13 Bruno

Bruno I peeped round the leg of the chair and watched the hundreds of witches' feet walking out through the doors of the Ballroom. When they had all gone and the place was absolutely silent, I began to move cautiously about on the floor. Suddenly I remembered Bruno. He must surely be around here somewhere, too. 'Bruno!' I called out. I wasn't seriously expecting that I would be able to speak at all now that I had become a mouse, so I got the shock of my life when I heard my own voice, my own perfectly normal rather loud voice, coming out of my tiny mouth. It was wonderful. I was thrilled. I tried it again. 'Bruno Jenkins, where are you?' I called out. 'If you can hear me, give a shout!' My voice was exactly the same and just as loud as it had been when I was a boy. 'Hey there, Bruno Jenkins!' I called. 'Where are you?' There was no answer.

布鲁诺:我从椅子腿上往外看，看到几百只女巫的脚从舞厅的门里走出来。 等他们都走了，房间里鸦雀无声，我开始在地板上小心翼翼地走动。 突然我想起了布鲁诺。 他肯定也在这附近的某个地方。 “布鲁诺!”我喊道。我并没有认真地期望我现在已经变成了一只老鼠，所以当我听到我自己的声音，我自己完全正常而响亮的声音，从我的小嘴里发出来时，我感到了我生命中的震惊。 太棒了。我很激动。 我又试了一次。“布鲁诺·詹金斯，你在哪儿?”我喊道。 “如果你能听到我的话，就喊一声!”我的声音还是和小时候一样响亮。 “你好，布鲁诺·詹金斯!”我叫。 “你在哪儿?”没有人回答。

I pottered about between the seat-legs trying to get used to being so close to the ground. I decided I rather liked it. You are probably wondering why I wasn't depressed at all. I found myself thinking, What's so wonderful about being a little boy anyway? Why is that necessarily any better than being a mouse? I know that mice get hunted and they sometimes get poisoned or caught in traps. But little boys sometimes get killed, too. Little boys can be run over by motor-cars or they can die of some awful illness. Little boys have to go to school. Mice don't. Mice don't have to pass exams. Mice don't have to worry about money. Mice, as far as I can see, have only two enemies, humans and cats. My grandmother is a human, but I know for certain that she will always love me whoever I am. And she never, thank goodness, keeps a cat. When mice grow up, they don't ever have to go to war and fight against other mice. Mice, I felt pretty certain, all like each other. People don't. Yes, I told myself, I don't think it is at all a bad thing to be a mouse.

我在椅子腿之间走来走去，试图适应离地面这么近的位置。 我决定我相当喜欢它。 你可能想知道为什么我一点也不沮丧。 我发现自己在想，做一个小男孩到底有什么好? 为什么这就一定比做一只老鼠好呢? 我知道老鼠会被猎杀，它们有时会被毒死或被夹子夹住。 但小男孩有时也会被杀。 小男孩可能被汽车碾过，也可能死于某种可怕的疾病。 小男孩必须去上学。 老鼠不。老鼠不需要通过考试。 老鼠不用担心钱的问题。 据我所知，老鼠只有两个敌人，人类和猫。 我的祖母是人类，但我确信，无论我是谁，她都会永远爱我。 谢天谢地，她从来没有养过猫。 当老鼠长大后，它们不需要和其他老鼠打仗。 老鼠，我很确定，都喜欢彼此。 人们不喜欢。是的，我告诉自己，我并不认为做一只老鼠是一件坏事。

I was wandering around the Ballroom floor thinking about all this when I spotted another mouse. It was crouching on the floor holding a piece of bread in its front paws and nibbling away at it with great gusto. It had to be Bruno. 'Hello, Bruno,' I said. He glanced up at me for about two seconds, then went right on guzzling. 'What have you found?' I asked him. 'One of them dropped it,' he answered. 'It's a fish-paste sandwich. Pretty good.' He too spoke with a perfectly normal voice. One would have expected that a mouse (if it was going to talk at all) would do so with the smallest and squeakiest voice you could imagine. It was terrifically funny to hear the voice of the rather loud-mouthed Bruno coming out of that tiny mouse's throat. 'Listen, Bruno,' I said. 'Now that we are both mice, I think we ought to start thinking a bit about the future.'

