彼得·潘 作者:[英]詹姆斯·巴里 翻译:杨静远
PETER PAN


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    Chapter 14 THE PIRATE SHIP
    第十四章 海盗船
    
    
    One green light squinting over Kidd's Creek, which is near the mouth of the pirate river, marked where the brig, the JOLLY ROGER, lay, low in the water; a rakish-looking (speedy-looking) craft foul to the hull, every beam in her detestable, like ground strewn with mangled feathers. She was the cannibal of the seas, and scarce needed that watchful eye, for she floated immune in the horror of her name.
    绿幽幽的一盏桅灯,斜睨着海盗河口附近的基德山涧,表明那艘双桅帆船——快乐的罗杰号就停泊在那儿;这艘外貌看起来穷凶极恶的船,从上到下没有一处不是污秽透顶,每一根龙骨都透着肃杀之气,像尸横遍野的地面一样可憎。它是海上的吃人生番,由于它可怖的恶名远扬,不需要那只警觉的眼睛般的桅灯,也能无阻拦地横行海上。
    She was wrapped in the blanket of night, through which no sound from her could have reached the shore. There was little sound, and none agreeable save the whir of the ship's sewing machine at which Smee sat, ever industrious and obliging, the essence of the commonplace, pathetic Smee. I know not why he was so infinitely pathetic, unless it were because he was so pathetically unaware of it; but even strong men had to turn hastily from looking at him, and more than once on summer evenings he had touched the fount of Hook's tears and made it flow. Of this, as of almost everything else, Smee was quite unconscious.
    这船被夜幕笼罩着,船上没有一点声音能传到岸上。船上本来也没有多少声响,除了斯密使用的那架缝纫机的哒哒转动声,更谈不到什么动听的声音。这位平凡、可怜的斯密,永远是勤勤恳恳,乐于为人效劳的。我不知道他为什么这样可怜,也许正是因为他自己不觉得自己可怜;就是强硬的汉子,也不忍多看他一眼;在夏天的夜晚,他竟不止一次触动了胡克的泪泉,使他落泪。对这件事,也和对所有别的事一样,斯密都浑然不觉。
    A few of the pirates leant over the bulwarks, drinking in the miasma (putrid mist) of the night; others sprawled by barrels over games of dice and cards; and the exhausted four who had carried the little house lay prone on the deck, where even in their sleep they rolled skillfully to this side or that out of Hook's reach, lest he should claw them mechanically in passing.
    有几个水手靠在船舷边深深地吸着夜雾;其余的水手匍匐在木桶旁掷骰子,斗纸牌;那四个抬小屋子的精疲力竭的汉子,趴在甲板上。就是在睡梦中,他们也灵活地滚过来滚过去,躲开胡克,免得他在经过他们身边时,漫不经心地挠他们一下。
    Hook trod the deck in thought. O man unfathomable. It was his hour of triumph. Peter had been removed for ever from his path, and all the other boys were on the brig, about to walk the plank. It was his grimmest deed since the days when he had brought Barbecue to heel; and knowing as we do how vain a tabernacle is man, could we be surprised had he now paced the deck unsteadily, bellied out by the winds of his success?
    胡克在甲板上踱来踱去,沉思着。这个深奥莫测的人呐,这是他大获全胜的时刻。彼得已经被除掉了,再也不能挡他的道;别的孩子全都被捉到了船上,等着走跳板。自从他制伏了巴比克以来,这要算他最辉煌的一次战绩了。我们知道,人性是多么虚荣,如果他现在在甲板上大摇大摆地踱着方步,由于胜利而趾高气扬,那也不足为怪。
    But there was no elation in his gait, which kept pace with the action of his sombre mind. Hook was profoundly dejected.
    但是,他的步子里丝毫也没有得意的神情,他的脚步和他阴暗的心情正好合拍。胡克的心极为抑郁。
    He was often thus when communing with himself on board ship in the quietude of the night. It was because he was so terribly alone. This inscrutable man never felt more alone than when surrounded by his dogs. They were socially inferior to him.
