尋找食人族

【故事主線】

分別來自中國香港、印度、英國和澳大利亞的六位主人公為了尋找傳說中的食人族踏上了開往南美的郵輪……

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【人物簡介】

小強(qiáng)：男，香港富豪之子，喜好探險旅游，本次探險旅行的發(fā)起人。

蜜兒：女，香港某野外生存俱樂部教練，武功出色，中國的“勞拉”。

威廉：男，英國作家，以經(jīng)常發(fā)布一些驚世奇聞的旅行游記著稱。

桑杰：印度小男孩，印度洋海嘯后當(dāng)?shù)氐奈ㄒ恍掖嬲摺?/p>

艾德里安：男，澳大利亞生物學(xué)家，喜歡研究昆蟲。

白雪：蜜兒的寵物狗，忠心耿耿，總給人帶來意外驚喜。

編劇：Adrian Brookes（澳大利亞）

情節(jié)策劃：何彥平、王妮

插畫：姚薇

本欄目有償歡迎讀者參與劇情策劃

投稿信箱：contribution@bilingualtime.com

Plot Synopsis

【本期劇情】

蜜兒以及小強(qiáng)在和船長協(xié)商后決定將桑杰送到悉尼然后交給當(dāng)?shù)氐木炀?，但桑杰卻因為和父親的承諾執(zhí)意要和他們一起前往南美洲。此時他們也找到了一直在監(jiān)視他們的人的房間，并偷聽到他們要除掉白雪和蜜兒的計劃，而船上的海員們卻對蜜兒以及小強(qiáng)他們產(chǎn)生了誤會，雙方爭執(zhí)不下，他們是否會被趕下郵輪呢？

Episode 3: Conspiracy

第三集：郵輪上的密謀

晚上在維多利亞郵輪上，小強(qiáng)、威廉和桑杰都在小強(qiáng)的房間里。蜜兒和白雪走了進(jìn)來。

Candy: Sanjay， the purser's agreed that if Xiaoqiang pays your fare he'll accept you as a passenger. He can give you a cabin on the lower deck. But when we get to Sydney he'll have to hand you over to the authorities because you stowed away.

Sanjay: I do not want to go to Sydney. I will go with you - to South America.

Candy: But I've agreed to be responsible for you. We have to cooperate with the purser.

Sanjay: I have to go to South America.

Candy: OK， I understand you want to go there. But why?

Sanjay: I promised my father.

Candy: Promised? When?

Sanjay: (grips the snake amulet at his throat) When I took this from him.

Candy: But， Sanjay， your father had already died when you took it， so how could you have promised him anything?

Sanjay: It was still a promise. It was about my brother. My father was married once before， and his wife died. But they had a son. He is many years older than me， and I only met him once. He went to South America - to the jungle in Peru. He became very rich. We know that， but my father believes it is because he met some bad people and did some bad things with them. My father wanted to go and look for him. So now I must go.

（白雪輕輕叫了幾下，突然跳到船艙的窗臺上不斷咆哮。）

Xiaoqiang: What's up， Snow?

William: There's someone listening at the window.

Xiaoqiang: (opens the cabin door and looks out) Nobody…

（白雪跑上甲板來到一個拐角處的樓梯前，并示意大家跟著她。）

Xiaoqiang: Come on!

（他們迅速爬上樓梯來到上一層甲板，威廉緊隨其后。）

Candy: Wait here， Xiaoqiang! Let Snow White show us where they are. Go on， Snow - show us!

（白雪跑到其中一個船艙的外面停下來，回頭看著他們。）

Candy: Cabin 13… Well done， Snow!

Xiaoqiang: OK， so we know where they are. Now what do we do?

Candy: We find out what we can - somehow…

（白雪爬上樓梯，站在臺階上，然后爬上通往13號船艙的通風(fēng)口的艙頂，并將耳朵貼在通風(fēng)口處。）

Candy: She's telling us she can hear them. Come on - up the ladder!

Xiaoqiang: There's a sign on it: No admittance.

Candy: We're Chinese. We can't read English. Okay?

Xiaoqiang: But…

Candy: Come on!

（他們相繼爬上樓梯。）

Candy: Step quietly! OK， listen…

（他們在通風(fēng)口聽著從船艙里傳出來的聲音。）

Man: We'll have to tell her about them because she's sure to find out anyway.

Woman: Yes， but we need to deal with that girl， Candy， ourselves. Does she suspect anything?

Man: I don't know. That dog of hers is a problem. It acts like it's human - like it even understands what people are saying. It's too much of a risk. We'll have to get rid of it.

