18 Eighteen

Eighteen A minute later, they were out in the open, standing on the very top of the peach, near the stem, blinking their eyes in the strong sunlight and peering nervously around. 'What happened?' 'Where are we?' 'But this is impossible!' 'Unbelievable!' 'Terrible!' 'I told you we were bobbing up and down,' the Ladybird said. 'We're in the middle of the sea!' cried James. And indeed they were. A strong current and a high wind had carried the peach so quickly away from the shore that already the land was out of sight. All around them lay the vast black ocean,

十八、一分钟后，他们来到了户外，站在桃子的最顶端，靠近桃茎，在强烈的阳光下眨着眼睛，紧张地向四周张望。 “出了什么事?“我们在哪儿?”“但这是不可能的!”“真是难以置信!“太可怕了!“我告诉过你我们在上下浮动，”瓢虫说。 “我们在海中央!”詹姆斯叫道。 事实也确实如此。一股强劲的水流和大风很快就把桃子从岸边带走了，陆地已经看不见了。 他们周围是广阔的黑色海洋，

deep and hungry. Little waves were bibbling against the sides of the peach. 'But how did it happen?' they cried. 'Where are the fields? Where are the woods? Where is England?' Nobody, not even James, could understand how in the world a thing like this could have come about. 'Ladies and gentlemen,' the Old-Green-Grasshopper said, trying very hard to keep the fear and disappointment out of his voice, 'I am afraid that we find ourselves in a rather awkward situation.' 'Awkward!' cried the Earthworm. 'My dear Old Grasshopper, we are finished! Every one of us is about to perish! I may be blind, you know, but that much I can see quite clearly.' 'Off with my boots!' shouted the Centipede. 'I cannot swim with my boots on!' 'I can't swim at all!' cried the Ladybird. 'Nor can I,' wailed the Glow-worm. 'Nor I!' said Miss Spider. 'None of us three girls can swim a single stroke.'

又深又饿。小波浪拍打着桃子的边缘。 “可是这是怎么发生的呢?”他们叫道。 “田地在哪里?”树林在哪里? 英国在哪儿?”没有人，甚至詹姆斯也不明白，世界上怎么会发生这样的事情。 “女士们，先生们，”老绿蚱蜢说，竭力不让声音里流露出恐惧和失望，“恐怕我们会陷入相当尴尬的境地。“尴尬的!蚯蚓叫道。 “我亲爱的老蚱蜢，我们完了!”我们每个人都将灭亡!你知道，我也许是瞎了，但这一点我看得很清楚。“脱掉我的靴子!”蜈蚣喊道。 “我不能穿着靴子游泳!”“我根本不会游泳!”瓢虫叫道。 “我也不能，”萤火虫哀号道。 “和我!蜘蛛小姐说。 “我们三个女孩谁也游不了一游。”

'But you won't have to swim,' said James calmly. 'We are floating beautifully. And sooner or later a ship is bound to come along and pick us up.' They all stared at him in amazement. 'Are you quite sure that we are not sinking?' the Ladybird asked. 'Of course I'm sure,' answered James. 'Go and look for yourselves.' They all ran over to the side of the peach and peered down at the water below. 'The boy is quite right,' the Old-Green-Grasshopper said. 'We are floating beautifully. Now we must all sit down and keep perfectly calm. Everything will be all right in the end.' 'What absolute nonsense!' cried the Earthworm. 'Nothing is ever all right in the end, and well you know it!' 'Poor Earthworm,' the Ladybird said, whispering in James's ear. 'He loves to make everything into a disaster. He hates to be happy. He is only happy when he is gloomy. Now isn't

