One of the first places Julia always ran to when they arrived at their vacation house in Galway was the tunnel. It was a dark, moist tunnel made of smooth branches. She always enjoyed running through the darkness of the tunnel towards the light at the end of it. It felt like a trip through a haunted house at a fun fair to her.
每次茱莉婭和家人一起來到位于戈爾韋的度假屋時，第一個要去的地方肯定是隧道。那條隧道由光滑的枝條結枝而成，陰暗潮濕。她總是非常享受穿過漆黑的隧道抵達另一頭重獲光明的過程。對于她，這就像在游樂場鬼屋里的冒險經歷。
This year she had the extra joy of showing it to her small brother, Stephen, and of terrifying him as well as herself. And for him, the fear lasted longer because his legs were so short that he was still screaming and racing while she had gone out for a long time already.
這一年，她又增添了一個新的樂趣，那便是帶著弟弟史蒂芬去見識下隧道，順便嚇一嚇他和自己。對于弟弟，這種冒險帶來的恐懼感持續時間會更長，因為他腿太短，以至于姐姐已經跑出隧道很長時間，他還在隧道里尖叫著奔跑。
When they had run many times, they went back to their vacation house and told everybody what they had done. He boasted. She mocked. They squabbled. “Cry baby!” “You were afraid yourself!” “You’re a big pig.” Tears were threatening so dad said; “Did you see the well in the tunnel?” She was twelve and at that age little girls are beginning to suspect most stories told by adults: they had found out too many, from Santa Claus to the Stork.
他們就這樣反復跑了很多次隧道之后回到了度假屋，然后將在隧道冒險的事情告訴了每一個人。弟弟自吹自擂，姐姐嘲笑弟弟明明膽小還自夸。姐弟倆爭吵起來了。“你個愛哭鬼！”“你自己也害怕！”“你個大蠢豬！”眼看著兩個孩子就要哭成一片了，他們的爸爸“出手”了，“你們看到隧道里的那口井了嗎？”茱莉婭已經12歲了，這個年齡的小女孩已經開始懷疑成年人講給她們的大部分故事了——從圣誕老人到鸛的故事，她們已經發現自己被大人們騙了很多次。
How could there be a well! In the tunnel? Haughtily she said, “Nonsense.” But she went back, pretending to be going somewhere else of course, and found a hole scooped on one side of the tunnel, shrouded by ferns that she only uncovered it after much searching. Inside there was water, in which she suddenly perceived a panting trout.
那里怎么可能有一口井？隧道里怎么會有井？茱莉亞傲慢地說：“胡說。”但，她還是回到了隧道想去看個究竟（當然她會假裝去了別的地方），并且在隧道的一側找到了一個挖好的洞，洞口被蕨類植物覆蓋著，因此找到它并不容易。洞內有水，她突然在水中發現了一條正在喘息著的鱒魚。
She rushed for Stephen and dragged him to see, and they were both so excited that they were no longer afraid of the darkness as they hunched down and peered at the fish panting in his tiny prison, his silver stomach going up and down like an engine. Nobody knew how the fish got there.
她趕快找到史蒂芬，拉著他去看這個洞和洞里的鱒魚。并且，在他們彎著腰觀看被困在這個小洞里不停喘息，銀色的肚皮像發動機一樣上下翻動的鱒魚時，他們倆都興奮地發現他們不再害怕隧道的黑暗了。天知道這條魚是怎么來到這里的。
Her mother suggested that a bird had carried the spawn. Her father thought that in the winter a small streamlet might have carried it down there as a baby, and it had been safe until summer came and the water began to dry up.
媽媽說是小鳥把這條魚帶到了這個洞里。爸爸認為可能是冬天這條魚還很小的時候一條小溪把它帶過來的，但到了夏天溪水干涸，它就被困在這了。
She went back to look again. Her brother remained behind with mom and dad, not really interested in the actual trout but much interested in the story about the trout which his mummy began to make up for him; “So one day, Daddy trout and Mommy trout…”
茱莉婭再次回到隧道里去看看那條魚。但弟弟留在了父母身邊，他對那條鱒魚沒什么興趣，卻被媽媽編的關于那條鱒魚的故事深深地吸引住了——“所以，有一天，鱒魚爸爸和鱒魚媽媽也許會來救它……
It troubled her that the trout was always in the same position; he had no room to turn; all the time the silver belly went up and down; otherwise he was motionless. She wondered what he ate and thought of his hunger. She found him a worm. He ignored the food, and just went on panting. Hunched over him she thought how, all the winter, while she was at school, he had been in there. All the winter, in the dark tunnel, all day, all night, floating around alone.
