03 The Inside of the World
03世界的內部
When I was a very little boy I was very inquisitive. At least that's what my nurse called me.One day when I was walking with her along the city pavements, I asked:“Jane, what's under the pavement?” “Oh, just dirt,” she replied. “And what is under the dirt?” “Oh, more dirt,” she replied. “Well, what' sunder that?” I asked. I wasn't satisfied. “Oh, nothing-I don't know—why are you always so inquisitive?” she asked.
小時候就是個非常好奇的孩子，至少我的保姆是這樣說的。一天她帶我一起走在城市的人行道上，我問她：“簡，人行道下面是什么？”“哦，就是泥土。”她回答說。“那泥土下面呢？”“哦，更多的泥土。”她回答說。“嗯，那再下面是什么呢？”我不滿意這個回答，又問她。 “哦，什么都沒有—我不知道—你為什么總是這么好奇呢？”她問我。
I knew there must be something underneath that, and I just wanted to know what it was—I was just inquisitive. I had heard that the place bad boys went when they died was down under the ground somewhere—a big cave, perhaps—and I wanted to know if that were so. And then I had heard that all the way through on the other side of the World Chinamen lived, head down, and walked upside down like flies on the ceiling. I wanted to find out if that were so too. So I made up my mind I'd dig down through the World; down, down, down, till I came through on the other side, and then I'd know. I was a very little boy, you see. With a tin shovel I started a hole in the back yard behind the grapevines, where no one would know what I was doing. I wanted to keep it a secret until I had dug all the way through. Day after day I worked, digging up first soft ground—that was easy—then I got down to solid ground; that was hard. I had a hole which I could stand in up to my waist.
我想那下面一定有東西，我就是想知道那到底是什么東西—我很好奇。我曾聽說壞孩子死了之后會到地下的一個什么地方—也許是個大洞—我想知道是不是那樣。我還聽說繞著地球直到走到另一面是中國人住的地方，人們都是頭朝下，倒過來走路的，就像蒼蠅趴在天花板上一。我想看看到底是不是那樣。于是我下定決心要自己挖通世界；向下一直挖，一直挖，一直挖到世界的另一面，那時我就知道了。要知道我當時很小，我開始用一把鐵鍬在后院葡萄藤后面挖了個洞，沒人知道我在那兒干什么。我想在我徹底挖通之前保守秘密。我一天又一天地干著，先挖到軟軟的土層—那很容易，然后我挖到了堅硬的土，很難挖。我挖出了一個齊腰深的坑。
Then one evening my father asked, “What's that hole in the back yard?” My secret was out.
后來有天晚上，爸爸問我：“后院里那個坑是怎么回事？”我的秘密被發現了。
He didn't laugh when I told him— at least out loud—but he asked me if I knew how far I'd have to dig.
當我告訴他的時候他并沒有笑我—至少沒有大聲笑出來—但他問我知不知道我得挖多深才能挖得通。
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