寻找食人族

【故事主线】

分别来自中国香港、印度、英国和澳大利亚的六位主人公为了寻找传说中的食人族踏上了开往南美的邮轮……

Profile

【人物简介】

小强：男，香港富豪之子，喜好探险旅游，本次探险旅行的发起人。

蜜儿：女，香港某野外生存俱乐部教练，武功出色，中国的“劳拉”。

威廉：男，英国作家，以经常发布一些惊世奇闻的旅行游记著称。

桑杰：印度小男孩，印度洋海啸后当地的唯一幸存者。

艾德里安：男，澳大利亚生物学家，喜欢研究昆虫。

白雪：蜜儿的宠物狗，忠心耿耿，总给人带来意外惊喜。

编剧：Adrian Brookes（澳大利亚）

情节策划：何彦平、王妮

插画：姚薇

本栏目有偿欢迎读者参与剧情策划

投稿信箱：contribution@bilingualtime.com

Plot Synopsis

【本期剧情】

愤怒的军官命令水手们将蜜儿和小强看管起来，中途溜走的威廉跑来探望他们，他不仅说出了那个被蜜儿戏称为“亚马逊之后”的神秘女人的来历，还交代了自己的过往。一波未平，一波又起。虽然轮船机房没有任何损伤，但桑杰和白雪似乎又碰上了不怀好意的人……

Episode 4: William's Secret

第四集：威廉的秘密

Situation

情景

小强和密儿被关在维多利亚邮轮下甲板的一个房间里。这时有人敲门，是一个船员。

Seaman: A visitor for you…

（进来的是威廉。）

Candy: William! What—

（威廉示意她别激动，门砰地一声在他身后关上了。）

Candy: What's happening? How come they let you in here?

William: Oh, the guard's all right, though he called someone first to check whether I was allowed in.

Candy: Where were you?

William: While you were getting yourselves in trouble, you mean? I saw it all, though I thought it best to stay out of sight. So what are you going to do now?

XiaoQiang: We have to find out what they're up to - that man and woman.

William: You still mean to carry on with your plan?

XiaoQiang: Yes, of course.

William: But you said you heard them plotting to kill you.

XiaoQiang: Yes…

William: And what if they do?

XiaoQiang: Oh… do you think they really would kill us?

William: (sighs and shakes his head) You don't know what you've got yourselves into, do you? You're in the web. She's watching you. There's no escape now, unless she decides to release you.

Candy: "She"? The man and woman talked about a "she". Who is she?

William: I've told you. And you rather flippantly christened her the Queen of the Amazon. Do you remember?

Candy: Yes…

XiaoQiang: But we're still on the other side of the world. How could she be watching us here?

William: Do you remember I said she might be from one of the old royal houses of Europe? All right, I'll tell you: she's from the old kingdom of Strovykia. Yes, where indeed! It's in a little corner of European Russia near the Caspian Sea. Her family had ruled there for hundreds of years, but when the revolution came they were overthrown - captured and shot, most of them. But Crown Prince Yakim and his young bride managed to get away, and they spent days hiding in the mountains, with revolutionary guards chasing them, before they got across the border and escaped.

Candy: How do you know all this?

William: I'll tell you. But let me finish… The prince and his wife escaped into a neighbouring country, but the government there wanted to appease the revolutionaries and plotted to send them back to Strovykia. Price Yakim found out about it, so they stowed away on a ship bound for Brazil, where they lived in exile. A year later they had a daughter, and as the girl grew up they made sure she learned all about her country and her heritage. But one day, while the daughter was in the care of her nurse, Prince Yakim and his wife were shot and killed by Strovykian agents. The assassins would have killed the daughter, too, except that her nurse, who was from a remote region of the Amazon, fled for her life to her home village and took the girl with her. The assassins, who either lost track of them or no longer thought the girl was a threat, left them alone.

（门外有声音，门被打开了，水手把桑杰和白雪带了进来。）

Seaman: Some friends for you. Mr Baines will be here to speak with you shortly.

Candy: Sanjay! Are you OK? And Snow White! What happened?

Sanjay: We are quite well, thank you.

Candy: Mr Baines was very angry. Why did you go to the engine room?

Sanjay: A man chased us. We did not want to go there.

