《狮子·女巫·魔衣橱》 第一章

CHAPTER ONE

LUCY LOOKS INTO A WARDROBE

第一章

露茜初窥魔衣橱

By C. S. Lewis

—— C. S.刘易斯 （万洁 译）

ONCE there were four children whose names were Peter， Susan， Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of the air raids.

They were sent to the house of an old Professor who lived in the heart of the country， ten miles from the nearest railway station and two miles from the nearest post office. He had no wife and he lived in a very large house with a housekeeper called Mrs Macready and three servants. （Their names were Ivy， Margaret and Betty， but they do not come into the story much.） He himself was a very old man with shaggy white hair which grew over most of his face as well as on his head， and they liked him almost at once; but on the first evening when he came out to meet them at the front door he was so odd-looking that Lucy （who was the youngest） was a little afraid of him， and Edmund （who was the next youngest） wanted to laugh and had to keep on pretending he was blowing his nose to hide it.

As soon as they had said good night to the Professor and gone upstairs on the first night， the boys came into the girls room and they all talked it over.

C. S. 劉易斯（1898—1963），英国著名作家，所著儿童故事集《纳尼亚传奇》七部曲，情节动人，妙趣横生。本文选自《纳尼亚传奇》第一部《狮子·女巫·魔衣橱》。

从前，有四个孩子，他们是彼得、苏珊、爱德蒙和露茜。那时爆发了战争，为了躲避空袭，家人将他们从伦敦送到了其他地方居住，这个故事讲的就是在此期间发生的事情。

他们寄宿在一个老教授的家中，老教授住在偏僻的乡下，那里距离最近的火车站有十英里之遥，到最近的邮局也有两英里。老教授在一栋大宅子里过着独身生活，同住的还有他的女管家麦克雷迪夫人以及三个女仆：艾薇、玛格丽特和贝蒂，不过这个故事并不怎么会提到她们。老教授年纪已经很大了，有着一头乱蓬蓬的白发，大半张脸都被遮在头发后面。孩子们几乎是第一眼就喜欢上他了。不过，第一天晚上他出门迎接孩子们的时候，年纪最小的露茜因为他古怪的相貌有点害怕，而老三爱德蒙见了他就忍不住想笑，爱德蒙不得不假装擤鼻子以掩饰自己不礼貌的行为。

第一天夜里，向教授道过晚安上了楼之后，男孩们马上跑到女孩们的房间里，叽叽喳喳地讨论起来。

“Weve fallen on our feet and no mistake，” said Peter. “This is going to be perfectly splendid. That old chap will let us do anything we like.”

“I think hes an old dear，” said Susan.

“Oh， come off it！” said Edmund， who was tired and pretending not to be tired， which always made him bad-tempered. “Dont go on talking like that.”

“Like what？” said Susan， “and anyway， its time you were in bed.”

“Trying to talk like Mother，” said Edmund. “And who are you to say when Im to go to bed？ Go to bed yourself.”

“Hadnt we all better go to bed？” said Lucy. “Theres sure to be a row if were heard talking here.”

“No， there wont，” said Peter. “I tell you this is the sort of house where no ones going to mind what we do. Anyway， they wont hear us. Its about ten minutes walk from here down to that dining-room， and any amount of stairs and passages in between.”

“看来我们运气挺好的。”彼得说，“这里简直太棒了！那个老爷爷肯定不会妨碍咱们做任何想做的事的。”

“我觉得他是个和蔼可亲的老先生。”苏珊说。

“天啊，你少来！”爱德蒙说道，“别老像那样说话。”他虽然很累，却假装很有精神，所以他总是脾气暴躁。

“我像哪样说话了？”苏珊说，“再说现在到你上床睡觉的时间了。”

“你老是学妈妈说话。”爱德蒙说，“你凭什么让我去睡觉？你自己上床睡觉去吧。”

“不如我们都上床睡觉好不好？”露茜说，“如果有人听见我们在这儿聊天的话，我们一定会挨训的。”

“才不会呢。”彼得说，“在这座房子里，咱们做什么都不会有人管的。他们听不见咱们的动静的。从这儿到楼下餐厅要走十分钟呢，而且中间还隔着好多级楼梯和好多条走廊。”

“Whats that noise？” said Lucy suddenly. It was a far larger house than she had ever been in before and the thought of all those long passages and rows of doors leading into empty rooms was beginning to make her feel a little creepy.

