1 Rats

1. RATS In her cottage on Seaview Terrace, Mrs. Bumble sat in bed, cup and saucer in hand. She gazed at the sunlight streaming through the window and sipped her tea. She considered herself very lucky to have such a splendid sea view and liked to spend a few minutes every morning watching the waves crash on the shore. Mrs. Bumble was always very busy being a busybody, and she enjoyed these moments of peace and calm before the start of another busy day.

1. 在她海景露台的小屋里，班布尔太太坐在床上，手里拿着杯子和碟子。 她凝视着窗外射进来的阳光，抿着茶。 她觉得自己很幸运，能看到如此壮丽的海景，喜欢每天早上花几分钟时间看海浪拍击海岸。 班布尔太太总是忙得像个爱管闲事的人，在忙碌的一天开始之前，她很享受这些平静的时刻。

But this morning her peace and calm was disturbed by a scratching noise. It was a loud scratching noise, and it seemed to be coming from beneath her floorboards. It was joined by another— this one behind her head, behind her plump pillows, behind her floral wallpaper, and deep within her bedroom wall. And there were more scratching noises coming from beneath her open window, where something was scratchily scampering up the climbing rose that clung to her cottage. A black claw scrabbled along the window ledge, searching for grip, before hoisting up a great dark lump of fur.

但是今天早上，她的平静被一种抓挠的声音打破了。 那是一种巨大的刮擦声，似乎是从她家地板下面传来的。 接着是另一张——这张在她的头后面，在她丰满的枕头后面，在她的花墙纸后面，在她卧室墙的深处。 从她开着的窗户下面传来更多的刮擦声，有什么东西在爬上紧贴在她小屋上的玫瑰。 一只黑色的爪子在窗台上抓来抓去，然后叼起了一大块黑色的皮毛。

Two red eyes stared at Mrs. Bumble as the lump's nose and whiskers twitched. "RATS!" screamed Mrs. Bumble.

两只红眼睛盯着班布尔太太，那肿块的鼻子和胡须抽搐了一下。 “老鼠！”班布尔太太尖叫道。

screamed Arthur Poppycock, rudely awakened by an enormous black rat that was noisily munching on the remnants of his double-chocolate muffin. Arthur peered out the window and saw a seagull flapping seaward, escaping the rats that covered the harbor office, the yachts, the fishing boats, and the docks.

阿瑟·波比科克尖叫着，他被一只巨大的黑老鼠粗暴地吵醒了，那只老鼠正在大声地咀嚼他剩下的双层巧克力松饼。 阿瑟向窗外望去，只见一只海鸥正扑向大海，躲避着港湾办公室、游艇、渔船和码头上的老鼠。

screamed Sheila Wobley, Mrs. Bumble's neighbor on Seaview Terrace. She had opened the door to her spare bedroom and found rats devouring her washing. The wash basket did smell faintly of fish and chips, so perhaps the rats thought it was food. Dull-on-Sea was infested with rats. They were everywhere— not only in every house on Seaview Terrace but all through town.

班布尔太太住在海景露台的邻居希拉·沃利尖叫道。 她打开空卧室的门，发现老鼠正在吞食她洗好的衣服。 洗衣篮确实有一股鱼和薯条的味道，所以老鼠可能认为这是食物。 杜尔河畔到处都是老鼠。 他们无处不在——不仅在海景露台的每栋房子里，而且在镇上到处都是。