《獅子·女巫·魔衣櫥》 第一章

CHAPTER ONE

LUCY LOOKS INTO A WARDROBE

第一章

露茜初窺魔衣櫥

By C. S. Lewis

—— C. S.劉易斯 （萬潔 譯）

ONCE there were four children whose names were Peter， Susan， Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of the air raids.

They were sent to the house of an old Professor who lived in the heart of the country， ten miles from the nearest railway station and two miles from the nearest post office. He had no wife and he lived in a very large house with a housekeeper called Mrs Macready and three servants. （Their names were Ivy， Margaret and Betty， but they do not come into the story much.） He himself was a very old man with shaggy white hair which grew over most of his face as well as on his head， and they liked him almost at once; but on the first evening when he came out to meet them at the front door he was so odd-looking that Lucy （who was the youngest） was a little afraid of him， and Edmund （who was the next youngest） wanted to laugh and had to keep on pretending he was blowing his nose to hide it.

As soon as they had said good night to the Professor and gone upstairs on the first night， the boys came into the girls room and they all talked it over.

C. S. 劉易斯（1898—1963），英國著名作家，所著兒童故事集《納尼亞傳奇》七部曲，情節(jié)動(dòng)人，妙趣橫生。本文選自《納尼亞傳奇》第一部《獅子·女巫·魔衣櫥》。

從前，有四個(gè)孩子，他們是彼得、蘇珊、愛德蒙和露茜。那時(shí)爆發(fā)了戰(zhàn)爭，為了躲避空襲，家人將他們從倫敦送到了其他地方居住，這個(gè)故事講的就是在此期間發(fā)生的事情。

他們寄宿在一個(gè)老教授的家中，老教授住在偏僻的鄉(xiāng)下，那里距離最近的火車站有十英里之遙，到最近的郵局也有兩英里。老教授在一棟大宅子里過著獨(dú)身生活，同住的還有他的女管家麥克雷迪夫人以及三個(gè)女仆：艾薇、瑪格麗特和貝蒂，不過這個(gè)故事并不怎么會(huì)提到她們。老教授年紀(jì)已經(jīng)很大了，有著一頭亂蓬蓬的白發(fā)，大半張臉都被遮在頭發(fā)后面。孩子們幾乎是第一眼就喜歡上他了。不過，第一天晚上他出門迎接孩子們的時(shí)候，年紀(jì)最小的露茜因?yàn)樗殴值南嗝灿悬c(diǎn)害怕，而老三愛德蒙見了他就忍不住想笑，愛德蒙不得不假裝擤鼻子以掩飾自己不禮貌的行為。

第一天夜里，向教授道過晚安上了樓之后，男孩們馬上跑到女孩們的房間里，嘰嘰喳喳地討論起來。

“Weve fallen on our feet and no mistake，” said Peter. “This is going to be perfectly splendid. That old chap will let us do anything we like.”

“I think hes an old dear，” said Susan.

“Oh， come off it！” said Edmund， who was tired and pretending not to be tired， which always made him bad-tempered. “Dont go on talking like that.”

“Like what？” said Susan， “and anyway， its time you were in bed.”

“Trying to talk like Mother，” said Edmund. “And who are you to say when Im to go to bed？ Go to bed yourself.”

“Hadnt we all better go to bed？” said Lucy. “Theres sure to be a row if were heard talking here.”

“No， there wont，” said Peter. “I tell you this is the sort of house where no ones going to mind what we do. Anyway， they wont hear us. Its about ten minutes walk from here down to that dining-room， and any amount of stairs and passages in between.”

“看來我們運(yùn)氣挺好的?！北说谜f，“這里簡直太棒了！那個(gè)老爺爺肯定不會(huì)妨礙咱們做任何想做的事的。”

“我覺得他是個(gè)和藹可親的老先生。”蘇珊說。

“天啊，你少來！”愛德蒙說道，“別老像那樣說話?！彼m然很累，卻假裝很有精神，所以他總是脾氣暴躁。

“我像哪樣說話了？”蘇珊說，“再說現(xiàn)在到你上床睡覺的時(shí)間了。”

“你老是學(xué)媽媽說話?！睈鄣旅烧f，“你憑什么讓我去睡覺？你自己上床睡覺去吧。”

“不如我們都上床睡覺好不好？”露茜說，“如果有人聽見我們?cè)谶@兒聊天的話，我們一定會(huì)挨訓(xùn)的?！?/p>

“才不會(huì)呢?！北说谜f，“在這座房子里，咱們做什么都不會(huì)有人管的。他們聽不見咱們的動(dòng)靜的。從這兒到樓下餐廳要走十分鐘呢，而且中間還隔著好多級(jí)樓梯和好多條走廊。”

“Whats that noise？” said Lucy suddenly. It was a far larger house than she had ever been in before and the thought of all those long passages and rows of doors leading into empty rooms was beginning to make her feel a little creepy.

