Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17 SIX WEEKS LATER SUNDAY, JUNE 20 FITKIN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL NEPTUNE, NEW JERSEY Hugo opened his eyes. It was just getting light out, and he listened for the familiar sounds of a

第十七章六周后，6月20日星期日，新泽西州尼普顿菲特金纪念医院雨果睁开了眼睛。 天刚亮，他侧耳倾听着熟悉的声音

Kenyan morning — shrieking monkeys and cawing birds and buzzing insects. Instead Hugo heard hushed voices and footsteps. No, he realized. He wasn't in Kenya. He was still in the hospital, in New Jersey. But finally today, after forty-five days, he was going home. The burns on his back were finally healing. The wounds still hurt. And Hugo had a big bald patch on the side of his head. The doctors couldn't say for sure whether the hair would grow back. But the worst was behind him. That's what everyone told him. But was it really? Hugo wasn't sure. Hugo couldn't wait to get out of the hospital. He missed Gertie — kids weren't allowed to visit. He missed Panya, too. And of course Marty, who had written to him every day. But part of Hugo was afraid to leave here, to be out in the world again.

肯尼亚的早晨——尖叫的猴子、鸣叫的鸟儿和嗡嗡作响的昆虫。 相反，雨果听到的是安静的说话声和脚步声。 不，他意识到。他不在肯尼亚。 他当时还在新泽西的医院里。 但是今天，45天后，他终于要回家了。 他背上的烧伤终于愈合了。 伤口还在痛。雨果的脑袋边上有一大块秃顶。 医生们不能肯定地说头发是否会重新长出来。 但最糟糕的时候已经过去了。 大家都这么跟他说。 但这是真的吗?雨果不敢肯定。 雨果迫不及待地想离开医院。 他想念格蒂——孩子是不允许来看他的。 他也想念潘亚。当然还有马蒂，他每天都给他写信。 但雨果内心深处害怕离开这里，害怕再次回到外面的世界。

He knew that everyone was still talking about the Hindenburg disaster. They'd want to talk to him about it, to hear his story, to share their ideas about what had caused the crash. Nobody knew for sure yet. Some said it was a bomb. Others were convinced it was a gas leak ignited by a spark from the lightning-filled sky. Hugo didn't want to think about any of that. He just wanted to forget that he was ever on the Hindenburg. He still had nightmares every night, terrible dreams filled with fire and smoke and giant hissing cobras. He'd wake up screaming, until the nurses rushed in with their hushed voices and comforting hands. Even during the day, terror would grab hold of him, out of nowhere. He'd catch a whiff of smoke, or take a bite of a warm roll that Mom and Dad brought for him. And his whole body would start to shake.

他知道每个人都还在谈论兴登堡号的灾难。 他们想和他谈谈这件事，听听他的故事，分享他们对坠机原因的看法。 没有人知道确切的答案。有人说是炸弹。 另一些人则认为，这是由充满闪电的天空中的火花引起的气体泄漏。 雨果不想去想这些。 他只想忘记自己曾经在兴登堡号上。 他每天晚上还是会做噩梦，噩梦中充满了火、烟和巨大的嘶嘶的眼镜蛇。 他会尖叫着醒来，直到护士们冲进来，用她们平静的声音和安慰的手。 即使在白天，恐惧也会莫名其妙地抓住他。 他会吸一口烟，或者咬一口爸爸妈妈给他带来的热乎乎的面包卷。 他的整个身体开始颤抖。

He'd think of the thirty-six people who had died in the crash, like Mr. Merrick. He'd think of Mr. Singer, whose burns were even worse than Hugo's. He'd think about how scared Gertie must have been when Mom dropped her out the dining room window into the arms of a man from the crew. He'd picture Mom leaping out with Miss Crowther, and breaking her wrist as she landed. And worst of all was thinking about Dad, who had stayed behind to search for Hugo. He'd rushed through the burning zeppelin calling Hugo's name until Mr. Lenz had dragged him away from the flames and pushed him through a burned-out hole in the wall. And what had happened to Hugo? How had he and Mr. Singer escaped from the burning field of wreckage? It turned out one of the Hindenburg's huge water tanks had hit the ground and burst open. Thousands of gallons of water had gushed out.

