22 Twenty-two

Twenty-two In a few minutes everything was ready. It was very quiet now on the top of the peach. There was nobody in sight – nobody except the Earthworm. One half of the Earthworm, looking like a great, thick, juicy, pink sausage, lay innocently in the sun for all the seagulls to see. The other half of him was dangling down the tunnel. James was crouching close beside the Earthworm in the tunnel entrance, just below the surface, waiting for the first seagull. He had a loop of silk string in his hands. The Old-Green-Grasshopper and the Ladybird were further down the tunnel, holding on to the Earthworm's tail, ready to pull him quickly in out of danger as soon as James gave the word.

几分钟后，一切都准备好了。 现在桃子顶上非常安静。 除了蚯蚓，什么人也看不见。 蚯蚓的一半，看起来像一根又粗又多汁的粉红色香肠，天真地躺在阳光下，让所有的海鸥都看到。 他的另一半在隧道里晃来晃去。 詹姆斯蹲在隧道入口的蚯蚓旁边，就在地面下面，等待第一只海鸥的到来。 他手里拿着一圈丝线。 老绿蚱蜢和瓢虫在隧道的更深处，紧紧抓住蚯蚓的尾巴，准备只要詹姆斯一发出命令，就把它迅速拉出来脱离危险。

And far below, in the great stone of the peach, the Glow-worm was lighting up the room so that the two spinners, the Silkworm and Miss Spider, could see what they were doing. The Centipede was down there too, exhorting them both frantically to greater efforts, and every now and again James could hear his voice coming up faintly from the depths, shouting, 'Spin, Silkworm, spin, you great fat lazy brute! Faster, faster, or we'll throw you to the sharks!' 'Here comes the first seagull!' whispered James. 'Keep still now, Earthworm. Keep still. The rest of you get ready to pull.' 'Please don't let it spike me,' begged the Earthworm. 'I won't, I won't. Ssshh…' Out of the corner of one eye, James watched the seagull as it came swooping down towards the Earthworm. And then suddenly it was so close that he could see its small black eyes and its curved beak, and the beak was open, ready to grab a nice piece of flesh out of the Earthworm's back. 'Pull!' shouted James.'

在远处的桃核里，萤火虫照亮了整个房间，好让两个纺纱的人——蚕和蜘蛛小姐——能看到自己在做什么。 蜈蚣也在下面，疯狂地劝他们俩加倍努力，詹姆斯不时听到它的声音从深处微弱地传来，喊道:“旋转，蚕，旋转，你这个又肥又懒的大畜生!”快点，快点，不然我们把你扔给鲨鱼!“第一只海鸥来了!”詹姆斯小声说。 “别动，蚯蚓。 保持不动。剩下的人准备好拉。“请不要让它刺到我。”蚯蚓恳求道。 “我不会，我不会。嘘……”詹姆斯用一只眼角看着海鸥朝蚯蚓俯冲而来。 突然，它离他很近了，他可以看到它的小黑眼睛和弯曲的喙，而且它的喙是张开的，准备从蚯蚓的背上抓一块肉。 “拉!詹姆斯喊道。

The Old-Green-Grasshopper and the Ladybird gave the Earthworm's tail an enormous tug, and like magic the Earthworm disappeared into the tunnel. At the same time, up went James's hand and the seagull flew right into the loop of silk that he was holding out. The loop, which had been cleverly made, tightened just the right amount (but not too much) around its neck, and the seagull was captured. 'Hooray!' shouted the Old-Green-Grasshopper, peering out of the tunnel. 'Well done, James!' Up flew the seagull with James paying out the silk string as it went. He gave it about fifty yards and then tied the string to the stem of the peach.

老绿蚱蜢和瓢虫使劲拉着蚯蚓的尾巴，蚯蚓就像变魔术一样消失在隧道里了。 与此同时，詹姆斯的手一伸，海鸥就飞进了他伸出的丝圈里。 这个做得很巧妙的环在它的脖子上紧得恰到好处(但不是太紧)，海鸥被抓住了。 “万岁!”老绿蚱蜢喊道，向隧道外张望。 “干得好，詹姆斯!”海鸥飞了起来，詹姆斯一边飞一边把丝线伸出来。 他给了它大约50码，然后把绳子绑在桃子的茎上。

'Next one!' he shouted, jumping back into the tunnel. 'Up you get again, Earthworm! Bring up some more silk, Centipede!' 'Oh, I don't like this at all,' wailed the Earthworm. 'It only just missed me! I even felt the wind on my back as it went swishing past!' 'Ssshh!' whispered James. 'Keep still! Here comes another one!' So they did it again. And again, and again, and again. And the seagulls kept coming, and James caught them one after the other and tethered them to the peach stem. 'One hundred seagulls!' he shouted, wiping the sweat from his face. 'Keep going!' they cried. 'Keep going, James!' 'Two hundred seagulls!' 'Three hundred seagulls!' 'Four hundred seagulls!' The sharks, as though sensing that they were in danger of losing their prey, were hurling themselves at the peach more furiously than ever,

“下一个!他喊道，跳回了隧道。 “你又起来了，蚯蚓!”再拿点丝绸来，蜈蚣!“哦，我一点也不喜欢这样。”蚯蚓哀号道。 “它差一点就打中我了!”当风嗖嗖地经过时，我甚至感觉到了风吹在我背上!“Ssshh !詹姆斯小声说。 “保持安静!又来了一个!”于是他们又做了一次。 一次又一次，一次又一次。 海鸥不停地飞来，詹姆斯把它们一只接一只地捉住，把它们拴在桃茎上。 “一百只海鸥!”他喊道，擦去脸上的汗水。 “继续!”他们叫道。“继续，詹姆斯!”“二百只海鸥!”“三百只海鸥!”“四百只海鸥!”鲨鱼似乎感觉到它们有失去猎物的危险，它们比以往任何时候都更加猛烈地向桃子扑去，

and the peach was sinking lower and lower still in the water. 'Five hundred seagulls!' James shouted. 'Silkworm says she's running out of silk!' yelled the Centipede from below. 'She says she can't keep it up much longer. Nor can Miss Spider!' 'Tell them they've got to!' James answered. 'They can't stop now!' 'We're lifting!' somebody shouted. 'No, we're not!' 'I felt it!' 'Put on another seagull, quick!' 'Quiet, everybody! Quiet! Here's one coming now!' This was the five hundred and first seagull, and the moment that James caught it and tethered it to the stem with all the others, the whole enormous peach suddenly started rising up slowly out of the water. 'Look out! Here we go! Hold on, boys!' But then it stopped.

桃子在水里越陷越低。 “五百只海鸥!”詹姆斯喊道。 “蚕说她的丝用完了!”蜈蚣从下面喊道。 她说她坚持不了多久了。 蜘蛛小姐也不能!“告诉他们，他们必须这么做!”詹姆斯回答说。 “他们现在不能停下来!”“我们在起吊!”有人喊道。 “不，我们没有!”“我感觉到了!”“再戴一只海鸥，快!”“大家安静!”安静!现在又来了一个!”这是第500只海鸥，詹姆斯抓住它，把它和其他海鸥一起拴在茎上的那一刻，整个巨大的桃子突然开始慢慢地浮出水面。 “当心!我们开始吧!坚持住，孩子们!”但后来它停了下来。