Chapter 1

JOE and the MAGIC SNOWMAN

乔与魔法雪人

CHAPTER ONE Beth Makes Some Toffee for Moon-Face The children had talked about nothing else but the Faraway Tree and its strange folk for days. Beth had promised to take toffee to Moon-Face. "Promises must never be broken," she said. "I will make some toffee if Mother will let me have the sugar, syrup and milk. Then when it's done you can take it to Moon-Face, Joe?" Mother said they could make toffee on Wednesday, after she had been to the shops. So on Wednesday Beth set to work making the best, sweetest, chewiest toffee she could. She set it in a pan on the stove. It cooked beautifully. When it had cooled and was set

第一章 贝丝给月亮脸做太妃糖 好几天来，孩子们满脑子想的都是那棵远方之树，还有树上住着的奇怪居民。 贝丝之前答应过要带太妃糖给月亮脸。 “答应过的事可不能反悔，”她说。 “要是妈妈愿意给我糖、糖浆和牛奶，我就做些太妃糖。 等做好了，乔，你可以把它带给月亮脸，好不好？” 妈妈说周三她去完商店回来，他们就可以做太妃糖。 于是到了周三，贝丝就动手做起了太妃糖，要做就做最好的，要够甜，嚼起来够有韧劲。 她把原料放进锅子里，架在炉子上熬。 糖熬得非常顺利。 等它冷却凝固好

nice and hard, Beth broke it up into small pieces. She put them into a paper bag, gave one piece each to the others, and popped one into her own mouth. "I'll have to go at night, I think," said Joe. "I shan't get any time off this week, I know. We're so busy with the garden now."

变得又硬又实之后，贝丝把它敲成了小块。 她把糖块放进纸袋里，给其他人各塞了一块，自己也丢了一块进嘴里。 “我觉得我得晚上去才行，”乔说。 “我这星期一点空都没有，真的。 我们现在忙着打理花园呢。”

So that night, when the moon was shining brightly in the sky overhead, Joe slipped out of bed. Beth and Frannie woke up and heard him. They hadn't meant to go with him, but when they saw the moonlight shining everywhere and thought of that exciting Faraway Tree, they felt that they simply couldn't stay behind! Wouldn't you have felt that too?

于是当天晚上，当明晃晃的月亮高挂在头顶的天空时，乔悄悄溜下了床。 贝丝和弗兰妮醒了，听见了他的动静。 她们本来没打算跟他一起去，可一看见满地的月光，又想起那座刺激好玩的远方之树，她们实在没办法乖乖待在家里！ 换作是你，你是不是也会这么想呀？

They dressed quickly and whispered through Joe's door. "We're coming too, Joe. Wait for us!" Joe waited. Then they all three slipped down the creaky stairs and out into the moonlit garden. The shadows were very black indeed, just like ink. There was no colour anywhere, only just the pale, cold moonlight.

他们飞快地穿好衣服，凑到乔的房门边小声说。 “我们也跟你一起去，乔。 等等我们！” 乔等着她们。 接着三个孩子蹑手蹑脚地走下吱呀作响的楼梯，出门来到了洒满月光的花园里。 影子黑沉沉的，就像墨汁染出来的一样。 四周一点别的颜色都没有，只有淡淡的、冷冷的月光。

They were soon in the Enchanted Wood. But, dear me, it was quite, quite different now! It was simply alive with people and animals! In the very dark parts of the wood little lanterns were hung in rows. In the moonlit parts there were no lanterns, and a great deal of chattering was going on.

他们很快就走到了魔法森林里。 可是天呀，现在的森林跟平时完全不一样了！ 林子里到处都是人和动物，热闹极了！ 森林里最暗的那些地方，一排排挂着小灯笼。 月光能照到的地方就没挂灯笼，到处都是叽叽喳喳的说话声。