14 Hello, Grandmamma

Hello, Grandmamma As soon as I was out of the Ballroom, I took off like a flash. I streaked down the corridor, went through the Lounge and the Reading-Room and the Library and the Drawing-Room and came to the stairs. Up the stairs I went, jumping quite easily from one to the other, keeping well in against the wall all the time. 'Are you with me, Bruno?' I whispered. 'Right here,' he said. My grandmother's room and my own were on the fifth floor. It was quite a climb, but we made it without meeting a single person on the way because everyone was using the lift. On the fifth floor, I raced along the corridor to the door of my grandmother's room. A pair of her shoes was standing outside the door to the cleaned. Bruno was alongside me. 'What do we do now?' he said. Suddenly, I caught sight of a chambermaid coming along the corridor towards us. I saw at

你好，奶奶。我一走出舞厅，就像闪电一样跑了。 我飞快地穿过走廊，穿过客厅、阅览室、图书馆和客厅，来到楼梯上。 我上了楼梯，很轻松地从一个台阶跳到另一个台阶，一直紧贴着墙。 “你跟得上我吗，布鲁诺?”我低声说。 “就在这儿，”他说。我奶奶和我自己的房间在五楼。 这是一个相当大的攀登，但我们没有遇到一个人在路上，因为每个人都在使用电梯。 到了五楼，我沿着走廊跑到祖母的房间门口。 她的一双鞋子正放在洗衣店门外。 布鲁诺在我旁边。“我们现在怎么办?”他说。 突然，我看见一个女服务员沿着走廊向我们走来。 我看到了

once that she was the one who had reported me to the Manager for keeping white mice. Not, therefore, the sort of person I wanted to meet in my present condition. 'Quick!' I said to Bruno. 'Hide in one of those shoes!' I hopped into one shoe and Bruno hopped into the other. I waited for the maid to walk past us. She didn't. When she came to the shoes, she bent down and picked them up. In doing this, she put her hand right inside the one I was hiding in. When one of her fingers touched me, I bit it. It was a silly thing to do, but I did it instinctively, without thinking. The maid let out a scream that must have been heard by ships far out in the English Channel, and she dropped the shoes and ran like the wind down the corridor. My grandmother's door opened. 'What on earth is going on out here?' she said. I darted between her legs into her room and Bruno followed me.

有一次，是她向经理举报我养小白鼠的。 因此，在我目前的情况下，我不想见到这样的人。 “快!”我对布鲁诺说。“躲进那双鞋里去吧!”我跳进一只鞋，布鲁诺跳进另一只。 我等着女佣从我们身边走过。 她没有。当她走到鞋子旁边时，她弯下腰把它们捡了起来。 这样做的时候，她把手伸进了我藏起来的那只手。 当她的一个手指碰到我时，我咬了它。 这是一件愚蠢的事情，但我本能地做了，没有思考。 女仆发出一声尖叫，那尖叫声一定能被遥远的英吉利海峡上的船只听到，她扔下鞋子，像一阵风一样沿着走廊跑去。 奶奶家的门开了。 “外面到底发生了什么事?”她说。 我从她两腿之间窜进她的房间，布鲁诺跟着我。

'Close the door, Grandmamma!' I cried. 'Please hurry!' She looked around and saw two small brown mice on the carpet. 'Please close it,' I said, and this time she actually saw me talking and recognized my voice. She froze and became absolutely motionless. Every part of her body, her fingers and hands and arms and head, became suddenly as stiff as a marble statue. Her face

“把门关上，奶奶!”我哭了。 “请快一点!”她环顾四周，看到地毯上有两只棕色的小老鼠。 “请关上它。”我说，这次她真的看到我在说话，听出了我的声音。 她僵住了，一动也不动。 她身体的每一部分，她的手指、手、胳膊和头，突然变得像大理石雕像一样僵硬。 她的脸

turned even paler than marble and her eyes were stretched so wide I could see the whites all around them. Then she started to tremble. I thought she was going to faint and fall over. 'Please close the door quickly, Grandmamma,' I said. 'That awful maid might come in.' She somehow managed to gather herself together enough to close the door. She leaned against it, staring down at me white-faced and shaking all over. I saw tears beginning to come out of her eyes and go dribbling down her cheeks. 'Don't cry, Grandmamma,' I said. 'Things could be a lot worse. I did get away from them. I'm still alive. So is Bruno.' Very slowly, she bent down and picked me up with one hand. Then she picked Bruno up with the other hand and put us both on the table. There was a bowl of bananas in the centre of the table and Bruno jumped straight into it and began tearing away with his teeth at one of the banana skins to get at the fruit inside.