“Its only a bird， silly，” said Edmund.

“Its an owl，” said Peter. “This is going to be a wonderful place for birds. I shall go to bed now. I say， lets go and explore tomorrow. You might find anything in a place like this. Did you see those mountains as we came along？ And the woods？ There might be eagles. There might be stags. Therell be hawks.”

“Badgers！” said Lucy.

“Foxes！” said Edmund.

“Rabbits！” said Susan.

“什么聲音？”露茜突然说。这栋房子相当大，比她以前住过的任何一栋房子都要大。所以，一想到一条条通向空荡荡的房间的悠长走廊和一排排房门，她就觉得毛骨悚然。

“不过是只鸟罢了，你真傻。”爱德蒙说。

“是只猫头鹰。”彼得说，“这儿肯定是鸟儿的乐园。我说，咱们现在还是上床睡觉吧，明天再好好探索一番。咱们没准儿能在这里找到各种新奇玩意儿呢。咱们来的路上经过的那些山你们看见了没？还有森林你们看见了没有？这儿或许能有白头鹰、牡鹿和其他品种的鹰呢。”

“还有獾！”露茜说道。

“狐狸！”爱德蒙补充说。

“兔子！”苏珊接着说。

But when the next morning came there was a steady rain falling， so thick that when you looked out of the window you could see neither the mountains nor the woods nor even the stream in the garden.

“Of course it would be raining！” said Edmund. They had just finished their breakfast with the Professor and were upstairs in the room he had set apart for them—a long， low room with two windows looking out in one direction and two in another.

“Do stop grumbling， Ed，” said Susan. “Ten to one itll clear up in an hour or so. And in the meantime were pretty well off. Theres a wireless and lots of books.”

“Not for me，” said Peter， “Im going to explore in the house.”

可惜的是，第二天从一早就一直在下雨，雨下得太大，望向窗外既看不到山野，也看不到森林，就连花园里的溪流都看不见。

“下雨可真烦人！”爱德蒙说。他们刚刚与老教授一同吃完早餐，现在正待在楼上他们住的房间中——这是一间长条形的房间，屋顶极低，一面墙上开着两扇窗户，对面的墙上也同样开有两扇窗。

“别嘟囔了，爱德蒙。”苏珊说，“十有八九再过一个小时左右这雨就会停。况且现在也不错啊，我们在这里既可以收听无线电台，又有许多书可以看。”

“我有别的主意。”彼得说，“我想好好探索一下这栋大宅子。”

Word Study

shaggy /'??i/ adj. 长而乱的;乱蓬蓬的

fall on ones feet特别走运;安然脱离困境;幸免于难

splendid /'splend?d/ adj. 极佳的;非常好的

creepy /'kri?pi/ adj. 令人毛骨悚然的;令人不寒而栗的

explore /?k'spl??（r）/ v. 勘探;探索;考察

They explored the land to the south of the Murray river.

Everyone agreed to this and that was how the adventures began.

It was the sort of house that you never seem to come to the end of， and it was full of unexpected places. The first few doors they tried led only into spare bedrooms， as everyone had expected that they would; but soon they came to a very long room full of pictures and there they found a suit of armour; and after that was a room all hung with green， with a harp in one corner; and then came three steps down and five steps up， and then a kind of little upstairs hall and a door that led out on to a balcony， and then a whole series of rooms that led into each other and were lined with books—most of them very old books and some bigger than a Bible in a church. And shortly after that they looked into a room that was quite empty except for one big wardrobe; the sort that has a looking-glass in the door. There was nothing else in the room at all except a dead blue-bottle on the window-sill.