Candy: A man? You mean, a seaman?

Sanjay: No. A passenger. A man in a brown suit.

XiaoQiang: The man from cabin 13!

（白雪在吠叫。）

Candy: Why was he chasing you? Was he threatening you?

Sanjay: No. He only said he wanted to talk to me. But he was a bad man. I could tell, and Snow White knew, as well.

Candy: What happened to the engines? They stopped - what did you do to them?

Sanjay: We did nothing to them. We only went through the engine room until we found another way out. To get away from the man.

Candy: Well, I'm relieved to hear it. But I guess we'll have to wait and find out what Mr Baines has to say. Anyway… William, we interrupted your story.

William: That's quite all right. Where was I? Ah, yes… The girl grew up into a strong-willed young lady who remembered very well all that she'd been taught about Strovykia, and also how her parents had been murdered. She was, of course, the next in line to the throne of her country, if there was a throne to be had, and she considered herself the rightful queen. She grew in bitterness, and resolved that one day she'd return there and take the power she still thinks is hers. Madness, yes - but her life has been a thirst for vengeance on Strovykia for all that's happened to her.

Candy: How do you know all this?

William: I've researched it.

Candy: I don't understand…

William: I've spent five years, on and off, researching it all.

Candy: What for?

William: Because I wanted to write a book about it. I have to scrape a living somehow, and that's how I do it. I write various pieces for travel magazines, and once, while I was in Peru, I stumbled across this story. I spent much of the next five years there, gathering information bit by bit, until I knew I'd hit on something astounding and almost beyond belief. Then, just when I was ready to sit down and put it all together, I had a visitor.

XiaoQiang: Who?

William: Someone she sent along, who told me the addresses and daily habits of all my family members, and all my movements too, who then laid a loaded pistol on the table and said, "So you wouldn't want to do anything unwise." I took all my notes and all the tapes I'd made and all the photographs I'd taken to do with that story and I burned them as he watched. Then he picked up the pistol and pointed it straight at my head, and he said, "Take a good look at this, because if I ever need to use it you won't see it." Then he took out a bullet and gave it to me, and said, "See - one just like this will go through the back of your head. Keep it so you won't forget." He leans back in his seat weakly. So, how could she be watching us from the other side of the world? People such as her are born with great influence, and they know how to use it.

Candy: What's her name?

William: She's known as Serafima. It means the Burning One. All her life she's been burning inside with bitterness and the anguish of her lost crown. She's used the situation in the Amazon - the remote areas where governments have little control - to establish a kingdom for herself. And there, with a band of loyal supporters, she's been building up a vast wealth using the area's resources and training an army that's meant to infiltrate Strovykia and unleash a devastating war on all the neighbouring republics and oblasts in the Russian Federation. She plans to strike so hard that the Russian government will have no alternative but to obliterate the whole region.

Candy: But how can you be sure of all that?

William: Sure? Oh, I can be sure enough after five years of research. I hold enough pieces of the puzzle to know the shapes of the others.

Candy: Why are you telling us now, if you've been warned against it?

William: Because I can't get rid of her! Every so often she sends me a little reminder: a photo of me taken earlier that day, or someone passing me on the street who tells me she hopes I'm looking after myself… or once I even threw away the bullet that thug of hers had given me, and when I returned home that night there was another one in a little jewellery box sitting on my kitchen table.

（门开了，邮轮的长官贝恩斯先生走了进来。）

Mr.Baines: ( looks troubled and embarrassed) Right… You've caused enough nuisance on this ship to get yourselves thrown off at the next port, but I'm instructed to return you to your former status as paying guests - in other words, to let you go free. It's not my choice, and I'd want an undertaking of good behaviour from you. Fortunately the ship's engines were shut down by the chief engineer as a precaution, not because of anything you did to them… So you may go back to your cabins.

（他打开门，大家走出房间。）

William: It's her influence - she's even got control over the ship's officers now. She's closing the net around us, and no mistake - from the other side of the world.

Situation

情景

小强和密儿被关在维多利亚邮轮下甲板的一个房间里。这时有人敲门，是一个船员。

水手：有人来看你们……

（进来的是威廉。）

蜜儿：威廉！怎么回事——

（威廉示意她别激动，门砰地一声在他身后关上了。）

蜜儿：发生什么事了？他们怎么会让你进来?

