10 The Never Bird

CHAPTER 10 The Never Bird Out on the water, the lost boys had won their fight with Smee and Starkey, but they couldn't

在水面上，迷路的孩子们赢得了与斯密和斯塔奇的战斗，但他们做不到

find Peter or Wendy or Hook. Taking the pirates' dinghy, they sailed home in it, shouting for Peter and Wendy the entire time. But there was no response, except for an occasional mocking from the mermaids. "They must be swimming or flying back," the boys concluded. Had they stayed in the lagoon, they might have soon heard two voices crying for help. Peter and Wendy—he injured and she weak—had climbed back onto Marooners' Rock. As the water rose dangerously around them, they fell unconscious one right after the other. A mischievous mermaid pulled Wendy by her toe, trying to get her into the water. Feeling her slip from him, Peter woke up just in time to pull her back. "Our rock is shrinking," he told her. "Soon it will be gone." "Let's go, then!" Wendy cried. "We can swim or fly away."

找到彼得、温迪或虎克。 他们坐上海盗的小艇，一路喊着彼得和温迪回家。 但是没有任何反应，除了美人鱼偶尔的嘲笑。 “他们一定是游回来的，或者是飞回来的。”男孩们断定。 如果他们呆在泻湖里，他们可能很快就会听到两个呼救的声音。 彼得和温迪——他受伤了，她虚弱了——爬回了流亡者岩。 当水在他们周围危险地上涨时，他们一个接一个地失去了知觉。 一只淘气的美人鱼拽着温迪的脚趾，想把她拉进水里。 彼得感到她从他身边溜走了，他醒了过来，及时把她拉了回来。 “我们的岩石正在萎缩，”他告诉她。 “它很快就会消失。”“那我们走吧！”温迪喊道。 “我们可以游泳，也可以飞走。”

"I can do neither," Peter replied. "I have been injured. You go." But Wendy was too weak to make it on her own. The children put their hands over their eyes to shut out the sight of the rising water, and prepared to meet their end. Just then something brushed Peter's leg. It was as light as a feather, and it seemed to be asking, Can I help? What luck! It was the tail of a kite, which Michael had made a few days earlier but then lost to the wind. Peter grabbed it and wrapped it around Wendy. "Now you!" Wendy cried. "It can't lift us both," Peter explained. "Michael and Curly tried." Wendy clung to Peter, refusing to go without him, but he pushed her from the rock and away she flew. Peter was left all alone in the lagoon. The rock grew smaller and smaller. In the distance, the mermaids called sadly to the moon.

彼得说，这两样我都不能作。 “我受伤了。你去。” 但是温迪太虚弱了，她自己做不到。 孩子们用手捂住眼睛，不让他们看到上涨的河水，准备迎接他们的末日。 就在这时，有什么东西擦过彼得的腿。 它像羽毛一样轻，好像在问：我能帮什么忙吗？ 什么运气!那是迈克尔几天前做的风筝尾巴，后来被风吹丢了。 彼得抓住它，把它缠在温迪身上。 “现在你!”温迪喊道。“它抬不起我们俩。”彼得解释说。 “迈克尔和卷毛试过了。” 温迪紧紧抓住彼得，不让他走，可是彼得把她从岩石上推下来，温迪就飞走了。 彼得孤零零地留在了泻湖里。 岩石变得越来越小。 在远处，美人鱼伤心地呼唤着月亮。

Like any boy, Peter was scared to die. But soon his fear changed to excitement. "To die will be an awfully big adventure," he said. Around him, the lagoon grew quieter and quieter. Peter heard the mermaids saying good night to one another and shutting the doors to their coral caves. He heard the water gurgle greedily as it rose to nibble on the rock. Then he saw something white floating on the water. He thought it was a piece of paper, or perhaps a piece of Michael's kite. But as he continued to stare at it, he realized that it had a more definite sense of purpose than a mere piece of paper would have. It seemed to be fighting the tide instead of just going with the flow. Peter found himself rooting for the white streak to win. The piece of paper was actually the Never bird, still sitting on her now-floating nest. She was trying desperately to reach Peter. Although he had teased her in the past, he had also given orders that her nest was not to be disturbed. For