“但你不必游泳。”詹姆斯平静地说。 “我们漂浮得很漂亮。 迟早会有船来接我们的。”他们都惊奇地盯着他。 “你肯定我们不会下沉吗?”瓢虫问。 “当然，我肯定。”詹姆斯回答。 “你们自己去找吧。”他们都跑到桃子的旁边，凝视着下面的水。 “这孩子说得很对，”老绿蚱蜢说。 “我们漂浮得很漂亮。 现在我们都必须坐下来，保持绝对的冷静。 一切都会好起来的。“胡说八道!”蚯蚓叫道。 “到头来没有什么是十全十美的，这你知道得很清楚!”“可怜的蚯蚓，”瓢虫在詹姆斯耳边低语道。 “他喜欢把一切都搞得一团糟。 他讨厌快乐。他只有在忧郁的时候才感到快乐。 现在不是

that odd? But then, I suppose just being an Earthworm is enough to make a person pretty gloomy, don't you agree?' 'If this peach is not going to sink,' the Earthworm was saying, 'and if we are not going to be drowned, then every one of us is going to starve to death instead. Do you realize that we haven't had a thing to eat since yesterday morning?' 'By golly, he's right!' cried the Centipede. 'For once, Earthworm is right!' 'Of course I'm right,' the Earthworm said. 'And we're not likely to find anything around here either. We shall get thinner and thinner and thirstier and thirstier, and we shall all die a slow and grisly death from starvation. I am dying already. I am slowly shrivelling up for want of food. Personally, I would rather drown.' 'But good heavens, you must be blind!' said James. 'You know very well I'm blind,' snapped the Earthworm. 'There's no need to rub it in.'

这很奇怪吗?但是，我想仅仅是蚯蚓就足以让一个人变得非常沮丧，你不同意吗?“如果这只桃子不沉下去，”蚯蚓说，“如果我们不被淹死，那么我们每个人都会饿死的。” 你知道我们从昨天早上就没吃过东西吗?“天哪，他说得对!”蜈蚣叫道。 “这一次，蚯蚓说对了!”“我当然是对的。”蚯蚓说。 “而且我们在这附近也不太可能找到什么东西。 我们会变得越来越瘦，越来越渴，越来越渴，我们都会慢慢地、可怕地饿死。 我已经快死了。由于缺乏食物，我正在慢慢消瘦。 就我个人而言，我宁愿淹死。“天哪，你一定是瞎了!”詹姆斯说。 “你很清楚我是个瞎子。”蚯蚓厉声说。 “没必要老提这件事。”

'I didn't mean that,' said James quickly. 'I'm sorry. But can't you see that – ' 'See?' shouted the poor Earthworm. 'How can I see if I am blind?' James took a deep, slow breath. 'Can't you realize,' he said patiently, 'that we have enough food here to last us for weeks and weeks?' 'Where?' they said. 'Where?' 'Why, the peach of course! Our whole ship is made of food!' 'Jumping Jehoshophat!' they cried. 'We never thought of that!' 'My dear James,' said the Old-Green-Grasshopper, laying a front leg affectionately on James's shoulder, 'I don't know what we'd do without you.

“我不是那个意思。”詹姆赶紧说。 “我很抱歉。可是你难道看不出来——”可怜的蚯蚓喊道。 “我瞎了怎么能看见呢?”詹姆斯慢慢地深吸了一口气。 “你难道没有意识到，”他耐心地说，“我们这里的食物足够我们吃好几个星期吗?“在哪里?他们说。 “在哪里?“啊，当然是桃子了!”我们整艘船都是食物做的!“跳吧，约朔法!”他们叫道。 “我们从来没有想过这个!”“我亲爱的詹姆斯，”老绿蚱蜢亲切地把前腿搭在詹姆斯的肩膀上说，“我不知道没有你我们该怎么办。

You are so clever. Ladies and gentlemen – we are saved again!' 'We are most certainly not!' said the Earthworm. 'You must be crazy! You can't eat the ship! It's the only thing that is keeping us up!' 'We shall starve if we don't!' said the Centipede. 'And we shall drown if we do!' cried the Earthworm. 'Oh dear, oh dear,' said the Old-Green-Grasshopper. 'Now we're worse off than before!'

你真聪明。女士们先生们，我们又得救了!”“当然不是!蚯蚓说。 “你一定是疯了!”你不能吃掉这艘船!这是唯一让我们睡不着觉的事!“不然我们会饿死的!”蜈蚣说。 “要是这样，我们会淹死的!”蚯蚓叫道。 “哦，天哪，哦，天哪，”老绿蚱蜢说。 “现在我们的情况比以前更糟了!”