Coraline’s parents never seemed to remember anything about their time in the snow-globe. At least, they never said anything about it, and Coraline never mentioned it to them.
卡萝兰的爸爸妈妈好像一点儿也想不起他们被关在雪花球里的事了。至少，他们一句话都没提起。卡萝兰也没提过。
Something scrunched gently as she did do. She sat up and lifted the pillow. The fragments of the glass marbles that she saw looked like the remains of eggshells one finds beneath trees in springtime: like empty, broken robins’ eggs, or even more delicate, wrens’ eggs, perhaps.
一枕上去，枕头下面一阵咯吱咯吱响。她坐起来，掀起枕头。下面是弹子的碎片，像春天的时候，树下常常能发现的鸟蛋蛋壳。小鸟孵化出来以后剩下的空蛋壳。
Sometimes, she wondered whether they had ever noticed that they had lost two days in the real world, and came to the eventual conclusion that they had not. Then again, there are some people who keep track of every day and every hour, and there are people who don’t, and Coraline’s parents were solidly in the second camp.
有时候，她心想：不知他们会不会注意到，他们在这个真实世界的日子少了两天。卡萝兰最后得出了结论：他们没注意到。有些人做什么都有记录，每天、每小时，什么都记得清清楚楚。还有些人不是这样。卡萝兰的爸爸妈妈显然是第二种人。
Coraline had placed the marbles beneath her pillow before she went to sleep that first night home in her own room once more. She went back to bed, after she saw the other mother’s hand, although there was not much time left for sleeping, and she rested her head back on the pillow.
回自己房间睡觉的头一晚，卡萝兰把那些大理石弹子压在枕头底下。看见另一个妈妈的手以后，虽然已经没多少时间再睡一觉了，她还是重新上床，脑袋枕在那个枕头上。
She gathered up the eggshell-thin fragments with care and placed them in a small blue box which had once held a bracelet that her grandmother had given her when she was a little girl. The bracelet was long-lost, but the box remained.
她小心地把这些碎片收拾起来，放在一只蓝色小盒子里。盒子是奶奶以前送给她的，里面装着一只手镯。手镯早就不见了，但盒子还在。
Whatever had been inside the glass spheres had gone. Coraline thought of the three children waving goodbye to her in the moonlight, waving before they crossed that silver stream.
以前在弹子里的东西已经走了。卡萝兰想起那三个在月光下向她招手再见的小孩，就在他们跨过那道银色小溪之前。
“Well, looks like everything’s mostly shipshape and Bristol fashion, lovey,” said Miss Forcible.
“哎，好像已经差不多装舱满载，马上就能启航了。”福斯波尔小姐说。
Miss Spink and Miss Forcible came back from visiting Miss Spink’s niece, and Coraline went down to their flat for tea. It was a Monday. On Wednesday Coraline would go back to school: a whole new school year would begin.
斯平克小姐和福斯波尔小姐从斯平克小姐的侄女那儿回来了。卡萝兰去她们的套间喝茶。今天是星期一。到星期三，卡萝兰就要回学校了：新学年马上要来了。
“Sorry?” said Coraline.
“什么？”卡萝兰说。
“Everything is coming up roses,” said Miss Forcible. “Well, almost everything. I’m not sure what that is.” She pointed to a clump of tea leaves sticking to the side of the cup.
“一切都平安无事了。”福斯波尔小姐说，“嗯，差不多一切都平安无事了。可是这一个，我说不准究竟是什么。”她指着沾在茶杯内壁的一小簇茶叶，说。
Miss Forcible insisted on reading Coraline’s tea leaves.
福斯波尔小姐一定要用卡萝兰的茶叶替她算命。
Miss Spink tutted and reached for the cup. “Honestly, Miriam. Give it over here. Let me see…”
斯平克小姐嘘了一声，伸手拿过茶杯。“得了吧，米里亚姆。拿来让我瞧瞧…”
Coraline looked. The clump of leaves did look a little like a hand, reaching for something.
卡萝兰也凑过去看。那一小簇茶叶的样子还真的有点像一只手，正伸出来够什么东西。
Hamish the Scottie dog was hiding under Miss Forcible’s chair, and he wouldn’t come out.
