Margalo liked it so well at the Littles’ house she decided to stay for a while instead of returning to the open country. She and Stuart became fast friends, and as the days passed it seemed to Stuart that she grew more and more beautiful. He hoped she would never go away from him.
玛戈非常喜欢住在利特尔家的房子里，因此决定暂时不回乡下去了。她和斯图亚特成了一对彼此忠诚的朋友，随着时间的推移，斯图亚特觉得她长得越来越美丽了。他希望她永远也不要离开他。
One day when Stuart had recovered from bronchitis he took his new skates and put on his ski pants and went out to look for an ice pond. He didn’t get far. The minute he stepped out into the street he saw an Irish terrier, so he had to shinny up an iron gate and jump into a garbage can, where he hid in a grove of celery.
一天，支气管炎已经好了的斯图亚特穿上他的冰鞋，还有他的滑冰裤，想出去找一个结冰的池塘。他并没有走太远。几乎刚出街他就发现了一条爱尔兰犭更。因此他爬到铁门上，跳到一个垃圾箱里，躲到里面的芹菜树丛中。
While he was there, waiting for the dog to go away, a garbage truck from the Department of Sanitation drove up to the curb and two men picked up the can. Stuart felt himself being hoisted high in the air. He peered over the side and saw that in another instant he and everything in the can would be dumped into the big truck.
当他在那里等着狗跑开时，一辆从公共卫生所开来的垃圾车停到了路边，两个男人走下来抬起了垃圾箱。斯图亚特感到自己被高高地抬到了空中。他爬到箱子边上一看，才知道他和别的垃圾都要一起被装进大卡车里。
“If I jump now I’ll kill myself,” thought Stuart. So he ducked back into the can and waited. The men threw the can with a loud bump into the truck, where another man grabbed it, turned it upside down, and shook everything out. Stuart landed on his head, buried two feet deep in wet slippery garbage. All around him was garbage, smelling strong. Under him, over him, on all four sides of him — garbage. Just an enormous world of garbage and trash and smell. It was a messy spot to be in. He had egg on his trousers, butter on his cap, gravy on his shirt, orange pulp in his ear, and banana peel wrapped around his waist.
“如果我现在跳车就意味着自杀，”斯图亚特想。于是他就钻回垃圾箱等着。一个男人把装满垃圾的箱子扔上卡车，另一个男人则在垃圾里四处翻着。斯图亚特的头上埋了两脚高的垃圾。他的周围都是垃圾，散发出强烈的臭味儿。身下，头顶，四周——都是垃圾。就像来到了一个巨大的臭气薰天的垃圾世界。这里面太脏了。他的裤子上有一个鸡蛋，帽子上沾上了奶油，衬衫上洒上了肉汤，耳朵上挂着桔子瓣儿，腰上则缠着香蕉皮。
“I bet I’m going to be sick at my stomach before I get out of this,” said Stuart.
“我敢说在我离开这里之前，我就会得胃病的，”斯图亚特说。
Still hanging on to his skates, Stuart tried to make his way up to the surface of the garbage, but the footing was bad. He climbed a pile of coffee grounds, but near the top the grounds gave way under him and he slid down and landed in a pool of leftover rice pudding.
身上带着冰鞋的斯图亚特，想爬到垃圾的顶上去，可是脚却不好使了。他往一个咖啡堆上爬，可刚爬上去，就滑了下来，陷到一堆吃剩的布丁里。
There was no way for him to get out of the truck, the sides were too high. He just had to wait.
对他来说，车上无路可逃，四边都太高了。他决定还是等等再说。
He was anxious to work his way up to the top of the pile because he was afraid of being squashed by the next can-load of garbage. When at last he did succeed in getting to the surface, tired and smelly, he observed that the truck was not making any more collections but was rumbling rapidly along. Stuart glanced up at the sun. “We’re going east,” he said to himself. “I wonder what that means.”
他焦急地往垃圾堆上面爬，因为他怕被另一箱垃圾压瘪。当他终于成功地爬到垃圾的表面，带着臭味儿和疲惫往外观察时，才知道车上没再装垃圾，只是在飞快地往前开。斯图亚特看看太阳。“我们在往东边去，”他自语。“我真想知道为什么。”
When the truck arrived at the East River, which borders New York City on the east and which is a rather dirty but useful river, the driver drove out onto the pier, backed up to a garbage scow, and dumped his load. Stuart went crashing and slithering along with everything else and hit his head so hard he fainted and lay quite still, as though dead. He lay that way for almost an hour, and when he recovered his senses he looked about him and saw nothing but water. The scow was being towed out to sea.
