34 Thirty-four

Thirty-four 'Come on, Centipede, bite through the first string,' James ordered. The Centipede took one of the silk strings between his teeth and bit through it. And once again (but not with an angry Cloud-Man dangling from the end of the string this time) a single seagull came away from the rest of the flock and went flying off on its own. 'Bite another,' James ordered. The Centipede bit through another string. 'Why aren't we sinking?' 'We are sinking!' 'No, we're not!' 'Don't forget the peach is a lot lighter now than when we started out,' James told them. 'It lost an awful lot of juice when all those hailstones hit it in

“来吧，蜈蚣，咬断第一根绳子。”詹姆命令道。 蜈蚣用牙齿咬断了一根丝线。 又一次，一只海鸥从其他海鸥中飞了出来(但这次绳子的一端没有挂着一个愤怒的云人)，它自己飞了起来。 “再咬一口。”詹姆斯命令道。 蜈蚣穿过另一根绳子。 “我们为什么不下沉?”“我们正在下沉!”“不，我们没有!”“别忘了，桃子现在比我们出发的时候淡了很多，”詹姆斯告诉他们。 “当所有的冰雹击中它时，它失去了很多果汁

the night. Cut away two more seagulls, Centipede!' 'Ah, that's better!' 'Here we go!' 'Now we really are sinking!' 'Yes, this is perfect! Don't bite any more, Centipede, or we'll sink too fast! Gently does it!' Slowly the great peach began losing height, and the buildings and streets down below began coming closer and closer. 'Do you think we'll all get our pictures in the papers when we get down?' the Ladybird asked. 'My goodness, I've forgotten to polish my boots!' the Centipede said. 'Everyone must help me to polish my boots before we arrive.' 'Oh, for heaven's sake!' said the Earthworm. 'Can't you ever stop thinking about –' But he never finished his sentence. For suddenly… WHOOOSH!… and they looked up and saw a huge four-engined plane come shooting out of a near-by cloud and go whizzing past them not more than twenty feet over their heads. This

深夜。再砍两只海鸥，蜈蚣!“啊，这样好多了!”“我们走吧!”“现在我们真的在下沉!”“是的，这是完美的!”别再咬了，蜈蚣，不然我们沉得太快了!轻轻地!”慢慢地，大桃子开始下降高度，下面的建筑物和街道开始越来越近。 “你认为我们下来后都会把照片登在报纸上吗?”瓢虫问。 “天哪，我忘了擦靴子了!”蜈蚣说。 “在我们到达之前，每个人都必须帮我擦靴子。“啊，看在上帝的份上!”蚯蚓说。 “你就不能不去想——”可他没把话说完。 因为突然…呼!他们抬起头来，看见一架巨大的四引擎飞机从附近的云层中射出，在他们头顶不到二十英尺的地方呼啸而过。 这

was actually the regular early morning passenger plane coming in to New York from Chicago, and as it went by, it sliced right through every single one of the silken strings, and immediately the seagulls broke away, and the enormous peach, having nothing to hold it up in the air any longer, went tumbling down towards the earth like a lump of lead. 'Help!' cried the Centipede. 'Save us!' cried Miss Spider. 'We are lost!' cried the Ladybird. 'This is the end!' cried the Old-Green-Grasshopper. 'James!' cried the Earthworm. 'Do something, James! Quickly, do something!' 'I can't!' cried James. 'I'm sorry! Good-bye! Shut your eyes everybody! It won't be long now!'

实际上是一架从芝加哥飞到纽约的早班客机，当它飞过的时候，它把每一根丝线都割断了，海鸥们立刻挣脱了，而那只巨大的桃子，再也没有什么东西可以支撑它在空中，像一团铅一样滚向地面。 “帮助!蜈蚣叫道。 “拯救我们!蜘蛛小姐叫道。 “我们迷路了!”瓢虫叫道。 “完了!”老绿蚱蜢叫道。 “詹姆斯!蚯蚓叫道。 “做点什么，詹姆斯!”快，做点什么!“我不能!”詹姆斯叫道。 “我很抱歉!再见!大家闭上眼睛!不会太久了!”