擦星星的人

文◎霍华德·派尔 译◎SAI 绘◎秋林夕

擦星星的人

The Stars Cleaner

文◎霍华德·派尔 译◎SAI 绘◎秋林夕

“该工作了，”月中人说，“大卫。你要用柔软的羊毛擦拭星星的灰尘，月亮渐缺之时，天空也变得黑暗，那时它们就会闪闪发光。”

大卫拾起一颗大号的星星。吹了吹表面，用羊毛擦了擦。星星越擦越亮，越来越烫，像是活过来一样。

大卫从不知道，星星可以如此美丽。我敢说，一定有些“聪明人”会告诉你，这些都是无稽之谈。

但你要做的是，在满月之时，望向天空。你会发现星星的迹象几乎不可见。只有几盏暗淡而又微弱的影子，可怜地闪烁着。

因为此时的月球上，有人正在擦着剩下的星星，当天幕再次漆黑一片，群星又将灿烂闪耀。

"It is time for your work now" said the Man-in-the-moon, "David. It is to polish the stars with soft lamb's①lamb 英 [læm] 美 [læm] n. 羔羊，小羊；羔羊肉wool, so that they may shine brightly when the moon wanes②wane 英 [weɪn] 美 [wen] vi. 衰落；变小n. 衰退；月亏, and the sky is dark once more."

David took up a big star. He blew③blow 英 [bləʊ] 美 [blo] n. 吹；打击vi. 风吹；喘气(过去式 blew )his breath upon it, and rubbed it with lamb's wool. As he robbed, the star grew brighter and brighter, and glowed with light as though it was alive.

David did not know how beautiful a star could be. I dare say that there are some wise folk who will tell you that this is all nonsense④nonsense 英 ['nɒns(ə)ns] 美 ['nɑnsɛns] n. 胡说；废话adj. 荒谬的. All that you have to do then is to look up into the sky when the moon is full.

There you will see for yourself that there are hardly any stars to be seen. Those few are so dull and dim that they hardly twinkle⑤twinkle 英 ['twɪŋk(ə)l] 美 ['twɪŋkl] vi. 闪烁vt. 使闪耀；闪耀n. 闪烁at all.

That is because somebody in the moon is polishing⑥polish 英 ['pɒlɪʃ] 美 ['pɑlɪʃ] v. 抛光；磨光the others with lamb's wool to make them bright for the time when the sky is dark again.