The Secret Garden (Ⅱ) 秘密花园（节选2）

霍乱中父母双亡的玛丽一夜之间变成孤儿，被从印度送往英国约克郡克菜文姑父的庄园生活。她从小性情乖戾，这个陌生的环境更使她倍感孤独落寞，她在知更鸟的指引下找到了尘封已久的秘密花园的钥匙，她打开了这个秘密花园。

It was the sweetest， most mysterious-looking place anyone could imagine. The high walls which shut it in were coveredwith the 1）leafless stems of climbing roses which were so thickthat they were matted together. Mary Lennox knew they wereroses because she had seen a great many roses in India. Allthe ground was covered with grass of a 2）wintry brown and outof it grew clumps of 3）bushes which were surely rosebushesif they were alive. There were numbers of standard roseswhich had so spread their branches that they were like littletrees. There were other trees in the garden， and one of thethings which made the place look strangest and loveliestwas that climbing roses had run all over them and swung down long 4）tendrilswhich made light swaying 5）curtains， and here and there they had caught ateach other or at a far-reaching branch and had crept from one tree to anotherand made lovely bridges of themselves. There were neither leaves nor roses onthem now and Mary did not know whether they were dead or alive， but their thingray or brown branches and sprays looked like a sort of hazy mantle spreadingover everything， walls， and trees，andeven brown grass， where they had fallenfrom their 6）fastenings and run along theground. It was this hazy tangle from tree totree which made it all look so mysterious.

1） leafless ['li：fl?s]adj.无叶的 2） wintry ['wintri]adj.寒冷的，冬天的 3） bush [bu?]n.灌木 4） tendrils ['tendrilz]n.（植）卷须状物 5） curtain ['k?：tn]n.窗帘 6） fastening ['fa：sni?]n.坚固零件Mary had thought it must be different from other gardens which had not been leftall by themselves so long;and indeed it was different from any other place shehad ever seen in her life.

"How still it is！" she whispered. "How still！"

Then she waited a moment and listened at the stillness.

The robin， who had flown to his treetop， was still as all the rest. He did noteven flutter his wings; he sat without stirring， and looked at Mary.

"No wonder it is still，" she whispered again. "I am the first person who hasspoken in here for ten years."

这是一个任何人想象所及的最美好、最神秘的地方。锁住它的高墙盖满了攀缘玫瑰空无一叶的枝子，枝子浓密得纠缠到了一起，玛丽·伦诺克斯知道这些是玫瑰，因为她在印度看到许多玫瑰。整个地上铺满了冬气肃杀的褐色枯草，褐色里长出一丛丛灌木，它们要是还活着，一定是玫瑰丛。有好些嫁接到树干上的玫瑰，枝条蔓延得很开，好像小树。花园里有其他树，这个地方极端奇怪又极端可爱的原因之一，是爬满这些树木的攀缘玫瑰。它们垂下的长蔓成了轻轻摇摆的帘幕，处处相互扭结到一起，要不就扭结到一条伸得远的枝条。玫瑰枝条从这棵树爬到那棵树，把自己造成一座座好看的桥。现在枝条上没有叶片也没有玫瑰花，玛丽不知道它们是死是活，但是它们纤细的灰褐色枝干和小树枝，看着犹如一种烟霭般的罩子撒盖在万物之上，墙，树，甚至褐色的草上——它们从拴扣上落下，在地上蔓延。正是这些树木之间烟霭般的纠缠让一切显得神秘。玛丽早就想到，这里一定和其他未被长期遗弃的花园不一样，这里的确与她此生所见的任何地方不同。

“这儿真安静啊！”她喃喃地说，“真安静！”

然后她停了停，听着此刻的安静。知更鸟早已飞上它的树梢，此刻静止得如同它周遭的世界。它连翅膀都不鼓一鼓，一动不动，看着玛丽。

“怪不得这里这么安静，”她又开口喃喃地道，“我是十年里第一個在这里说话的人。”