Chapter 3-1

CHAPTER ONE In which Courier becomes an inventor "Where's Courier?" Bennett asked Florizella, as they were walking towards the stables. "I don't know," Florizella said. "Growing somewhere, I suppose. He's always growing, that boy. Probably deciding what the main thing is. He likes to decide things." "I'm here!" came a squawk from one of the stables and the two royals looked over the stable door.

第一章 库里尔成了发明家 “库里尔在哪儿？” 贝内特一边问弗洛里泽拉，一边朝马厩走去。 “我不知道。”弗洛里泽拉说。 “我猜啊，他在哪个地方琢磨新玩意儿呢。 那男孩总在捣鼓新东西。 说不定这会儿正在琢磨最重要的事该是什么呢。 他就喜欢拿主意。” “我在这儿呢！”一间马厩里传来一声嚷嚷，两个皇室成员朝马厩门那头望去。

There was a strange contraption in the stable, a bit like a bicycle but with four wheels. A bit like a narrow cart but with no room to load any goods, just a high seat on a box. Courier was working underneath it so they could only see his sticking- out feet. "What's that?" Bennett asked. Courier emerged, smiling. "It's a car," he said surprisingly. "I've invented a car." They were stunned. "What's a car?" Bennett asked. "Why?" Florizella demanded. Courier came out from under the car and leaned on the stable door. "Good questions," he said. "As it happens, I'm a bit of an expert. A car is a way of travelling much faster than a horse. And you can go wherever you want." "You can't go exactly wherever you want," Florizella pointed out. "You have to go where the roads go. Unlike horses. Horses really can go anywhere." "Yes, we'll have to build more roads," Courier agreed. "Thousands of them. Millions. Everyone

马厩里摆着个奇怪的新装置，有点像自行车，可是有四个轮子。 又有点像窄窄的小推车，可是没地方装货物，只有一个高高的座椅安在箱子上。 库里尔在它底下忙活，所以他俩只能看见他露在外面的脚。 “那是什么呀？” 贝内特问。 库里尔钻了出来，脸上笑眯眯的。 “这是汽车呀。”他的话出人意料。 “我发明了一辆汽车。” 他俩都惊呆了。 “汽车是什么呀？” 贝内特问。 “造这个干嘛呀？”弗洛里泽拉追问道。 库里尔从车底下爬出来，靠在马厩门上。 “问得好，”他说， “刚好啊，我在这方面可算是个小专家啦。 汽车是一种比马快得多的出行工具哦。 你想去哪儿就能开去哪儿。” “也不能说完全想去哪儿就去哪儿呀。”弗洛里泽拉指出。 “你得沿着路走才行呀。 马就不一样了。 马可真的是哪儿都能去。” “对呀，所以我们得修更多的路，”库里尔赞同道， “要修几千条。 几百万条呢。 每个人

has to have a road to their garage." "What's a garage?" Bennett asked, while Florizella said nothing, thinking about millions of roads all around the Seven Kingdoms. "A house for a car," Courier explained. "We'll have to build millions—" "Hang on a minute," Florizella interrupted him. "You've invented a way of carrying people around– which is great– but each car has to have its own road and its own garage? Isn't this a bit… inconvenient?" "You can get them in all different colours," Courier said, as if that made all the difference. "We'll sell new ones every year. And they will all have different names." "Why?" Bennett asked. "Do they answer to their names?" "No," Courier said. "It's just to make sure that people keep buying the new ones and dumping the old ones." "Dumping them?" Bennett asked. "Yes, we'll have to build massive car dumps too."

家的车库门口都得有路通着才行。” “车库是什么呀？” 贝内特问道，弗洛里泽拉则没说话，满脑子都是七大王国到处铺满几百万条路的样子。 “就是放汽车的房子呀。”库里尔解释道。 “我们得建几百万个——” “等一下，”弗洛里泽拉打断了他， “你发明了一种载人出行的工具——这本来很棒——可是每辆车都得有专属的路和专属的车库？ 这会不会有点……太麻烦啦？” “汽车可以做成各种各样的颜色哦。”库里尔说，好像这就能解决所有问题似的。 “我们每年都会卖新款的车。 而且每款车都会有不一样的名字。” “为什么呀？”贝内特问。 “它们听到名字会答应吗？” “不会呀，”库里尔说， “这只是为了让大家一直买新车，把旧车丢掉呀。” “丢掉？” 贝内特问。 “对呀，我们还得建超大的汽车垃圾场呢。”