他会像麦里克先生一样，想起那36个在飞机失事中丧生的人。 他会想到辛格先生，他的烧伤比雨果更严重。 他会想，当妈妈把格蒂从餐厅的窗户扔到一个船员的怀里时，她该有多害怕。 他想象着妈妈和克劳瑟小姐跳了出去，落地时摔断了她的手腕。 最糟糕的是想到了爸爸，他留下来寻找雨果。 他一边喊着雨果的名字，一边冲过燃烧的齐柏林飞艇，直到伦茨先生把他从火焰中拖出来，把他从墙上一个烧坏的洞里推了出去。 雨果出了什么事? 他和辛格是怎么从燃烧的残骸中逃出来的? 原来兴登堡号的一个巨大的水箱撞到了地面，炸开了。 数千加仑的水喷涌而出。

The cool waters had washed over Hugo and Mr. Singer, dousing the flames that threatened to kill them both. During the brief moments when the fires died down, two brave men from the ground crew had rushed in and carried them off the airfield. Mr. Singer was in bad shape. But he was getting better, too. He was at a different hospital, but Marty gave him reports in the letters she sent. She was staying with her grandparents in Boston until her father was better. At least Hugo didn't have to keep Mr. Singer's secret, because it wasn't a secret anymore. Dad had showed Hugo a long article in the New York Times about how a heroic man named Peter Singer had smuggled secret Nazi documents onto the Hindenburg. The papers listed the names of twenty dangerous German spies living secretly in the U.S. The spies reported to Colonel Joseph Kohl, who had died on the Hindenburg. By now, all of the spies had been captured.

凉水冲过雨果和辛格先生，浇灭了威胁要杀死他们两人的火焰。 在大火熄灭的短暂时间里，两名勇敢的地勤人员冲了进来，把他们带离了机场。 辛格的情况很糟糕。 但他也在好转。 他在另一家医院，但马蒂在她寄给他的信里给了他报告。 在她父亲病情好转之前，她一直和她的祖父母住在波士顿。 至少雨果不用为辛格先生保守秘密了，因为这已经不是秘密了。 爸爸给雨果看了《纽约时报》上的一篇长文，讲的是一个名叫彼得·辛格的英雄如何把纳粹的秘密文件偷运到兴登堡号上。 这些文件列出了20名秘密生活在美国的危险德国间谍的名字 间谍向约瑟夫·科尔上校报告，他已死于兴登堡号上。 到目前为止，所有的间谍都被抓获了。

Marty said that she and her father had even been invited to meet President Roosevelt. Later that morning, Mom and Dad came to take Hugo home from the hospital. And there was a surprise for him in the waiting room. At first Hugo didn't recognize the rosy-cheeked little girl who'd come prancing in. "Oogo!" Gertie ran up and flew into Hugo's arms. Tears sprang into his eyes as Gertie gripped him tight. But these were happy tears. Mom and Dad had told Hugo that the new malaria medicine had worked, that within a month of taking the first dose, there were no traces of the disease in Gertie's blood. But only now did Hugo truly believe that his sister was well.

马蒂说，她和父亲甚至被邀请去见罗斯福总统。 那天早上晚些时候，爸爸妈妈把雨果从医院接回家。 等候室里给他准备了一个惊喜。 起初，雨果并没有认出这个蹦蹦跳跳走进来的红润脸蛋的小女孩。 “Oogo !”格蒂跑上去，扑进雨果的怀里。 当格蒂紧紧地抓住他时，他的眼睛里涌出了泪水。 但这是幸福的泪水。 爸爸妈妈告诉雨果，新的抗疟疾药起作用了，在服用第一剂后的一个月里，格蒂的血液里已经没有疟疾的痕迹了。 但直到现在，雨果才真正相信他的妹妹身体很好。