卡车开到东河，它就在纽约城边。那里非常的脏乱，不过却有一条有用的河。车开到那里的码头，便开始往停在下面的大垃圾船方向倒车，然后才把垃圾卸到那条船上。斯图亚特和每一件垃圾一起往下坠时，被重重地击到了头部，以至于完全昏迷，就像死了一样。他就那样躺了大约有一小时，才恢复了知觉，看着自己和河水。那大平底船正在被往大洋的方向拖去。
The thought of death made Stuart sad, and he began to think of his home and of his father and mother and brother and of Margalo and Snowbell and of how he loved them (all but Snowbell) and of what a pleasant place his home was, specially in the early morning with the light just coming in through the curtains and the household stirring and waking. The tears came into his eyes when he realized that he would never see them again. He was still sobbing when a small voice behind him whispered: “Stuart!”
死亡的念头让斯图亚特伤感起来，他开始想起了他的家庭，他的父母，兄弟，玛戈，雪球等他深爱的一切（只除了雪球）。他的家是多么可爱，特别是在早晨的阳光刚透过窗帘，家人醒来准备起床的时候。一想到再也看不到他们，他的泪水就涌了出来。当他正在那里啜泣时，一个很小的声音从身后传来：“斯图亚特！”
“Well,” thought Stuart, “this is about the worst thing that could happen to anybody. I guess this will be my last ride in this world.” For he knew that the garbage would be towed twenty miles out and dumped into the Atlantic Ocean. “I guess there’s nothing I can do about it,” he thought, hopelessly. “I’ll just have to sit here bravely and die like a man. But I wish I didn’t have to die with egg on my pants and butter on my cap and gravy on my shirt and orange pulp in my ear and banana peel wrapped around my middle.”
“唉，”斯图亚特想，“这大概是一个人能想出来的最糟的事情了。我猜这次是我在这个世界里的最后一次航行了。”因为他知道这些垃圾要被运到二十公里外，投到大西洋里去。“我猜这回我怎么做都没用了，”他无望地想。“我只有勇敢地坐在这里，死得像个真正的男人了。但我真的不想和我裤子上的鸡蛋，帽子上的奶油，衬衫上的肉汤，耳朵上的桔子瓣儿，腰上的香蕉皮死在一起。”
“Well,” said the bird, “I was looking out the window this morning when you left home and I happened to see you get dumped into the garbage truck, so I flew out the window and followed the truck, thinking you might need help.”
“哦，”这只鸟说，“我今早从窗口看见你离开家，也碰巧看见你被装到垃圾车里，我就飞出来跟在卡车后面，想你可能会需要帮助。”
“Certainly,” replied Stuart, modestly.
“当然，”斯图亚特谦虚地回答。
“I’ve never been so glad to see anybody in all my life,” said Stuart. “But how are you going to help me?”
“在我的一生里，看到什么人时还从没这么高兴过呢，”斯图亚特说。“可你怎么才能救我呢？”
“You’ll just have to be sick,” the bird replied. “Anything is better than death.”
“不要想你的病，”小鸟回答，“什么都比死亡要好。”
“Yes, that’s true,” Stuart agreed.
“是的，那倒是真的，”斯图亚特回答。
“Three ounces and a half,” said Stuart.
“三盎司半，”斯图亚特说。
“With your clothes on?” asked Margalo.
“连你的衣服也都算上？”玛戈问。
“Margalo!” cried Stuart. “How did you get here?”
“玛戈！”斯图亚特喊。“你怎么到这里来的？”
“Don’t look down,” replied Margalo. “Then you won’t get dizzy.”
“别往下看，”玛戈回答。“那样你就不会头晕了。”
“Suppose I get dizzy,” said Stuart.
“不过我似乎有些怕晕，”斯图亚特说。
“I think that if you’ll hang onto my feet,” said Margalo, “I can fly ashore with you. It’s worth trying anyway. How much do you weigh?”
“我想如果你挂在我的脚上，”玛戈说，“我也能和你一起往岸上飞。不管怎么说这办法值得一试。你有多重？”
“Then I believe I can carry you all right.”
“那么我相信我完全能带动你。”
“Suppose I get sick at my stomach.”
