05 Mrs Pratchett's revenge

Mrs Pratchett's revenge Our form master came into the classroom with a piece of paper in his hand. 'The following are to report to the Headmaster's study at once,' he said. 'Thwaites… Dahl…' And then he read out the other three names which I have forgotten. The five of us stood up and left the room. We didn't speak as we made our way down the long corridor into the Headmaster's private quarters where the dreaded study was situated. Thwaites knocked on the door. 'Enter!' We sidled in. The room smelled of leather and tobacco. Mr Coombes was standing in the middle of it, dominating everything, a giant of a man if ever there was one, and in his hands he held a long

普拉切特夫人的报复我们的班主任手里拿着一张纸走进教室。 “下面的人马上到校长书房报到。”他说。 “思韦茨……达尔……”然后他念了另外三个我已经忘记的名字。 我们五个人站起来离开了房间。 我们没有说话，顺着长长的走廊走进校长的私人宿舍，那间可怕的书房就在那里。 思韦茨敲了敲门。 “进!”我们悄悄溜了进去。房间里有皮革和烟草的味道。 库姆斯先生站在人群中间，支配着一切，如果世上有巨人的话，他就是一个巨人。他手里拿着一根长长的绳子

yellow cane which curved round the top like a walking stick. 'I don't want any lies,' he said. 'I know very well you did it and you were all in it together. Line up over there against the bookcase.' We lined up, Thwaites in front and I, for some reason, at the very back. I was last in the line. 'You,' Mr Coombes said, pointing the cane at Thwaites, 'Come over here.' Thwaites went forward very slowly. 'Bend over,' Mr Coombes said. Thwaites bent over. Our eyes were riveted on him. We were hypnotized by it all. We knew, of course, that boys got the cane now and again, but we had never heard of anyone being made to watch. 'Tighter, boy, tighter!' Mr Coombes snapped out. 'Touch the ground!'

黄色的手杖，像拐杖一样绕着顶部弯曲。 “我不想听任何谎言，”他说。 “我很清楚是你们干的，而且你们都是一伙的。 在那边靠书柜排好队。”我们排成一排，思韦茨在前面，而我，不知为什么，在最后面。 我排在队伍的最后。“你，”库姆斯先生用手杖指着斯韦茨说，“到这儿来。”思韦茨走得很慢。 “弯下腰来，”库姆斯先生说。 思韦茨弯下腰。我们目不转睛地盯着他。 我们被这一切催眠了。 当然，我们知道男孩子们偶尔会拿着手杖，但我们从来没有听说过有人被强迫观看。 “再紧一点，孩子，再紧一点!”库姆斯先生厉声说。 “着地!”

Thwaites touched the carpet with the tips of his fingers. Mr Coombes stood back and took up a firm stance with his legs well apart. I thought how small Thwaites's bottom looked and how very tight it was. Mr Coombes had his eyes focused squarely upon it. He raised the cane high above his shoulder, and as he brought it down, it made a loud swishing sound, and then there was a crack like a pistol shot as it struck Thwaites's bottom. Little Thwaites seemed to lift about a foot into the air and he yelled 'Ow-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w!' and straightened up like elastic. ' 'Arder!' shrieked a voice from over in the corner. Now it was our turn to jump. We looked round and there, sitting in one of Mr Coombes's big leather armchairs, was the tiny loathsome figure of Mrs Pratchett! She was bounding up and down with excitement. 'Lay it into 'im!' she was shrieking. 'Let 'im 'ave it! Teach 'im a lesson!' 'Get down, boy!' Mr Coombes ordered. 'And stay down! You get an extra one every time you

思韦茨用指尖碰了碰地毯。 库姆斯先生往后站了站，两腿分开，站得很稳。 我想思韦茨的屁股看起来是多么的小，多么的紧。 库姆斯先生目不转睛地盯着它。 他把手杖举过肩膀，当他把手杖放下时，发出一声响亮的嗖嗖声，然后就像一声枪响，击中了思韦茨的屁股。 小斯韦茨似乎把自己举到了一英尺高的空中，他大叫:“呜——呜——呜——呜——呜——呜!”然后像橡皮筋一样直了起来。 “ard !角落里一个声音尖叫道。 现在轮到我们跳了。 我们环顾四周，在库姆斯先生的一把大皮扶手椅上，坐着一个令人讨厌的小普拉切特太太的身影!她兴奋得上蹿下跳。 “揍他!”她尖叫道。 “给他!”给他点教训!“趴下，孩子!”库姆斯先生命令道。 “待在下面!”每次你

