14 Fourteen

Fourteen 'We're off!' someone was shouting. 'We're off at last!' James woke up with a jump and looked about him. The creatures were all out of their hammocks and moving excitedly around the room. Suddenly, the floor gave a great heave, as though an earthquake were taking place. 'Here we go!' shouted the Old-Green-Grasshopper, hopping up and down with excitement. 'Hold on tight!' 'What's happening?' cried James, leaping out of his hammock. 'What's going on?' The Ladybird, who was obviously a kind and gentle creature, came over and stood beside him. 'In case you don't know it,' she said, 'we are about to depart for ever from the top of this ghastly hill that we've all been living on for so long. We are about to roll away inside this great

“我们走吧!”有人喊道。 “我们终于出发了!”詹姆斯猛地一跳，醒了过来，环顾四周。 动物们都从吊床上爬了出来，兴奋地在房间里走来走去。 突然，地板剧烈地起伏了一下，好像要发生地震似的。 “我们走吧!”老绿蚱蜢喊着，兴奋地跳上跳下。 “抓紧了!”“出什么事了?”詹姆斯叫道，从吊床上跳了起来。 “出什么事了?”瓢虫，显然是一个善良和温柔的生物，走过来站在他身边。 “也许你还不知道，”她说，“我们要永远离开这个我们住了这么久的可怕的山顶了。 我们要滚进这个伟大的

big beautiful peach to a land of… of… of… to a land of–' 'Of what?' asked James. 'Never you mind,' said the Ladybird. 'But nothing could be worse than this desolate hilltop and those two repulsive aunts of yours –' 'Hear, hear!' they all shouted. 'Hear, hear!' 'You may not have noticed it,' the Ladybird went on, 'but the whole garden, even before it reaches the steep edge of the hill, happens to be on a steep slope. And therefore the only thing that has been stopping this peach from rolling away right from the beginning is the thick stem attaching it to the tree. Break the stem, and off we go.' 'Watch it!' cried Miss Spider, as the room gave another violent lurch. 'Here we go!' 'Not quite! Not quite!' 'At this moment,' continued the Ladybird, 'our Centipede, who has a pair of jaws as sharp as razors, is up there on top of the peach nibbling away at that stem. In fact, he must be nearly through it, as you can tell from the way we're

又大又漂亮的桃子到一个……的……的……到一个……”詹姆斯问。 “没关系，”瓢虫说。 “可是没有什么比这荒凉的山顶和你那两个讨厌的姑妈更糟糕的了——”“听着，听着!他们齐声喊道。 “听,听!“你可能没有注意到，”瓢虫接着说，“但是整个花园，甚至在它到达陡峭的山坡之前，碰巧是在一个陡峭的斜坡上。” 所以从一开始唯一能阻止桃子滚开的就是把它粘在树上的粗茎。 把茎折断，我们就可以走了。“小心!”蜘蛛小姐叫道，这时房间里又一阵猛烈的骚动。 “我们走吧!”“不完全是!”不!“现在，”瓢虫继续说，“我们的蜈蚣，它有一对像剃刀一样锋利的下颚，正在桃子顶上啃着桃茎。 事实上，他肯定快熬过去了，从我们的样子你就能看出来

lurching about. Would you like me to take you under my wing so that you won't fall over when we start rolling?' 'That's very kind of you,' said James, 'but I think I'll be all right.' Just then, the Centipede stuck his grinning face through a hole in the ceiling and shouted, 'I've done it! We're off!' 'We're off!' the others cried. 'We're off!' 'The journey begins!' shouted the Centipede. 'And who knows where it will end,' muttered the Earthworm, 'if you have anything to do with it. It can only mean trouble.' 'Nonsense,' said the Ladybird. 'We are now about to visit the most marvellous places and see the most wonderful things! Isn't that so, Centipede?'

倾斜。你想让我把你放在我的翅膀下吗?这样当我们开始滚动时，你就不会摔倒了。“你真是太好了，”詹姆斯说，“但我想我会没事的。”就在这时，蜈蚣把咧着嘴笑的脸从天花板的一个洞里探了出来，喊道:“我成功了!我们了!“我们走吧!”其他人叫道。 “我们了!“旅程开始了!”蜈蚣喊道。 “谁知道它会到什么时候才结束呢，”蚯蚓喃喃地说，“如果你和它有关系的话。 那只会带来麻烦。“胡说，”瓢虫说。 “我们现在要去参观最奇妙的地方，看最奇妙的东西!”是不是这样，蜈蚣?”

'There is no knowing what we shall see!' cried the Centipede. 'We may see a Creature with forty-nine heads Who lives in the desolate snow, And whenever he catches a cold (which he dreads) He has forty-nine noses to blow. 'We may see the venomous Pink-Spotted Scrunch Who can chew up a man with one bite. It likes to eat five of them roasted for lunch And eighteen for its supper at night. 'We may see a Dragon, and nobody knows That we won't see a Unicorn there. We may see a terrible Monster with toes Growing out of the tufts of his hair. 'We may see the sweet little Biddy-Bright Hen So playful, so kind and well-bred;

“谁也不知道我们会看到什么!”蜈蚣叫道。 “我们可能会看到一个有四十九个头的生物，他住在荒凉的雪地里，每当他感冒(他害怕感冒)，他就有四十九个鼻子要擤。 “我们可能会看到有毒的粉红斑松脆，它一口就能把人咬碎。” 它喜欢在午餐时吃5只，晚上吃18只。 “我们可能会看到一条龙，但没人知道我们不会在那里看到独角兽。 我们可能会看到一个可怕的怪物，脚趾从他的头发里长出来。 “我们可以看到可爱的小机灵母鸡，那么顽皮，那么善良，那么有教养;

And such beautiful eggs! You just boil them and then They explode and they blow off your head. 'A Gnu and a Gnocerous surely you'll see And that gnormous and gnorrible Gnat Whose sting when it stings you goes in at the knee And comes out through the top of your hat. 'We may even get lost and be frozen by frost. We may die in an earthquake or tremor. Or nastier still, we may even be tossed On the horns of a furious Dilemma. 'But who cares! Let us go from this horrible hill! Let us roll! Let us bowl! Let us plunge! Let's go rolling and bowling and spinning until We're away from old Spiker and Sponge!'

还有这么漂亮的蛋!你只要把它们煮熟，然后它们就会爆炸，把你的头炸飞。 “你肯定会看到一只Gnu和一只Gnocerous，还有那只又大又可怕的小蚊，它叮你的时候，从膝盖进去，从你的帽顶出来。 “我们甚至可能迷路，被霜冻住。 我们可能死于地震或震颤。 或者更糟糕的是，我们甚至可能被抛在愤怒的两难境地。 “但谁在乎呢!”让我们离开这可怕的山!让我们滚吧!让我们打保龄球吧!让我们跳下去吧!我们去打滚、打保龄球、转圈，直到我们远离老斯派克和海绵!”

One second later… slowly, insidiously, oh most gently, the great peach started to lean forward and steal into motion. The whole room began to tilt over and all the furniture went sliding across the floor, and crashed against the far wall. So did James and the Ladybird and the Old-Green-Grasshopper and Miss Spider and the Earthworm, and also the Centipede, who had just come slithering quickly down the wall.

一秒钟后……慢慢地，不知不觉地，哦，最温柔地，大桃子开始向前倾，悄悄地动了起来。 整个房间开始倾斜，所有的家具都滑过地板，撞在远处的墙上。 詹姆斯、瓢虫、老绿蚱蜢、蜘蛛小姐、蚯蚓，还有刚从墙上快速滑下来的蜈蚣，也跟着跳了下来。