    每当夜深人静,胡克在船上自思自忖时,他总是这样。这是因为,他感到极端孤独。这个叫人看不透的人,他的下属越是围绕在他身旁,他越感到孤独。他们的社会地位,比他低得太多了。
    Hook was not his true name. To reveal who he really was would even at this date set the country in a blaze; but as those who read between the lines must already have guessed, he had been at a famous public school; and its traditions still clung to him like garments, with which indeed they are largely concerned. Thus it was offensive to him even now to board a ship in the same dress in which he grappled (attacked) her, and he still adhered in his walk to the school's distinguished slouch. But above all he retained the passion for good form.
    胡克不是他的真姓名。要是把他的真实身份揭露出来,甚至在今天,也会轰动全国;但是,读书细心的人,一定早已猜到,胡克曾经上过一所著名的中学;学校的风气至今还像衣服一样紧贴着他。不过说实在的,风气也多半是和衣着有关;所以,甚至到如今,如果他还穿着俘获这只船时所穿的衣裳上船,他会感到厌恶;他走起路来,还保持着学校里那种气度不凡的懒洋洋的神态。不过最重要的是,他保持着良好的风度。
    Good form! However much he may have degenerated, he still knew that this is all that really matters.
    良好的风度,不管他怎么堕落,他也知道这是真正事关重要的。
    From far within him he heard a creaking as of rusty portals, and through them came a stern tap-tap-tap, like hammering in the night when one cannot sleep. "Have you been good form to-day?" was their eternal question.
    远远地从他内心深处,他听到了一种轧轧声,仿佛打开了一扇生锈的门,门外传来森严的哒哒声,就像一个人夜里睡不着觉时听到的敲锤声。“你今天保持良好的风度了吗?”那声音永远在问他。
    "Fame, fame, that glittering bauble, it is mine," he cried.
    “名声,名声,那个闪闪发光的玩意儿,是属于我的。”他喊道。
    "Is it quite good form to be distinguished at anything?" the tap-tap from his school replied.
    “在一切事情上都要出人头地,这能说是良好的风度吗?”来自学校的那个哒哒声这样反问。
    "I am the only man whom Barbecue feared," he urged, "and Flint feared Barbecue."
    “巴比克就怕我一个人,”胡克辩白说,“弗林特呢,他还怕巴比克。”
    "Barbecue, Flint -- what house?" came the cutting retort.
    “巴比克,弗林特,他们是什么家庭出身?”那声音尖厉地反驳。
    Most disquieting reflection of all, was it not bad form to think about good form?
    最令人不安的反省是一心想要保持良好的风度,这不就是一种恶劣的风度吗?
    His vitals were tortured by this problem. It was a claw within him sharper than the iron one; and as it tore him, the perspiration dripped down his tallow (waxy) countenance and streaked his doublet. Ofttimes he drew his sleeve across his face, but there was no damming that trickle.
    这个问题搅得胡克五内俱焚,它就像他内心的一只爪,比他的铁爪还要锋利;那只爪撕裂着他的心。汗从他的油脸上淌了下来,在他的衣裳上,画出道道汗渍。他不时用袖子擦脸,可是止不住那液汁。
    Ah, envy not Hook.
    咳,不要羡慕胡克。
    There came to him a presentiment of his early dissolution (death). It was as if Peter's terrible oath had boarded the ship. Hook felt a gloomy desire to make his dying speech, lest presently there should be no time for it.
    胡克预感到自己要早死,好像彼得的那句可怕的诅咒已经登上了船。胡克忧郁地感到,他得说几句临终遗言,要不,过一会儿就来不及说了。
    "Better for Hook," he cried, "if he had had less ambition!" It was in his darkest hours only that he referred to himself in the third person.
    “胡克啊,”他喊道,“要是他野心小一点就好了。”只有在他心情最阴郁的时候,他才用第三人称称呼自己。
    "No little children to love me!"
    “没有一个小孩爱我。”
    Strange that he should think of this, which had never troubled him before; perhaps the sewing machine brought it to his mind. For long he muttered to himself, staring at Smee, who was hemming placidly, under the conviction that all children feared him.
