2.The German girl
2.德国女孩
Geoffrey’s face turned white. He heard the fall. He stood still, listening. He could hear no sound from below; he could hear no sound at all, anywhere. Then he was filled with sudden terror.
杰弗里的脸变得煞白。他听到了坠落的声音。他一动不动地站着，侧耳倾听。下面没有任何声响；到处都死一般的寂静。突然，一阵恐惧袭上心头。
‘Father!’ he shouted, in his great deep voice. ‘Father! FATHER!’
“父亲！”他用低沉洪亮的嗓音喊道，“父亲！父亲！”
The cry rang across the fields. Men came running from the bottom field, and a girl ran down across the upper field. Geoffrey heard her strange, wild voice.
喊声在田野间回荡。人们从下方的田地里跑来，一个女孩从上方的田地里跑下来。杰弗里听到了她那奇特而狂野的声音。
‘Ah-h!’ she cried out. ‘Ah-h! Are you dead?’
“啊——！”她大喊道，“啊——！你死了吗？”
On the top of the stack Geoffrey did not move or speak. He was too afraid to go down, too afraid even to hide in the hay. He listened to the voices below.
在草垛顶上，杰弗里既不动也不出声。他吓得不敢下去，甚至不敢躲进干草里。他听着下面的声音。
First to arrive was his older brother, Henry. Then came his father, and Bill, one of the farm workers.
最先赶到的是他的哥哥亨利。接着是他的父亲，还有农场工人比尔。
‘What’s the matter? What’s happened? Oh no!’
“怎么了？出什么事了？噢，不！”
That was his father’s voice. They were all silent for a few seconds, then came Henry’s voice.
那是他父亲的声音。所有人都沉默了几秒钟，然后传来了亨利的声音。
‘He’s not dead – look, he’s opening his eyes.’
“他没死——看，他睁开眼睛了。”
Geoffrey heard, but he was not pleased. Half of him wanted Maurice to be dead. ‘If Maurice is not dead and only hurt, what will he say about me?’ he thought. ‘And what will mother say? I can never look anybody in the face again.’ He felt lonely, and afraid.
杰弗里听到了，但他并不高兴。他心里有一半希望莫里斯已经死了。“如果莫里斯没死只是受了伤，他会怎么说我？”他想，“母亲又会怎么说？我再也没脸见人了。”他感到孤独又害怕。
Down below on the ground the German girl was crying and laughing at the same time. ‘No, he’s not dead, no, he’s not dead, no-o.’
在地面上，那个德国女孩又哭又笑。“不，他没死，不，他没死，没——有。”
The German girl was crying and laughing at the same time.
那个德国女孩又哭又笑。
‘He can’t speak. He needs some water,’ said Henry.
“他说不出话来。他需要点水，”亨利说。
‘Yes, somebody must run and get some,’ said the father. ‘Bill, you go. The vicar’s house is nearest.’
“对，得有人跑去弄点水来，”父亲说，“比尔，你去。牧师家离这儿最近。”
Bill ran up to the vicar’s house beside the top field, where the German governess worked. Soon he came back, followed by the vicar. Maurice drank a little water, and began to make noises, trying to speak.
比尔跑到上方田地旁的牧师家，那位德国家庭女教师就在那里工作。很快他回来了，后面跟着牧师。莫里斯喝了一点水，开始发出声音，试图说话。
‘What happened to him?’ asked the vicar.
“他怎么了？”牧师问道。
Everybody spoke at once, but the German girl’s voice was the loudest.
大家七嘴八舌地同时开口，但那个德国女孩的声音最响亮。
‘It was the brother – the other brother,’ she cried. ‘He knocked him over. I saw him, I was watching.’
“是那个兄弟——另一个兄弟，”她喊道，“是他把他推下去的。我看见他了，我一直在看着。”
‘I don’t think so,’ said the father to the vicar. Then he got down next to Maurice, who was still making little noises. ‘Where does it hurt, boy, eh?’ he asked, worried.
“我不这么认为，”父亲对牧师说。然后他在仍在发出微弱呻吟的莫里斯身边蹲下。“孩子，哪儿疼？嗯？”他担忧地问。
‘Wait a bit,’ said Henry. ‘Wait until he can speak.’
“等一会儿，”亨利说，“等他能说话了再说。”
‘Has he broken anything?’ asked the vicar.
“他摔断骨头了吗？”牧师问。
‘He was lucky,’ said the farm worker, Bill, ‘lucky to fall on this bit of hay, and not the hard ground.’
“他很幸运，”农场工人比尔说，“幸亏掉在这堆干草上，而不是硬地上。”
Maurice could speak a little now, and the father asked him, ‘What were you doing, boy? Were you playing around with our Geoffrey? Yes, and where is he?’
