評論
打印
It took an hour to stop him crying and then, very tired and cross, they took him home. Martha, Baby's nursemaid, was waiting at the front door. She took Baby from them quickly:
花了一個小時才哄他不哭了。他們又累又氣，把他帶回家。小弟弟的保姆馬莎正在前門等候。她很快地把孩子接過去。
‘Where are the others? 'she asked. 'And who are you?'
“別的孩子們在哪兒呢？”她問，“你們是誰？”
'We're us, of course,' Robert said. ‘You don't know us be-cause we're beautiful.'
“我們就是我們，當然了。”羅伯特說，“你不認識我們是因為我們漂亮了。”
'And we're very hungry,’ said Cyril, ‘and we want our lunch, please.'
“我們還非常餓，”西里爾說，“我們想要午飯，求求了。”
'Go away!' Martha screamed. 'Or I'll send for the police,' and she closed the door in their faces.
“走開！”馬莎叫道，“不然我要叫警察了。”她當著他們的面關上了門。
The children were very hungry by then, and they tried three times to get into the house—but Martha would not let them in. After a while they went and sat at the bottom of the garden to wait for the sun to go down. 'The wish will finish then, won't it?’ Jane said.
那時孩子們已經非常餓了，他們三次試圖進門——但是馬莎每次都不讓他們進去。過了一會兒，他們去坐在花園盡頭，等太陽落下去。“到那會兒愿望就結束了，不是嗎？”簡說。
But the others didn't answer because no one was really sure.
其他人沒有回答，因為誰也不敢肯定。
It was a terrible afternoon. They had no lunch, no tea, and they were tired, angry and afraid. It's true that they were all very beautiful, but that's not a lot of help when you're unhappy. In the end they fell asleep.
那個下午可真糟。他們沒有午飯，沒有茶點，還又累又氣又害怕。他們確實都很漂亮，可人不高興時漂亮也幫不了多大忙。最后他們睡著了。
It was nearly dark when they woke up. Anthea was the first to wake up and she looked at the others. They were no longer very beautiful. Everything was all right again. Happily, they all went back to the house. Of course, Martha was angry.
他們醒來時天都快黑了。安西婭第一個醒來，她看看其他孩子。他們不再很漂亮了。一切都恢復原樣了。他們都高高興興地回屋了。當然，馬莎很生氣。
‘Where have you been all day?’ she cried.
“你們一整天到哪里去了？”她喊道。
It is not easy to explain a Psammead to an angry nursemaid, so the children didn't try.
對一個發怒的保姆解釋清楚賽米德是什么可不是件容易的事，所以孩子們沒試著解釋。
'We met some beautiful children and we couldn't get away from them until it was nearly dark,' Anthea said. ‘They were terrible, and we never want to see them again.'
“我們遇到了些漂亮孩子，直到天快黑才脫身。”安西婭說，“他們太可怕了，我們不想再見到他們。”
And they never have.
他們實際上從來也沒見過那幾個孩子。
