書蟲二級 坎特維爾幽靈：1.奧蒂斯一家來古堡

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1．The Otis family comes to Canterville

1．奧蒂斯一家來古堡

When Hiram B. Otis, the American businessman, bought the house called Canterville Chase, people told him that he was doing a very dangerous thing. Everybody knew that there was a ghost in the house. Lord Canterville himself told Mr Otis all about it.

當美國商人海勒姆·B. 奧蒂斯買下那座叫坎特維爾古堡的宅邸時，人們對他說，他正在做一件非常危險的事情。每個人都知道，那座宅子里有一個幽靈?？蔡鼐S爾勛爵還親自對奧蒂斯先生講了有關它的一切。

We don't like to live in the house ourselves,' he said. 'Too many of my family have seen the ghost. My wife's grandmother, the Duchess of Bolton, is one of them. One night, while she was dressing for dinner, two skeleton hands were put on her shoulders. She has been ill for years because of that. And my wife never got any sleep there, because of all the noises at night.'

“我們自己都不愿意在那房子住，”他說，“我家里有很多人都見過這個幽靈。我妻子的祖母，博爾頓公爵夫人，就是其中一位。有天晚上，當她正在穿衣服準備去赴宴，有兩只骷髏手放在了她的肩膀上。她因此一病不起，有好多年了。我妻子從沒在那兒睡著過覺，因為晚上總有各種稀奇古怪的聲音。”

Lord Canterville,' answered Mr Otis, 'I will buy both the house and the ghost. I come from a modern country, and we can buy nearly everything in America — but not ghosts. So, if there really is a ghost in the house, we can send it home to America, and people will pay to go and see it.'

“坎特維爾勛爵，”奧蒂斯先生答道，“我要把房子，還有幽靈都買下來。我來自現(xiàn)代化的國家，在美國我們幾乎能買到一切——可買不到幽靈。所以，如果宅子里真有幽靈，我們就把它送回美國去，人們會花錢來參觀的。”

I'm afraid that the house really does have a ghost,' said Lord Canterville, smiling. 'Perhaps there are no ghosts in your country, but our ghost has been in the house for three hundred years, and it always appears before the death of one of the family.'

“恐怕房子里真有幽靈，”坎特維爾勛爵笑道，“或許在你們的國家沒有幽靈，但我們家的幽靈住在房子里有300年了，而且，在家里有人去世之前，它總會現(xiàn)身。”

Well, so does the family doctor, Lord Canterville. But there are no ghosts, sir, in any country — not even in famous old British families.'

“是啊，家庭醫(yī)生那會兒也會現(xiàn)身的，坎特維爾勛爵。但幽靈是不存在的，先生，不管是哪個國家——哪怕在鼎鼎大名的傳統(tǒng)英國家庭。”

Very well,' said Lord Canterville. 'If you're happy to have a ghost in the house, that's all right. But please remember that I did tell you about it.'

“那好吧，”坎特維爾勛爵說，“如果你樂意家里有個幽靈的話，那沒問題。但請記住我是警告過你的。”

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And so Mr Hiram B. Otis bought the house, and a few weeks later he and his family went down to Canterville Chase on the train.

于是，海勒姆·B. 奧蒂斯先生買下了那棟宅子，幾周之后，他們一家人便乘火車來到了坎特維爾古堡。

Mrs Otis was a very beautiful woman, and looked just as English as an Englishwoman. American people are really no different from English people — but they do, of course, speak a different language. Her eldest son, Washington, was a good-looking young man with a wonderful smile, who was famous at all the London parties for his fine dancing. Miss Virginia E. Otis was a sweet little girl of fifteen with big blue eyes. She loved to ride horses and could ride-faster than a lot of men. One day the young Duke of Cheshire saw her on horseback, and immediately asked her to marry him — but his family sent him back to school the next day. After Virginia came the twins — two happy, noisy little boys, who were always laughing and playing tricks.

奧蒂斯太太是位非常漂亮的女人，看上去就跟英國女人一樣。其實美國人和英國人沒什么兩樣——但他們講的話確實不同。奧蒂斯太太的大兒子叫華盛頓，是個英俊的年輕人，笑起來非常好看，他的優(yōu)美舞姿在倫敦各大舞會上都頗有名氣。弗吉尼婭·E. 奧蒂斯小姐是位可愛的小姑娘，15歲了，有一雙藍色的大眼睛。她喜歡騎馬，而且比許多男人騎得還要快。一天，年輕的柴郡公爵看見她騎馬的樣子，便立即向她求婚——可惜第二天公爵的家人就把他送回了學校。在弗吉尼婭之后還有一對雙胞胎——兩個快活、吵鬧的小男孩。他們總是笑個不停，愛搞惡作劇。

It was a lovely July evening when the family got off the train. The fields and trees looked beautiful in the golden sunshine. The birds were singing sweetly, and the sky was a bright blue. But when they arrived at Canterville Chase, storm clouds suddenly appeared in the sky. Then ten or twelve large black birds flew down over their heads, and big drops of rain began to fall.

7月一個醉人的傍晚，這一家人下了火車。在金色的夕陽下，田野和樹木看上去美極了，鳥兒歡快地唱著歌，天空一片蔚藍?？删驮谒麄兊竭_坎特維爾古堡的時候，天空中出現(xiàn)了烏云，十來只巨大的黑鳥盤旋在他們的頭頂上，接著豆大的雨點便開始落下來。

An old woman in a black dress was standing in the doorway of the house, waiting to meet them. This was Mrs Umney, the housekeeper.

一位穿黑裙子的老婦人正站在門口等候他們，她是烏瑪尼夫人，宅子的管家。

Welcome to Canterville Chase,' she said.

