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Chapter Nine Across the Desert
第九章 穿越沙漠
"HOVE dreadful! How perfectly dreadful!" whimpered Lasaraleen."Oh darling, I am so frightened. I'm shaking all over. Feel me."
“真可怕啊！真是可怕到了极点！”拉斯阿拉莉恩呜咽地说道，“噢，亲爱的，我真是吓坏了。我一直都在浑身颤抖。感觉一下我的颤抖。”
"Come on," said Aravis, who was trembling herself. "They've gone back to the new palace. Once we' re out of this room we're safe enough. But it's wasted a terrible time. Get me down to that water-gate as quick as you can."
“来吧，”阿拉维斯说，她自己也在颤抖，“他们已经返回到新宫殿去了。这次我们出了房间就足够安全了。但是真的是浪费了太多的时间。你要尽快地将我带到山下的水门那里去。”
"Darling, how can you?" squeaked Lasaraleen."I can't do anything-not now. My poor nerves! No: we must just lie still a bit and then go back." "Why back?" asked Aravis.
“亲爱的，你怎么可以这样？”拉斯阿拉莉恩尖声说道，“我什么都做不了了--不能是现在。我可怜的神经！不！我们必须只能是这样躺一下，然后回去。”“为什么回去？”阿拉维斯问道。
"Oh, you don't understand. You're so unsympathetic," said Lasaraleen, beginning to cry. Aravis decided it was no occasion for mercy.
“噢，你不懂。你是那么没有同情心。”拉斯阿拉莉恩说，并且开始哭。阿拉维斯确定这绝对不是应该同情的时刻。
"Look here!" she said, catching Lasaraleen and giving her a good shake. "If you say another word about going back, and if you don't start taking me to that water-gate at once-do you know what I'll do? I'll rush out into that passage and scream. Then we'll both be caught."
“听着！”她抓住拉斯阿拉莉恩，并且摇晃她说道，“如果你再说一句关于回去的话，如果你不立刻将我送到水门那里--你知道我将会做什么吗？我将冲出去，到通道里面尖叫。然后我们两个都会被抓住。”
"But we shall both be k-k-killed!" said Lasaraleen. "Didn't you hear what the Tisroc (may he live for ever) said?" "Yes, and I'd sooner be killed than married to Ahoshta. So come on."
“但我们俩都会被杀死！”拉斯阿拉莉恩说道，“你没有听到太洛帝（愿吾皇万寿无疆！）刚刚说了什么吗？”“听到了，而且，如果要嫁给阿霍什塔，我宁可早点被杀死。”
"Oh you are unkind," said Lasaraleen. "And I in such a state!" But in the end she had to give in to Aravis.
“噢，你这个不善良的人，”拉斯阿拉莉恩说道，“而且我竟然落到了这样的处境。”但最后她还是不得不对阿拉维斯妥协了。
She led the way down the steps they had already descended, and along another corridor and so finally out into the open air.
她带路走下那些之前她们已经走下过的台阶，然后沿着另一条通道行走，最后走到了空旷的地方。
They were now in the palace garden which sloped down in terraces to the city wall. The moon shone brightly.
她们现在在王宫的花园里，这里的台阶一层层地迤逦而下，一直延伸到城墙的地方。月亮十分明亮。
One of the drawbacks about adventures is that when you come to the most beautiful places you are often too anxious and hurried to appreciate them;
冒险的一大遗憾是，当你进入到最美妙的地方的时候，你总是太焦躁，太匆忙，而无法赞美眼前的美丽。
so that Aravis (though she remembered them years later) had only a vague impression of grey lawns, quietly bubbling fountains, and the long black shadows of cypress trees.
所以，阿拉维斯（尽管她很多年后记得它们）仅仅只有一个很模糊的印象，关于那些银灰色的草地，安静流淌的泉水，和长长的柏树的黑色影子。
When they reached the very bottom and the wall rose frowning above them, Lasaraleen was shaking so that she could not unbolt the gate. Aravis did it.
当她们到达底部的时候，城墙在她们面前耸立着，拉斯阿拉莉恩浑身颤抖，以至于她不能打开门的门闩。于是阿拉维斯打开了门。
There, at last, was the river, full of reflected moonlight, and a little landing stage and a few pleasure boats.
在那里，她终于看到了河流，河面上布满了余光，还有一个小小的码头和几艘游船。
"Good-bye," said Aravis, "and thank you. I'm sorry if I've been a pig.But think what I'm flying from!"