"But where is everyone going to go in their thousands of cars?" Florizella asked. Courier thought for a moment. "They'll have to drive to work," he said. "They're going to need to work a lot more to earn more money to buy all these new cars." "And what does the car do, while they're at work?" "It waits for them. In a car park. That reminds me– we're going to need thousands of car parks too." "So, the car drives from the garage to the car park, waits and comes home again?" Bennett double-checked. "Yes," Courier said firmly, but he wasn't feeling so certain now. "Of course, if everyone is going to the same place, we could perhaps connect one car after another and they could all go together. That would probably be better." "Then it would be a train," Florizella pointed out. "But this is the future!" Courier exclaimed. "Look! I'll show you." He opened up the stable

“可是大家开着成千上万辆车，都要去哪儿呀？” 弗洛里泽拉问。 库里尔想了一会儿。 “他们得开车去上班呀，”他说， “他们得多工作好多，赚更多钱才能买得起这些新车呀。” “那他们上班的时候，汽车要做什么呢？” “它就等着主人呀。 停在停车场里。 说到这个——我们还得建几千个停车场呢。” “所以，汽车从车库开到停车场，等着，然后再开回家？” 贝内特又确认了一遍。 “对呀。”库里尔说得很笃定，但他现在心里已经没那么确定了。 “当然啦，如果大家都去同一个地方，我们说不定可以把一辆辆车连起来，大家就能一起走了。 那样说不定会更好。” “那这不就是火车了嘛。”弗洛里泽拉指出。 “可这是未来呀！” 库里尔大声说。 “你看！ 我演示给你们看。” 他打开马厩

door and wheeled out his device: the car. He opened the bonnet and tightened some screws then he got on to the box, and started the engine. There was a mighty roar and a cloud of smoke billowed out of the back of the engine. "What's that?" Bennett asked, waving away the stinking cloud. "Exhaust fumes," Courier choked. "It's a bit of a problem, I know. But if there's a good breeze it will just blow the dirty air into the next-door kingdom." "That's my kingdom," Bennett said mildly. "So, I don't think that's a good idea." "The engine is the best bit!" Courier said. "Worth a bit of smoke. Climb on."

门，把他的新装置：汽车，推了出来。 他掀开引擎盖，拧紧了几个螺丝，然后坐到那个箱子上，发动了引擎。 随即传来巨大的轰鸣声，一团烟雾从引擎后面滚滚冒了出来。 “那是什么呀？” 贝内特一边问，一边挥开那股臭烘烘的烟雾。 “是废气呀。”库里尔呛得咳嗽起来。 “我知道这有点小问题。 不过要是风够大的话，脏空气就会被吹到隔壁王国去啦。” “隔壁就是我的王国呀。”贝内特温和地说。 “所以我觉得这可不是个好主意哦。” “引擎可是最棒的部分呀！” 库里尔说。 “有点烟也值啦。 快上来吧。”

The two older children climbed on Courier's brilliant invention and drove slowly out of the royal palace and down the hill. It was market day in the town and all the stalls were laid out in the town square, with people walking around and talking and buying. The horse-drawn wagons were going slowly round the square so Courier had to queue up behind them. "How fast does it go?" Bennett asked. "Incredibly fast," Courier said happily. "How fast are we going now?" "About two miles an hour," Courier admitted. "That's the trouble. There are too many people. I won't allow anyone on the new roads: just cars." "The cars get roads all to themselves?" Florizella asked. "Where do the people and horses go?" "They'll probably have to stay at home," Courier said thoughtfully. "They won't want to be on the noisy, dirty roads with cars speeding by really fast. Hang on a minute, I have to refuel." He pulled over to the side of the road and took out a chest of treasure from under one of the seats.

两个年纪稍大的孩子爬上库里尔那了不起的新发明，慢悠悠地驶出王宫，往山下去了。 这天是镇上的赶集日，市集广场上摆满了小摊，人们四处走着，聊着天，采买东西。 拉货的马车正慢悠悠地绕着广场走，库里尔只好排在它们后面等。 “它能跑多快呀？” 贝内特问。 “快得超乎想象！”库里尔美滋滋地答道。 “那我们现在跑多快呀？” “大概一小时两英里吧。”库里尔不好意思地承认。 “问题就出在这儿。 人太多了。 以后新修的公路不许其他人走，只许汽车通行。” “公路全给汽车用吗？” 弗洛里泽拉问。 “那行人和马要去哪里呀？” “他们大概率得待在家里吧。”库里尔想了想说道。 “路上吵哄哄的，又脏，还有汽车飞快地窜来窜去，他们肯定不想走这样的路。 等一下哈，我得加个油。” 他把车停到路边，从座椅下面搬出了一箱子财宝。