威廉：哦，门卫还好，虽然他先打电话叫人查了我的身份才让我进来。

蜜儿：你那会儿去哪儿了？

威廉：你是指在你们惹祸上身的时候？我都看见了，但是我觉得我最好别露面。现在你们打算怎么办？

小强：我们必须知道他们这会儿要干什么——那对男女。

威廉：你的意思是还要继续你的计划？

小强：那当然。

威廉：但你说你听到他们说要杀了你们。

小强：是啊……

威廉：如果他们这么做了怎么办？

小强：哦……你认为他们真的会杀了我们？

威廉：（叹气，摇了摇头）你们并不知道给自己惹了什么麻烦，对吧？你们已经陷入了他们的陷阱，她在盯着你们，你们逃不了，除非她打算放了你们。

蜜儿：“她”？那对男女提到了一个“她”，她是谁？

威廉：我告诉过你们，你还戏称她是亚马逊之后，你还记得吗？

蜜儿：恩……

小强：但我们还在地球的另一端，她怎么能够在这里监视我们？

威廉：你们还记得我说过她可能来自欧洲一个古老的皇室家族吗？好吧，我跟你们说，她来自斯乔维基亚这个古老的王国，对，是那儿！位于俄国欧洲大陆靠近里海的一个角落。她的家族在那块地方统治了好几百年，但一场革命将他们推翻了，大多数王室成员不是被抓，就是被枪决。但是王储亚基姆和他年轻的新娘逃过了这劫。他们在山上躲藏了数日，期间革命卫队对他们穷追不舍，但最后他们成功地穿过边境逃脱了。

蜜儿：你怎么知道这些？

威廉：我会告诉你们的，但是先让我说完……王储和他的妻子逃到邻国，但是邻国政府想讨好革命军，暗地里计划将他们送回斯乔维基亚。王储亚基姆得知这些之后便偷偷登上一艘前往巴西的轮船，之后在巴西过着流亡的生活。一年后，他们有了个女儿。小姑娘长大后，他们告诉了她有关她的国家和家世的所有情况。但是有一天，当孩子由保姆看护的时候，王储亚基姆和他的妻子都被斯乔维基亚的特务杀害了。这些特务本来也要杀掉孩子，但来自亚马逊偏远地区的保姆拼命带着孩子逃回家乡并收养了她。特务要么因为失去了她们的行踪，要么认为这个小女孩儿构成不了什么威胁，便随她们去了，不再追查。

（门外有声音，门被打开了，水手把桑杰和白雪带了进来。）

水手：你们的朋友来了。贝恩斯先生一会儿会过来跟你们谈话。

蜜儿：桑杰！你没事吧？还有白雪！发生什么事了？

桑杰：我们都很好，谢谢。

蜜儿：贝恩斯先生很生气，你们为什么要跑到轮机房去？

桑杰：有个男人在追我们，我们也不想去那儿。

蜜儿：一个男人？你是指船员？

桑杰：不，一个乘客，一个穿褐色西装的男人。

小强： 13号船舱的那个男人。

（白雪在吠叫。）

蜜儿：他为什么追你们？他威胁你们了吗？

桑杰：没有，他只说他有话要跟我说。但是我知道他是坏人，白雪也知道。

蜜儿：引擎怎么了？它们停下来了，你们都干了什么？

桑杰：我们什么也没干，我们只是穿过轮机房，直到我们找到另一条出路，躲开了那个男人。

蜜儿：哦，听你这么说我就放心了。但我想我们还得等贝恩斯先生，看他会说些什么，不管怎样……威廉，我们刚才打断了你。

威廉：不要紧，我刚才说到哪儿了？啊，对……孩子长大后成为一个意志坚强的姑娘，她牢记所有关于斯乔维基亚的事情，以及她的父母是如何被谋杀的。毫无疑问，如果还有王位可继承的话，她理应是那个王国的下一个帝王，而且她也认为自己理应成为女王。她在成长过程中历经艰难，她发誓总有一天要回到那里，将她一直认为属于她的权利夺回来。她真疯狂——但她一生都渴望为她所有的遭遇对斯乔维基亚进行复仇。

