Kenneth Grahame

——肯尼斯·格雷厄姆

本文選自《柳林風(fēng)聲》第三章。作者肯尼斯·格雷厄姆（1859—1932）是英國經(jīng)典兒童文學(xué)作家。本文講述的是鼴鼠在一個(gè)冬日下午獨(dú)自進(jìn)入野樹林，結(jié)果在林中迷了路……本文從動(dòng)物的視角來觀察和感受大自然，讓我們感受到小動(dòng)物們之間的關(guān)愛和溫情以及對(duì)大自然的敬畏。

The Mole had wanted for a long time to meet the Badger. He often spoke about his wish to the Water Rat， “Shall we go and visit him？” suggested the Mole. “Oh， no！” the Rat said， quite alarmed. “Hes very shy， and he wouldnt like that at all. I know him very well， but I've never visited his home. He lives right in the middle of the Wild Wood.”

“You said you would tell me about the Wild Wood，” said the Mole， “but you never did. Arent they very nice people in there？”

“Well，” replied the Rat， “the squirrels and the rabbits， most of them are all right. And Badger， of course. But I think we won't go there just now. It's a long way， and the Badger wouldn't be at home at this time of year. He'll come along one day if you wait quietly.”

But the summer passed and the Badger never came along. Soon the days grew shorter， and the cold weather kept the animals inside their comfortable houses. The Rat slept a lot in the winter， going to bed early and getting up late.

很長時(shí)間以來，鼴鼠一直想見灌，他時(shí)常把這個(gè)愿望告訴水鼠。“我們是不是應(yīng)該去拜訪他？”鼴鼠提議?！班?，不！”水鼠驚恐地答道，“他非常害羞，他根本就不喜歡有人來訪。我跟他很熟，但我從沒去過他家。他就住在野樹林中間?！?/p>

“你說過要告訴我一些關(guān)于野樹林的事，但你從沒談過。他們那兒的人不是很好嗎？”鼴鼠問道。

“喔，”水鼠說，“松鼠很好，還有野兔中的大多數(shù)都不錯(cuò)，當(dāng)然還有灌。但我想咱們現(xiàn)在還是不去的好。路遠(yuǎn)著哩！何況這個(gè)季節(jié)他也不在家。你只管安心等著，他總有一天要來這兒的。”

但是夏天過去了，獾還是沒來過。不久，白天越來越短，寒冷的天氣使得動(dòng)物們都待在他們舒適的家里。水鼠在冬季也是早睡晚起，瞌睡很多。

One afternoon， while the Rat was sleeping peacefully in front of the fire， the Mole decided to go out by himself and take a walk in the Wild Wood. “Perhaps，” he thought， “I'll meet Mr Badger， and then I can introduce myself.”

It was a cold afternoon， with a hard grey sky. The Mole hurried along， enjoying the quietness of the winter day， and after a time he saw in front of him the black shape of the Wild Wood.

Everything was very still now， and the darkness seemed to come down quickly， shutting the Mole off from the outside world. The Mole thought that he saw a face looking at him from a hole， a little narrow face， with hard unfriendly eyes. When he turned to look straight at it， the thing had disappeared. He hurried on， telling himself not to be silly. He passed an other hole， yes！ Eyes were looking at him， then disappearing again into the darkness. The Mole felt he had to get away from these faces. He turned off the path and hurried into the thickest part of the wood.

一天下午，水鼠在火爐前安睡，鼴鼠決定獨(dú)自出去，到野樹林里散散步。他想：“也許我能碰見灌先生，然后我可以做個(gè)自我介紹?！?/p>

那天下午很冷，天空陰沉沉的。鼴鼠向前趕著路，享受著冬日里的寧靜，一會(huì)兒，他就看見了前面野樹林黑黝黝的輪廓。

現(xiàn)在一切非常安靜，黑暗似乎一下子籠罩下來，將鼴鼠與外面的世界隔絕開來。鼴鼠覺得他看見了一張臉正從一個(gè)洞里盯著他：一張小小的、窄窄的臉，露出一雙銳利而不友善的眼睛。當(dāng)他轉(zhuǎn)過去直視他時(shí)，那小東西便不見了。他一邊向前奔著，一邊告訴自己不要犯傻。他走過一個(gè)又一個(gè)洞，是的！一雙雙眼睛在盯著他，然后又消失在黑暗里。鼴鼠感到他得避開這些臉，于是他離開這條道，向樹林最茂密處奔去。

Then the whistling began. The Mole stopped and listened， then went on again. He was trying hard to stay calm， but his heart was beating very fast. He was alone， and far from help， and the night was coming down quickly. Then the pattering began. Then the noise grew louder and nearer， and the Mole knew what it was. It was the sound of little feet on all sides of him.

The frightened Mole began to run too， but he did not know where he was. He ran into trees and bushes， he fell over things and dodged round things， he picked himself up and ran on. At last he found a deep dark hole in the bottom of an old tree and fell into it， too tired to run another step. He lay there， shaking with fear， and listened to the whistlings and the patterings outside.

Now he understood why the Rat did not want to talk about it， and why other small animals from the fields and the river bank never came here. Because now， the Mole had felt terror of the Wild Wood.

這時(shí)，口哨聲響了。鼴鼠停下來，聽了一會(huì)兒，然后繼續(xù)向前趕路。他努力使自己平靜下來，但他的心跳得飛快。他孤立無援，而且夜幕很快就要降臨了。然后啪嗒聲開始響了。聲音越來越大，越來越近，鼴鼠知道是什么了。這是小腳奔跑的聲音，縈繞在他的四周。

鼴鼠嚇壞了，也開始跑，但他不知道自己身在何處。他跑進(jìn)樹林和灌木叢里，忽而摔倒在什么東西上，忽而又繞過什么東西，然后爬起來繼續(xù)跑。最后他發(fā)現(xiàn)一棵老樹，樹的根部有個(gè)深深的黑洞，他掉了進(jìn)去，累得再也跑不動(dòng)了。他躺在那兒，聽著外面的哨聲和腳步聲，嚇得渾身發(fā)抖。

現(xiàn)在他知道了為什么水鼠不想談?wù)撘皹淞?，為什么田野和河岸上別的小動(dòng)物從不來這兒，因?yàn)楝F(xiàn)在鼴鼠自己感受到了野樹林的恐怖。

Vocabulary

narrow adj.狹窄的;有限的;勉強(qiáng)的

whistling n.口哨聲，嘯聲

frightened adj.害怕的，受驚的

dodge v.閃開，躲開;逃避