書蟲二級 坎特維爾幽靈：5.可憐的幽靈

5．Poor, poor ghost!

5．可憐的幽靈

A few days after this, Virginia and the young Duke went out horse-riding. They were riding through some woods when one of the trees caught Virginia's skirt and made a big hole in it. Later, when she got home, she went up the back stairs to her room. She wanted to change her skirt before anyone saw it.

幾天之后，弗吉尼婭和年輕的公爵一起去騎馬。他們穿過一片樹林時，有一棵樹掛住了弗吉尼婭的裙子，破了個大洞。后來她回到家，從后面的樓梯來到自己的房間，想在別人瞧見之前把裙子換掉。

On the way to her bedroom she went past a room which was not often used. The door was half open, and she stopped. 'Is someone in there?' she thought. She went to the door and looked in.

在去臥室的路上，她經(jīng)過一個房間。這個房間不經(jīng)常用，這時門卻半開著，她停了下來。“難道里面有人？”她想。她走到門口向里看去。

To her surprise, Virginia saw the Canterville ghost. He was sitting near the window, watching the first leaves of autumn dancing in the wind. His head was on his hand, and he looked very unhappy. At first, little Virginia wanted to run away and lock herself in her room, but then she began to feel sorry for him.

令她大吃一驚的是，她看到了坎特維爾幽靈。他正坐在窗邊，凝視初秋的落葉在風中飛舞。他雙手托著頭，看上去很不開心。開始小弗吉尼婭想逃開，把自己反鎖在房間里，但后來她為幽靈難過起來。

She went quietly into the room, but he did not see her until she spoke. 'I am so sorry for you,' she said. 'But my brothers are going back to school tomorrow, and then nobody will hurt you if you don't try to frighten us.'

她悄悄地走進房間，直到她開口說話，幽靈才看到她。“我真為你難過，”她說，“可明天我的兄弟們就要回學校去了，如果你不嚇唬我們，就沒人會傷害你。”

The ghost was also surprised to see Virginia. 'But I am a ghost,' he answered. 'I must walk about at night, shake my chains, and go "Oooooh!" and "Aaaaagh!" through keyholes. That's my job. It's why I'm here.'

看到弗吉尼婭，幽靈也挺意外。“可我是個幽靈，”他回答說，“我必須在晚上游來蕩去，搖晃著我的鐵鏈，沖著鑰匙孔‘啾’、‘啊’亂叫。這就是我干的活兒，所以我才在這兒。”

It's not why at all,' said Virginia. 'And you have been very bad. Mrs Umney told us that you killed your wife.'

“才不是這個原因呢！”弗吉尼婭說，“你壞透了。烏瑪尼夫人說你殺死了自己的妻子。”

Well, that's true,' said the ghost.

“唉，這倒是真的。”幽靈說。

It is very wrong to kill anyone,' Virginia told him.

“不管殺誰都是不對的。”弗吉尼婭告訴他。

Oh, that's very easy to say!' said the ghost. 'My wife was not beautiful like you. And she was a bad housekeeper, and knew nothing about cooking. Well, it doesn't matter now. It's all finished. But I don't think it was very nice of her brothers to kill me.'

“嘿，說起來倒容易！”幽靈說，“我老婆可沒你那么漂亮，把家管得也不怎么樣，對做飯也一竅不通。唉，現(xiàn)在這都不重要了，都結(jié)束了?？晌矣X得她的兄弟們把我殺了，這是不對的。”

They killed you?' said Virginia.

“他們殺害了你？”弗吉尼婭問。

Well, they locked me in a room without food or water until I died,' said the ghost.

“嗯，他們把我鎖在房間里，沒有水，沒有吃的，一直到死。”幽靈說。

No food? Oh, Mr Ghost, I mean, Sir Simon, are you hungry? I have a sandwich — would you like it?'

“沒有吃的？哎呀，幽靈先生，我是說，西蒙爵士，你還餓嗎？我有三明治——你要吃嗎？”

No, thank you,' said the Canterville ghost. 'I never eat anything now. But it's very kind of you. You are much nicer than the rest of your horrible family.'

