4 What happened to Jack

CHAPTER FOUR What happened to Jack JACK WAS as good as his word. He went up to bed at his usual time, after saying a polite good night to Miss Ely, but he didn't get undressed. He put on his coat and cap instead! He wondered whether he dared go downstairs and out of the garden door yet. 'Perhaps I'd better wait and see if Miss Ely goes to bed early,' he thought. 'She sometimes goes up to read in bed. I don't want to be caught. She'd only go and tell tales when Mother comes home.' So he took a book and sat down. Miss Ely waited for the nine o'clock news on the radio and then she locked up the house and came upstairs. Jack heard her shut the door of her

第四章杰克的遭遇杰克说到做到。 他礼貌地对伊莱小姐道了声晚安，按平常的时间上床睡觉了，但他没有脱衣服。 他反而穿上外套，戴上帽子！他不知道自己是否还敢下楼走出花园的门。 “也许我最好等一等，看看伊利小姐是否早睡，”他想。 她有时会上楼躺在床上看书。 我可不想被抓。 等妈妈回来了，她才会去讲故事。”于是他拿了一本书，坐了下来。 伊莱小姐等着收音机九点的新闻，然后锁上房门上了楼。 杰克听见她把门关上了

room. Good! Now he could go. He slipped his torch into his pocket, because it really was a very dark night. The moon was not yet up. He crept downstairs quietly and went to the garden door. He undid it gently. The bolt gave a little squeak but that was all. He stepped into the garden. His feet sank quietly into the snow. He made his way to the lane and went down it to the field, flashing his little torch as he went. The snow glimmered up, and there was a dim whitish light all round from it. He soon came to the field where they had built the snowmen, and he climbed over the gate. The snowmen stood silently in a group together, almost as if they were watching and waiting for him. Jack didn't altogether like it. He thought one moved, and he drew his breath in sharply. But, of course, it hadn't. It was just his imagination.

房间。好!现在他可以走了。 他把手电筒塞进口袋里，因为那天晚上真的很黑。 月亮还没有升起。他蹑手蹑脚地走下楼，走到花园门口。 他轻轻地把它解开。门闩发出一点吱吱声，但仅此而已。 他走进花园。 他的脚悄悄地陷进雪地里。 他向小路走去，沿着小路走到地里，边走边点着他的小火把。 雪闪闪发光，四周闪着暗淡的白光。 他很快来到了他们堆雪人的地方，他爬过了大门。 雪人们静静地站在一起，好像在看着他，等着他。 杰克并不完全喜欢它。 他觉得有一个人在动，于是猛地吸了一口气。 但是，当然，它没有。 这只是他的想象。

'Don't be silly,' he told himself, sternly. 'You know they're only made of snow! Be sensible and look for your dropped button!' He switched on his torch and the snowmen gleamed whiter than ever. The one with eyes and nose and mouth, with the cap and the coat on, seemed to look at him gravely as he hunted here and there. Jack turned his back on him. 'You may only have stone eyes, but you seem to be able to look with them, all the same,' he said to the silent snowman. 'Now don't go tapping me on the shoulder and make me jump!' Then he suddenly gave an exclamation. He had found his badge! There lay the button in the snow, with S.S. embroidered on it, for Secret Seven. Hurrah! He must have dropped it here after all then. He picked it up. It was wet with snow. He pinned it carefully on his coat. That really was a bit of luck to find it so easily. Now he could

“别傻了，”他严厉地对自己说。 “你知道它们只是雪做的！”放聪明点，找找你掉在地上的纽扣！”他打开手电筒，雪人比以前更白了。 那个长着眼睛、鼻子和嘴巴、戴着帽子、穿着大衣的人，似乎在他到处打猎的时候，严肃地看着他。 杰克背对着他。 “你也许只有一双石头眼睛，但你似乎还是能用它们看东西。”他对沉默的雪人说。 “别拍我的肩膀让我跳起来！”然后他突然叫了一声。 他找到了他的徽章！钮扣躺在雪地里，s。s 绣在上面，为秘密七。 好哇!他一定是把它掉在这里了。 他把它捡起来。天被雪弄湿了。 他小心地把它别在外套上。 这么容易就找到它真是有点幸运。 现在他可以了

go home and get into bed. He was cold and sleepy. His torch suddenly flickered, and then went out. 'Bother!' said Jack. 'The battery's gone. It could have lasted till I got home, really it could! Well, it's a good thing I know my way.' He suddenly heard a noise down the lane, and saw the headlights of a car. It was coming very slowly. Jack was surprised. The lane led nowhere at all. Was the car lost? He'd better go and put the driver on the right road, if so. People often got lost when the roads were snowbound. He went to the gate. The car came slowly by and then Jack saw that it was towing something– something rather big. What could it possibly be? The boy strained his eyes to see. It wasn't big enough for a removal van, and yet it looked rather like the shape of one. It wasn't a caravan either, because there were no wide