大家紛纷表示同意，于是他们的“冒险”就此拉开了序幕。

这栋房子看起来似乎永远也走不到尽头，而且你总能发现一些意想不到的地方。他们起初进入的是几间备用卧室，正如他们所想的那样;但很快他们就来到了一个狭长的房间，墙上挂满了画，房间中还摆着一副盔甲;接着他们来到一个布置有绿色装饰物的房间，一个角落里还搁着一架竖琴;然后下三级台阶，再上五级台阶，就是楼上的一间小厅，厅里有一扇通往阳台的门;从厅里退出来，又是一系列彼此连通、堆满了书籍的房间，其中大多都是些有年头的书，有的甚至比教堂里的《圣经》还要大。不一会儿，他们又看见一间空空荡荡的房间，里面放着一个大衣橱——门上嵌有穿衣镜的那种衣橱，房间的窗台上放着一个褪了色的蓝花瓶，除此之外，什么也没有了。

“Nothing there！” said Peter， and they all trooped out again—all except Lucy. She stayed behind because she thought it would be worth while trying the door of the wardrobe， even though she felt almost sure that it would be locked. To her surprise it opened quite easily， and two mothballs dropped out.

Looking into the inside， she saw several coats hanging up—mostly long fur coats. There was nothing Lucy liked so much as the smell and feel of fur. She immediately stepped into the wardrobe and got in among the coats and rubbed her face against them， leaving the door open， of course， because she knew that it is very foolish to shut oneself into any wardrobe. Soon she went further in and found that there was a second row of coats hanging up behind the first one. It was almost quite dark in there and she kept her arms stretched out in front of her so as not to bump her face into the back of the wardrobe. She took a step further in—then two or three steps always expecting to feel woodwork against the tips of her fingers. But she could not feel it.

“This must be a simply enormous wardrobe！” thought Lucy， going still further in and pushing the soft folds of the coats aside to make room for her. Then she noticed that there was something crunching under her feet. “I wonder is that more mothballs？” she thought， stooping down to feel it with her hand. But instead of feeling the hard， smooth wood of the floor of the wardrobe， she felt something soft and powdery and extremely cold. “This is very queer，” she said， and went on a step or two further.

“那儿什么也没有！”彼得说，于是他们纷纷转身走开了，只有露茜除外。她留了下来，想去拉开衣橱门瞧瞧，尽管她感觉衣橱门十有八九是锁着的。不过让她惊讶的是，一试之下衣橱门竟然被她轻而易举地打开了，还随之掉出来两颗樟脑丸。

她看了看，发现里面挂着几件衣服，多数是皮大衣。露茜最喜欢皮草的味道和触感了，于是她马上走到衣橱里面，钻到这些皮大衣中间，将小脸蛋埋在皮料子中来回磨蹭着。当然，她让衣橱门敞开着，因为她知道把自己关在衣橱里是很愚蠢的。没多会儿，她朝里走了一步，发现这排皮大衣后面还挂有一排大衣。衣橱里黑极了，她举着双臂向前探寻，以免让自己的脸碰到衣橱后壁。露茜又向前走了一步，接着又走了两三步，心里想着指尖马上就会触碰到衣橱的后壁板了，但始终没碰到。

这肯定是个超级大的衣橱！露茜一边这样想着，一边将层层叠叠的柔软衣物推向两边，以便腾出空间来继续前进。她发现自己脚下踩到了什么嘎吱作响的东西，心想：莫不是樟脑丸？便停了下来，弯腰向下摸索。结果，她摸到的并不是光滑的硬木板，而是一层柔软又冰冷的粉末状东西。“这可真奇怪！”她一边说一边又向前走了一两步。

Next moment she found that what was rubbing against her face and hands was no longer soft fur but something hard and rough and even prickly. “Why， it is just like branches of trees！” exclaimed Lucy. And then she saw that there was a light ahead of her; not a few inches away where the back of the wardrobe ought to have been， but a long way off. Something cold and soft was falling on her. A moment later she found that she was standing in the middle of a wood at night-time with snow under her feet and snowflakes falling through the air.