“我猜我的胃也有了毛病。”
He looked around, through his tears, and there, sitting on a Brussels sprout, was Margalo.
他收起了眼泪，回头看去，见玛戈正站在一个甘蓝上。
With a flutter of wings, Margalo rose into the sky, carrying Stuart along, and together they flew out over the ocean and headed toward home.
玛戈拍打着翅膀，和斯图亚特一起飞上了天空，他们经过大洋，向家里飞去。
Stuart tucked his skates into his shirt, stepped gingerly onto a tuft of lettuce, and took a firm grip on Margalo’s ankles. “All ready!” he cried.
斯图亚特把他的冰鞋塞到他的衬衫里，小心地爬到甘蓝上，紧紧抓住了玛戈的脚踝。“好了。”他喊。
“Pew!” said Margalo, when they were high in the air, “you smell awful, Stuart.”
“哇！”当他们飞上天时，玛戈说，“你身上的气味太可怕了，斯图亚特。”
“Hang on, then! We may as well get started.”
“那么，挂上去！我们可以出发了。”
“I can hardly breathe,” she answered. “And my heart is pounding in my breast. Isn’t there something you could drop to make yourself lighter?”
“我几乎都不能喘气了，”她回答。“而且我的心都累得蹦蹦跳呢。你可 以扔掉些可以减轻体重的东西吗？”
“I know I do,” he replied, gloomily. “I hope it isn’t making you feel bad.”
“我知道，”他难过的回答。“我希望这不会让你感觉太糟。”
“Well, I could drop these ice skates,” said Stuart.
“行，我可以把这些冰鞋扔掉，”斯图亚特说。
“Goodness me,” the little bird cried, “I didn’t know you had skates hidden in your shirt. Toss those heavy skates away quickly or we will both come down in the ocean and perish.” Stuart threw his skates away and watched them fall down, down, till they disappeared in the gray waves below. “That’s better,” said Margalo. “Now we’re all right. I can already see the towers and chimneys of New York.”
“天哪，”小鸟说，“我不知道你的衬衫里还藏着冰鞋呢。如果不把这么重的冰鞋赶快扔掉，我们都得掉进大洋淹死。”斯图亚特扔掉他的冰鞋，看着它们一点点的下落，下落，直到完全被灰色的浪花吞没。“好多了，”玛戈说。“现在我们没事了。我已经能看到纽约的塔和烟囱了。”
So Stuart and Margalo told all about the ocean, and the gray waves curling with white crests, and the gulls in the sky, and the channel buoys and the ships and the tugs and the wind making a sound in your ears. Mr. Little sighed and said some day he hoped to get away from business long enough to see all those fine things.
于是斯图亚特和玛戈便告诉他所有关于大西洋的事，那些翻滚的浪花，空中的海鸥，救生圈，轮船，拖船，还有耳边呼啸的风声。利特尔先生叹息道，有天他也想放下手头的工作，去看看这些好东西。
Fifteen minutes later, in they flew through the open window of the Littles’ living room and landed on the Boston fern. Mrs. Little, who had left the window up when she missed Margalo, was glad to see them back, for she was beginning to worry. When she heard what had happened and how near she had come to losing her son, she took Stuart in her hand, even though his clothes smelled nasty, and kissed him. Then she sent him upstairs to take a bath, and sent George out to take Stuart’s clothes to the cleaner.
十五分钟后，他们从开着的窗子飞进利特尔家的起居室里，在那盆波士顿羊齿植物上着陆了。利特尔太太见玛戈飞走了就一直在窗外望着，都开始有些担心了，要不是高兴地看见他们都回来了的话。当她听说发生了什么事，她又怎样差点失去她的儿子时，她不顾斯图亚特身上的臭味，只是拉住他的手吻他。然后她让他上楼去洗澡，叫乔治去把斯图亚特的衣服洗干净。
Everyone thanked Margalo for saving Stuart’s life; and at suppertime Mrs. Little presented her with a tiny cake, which had seeds sprinkled on top.
每个人都感谢玛戈救了斯图亚特的命，晚饭时，利特尔太太给她特别准备了一个小蛋糕，上面撒满了种籽。
“What was it like, out there in the Atlantic Ocean?” inquired Mr. Little, who had never been very far from home.
“大西洋那里怎么样？”利特尔先生问，他从没有离家太远过。
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