“歡迎來坎特維爾古堡。”她說。

They followed her into the library — a long, dark room with a high window at one end. Here, tea was ready for them, so they took off their coats and sat down.

一家人跟著她來到書房——一間又長又暗的屋子，屋子的一頭是高高的窗戶。茶水已經為他們準備好了，于是他們脫下外衣，坐了下來。

Suddenly Mrs Otis saw a dark red stain on the floor, near the fireplace.

突然，奧蒂斯太太看到地板上有一塊暗紅色的污跡，就在壁爐旁邊。

Is that a stain on the floor there?' she asked.

“地板那兒是有塊污跡吧？”她問。

Yes, Mrs Otis,' said Mrs Umney quietly. 'It's a bloodstain.'

“是的，奧蒂斯太太，”烏瑪尼夫人平靜地說，“那是血跡。”

Oh, that's terrible!' cried Mrs Otis. 'I can't have bloodstains on my floors. It must go.'

“啊，太惡心啦！”奧蒂斯太太叫道，“我家的地板上可不能有血跡，一定要弄干凈。”

The old woman smiled, and again answered in a quiet voice. 'It is the blood of Lady Eleanore de Canterville,' she said. 'Her husband, Sir Simon de Canterville, murdered her in 1575, while she was standing just there, in that place. He lived for another nine years after her death, but then he disappeared, very strangely and suddenly. Nobody ever found his body, but his ghost is still in the house, and will not rest. The bloodstain is famous — visitors come here specially to see it. People have tried to clean it, but it will not go away.'

那老婦人微笑著，依然用平靜的聲音回答，“那是埃莉諾·德·坎特維爾夫人的血跡，”她說，“她的丈夫，西蒙·德·坎特維爾爵士，于1575年將她謀害，當時她就站在那兒，就那個地方。她死之后，西蒙老爺又活了9年，可那以后他就突然失蹤了，很是離奇。沒有人找到過他的尸首，但他的鬼魂一直徘徊在宅子里，永不安寧。這塊血跡非常有名——觀光者都特地來參觀。人們試過要把它擦干凈，可就是去不掉。”

Of course it will!' cried Washington Otis. 'Pinkerton's Famous Stain Cleaner will clean it up in a second.'

“肯定去得掉！”華盛頓·奧蒂斯大聲說道，“平克頓牌的著名去污劑一下子就能把它去掉。”

And before the housekeeper could stop him, he was cleaning the floor with a small black stick.

管家還沒來得及阻止他，他就已經在用一根黑色的小棒棒清潔地板了。

A minute later, the bloodstain was gone!

一分鐘之后，血跡不見了！

There you are!' he said, smiling at the others. 'Pinkerton can clean anything!'

“看吧！”他對其他人笑著說，“用平克頓什么都能去掉！”

But at these words the storm outside suddenly began. A terrible flash of lightning lit up the room, and a second later came a great crash of thunder. Everyone jumped up at the sound of the thunder...and Mrs Umney fainted.

話一出口，外面忽然下起了暴風雨，可怕的閃電照亮了整個房間。片刻之后，傳來一聲巨雷，嚇得大家跳了起來……而烏瑪尼夫人暈了過去。

What terrible weather this country has!' said Mr Otis. He sat down again and lit a cigarette.

“這個國家的天氣糟糕透了！”奧蒂斯先生說道。他重新坐好，點了一支煙。

Mrs Umney lay on the floor, with her eyes closed. Mrs Otis looked at her. 'My dear Hiram,' she cried. 'What can we do with a woman who faints?'

烏瑪尼夫人倒在地上，雙目緊閉。奧蒂斯太太看著她。“親愛的海勒姆，”她喊道，“有女士昏過去了，我們該怎么辦？”

Tell her she has to pay some money,' said Mr Otis. 'If she breaks a cup or something, she has to pay for it. So tell her to pay if she faints. She won't faint after that.'

“跟她說她得賠錢。”奧蒂斯先生說，“要是她打碎了杯子啥的，她就得賠。所以告訴她要是暈倒了就得賠錢，那樣她就暈不了啦。”

At this Mrs Umney immediately sat up, but she looked very unhappy. 'Be careful! Trouble is coming to this house!' she said, her voice shaking. 'I have seen things here which are too terrible to describe. For night after night, I have not closed my eyes in sleep.'

聽到這兒烏瑪尼夫人立馬就坐了起來，可她看上去不大高興。“小心吧！這房子里的麻煩開始啦！”她說，聲音顫抖不已。“我見過這兒發(fā)生的事情，可怕得都難以形容。我一宿一宿地睡覺都不敢合眼。”

Mr Otis gave her a warm smile. 'My wife and I are not afraid of ghosts, Mrs Umney.'

奧蒂斯先生熱情地對她笑笑。“我太太和我都不怕鬼，烏瑪尼夫人。”

The old housekeeper got shakily to her feet. 'You Americans are so strong!' she said. 'And so kind! You know, I have worked here for many, many years at the same pay, and...'

老管家顫顫巍巍地站了起來。“你們美國人可真是天不怕地不怕啊！”她說，“人也真好！知道吧，我在這兒干了好多好多年啦，薪水都沒漲，還有……”

OK, Mrs Umney. We'll pay you more money,' said Mr Otis, still smiling.

“好啦，烏瑪尼夫人。我們會付你更多的錢的。”奧蒂斯先生仍然笑著說。

Oh, thank you, dear Mr Otis. And dear Mrs Otis. Thank you very much.'

“啊，謝謝您，親愛的奧蒂斯先生，還有親愛的奧蒂斯太太。非常感謝你們。”