37 Thirty-seven

Thirty-seven It was really an amazing sight, and in two or three minutes, as soon as the people below realized that this now couldn't possibly be a bomb, they came pouring out of the shelters and the subways to gape at the marvel. The streets for half a mile around the building were jammed with men and women, and when the word spread that there were actually living things moving about on the top of the great round ball, then everyone went wild with excitement. 'It's a flying saucer!' they shouted. 'They are from Outer Space!' 'They are men from Mars!' 'Or maybe they came from the Moon!' And a man who had a pair of binoculars to his eyes said, 'They look pritt-ty peculiar to me, I'll tell you that.'

这真是一幅惊人的景象。两三分钟后，楼下的人一意识到这不可能是炸弹，就纷纷从避难所和地铁里涌出来，目瞪口呆地看着这一奇观。 大楼周围半英里内的街道上挤满了男男女女。当有生物在这个巨大的圆球顶上活动的消息传开后，每个人都兴奋得发狂。 “是飞碟!”他们喊道。 “他们是从外太空来的!”“他们是来自火星的人!”“也许他们是从月球来的!”一个眼睛上戴着双筒望远镜的人说:“我告诉你，我觉得它们看起来很奇怪。”

Police cars and fire engines came screaming in from all over the city and pulled up outside the Empire State Building. Two hundred firemen and six hundred policemen swarmed into the building and went up in the elevators as high as they could go. Then they poured out on to the observation roof – which is the place where tourists stand – just at the bottom of the big spike. All the policemen were holding their guns at the ready, with their fingers on the triggers, and the firemen were clutching their hatchets. But from where they stood, almost directly underneath the peach, they couldn't actually see the travellers up on top. 'Ahoy there!' shouted the Chief of Police. 'Come out and show yourselves!' Suddenly, the great brown head of the Centipede appeared over the side of the peach. His black eyes, as large and round as two marbles, glared down at the policemen and the firemen below. Then his monstrous ugly face broke into a wide grin.

警车和消防车从城市各处呼啸而来，停在帝国大厦外。 两百名消防队员和六百名警察涌进大楼，尽可能地乘坐电梯上升。 然后，他们涌向瞭望台的屋顶——游客们站立的地方——就在大尖峰的底部。 所有的警察都握着枪随时准备射击，手指按在扳机上，消防队员也紧握着斧头。 但从他们站的地方，几乎就在桃子的正下方，他们看不到上面的旅行者。 “喂! !警察局长喊道。 “出来，露个脸!”突然，蜈蚣的棕色大脑袋出现在桃子的侧面。 他那双又大又圆的黑眼睛瞪着下面的警察和消防队员。 然后，他那张丑陋无比的脸突然咧开嘴笑了。

The policemen and the firemen all started shouting at once. 'Look out!' they cried. 'It's a Dragon!' 'It's not a Dragon! It's a Wampus!' 'It's a Gorgon!' 'It's a Sea-serpent!' 'It's a Prock!' 'It's a Manticore!' Three firemen and five policemen fainted and had to be carried away. 'It's a Snozzwanger!' cried the Chief of Police. 'It's a Whangdoodle!' yelled the Head of the Fire Department. The Centipede kept on grinning. He seemed to be enjoying enormously the commotion that he was causing. 'Now see here!' shouted the Chief of Police, cupping his hands to his mouth. 'You listen to me! I want you to tell me exactly where you've come from!' 'We've come from thousands of miles away!' the Centipede shouted back, grinning more

警察和消防队员都立刻开始大喊大叫。 “当心!他们叫道。“是一条龙!”“这不是龙!”这是万普斯!“是蛇发怪!”“这是一条海蛇!”“这是一只鹦鹉!”“这是头狮头狮!”三名消防员和五名警察晕倒了，不得不被抬走。 “是斯诺旺格!”警察局长叫道。 “是一只黄嘟嘟!”消防队长喊道。 蜈蚣继续咧着嘴笑。 他似乎非常享受他所引起的骚动。 “看这儿!”警察局长喊道，双手捧在嘴上。 “你听我说!”我要你告诉我你到底是从哪里来的!“我们是从千里之外来的!”蜈蚣喊道，咧开嘴笑了

broadly than ever and showing his brown teeth. 'There you are!' called the Chief of Police. 'I told you they came from Mars!' 'I guess you're right!' said the Head of the Fire Department. At this point, the Old-Green-Grasshopper poked his huge green head over the side of the peach, alongside the Centipede's. Six more big strong men fainted when they saw him. 'That one's an Oinck!' screamed the Head of the Fire Department. 'I just know it's an Oinck!' 'Or a Cockatrice!' yelled the Chief of Police. 'Stand back, men! It may jump down on us any moment!' 'What on earth are they talking about?' the Old-Green-Grasshopper said to the Centipede. 'Search me,' the Centipede answered. 'But they seem to be in an awful stew about something.' Then Miss Spider's large black murderouslooking head, which to a stranger was probably the most terrifying of all, appeared next to the Grasshopper's.

比以往任何时候都宽，露出褐色的牙齿。 “你在这儿!”警察局长喊道。 “我告诉过你他们来自火星!”“我想你是对的!”消防队长说。 说到这里，老绿蚱蜢把他那巨大的绿色脑袋探出桃子的侧面，和蜈蚣的脑袋挨着。 又有六个壮汉看见他就晕倒了。 “那是一个英国人!”消防队长尖叫道。 “我只知道这是一只橡树!”“或者是鹦鹉!”警察局长喊道。 “退后，伙计们!”它可能随时会跳到我们身上!“他们到底在说什么?”老绿蚱蜢对蜈蚣说。 “搜我吧。”蜈蚣回答。 "可他们好像在为什么事发愁。"接着，蜘蛛小姐又大又黑的、凶狠的脑袋出现在蚱蜢的脑袋旁边，这对陌生人来说可能是最可怕的。

'Snakes and ladders!' yelled the Head of the Fire Department. 'We are finished now! It's a giant Scorpula!' 'It's worse than that!' cried the Chief of Police. 'It's a vermicious Knid! Oh, just look at its vermicious gruesome face!' 'Is that the kind that eats fully-grown men for breakfast?' the Head of the Fire Department asked, going white as a sheet. 'I'm afraid it is,' the Chief of Police answered. 'Oh, please why doesn't someone help us to get down from here?' Miss Spider called out. 'It's making me giddy.'

“蛇和梯子!”消防队长喊道。 “我们完了!”这是一个巨大的天蝎座!“比那还糟!”警察局长叫道。 “这是一个恶毒的骑士!”哦，看看它那张可怕的脸吧!“是那种把成年男人当早餐吃的人吗?”消防队长问，脸色苍白得像一张纸。 “恐怕是的，”警察局长回答。 “哦，拜托，为什么没有人帮我们从这儿下去呢?”蜘蛛小姐喊道。 “这让我头晕。”

'This could be a trick!' said the Head of the Fire Department. 'Don't anyone make a move until I say!' 'They've probably got space guns!' muttered the Chief of Police. 'But we've got to do something!' the Head of the Fire Department announced grimly. 'About five million people are standing down there on the streets watching us.' 'Then why don't you put up a ladder?' the Chief of Police asked him. 'I'll stand at the bottom

“这可能是个骗局!”消防队长说。 “没有我的命令，谁也不许动!”“他们可能有太空枪!”警察局长嘟哝着说。 “但是我们必须做点什么!”消防队长严肃地宣布。 “大约有500万人站在街上看着我们。“那你为什么不搭个梯子呢?”警察局长问他。 “我要站在下面