小猎犬哈米什躲在福斯波尔小姐的椅子背后，说什么都不肯出来。
The crazy old man upstairs called down to Coraline when he saw her coming out of Miss Spink and Miss Forcible’s flat. “Hey! Hi! You! Caroline!” he shouted over the railing.
楼上的疯老头儿看见卡萝兰从斯平克小姐和福斯波尔小姐的套房里出来，从上面喊她。“哎！喂！你！卡罗琳！”他把脑袋探出栏杆，喊着。
She blinked through her thick spectacles. “Oh dear. No, I have no idea what that signifies. It looks almost like a hand.”
厚厚的眼镜片后面的眼睛一阵眨巴。“哟，哎呀，我也瞧不出来这是什么意思。看样子，有点像一只手。”
“I think he was in some sort of fight,” said Miss Spink. “He has a deep gash in his side, poor dear. We’ll take him to the vet later this afternoon. I wish I knew what could have done it.”
“我猜它跟什么东西打了一架。”斯平克小姐说，“可怜的家伙，身上被划了好深一道伤口。下午我们要带它去看兽医。真想知道是谁干的。”
Something, Coraline knew, would have to be done.
卡萝兰心想，一定得想个办法，做点什么。
That final week of the holidays, the weather was magnificent, as if the summer itself were trying to make up for the miserable weather they had been having by giving them some bright and glorious days before it ended.
假期最后一周的天气好极了。好像夏天觉得最近的天气太糟，想最后对人们做点补偿，于是给大家带来了最明亮、最漂亮的好日子。
“It’s Coraline,” she said. “How are the mice?”
“我叫卡萝兰。”她说，“老鼠们都好吗？”
“Something has frightened them,” said the old man, scratching his moustache. “I think maybe there is a weasel in the house. Something is about. I heard it in the night. In my country we would have put down a trap for it, maybe put down a little meat or hamburger, and when the creature comes to feast, then — bam!– it would be caught and never bother us more. The mice are so scared they will not even pick up their little musical instruments.”
“有东西把它们吓坏了。”老头儿一边说，一边搔着胡子，“我看，宅子里准有一只黄鼠狼。附近有东西，夜里我听见了。要是在乡下，我们会设个陷阱，里面再放点肉或者汉堡包什么的，等那东西过来吃——砰！抓住了，再也别想来烦咱们。老鼠们真的吓坏了，都不肯碰它们的小乐器了。”
“I don’t think it wants meat,” said Coraline. She put her hand up and touched the black key that hung about her neck. Then she went inside.
“我觉得那东西要的不是肉。”卡萝兰说。她抬手摸着挂在脖子上的钥匙，然后进屋了。
Something scratched at her bedroom window after she went to bed. Coraline was almost asleep, but she slipped out of bed and pulled open the curtains.
她上床以后，听见有东西在卧室窗户外面挠。卡萝兰都快睡着了，可她还是悄悄下床，拉开窗帘。
She bathed herself, and kept the key round her neck the whole time she was in the bath. She never took it off any more.
她洗了个澡。洗澡的时候一直挂着那把钥匙。无论干什么，她都不会摘下来。
A white hand with crimson fingernails leapt from the window-ledge on to a drainpipe and was immediately out of sight. There were deep gouges in the glass on the other side of the window.
外面是一只长着红指甲的白手，从窗台一下子蹦到排水管上，不见了。窗户外面的玻璃上留下几条很深的印子。
Coraline slept uneasily that night, waking from time to time to plot and plan and ponder, then falling back into sleep, never quite certain where her pondering ended and the dream began, one ear always open for the sound of something scratching at her window-pane or at her bedroom door.
那天晚上，卡萝兰睡得很不好。时不时醒过来，琢磨着，盘算着，然后接着睡。她说不清自己什么时候才不琢磨了，开始睡觉。就是睡着的时候，她的一只耳朵还在警惕地听着，听门外、窗户外有没有抓挠声。
In the morning Coraline said to her mother, “I’m going to have a picnic with my dolls today. Can I borrow a sheet — an old one, one you don’t need any longer — as a tablecloth?”