茱莉婭很擔心鱒魚總是在一個位地方，沒有空間轉身，它那銀色的肚皮就得不停地上下翻滾，否則它就無法動彈。她還很好奇那條鱒魚吃什么，然后想到了它一定在挨餓。她為它找到了一條蟲子，但它根本沒去理睬蟲子，只是繼續在水里喘息著。彎腰看著這條魚，她心里想：整個冬天，當自己每天在學校上學的時候，它一直在這個小洞里。整個冬天，無論白天還是黑夜，它一直在這個漆黑的隧道里孤獨地游來游去。
She was still thinking of it as she lay in bed. It was late June, the longest days of the year. The sun had sat still for a week, burning up the world. Although it was after ten o’clock it was still bright and still hot. She lay on her back under a single sheet, trying to keep cool. Before they went to bed her mummy had told Stephen the story of the trout again, and she, in her bed, had resolutely presented her back to them and read her book.
她躺在床上滿腦子想的仍是那條鱒魚。此時正是七月，一年中白天最長的日子。烈日炎炎已經持續了一周時間。即便是晚上十點以后，天仍是大亮，而且氣溫很高。她仰面躺在床上，身上蓋著一個被單，努力讓自己平靜下來。入睡之前，媽媽又給史蒂芬講了一遍鱒魚的故事，而她躺在床上，堅決地轉過身背對著他們，讀著自己的書。
“And so, in the end, this naughty fish got bigger and bigger and bigger, and the water got smaller and smaller…” She had whirled and cried, “Mummy, don’t make it a horrible old moral story.” Her mom had even brought in a Fairy Godmother, who had made it rain and filled the well, so that the trout could float away down to the river below. Staring at the moon she knew there are no such things as Fairy Godmothers and that the trout, down in the tunnel, was panting for his life.“
這樣下去，那條淘氣的小魚會變得越來越大，水卻會越來越少……”她在床上輾轉反側，終于嚷了出來：“媽媽，別再編這種可怕的古老寓言故事了。”媽媽甚至在故事中加入了仙女教母，她可以利用法力制造降雨，讓井中充滿水，這樣鱒魚就可以擺脫那口井，順著水流游回河里。茱莉婭凝視著掛在空中的月亮，知道這個世界上根本沒有仙女教母，而且困在隧道里的那條鱒魚正在為了生存拼命地喘息。
She sat up. Stephen was a hot lump of sleep, lazy thing! She leaped up and quietly she lifted the ewer of water, climbed out the window and went in the tunnel. Kneeling down in the damp, she put her hand into the slimy hole. When the body of the trout lashed they were both mad with fright. But she gripped him and shoved him into the ewer and raced out to the other end of the tunnel down to the river’s edge.
她站起身來。史蒂芬已經睡得死死的了，懶豬一頭！她一躍而起，然后躡手躡腳地拎起一個大壺水，從窗戶爬出，進入了隧道。她跪在潮濕的隧道地面上，將一只手伸進黏糊糊的洞里。當她的手碰到鱒魚的身體時，鱒魚急速地甩動了一下身體，他們倆都嚇了一跳。但是，茱莉婭還是抓住了鱒魚，并把它放入了水壺，飛快地跑到了隧道的另一頭，然后出了隧道來到了河邊。
She poured him out into the water. For a second he was still visible. Then all she saw was the glimmer of the moon in the silent flowing river. She plonked down the ewer and flew through the air like a bird into bed. In the morning Stephen rushed to her, shouting that “he” was gone, and asking “where” and “how.” Lifting her nose in the air she said superciliously, “Fairy Godmother, I suppose?” and strolled away.
她將鱒魚倒入河中，看著它一點一點消失在河水中，直至河水中只剩下安靜的流水和微弱的月光。她砰的一下放下水壺，像一只小鳥一樣“飛”回到自己的床上。第二天一早，史蒂芬沖向她大喊道：“它不見了”，并問它去哪了？她揚起頭，高傲地說：“我猜是仙女教母做的吧？”然后漫步離開了。