13 Thirteen

Thirteen A few-minutes later, Miss Spider had made the first bed. It was hanging from the ceiling, suspended by a rope of threads at either end so that actually it looked more like a hammock than a bed. But it was a magnificent affair, and the stuff that it was made of shimmered like silk in the pale light. 'I do hope you'll find it comfortable,' Miss Spider said to the Old-Green-Grasshopper. 'I made it as soft and silky as I possibly could. I spun it with gossamer. That's a much better quality thread than the one I use for my own web.' 'Thank you so much, my dear lady,' the Old-Green-Grasshopper said, climbing into the hammock. 'Ah, this is just what I needed. Good night, everybody. Good night.' Then Miss Spider spun the next hammock, and the Ladybird got in.

几分钟后，蜘蛛小姐铺好了第一张床。 它挂在天花板上，两端用一根绳子吊着，所以它看起来更像一张吊床，而不是一张床。 但这是一件华丽的东西，做它的材料在苍白的光线下像丝绸一样闪闪发光。 “我真希望你会觉得舒服，”蜘蛛小姐对老绿蚱蜢说。 “我尽可能把它做得柔软如丝。 我用游丝把它纺了起来。这条线的质量比我自己用的好得多。“非常感谢您，我亲爱的夫人，”老绿蚱蜢说着，爬上了吊床。 “啊，这正是我所需要的。 大家晚安。晚安。”然后蜘蛛小姐转动下一个吊床，瓢虫爬了进去。

After that, she spun a long one for the Centipede, and an even longer one for the Earthworm. 'And how do you like your bed?' she said to James when it came to his turn. 'Hard or soft?' 'I like it soft, thank you very much,' James answered. 'For goodness' sake stop staring round the room and get on with my boots!' the Centipede said. 'You and I are never going to get any sleep at this rate! And kindly line them up neatly in pairs as you take them off. Don't just throw them over your shoulder.' James worked away frantically on the Centipede's boots. Each one had laces that had to be untied and loosened before it could be pulled off, and to make matters worse, all the laces were tied up in the most terrible complicated knots that had to be unpicked with fingernails. It was just awful. It took about two hours. And by the time James had pulled off the last boot of all and had lined them up in a row on the floor – twenty-one pairs altogether – the Centipede was fast asleep.

然后，她为蜈蚣纺了一个长一点的，又为蚯蚓纺了一个更长的。 “你喜欢你的床吗?”轮到詹姆斯时，她对他说。 “硬的还是软的?”“我喜欢软的，非常感谢。”詹姆斯回答。 “看在上帝的份上，别在房间里东张西望了，快穿上我的靴子!”蜈蚣说。 “照这样下去，你和我永远也睡不着了!”脱掉的时候，请把它们整齐地排成一对。 不要把它们扔在你的肩膀上。”詹姆斯疯狂地为蜈蚣做靴子。 每只鞋都有鞋带，要解开鞋带才能脱下来，更糟糕的是，所有的鞋带都打了一个非常复杂的结，必须用指甲才能解开。 太可怕了。大约花了两个小时。 等到詹姆斯脱下最后一只靴子，把它们在地板上排成一排——总共21双——蜈蚣已经睡得很熟了。

'Wake up, Centipede,' whispered James, giving him a gentle dig in the stomach. 'It's time for bed.' 'Thank you, my dear child,' the Centipede said, opening his eyes. Then he got down off the sofa and ambled across the room and crawled into his hammock. James got into his own hammock – and oh, how soft and comfortable it was compared with the hard bare boards that his aunts had always made him sleep upon at home. 'Lights out,' said the Centipede drowsily. Nothing happened. 'Turn out the light!' he called, raising his voice. James glanced round the room, wondering which of the others he might be talking to, but they were all asleep. The Old-Green-Grasshopper was snoring loudly through his nose. The Ladybird was making whistling noises as she breathed, and the Earthworm was coiled up like a spring at one end of his hammock, wheezing and blowing through his open mouth. As for Miss Spider, she had made a lovely web for herself across one corner of the room, and James could