“再见。”阿拉维斯说道，“而且，谢谢你。我很抱歉我曾经像一头猪一样。但是想想，我正在逃跑啊。”
"Oh Aravis darling," said Lasaraleen. "Won't you change your mind? Now that you've seen what a very great man Ahoshta is!"
“噢，亲爱的阿拉维斯。”拉斯阿拉莉恩说道，“你能不能改变主意呢？现在你已经看到阿霍什塔是一个多么伟大的男人了。”
"Great man!" said Aravis. "A hideous grovelling slave who flatters when he's kicked but treasures it all up and hopes to get his own back by egging on that horrible Tisroc to plot his son's death. Faugh! I'd sooner marry my father's scullion than a creature like that."
“伟大的男人！”阿拉维斯说道，“一个可怕地卑躬屈膝的奴隶，当人家踢他屁股的时候，他还在阿谀逢迎，还将这件事情藏在心底，怂恿恐怖的太洛帝将他的儿子置于死地，希望通过这个来为自己报仇雪恨。我宁愿嫁给家里的厨子也不愿嫁给这样一号人物。”
"Oh Aravis, Aravis! How can you say such dreadful things;and about the Tisroc (may he live for ever) too. It must be right if he's going to do it!"
“噢，阿拉维斯，阿拉维斯！你怎么能说出这么致命的话来！还涉及太洛帝（愿吾皇万寿无疆）。如果他决定去做一件事情，那一定是正确的。”
"Good-bye," said Aravis, "and I thought your dresses lovely. And I think your house is lovely too. I'm sure you'll have a lovely life-though it wouldn't suit me. Close the door softly behind me."
“再见。”阿拉维斯说道，“而且我认为你的衣服十分可爱。我认为你的马也很可爱。我确信你将会拥有一个可爱的生活--尽管那并不适合我，轻轻地在我身后关上门吧。”
She tore herself away from her friend' s affectionate embraces, stepped into a punt, cast off, and a moment later was out in midstream with a huge real moon overhead and a huge reflected moon down, deep down, in the river.
她将自己从朋友的热情拥抱中挣脱出来，踏上一艘方头平底船，撑起船，不一会儿船就到了河的中央，头顶上是一轮巨大的真实的月亮，河里则是那个巨大月亮的倒影。
The air was fresh and cool and as she drew near the farther bank she heard the hooting of an owl.
空气新鲜、凉爽，船到达对岸的时候她好像听到了一只猫头鹰的叫声。
"Ah! That's better!" thought Aravis. She had always lived in the country and had hated every minute of her time in Tashbaan.
“啊！这真好。”阿拉维斯心里想道。她过去一直生活在乡村里，而且憎恨她自己在塔什班城里的每一分钟。
When she stepped ashore she found herself in darkness for the rise of the ground, and the trees, cut off the moonlight.
当她上岸时，由于地势上升，树木遮住了月光，她发现自己完全置身在黑暗之中。
But she managed to find the same road that Shasta had found, and came just as he had done to the end of the grass and the beginning of the sand, and looked (like him) to her left and saw the big, black Tombs.
但她设法去找到沙斯塔以前发现的那条路，然后像他一样走到了草地的尽头和沙漠的开端，再然后像他一样向左边望去，并且看到了巨大的，黑漆漆的坟场。
And now at last, brave girl though she was, her heart quailed. Supposing the others weren't there! Supposing the ghouls were!
最后，即使她是个勇敢的姑娘，她心里还是害怕了。说不定其他人都不在那里！说不定食尸鬼们在那里！
But she stuck out her chin (and a little bit of her tongue too) and went straight towards them. But before she had reached them she saw Bree and Hwin and the groom.
但是她昂起下巴（舌头也伸出了一点），笔直地朝着坟场走去。幸好她还没有到达坟场就看到了布里、赫温和那个侍从。
"You can go back to your mistress now," said Aravis (quite forgetting that he couldn't, until the city gates opened next morning). "Here is money for your pains. "
“你现在可以回到你的女主人那里去了。”阿拉维斯说道（完全忘记了直到明天早上城门打开，他不能回去），“这是给你的酬劳。”
"To hear is to obey," said the groom, and at once set off at a remarkable speed in the direction of the city.
“我服从命令。”侍从说道，然后立刻以相当快的速度朝塔什班城跑去。
There was no need to tell him to make haste: he also had been thinking a good deal about ghouls.
根本没必要告诉他尽快回去，他也已经想了很多关于食尸鬼的事情。