“Its only a bird， silly，” said Edmund.

“Its an owl，” said Peter. “This is going to be a wonderful place for birds. I shall go to bed now. I say， lets go and explore tomorrow. You might find anything in a place like this. Did you see those mountains as we came along？ And the woods？ There might be eagles. There might be stags. Therell be hawks.”

“Badgers！” said Lucy.

“Foxes！” said Edmund.

“Rabbits！” said Susan.

“什么聲音？”露茜突然說。這棟房子相當(dāng)大，比她以前住過的任何一棟房子都要大。所以，一想到一條條通向空蕩蕩的房間的悠長走廊和一排排房門，她就覺得毛骨悚然。

“不過是只鳥罷了，你真傻?！睈鄣旅烧f。

“是只貓頭鷹?！北说谜f，“這兒肯定是鳥兒的樂園。我說，咱們現(xiàn)在還是上床睡覺吧，明天再好好探索一番。咱們沒準(zhǔn)兒能在這里找到各種新奇玩意兒呢。咱們來的路上經(jīng)過的那些山你們看見了沒？還有森林你們看見了沒有？這兒或許能有白頭鷹、牡鹿和其他品種的鷹呢。”

“還有獾！”露茜說道。

“狐貍！”愛德蒙補(bǔ)充說。

“兔子！”蘇珊接著說。

But when the next morning came there was a steady rain falling， so thick that when you looked out of the window you could see neither the mountains nor the woods nor even the stream in the garden.

“Of course it would be raining！” said Edmund. They had just finished their breakfast with the Professor and were upstairs in the room he had set apart for them—a long， low room with two windows looking out in one direction and two in another.

“Do stop grumbling， Ed，” said Susan. “Ten to one itll clear up in an hour or so. And in the meantime were pretty well off. Theres a wireless and lots of books.”

“Not for me，” said Peter， “Im going to explore in the house.”

可惜的是，第二天從一早就一直在下雨，雨下得太大，望向窗外既看不到山野，也看不到森林，就連花園里的溪流都看不見。

“下雨可真煩人！”愛德蒙說。他們剛剛與老教授一同吃完早餐，現(xiàn)在正待在樓上他們住的房間中——這是一間長條形的房間，屋頂極低，一面墻上開著兩扇窗戶，對(duì)面的墻上也同樣開有兩扇窗。

“別嘟囔了，愛德蒙。”蘇珊說，“十有八九再過一個(gè)小時(shí)左右這雨就會(huì)停。況且現(xiàn)在也不錯(cuò)啊，我們?cè)谶@里既可以收聽無線電臺(tái)，又有許多書可以看?！?/p>

“我有別的主意。”彼得說，“我想好好探索一下這棟大宅子?！?/p>

Word Study

shaggy /'??i/ adj. 長而亂的;亂蓬蓬的

fall on ones feet特別走運(yùn);安然脫離困境;幸免于難

splendid /'splend?d/ adj. 極佳的;非常好的

creepy /'kri?pi/ adj. 令人毛骨悚然的;令人不寒而栗的

explore /?k'spl??（r）/ v. 勘探;探索;考察

They explored the land to the south of the Murray river.

Everyone agreed to this and that was how the adventures began.

It was the sort of house that you never seem to come to the end of， and it was full of unexpected places. The first few doors they tried led only into spare bedrooms， as everyone had expected that they would; but soon they came to a very long room full of pictures and there they found a suit of armour; and after that was a room all hung with green， with a harp in one corner; and then came three steps down and five steps up， and then a kind of little upstairs hall and a door that led out on to a balcony， and then a whole series of rooms that led into each other and were lined with books—most of them very old books and some bigger than a Bible in a church. And shortly after that they looked into a room that was quite empty except for one big wardrobe; the sort that has a looking-glass in the door. There was nothing else in the room at all except a dead blue-bottle on the window-sill.

