17 Journey to London

Journey to London The great yellow wasteland lay dim and milky in the moonlight as the Big Friendly Giant went galloping across it. Sophie, still wearing only her nightie, was reclining comfortably in a crevice of the BFG's right ear. She was actually in the outer rim of the ear, near the top, where the edge of the ear folds over, and this folding-over bit made a sort of roof for her and gave her wonderful protection against the rushing wind. What is more, she was lying on skin that was soft and warm and almost velvety. Nobody, she told herself, had ever travelled in greater comfort.

大友好的巨人疾驰而过，黄色的荒原在月光下呈现出朦胧的乳白色。 索菲仍然只穿着睡衣，舒舒服服地躺在好心眼巨人右耳的缝隙里。 她实际上是在耳朵的外缘，靠近顶部的地方，耳朵的边缘折叠起来，这个折叠的部分为她提供了一种屋顶，为她提供了抵抗狂风的奇妙保护。 更重要的是，她躺在柔软温暖的皮肤上，几乎像天鹅绒一样柔软。 她对自己说，没有人比她旅行得更舒适了。

Sophie peeped over the rim of the ear and watched the desolate landscape of Giant Country go whizzing by. They were certainly moving fast. The BFG went bouncing off the ground as though there were rockets in his toes and each stride he took lifted him about a hundred feet into the air. But he had not yet gone into that whizzing top gear of his, when die ground became blurred by speed and the wind howled and his feet didn't seem to be touching anything but air. That would come later. Sophie had not slept for a long time. She was very tired. She was also warm and comfortable. She dozed off. She didn't know how long she slept, but when she woke up again and looked out over the edge of the ear, the landscape had changed completely.

索菲从耳廓上往外瞥了一眼，看着巨人国荒凉的景色呼啸而过。 他们的确行动迅速。 好心眼巨人在地面上跳来跳去，仿佛脚趾里有火箭似的。他每迈一步，就把自己举到大约一百英尺高的空中。 但他还没开到那呼啸的最高档位，地面就被速度弄得模糊不清了，风呼啸着，他的脚似乎除了空气什么也碰不到。 那是以后的事。苏菲很久没有睡觉了。 她很累。她也很温暖和舒适。 她打起了瞌睡。她不知道自己睡了多久，但当她再次醒来，从耳朵边缘向外望去时，景色完全变了。

They were in a green country now, with mountains and forests. It was still dark but the moon was shining as brightly as ever. Suddenly and without slowing his pace, the BFG turned his head sharply to the left. For the first time during the entire journey he spoke a few words. 'Look quick-quick over there,' he said, pointing his long trumpet. Sophie looked in the direction he was pointing. Through the murky darkness all she saw at first was a great cloud of dust about three hundred yards away. 'Those is the other giants all galloping back home after their guzzle,' the BFG said. Then Sophie saw them. In the light of the moon, she saw all nine of those monstrous halfnaked brutes thundering across the landscape together. They were galloping in a pack, their necks craned forward, their arms bent at the elbows, and worst of all, their stomachs bulging. The strides they took were incredible. Their speed was unbelievable. Their feet pounded and thundered on the ground and left a great sheet of dust behind them. But in ten seconds they were gone.

他们现在是在一个绿色的国家，有山和森林。 天还是黑的，但月亮照得像往常一样明亮。 突然，好心眼巨人没有放慢脚步，猛地把头转向左边。 在整个旅途中，他第一次说了几句话。 “快——快——看那边，”他指着他的长小号说。 索菲朝他指的方向看了看。 在黑暗中，她起初只看到三百码外的一大片尘埃云。 “那是其他的巨人，他们都在狂饮之后飞奔回家。”好心眼巨人说。 然后苏菲看到了他们。在月光下，她看见那九个半裸的怪物一起在大地上咆哮。 它们成群地奔驰着，脖子向前伸着，胳膊肘弯着，最糟糕的是，它们的肚子鼓得鼓鼓的。 他们的进步令人难以置信。 他们的速度令人难以置信。 他们的脚在地上砰砰作响，留下一大片尘土。 但不到十秒钟，他们就不见了。