“不用了，謝謝。”坎特維爾幽靈說，“現(xiàn)在我什么都不吃了，你真好。你比你們家的其他那些討厭的人強多了。”

Stop!' cried Virginia, angrily. 'It is you who are horrible. You took the paints out of my paint box to make that stupid bloodstain in the library. You took my best reds, so I can't make any more pictures of the sun going down in the evenings. Then you took the green and the yellow. What's left? Dark blue and white! What pictures can I make with those? Only moonlight pictures, which are not easy to do. I never said a word about it to the others, but I was very angry. And it was all very stupid. Green blood! I've never seen green blood.'

“住嘴！”弗吉尼婭生氣地喊道，“令人討厭的是你。你從我的顏料盒里拿走了顏料，去書房里涂那塊愚蠢的血跡。你拿了我最好的紅色，我再也不能畫傍晚太陽下山時的畫了。后來你又拿走了綠色和黃色。還有什么剩下的？深藍色和白色！我用這些還能畫什么？只有不好畫的月色。我從沒對別人說過一個字，但我很生氣。而且這一切都太蠢了。綠色的血！我從來沒見過綠色的血。”

Well, what could I do?' said the ghost. 'It's very difficult to get real blood these days. And your brother started it all with his Pinkerton's Famous Stain Cleaner, so I used your paint. What's wrong with that? You Americans don't understand anything.'

“啊，那我能怎么辦？”幽靈說，“這年頭不容易弄到真正的血了。你哥哥用平克頓去污劑把它弄了個精光，我只好用你的顏料了。這又怎么了？你們美國人真是啥也不懂。”

You know nothing about Americans or America,' said Virginia. 'Why don't you go there? Father will be very happy to pay for your ticket. There are people in America who are ready to pay a hundred thousand dollars to get a family ghost.'

“你對美國人和美國一點兒都不了解，”弗吉尼婭說，“你為什么不去看看？爸爸會很樂意為你買票的。在美國會有人出十萬塊買一個家養(yǎng)幽靈的。”

No, thank you,' said the ghost. 'I don't think I would like America.'

“得了，謝謝你吧，”幽靈說，“我想我不會喜歡美國的。”

Why? Because it doesn't have any old buildings that are falling down? Because everything is new and modern? Or because the people don't speak nicely? 'Virginia was angry.' Excuse me, but I must go and ask my father to give the twins another week's holiday!'

“為什么？因為那兒沒有搖搖欲墜的老房子嗎？因為一切都新鮮現(xiàn)代嗎？還是因為人們的談吐不雅？”弗吉尼婭生氣了。“對不起了，我得去讓爸爸給那對雙胞胎再放一周假！”

Please don't go, Miss Virginia,' cried the ghost. 'I am so lonely and so unhappy, and I don't know what to do. I want to go to sleep, but I cannot.'

“請不要走，弗吉尼婭小姐。”幽靈叫道，“我非常孤獨，非常難過，可我不知道怎么辦。我想睡覺，可是睡不著。”

That's stupid! You just go to bed and put out your candle. It's very easy to sleep. Even babies can do it, and they're not very clever.'

“真愚蠢！你只要去床上，吹熄蠟燭。睡覺很容易，連嬰兒也會，他們還都不怎么聰明呢。”

I have not slept for three hundred years,' he said unhappily, and Virginia's beautiful blue eyes got bigger and bigger with surprise. 'Three hundred years!' he said again. 'And I'm so tired.'

“我已經(jīng)有300年沒睡覺了。”他難過地說。弗吉尼婭那雙美麗的眼睛由于吃驚睜得越來越大。“300年了！”幽靈又說，“我真累極了。”

She began to feel sorry for him once more. Her little mouth trembled like the leaves of a flower, and she looked at him kindly. 'Poor, poor ghost,' she said quietly, and moved nearer to him. 'Isn't there anywhere that you can sleep?'

她又一次為幽靈感到難過了。她的小嘴抖得像花兒的葉子，她溫柔地看著他。“可憐的幽靈，”她柔聲道，向他靠近了些。“那有沒有你能睡著的地方？”

On the other side of the woods there is a garden,' he answered, with a far-away look in his eyes. 'The grass is long and deep, there are beautiful white flowers, and a bird sings sweetly all night long. The moon looks down, and the big old tree puts out its arms over the sleepers. '

“在樹林的另一邊有一座花園，”他回答，眼神悠悠地飄向遠方，“在那兒，草兒繁茂蔥郁，花兒潔白美麗，還有鳥兒徹夜輕快地歌唱。月光下，巨大的古樹伸出枝葉，覆蓋著沉睡的人。”

You — you mean the "Garden of Death",' Virginia said softly.