Woman: That's ridiculous! Dogs can't understand language. Anyway， Candy's very attached to the dog. If she loses it she might change her plans， and right now she's doing exactly what we want her to. We need to get her to Iquitos. After that it won't matter. We can shoot them all then.

Man: The dog will cause problems in Iquitos. We need to kill it before then - after Hawaii. The next stop after that will be Panama， and she won't pull out then. And there's another thing - the little Indian kid.

Woman: What about him?

Man: I know why he's on the ship. It's as we thought. I heard him say he's got a rich half-brother in Peru who he wants to go and find.

Woman: You mean…?

Man: Yes， I mean Rajiv. So she's arranged it somehow.

Woman: So why didn't she tell us about him?

Man: That's not how she works. She wouldn't tell anybody the whole plan. She divides the work up so that nobody gets to know too much.

Woman: So that means she must have somebody else on the ship to watch over the kid…

Man: Yes - so we have to be careful. But I think we'll keep an eye on the kid， too. If he gets to Peru he could be a very useful little pawn in our game.

Woman: Ah， to get Rajiv - the bait in the trap…

Man: Exactly.

（白雪在咆哮。）

Man: What's that?

Woman: The wind in the ventilator…

Man: No， it's that dog again! I'm going to shoot the wretched animal.

Woman: No…!

Man: Look - we either risk the dog wrecking our plans now or Candy changing her plans if she loses the dog. Which do you want?

Woman: OK. But we're not to use firearms on the ship. You know our orders.

Man: The dog needs to go.

Woman: Then catch it and throw it overboard.

Man: It's got more sense than to let me near it.

Woman: Then if you must shoot it， use the silencer. Make sure nobody sees you， and don't leave any traces.

Man: I know that! I'm not stupid.

（蜜兒低頭看見軍官正站在甲板上。）

Ship's officer: Come down from there!

（蜜兒和小強(qiáng)爬下樓梯。男人和女人聽見聲音從船艙里走了出來。）

Ship's officer: What were you doing up there? Didn't you see the sign?

Xiaoqiang: We're Chinese. We can't…

Candy: (elbows him) I'm afraid we have a serious matter to report. This man and woman are plotting to kill us.

（男人和女人一起發(fā)出備受侮辱、不可思議的聲音。）

Ship's officer: (frowns) Whatever makes you say that?

Xiaoqiang: We heard them talking about it. We were listening at the ventilation shaft.

Woman: What， have you been up there spying on us? I don't think that's very nice…

Candy: Whatever we did， I think it was justified in the circumstances. We heard them talking about shooting Snow White and killing us， too. They've been spying on us ever since we left Hong Kong.

Ship's officer: I'm sure Professor and Mrs Hill couldn't have been doing anything of the sort.

Candy: Professor and Mrs Hill…?

Ship's officer: I can assure you， these are very respectable people. Professor Hill is an eminent botanist. It's a highly offensive claim you're making. If it's a joke， it's in very bad taste.

Candy: A joke!

Ship's officer: In fact， I think an apology would be in order.

Candy: No way! I know what I heard. We both heard it， didn't we， Xiaoqiang?

Xiaoqiang: Yes.

Man: You couldn't possibly! We don't have to respond to this nonsense， do we， Mr Baines?

Ship's officer: No， of course not.

Woman: (indignantly) Climbing on our roof… Invading our privacy… And letting the dog run riot… Will you please do something about it， Mr Baines?

Ship's officer: Yes.

（軍官試圖抓住白雪。白雪狂吠并咬傷他的手，然后溜了。他叫來了幾個水手幫忙抓白雪。一群人追著白雪在甲板上跑來跑去，但她躲過追捕消失在樓梯中。）

Ship's officer: (binds his bleeding hand with his handkerchief) Right， you two… Please accompany me to my office.

（小強(qiáng)和蜜兒跟著軍官走進(jìn)辦公室。軍官坐在桌后不停地在電腦上輸入什么。）

Ship's officer: There are more than a thousand passengers aboard this ship and I will not have their safety put at risk. The dog is a danger to the ship's security， and it will be dealt with accordingly. And as for you: I've been very lenient with you， but now it's gone too far. I'll be laying charges against you for all the regulations you've breached. When we get to Sydney you'll be handed over to the police.

（一個水手沖進(jìn)辦公室向軍官匯報情況。）

Ship's officer: It's going from bad to worse. The boy has disappeared with your dog into the engine room. That's a strictly prohibited area， and extremely dangerous. If they're going to play hide and seek down there they'll very likely kill themselves， as well as do serious damage to the ship's engines… (he listens intently) The engines have stopped! (he jumps up) So - we now have an emergency， thanks to you. Endangering a sea vessel attracts a prison sentence in Australia. I understand you have a lot of money， and that's just as well， because you're going to need a good defence lawyer. (he calls in a group of seamen) Put these people under guard. Escort them to secure quarters and keep an eye on them till I get there - if they don't manage to see us to the bottom of the ocean in the meantime.