大家紛紛表示同意，于是他們的“冒險(xiǎn)”就此拉開了序幕。

這棟房子看起來似乎永遠(yuǎn)也走不到盡頭，而且你總能發(fā)現(xiàn)一些意想不到的地方。他們起初進(jìn)入的是幾間備用臥室，正如他們所想的那樣;但很快他們就來到了一個(gè)狹長的房間，墻上掛滿了畫，房間中還擺著一副盔甲;接著他們來到一個(gè)布置有綠色裝飾物的房間，一個(gè)角落里還擱著一架豎琴;然后下三級(jí)臺(tái)階，再上五級(jí)臺(tái)階，就是樓上的一間小廳，廳里有一扇通往陽臺(tái)的門;從廳里退出來，又是一系列彼此連通、堆滿了書籍的房間，其中大多都是些有年頭的書，有的甚至比教堂里的《圣經(jīng)》還要大。不一會(huì)兒，他們又看見一間空空蕩蕩的房間，里面放著一個(gè)大衣櫥——門上嵌有穿衣鏡的那種衣櫥，房間的窗臺(tái)上放著一個(gè)褪了色的藍(lán)花瓶，除此之外，什么也沒有了。

“Nothing there！” said Peter， and they all trooped out again—all except Lucy. She stayed behind because she thought it would be worth while trying the door of the wardrobe， even though she felt almost sure that it would be locked. To her surprise it opened quite easily， and two mothballs dropped out.

Looking into the inside， she saw several coats hanging up—mostly long fur coats. There was nothing Lucy liked so much as the smell and feel of fur. She immediately stepped into the wardrobe and got in among the coats and rubbed her face against them， leaving the door open， of course， because she knew that it is very foolish to shut oneself into any wardrobe. Soon she went further in and found that there was a second row of coats hanging up behind the first one. It was almost quite dark in there and she kept her arms stretched out in front of her so as not to bump her face into the back of the wardrobe. She took a step further in—then two or three steps always expecting to feel woodwork against the tips of her fingers. But she could not feel it.

“This must be a simply enormous wardrobe！” thought Lucy， going still further in and pushing the soft folds of the coats aside to make room for her. Then she noticed that there was something crunching under her feet. “I wonder is that more mothballs？” she thought， stooping down to feel it with her hand. But instead of feeling the hard， smooth wood of the floor of the wardrobe， she felt something soft and powdery and extremely cold. “This is very queer，” she said， and went on a step or two further.

“那兒什么也沒有！”彼得說，于是他們紛紛轉(zhuǎn)身走開了，只有露茜除外。她留了下來，想去拉開衣櫥門瞧瞧，盡管她感覺衣櫥門十有八九是鎖著的。不過讓她驚訝的是，一試之下衣櫥門竟然被她輕而易舉地打開了，還隨之掉出來兩顆樟腦丸。

她看了看，發(fā)現(xiàn)里面掛著幾件衣服，多數(shù)是皮大衣。露茜最喜歡皮草的味道和觸感了，于是她馬上走到衣櫥里面，鉆到這些皮大衣中間，將小臉蛋埋在皮料子中來回磨蹭著。當(dāng)然，她讓衣櫥門敞開著，因?yàn)樗腊炎约宏P(guān)在衣櫥里是很愚蠢的。沒多會(huì)兒，她朝里走了一步，發(fā)現(xiàn)這排皮大衣后面還掛有一排大衣。衣櫥里黑極了，她舉著雙臂向前探尋，以免讓自己的臉碰到衣櫥后壁。露茜又向前走了一步，接著又走了兩三步，心里想著指尖馬上就會(huì)觸碰到衣櫥的后壁板了，但始終沒碰到。

這肯定是個(gè)超級(jí)大的衣櫥！露茜一邊這樣想著，一邊將層層疊疊的柔軟衣物推向兩邊，以便騰出空間來繼續(xù)前進(jìn)。她發(fā)現(xiàn)自己腳下踩到了什么嘎吱作響的東西，心想：莫不是樟腦丸？便停了下來，彎腰向下摸索。結(jié)果，她摸到的并不是光滑的硬木板，而是一層柔軟又冰冷的粉末狀東西?！斑@可真奇怪！”她一邊說一邊又向前走了一兩步。

Next moment she found that what was rubbing against her face and hands was no longer soft fur but something hard and rough and even prickly. “Why， it is just like branches of trees！” exclaimed Lucy. And then she saw that there was a light ahead of her; not a few inches away where the back of the wardrobe ought to have been， but a long way off. Something cold and soft was falling on her. A moment later she found that she was standing in the middle of a wood at night-time with snow under her feet and snowflakes falling through the air.

Lucy felt a little frightened， but she felt very inquisitive and excited as well. She looked back over her shoulder and there， between the dark tree trunks; she could still see the open doorway of the wardrobe and even catch a glimpse of the empty room from which she had set out. （She had， of course， left the door open， for she knew that it is a very silly thing to shut oneself into a wardrobe.） It seemed to be still daylight there. “I can always get back if anything goes wrong，” thought Lucy. She began to walk forward， crunch-crunch over the snow and through the wood towards the other light. In about ten minutes she reached it and found it was a lamp-post. As she stood looking at it， wondering why there was a lamp-post in the middle of a wood and wondering what to do next， she heard a pitter patter of feet coming towards her. And soon after that a very strange person stepped out from among the trees into the light of the lamp-post.

