38 Thirty-eight

Thirty-eight Five minutes later, they were all safely down, and James was excitedly telling his story to a group of flabbergasted officials. And suddenly – everyone who had come over on the peach was a hero! They were all escorted to the steps of City Hall, where the Mayor of New York made a speech of welcome. And while he was doing this, one hundred steeplejacks, armed with ropes and ladders and pulleys, swarmed up to the top of the Empire State Building and lifted the giant peach off the spike and lowered it to the ground. Then the Mayor shouted, 'We must now have a ticker-tape parade for our wonderful visitors!' And so a procession was formed, and in the leading car (which was an enormous open limousine) sat James and all his friends.

38分钟后，他们都安全着陆了，詹姆斯兴奋地向一群目瞪口呆的官员讲述他的故事。 突然之间，每一个从桃子上走过来的人都成了英雄!他们都被护送到市政厅的台阶前，纽约市长在那里致欢迎词。 就在他这么做的时候，一百名高空作业工人，带着绳子、梯子和滑轮，蜂拥到帝国大厦的顶端，把那个巨大的桃子从钉子上取下来，放到地上。 然后市长喊道:“我们现在必须为我们了不起的客人举行一次彩带游行!”就这样，队伍组成了，詹姆斯和他所有的朋友坐在前面的车厢里(那是一辆巨大的敞篷豪华轿车)。

Next came the giant peach itself. Men with cranes and hooks had quickly hoisted it on to a very large truck and there it now sat, looking just as huge and proud and brave as ever. There was, of course, a bit of a hole in the bottom of it where the spike of the Empire State Building had gone in, but who cared about that – or indeed about the peach juice that was dripping out of it on to the street? Behind the peach, skidding about all over the place in the peach juice, came the Mayor's limousine, and behind the Mayor's limousine came about twenty other limousines carrying all the important people of the City.

接下来是巨大的桃子。 人们用吊车和钩子迅速把它吊到一辆非常大的卡车上，现在它就放在那里，看起来和以前一样巨大、骄傲和勇敢。 当然，在它的底部有一个小洞，就是帝国大厦的钉子插进去的地方，但谁会在意这个洞呢——或者说，谁会在意从桶里滴到街上的桃汁呢? 桃子后面是市长的豪华轿车，在桃子汁里到处打滑，市长的豪华轿车后面还有大约二十辆豪华轿车，载着城里所有的重要人物。

And the crowds went wild with excitement. They lined the streets and they leaned out of the windows of the skyscrapers, cheering and yelling and screaming and clapping and throwing out bits of white paper and ticker-tape, and James and his friends stood up in their car and waved back at them as they went by. Then a rather curious thing happened. The procession was moving slowly along Fifth Avenue when suddenly a little girl in a red dress ran out from the crowd and shouted, 'Oh, James, James! Could I please have just a tiny taste of your marvellous peach?' 'Help yourself!' James shouted back. 'Eat all you want! It won't keep for ever, anyway!' No sooner had he said this than about fifty other children exploded out of the crowd and came running on to the street. 'Can we have some, too?' they cried. 'Of course you can!' James answered. 'Everyone can have some!' The children jumped up on to the truck and swarmed like ants all over the giant peach, eating

人群兴奋得发狂。 他们站在街道两旁，从摩天大楼的窗户探出身子，欢呼、喊叫、尖叫、鼓掌，扔出一片片白纸和彩纸。詹姆斯和他的朋友们从车里站起来，在他们经过时向他们挥手致意。 接着，一件相当奇怪的事情发生了。 游行队伍正沿着第五大道缓缓行进，突然一个穿红裙子的小女孩从人群中跑出来，喊道:“哦，詹姆斯，詹姆斯!我能尝一小口你那美味的桃子吗?“请自便!”詹姆斯喊道。 “想吃什么就吃什么!”反正它也不会永远保持下去的!”他刚说完这句话，就有大约五十个孩子从人群中冲出，跑到街上。 “我们也可以吃一些吗?”他们叫道。 “你当然可以!”詹姆斯回答说。 “每个人都可以有一些!”孩子们跳上卡车，像蚂蚁一样挤在巨大的桃子上吃

and eating to their hearts' content. And as the news of what was happening spread quickly from street to street, more and more boys and girls came running from all directions to join the feast. Soon, there was a trail of children a mile long chasing after the peach as it proceeded slowly up Fifth Avenue. Really, it was a fantastic sight. To some people it looked as though the Pied Piper of Hamelin had suddenly descended upon New York. And to James, who had never dreamed that there could be so many children as this in the world, it was the most marvellous thing that had ever happened. By the time the procession was over, the whole gigantic fruit had been completely eaten up, and only the big brown stone in the middle, licked clean and shiny by ten thousand eager little tongues, was left standing on the truck.

吃得饱饱的。 事情的消息很快传遍了大街小巷，越来越多的男孩和女孩从四面八方跑来参加宴会。 很快，有一群孩子追着桃子，追了一英里，桃子慢慢地沿着第五大道前进。 真的，这是一个奇妙的景象。 在一些人看来，这就好像哈默林的魔笛手突然降临了纽约。 对詹姆斯来说，他从来没有梦想过世界上会有这么多孩子，这是他所经历过的最不可思议的事情。 当游行队伍结束的时候，整个巨大的水果都被吃光了，只剩下中间那颗棕色的大石头，被成千上万个渴望的小舌头舔得干干净净，闪闪发光，还站在卡车上。