晚上在維多利亞郵輪上，小強(qiáng)、威廉和桑杰都在小強(qiáng)的房間里。蜜兒和白雪走了進(jìn)來。

蜜兒：桑杰。事務(wù)長答應(yīng)如果小強(qiáng)替你付船票，他就同意你以一個乘客的身份留在船上。他會給你在下甲板找個船艙。但是當(dāng)我們到達(dá)悉尼時，他就要把你移交給當(dāng)?shù)卣畽C(jī)構(gòu)，因為你是偷渡者。

桑杰：我不要去悉尼。我想跟你們一起去南美。

蜜兒：但我答應(yīng)要為你的事負(fù)責(zé)。我們必須配合事務(wù)長。

桑杰：我必須要去南美。

蜜兒：好吧，我知道你要去那。但為什么？

桑杰：我向我爸爸承諾過。

蜜兒：承諾？什么時候？

桑杰：（緊緊抓住掛在脖子上的護(hù)身符）當(dāng)我把這個從他身上拿下來的時候。

蜜兒：但是，桑杰，當(dāng)你把這個從你爸爸身上取下來的時候他已經(jīng)死了，那你怎么能夠向他承諾什么呢？

桑杰：這還是個承諾。是關(guān)于我哥哥的。爸爸以前結(jié)過一次婚，后來他的妻子死了。但他們有一個兒子，他比我大很多，我只見過一次。他去了南美洲——秘魯?shù)臒釒擦?，變得非常有錢。我們得知這一切后爸爸認(rèn)為那是因為他認(rèn)識了一些壞人，幫助他們做了壞事才會變得如此富有。爸爸想去南非找哥哥。因此，現(xiàn)在我必須去那。

（白雪輕輕叫了幾下，突然跳到船艙的窗臺上不斷咆哮。）

小強(qiáng)：白雪，怎么了？

威廉：有人在窗外偷聽。

小強(qiáng)：（打開船艙窗戶四處看）沒人……

（白雪跑上甲板來到一個拐角處的樓梯前，并示意大家跟著她。）

小強(qiáng)：快點。

（他們迅速爬上樓梯來到上一層甲板，威廉緊隨其后。）

蜜兒：先別動，小強(qiáng)！讓白雪領(lǐng)我們?nèi)フ宜麄??？禳c，白雪——帶我們?nèi)ィ?/p>

（白雪跑到其中一個船艙的外面停下來，回頭看著他們。）

蜜兒：13號船艙……干得不錯，白雪！

小強(qiáng)：好的，我們知道了他們的住處?，F(xiàn)在該怎么做？

蜜兒：我們盡力找——但怎么找呢……

（白雪爬上樓梯，站在臺階上，然后爬上通往13號船艙的通風(fēng)口的艙頂，并將耳朵貼在通風(fēng)口處。）

蜜兒：她告訴我們她能聽見他們說話。快點，爬上樓梯！

小強(qiáng)：可是這有標(biāo)牌：閑人免進(jìn)。

蜜兒：我們是中國人。不懂英語。行嗎？

小強(qiáng)：但是……

蜜兒：快點！

（他們相繼爬上樓梯。）

蜜兒：輕點！好了，來聽聽看……

（他們在通風(fēng)口聽著從船艙里傳出來的聲音。）

男人：我們必須得告訴她關(guān)于他們的事情，因為她肯定會發(fā)現(xiàn)的。

女人：沒錯，但我們得先自己解決掉那個女孩——蜜兒。她已經(jīng)察覺了什么嗎？

男人：我不清楚。她的狗是個麻煩。它像人一樣處事行動——甚至好像都能聽懂人類的語言。這太危險了。我們必須解決掉這個禍根。

女人：太荒謬了。狗能聽懂人的話。不過，蜜兒很在意那條狗。如果失去狗她也許會改變計劃，而現(xiàn)在她所做的一切正是我們所希望的。我們必須把她弄到伊基托斯。在那之后就無所謂了。到時我們可以把他們?nèi)傻簟?/p>

