14 Remembering

CHAPTER FOURTEEN Remembering Ted had built a small fire, and the three of them sat around it– Ted and Nancy on one side, and Rufus on the other. Once he'd taken off all the grubby blankets and rags, Ted and Nancy could see very clearly that Rufus was just a fox. In the firelight, Ted examined him. He had scraggly ears, matted fur and wonky whiskers. He stank of old tyres and stale swamp and goodness knows what else. But his tired eyes sparkled and shone. Nancy glared at Rufus suspiciously. 'I know I stink,' said Rufus sheepishly. 'I've been sleeping in these woods for days. When I first got here, I fell into that horrible swamp and couldn't get the stinky mud off. The smell just gets worse and worse, you know? I tried to have a wash in that little pond, but I got scared off by all them quacky ducks. Angry lot, aren't they?' Nancy stared into the fire and wouldn't look up. 'Go on, then,' she grunted. 'Why should we believe you're our brother?'

第十四章记起泰德生了一堆小火，他们三个围坐在火旁——泰德和南希在一边，鲁弗斯在另一边。 当他脱掉所有肮脏的毯子和破布时，泰德和南希很清楚地看到鲁弗斯只是一只狐狸。 泰德在火光下打量着他。 他的耳朵乱糟糟的，皮毛乱糟糟的，胡须乱糟糟的。 他身上散发着旧轮胎和腐烂沼泽的臭味，天知道还有什么。 但他疲惫的眼睛却闪烁着光芒。 南希怀疑地瞪着鲁弗斯。 “我知道我很臭。”鲁弗斯不好意思地说。 “我已经在树林里睡了好几天了。 我刚来的时候，掉进了那片可怕的沼泽，弄不掉臭气熏天的泥。 味道越来越难闻了，你知道吗？ 我想在那个小池塘里洗个澡，但我被那些嘎嘎叫的鸭子吓跑了。 他们都很生气，是不是？”南希凝视着炉火，不愿抬头。 “那就说下去吧，”她咕哝着说。 “我们凭什么相信你是我们的兄弟？”

Rufus cleared his throat and shuffled a little closer to the fire. 'Seems fair,' he said. 'Get cosy. Cos it's quite the story.' Do you have a blankie? I think we should all have a blankie. RUFUS'S STORY 'We left Grimwood when you, Nancy, were just a little cub. Yes, that's right– Mum and Dad were from Grimwood! I was tickled pink when I saw Ted's postcards. You found your way back home without even knowing it was home. Clever clogs, the pair of you.

鲁弗斯清了清喉咙，拖着脚步向炉火靠近了一点。 “似乎很公平，”他说。“得到舒适。 因为这个故事很精彩。”你有毯子吗？ 我觉得我们都该有条毯子。 鲁弗斯的故事“我们离开格里姆伍德的时候，南茜，你还只是一只幼崽。 是的，没错——妈妈和爸爸都来自格里姆伍德！当我看到泰德的明信片时，我高兴极了。 你在不知不觉中找到了回家的路。 你们俩真聪明。

Anyway. You were a tiny cub. But I was a fair bit older and had already been out exploring on my own. Back then, there were loads more humans riding horses around here. They'd gallop around the place with their angry dogs, trying to catch us foxes. Nasty business. One day I almost got caught. See this ear? The missing chunk? That was down to them. Anyway, that really freaked Mum and Dad out. They felt Grimwood was getting too dangerous. Someone told 'em that quite a lot of foxes were having more luck in the Big City. Well, Dad wasn't keen, but Mum was always a bit of a traveller, you know? That's where I got it from, I suppose. Wanderlust, do you know that word? It's for people who don't like staying in one place for too long. So off we went, the four of us– Mum, Dad, and me and you, Nancy. And almost as soon as we arrived, you were born, Ted. Mum and Dad were pretty busy with you two. But it was OK. I loved roaming around the Big City. I spent most of my time out and about. Maybe that's why you don't remember me so well, Nance. I was young, and just wanted to hang out with my friends. I made a bunch of pals, actually. We'd raid bins and get into scrapes. My best mate Marco was in a band. He gave me a tin whistle. Sometimes we'd play music all night long. The

无论如何。你那时还很小。 但我年纪大了一点，已经开始自己探索了。 那时候，这里骑马的人要多得多。 他们带着愤怒的狗在这里跑来跑去，想抓住我们这些狐狸。 讨厌的业务。有一天我差点被抓住。 看到这只耳朵了吗？缺失的那一大块？ 这取决于他们。不管怎样，这真的把爸妈吓坏了。 他们觉得格里姆伍德变得太危险了。 有人告诉他们，在大城市里，很多狐狸运气都比较好。 嗯，爸爸不太喜欢，但妈妈总是喜欢旅行，你知道吗？ 我想这就是我的由来吧。 你知道这个词吗？ 这是为那些不喜欢在一个地方呆太久的人准备的。 于是我们就出发了，我们四个人——妈妈，爸爸，还有我和你，南希。 我们刚到，你就出生了，泰德。 爸妈忙着照顾你们俩呢。 但还好。我喜欢在大城市里闲逛。 我大部分时间都在外面活动。 也许这就是你不太记得我的原因，南希。 我当时还年轻，只想和朋友们出去玩。 其实我交了很多朋友。 我们会洗劫垃圾箱，陷入窘境。 我最好的朋友马可是乐队成员。 他给了我一个铁皮口哨。有时我们会整晚放音乐。 的

