Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6 THE NEXT DAY TUESDAY, MAY 4 1:00 P.M. ABOARD THE HINDENBURG Hugo helped himself to another warm roll, which was as fluffy as the clouds out the window. He'd already eaten four, but nobody seemed to mind.

第六章第二天，五月四日，星期二下午一点 在兴登堡号上，雨果又拿了一个温暖的面包卷，像窗外的云一样蓬松。 他已经吃了四个，但似乎没有人介意。

That morning he'd stuffed himself at breakfast — creamy eggs and sizzling sausages. This lunch was even more delicious. The tender steak practically melted on his tongue. The asparagus was covered with so much melted cheese it actually tasted good. The family was sharing a big table with Marty and her dad, Mr. Singer, and a few other passengers. Hugo sat next to Marty. Had they met only yesterday? He felt like they'd been friends for years. Last night they'd stayed up past midnight, looking out the windows. The zeppelin's powerful searchlight beamed down. It lit up sleeping villages and turned the Rhine River into a glittering silver ribbon. Marty told Hugo about her life with her father. "My mother died four years ago," she said. "So Father and I are a team." Hugo had been wondering why she and her dad were traveling alone, and now he had his sad

那天早上，他狼吞虎咽地吃早餐——奶油鸡蛋和滋滋作响的香肠。 这顿午餐更美味了。 嫩牛排在他的舌头上几乎融化了。 芦笋上覆盖了很多融化的奶酪，味道真的很好。 这家人和马蒂、她的父亲辛格先生以及其他几位乘客共用一张大桌子。 雨果坐在马蒂旁边。他们昨天才认识吗? 他觉得他们是多年的朋友。 昨晚他们一直熬到半夜，望着窗外。 齐柏林飞艇强大的探照灯照了下来。 它照亮了沉睡的村庄，把莱茵河变成了一条闪闪发光的银带。 马蒂向雨果讲述了她和父亲的生活。 “我母亲四年前去世了，”她说。 “所以爸爸和我是一个团队。” 雨果一直在想为什么她和她爸爸单独旅行，现在他感到很难过

answer. She asked him a hundred questions about Kenya, and as he answered he could almost see Marty traveling there in her mind. He described their little house with the grass roof, and explained that Mom and Dad took turns giving him his school lessons. "Are giraffes really the most beautiful animals?" Marty asked. "Yes, and their eyes are huge, and almost like human eyes," Hugo told her. There was only one ugly part of a giraffe. "Their tongues are pitch black, and about a foot and a half long," he added. "Yuck!" Marty said as they both burst out laughing. Hugo told Marty about the cobras and the hippos and the one-eared baboon. And then, just before they said good night, he told her the story of Gertie's illness. Marty listened with tears in her eyes.

的答案。她问了他上百个关于肯尼亚的问题，当他回答的时候，他几乎可以看到马蒂在她的脑海里旅行。 他描述了他们有草屋顶的小房子，并解释说爸爸妈妈轮流给他上课。 “长颈鹿真的是最美丽的动物吗?”马蒂问道。 “是的，它们的眼睛很大，几乎和人的眼睛一样。”雨果告诉她。 长颈鹿只有一个丑陋的部分。 “它们的舌头是漆黑的，大约有一英尺半长，”他补充说。 “啐!”马蒂说，两人都笑了起来。 雨果告诉马蒂眼镜蛇、河马和独耳狒狒的事。 然后，就在他们说晚安之前，他给她讲了格蒂的病情。 马蒂听着，眼里含着泪水。

But today, here in the bright dining room of the Hindenburg, those sad stories seemed miles away. Gertie had woken up without a fever this morning and was gobbling up her food. Mom and Dad looked almost carefree as they chatted with their new friends. "From now on, I will only travel on zeppelins," announced Miss Crowther. She was an older American woman with a big voice and even bigger diamond earrings. Gertie looked up at Hugo, her face shiny with butter from the noodles. "Oogo," she whispered. "That lady looks like an ostrich." "You're right, Gertie," he whispered back, studying Miss Crowther's unusually long neck and thin, beaklike nose. "But keep your voice down." He was pretty sure the elegant Miss Crowther wouldn't like being compared to an enormous screeching bird.

但今天，在兴登堡号明亮的餐厅里，那些悲伤的故事似乎遥不可及。 格蒂今天早上醒来时没有发烧，正在狼吞虎咽地吃东西。 爸爸妈妈和他们的新朋友聊天时看起来几乎是无忧无虑的。 “从现在起，我只乘齐柏林飞艇旅行。”克劳瑟小姐宣布。 她是一位年长的美国妇女，声音洪亮，戴着更大的钻石耳环。 格蒂抬头看着雨果，脸上抹着面条上的黄油，闪闪发亮。 “乌戈，”她低声说。“那位女士看起来像只鸵鸟。” “你说得对，格蒂。”他小声回答，一边打量着克劳瑟小姐异常长的脖子和瘦削的鹰嘴鼻。 “但是你小声点。” 他很肯定优雅的克劳瑟小姐不会喜欢被比作一只尖叫的大鸟。

"I'm usually sick as a dog on a ship," boomed Mr. Merrick, a British man with red hair and a pointy chin. "But I haven't been the least bit queasy." Same with Hugo. On the ship to Africa last year, Hugo had been so slammed by seasickness he'd puked his guts out. But the Hindenburg's ride was so smooth. It was impossible to imagine that they were really zooming through the sky at almost eighty-five miles per hour. Hugo's stomach felt perfect. Gertie studied Mr. Merrick. "He looks like a fox," she whispered. Marty grinned — she wanted in on the game. They all now turned their attention to Mr. Lenz. He was a cheerful German man with a thick, curving mustache and big, pillowy belly. "I once flew on an airplane," he said. "But never again. The noise was terrible. We had to land every two hours to get more fuel. And it took

“我通常病得像船上的狗一样，”梅里克大声说，他是一个红头发、尖下巴的英国人。 “但我一点也不觉得恶心。” 雨果也一样。去年在去非洲的船上，雨果晕船严重，吐得肠子都出来了。 但是兴登堡号的行驶非常平稳。 很难想象它们真的以每小时85英里的速度在天空中飞驰。 雨果的胃感觉很好。 格蒂端详着麦里克先生。 “他看起来像只狐狸，”她低声说。 马蒂咧嘴一笑——她想加入这场游戏。 他们现在都把注意力转向了伦茨先生。 他是一个性格开朗的德国人，留着浓密的弯弯曲曲的小胡子，肚子又大又软。 “我曾经坐过飞机，”他说。 “但再也不会了。噪音太可怕了。 为了补充燃料，我们不得不每两小时降落一次。 这需要

us twenty-two hours to fly from New York to Florida!" Hugo had always wanted to fly on an airplane, but he'd heard they were dangerous. Dad said it would be years before an airplane could fly passengers across the oceans. For now, only the Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg could do that. "Mr. Lenz looks like a nice walrus," Marty whispered.

我们要花22小时从纽约飞到佛罗里达!”雨果一直想坐飞机，但他听说飞机很危险。 爸爸说，要想让飞机载着乘客飞越大洋，还需要几年的时间。 目前，只有齐柏林伯爵号和兴登堡号能做到这一点。 “伦茨先生看起来像只漂亮的海象。”马蒂低声说。