下一秒，她便發(fā)現(xiàn)自己臉挨著的已經(jīng)不再是柔軟的皮草，而是又硬又粗糙甚至還有些扎人的東西?！霸趺椿厥?？摸起來好像是樹枝！”露茜大叫道。緊接著她瞧見前方有一束光——就在幾英寸外，本該是衣櫥背板的地方有一個(gè)出口。零星冰涼卻綿軟的東西落在她臉上。不一會(huì)兒，她發(fā)現(xiàn)自己正站在一片林子里，而且是晚上，腳下踩著積雪，紛紛揚(yáng)揚(yáng)的雪花還不斷從空中落到她的身上。

露茜有些害怕，但她同樣也感到十分好奇和興奮?；仡^望望來時(shí)的路，透過黑黢黢的樹干的間隙，她仍然能看到敞開的衣櫥門，甚至還能瞥到她來時(shí)所在的房間。（當(dāng)然，她沒有關(guān)上衣櫥門，因?yàn)樗?，把自己關(guān)在衣櫥里是件挺傻的事兒）看起來，那邊還是白天?！耙怯惺裁床粚?duì)勁我隨時(shí)可以跑回去?！甭盾邕@樣想。她開始向前走，嘎吱嘎吱地踏過雪地，穿過樹林，向著另一處光亮靠近。走了十分鐘左右，她終于到達(dá)了那里，才發(fā)現(xiàn)那處光亮原來是一根燈柱。她站在原地打量著燈柱：林子里為什么會(huì)有根燈柱呢？下一步該做什么呢？這時(shí)，一陣嗒嗒的蹄聲傳來，不一會(huì)兒，一個(gè)長相非常奇怪的“人”便從樹后面跑到了燈光下。

He was only a little taller than Lucy herself and he carried over his head an umbrella， white with snow. From the waist upwards he was like a man， but his legs were shaped like a goats （the hair on them was glossy black） and instead of feet he had goats hoofs. He also had a tail， but Lucy did not notice this at first because it was neatly caught up over the arm that held the umbrella so as to keep it from trailing in the snow. He had a red woollen muffler round his neck and his skin was rather reddish too. He had a strange， but pleasant little face， with a short pointed beard and curly hair， and out of the hair there stuck two horns， one on each side of his forehead. One of his hands， as I have said， held the umbrella： in the other arm he carried several brown-paper parcels. What with the parcels and the snow it looked just as if he had been doing his Christmas shopping. He was a Faun. And when he saw Lucy he gave such a start of surprise that he dropped all his parcels.

“Goodness gracious me！” exclaimed the Faun.

它只比露茜高一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)，頭上撐著傘，傘上蓋著一層雪。它腰以上的部分與人并無兩樣，可腿卻長得像羊一樣（腿上有一層又黑又亮的毛），而且下面長的不是腳，而是羊蹄。它還長了一條尾巴，不過露茜起初并沒注意到，因?yàn)樗挛舶屯显谘┑厣吓K，巧妙地將尾巴掛在了撐傘的那條胳膊的臂彎中。它脖子上圍著一條羊毛紅圍巾，臉頰也是紅撲撲的。它長了一張有點(diǎn)奇怪但并不惹人討厭的小臉，留著尖尖的短胡子和一頭鬈發(fā)，前額兩側(cè)各長著一只犄角。它一只手撐著傘，另一條胳膊抱著幾個(gè)棕色的紙包。這些小包裹再加上下雪的天氣，讓它看上去就像是剛剛圣誕大采購歸來。它就是神話里半人半羊的半人羊。它看見露茜的時(shí)候大吃一驚，懷里抱著的紙包都掉在了地上。

“我的神啊！”半人羊大叫。

Word Study

troop /tru?p/ v. 成群地走

After lunch we all trooped down to the beach.

rub /r?b/ v. 擦;磨;搓

The cat rubbed itself against my legs.

stretch /stret?/ v. 伸出，伸長（胳膊、腿）

enormous /?'n??m?s/ adj. 巨大的;極大的

inquisitive /?n'kw?z?t?v/ adj. 好學(xué)的;好奇的;興趣廣泛的

trail /tre?l/ v. （被）拖，拉

I trailed my hand in the water as the boat moved along.