莫里斯现在能稍微说点话了，父亲问他：“你在干什么，孩子？是不是和我们的杰弗里在闹着玩？对了，他在哪儿？”
On top of the stack Geoffrey stood like a stone.
在草垛顶上，杰弗里像石头一样僵立着。
‘I’ll have a look on the stack,’ said Henry.
“我去草垛上看看，”亨利说。
Geoffrey did not want his big brother to come up on the stack, so he climbed down, and at the bottom of the ladder stood like a criminal, looking at the ground.
杰弗里不想让哥哥爬上草垛，于是爬了下来，站在梯子底下像个罪犯一样盯着地面。
‘What were you doing?’ asked Henry’s cold voice.
“你在干什么？”亨利冷冷地问。
‘I don’t know. Nothing,’ Geoffrey said.
“我不知道。什么也没干，”杰弗里说。
‘But I saw him!’ cried the governess. She was sitting on the ground, holding Maurice in her arms. ‘He knocked him over the side – bouf! like that!’
“但我看见了！”女教师喊道。她坐在地上，把莫里斯抱在怀里。“是他把他推下去的——砰！就这样！”
Henry looked from one brother to the other.
亨利看看这个弟弟，又看看那个弟弟。
‘No, girl,’ whispered Maurice, smiling up at her. ‘He wasn’t near me. I just fell – fell over the side.’
“不，姑娘，”莫里斯轻声说，仰头对她微笑着，“他不在我身边。我只是滑倒了——从边上滑下去了。”
‘Oh!’ cried the girl, not understanding.
“哦！”女孩叫道，一脸困惑。
‘You just made a mistake,’ said the father. ‘That’s all.’
“你只是看错了，”父亲说，“就是这样。”
‘Oh no,’ she cried. ‘I saw him.’
“噢，不，”她喊道，“我明明看见了。”
Her name was Paula Jablonowsky, and her family came from Poland. She was twenty years old, quick and light as a wild-cat, with a strange, wild way of laughing. She had bright blue eyes and short golden hair. Everybody could see that the vicar hated her.
她叫保拉·雅布沃诺夫斯基，家人来自波兰。她二十岁，动作敏捷轻盈得像只野猫，笑起来有一种奇特而狂野的神态。她有一双明亮的蓝眼睛和一头金色短发。谁都看得出牧师很讨厌她。
Maurice’s face was still white, but he lay, smiling happily in the girl’s arms. She smiled down at him, with her quick, bright smile. Her English was not very good, but there are stronger things than words.
莫里斯的脸色仍然苍白，但他躺在女孩的怀里，幸福地微笑着。她低头对他报以明快灿烂的笑容。她的英语不太好，但有些东西比语言更有力量。
Maurice lay, smiling happily in the girl’s arms.
莫里斯躺在女孩的怀里，幸福地微笑着。
‘You say what you like,’ she laughed, ‘about your brother, about anything.’
“你想怎么说就怎么说吧，”她笑着说，“关于你哥哥，或者任何事。”
‘Perhaps you need to go back to the children now,’ the vicar said to her, frowning a little.
“也许你现在该回去照看孩子们了，”牧师微微皱着眉对她说。
‘I will go soon,’ the girl said. She smiled at Maurice again. ‘You want to get up now?’ she asked softly.
“我马上就走，”女孩说。她又对莫里斯笑了笑。“你现在想起来吗？”她柔声问道。
‘I’m not in a hurry,’ Maurice said, smiling happily.
“我不急，”莫里斯幸福地笑着说。
‘She’s leaving us soon,’ the vicar whispered to the father. ‘My wife really doesn’t like her.’
“她很快就要离开我们了，”牧师低声对这位父亲说，“我妻子实在不喜欢她。”
‘Why, is she—?’
“为什么，她是不是——？”
‘Like a wild thing – she won’t do what we tell her.’
“像个野丫头——她不听我们的话。”
Maurice decided to get up, and the girl helped him, with her strong arms. ‘You are well,’ she cried happily.
莫里斯决定起身，女孩用她有力的双臂扶住了他。“你没事了，”她高兴地喊道。
‘Yes, I’m all right,’ he said. ‘The fall knocked the breath out of me, that’s all.’ After a moment he walked a few steps. ‘See, father,’ he laughed. ‘I’m fine now.’
“是的，我没事，”他说，“只是摔下去时岔了气，仅此而已。”过了一会儿，他走了几步。“看，父亲，”他笑着说，“我现在好了。”
‘Fine, fine!’ the girl said, her eyes shining.
“好极了，好极了！”女孩说，眼里闪着光。
Maurice laughed, and touched her face gently.
莫里斯笑了，轻轻地摸了摸她的脸。
‘Don’t worry. She’s going at the end of three weeks,’ the vicar said quietly in the farmer’s ear.
“别担心。再过三周她就走了，”牧师在农夫耳边轻声说道。
0 条评论