“你——你是說‘死亡花園’。”弗吉尼婭輕輕地說。

Yes, Death. Death could be so beautiful. To lie quietly under the ground, with the grass above moving slowly in the wind, and everything silent ... To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to have peace, and to be still for ever. ' He looked at her. 'You can open the door to Death for me, for Love is always with you, and Love is stronger than Death is.'

“對，死亡。死亡是那么美。靜靜地躺在地下，上面的草兒隨風搖曳，一切歸于沉寂……沒有昨天，也沒有明天；遺忘了時間，擁有了寧靜，永遠地靜止下去。”幽靈看著她，“你能為我打開死亡的大門，因為你一直擁有愛，愛比死亡更強大。”

Virginia suddenly felt cold, and she began to tremble.

弗吉尼婭一下子覺得全身冰冷，開始顫抖起來。

Then the ghost spoke again, and his voice was like a soft wind through the trees. 'Have you ever read the old words on the library window?' he asked.

接著幽靈又說話了，他的聲音像吹過樹叢的輕風。“你看過書房窗戶上那些過去留下來的話嗎？”他問道。

Oh, yes, often,' cried the little girl. 'I know them well. They are painted in strange black letters, and are difficult to read. There are only four lines:

“是的，經(jīng)?？吹健?rdquo;小姑娘叫了出來，“我熟悉得很。那是用奇怪的黑花體字寫成的，很難辨認。只有四行：

When a golden girl has prayed for you,

當金子般的姑娘為你祈禱，

And a little child has cried for you,

當有個孩子為你哭泣，

The house will then be quiet and still,

宅邸終將歸于沉寂，

And peace will come to Cantervitle.

寧靜降臨坎特維爾。

But I don't know what they mean.'

可我不懂那是什么意思。”

They mean this,' said the ghost. 'You can pray for me, because I am bad and cannot pray. You can cry for me, and for all the bad things I have done, because I cannot cry. And if you have been sweet and good and kind, Death will be kind to me. Horrible shapes will come to frighten you in the darkness, and you'll hear terrible voices in your ear, but they cannot hurt you. They cannot win the fight against the goodness of a little child.'

“它是這個意思，”幽靈說，“你能為我祈禱，因為我是壞蛋，不能祈禱。你可以為我哭，為我做的那么多壞事哭，因為我不能哭。如果你心地善良又溫柔仁慈，死亡會對我網(wǎng)開一面?？膳碌墓治飼诤诎抵锌謬樐?，你會聽到可怕的聲音，但是他們傷害不了你。他們戰(zhàn)勝不了一個孩子的善良。”

Virginia did not answer, and the ghost watched her unhappily. Suddenly she stood up. Her face was very white, and there was a strange light in her eyes. 'I'm not afraid,' she said. 'I'll pray for you to die, and for you to have peace.'

弗吉尼婭沒有回答，幽靈郁悶地看著她。突然，她站了起來，臉色蒼白，眼中閃著一種奇異的光芒。“我不害怕。”她說，“我為你祈禱，讓你去死，讓你擁有平靜。”

With a small but happy cry, the ghost stood up, took her hand, and kissed it. His fingers were as cold as snow, and his lips burned like fire. Virginia went with him across the dark room. Suddenly the wall opened and there was a great black hole in front of her. A cold wind came out of the darkness, and she could feel something pulling at her dress.

幽靈開心地輕聲叫起來，起身抓住她的手，吻了一吻。他的手指冷得像雪一樣，而嘴唇卻灼熱如火。弗吉尼婭跟著他穿過黑暗的房間。突然，墻面打開了，她身前出現(xiàn)了一個巨大的黑洞。一股冷風從黑暗處刮了出來，她感到仿佛有東西在拽著她的裙子。

Come quickly, quickly!' cried the ghost. 'Or it will be too late.'

“快來，快??！”幽靈叫道，“要不然就太遲了。”

And in a second the wall closed behind them, and the room was empty.

剎那間，墻壁在他們身后合上了，屋子里又變得空蕩蕩的。