当我在舞厅的地板上徘徊想着这一切时，我发现了另一只老鼠。 它蹲在地板上，前爪拿着一块面包，津津有味地啃着。 一定是布鲁诺。“你好，布鲁诺，”我说。 他抬头看了我大约两秒钟，然后继续狂饮。 “你发现了什么?”我问他。 “其中一个掉了，”他回答。 “这是鱼酱三明治。 很好。”他说话的声音也完全正常。 人们会期望一只老鼠(如果它会说话的话)会用你能想象到的最小、最吱吱的声音说话。 从那只小老鼠的喉咙里听到大嗓门的布鲁诺的声音，真是太有趣了。 “听着，布鲁诺，”我说。“既然我们都是老鼠，我想我们应该开始考虑一下未来。”

He stopped eating and stared at me with small black eyes. 'What do you mean we?' he said. 'The fact that you're a mouse has nothing to do with me.' 'But you're a mouse, too, Bruno.' 'Don't be a fool,' he said. 'I'm not a mouse.' 'I'm afraid you are, Bruno.' 'I most certainly am not!' he shouted. 'Why are you insulting me? I haven't been rude to you! Why do you call me a mouse?' 'Don't you know what's happened to you?' I said. 'What on earth are you talking about?' Bruno said. 'I have to inform you,' I said, 'that not very long ago the witches turned you into a mouse.

他停止吃东西，用黑色的小眼睛盯着我。 “你说我们是什么意思?”他说。 “你是一只老鼠的事实与我无关。“但你也是一只老鼠，布鲁诺。”“别傻了，”他说。 “我不是老鼠。“恐怕你是，布鲁诺。””“我当然不是!他喊道。 “你为什么要侮辱我?” 我没有对你无礼!你为什么叫我老鼠?“你不知道你出了什么事吗?”我说。 “你到底在说些什么?”布鲁诺说。 “我得告诉你，”我说，“就在不久前，女巫们把你变成了一只老鼠。

Then they did it to me.' 'You're lying!' he cried. 'I'm not a mouse!' 'If you hadn't been so busy guzzling that sandwich,' I said, 'you would have noticed your hairy paws. Take a look at them.' Bruno looked down at his paws. He jumped. 'Good grief!' he cried. 'I am a mouse! You wait till my father hears about this!' 'He may think it's an improvement,' I said. 'I don't want to be a mouse!' Bruno shouted, jumping up and down. 'I refuse to be a mouse! I'm Bruno Jenkins!' 'There are worse things than being a mouse,' I said. 'You can live in a hole.' 'I don't want to live in a hole!' Bruno shouted.

然后他们对我做了。“你在撒谎!”他叫道。 “我不是老鼠!”“如果你不是忙着大吃三明治的话，”我说，“你就会注意到你毛茸茸的爪子了。” 看看吧。”布鲁诺低头看了看自己的爪子。 他吓了一跳。“好悲伤!他叫道。 “我是一只老鼠!你等着我父亲知道吧!“他可能认为这是一种进步，”我说。 “我不想当老鼠!”布鲁诺大叫着，跳上跳下。 “我拒绝做一只老鼠!”我是布鲁诺·詹金斯!“还有比当老鼠更糟糕的事呢，”我说。 “你可以住在洞里。“我不想住在洞里!”布鲁诺喊道。

'And you can creep into the larder at night,' I said, 'and nibble through all the packets of raisins and cornflakes and chocolate biscuits and everything else you can find. You can stay there all night eating yourself silly. That's what mice do.' 'Now that's a thought,' Bruno said, perking up a bit. 'But how am I going to open the door of the fridge to get at the cold chicken and all the leftovers? That's something I do every evening at home.' 'Maybe your rich father will get you a special little mouse-fridge all to yourself,' I said. 'One that you can open.' 'You say a witch did this to me?' Bruno said. 'Which witch?' 'The one who gave you the chocolate bar in the hotel lobby yesterday,' I told him. 'Don't you remember?' 'The filthy old cow!' he shouted. 'I'll get her for this! Where is she? Who is she?'

“你可以在夜里偷偷溜进储藏室，”我说，“把一袋袋葡萄干、玉米片、巧克力饼干和你能找到的任何东西都啃一遍。 你可以整晚呆在那儿吃个痛快。 老鼠就是这么做的。“这倒是个想法，”布鲁诺说，精神起来了一点。 “但我怎么才能打开冰箱门拿到冷鸡肉和所有的剩菜呢?” 这是我每天晚上在家做的事情。“也许你的富爸爸会给你买一个专门的小老鼠冰箱，你一个人用，”我说。 “一个你可以打开的盒子。“你说这是一个女巫干的?”布鲁诺说。 ”女巫?“就是昨天在旅馆大厅给你巧克力棒的那个，”我告诉他。 “你不记得了吗?”“那头肮脏的老牛!”他喊道。 “我要让她为此付出代价!”她在哪里? 她是谁?”