男人：這狗會在伊基托斯惹麻煩的。我們必須在那之前解決它——抵達(dá)夏威夷后。而夏威夷的下一站就是巴拿馬，那時她不會退出的。還有另一個問題——那個印度小孩。

女人：他怎么了？

男人：我知道他為什么會在船上。正如我們所想的那樣。我聽見他說他要去秘魯找同父異母的哥哥。

女人：你的意思是……？

男人：沒錯，我指的就是拉吉夫。她已經(jīng)在設(shè)法安排一切。

女人：那她為什么不告訴我們關(guān)于這個小孩的事？

男人：這可不是她的行事風(fēng)格。她不會告訴任何人完整的計劃。她會把工作分配好，這樣就不會有人知道得太多。

女人：那就是說她肯定找了其他人在船上監(jiān)視那個孩子……

男人：是的——所以我們必須非常小心。但我覺得我們也得留意那個孩子。如果他也去了秘魯，到時候就會成為我們游戲中非常有用的棋子。

女人：哇哦，抓住拉吉夫——陷阱中的誘餌……

男人：對極了。

（白雪在咆哮。）

男人：什么聲音？

女人：通風(fēng)口的風(fēng)聲……

男人：不對，又是那條狗！我要去殺了那只該死的畜生。

女人：不要……！

男人：聽著——兩個風(fēng)險：要么讓那只畜生破壞我們的計劃，要么是蜜兒因失去了她而改變計劃。你選哪個？

女人：好吧。但我們不能在船上使用武器。你知道命令。

男人：那狗必須得死。

女人：那么我們抓住它，把它扔進(jìn)海里。

男人：開槍打死那個畜生比靠近她要更實際。

女人：如果你必須用槍，記得用消音器。確保沒人看見你，別留下任何痕跡。

男人：我知道！我又不是傻瓜。

（蜜兒低頭看見軍官正站在甲板上。）

軍官：從那里給我下來。

（蜜兒和小強(qiáng)爬下樓梯。男人和女人聽見聲音從船艙里走了出來。）

軍官：你們在上面干什么？沒看見標(biāo)牌嗎？

小強(qiáng)：我們是中國人。我們不懂……

蜜兒：（用手臂碰了碰小強(qiáng)）恐怕我們有一個重要情況要報道。這個男人和女人正在計劃謀殺我們。

（男人和女人一起發(fā)出備受侮辱、不可思議的聲音。）

軍官：（皺眉）那你這么說的根據(jù)呢？

小強(qiáng)：我們聽見他們在討論這個計劃。我們是在通風(fēng)口聽見的。

女人：什么，你們剛才在上面監(jiān)視我們嗎？我可不認(rèn)為這是什么禮貌的行為……

蜜兒：無論我們做了什么，我認(rèn)為這在那種情況下是合理的。我們聽見他們正在討論殺掉白雪，還有我們。從我們離開香港時他們就在暗中監(jiān)視我們。

軍官：我相信希爾教授及夫人是不會干這種事的。

蜜兒：希爾教授和夫人……？

軍官：我可以向你保證他們都是品德高尚的人。希爾教授是知名的植物學(xué)家。你剛才的言語已經(jīng)嚴(yán)重冒犯了他們。如果是笑話，那也很沒有禮貌。

蜜兒：笑話！

軍官：實際上我認(rèn)為你應(yīng)該道歉。

蜜兒：沒門。我確實聽見了。我們都聽見了，不是嗎，小強(qiáng)？

小強(qiáng)：是的。

男人：你可以不用道歉。巴恩斯先生，我們不用理會這種愚蠢的行為，沒錯吧？

軍官：是的，當(dāng)然不用。

女人：（憤怒地）爬上我們的艙頂、侵犯我們的隱私、讓這條狗撒野——巴恩斯先生，您不覺得應(yīng)該做點什么嗎？

軍官：是的。

（軍官試圖抓住白雪。白雪狂吠并咬傷他的手，然后溜了。他叫來了幾個水手幫忙抓白雪。一群人追著白雪在甲板上跑來跑去，但她躲過追捕消失在樓梯中。）

軍官：（用手絹綁住流血的手）現(xiàn)在，你們兩個……跟我去辦公室。

（小強(qiáng)和蜜兒跟著軍官走進(jìn)辦公室。軍官坐在桌后不停地在電腦上輸入什么。）

軍官：在船上有1千多名乘客，我不會拿他們的安全來冒險。這條狗現(xiàn)在對他們的安全構(gòu)成威脅，我會按規(guī)矩處理。至于你們：我已經(jīng)對你們很寬容，但現(xiàn)在太過分了。我會按照你們違反的所有規(guī)定起訴你們。等我們到了悉尼就將你們交給當(dāng)?shù)鼐炀帧?/p>