到早上，卡萝兰对妈妈说：“我今天想跟我的玩具娃娃出去野餐。我可以借一张床单吗？旧的都行，你不要了的。我想用它当桌布。”
“I don’t think we have one of those,” said her mother. She opened the kitchen drawer that held the napkins and the tablecloths, and she prodded about in it. “Hold on. Will this do?”
“不知道咱们有没有旧床单。”妈妈说。她拉开厨柜抽屉，取出餐巾和台布，翻出一块，“拿着。这一块行吗？”
It was a folded-up disposable paper tablecloth covered with red flowers, left over from some picnic they had been on several years before.
这是一块折起来的一次性纸台布，上面画着红色小花。这是几年前家里出去野餐用剩下的。
“That’s perfect,” said Coraline.
“行，太好了。”卡萝兰说。
“I didn’t think you played with your dolls any more,” said Mrs Jones.
“我还以为你不喜欢和玩具娃娃玩了呢。”琼斯太太说。
“I don’t,” admitted Coraline. “They’re protective coloration.”
“是不喜欢。”卡萝兰承认说，“这是一种伪装手段。”
It was a long, roundabout looping journey, but at the end of it Coraline was satisfied that she had not been followed.
这是一条很长的、走出去又折回来的路。走了这么长一段路，卡萝兰满意了，相信她没被跟踪。
“Well, be back in time for lunch,” said her mother. “Have a good time.”
“不知道你在说什么。记得按时回来吃午饭。”妈妈说，“好好玩。”
Coraline filled a cardboard box with dolls and several plastic dolls’ tea-cups. She filled a jug with water.
卡萝兰用一个纸板盒装好玩具娃娃、玩具茶杯，还盛了一罐水。她出门了。
Then she went outside. She walked down to the road, just as if she were going to the shops. Before she reached the supermarket she cut over a fence into some wasteland, and along an old drive, then she crawled under a hedge. She had to go under the hedge in two journeys in order not to spill the water from the jug.
她沿着大路走下去，这是去商场的路，但没到商场，她翻过一道栏杆，进了一片荒地。她沿着一条旧车道走了一会儿，又从一道篱笆下面爬过去。为了不把水弄洒，她爬了两次。
She found the planks on the edge of the meadow. They were astonishingly heavy — almost too heavy for a girl to lift, even using all her strength, but she managed. She didn’t have any choice. She pulled the planks out of the way, one by one, grunting and sweating with the effort, revealing a deep, round, brick-lined hole in the ground. It smelled of damp and the dark. The bricks were greenish and slippery.
她在草丛中找到了那几块木板。木板重得吓人，像她这么大的小女孩使出吃奶的力气也很难搬动。但最后，她还是做到了。她没有别的办法。她哼哼着，汗水直往下淌，总算一块一块把木板挪开。地面露出了一个深深的圆窟窿，周围砌着一圈儿砖。窟窿里传出一股潮湿、阴暗的气味。砖上长满绿色青苔，滑溜溜的。
She came out behind the dilapidated old tennis court. She crossed over it to the meadow where the long grass swayed.
她从那个荒废的网球场后面钻出来，穿过球场，来到草长得高高的草地。
She spread out the tablecloth and laid it carefully over the top of the well. She put a plastic dolls’ cup every twenty centimetres or so, at the edge of the well, and she weighed each cup down with water from the jug.
她打开台布，小心地铺在井口，又在井沿每隔一英尺放一个塑料玩具茶杯。然后，她往茶杯里斟水，加大它的重量。
She put a doll in the grass beside each cup, making it look as much like a dolls’ tea party as she could. Then she retraced her steps, back under the hedge, along the dusty yellow drive, around the back of the shops, back to her house.
她把玩具娃娃在草地上放好，每个茶杯边放一个，尽力安排出玩具娃娃茶会的样子。做完之后，她顺着来的路向回走，钻出篱笆，沿着到处是灰的车道走，绕过商店，回家了。
She reached up and took the key from around her neck. She dangled it from the string, as if the key were just something she liked to play with. Then she knocked on the door of Miss Spink and Miss Forcible’s flat.