    说也奇怪,他居然想到了这一点,这是他以前从来没有想到过的;也许是那架缝纫机使他想到的。他喃喃自语了很久,呆呆地望着斯密,斯密正在静静地缝衣边,自以为所有的孩子都怕他。
    Feared him! Feared Smee! There was not a child on board the brig that night who did not already love him. He had said horrid things to them and hit them with the palm of his hand, because he could not hit with his fist, but they had only clung to him the more. Michael had tried on his spectacles.
    怕他!怕斯密!那一夜,船上的孩子没有一个不是已经爱上了他。斯密给他们讲了一些骇人的事,还用手掌打过他们,因为他不能用拳头打他们;可越是这样,他们就越是缠住他,迈克尔还试着戴他的眼镜。
    To tell poor Smee that they thought him lovable! Hook itched to do it, but it seemed too brutal. Instead, he revolved this mystery in his mind: why do they find Smee lovable? He pursued the problem like the sleuth-hound that he was. If Smee was lovable, what was it that made him so? A terrible answer suddenly presented itself--"Good form?"
    告诉斯密,说孩子们爱他,胡克恨不得这样做;可是,这似乎太残酷了。胡克决定把这个秘密藏在心里。他们为什么觉得斯密可爱?胡克像警犬一样,对这个问题穷追不舍。斯密要是可爱,可爱在哪里?一个可怕的回答突然冒出来了:“是良好的风度!”
    Had the bo'sun good form without knowing it, which is the best form of all?
    这个水手头是不是有着顶好的风度,可又毫不自觉?这一点,不恰恰是顶好的风度吗?
    He remembered that you have to prove you don't know you have it before you are eligible for Pop (an elite social club at Eton).
    胡克记起来了,你得证明,你不知道自己有良好的风度,才有资格加入波普俱乐部。(Pop,英国著名的贵族中学伊顿公学的一个社交团体,1811年成立,成员人数严格控制。--译注)
    With a cry of rage he raised his iron hand over Smee's head; but he did not tear. What arrested him was this reflection:
    胡克狂怒地大吼一声,向斯密的头举起了铁爪,可是他没有把斯密撕碎,一个念头止住了他的手:
    "To claw a man because he is good form, what would that be?"
    “为了一个人有好风度而去抓他,那算什么呢?”
    "Bad form!"
    “那是恶劣的风度!”
    The unhappy Hook was as impotent (powerless) as he was damp, and he fell forward like a cut flower.
    不幸的胡克,一下子变得有气无力,像一朵被折断的花一样垂下了头。
    His dogs thinking him out of the way for a time, discipline instantly relaxed; and they broke into a bacchanalian (drunken) dance, which brought him to his feet at once, all traces of human weakness gone, as if a bucket of water had passed over him.
    他的喽罗们以为他现在不碍他们的手脚了,立刻就放松了纪律,狂醉般地跳起舞来;这使得胡克顿时振作起来,像一桶冷水浇到了头上,所有软弱的表现都一扫而光。
    "Quiet, you scugs," he cried, "or I'll cast anchor in you"; and at once the din was hushed. "Are all the children chained, so that they cannot fly away?"
    “别叫啦,你们这些浑蛋,”他嚷道,“要不,我要钩你们了。”喧闹声立刻止住了。“孩子们都用链子锁起来了没有?别让他们跑掉了。”
    "Ay, ay."
    “是喽,是喽。”
    "Then hoist them up."
    “那就把他们揪上来。”
    The wretched prisoners were dragged from the hold, all except Wendy, and ranged in line in front of him. For a time he seemed unconscious of their presence. He lolled at his ease, humming, not unmelodiously, snatches of a rude song, and fingering a pack of cards. Ever and anon the light from his cigar gave a touch of colour to his face.
    除了温迪,倒霉的囚徒们,一个个从货舱里被拉了出来,给排成一行,站在胡克面前。起初,胡克好像没看见他们。他懒洋洋地坐在那儿,有腔有调地哼着几句粗野的歌,手里玩弄着一副纸牌。他嘴里的雪茄烟的火光,一闪一闪地映出了他脸上的颜色。
    "Now then, bullies," he said briskly, "six of you walk the plank to-night, but I have room for two cabin boys. Which of you is it to be?"
