9 A Trip to Town

9. A TRIP TO TOWN Matilda was sitting between the three hags on the backseat of a bus. It was a small bus that ran along the coastal roads between the beaches, villages, and towns. There were a few locals mixed with tourists on the bus, but none of them wanted to be

9. 玛蒂尔达坐在一辆公共汽车后座上的三个老太婆中间。 那是一辆小型公共汽车，行驶在海滩、村庄和城镇之间的沿海公路上。 车上有几个当地人和游客混在一起，但他们都不愿意

close to the sea hags. There were a couple of empty rows in front of Matilda. That meant there was space for her bicycle, which she'd rescued from the cliff top. Beyond the empty seats, a young girl, fingers gripping the seat back, peeked over the top until her mom whispered something in her ear and turned her around to face the front. The sea hags were keeping their beady eyes on the large sack of treasure they'd left on the luggage rack.

靠近海妖。玛蒂尔达前面有几排空座位。 这意味着有空间放她的自行车，那是她从悬崖顶上救下来的。 在空座位的另一边，一个小女孩用手指抓着椅背，从椅背上往外偷看，直到她妈妈在她耳边低语了几句，才把她转过来面向前方。 海妖们睁大了眼睛盯着她们放在行李架上的一大袋财宝。

Matilda thought she would be relieved to get off the bus. But once they stepped onto Dull-on-Sea's Main Street, even more people stared at the sea hags. Matilda locked her bike to a railing and they set off down the street, burly men nervously ducking into doorways and parents putting protective arms around their children. At least the sea hags were quiet, apart from their sack of gold clunking as they dragged it along the sidewalk. Matilda rushed them

玛蒂尔达以为下了车她就放心了。 但是，一旦他们踏上了海滨小镇的主街，就会有更多的人盯着这些海妖。 玛蒂尔达把她的自行车锁在栏杆上，他们沿着街道出发了，魁梧的男人紧张地躲进门口，父母们用手抱住孩子。 至少海妖们很安静，除了那袋金子拖着走过人行道时发出的叮当声。 玛蒂尔达冲了过去

along as best she could, although they occasionally stopped to sniff a passerby, peer into a mailbox with their illuminated wands, or examine the contents of garbage cans. Their first stop was a new shop called Gold-Diggerz, which promised to pay "loads of cash" for any unwanted gold. It was a small shop, filled with a very fat man, bedecked in chunky jewelry and tapping away on a computer. He sat at a leather- topped wooden desk, behind a nameplate which read HARVEY CARROT. With the ring-a-ding of the door, he looked up. "Well, hello," he boomed. "What can

她尽可能地往前走，尽管他们偶尔会停下来嗅一嗅过路人，用点亮的魔杖往信箱里张望，或者检查垃圾桶里的东西。 他们的第一站是一家名为gold - diggerz的新店，这家店承诺为任何不需要的黄金支付“大量现金”。 这是一家小商店，里面坐着一个非常胖的男人，戴着厚重的珠宝，在电脑上敲击着键盘。 他坐在一张皮面木桌前，桌子后面的铭牌上写着“哈维·胡萝卜”。 随着门的敲门声，他抬起头来。 “嗯，你好。”他大声说。“什么可以

I do for you... um... lovely... um... ladies?" Without a word, the sea hags emptied their sack of gold on the desk. If there had been enough space behind Harvey Carrot, he would probably have fallen off his chair. "Well, yes. Imagine that," he said, slapping his large, sweaty hands together. "That's quite a lot of gold, isn't it?"

我为你……嗯…可爱的… 嗯…女士们呢?”海巫婆二话没说，把口袋里的金子倒在桌子上。 如果哈维·胡萝卜后面有足够的空间，他可能会从椅子上摔下来。 “嗯,是的。想象一下，”他说着，拍了拍他那双汗津津的大手。 “那是相当多的金子，不是吗？”

"There's a lot more where that came from, Mr. Carrot," said Matilda. Behind her, the hags stared at him and sniffed the air. "Really? Well, yes, how wonderful, but please, call me Harvey," he said, grinning. "And how much would you like for this little pile, young lady?" "Five thousand dollars," said Matilda as calmly as she could. She wasn't sure why she said it, but it was more money than she'd ever seen before, and it sounded like a LOT. To Matilda's surprise, Harvey very quickly fumbled with his keys and unlocked a safe in the wall behind him.

“胡萝卜先生，还有更多的东西呢，”玛蒂尔达说。 在她身后，母夜叉盯着他，嗅着空气。 “真的吗?嗯，是的，太好了，但是请叫我哈维，”他笑着说。 “小姐，这一小堆东西你想卖多少钱？”“五千美元，”玛蒂尔达尽量平静地说。 她不知道自己为什么要这么说，但这比她以前见过的钱还多，听起来好像很多。 令玛蒂尔达吃惊的是，哈维很快就摸出了钥匙，打开了身后墙上的一个保险箱。