她抬起手，从脖子上取下那枚钥匙，摇晃着系钥匙的细绳，好像这把钥匙是件晃着好玩的东西。她敲了敲斯平克小姐和福斯波尔小姐的房门。
“Hello, dear,” she said.
“你好，宝贝儿。”她说。
Miss Spink opened the door.
斯平克小姐打开门。
Miss Spink sighed. “The vet says that Hamish is a brave little soldier,” she said. “Luckily, the cut doesn’t seem to be infected. We cannot imagine what could have done it. The vet says some animal, he thinks, but has no idea what. Mister Bobo says he thinks it might have been a weasel.”
斯平克小姐叹了口气，“兽医说，哈米什真是个勇敢的小战士。”她说，“幸好伤口还没感染。真不知道是谁干的。兽医估计是动物，可他也说不清是什么动物。波波先生说，可能是一只黄鼠狼。”
“Mister Bobo?”
“波波先生？”
“The man in the top flat. Mister Bobo. Fine old circus family I believe. Romanian or Slovenian or Livonian, or one of those countries. Bless me, I can never remember them any more.”
“就是住阁楼套房的那位先生，波波先生。我想，他们一家人祖祖辈辈都是表演马戏的。罗马尼亚人，或者是斯洛文尼亚人，要不就是立陶宛人。反正是那几个国家。唉，我怎么也记不住那些名字。”
It had never occurred to Coraline that the crazy old man upstairs actually had a name, she realised. If she’d known his name was Mr Bobo she would have said it every chance she got. How often do you get to say a name like “Mister Bobo” aloud?
卡萝兰从来没想到，楼上的疯老头儿竟然也有自个儿的名字，而且叫“波波先生”。要是她以前知道的话，她准会一有机会就叫。“波波先生”，把这种名字叫出口的机会可不多呀。
“I don’t want to come in,” said Coraline. “I just wanted to find out how Hamish was doing.”
“我不进去了。”卡萝兰说，“我只想问问，哈米什怎么样了。”
“Oh,” said Coraline to Miss Spink. “Mister Bobo. Right. Well,” she said, a little louder, “I’m going to go and play with my dolls now, over by the old tennis court, round the back.”
“噢，”卡萝兰对斯平克小姐说，“原来是那个波波先生。对，好了，”她声音大了点儿，“我得走了，跟我的玩具娃娃们玩去了，就在那个旧网球场背后。”
“That’s nice, dear,” said Miss Spink. Then she added, confidentially, “Make sure you keep an eye out for the old well. Mister Lovat, who was here before your time, said that he thought it might go down for half a mile or more.”
“好呀，宝贝儿。”斯平克小姐说。然后，又压低嗓门补充道，“小心那口井。在你们搬来之前住在这儿的纳瓦特先生说，他觉得，那口井足有半英里深。”
Coraline hoped that the hand had not heard this last remark, and she changed the subject.
卡萝兰希望那只手没有听到最后这句话。她马上换了话题。
“What an extraordinary child,” said Miss Spink to herself as she closed the door.
“真是个好孩子。”斯平克小姐一边关门，一边自言自语。
Coraline ambled across the meadow towards the old tennis court, dangling and swinging the black key on its piece of string as she walked.
卡萝兰慢条斯理地穿过草地，朝网球场走去，手里摇晃着那把钥匙。
“This key?” said Coraline, loudly. “Oh, it’s just some old key from our house. It’s part of my game. That’s why I’m carrying it around with me on this piece of string. Well, goodbye now.”
“您说这把钥匙？”卡萝兰大声说，“噢，只是我们屋子里找出来的旧钥匙。我要拿它过家家玩，所以才拿绳子系着，带着到处走。好了，再见了。”
She tried to whistle, but nothing happened, so she sang out loud instead, a song her father had made up for her when she was a little baby and which had always made her laugh. It went:
她想吹口哨，可怎么都吹不响，所以只好大声唱。这首歌是从前爸爸编的，当时她还是个小娃娃哩。这首歌好玩极了，是这样的：
Several times she thought she saw something the colour of bone in the undergrowth. It was keeping pace with her, about ten metres away.