'A lot of little girlsies and boysies is no longer sleeping in their beds tonight,' the BFG said. Sophie felt quite ill. But this grim encounter made her more than ever determined to go through with her mission. It must have been about an hour or so later that the BFG began to slow his pace. 'We is in England now,' he said suddenly. Dark though it was, Sophie could see that they were in a country of green fields with neat hedges in between the fields. There were hills with trees all over them and occasionally there were roads

“很多小女孩和小男孩今晚都睡不着床了。” 索菲感到很不舒服。但这次严峻的遭遇使她比以往任何时候都更加坚定了完成使命的决心。 大概过了一个小时左右，好心眼巨人才开始放慢脚步。 “我们现在是在英国，”他突然说。 虽然天很黑，但苏菲看得出他们是在一片绿油油的田野里，田野之间有整齐的树篱。 那里有满是树木的小山，偶尔也有道路

with the lights of cars moving along. Each time they came to a road, the BFG was over it and away, and no motorist could possibly have seen anything except a quick black shadow flashing overhead. All at once, a curious orange-coloured glow appeared in the night sky ahead of them. 'We is coming close to London,' the BFG said. He slowed to a trot. He began looking about cautiously. Groups of houses were now appearing on all sides. But there were still no lights in their windows. It was too early for anyone to be getting up yet. 'Someone's bound to see us,' Sophie said. 'Never is they seeing me,' the BFG said confidently. 'You is forgetting that I is doing this sort of thing for years and years and years. No human bean is ever catching even the smallest wink of me.' 'I did,' Sophie whispered. 'Ah,' he said. 'Yes. But you was the very first.' During the next half-hour, things moved so swiftly and so silently that Sophie, crouching in the giant's ear, was unable to understand exactly

伴随着汽车的灯光。 每次他们走到一条路上，好心眼巨人就在路上飞走了，除了头顶上闪过的黑影外，驾车者什么也看不见。 突然，一道奇怪的橘黄色的光出现在他们前面的夜空中。 “我们快到伦敦了。”BFG说。 他放慢脚步小跑起来。他开始小心翼翼地环顾四周。 一群群的房子现在出现在四面八方。 但他们的窗户里仍然没有灯光。 时间还太早，谁也不可能起床。 "肯定会有人看见我们的。"索菲说。 “他们从来没见过我。”好心眼巨人自信地说。 “你忘了我做这种事已经很多年了。 没有一个人能看到我哪怕是最微小的眼神。"是的，"索菲小声说。 “啊，”他说。‘是的。但你是第一个。”在接下来的半个小时里，一切进展得如此迅速，如此安静，以至于蹲在巨人耳边的索菲无法确切地理解

what was going on. They were in streets. There were houses everywhere. Sometimes there were shops. There were bright lamps in the streets. There were quite a few people about and there were cars with lights on. But nobody ever noticed the BFG. It was impossible to understand quite how he did it. There was a kind of magic in his movements. He seemed to melt into the shadows. He would glide – that was the only word to describe his way of moving – he would glide noiselessly from one dark place to another, always moving, always gliding forward through the streets of London, his black cloak blending with the shadows of the night. It is quite possible that one or two late-night wanderers might have thought they saw a tall black shadow skimming swiftly down a murky sidestreet, but even if they had, they would never have believed their own eyes. They would have dismissed it as an illusion and blamed themselves for seeing things that weren't there. Sophie and the BFG came at last to a large place full of trees. There was a road running through it, and a lake. There were no people in this place and the BFG stopped for the first time

发生了什么。他们在街上。 到处都是房子。 有时有商店。 街上有明亮的灯。 周围有很多人，还有亮着灯的汽车。 但是没有人注意到BFG。 不可能完全理解他是怎么做到的。 他的动作有一种魔力。 他似乎融入了阴影之中。 他会滑行——这是唯一可以形容他移动方式的词——他会无声无息地从一个黑暗的地方滑到另一个黑暗的地方，总是在移动，总是在伦敦的街道上滑行，他的黑色斗篷与夜晚的阴影融为一体。 很有可能有一两个夜游的人认为他们看到了一个高大的黑影在阴暗的小巷上迅速掠过，但即使他们看到了，他们也绝不会相信自己的眼睛。 他们会认为这是一种幻觉，并责怪自己看到了不存在的东西。 最后，索菲和好心眼巨人来到了一个长满树木的大地方。 有一条路穿过它，还有一个湖。 这里一个人也没有，好心眼巨人第一次停了下来