    “好吧,小子们,”胡克干脆地说,“你们中间六个人今晚走跳板。我还可以留下两个做小厮。留下你们哪两个呢?”
    "Don't irritate him unnecessarily," had been Wendy's instructions in the hold; so Tootles stepped forward politely. Tootles hated the idea of signing under such a man, but an instinct told him that it would be prudent to lay the responsibility on an absent person; and though a somewhat silly boy, he knew that mothers alone are always willing to be the buffer. All children know this about mothers, and despise them for it, but make constant use of it.
    “除非万不得已,不要惹他发火。”温迪在货舱里曾这样告诉孩子们;所以图图很有礼貌地走上前去。图图很不愿意在这个人手底下当差,可是他灵机一动,想到可以把责任推给一个不在场的人;他尽管有点笨,可还是知道,只有做母亲的总是愿意代人受过的。所有的孩子们都知道这一点,都因此看不起母亲们,可是又时常加以利用。
    So Tootles explained prudently, "You see, sir, I don't think my mother would like me to be a pirate. Would your mother like you to be a pirate, Slightly?"
    于是,图图就谨慎地解释说:“你知道,先生,我想,我母亲是不会愿意我当海盗的。你母亲会愿意你当海盗吗,斯莱特利?”
    He winked at Slightly, who said mournfully, "I don't think so," as if he wished things had been otherwise. "Would your mother like you to be a pirate, Twin?"
    他冲斯莱特利挤了挤眼,斯莱特利悲伤地说:“我想她不会的。”好像他希望事情不是这样。“你们的母亲愿意你们当海盗吗,孪生子?”
    "I don't think so," said the first twin, as clever as the others. "Nibs, would -- "
    “我想她不会。”老大说,他也像别的孩子一样聪明。“尼布斯,你……?”
    "Stow this gab," roared Hook, and the spokesmen were dragged back. "You, boy," he said, addressing John, "you look as if you had a little pluck in you. Didst never want to be a pirate, my hearty?"
    “少废话。”胡克吼道,说话的孩子给拉了回去。“你小子,”胡克对约翰说,“你像是还有点勇气,你从来没有想过当海盗吗,我的乖乖?”
    Now John had sometimes experienced this hankering at maths. prep.; and he was struck by Hook's picking him out.
    约翰在做算术习题的时候,就遇到过这样的诘问,胡克单挑出他来问,使他感到有点突然。
    "I once thought of calling myself Red-handed Jack," he said diffidently.
    “我有一次想把自己叫作红手杰克。”约翰犹豫地说。
    "And a good name too. We'll call you that here, bully, if you join."
    “这名字不赖呀。要是你入伙,我们就这样叫你。”
    "What do you think, Michael?" asked John.
    “迈克尔,你怎么想?”约翰问。
    "What would you call me if I join?" Michael demanded.
    “要是我入伙,你们叫我什么?”迈克尔问。
    "Blackbeard Joe."
    “黑胡子乔。”
    Michael was naturally impressed. "What do you think, John?" He wanted John to decide, and John wanted him to decide.
    迈克尔自然是颇感兴趣。“你看怎么样,约翰?”他要约翰来决定,约翰要他来决定。
    "Shall we still be respectful subjects of the King?" John inquired.
    “我们入了伙还能当国王的好百姓吗?”约翰问。
    Through Hook's teeth came the answer: "You would have to swear, `Down with the King.'"
    回答从胡克的牙缝里挤了出来:“你们得宣誓,‘打倒国王。’”
    Perhaps John had not behaved very well so far, but he shone out now.
    约翰或许一直表现得不太好,不过,这一次他可大放光彩了。
    "Then I refuse," he cried, banging the barrel in front of Hook.
    “那我不干。”他捶着胡克面前的木桶喊道。
    "And I refuse," cried Michael.
    “我也不干。”迈克尔喊。
    "Rule Britannia!" squeaked Curly.