“醒醒，蜈蚣。”詹姆斯小声说，在他肚子上轻轻捅了一下。 “该睡觉了。“谢谢你，我亲爱的孩子。”蜈蚣睁开眼睛说。 然后他从沙发上下来，慢悠悠地穿过房间，爬上吊床。 詹姆斯钻进了他自己的吊床——哦，和家里姨妈们总是让他睡在坚硬的光秃秃的木板上相比，这是多么的柔软和舒适啊。 “熄灯了。”蜈蚣迷迷糊糊地说。 什么也没有发生。“把灯关上!”他喊道，提高了嗓门。 詹姆环视了一下房间，不知道他在跟谁说话，但他们都睡着了。 老绿蚱蜢正从鼻子里大声打鼾。 瓢虫呼吸时发出了口哨，蚯蚓像弹簧一样蜷曲在吊床的一端，从张开的嘴巴里喘息着。 至于蜘蛛小姐，她在房间的一角为自己织了一张可爱的网，詹姆斯也会

see her crouching right in the very centre of it, mumbling softly in her dreams. 'I said turn out the light!' shouted the Centipede angrily. 'Are you talking to me?' James asked him. 'Of course I'm not talking to you, you ass!' the Centipede answered. 'That crazy Glow-worm has gone to sleep with her light on!' For the first time since entering the room, James glanced up at the ceiling – and there he saw a most extraordinary sight. Something that looked like a gigantic fly without wings (it was at least three feet long) was standing upside down upon its six legs in the middle of the ceiling, and the tail end of this creature seemed to be literally on fire. A brilliant greenish light as bright as the brightest electric bulb was shining out of its tail and lighting up the whole room. 'Is that a Glow-worm?' asked James, staring at the light. 'It doesn't look like a worm of any sort to me.' 'Of course it's a Glow-worm,' the Centipede answered. 'At least that's what she calls herself.

看她就蹲在它的正中央，在梦里轻声地喃喃自语。 “我说了关灯!”蜈蚣生气地喊道。 “你是在跟我说话吗?”詹姆斯问他。 “我当然不会跟你说话，你这个混蛋!”蜈蚣回答。 “那个疯萤火虫开着灯睡着了!”进入房间后，詹姆斯第一次抬头看了看天花板——在那里，他看到了一幅最不寻常的景象。 一个看起来像一只没有翅膀的巨大苍蝇的东西(它至少有三英尺长)，用六条腿倒立在天花板中央，这个生物的尾巴似乎真的着火了。 一道像最亮的电灯泡一样亮的绿光从它的尾巴里射出，照亮了整个房间。 “那是萤火虫吗?”詹姆斯盯着灯问。 “在我看来，它不像什么虫子。“当然是萤火虫。”蜈蚣回答。 至少她是这么称呼自己的。

Although actually you are quite right. She isn't really a worm at all. Glow-worms are never worms. They are simply lady fireflies without wings. Wake up, you lazy beast!' But the Glow-worm didn't stir, so the Centipede reached out of his hammock and picked up one of his boots from the floor. 'Put out that wretched light!' he shouted, hurling the boot up at the ceiling. The Glow-worm slowly opened one eye and stared at the Centipede. 'There is no need to be rude,' she said coldly. 'All in good time.'

虽然实际上你是对的。 她根本不是真正的虫子。 萤火虫从来不是虫子。 它们只是没有翅膀的萤火虫。 醒醒吧，你这懒惰的畜生!”但是萤火虫一动也不动，于是蜈蚣从吊床上伸出手，从地板上捡起一只靴子。 “把那该死的灯灭了!”他喊道，把靴子扔到天花板上。 萤火虫慢慢地睁开一只眼睛，盯着蜈蚣。 "没必要这么粗鲁，"她冷冷地说。 “到时候就好了。”

'Come on, come on, come on!' shouted the Centipede. 'Or I'll put it out for you!' 'Oh, hello, James!' the Glow-worm said, looking down and giving James a little wave and a smile. 'I didn't see you come in. Welcome, my dear boy, welcome – and good night!' Then click – and out went the light. James Henry Trotter lay there in the darkness with his eyes wide open, listening to the strange sleeping noises that the 'creatures' were making all around him, and wondering what on earth was going to happen to him in the morning. Already, he was beginning to like his new friends very much. They were not nearly as terrible as they looked. In fact they weren't really terrible at all. They seemed extremely kind and helpful in spite

“加油，加油，加油!”蜈蚣喊道。 “不然我就给你灭了!”“哦，你好，詹姆斯!”萤火虫说着，低头朝詹姆斯微微挥了挥手，笑了笑。 “我没看见你进来。 欢迎，我亲爱的孩子，欢迎——晚安!”然后咔哒一声，灯灭了。 詹姆斯·亨利·特罗特躺在黑暗中，眼睛睁得大大的，听着周围那些“生物”在睡梦中发出的奇怪的声音，心里想着明天早上自己究竟会发生什么事。 他已经开始非常喜欢他的新朋友了。 它们根本不像看上去那么可怕。 事实上，它们一点也不可怕。 尽管如此，他们似乎非常善良和乐于助人