18 The Stupid Idiot

The Stupid Idiot Ebenezer told Bethany everything. He explained that he had adopted her because she seemed like a horrible girl who deserved to be eaten, and he told her that he had fed her mountains of food because the beast wanted something fat to eat. It was tricky for him to confess the truth, but it was even trickier for Bethany to hear it.

笨蛋埃比尼泽把一切都告诉了宝芬妮。 他解释说，他收养她是因为她看起来是个可怕的女孩，活该被吃掉。他还告诉她，他给她喂了堆积如山的食物，因为野兽想要吃一些油腻的东西。 对他来说，坦白真相很棘手，但对宝芬妮来说，让她听到真相就更棘手了。

"But why?" was the only thing she could say, after he had finished speaking. "Because the only thing I've ever wanted from life is more life," he said, bitterly. "More things, more years to live, more good looks—more everything! You're a child, so you have no idea how scary it is to get older. "This is my worst nightmare," he said, pointing to his own old body. "I've always been terrified of aging, of losing my looks, of dying before I've had a chance to do everything I want to do. So when the beast offered me a chance to keep on living, in return for a few small favors, I immediately said yes." "Small favors?" said Bethany, in a small voice. "There's nothing small about feeding it a child."

“可是为什么呢？”这是他说完之后她唯一能说的话。 “因为我从生活中唯一想要的就是更多的生活，”他痛苦地说。 “更多的东西，更多的寿命，更多的美貌——更多的一切！”你还是个孩子，所以你不知道长大有多可怕。 “这是我最可怕的噩梦，”他指着自己苍老的身体说。 “我一直很害怕变老，害怕失去容貌，害怕在我有机会做我想做的事情之前就死去。 所以当那头野兽给我一个活下去的机会，让我帮点小忙作为回报时，我立刻答应了。” “小忙？”宝芬妮小声说。 “给它喂个孩子没什么大不了的。”

"It didn't start out like this. At first, all the beast wanted me to do was bring it some interesting meals to eat—some plates of roast beef and a chicken pie or two—that sort of thing. Then it wanted to know what it was like to eat living things, first insects, then small animals like rats and pigeons. And as it got bigger, so did its appetite. "There were times when I was uncomfortable, like with Lord Tibbles, but my life was always more important to me than anything else." "And what about me? Am I another Lord Tibbles?" asked Bethany. "No. You're much worse than Lord Tibbles," he answered. "Lord Tibbles was a kind and noble cat, whereas you… you think it's funny to ruin paintings, steal comics, and

“事情并不是这样开始的。 起初，这只野兽想让我做的就是给它拿一些有趣的食物来吃——几盘烤牛肉和一两份鸡肉派——诸如此类的东西。 然后它想知道吃生物是什么感觉，先是吃昆虫，然后是老鼠和鸽子之类的小动物。 随着它越来越大，它的胃口也越来越大。 “有时我感到不舒服，就像和蒂布尔斯勋爵在一起一样，但我的生命对我来说总是比其他任何事情都重要。” “那我呢？”我是另一个提伯斯勋爵吗？”伯大尼问。 “没有。你比提布尔斯勋爵坏多了，”他回答。 “蒂布尔斯勋爵是一只善良高贵的猫，而你……你觉得毁画、偷漫画很有趣，还有

demand obscene amounts of chocolate cake. If you were an ounce like Tibbles, then I would never have picked you at the orphanage." Bethany was a tough girl, but she wasn't tough enough to hold back the tears that trickled from her eyes. It's never nice to hear that someone thinks you deserve to be eaten. "But… but I thought you liked me?" she asked, in a wobbling voice. "I didn't. In fact, I was looking forward to serving you to the beast," said Ebenezer. More tears trickled from Bethany's eyes, and a sob escaped from her throat. Ebenezer stood up and sighed. "But, for some ridiculous reason which I really don't understand, I like you now."

要求大量的巧克力蛋糕。 如果你像提伯斯一样一盎司，我就不会在孤儿院挑你了。” 贝瑟妮是一个坚强的女孩，但她没有坚强到控制住从她眼中流下的眼泪。 听到有人说你活该被吃掉可不是件好事。 “可是……可是我以为你喜欢我呢？”她用颤抖的声音问道。 “我没有。事实上，我一直期待着把你献给野兽，”埃比尼泽说。 更多的泪水从宝芬妮的眼睛里流下来，喉咙里呜咽了一声。 埃比尼泽站起来，叹了口气。 “但是，由于某种我真的不明白的可笑的原因，我现在喜欢上你了。”

Bethany looked up. There was a glimmer of hope in her tear-sodden eyes. "Very unfortunately, you're not quite as awful as I wanted you to be," explained Ebenezer. "And, I suppose, you're actually quite fun to spend time with. I think that maybe, just maybe, as silly as it sounds, this house and my life might feel a little empty if you weren't in it." Ebenezer and Bethany looked at each other and smiled. Then Bethany punched him in the stomach. "You stupid idiot!" she shouted, punching again. She kept punching until he fell back on to the sofa. She picked up a cushion and started bashing him over the head with it. "How dare you try and feed me to the beast! How dare you say those nasty things about

宝芬妮抬起头来。她泪眼朦胧的眼睛里闪过一丝希望。 “很不幸，你并不像我想象的那么糟糕，”埃比尼泽解释说。 “而且，我想，和你在一起其实很有趣。 我想，也许，只是也许，虽然听起来很傻，但如果没有你，这所房子和我的生活可能会感到有点空虚。” 埃比尼泽和宝芬妮面面相觑，笑了。 然后宝芬妮一拳打在他肚子上。 “你这个白痴！”她喊道，又打了一拳。 她不停地打，直到他倒在沙发上。 她拿起一个靠垫，开始用它砸他的头。 “你怎么敢拿我喂野兽！”你怎么敢说那些下流的话

me!" she said, bashing him over the head again and again. It was time for tears to trickle from Ebenezer's eyes. He had never been very good at dealing with pain. Bethany kept bashing and shouting and bashing and shouting until her arms and voice could bash and shout no more. She slumped into the seat next to Ebenezer, out of breath and out of insults. They both stayed sitting there for a while; Ebenezer shed tears of pain, while Bethany let out ones of anger.

我！”她说着，一次又一次地敲打着他的头。 是埃比尼泽流下眼泪的时候了。 他从来就不擅长处理疼痛。 宝芬妮不停地打啊，喊啊，打啊，喊啊，直到她的手臂和声音都不能再打了。 她瘫倒在埃比尼泽旁边的座位上，上气不接下气，也说不出话来。 他们俩在那儿坐了一会儿；埃比尼谢流下了痛苦的眼泪，而伯大尼则流下了愤怒的眼泪。