蜜儿：你怎么知道这些？

威廉：我研究过。

蜜儿：我不明白……

威廉：我断断续续花了5年的时间来研究这些。

蜜儿：你研究这些做什么？

威廉：因为我想为这个写一本书。我要有一个维持生活的方式，那就是我的方式。我为旅游杂志撰写各种各样的文章。有一次，我在秘鲁的时候偶然发现了这个故事。接下来的五年中我的大部分时间都花在那里，点点滴滴地搜集资料，直到发生了一些让人无法置信令人震惊的事情。正当我准备坐下来把这些事情全部串联起来的时候，有人找上门了。

小强：谁？

威廉：是她派来的人。那个人把我所有家人的地址和日常习惯都跟我说了一遍，还把我的行踪也描述了一番，他在桌上放一支上了膛的手枪，对我说：“所以你不会做任何不明智的事情吧。”我把我所有有关那个故事的笔记、录音带和照片在他面前通通烧毁。然后，他拿起那支枪对准我的脑袋说：“好好看清楚它，因为如果我用上了它，你就再也看不见它了。”他拿出一颗子弹给我，说：“看，一颗这样的子弹会穿过你的后脑勺。留着它，让它给你长记性。”他缓缓地向椅子后面靠去。在地球的另一端她怎么能监视我们呢？像她这样的人生来就有强大的权势，而且懂得如何利用这些权势。

蜜儿：她叫什么？

威廉：人们管她叫色拉费马，意思是燃烧的人。她一生内心都因失去皇冠而饱受煎熬，痛苦不堪。她利用了亚马逊当地的情形，那是一个偏远的地区，山高皇帝远，政府疏于管理，她便在那里建立了一个自己的王国。在一批保皇派的支持下，她利用当地的资源创造了巨大的财富，训练了一批人，打算让他们混进斯乔维基亚并向周边所有联邦共和国和州区发动毁灭性战争。她打算发动强烈的攻击，使得俄罗斯政府除了将这块地方铲成平地外将别无选择。

蜜儿：你怎么能确定这一切呢？

威廉：确定？哦，五年的研究足够让我这样确定。就这个疑团我掌握了足够的资料得以让我了解其它一些情况。

蜜儿：如果你被警告过，那为什么又要告诉我们？

威廉：因为我摆脱不了她！她时不时地给我送来一个小提示：一张前些天拍的我的照片，或在大街上一个与我擦肩而过的人跟我说她希望我能好好照顾自己……甚至有一次我将她派来的那个凶汉给我的子弹扔了，当天晚上我回到家里的时候，发现另一颗子弹装在一个小首饰盒中放在我的餐桌上。

（门开了，邮轮的长官贝恩斯先生走了进来。）

贝恩斯先生：（看上去有些窘困与不安）好了……你们在这艘船上制造了那么多麻烦，在下一港口你们下船吧，但是上级命令我依然当你们是支付了船费的乘客来对待，换句话说就是放了你们，这不是我的意思，我希望你们会有好的表现。好在是轮机长以防万一把邮轮的引擎给关了，而不是因为你们对它们干了什么……所以现在你们可以回到自己的船舱里去了。

（他打开门，大家走出房间。）

威廉：这是她的意思。她现在甚至控制了这艘船上的官员。她要对我们动手了，没错，从地球的另一端。

Notes

1. stay out of

意为“保持不受……影响、避开、不介入”，stay out of sight指“别让人看见”。

例句：You stay out of this!

你别参与此事！

His father told him to stay out of trouble.

他父亲叫他避开是非之地。

2. be up to

意为“从事……”。

例句：If he know what you are up to, he is sure to be angry.

假使他知道了你想干什么一定会生气的。

3. manage to

意为“设法做……、想办法做……、达成”。

例句：How did you manage to get all that wine through Customs?

你是怎样使那些酒都通过海关检查的?

He managed to avoid his pursuers.

他设法甩掉了那些追捕者。

4. live in exile

意为“流亡异乡、过背井离乡的生活”。

例句：Hamlet is a Danish prince who lived in exile in England.