（一個水手沖進(jìn)辦公室向軍官匯報情況。）

軍官：事情越來越糟了。那個男孩和你的狗一起跑進(jìn)輪機(jī)艙后不見了。這是個嚴(yán)禁區(qū)域，而且極其危險。如果他們是想在那玩捉迷藏，那是會送命的，也會嚴(yán)重?fù)p壞輪船發(fā)動機(jī)……（他仔細(xì)聆聽）發(fā)動機(jī)停下來了?。ㄋ饋恚┠敲础菽銈兯n，現(xiàn)在情況緊急。讓郵輪處于險境在澳大利亞是要坐牢的。我知道你很有錢，那正好，因為你需要請一個好律師。（他打電話叫進(jìn)幾個水手）看好這些人。把他們關(guān)起來，在我去之前要嚴(yán)密監(jiān)視——如果他們不打算和我們同時在海底見面的話。

Notes

1. hand over

意為“交出、交付、讓出”

例句：He has resigned and will hand over charge of his office today.

他已辭職， 將在今天辦移交手續(xù)。

The thief was handed over to the police.

小偷被送交給警方。

2. listen at

意為“把耳朵貼在……上聽”。

例句：He listened at the door for a moment.

他把耳朵貼在門上聽了一會兒。

3. Well done

該詞組有多種意思，最常見的就是文中的“干得好、干得漂亮”。 還有就是指肉類食物“全熟”，五分熟是medium，三分熟是rare。它還有“美觀、講究”的意思。

例句：He has done well!

他做得好！

How do you like your steak done?

你喜歡吃煎得老一點的牛排呢，還是不要太熟的？

All things that great men did were well done.

偉人所作所為無不盡善盡美。

4. get rid of

意為“除掉、去掉、消滅、擺脫”。在文中指這對神秘的男女正想方設(shè)法除掉白雪。

例句：We must get rid of these pestilent flies.

我們得把這些可惡的蒼蠅消滅掉。

5. attach to

意為“附屬于、連在…… 上、熱愛、依戀”。在文中指蜜兒對白雪的喜愛和依戀。

例句：No suspicion attaches to him.

他無可懷疑。

She was strongly attached to her home.

她對家戀戀不舍。

6. pull out

意為“從某處離開、從某處開出、退出”。也可以指“（火車）駛出、（船）劃出和（從疾病、不愉快的心境等中）恢復(fù)”。

例句：He threatened to pull out of the common market.

他威協(xié)要退出共同市場。

The train pulled out exactly on time.

火車正點開出。

She's been very depressed recently， but I'm sure she'll soon pull out of it.

她近來一直很抑郁， 但我相信不久她就會振作起來的。

7. half-brother

指同父異母或同母異父的兄弟。

8. watch over

意為“看守、監(jiān)視”，也用于表示“照顧、照看”。

例句：The soldiers were keeping close watch over the enemies.

士兵們嚴(yán)密注意著敵人的行動。

9. of the sort

意為“那樣的、這樣的、諸如此類的……”。

10. in bad taste

意為“品味（格調(diào)）不高、庸俗、不得體、不禮貌”。在現(xiàn)實生活中就經(jīng)常可以聽見有人評價別人說沒品味，那就是in bad taste。

例句：What he said was a joke in very bad taste.

他所說的是個很鄙俗的笑話。

11. go too far

意為“走得太遠(yuǎn)、做得過火”。

例句：You can go swimming on condition that you don't go too far from the river bank.

你只有在不遠(yuǎn)離河岸的情況下才可以去游泳。

This joke is go too far.

這個玩笑太離譜了。

12. charge against

意為“控告、歸咎于”。

例句：The charges against him were treason and murder.

他被指控犯有叛國罪和謀殺罪。

13. go from bad to worse

意為“越來越差”。常用于形容事業(yè)、境況。

例句：The service in this hotel goes from bad to worse.

這個旅店的服務(wù)每況愈下。

14. hide and seek

這就是大家小時候經(jīng)常玩的捉迷藏游戲。

例句：They played at hide and seek in the garden.

他們在花園里玩捉迷藏。

15. just as well

意為“幸好、無妨”。

例句：We might just as well have stayed at home.

我們當(dāng)初不妨留在家里。

To be continued…

下集預(yù)告

憤怒的軍官命令水手們將蜜兒和小強(qiáng)看管起來，中途溜走的威廉跑來探望他們，他不僅說出了那個被蜜兒戲稱為“亞馬遜之后”的神秘女人的來歷，還交代了自己的過往。一波未平，一波又起。雖然輪船機(jī)房沒有任何損傷，但桑杰和白雪似乎又碰上了不懷好意的人……