她有好几次觉得，草丛里好像有个像白色骨头的东西。这东西跟她保持着一段距离，大约三十英尺，远远盯着她。
That was what she sang as she sauntered through the woods, and her voice hardly trembled at all.
溜溜达达走过树林时，她唱的就是这首歌。声音几乎一点儿也不发抖。
Oh… My twitchy witchy girl I think you are so nice, I give you bowls of porridge And I give you bowls of ice-cream.
啊，小女儿，小机灵，我觉得你这人还行。给你一碗麦片粥。再加一碗冰激凌。
The dolls’ tea party was where she had left it. She was relieved that it was not a windy day, for everything was still in its place, every water-filled plastic cup weighed down the paper tablecloth as it was meant to. She breathed a sigh of relief.
玩具娃娃茶会还在那儿。幸好今天没刮风，所以每样东西都在原来的地方，放得好好的。盛着水的茶杯把台布压得稳稳当当的，和她的计划一模一样。她轻松地吐出一口大气儿。
I give you lots of kisses, And I give you lots of hugs, But I never give you sandwiches with bugs in.
给你好多吻．给你大拥抱。但不会给你的三明治夹虫子！
Now was the hardest part.
下面才是最难的。
She walked close to the paper tablecloth. “I brought the lucky key,” she told the dolls. “To make sure we have a good picnic.”
她走近纸台布，“我把幸运钥匙带来了。”她告诉娃娃们，“有了幸运钥匙，咱们就能开一个最好的野餐会。”
“Hello, dolls,” she said brightly. “It’s teatime!”
“娃娃们，你们好。”她高兴地说，“喝茶时间到。”
And then, as carefully as she could, she leaned over and gently placed the key on the tablecloth. She was still holding on to the string. She held her breath, hoping that the cups of water at the edges of the well would weigh the cloth down, letting it take the weight of the key without collapsing into the well.
说完，她尽可能小心翼翼地探过身，轻轻把钥匙向台布中央放去。她手里拎着系钥匙的绳子，轻轻悬着钥匙。她屏住呼吸。但愿那些水杯的重量能压住台布，钥匙的重量放上去时，不会压得台布掉进井里。
The key sat in the middle of the paper picnic cloth. Coraline let go of the string and took a step back. Now it was all up to the hand.
钥匙放在纸台布中央了。卡萝兰放开绳子，后退一步。现在就看那只手的了。
From the corner of her eye she saw something bone white scamper from one tree trunk to another, closer and closer. She forced herself not to look at it.
从眼角里，她看见一个自得像骨头的东西，从一株树跳到另一株树。越来越近。她逼着自己别朝那个方向看。
“Who would like a piece of cherry cake?” she asked. “Jemima? Pinky? Primrose?” and she served each doll a slice of invisible cake on an invisible plate, chattering happily as she did so.
“有谁想要一块樱桃果酱蛋糕吗？”她问。“杰米玛？平基？普林罗斯？”她把一块块看不见的蛋糕盛在看不见的碟子里，给娃娃们一人一份。一面分蛋糕，一面高高兴兴地和娃娃聊天。
And then, in a skittering, chittering rush, it came. The hand, running high on its fingertips, scrabbled through the tall grass and up on to a tree stump. It stood there for a moment, like a crab tasting the air, and then it made one triumphant, nail-clacking leap on to the centre of the paper tablecloth.
窸窸窣窣，咔嗒咔嗒，它来了。那只手伸直指尖，踮得高高的，抓抓爬爬跑过草丛，跳上一个树桩。它在那儿站了一会儿，像一只观察动静的大螃蟹。然后，它狂喜地一跳，指甲噼叭一声响，跳到纸台布中央。
She turned to her dolls.
她朝娃娃转过身去。
“Jemima!” said Coraline. “What a bad girl you are! You’ve dropped your cake! Now I’ll have to go over and get you a whole new slice!” And she walked around the tea party until she was on the other side of it to the hand. She pretended to clean up spilled cake and then to get Jemima another piece.