和其他男孩一样，彼得害怕死。 但很快他的恐惧变成了兴奋。 “死亡将是一场可怕的大冒险，”他说。 在他周围，泻湖变得越来越安静。 彼得听见美人鱼们互相道了晚安，关上了珊瑚洞的门。 他听到水贪婪地汩汩作响，涌上来啃咬岩石。 然后他看到水面上漂浮着一个白色的东西。 他以为那是一张纸，或者是迈克尔风筝的碎片。 但当他继续盯着它看的时候，他意识到它比一张纸更有明确的意义。 它似乎在与潮流抗争，而不是随波逐流。 彼得发现自己支持白衣队获胜。 这张纸实际上是永无鸟，仍然坐在她现在漂浮的巢里。 她拼命地想找到彼得。 虽然他过去曾戏弄过她，但他也曾下令不要打扰她的巢。 为

this reason, and perhaps because she was above all things a mother, she would disturb her nest herself—to save his life. "Swim to the nest," she called to him. "I am too tired to row all the way to you." But Peter didn't speak bird language, and couldn't understand her. And, even near death, he could be very impatient. "What are you quacking about?" Peter asked rudely. "I don't understand a word!" "Why, I never!" the Never bird said, and tried again. "Same to you!" Peter replied. "Whatever you just said!" Remembering that he was only a child, the maternal Never bird took a deep breath and made one last push to row her nest to the rock. Upon reaching it, she flew up, leaving her eggs behind to make some room for Peter. Finally realizing her meaning, Peter waved his thank-you to the Never bird. Looking down,

出于这个原因，也许因为她首先是一个母亲，她会自己去翻动她的窝——来救他的命。 “游到巢里去，”她对他喊道。 “我太累了，不能一路划到你那儿去了。” 但是彼得不会说鸟语，听不懂她的话。 而且，即使快死了，他也会很不耐烦。 “你在叫什么？”彼得粗鲁地问。 “我一个字也听不懂！”“为什么，我从来没有！”永无鸟说，又试了一次。 “你也一样！”彼得回答说。 “不管你刚才说什么！”想起自己还只是个孩子，母鸟深吸了一口气，最后用力把巢划到岩石上。 一到那里，她就飞了起来，把蛋留在后面，给彼得腾地方。 彼得终于明白了她的意思，向那只永不鸟挥了挥手表示感谢。 向下看,

however, he saw there was not enough room in the nest for both him and her two large white eggs. He lifted the eggs up, and the Never bird covered her eyes with her feathers, afraid of what Peter might do. On the rock next to Peter was a waterproof hat, broad and wide, which Starkey had left behind. Peter put the eggs into the hat and set them afloat. With a final happy quack, the Never bird swooped down and settled herself on top of her eggs. Peter got into the Never bird's old nest, waved good-bye, and pushed off. He in his nest and Wendy with her kite arrived back at the cave at nearly the same time. Oh, how everyone rejoiced! The party went on until Wendy realized how late it was and told everyone it was well past their bedtime. The boys tried to stall, insisting they were injured and in need of slings and bandages, but

然而，他发现鸟巢里没有足够的空间容纳他和她的两个白色的大蛋。 他把蛋举起来，永无鸟害怕彼得会做什么，用羽毛遮住了眼睛。 彼得旁边的岩石上有一顶又宽又宽的防水帽，是斯塔奇留下的。 彼得把鸡蛋放进帽子里，让它们浮在水面上。 随着最后一声快乐的嘎嘎声，Never鸟俯冲下来，落在她的蛋上。 彼得走进永无鸟的老巢，挥手告别，就离开了。 他在巢里，温迪带着风筝几乎同时回到了山洞。 啊，大家多么高兴啊！聚会继续着，直到温迪意识到已经很晚了，她才告诉大家早过了就寝时间。 男孩们试图拖延，坚持说他们受伤了，需要绷带和吊带，但是