02 Two

Two After James Henry Trotter had been living with his aunts for three whole years there came a morning when something rather peculiar happened to him. And this thing, which as I say was only rather peculiar, soon caused a second thing to happen which was very peculiar. And then the very peculiar thing, in its own turn, caused a really fantastically peculiar thing to occur. It all started on a blazing hot day in the middle of summer. Aunt Sponge, Aunt Spiker and James were all out in the garden. James had been put to work, as usual. This time he was chopping wood for the kitchen stove. Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker were sitting comfortably in deck-chairs near by, sipping tall glasses of fizzy lemonade and watching him to see that he didn't stop work for one moment.

在詹姆斯·亨利·特罗特和他的姨妈们一起生活了整整三年之后，有一天早晨，他发生了一件相当奇特的事情。 这件事，正如我所说的，只是相当奇特，很快引起了第二件非常奇特的事的发生。 然后这个非常奇怪的事情，反过来，导致了一件非常奇怪的事情发生。 这一切始于盛夏的一个酷热的日子。 海绵姑妈、斯派克姑妈和詹姆斯都在花园里。 像往常一样，詹姆斯被派去工作了。 这次他是在为厨房的炉子劈柴。 海绵姨妈和斯派克姨妈舒舒服服地坐在旁边的躺椅上，一边喝着高脚杯冒着气泡的柠檬水，一边看着他一刻也不停下工作。

Aunt Sponge was enormously fat and very short. She had small piggy eyes, a sunken mouth, and one of those white flabby faces that looked exactly as though it had been boiled. She was like a great white soggy overboiled cabbage. Aunt Spiker, on the other hand, was lean and tall and bony, and she wore steel-rimmed spectacles that fixed on to the end of her nose with a clip. She had a screeching voice and long wet narrow lips, and whenever she got angry or excited, little flecks of spit would come shooting out of her mouth as she talked. And there they sat, these two ghastly hags, sipping their drinks, and every now and again screaming at James to chop faster and faster. They also talked about themselves, each one saying how beautiful she thought she was. Aunt

海绵姨妈又胖又矮。 她长着一双猪眼睛，一张凹陷的嘴，还有一张苍白松弛的脸，看上去就像被煮过一样。 她就像一个又大又白又湿的煮过了头的卷心菜。 另一方面，斯派克姨妈又瘦又高，骨瘦如柴，戴着一副钢框眼镜，用夹子固定在鼻尖上。 她的声音尖利，嘴唇又长又细，又湿又细。每当她生气或激动时，她说话时嘴里就会喷出一粒粒唾沫。 他们坐在那里，这两个可怕的老巫婆，喝着饮料，时不时地对詹姆斯大喊大叫，让他砍得再快一点。 她们也在谈论自己，每个人都说自己是多么美丽。 阿姨

Sponge had a long-handled mirror on her lap, and she kept picking it up and gazing at her own hideous face. 'I look and smell,' Aunt Sponge declared, 'as lovely as a rose! Just feast your eyes upon my face, observe my shapely nose! Behold my heavenly silky locks! And if I take off both my socks You'll see my dainty toes.'

海绵腿上放着一面长柄镜子，她不停地拿起镜子，凝视着自己丑陋的脸。 “我看起来和闻起来，”海绵姨妈说，“都像玫瑰花一样可爱!瞧我的脸，瞧我的鼻子!看我那天堂般的丝质秀发!如果我把两只袜子都脱了，你会看到我精致的脚趾。”

'But don't forget,' Aunt Spiker cried, 'how much your tummy shows!' Aunt Sponge went red. Aunt Spiker said, 'My sweet, you cannot win, Behold MY gorgeous curvy shape, my teeth, my charm ing grin! Oh, beauteous me! How I adore My radiant looks! And please ignore The pimple on my chin.' 'My dear old trout!' Aunt Sponge cried out, 'You're only bones and skin!' 'Such loveliness as I possess can only truly shine In Hollywood!' Aunt Sponge declared: 'Oh, wouldn't that be fine! I'd capture all the nations' hearts! They'd give me all the leading parts! The stars would all resign!' 'I think you'd make,' Aunt Spiker said, 'a lovely Frankenstein.'

“可别忘了，”斯派克姨妈叫道，“你的肚子显示了多少啊!”海绵姨妈脸红了。 斯派克阿姨说:“我的宝贝，你赢不了的，看我美丽的曲线，我的牙齿，我迷人的笑容!”哦，美丽的我!我多么羡慕我容光焕发的容颜!请忽略我下巴上的痘痘。“我亲爱的老鳟鱼!”海绵姨妈叫道:“你只剩皮包骨了!“我所拥有的可爱只有在好莱坞才能真正闪耀!”海绵姨妈说:“哦，那不是很好吗?我要俘获所有国家的心!他们会让我演所有的主角!星星们都会辞职!“我认为，”斯派克姨妈说，“你会成为一个可爱的弗兰肯斯坦。”

Poor James was still slaving away at the chopping-block. The heat was terrible. He was sweating all over. His arm was aching. The chopper was a large blunt thing far too heavy for a small boy to use. And as he worked, James began thinking about all the other children in the world and what they might be doing at this moment. Some would be riding tricycles in their gardens. Some would be walking in cool woods and picking bunches of wild flowers. And all the little friends whom he used to know would be down by the seaside, playing in the wet sand and splashing around in the water… Great tears began oozing out of James's eyes and rolling down his cheeks. He stopped working and leaned against the chopping-block, overwhelmed by his own unhappiness.

可怜的詹姆斯还在忙着砍柴。 热得可怕。他浑身是汗。 他的胳膊疼。那架直升飞机是一件又大又钝的东西，一个小男孩用不了。 当他工作时，詹姆斯开始想到世界上所有其他的孩子，他们此刻可能在做什么。 有些人会在他们的花园里骑三轮车。 有些人会在凉爽的树林里散步，采摘一束束野花。 他以前认识的所有小朋友都在海边，在湿漉漉的沙滩上玩耍，在水里戏水……大颗大颗的眼泪开始从詹姆斯的眼睛里流出来，顺着他的脸颊滚落下来。 他停止了工作，靠在砧板上，被自己的不幸压垮了。

'What's the matter with you?' Aunt Spiker screeched, glaring at him over the top of her steel spectacles. James began to cry. 'Stop that immediately and get on with your work, you nasty little beast!' Aunt Sponge ordered. 'Oh, Auntie Sponge!' James cried out. 'And Auntie Spiker! Couldn't we all – please – just for once – go down to the seaside on the bus? It isn't very far – and I feel so hot and awful and lonely…'

“你怎么啦?”斯派克姨妈尖声叫道，从钢架眼镜上方瞪着他。 詹姆斯哭了起来。“马上停下，继续干你的活，你这个讨厌的小东西!”海绵姨妈命令道。 “哦，海绵姨妈!”詹姆斯叫道。 “还有斯派克姨妈!”我们就不能——拜托——就一次——坐公共汽车去海边吗? 离这儿不远——我觉得又热又怕，又孤单……”