“杰米玛！”卡萝兰说，“你真是个坏女孩！你把蛋糕掉地上去了！这下怎么办？我只好到那边去拿一块新的！”说完，她走到茶会圈子另一面，离那只手远一点，假装收拾落到地上的蛋糕，给杰米玛拿一块新的。
Something caught her eye while she was doing this, and she straightened up in time to see the black cat stalking towards her, its tail held high and curling at the tip like a question mark.
正装东西，眼角忽然瞥见什么东西。她猛地直起身，发现那只猫大摇大摆朝她走来，尾巴翘得高高的，尾巴尖弯过来，像个问号。
Someone had once told her that if you look up at the sky from the bottom of a mineshaft, even in the brightest daylight, you see a night sky and stars.
从前有人告诉她，如果从井底向天上看，哪怕外面是大白天，你看到的也是一片夜晚的天空，还有星星。
And then the weight and the momentum of the hand sent the plastic dolls’ cups flying, and the paper tablecloth and the key and the other mother’s right hand went tumbling down into the darkness of the well.
就在这时，手的重量，加上它跳下来的冲力，玩具茶杯终于吃不住了，飞了起来。纸台布、钥匙，还有另一个妈妈的右手，翻翻滚滚，掉进黑洞洞的井里。
Time slowed for Coraline. The white fingers closed around the black key É
卡萝兰觉得时间停下来不动了。几根苍白的手指合拢了，紧紧抓住黑钥匙…
Then she put her dolls and the cups back in the cardboard box she had carried them out in.
做完以后，她收拾起玩具娃娃和茶杯，放进那只搬它们过来时用的纸板盒里。
Coraline wondered if the hand could see stars from where it was. She hauled the heavy planks back on to the well, covering it as carefully as she could. She didn’t want anything to fall in. She didn’t want anything ever to get out.
卡萝兰心想，不知那只手现在能不能看见星星。她把那几块沉重的木板拖过来，压在井口上，尽力盖好。她可不想再有什么别的东西掉下去，也不想有任何东西从井里爬上来。
Coraline counted slowly under her breath. She got up to forty before she heard a muffled splash coming from a long way below.
卡萝兰屏住呼吸，慢慢数了四十下。数过四十以后，她才听见下面好深好深的地方传来闷声闷气的噗通一声。
The cat walked over to her and jumped up on to the planks that covered the well. Then, slowly, it winked one eye at her.
猫走到她身边，一纵身，跳上盖着井口的木板。然后，慢慢地，它朝她眨了一下眼睛。
It sprang down into the long grass in front of her and rolled over on to its back, wiggling about ecstatically.
它跳进她面前的草丛，打了个滚，肚皮朝上，兴奋地挥舞着爪子。
It was the first time she had seen the cat in several days, since they had returned together from the other mother’s place.
自从逃出另一个妈妈的世界，这几天里，她头一次看见这只猫。
Coraline scratched and tickled the soft fur on its belly, and the cat purred contentedly. When it had had enough it rolled over on to its front once more and walked back towards the tennis court, like a tiny patch of midnight in the midday sun.
卡萝兰挠着它肚皮上的软毛，猫心满意足地喵喵叫。玩够了以后，它翻身站起来，朝网球场走去，像正午阳光下的一小片黑夜。
Coraline went back to the house.
卡萝兰回到宅子。
Mr Bobo was waiting for her in the driveway. He clapped her on the shoulder. “The mice tell me that all is good,” he said. “They say that you are our saviour, Caroline.”
波波先生在外面的车道上等她。他在她肩膀上拍了一下。“老鼠们告诉我，一切都平安无事了。”他说，“它们说，你救了我们大家，卡罗琳。”
“Coraline,” said Mr Bobo, repeating her name to himself with wonderment and respect. “Very good, Coraline. The mice say that I must tell you that as soon as they are ready to perform in public, you will come up to watch them as the first audience of all. They will play tumpty umpty and toodle oodle, and they will dance and do a thousand tricks. That is what they say.”