Lucy felt a little frightened， but she felt very inquisitive and excited as well. She looked back over her shoulder and there， between the dark tree trunks; she could still see the open doorway of the wardrobe and even catch a glimpse of the empty room from which she had set out. （She had， of course， left the door open， for she knew that it is a very silly thing to shut oneself into a wardrobe.） It seemed to be still daylight there. “I can always get back if anything goes wrong，” thought Lucy. She began to walk forward， crunch-crunch over the snow and through the wood towards the other light. In about ten minutes she reached it and found it was a lamp-post. As she stood looking at it， wondering why there was a lamp-post in the middle of a wood and wondering what to do next， she heard a pitter patter of feet coming towards her. And soon after that a very strange person stepped out from among the trees into the light of the lamp-post.

下一秒，她便发现自己脸挨着的已经不再是柔软的皮草，而是又硬又粗糙甚至还有些扎人的东西。“怎么回事？摸起来好像是树枝！”露茜大叫道。紧接着她瞧见前方有一束光——就在几英寸外，本该是衣橱背板的地方有一个出口。零星冰凉却绵软的东西落在她脸上。不一会儿，她发现自己正站在一片林子里，而且是晚上，脚下踩着积雪，纷纷扬扬的雪花还不断从空中落到她的身上。

露茜有些害怕，但她同样也感到十分好奇和兴奋。回头望望来时的路，透过黑黢黢的树干的间隙，她仍然能看到敞开的衣橱门，甚至还能瞥到她来时所在的房间。（当然，她没有关上衣橱门，因为她知道，把自己关在衣橱里是件挺傻的事儿）看起来，那边还是白天。“要是有什么不对劲我随时可以跑回去。”露茜这样想。她开始向前走，嘎吱嘎吱地踏过雪地，穿过树林，向着另一处光亮靠近。走了十分钟左右，她终于到达了那里，才发现那处光亮原来是一根灯柱。她站在原地打量着灯柱：林子里为什么会有根灯柱呢？下一步该做什么呢？这时，一阵嗒嗒的蹄声传来，不一会儿，一个长相非常奇怪的“人”便从树后面跑到了灯光下。

He was only a little taller than Lucy herself and he carried over his head an umbrella， white with snow. From the waist upwards he was like a man， but his legs were shaped like a goats （the hair on them was glossy black） and instead of feet he had goats hoofs. He also had a tail， but Lucy did not notice this at first because it was neatly caught up over the arm that held the umbrella so as to keep it from trailing in the snow. He had a red woollen muffler round his neck and his skin was rather reddish too. He had a strange， but pleasant little face， with a short pointed beard and curly hair， and out of the hair there stuck two horns， one on each side of his forehead. One of his hands， as I have said， held the umbrella： in the other arm he carried several brown-paper parcels. What with the parcels and the snow it looked just as if he had been doing his Christmas shopping. He was a Faun. And when he saw Lucy he gave such a start of surprise that he dropped all his parcels.

“Goodness gracious me！” exclaimed the Faun.

它只比露茜高一點点，头上撑着伞，伞上盖着一层雪。它腰以上的部分与人并无两样，可腿却长得像羊一样（腿上有一层又黑又亮的毛），而且下面长的不是脚，而是羊蹄。它还长了一条尾巴，不过露茜起初并没注意到，因为它怕尾巴拖在雪地上弄脏，巧妙地将尾巴挂在了撑伞的那条胳膊的臂弯中。它脖子上围着一条羊毛红围巾，脸颊也是红扑扑的。它长了一张有点奇怪但并不惹人讨厌的小脸，留着尖尖的短胡子和一头鬈发，前额两侧各长着一只犄角。它一只手撑着伞，另一条胳膊抱着几个棕色的纸包。这些小包裹再加上下雪的天气，让它看上去就像是刚刚圣诞大采购归来。它就是神话里半人半羊的半人羊。它看见露茜的时候大吃一惊，怀里抱着的纸包都掉在了地上。

“我的神啊！”半人羊大叫。

Word Study

troop /tru?p/ v. 成群地走

After lunch we all trooped down to the beach.

rub /r?b/ v. 擦;磨;搓

The cat rubbed itself against my legs.

stretch /stret?/ v. 伸出，伸长（胳膊、腿）

enormous /?'n??m?s/ adj. 巨大的;极大的

inquisitive /?n'kw?z?t?v/ adj. 好学的;好奇的;兴趣广泛的

trail /tre?l/ v. （被）拖，拉

I trailed my hand in the water as the boat moved along.