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Chapter One Behind the Gym
第一章 体育馆的后面
It was a dull autumn day and Jill Pole was crying behind the gym. She was crying because they had been bullying her.
一个阴暗的秋日，吉尔·波尔躲在体育馆后面哭鼻子。她又被人欺负了，所以才哭得如此伤心。
This is not going to be a school story, so I shall say as little as possible about Jill's school, which is not a pleasant subject.
这本书不是校园小说，我应该尽量少说点吉尔学校的事，这可不是什么令人开心的话题。
It was "co-educational", a school for both boys and girls, what used to be called a "mixed" school; some said it was not nearly so mixed as the minds of the people who ran it.
这所学校既招男生又招女生，是一所“男女混合学校”。在有些人看来，那些校领导脑子里的想法十分古怪，令人难以琢磨。
These people had the idea that boys and girls should be allowed to do what they liked. And unfortunately what ten or fifteen of the biggest boys and girls liked best was bullying the others.
领导们认为男生女生应该得到充分的自由，让他们做自己喜欢的事。然而不幸的是，有那么十或十五个高年级孩子最爱做的事就是欺负他人。
All sorts of things, horrid things, went on which at an ordinary school would have been found out and stopped in half a term; but at this school they weren't. Or even if they were, the people who did them were not expelled or punished.
要是在其他学校，这些恶行早就被严令禁止了，即便做不到这点，那些经常欺负别人的捣蛋的孩子也会被严惩，但这所学校却听之任之，完全撒手不管。
The head said they were interesting psychological cases and sent for them and talked to them for hours.
在校长看来，这些都是有趣的心理学案例，她经常把这些捣蛋的孩子找来，一谈话就几个小时。
And if you knew the right sort of things to say to the head, the main result was that you became rather a favourite than otherwise.
如果他们再拍拍校长的马屁，说点好话，没准就能成为校长的宠儿。
That was why Jill Pole was crying on that dull autumn day on the damp little path which runs between the back of the gym and the shrubbery.
所以吉尔才在那个阴沉的秋日躲在潮湿的小径上独自抹泪。这条小径夹在体育馆后的灌木丛中。
And she hadn't nearly finished her cry when a boy came round the corner of the gym whistling, with his hands in his pockets. He nearly ran into her.
她还没哭完，一个男孩就从体育馆的角落里走了出来，他吹着口哨，两只手插在口袋里。他差点撞到了吉尔。
"Can't you look where you're going?" said Jill Pole. "All right," said the boy, "you needn't start—" and then he noticed her face. "I say, Pole," he said, "what's up?"
“走路不能看着点儿吗？”吉尔·波尔说。“我知道。”男孩说，“你别没完没……”男孩这才看到她的脸，“是波尔啊。你怎么了？”男孩问。
Jill only made faces, the sort you make when you're trying to say something but find that if you speak you'll start crying again.
吉尔只朝他做了个鬼脸。当你想说点什么，但发现若说出来你又得哭时，你也会是这个表情。
"It's them, I suppose—as usual," said the boy grimly, digging his hands farther into his pockets.
“嗯，又是他们，我一定猜得不错。”男孩严肃地说，手又往口袋里伸了伸。
Jill nodded. There was no need for her to say anything, even if she could have said it. They both knew.
吉尔点点头。她没必要再说什么了，两人都明白他们指的是谁。
"Now, look here," said the boy, "there's no good us all—" He meant well, but he did talk rather like someone beginning a lecture.
“现在也只能这样了，我们都不太好过啊！……”男孩一脸的无奈。他本是好意，但怎么话从他嘴里说出来却让人感觉到有一股教训人的味道呢？
Jill suddenly flew into a temper (which is quite a likely thing to happen if you have been interrupted in a cry).
吉尔突然火冒三丈，咆哮道（如果你哭的时候被人打扰，你也会非常生气哦）：
"Oh, go away and mind your own business," she said. "Nobody asked you to come barging in, did they? And you're a nice person to start telling us what we all ought to do, aren't you?
“滚开！该干什么干什么去！”她喊着，“他们没叫你来教训我吧？你在这充什么好人。
I suppose you mean we ought to spend all our time sucking up to Them, and currying favour, and dancing attendance on them like you do."
你的意思是我该去讨好他们，拍他们的马屁，言听计从是吧？”
"Oh, Lor!"said the boy, sitting down on the grassy bank at the edge of the shrubbery and very quickly getting up again because the grass was soaking wet.
“哦，上帝！”男孩说。他刚坐到灌木丛边缘的草地上就一下子站了起来，因为草全被雨水浸湿了。
His name unfortunately was Eustace Scrubb, but he wasn't a bad sort. "Pole!" he said. "Is that fair? Have I been doing anything of the sort this term? Didn't I stand up to Carter about the rabbit? And didn't I keep the secret about Spivvins—under torture too? And didn't I—"
“波尔！”他说，“这样说公平吗？我这个学期做过那种事吗？卡特虐待小兔子时我难道没挺身而出吗？虽然被他们折磨得够呛，我不还是替史蒂文斯保守秘密了吗？我难道没有……”
"I d-don't know and I don't care," sobbed Jill. Scrubb saw that she wasn't quite herself yet and very sensibly offered her a peppermint. He had one too.
我，我不知道，我也不在乎。”吉尔边抽泣边说。尤斯塔斯·斯库波看到吉尔控制不了自己的情绪，便非常体贴地递上了薄荷油。他自己也有一瓶。
Presently Jill began to see things in a clearer light. "I'm sorry, Scrubb," she said presently. "I wasn't fair. You have done all that—this term."
现在，吉尔清醒多了。“对不起，斯库波。”她说，“刚才那么说对你很不公平。你这学期确实表现还行。”
"Then wash out last term if you can," said Eustace. "I was a different chap then. I was—gosh! What a little tick I was." "Well, honestly, you were." said Jill.
“那就别计较我上学期做的那些糊涂事了。”斯库波说，“我那时是个什么样的人啊。我简直……上帝啊！简直是个小混蛋。”“哼，确实如此。”吉尔抹着眼泪点点头。
"You think there has been a change, then?" said Eustace. "It's not only me," said Jill. "Everyone's been saying so. They've noticed it. Eleanor Blakiston heard Adela Pennyfather talking about it in our changing room yesterday.
“那你觉得我现在变了吗？”斯库波歪着头问道。“不只是我，每个人都这么认为。他们都注意到你的变化了。埃莉诺·布莱金斯敦昨天还在更衣室里听见阿黛拉·佩妮法特提到你。
She said, 'Someone's got hold of that Scrubb kid. He's quite unmanageable this term. We shall have to attend to him next.'" Eustace gave a shudder.
她说：‘斯库波那小子被别人收买了。我们下一步得好好“照顾照顾”他。’”斯库波吓得一激灵。
Everyone at Experiment House knew what it was like being "attended to" by them. Both children were quiet for a moment. The drops dripped off the laurel leaves.
这所学校的每个学生都知道被“照顾照顾”是什么意思。他俩都沉默了一会儿。水珠从月桂叶上滴落下来。
"Why were you so different last term?" said Jill presently. "A lot of queer things happened to me in the hols," said Eustace mysteriously. "What sort of things?" asked Jill.
“你上学期为什么会那样？”吉尔说。“假期里发生了太多怪事。”斯库波神秘地说。“什么事啊？”吉尔问道。
Eustace didn't say anything for quite a long time. Then he said: "Look here, Pole, you and I hate this place about as much as anybody can hate anything, don't we?"
斯库波沉默了好一会儿，然后说：“听着，波尔。我们都讨厌这所学校，就像别人讨厌其他东西一样，不是吗？”