“卡萝兰。”波波先生重复了一遍，神态很庄重，还有点惊奇，“很好，卡萝兰。老鼠们要我记得告诉你，只要它们准备好了，可以公演了，你一定要上楼来，当第一个观众，看它们表演。它们会表演‘嘟哒哒，嘟哒哒’，还有‘滴哒哒，滴哒哒’，还要跳舞呢。它们会的节目可多了。它们就是这么说的。”
“It’s Coraline, Mister Bobo,” said Coraline. “Not Caroline. Coraline.”
“我叫卡萝兰，波波先生，”卡萝兰说，“不叫卡罗琳。卡萝兰。”
That night Coraline lay in bed, all bathed, teeth cleaned, with her eyes open, staring up at the ceiling.
那天夜里，卡萝兰躺在床上，洗了澡，刷了牙。她睁着眼睛，盯着天花板。
She knocked at Miss Spink and Miss Forcible’s door. Miss Spink let her in and Coraline went into their parlour. She put her box of dolls down on the floor. Then she put her hand into her pocket and pulled out the stone with the hole in it. “Here you go,” she said. “I don’t need it any more. I’m very grateful. I think it may have saved my life, and saved some other people’s deaths.”
她敲了敲斯平克小姐和福斯波尔小姐的房门。斯平克小姐让她进了屋。卡萝兰走进起居室，放下玩具盒子。她把手伸进口袋，掏出上面有洞眼的石头。“还给你们，”她说，“我用不着了。非常谢谢你们。我想，它救了我的命，还救了其他好多人。”
She gave them both tight hugs, although her arms barely stretched around Miss Spink, and Miss Forcible smelled like the raw garlic she had been cutting. Then Coraline picked up her box of dolls and went out.
她紧紧抱了抱两位老太太。斯平克小姐太胖，她的胳膊几乎抱不过来。福斯波尔小姐身上有一股生大蒜味儿，她刚才在切大蒜。卡萝兰拿起盒子，走了。
“I would like that very much,” said Coraline. “When they’re ready.”
“我一定来看，”卡萝兰说，“它们一准备好，我就上来看。”
It was warm enough that, now the hand was gone, she had opened her bedroom window wide. She had insisted to her father that the curtains not be entirely closed.
天气很热。现在那只手不在了，所以卧室窗户大开着。她一定要爸爸别把窗帘全拉上。
“What an extraordinary child,” said Miss Spink. No one had hugged her like that since she had retired from the theatre.
“真是个好孩子。”斯平克小姐说。自从她离开舞台，从来没有人像这样拥抱过她。
Her new school clothes were laid out carefully on her chair for her to put on when she woke.
她的校服整整齐齐放在床边椅子上，她醒来以后好穿上。
She fancied she could hear sweet music on the night air: the kind of music that can only be played on the tiniest silver trombones and trumpets and bassoons, on piccolos and tubas so delicate and small that their keys could only be pressed by the tiny pink fingers of white mice.
她觉得隐隐约约听到夜色中传来美妙的音乐声，只有最小最小的银制长号、喇叭和巴松管才能吹出这种音乐。短笛和长笛也一定非常非常小，只有白老鼠粉红色的小爪子才能按住这些乐器的乐键。
Normally, on the night before the first day of term, Coraline was apprehensive and nervous. But, she realised, there was nothing left about school that could scare her any more.
过去，开学第一天的前一个晚上，卡萝兰总是有点紧张，有点害怕。但现在，她知道，学校里已经没有什么可以吓倒她的了。
Coraline imagined that she was back again in her dream, with the two girls and the boy under the oak tree in the meadow, and she smiled.
卡萝兰好像又回到了那个梦里，和两个女孩一个男孩坐在草地上一株大橡树下。她笑了。
As the first stars came out Coraline finally allowed herself to drift into sleep, while the gentle upstairs music of the mouse circus spilled out on to the warm evening air, telling the world that the summer was almost over.
当第一批星星出现在天空的时候，卡萝兰慢慢睡着了。楼上的老鼠马戏团奏出的音乐在温暖的夜气中飘荡，告诉这个世界：夏天快结束了。
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