Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 The moment Charlie saw the sign, stress and fear and anger hit him like a train. He felt like his stomach was falling out of his bum. A for-sale sign? So quickly? They were going to move? To where? To Aunt Brenda's and her stinky cats? His parents had said it would take ages! They'd lied to him. And now everybody would know they were having to move because they couldn't afford their house any more. Embarrassment and worry flooded his body. His thoughts raced away. His heart began to pound. And standing there, on the corner of his street where anybody could see him, Charlie started to change. He tried breathing slowly, imagining his happy place, but he was outside, and that heaped more stress on top of the first stress. What if someone sees me?

查理一看到这个标志，压力、恐惧和愤怒就像火车一样袭击了他。 他觉得肚子都要从屁股里掉出来了。 “待售”的牌子？如此之快? 他们要搬家了？到哪里? 布兰达阿姨家和她的臭猫？ 他的父母说这要花很长时间！他们骗了他。 现在每个人都知道他们不得不搬家，因为他们买不起房子了。 尴尬和担忧充斥着他的身体。 他的思绪迅速散去。他的心开始怦怦直跳。 查理站在街角，站在任何人都能看到他的地方，他开始变了。 他试着慢慢呼吸，想象着他快乐的地方，但他在外面，这在第一种压力之上堆积了更多的压力。 如果有人看到我怎么办？

He tried thinking of happy, funny memories, but all he could picture was the uncertain future stretching out in front of him. There was no stopping the change this time. He had to get inside. He started running towards his house, but already he could feel the fire racing through him, every cell in his body being stretched and squeezed, bristly fur sprouting all over him. He couldn't ring the doorbell– his mum would drop dead of a heart attack if she opened the door to see her youngest son halfway into changing into a wombat or whatever it was he was turning into. No– Charlie couldn't go home, and that meant he had to find somewhere to hide, and fast. He dropped his bag on the doorstep and started running back the way he'd come, his mind a whirl of panic. He suddenly found it easier to run on all fours. His hands were turning into huge paws. His breath was coming out in snorts.

他试着回想那些快乐、有趣的回忆，但他所能想象的只是在他面前展开的不确定的未来。 这一次的变化是无法阻止的。 他必须进去。他开始朝自己的房子跑去，但他已经能感觉到火焰在他体内狂奔，他身上的每一个细胞都被拉伸和挤压着，浑身长满了毛发。 他不能按门铃——如果他妈妈打开门看到她最小的儿子正在变成一只袋熊或其他什么东西，她会心脏病发作而死的。 不——查理不能回家，这意味着他必须找个地方躲起来，而且要快。 他把包丢在门阶上，从来时的路往回跑，心里一阵慌乱。 他突然发现四肢着地跑起来更容易。 他的手变成了巨大的爪子。 他呼出了一口气。

He was growing big– as big as one of the small cars he was running blindly past. Charlie forced himself to stop, desperately trying to think sensibly. He took stock of his situation. He was standing in the middle of the street where he lived and he had turned into– what had he turned into? He was huge, with enormous paws and knife-like claws, and when Charlie looked down he saw he was covered in white fur. That could only mean one thing. Charlie was a polar bear. And being a polar bear in a quiet residential street was far from ideal– in fact, it was pretty unbearable.fn1 Great, thought Charlie. Just great. I'm trying to hide but I can't because I'm an ENORMOUS polar bear. And Mum and Dad are selling our house. Things can't get any worse. But as anybody who has been following Charlie's adventures will know, just when Charlie thinks things can only get better, they tend to get much worse. And this time was no exception. Just as Polar-Charlie started thumping down the street again, desperately looking for a hiding place, Mrs Shufflebottom (the elderly childminder with a cloud of snow-white hair, who lived next door to Charlie and always picked up a gaggle of Reception kids from Charlie's school) rounded the corner, a crocodile line of five small children skipping behind her. They practically bumped into Charlie.

他长得越来越大——就像他盲目地跑过的一辆小车一样大。 查理强迫自己停下来，拼命地想要理智地思考。 他估量了一下自己的处境。 他站在他住的街道中央，他变成了——他变成了什么？ 它是巨大的，有巨大的爪子和刀一样的爪子，当查理向下看时，他看到它被白色的毛覆盖着。 这只能说明一件事。 查理是一只北极熊。在安静的居民街道上做一只北极熊远非理想——事实上，这是相当难以忍受的。太好了，查理想。 就好了。我想躲起来，但我躲不起来，因为我是一只巨大的北极熊。 妈妈和爸爸正在卖我们的房子。 事情不能更糟了。 但是任何跟随查理历险的人都知道，就在查理认为事情只会变得更好的时候，情况往往会变得更糟。 这次也不例外。 就在“极地查理”又开始在街上狂奔，拼命寻找藏身之处的时候，沙弗尔波顿夫人（一位头发像云一样雪白的老人，她住在查理的隔壁，经常从查理的学校接一群叽叽喳喳的接待班的孩子）转过了街角，五个小孩在她后面排成一条像蛇一样的队伍。 他们几乎撞到了查理。

Now, I think we can all agree Charlie was having a bad day. He was worried about his dad and losing his home and he'd turned into a polar bear. Definitely a bad day. However, that was a walk in the park on a sunny day eating chocolate ice cream with sprinkles compared to the day Mrs Shufflebottom and the children she was looking after were having.

现在，我想我们都同意查理今天过得很糟糕。 他很担心他的爸爸，担心失去他的家，他变成了一只北极熊。 绝对是糟糕的一天。然而，与沙弗尔博顿夫人和她所照顾的孩子们的一天相比，在阳光明媚的日子里在公园里散步吃巧克力冰淇淋就像撒糖一样。

They were walking down the street, minding their own business, when they turned the corner and were suddenly faced with a massive three-metre-tall 400kilogram polar bear. Mrs Shufflebottom froze in terror, too scared to make a noise. The children, though, didn't have any such problem– they let out a scream so loud and so high it nearly burst Charlie's eardrums. Polar-Charlie reared up on his hind legs and roared in fright. This did not help matters– quite the opposite, in fact. From Mrs Shufflebottom and the children's perspective, a polar bear was now standing in front of them, rearing up to its full height and roaring at them at the top of its lungs. By this point, three of the five children had, understandably, weed in their pants in terror. It would be impolite to discuss whether Mrs Shufflebottom had weed in her pants. Some things are best left to the imagination. Let's just say there were some bloomers in soak that evening.

他们走在街上，想着自己的事，当他们转过拐角时，突然面对着一只3米高、400公斤重的巨大北极熊。 沙弗尔巴顿夫人吓呆了，不敢出声。 然而，孩子们却没有这样的问题——他们发出了一声又高又响的尖叫，几乎把查理的耳膜都震破了。 极地查理用后腿站立起来，吓得大叫起来。 这并没有起到帮助作用——事实上，恰恰相反。 在沙弗尔波顿夫人和孩子们看来，一只北极熊正站在他们面前，挺直了身子，扯着嗓子朝他们吼叫。 到这个时候，五个孩子中有三个，可以理解地，吓得尿裤子了。 讨论沙弗尔巴顿夫人裤子里有没有大麻是不礼貌的。 有些事情最好留给自己去想象。 这么说吧，那天晚上有几个人在泡澡。

Mrs Shufflebottom finally found her feet, turned round and started running the opposite direction from Charlie, arms flailing. She had quite forgotten about the children. One by one, the children recovered

沙弗尔巴顿夫人终于站了起来，转身朝查理相反的方向跑去，双臂挥舞着。 她完全忘了孩子们的事。 孩子们一个接一个地康复了