Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO Joe and the Magic Snowman Moon-Face was most upset to see Joe disappear. "I told him not to- I told him!" he groaned. "You didn't," sobbed Frannie. "Your mouth was full of toffee and all you could say was "Oooble-ooble-ooble!" And how could we know what that meant?" "Where's Joe now?" asked Beth, quite pale with shock. Yes, indeed- where was Joe? Someone had lifted him right off the ladder, up into the Land of Ice and Snow! And there, strangely enough, the moon and the sun were in the sky at the same time, one at one side and the other opposite, both shining with a pale light.

第二章 乔与魔法雪人 圆脸看见乔消失了，心里别提多着急了。 “我早就叫他别—— 我早就说过的！” 他唉声叹气地说。 “你才没有呢，”弗兰妮抽抽搭搭地说。 “你嘴里塞满了太妃糖，说出来的全是‘呜啵噜-呜啵噜-呜啵噜’！ 我们哪知道那是什么意思呀？” “乔现在在哪儿呀？”贝丝问，吓得脸色都发白了。 是呀，说真的——乔到底在哪儿呢？ 有人把他从梯子上一把拎了起来，往上带进了冰雪之地！ 说也奇怪，那儿的天空里同时挂着月亮和太阳，一个在这边，一个在对面，都洒着淡淡的光。

Joe shivered, for it was very cold. He looked up to see what had lifted him off the ladder, and he saw in front of him a big strange creature- a Snowman! He was just like the snowmen Joe had so often made in the wintertime- round and fat and white, with an old hat stuck on his head and a carrot for a nose.

乔打了个哆嗦，因为这儿实在太冷了。 他抬头想看看是什么把他从梯子上拎了起来，就看见面前站着个高大又奇怪的家伙——一个雪人！ 他和乔冬天经常堆的那些雪人一模一样：圆滚滚、胖乎乎、浑身雪白，头上扣着顶旧帽子，鼻子是根胡萝卜。

"This is luck!" said the Snowman, in a soft, snowy sort of voice. "I've been standing by that hole for days, waiting for a seal to come up- and you came!" "Oh," said Joe, remembering that seals came up to breathe through holes in the ice. "That wasn't a waterhole —that was the hole that led down the Faraway Tree. I want to go back, please." "The hole has closed up," said the Snowman. Joe looked- and to his great dismay he saw that a thick layer of ice had formed over the hole- so thick that he knew perfectly well he could never break through it.

“运气真好啊！”雪人开口了，声音软乎乎的，带着雪的质感。 “我在那个洞边上站了好几天，就等海豹钻上来——结果你上来了！” “哦，”乔这才想起，海豹会从冰面上的洞钻上来呼吸。 “那不是冰洞——那是通往远树下方的洞啊。 求求你，我想回去。” “洞已经封上啦。”雪人说。 乔一看——吓得心都沉了，只见洞面上结了厚厚的一层冰，厚得他清清楚楚知道自己绝对砸不开。

"Whatever shall I do now?" he said. "Just what I tell you," said the Snowman, with a grin. "This is splendid! In this dull and silent land there is nothing but polar bears and seals and penguins. I have often wanted someone to talk to."

“那我现在该怎么办呀？”他说。 “照我说的做就行。”雪人咧嘴笑了笑说。 “太棒了！ 这个地方又无聊又安静，除了北极熊、海豹和企鹅，什么都没有。 我一直想找个能说说话的人呢。