就是迪格雷家房子的尽头。再往前，他们所走到的任何一扇门都会通向空房子的阁楼。[qh]
"But I don't expect it's really empty at all," said Digory. "What do you expect?"[qh]
“但我不认为那房子真是空的。”迪格雷说。“那你是怎么想的？”[qh]