回家睡觉吧。他又冷又困。 他的手电筒突然闪烁，然后熄灭了。 “麻烦!”杰克说。“电池没电了。 它可以一直持续到我回家，真的可以！好吧，幸好我认得路。”他突然听到小巷那边有声音，然后看到一辆汽车的前灯。 它来的很慢。 杰克很吃惊。这条小巷根本没有通向任何地方。 车丢了吗？如果是这样的话，他最好去把司机引到正确的道路上。 道路被雪封住时，人们常常迷路。 他走到大门口。汽车慢慢地开了过来，然后杰克看到它拖着什么东西——相当大的东西。 会是什么呢？ 男孩睁大眼睛看。 它不够大，装不下一辆搬家车，但它的形状却很像。 那也不是大篷车，因为没有宽

windows at the side. Were there any windows at all? Jack couldn't see any. Well, whatever was this curious van? And where was it going? The driver simply must have made a mistake! The boy began to climb over the gate. Then he suddenly sat still. The car's headlights had gone out. The car itself had stopped, and so had the thing it was towing. Jack could make out the dark shapes of the car and the van behind, standing quite still. What was it all about? Somebody spoke to somebody else in a low voice. Jack could see that one or two men had got out of the car, but he could not hear their footsteps because of the snow. How he wished the moon was up, then he could hide behind the hedge and see what was happening! He heard a man's voice speaking more loudly. 'Nobody about, is there?' 'Only that deaf fellow,' said another voice.

窗户在旁边。有窗户吗？ 杰克什么也看不见。那这辆奇怪的货车是什么？ 它去了哪里？司机一定是搞错了！男孩开始爬过大门。 然后他突然坐了下来。 汽车的前灯熄灭了。 汽车本身停了下来，它拖着的东西也停了下来。 杰克可以辨认出那辆汽车和后面那辆货车的黑影，它们一动不动地站着。 到底是怎么回事？有人低声对另一个人说话。 杰克看见有一两个人从车里出来了，但因为下雪，他听不到他们的脚步声。 他多么希望月亮升起来，这样他就可以躲在树篱后面，看看发生了什么事！他听到一个男人说话的声音更大了。 “附近没有人，是吗？”“只有那个聋子，”另一个声音说。

'Have a look, will you?' said the first voice. 'Just in case.' Jack slipped quickly down from the gate, as he saw a powerful torch flash out. He crouched behind the snowy hedge, scraping snow over himself. There came the soft crunch of footsteps walking over frosty snow by the hedge. The flashlight shone over the gate and the man gave an exclamation. 'Who's there? Who are you?' Jack's heart beat so hard against him that it hurt. He was just about to get up and show himself, and say who he was, when the man at the gate began to laugh. 'My word– look here, Nibs– a whole lot of snowmen standing out here! I thought they were alive at first, watching for us! I got a scare all right.' Another man came softly to the first and he laughed too. 'Kids' work, I suppose,' he said. 'Yes, they look real all right, in this light.

“看一看，好吗？”第一个声音说。 “以防万一。”当杰克看到一个强大的火炬闪烁时，他迅速从大门滑了下来。 他蹲在白雪皑皑的树篱后面，刮着身上的雪。 树篱旁的结霜的雪地上传来轻轻的嘎吱声。 手电筒照在大门上，那人叫了一声。 “谁在那?你是谁？”杰克的心怦怦直跳，痛得要命。 他正要站起来，说出自己是谁，这时门口的人开始大笑起来。 “我的天——看这儿，尼布斯——一大堆雪人站在外面！”一开始我以为他们还活着，在等着我们！我确实吓坏了。”另一个人轻轻地走过来，他也笑了。 “我想，孩子们的工作，”他说。 “是的，在这种光线下，它们看起来是真的。