    “大英帝国长治久安!”卷毛高呼。
    The infuriated pirates buffeted them in the mouth; and Hook roared out, "That seals your doom. Bring up their mother. Get the plank ready."
    暴怒的海盗们打他们的嘴。胡克大吼道:“这就定了你们的命运了。把他们的母亲带上来,准备好跳板。”
    They were only boys, and they went white as they saw Jukes and Cecco preparing the fatal plank. But they tried to look brave when Wendy was brought up.
    他们不过是些孩子,看到鸠克斯和切科抬来那那块要命的跳板,脸都吓白了。可是,当温迪被带来时,他们竭力装出勇敢的样子。
    No words of mine can tell you how Wendy despised those pirates. To the boys there was at least some glamour in the pirate calling; but all that she saw was that the ship had not been tidied for years. There was not a porthole on the grimy glass of which you might not have written with your finger "Dirty pig"; and she had already written it on several. But as the boys gathered round her she had no thought, of course, save for them.
    我简直没法给你们描写温迪是多么瞧不起那些海盗。男孩们觉得,当海盗的行当多少还有点迷人的地方;可是,温迪只看到,这艘船多年没有打扫过了。没有一个舷窗的玻璃不脏,你都能在上面用手指写出“脏猪”的字样;她已经在几个舷窗上写下了。可是,当男孩们围在她身边时,当然,她一心只为他们着想。
    "So, my beauty," said Hook, as if he spoke in syrup, "you are to see your children walk the plank."
    “我的美人儿,”胡克说,嘴上像是抹了蜜糖,“你就要看着你的孩子们走跳板啦。”
    Fine gentlemen though he was, the intensity of his communings had soiled his ruff, and suddenly he knew that she was gazing at it. With a hasty gesture he tried to hide it, but he was too late.
    尽管胡克是一位体面的绅士,可是他进食过急了,弄脏了皱领;突然,他发见温迪正盯着他的衣领瞧。他急忙想去遮盖,可是已经来不及了。
    "Are they to die?" asked Wendy, with a look of such frightful contempt that he nearly fainted.
    “他们是要去死吗?”温迪问,她的神情轻蔑透顶,胡克几乎气晕了。
    "They are," he snarled. "Silence all," he called gloatingly, "for a mother's last words to her children."
    “是的。”他狠狠地说。“全都住口,”他幸灾乐祸地喊道,“听一个母亲和她的孩子们的最后诀别。”
    At this moment Wendy was grand. "These are my last words, dear boys," she said firmly. "I feel that I have a message to you from your real mothers, and it is this: `We hope our sons will die like English gentlemen.'"
    这时,温迪显得庄严极了。“亲爱的孩子们,这就是我最后对你们说话。”她坚定地说,“我觉得,你们真正的母亲有句话要我转给你们,那就是:‘我们希望,我们的儿子要死得像英国绅士。’”
    Even the pirates were awed, and Tootles cried out hysterically, "I am going to do what my mother hopes. What are you to do, Nibs?"
    听了这话,就这海盗们也大为敬畏;图图发狂似的大叫:“我就要照我母亲希望的去做。你呢,尼布斯?”
    "What my mother hopes. What are you to do, Twin?"
    “照我母亲希望的去做。你呢,孪生子?”
    "What my mother hopes. John, what are -- "
    “照我母亲希望的去做。约翰,你……”
    But Hook had found his voice again.
    可是胡克在震惊过后,又发话了。
    "Tie her up!" he shouted.
    “把她捆起来。”他狂叫。
    It was Smee who tied her to the mast. "See here, honey," he whispered, "I'll save you if you promise to be my mother."
    是斯密把温迪捆到桅杆上。“喂,我说,小乖乖,”斯密悄悄地说,“要是你答应做我的母亲,我就救你。”
    But not even for Smee would she make such a promise. "I would almost rather have no children at all," she said disdainfully (scornfully).