neighbourhood cats and dogs would join in with a bit of yowling. It was great fun. Anyway, one night we were chewin' on some chicken bones and Marco says, "Oi, Roofy. Do you wanna travel the world?" And I say, "You what, pal?" And he says, "There's a boat leaving the dock first thing tomorrow. It's going to be full of musicians and artists and circus folk and all sorts. We could travel the world with our band!" Well, it sounded like the most exciting thing ever. Mum used to tell me about her days travelling around, playing in a band when she was younger. Yeah, she really did, Ted! But then she met Dad and that all stopped. I told Marco I'd think about it. He said I needed to be at the dock by sunrise. So I walked back to our den. All four of you were snuggled up together. You looked so warm and cosy. I sat and watched you sleep for the rest of the night. Then I wrote a note explaining everything to Mum and Dad. Said I'd be back soon, but that I wanted a little adventure.

邻居的猫和狗也会加入进来，发出一点哀嚎。 非常有趣。总之，有天晚上我们在吃鸡骨头，马可说，喂，迷奸药。 你想环游世界吗？”我说：“你说什么，伙计？”他说，明天第一件事就是有艘船离开码头。 那里会有很多音乐家、艺术家、马戏团的人，还有各种各样的人。 我们可以和我们的乐队一起环游世界！”听起来是最激动人心的事了。 妈妈曾经给我讲过她年轻时在一个乐队里四处旅行的日子。 是啊，她真的这么做了，泰德！但后来她遇到了爸爸，一切都停止了。 我告诉马可我会考虑的。 他说我得在日出前赶到码头。 于是我走回了我们的书房。 你们四个都依偎在一起。 你看起来那么温暖舒适。 我坐着看着你睡了一整晚。 然后我写了一张纸条，向爸爸妈妈解释了这一切。 他说我很快就回来，但我想来点冒险。

The next morning, I get to the dock. I see Marco and his pals heading onto this massive orange boat. I'll never forget, there was this seagull watching us all. It was wearing a captain's hat and swigging from a bright red bottle of fizzy pop. "Fools!" it kept shouting. "Fools, the lot of you!" Well, that made me a bit nervous. Maybe I was being foolish? Maybe I was too young for all this adventure? Then something totally bananas happened. The seagull in the hat swooped down and landed on my head. It started pecking at my ears and saying, "Mmm, cheesy earwax!" I got freaked out. I could hear people laughing at me cos I was spinning around trying to shake it off my head. Eventually I got it off, which was lucky cos by then the engine was roaring and the boat was slowly moving away from the dock. I jumped on deck as we sailed away. Phew! I was mega relieved and excited about the trip. I started to look for Marco and his mates, but I couldn't see them anywhere. In fact, after a while I realized I couldn't see anyone anywhere. The boat was deserted. There were just loads of crates stacked all over the place.

第二天早上，我到了被告席。 我看到马可和他的伙伴们正驶向这艘巨大的橙色船。 我永远不会忘记，有一只海鸥注视着我们大家。 它戴着一顶船长帽，大口地喝着一瓶鲜红的汽水。 “傻瓜！” “你们都是傻瓜！”这让我有点紧张。 也许是我犯傻了？ 也许我太年轻了，不适合这些冒险？ 然后发生了一件疯狂的事情。 那只戴帽子的海鸥俯冲下来，落在我的头上。 它开始啄我的耳朵，说：“嗯，奶酪耳垢！”我吓坏了。 我能听到人们在嘲笑我，因为我在转圈想把它从头上摇下来。 最后我把它弄了下来，这很幸运，因为那时引擎在轰鸣，船慢慢地离开了码头。 我们驶离时，我跳上甲板。 唷!我对这次旅行感到非常放松和兴奋。 我开始寻找马可和他的同伴，但我到处都找不到他们。 事实上，过了一会儿，我意识到我在任何地方都看不到任何人。 船被遗弃了。到处都是成堆的箱子。

I felt a little flutter of worry in my tummy. Something wasn't right. After sniffing around for a bit, I found a crate filled with hay and a load of bananas. By that time, I was hungry and tired, so I crawled in for a snack and a snooze. And when I woke up, I was looking at a penguin. "Argh!" I said. "Hi!" said the penguin, with a wave. "Who are you?" I asked. The penguin looked at one of its flippers, which had a tiny orange tag attached to it. "I'm 354," it said. "You're much smaller and hairier than the other scientists, if you don't mind me saying so."

我感到肚子里有点担心。 有些地方不对劲。嗅了一会儿后，我发现了一个装满干草和香蕉的板条箱。 那个时候，我又饿又累，所以我爬进去吃了点零食，打了个盹。 当我醒来的时候，我看到了一只企鹅。 “啊!”我说。“嗨！”企鹅说，挥了挥手。 “你是谁？”我问。企鹅看了看它的一个鳍状肢，上面有一个小小的橙色标签。 “我是354岁，”它说。“如果你不介意我这么说，你比其他科学家要小得多，毛发也多得多。”