变得比大理石还要苍白，她的眼睛睁得那么大，我可以看到周围的白色。 然后她开始发抖。 我以为她要昏倒了。 “请快关门，奶奶，”我说。 “那个讨厌的女仆可能会进来。”她总算鼓起勇气把门关上了。 她靠在椅子上，低头看着我，脸色煞白，浑身发抖。 我看见泪水开始从她的眼睛里流出来，顺着她的脸颊淌下来。 “别哭，奶奶，”我说。 “情况可能会更糟。 我确实摆脱了他们。我还活着。 布鲁诺也是。”她慢慢地弯下腰，用一只手把我抱起来。 然后她用另一只手扶起布鲁诺，把我们俩放在桌子上。 桌子中央有一碗香蕉，布鲁诺直接跳了进去，开始用牙齿咬香蕉皮，想要吃里面的水果。

My grandmother grasped the arm of her chair to steady herself, but her eyes never left me. 'Sit down, dear Grandmamma,' I said. She collapsed into her chair. 'Oh, my darling,' she murmured and now the tears were really streaming down her cheeks. 'Oh, my poor sweet darling. What have they done to you?' 'I know what they've done, Grandmamma, and I know what I am, but the funny thing is that I don't honestly feel especially bad about it. I don't even feel angry. In fact, I feel rather good. I know I'm not a boy any longer and I never will be again, but I'll be quite all right as long as there's always you to look after me.' I was not just trying to console her. I was being absolutely honest about the way I felt. You may think it odd that I wasn't weeping myself. It was odd. I simply can't explain it. 'Of course I'll look after you,' my grandmother murmured. 'Who is the other one?'

祖母抓住椅子扶手稳住身子，但她的目光始终没有离开我。 “请坐，亲爱的奶奶，”我说。 她瘫倒在椅子上。 "噢，我亲爱的，"她喃喃地说，现在眼泪真的顺着她的面颊流下来了。 “啊，我可怜的宝贝。 他们对你做了什么?“我知道他们做了什么，奶奶，我也知道我是什么人，但有趣的是，老实说，我并不为此感到特别难过。” 我甚至不觉得生气。事实上，我感觉很好。 我知道我不再是个孩子了，而且永远也不会再是个孩子了，不过只要有你在身边照顾我，我就会过得很好。”我不只是想安慰她。 我对自己的感受是绝对诚实的。 你可能会觉得奇怪，我自己没有哭。 这很奇怪。我实在无法解释。 “我当然会照顾你，”祖母低声说。 “另一个是谁?”

'That was a boy called Bruno Jenkins,' I told her. 'They got him first.' My grandmother took a new long black cigar out of a case in her handbag and put it in her mouth. Then she got out a box of matches. She struck a match but her fingers were shaking so much that the flame kept missing the end of the cigar. When she got it lit at last, she took a long pull and sucked in the smoke. That seemed to calm her down a bit. 'Where did it happen?' she whispered. 'Where is the witch now? Is she in the hotel?' 'Grandmamma,' I said. 'It wasn't just one. It was hundreds! They're all over the place! They're right here in the hotel this very moment!' She leaned forward and stared at me. 'You don't mean… you don't actually mean… you don't mean to tell me they're holding the Annual Meeting right here in the hotel?' 'They've held it, Grandmamma! It's finished! I heard it all! And all of them including The Grand High Witch herself are downstairs now! They're

“那是一个叫布鲁诺·詹金斯的男孩，”我告诉她。 “他们先抓到他的。”我的祖母从手提包里的盒子里拿出一支新的黑色长雪茄，放进嘴里。 然后她拿出一盒火柴。 她划了一根火柴，但她的手指抖得很厉害，以至于火焰一直没燃着雪茄的烟头。 当她终于把烟点燃时，她抽了很长时间，吸了一口烟。 这似乎使她平静了一些。 “在哪儿发生的?”她低声说。 “女巫现在在哪儿?”她在酒店吗?“奶奶，”我说。 “不只是一个。是几百人!他们到处都是!他们此刻就在旅馆里!”她身体前倾，盯着我看。 “你不会是说……你不会真的是说……你不会是说他们就在酒店里开年会吧?”“他们抓住了，奶奶!”这是完成了!我都听到了!所有人，包括大女巫都在楼下!他们