    可是,就连对斯密,温迪也不肯答应;“我宁可一个孩子也没有。”她鄙夷地说。
    It is sad to know that not a boy was looking at her as Smee tied her to the mast; the eyes of all were on the plank: that last little walk they were about to take. They were no longer able to hope that they would walk it manfully, for the capacity to think had gone from them; they could stare and shiver only.
    说来也够凄惨的,在斯密把温迪捆在桅杆上的时候,没有一个孩子望着她;孩子们的眼睛全都盯住那块跳板;他们将要去走那小小的最后几步。他们已经不敢指望自己能雄赳赳气昂昂地走那几步,他们已经失去了思想的能力,只剩下呆呆地望着,嗦嗦发抖。
    Hook smiled on them with his teeth closed, and took a step toward Wendy. His intention was to turn her face so that she should see they boys walking the plank one by one. But he never reached her, he never heard the cry of anguish he hoped to wring from her. He heard something else instead.
    胡克咬牙切齿地冲他们微笑,他朝着温迪走去,他想要扳过她的脸来,让她瞧着孩子们一个个走上跳板。可是胡克没能走到她跟前,没能听到他要强迫她发出的呼痛声。他听到的是另一种声音。
    It was the terrible tick-tick of the crocodile.
    那是鳄鱼的可怕的滴答声。
    They all heard it -- pirates, boys, Wendy--and immediately every head was blown in one direction; not to the water whence the sound proceeded, but toward Hook. All knew that what was about to happen concerned him alone, and that from being actors they were suddenly become spectators.
    那声音,他们全都听到了,海盗们,孩子们,温迪;刹那间,所有的头都朝一个方向转过去;不是朝着发出声音的水里看,而是朝着胡克看。大家都知道,将要发生的事只和他有关;他们本来是演戏的,现在忽然变成看戏的了。
    Very frightful was it to see the change that came over him. It was as if he had been clipped at every joint. He fell in a little heap.
    看到胡克身上起的变化,那才叫吓人呢。就像他浑身骨节都挨了痛打,他瘫软地缩成一小团。
    The sound came steadily nearer; and in advance of it came this ghastly thought, "The crocodile is about to board the ship!"
    那滴答声越来越近了;声音还没到,一个骇人的念头先到了:“那只鳄鱼要爬上船来了。”
    Even the iron claw hung inactive; as if knowing that it was no intrinsic part of what the attacking force wanted. Left so fearfully alone, any other man would have lain with his eyes shut where he fell: but the gigantic brain of Hook was still working, and under its guidance he crawled on he knees along the deck as far from the sound as he could go. The pirates respectfully cleared a passage for him, and it was only when he brought up against the bulwarks that he spoke.
    胡克的那只铁爪也一动不动地垂着,好像它也知道,自己不是那进攻的敌人真正要得到的身体的一部分。落到这样孤立无援的境地,换了别人,早就闭上眼睛,倒地等死了;可是,胡克那强大的头脑还在活动,他的头脑指挥他双膝着地,跪在甲板上往前爬,尽量逃开那个声音。海盗们恭恭敬敬地给他让出一条路,他一直爬到了船舷那边,才开口说话。
    "Hide me!" he cried hoarsely.
    “把我藏起来。”他沙哑地喊。
    They gathered round him, all eyes averted from the thing that was coming aboard. They had no thought of fighting it. It was Fate.
    海盗团团围绕在他身边;他们的眼睛都躲开不看那个就要爬上船来的东西,他们不想去和它战斗,这是命啊。
    Only when Hook was hidden from them did curiosity loosen the limbs of the boys so that they could rush to the ship's side to see the crocodile climbing it. Then they got the strangest surprise of the Night of Nights; for it was no crocodile that was coming to their aid. It was Peter.
    胡克藏起来以后,孩子们才由于好奇,活动开来,一齐拥到了船边,去看那只鳄鱼爬上船来。这时,他们看到了这惊人的一夜中最惊人的事;因为,来救他们的不是鳄鱼,而是彼得。
    He signed to them not to give vent to any cry of admiration that might rouse suspicion. Then he went on ticking.
    彼得做了个手势,示意他们不要发出惊喜的叫喊,免得引起怀疑。彼得继续发着滴答的声音。
    
    

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