哈姆雷特是一位流亡在英国的丹麦王子。

5. in the care of

意为“在……的照料下”，如果说交托某人照料或看护，通常与leave搭配。

例句：Leave the child in the care of a neighbour.

把小孩留给邻居照看。

6. except that

意为“除了……外、只可惜”。

例句：I don't know exactly where he lives, except that it's far from the city.

我不太清楚他住在哪里，只知道他住得离城市很远。

She remembered nothing about him except that his hair was black.

她对他什么都不记得, 只记得他的头发是黑的。

7. leave someone alone

意为“不管、不理、不干涉、让……单独呆着”，文中指不再追查她们的下落。

例句：She's asked to be left alone but journalists keep harrying her.

她要求不要打扰她, 但记者总是缠著她不放。

Kindly leave me alone!

劳驾您别打扰我!

8. get away from

意为“逃脱、离开”。

例句：He fled out of town to get away from the cops.

他逃出城，以免落在警察手里。

You can't get away from those facts.

你无法回避这些事实。

9. strong-willed

意为“意志坚强的、固执己见的”。

例句：To be a successful man ,one must be strong-willed.

要成为一名成功人士，一定要有坚强的意志。

Her father was such a strong-willed tyrant that you could never manage to persuade him to marry his daughter to you.

她父亲固执专制，你别想说服他把女儿嫁给你。

10. in line

意为“有秩序”，文中指按秩序继承王位，in line with是指“跟……一致、符合”。

例句：The students all stand in line to get their new books.

学生们排队取新书。

Behaviours must be in line with words.

言行要一致。

11. thirst for

意为“非常渴望、迫切要求”。

例句：On these dry days, you soon thirst for a cool drink.

在那些干旱的日子里，你不久就会渴望喝点清凉的东西。

Many boys have a thirst for adventure.

许多男孩儿都渴望冒险。

12. scrape a living

意为“勉强够维持生活”。

例句：I manage to scrape a living by selling my pictures.

我靠卖画糊口。

13. stumble across

意为“偶然发现”。

例句：He stumbled across a clue.

他偶然发现一个线索。

They stumbled across the entrance to an underground passage.

他们偶然发现了一个地下通道的入口。

14. hit on

意为“偶然碰到、想到、找到”。

例句：Who hit on this brilliant idea?

这个好主意是谁想到的？

15. beyond belief

意为“难以置信的、不可思议的”。

例句：Oh, yes! It's changed beyond belief.

噢，是的！变得让人难以置信。

I find his behaviour beyond belief.

我发觉他的所作所为到了简直令人难以置信的地步。

16. sent along

意为“派遣、发送”。

例句：When we were trapped in the deep forest ,they sent along a group of dog to find us.

当我们困在丛林深处时，他们派了一批狗来找我们。

The goods are to be sent along before the end of this month.

该批货物要在这个月底以前发出。

17. lean back

意为“向后倾斜”。

例句：He leaned back to hear what she was saying.

他向后仰想听清她正在说什么。

18. be born with

意为“生而具有”。

例句：Not everyone was born with such gifts as you.

并非所有的人生来都像你这样有天赋。

She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth.

她生来富贵。

19. have no alternative but to

意为“只得、别无选择、唯一的办法是”，也可以说have no choice but to。

I'll have no alternative but to go with you.

除了跟你走我别无选择。

Caught in the act, he had no alternative but to confess.

他被当场抓住，除了招供别无出路。

20. shut down

意为“关闭、停业”，也可以指“压制怒火”。

例句：Some coal-mines had to shut down.

有些煤矿不得不关闭。

He shut down upon his anger and sat down.

他压住心头的怒火坐了下来。

21. control over

意为“控制”。

例句：He lost control over his emotions.

她的情绪失控了。

Husband should never try to control their wives, and vice versa.

丈夫不要试图控制妻子，反之亦然。

To be continued…

下集预告

关于神秘女人的传说和威廉的遭遇以及贝恩斯先生的反应使大家时刻感到杀机四伏，这个旅程究竟该继续还是放弃？威廉在咖啡馆给小强和蜜儿带来一个陌生人，这时屋子里另一端的希尔夫妇正在冲他们微笑，而桑杰的突然出现使希尔夫人反应激烈，神秘的斯乔维基亚再次浮出水面，桑杰有问题？他是……