straighten up!' 'That's tellin' 'im!' shrieked Mrs Pratchett. 'That's tellin' the little blighter!' I could hardly believe what I was seeing. It was like some awful pantomime. The violence was bad enough, and being made to watch it was even worse, but with Mrs Pratchett in the audience the whole thing became a nightmare. Swish-crack! went the cane. 'Ow-w-w-w-w!' yelled Thwaites. ''Arder!' shrieked Mrs Pratchett. 'Stitch 'im up! Make it sting! Tickle 'im up good and proper! Warm 'is backside for 'im! Go on, warm it up, 'Eadmaster!' Thwaites received four strokes, and by gum, they were four real whoppers. 'Next!' snapped Mr Coombes. Thwaites came hopping past us on his toes, clutching his bottom with both hands and yelling, 'Ow! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Owwwww!' With tremendous reluctance, the next boy sidled forward to his fate. I stood there wishing I

清理!“这是在告诉他!”普拉切特太太尖叫道。 “这是在告诉那个小流氓!”我简直不敢相信我所看到的。 就像一出可怕的哑剧。 暴力已经够糟糕的了，而被迫观看更是糟糕，而普拉切特太太在观众席上，整个事情变成了一场噩梦。 Swish-crack !手杖走了。 “Ow-w-w-w-w !思韦茨喊道。 “ard !普拉切特太太尖叫道。 “把他缝起来!”让它痛起来!好好地给他挠痒痒!温暖是他的背后!来，把它热起来，“校长!”思韦茨挨了四次中风，到目前为止，他们已经是四个真正的大家伙了。 “下一个!库姆斯先生厉声说。 斯韦茨踮着脚尖蹦蹦跳跳地从我们身边走过，双手抓着屁股大叫:“哎哟!哎哟!哎哟!哎哟!Owwwww !”下一个男孩极不情愿地侧身走向他的命运。 我站在那里，希望我

hadn't been last in the line. The watching and waiting were probably even greater torture than the event itself. Mr Coombes's performance the second time was the same as the first. So was Mrs Pratchett's. She kept up her screeching all the way through, exhorting Mr Coombes to greater and still greater efforts, and the awful thing was that he seemed to be responding to her cries. He was like an athlete who is spurred on by the shouts of the crowd in the stands. Whether this was true or not, I was sure of one thing. He wasn't weakening. My own turn came at last. My mind was swimming and my eyes had gone all blurry as I

我不是最后一个排队的。 观看和等待可能比比赛本身更折磨人。 库姆斯第二次的表现和第一次一样。 普拉切特太太的也一样。她在整个过程中不停地尖叫，劝诫库姆斯先生更加努力，更加努力。可怕的是，他似乎在回应她的呼喊。 他就像一个运动员，被看台上观众的欢呼声所激励。 不管这是真的还是假的，有一件事我是肯定的。 他没有变弱。终于轮到我了。 我的思绪在游动，我的眼睛都模糊了

went forward to bend over. I can remember wishing my mother would suddenly come bursting into the room shouting, 'Stop! How dare you do that to my son!' But she didn't. All I heard was Mrs Pratchett's dreadful high-pitched voice behind me screeching, 'This one's the cheekiest of the bloomin' lot, 'Eadmaster! Make sure you let 'im 'ave it good and strong!' Mr Coombes did just that. As the first stroke landed and the pistol-crack sounded, I was thrown forward so violently that if my fingers hadn't been touching the carpet, I think I would have fallen flat on my face. As it was, I was able to catch myself on the palms of my hands and keep my balance. At first I heard only the crack and felt absolutely nothing at all, but a fraction of a second later the burning sting that flooded across my buttocks was so terrific that all I could do was gasp. I gave a great gushing gasp that emptied my lungs of every breath of air that was in them. It felt, I promise you, as though someone had laid a red-hot poker against my flesh and was pressing down on it hard.

向前弯下腰。 我还记得我多么希望母亲突然冲进房间，喊道:“住手!你怎么敢这样对我儿子!”但她没有。 我只听到普拉切特太太在我身后尖厉刺耳的声音:“这是最厚脸皮的，校长!”一定要让他喝得又好又壮!”库姆斯先生就是这么做的。 当第一枪落地，枪声响起时，我被猛烈地向前抛去，如果我的手指没有碰到地毯，我想我可能会脸朝下摔了个稀巴。 事实上，我能够用手掌抓住自己，保持平衡。 起初，我只听到噼啪声，完全没有感觉，但不到一秒钟后，我的屁股上就像被烧灼的刺痛一样，太可怕了，我只能喘着气。 我猛地倒吸了一口气，把肺里的每一口空气都吸光了。 我向你保证，那感觉就像有人把一根烧红的拨火棍放在我的肉上，使劲往下压。