The Butterfiy in a Bottle瓶中的蝴蝶

Sanyukta Chaudhuri

杨舟选译

Poltu was wide awake in his bed. He had had a good dream in which he had won thefootball match in the inter-school competition. He was getting ready to receive the trophy lwhen the alarm rang. So loudly that he was woken up.

波尔图在床上完全清醒过来。他做了一个美妙的梦，梦见自己在校际足球比赛中获胜。他正准备领取奖杯时，闹钟响了。声音太大，他被吵醒了。

But Poltu wasn't too unhappy at the intrusion 2. He ran straight to his study table. There，in an empty jam bottle， was the treasure.A colourful little butterfly. How difficult it had beento catch it.It had kept flying away from his grasp. But he did catch it.Without a net. too.And now it was going to be part of his biology project in school.

但波尔图对这次打扰并没有太大不满。他径直跑到书桌旁。在那里，在一个空果酱瓶里，有他的宝藏。那是一只彩色的小蝴蝶。抓住它是多么困难呀。它一直想从他的手中飞走，但他抓住了它，也没有用网。现在它将成为他在学校生物课题的一部分。

The biology prOJect required Poltu to hand in a report of the study of a living creatureevery month. Most of his classmates drew diagrams3 from their books as part of this exercise.But Poltu was going to do something different. He was going to present a live creature-thisbutterfly.

生物课题要求波尔图每月提交一份关于某个生物的研究报告。他的大多数同学都照着书本上的一些图表画，作为这个练习的一部分。但是波尔图要做些与众不同的事情。他要展示一个活生生的生物——这只蝴蝶。

Poltu loved the different colours on the wings of the butterfly. Red， green and blue. Howbeautiful it looked when it fluttered4 the wings. Poltu had made a few holes on the cap of thebottle to let air pass through， and added tender5 leaves for the butterfly. He might havetrapped the creature， but he cared for it.

波尔图喜欢蝴蝶翅膀上不同的颜色。红、绿、蓝。当它振动翅膀时，它看起来多么美丽啊。波尔图在瓶盖上打了几个洞让空气流通，还为这只蝴蝶加了些嫩叶。他困住了这个生物，但他很关心它。

Excited about showing his butterfly to the biology teacher， Poltu dressed hurriedly， andleft for school. His school was walking distance from his house. He took a short cut throughthe backyard of Aunty Sinha's house. a stretch he loved walking through. The breeze 6 wasvery pleasant as it had rained slightly the night before. The garden smelt of sweet-smellingflowers. Poltu glanced at his bottle every now and then and smiled at the butterfly flutteringt its

波爾图对于向生物老师展示他的蝴蝶这件事儿感到兴奋，他匆匆穿好衣服，动身去上学。学校离他家仅几步之遥。他抄近路穿过辛哈阿姨家的后院，这是他喜欢走的一段路。微风很宜人，因为前一晚稍微下了点雨。花园里飘荡着花的芬芳。波尔图时不时地瞥一眼他的瓶子，对着那只振翅的蝴蝶笑。

When he reached school， gate wasn't wholly open yet. For once Poltu was early toschool.A few boys were playing football in the field. Any other day you would have seen Poltujoining them without a second thought. But today. he walked straight into his class. He openedthe window and placed the bottle on the windowsi117.

当他到达学校时，大门还没完全打开。波尔图这一次到校很早。几个男孩正在操场上踢足球。其他任何一天你都会看到波尔图不假思索地加入他们。但今天，他径直走进教室。他打开窗户，把瓶子放在了窗台上。

The golden ravs of the sun streamed through the glass， on the colourful wings of thebutterflv， and added a sheen 8 to them. In a few minutes. the area was full of boys. even fromthe other seclions， gaping at lt.

金色的阳光透过玻璃洒在蝴蝶彩色的翅膀上，给它们增添了光彩。几分钟后，这里就挤满了盯着蝴蝶看的男孩，甚至有其他班上的男孩。

That day's biology class was the most interesting in a long time. Poltu's teacher was veryhappy with his initiative 9 and asked everyone in class to thank him as he had made it possiblefor them to study a butterfly so closely. Poltu felt like a star for being treated like royalty 10.

那天的生物课是很长一段时间以来最有趣的一节。波尔图的老师对他的积极性非常满意，并让班上的每个人都感谢他，因为他使他们能够如此近距离地研究一只蝴蝶。受到好似皇室成员一般的待遇，波尔图觉得自己像个明星。

While going back home， he again took his favourite route through Aunty Sinha's garden.In the bottle. the butterfly still fluttered its wings. On the way， whatever small creature Poltucame across. he felt like putting it into the bottle. Buthe checked himself as he wanted to give breathingspace to his butterfly。

回家的时候，他又走了他最喜欢的路线，穿过辛哈阿姨的花园。在瓶子里，蝴蝶仍然在拍打着翅膀。在路上，波尔图无论遇到什么小东西，都想把它放进瓶子里。但他克制住了，因为他想给他的蝴蝶喘息的空间。

Poltu woke up around midnight suddenly. He went to the studv table and lightly pattedthe lid 11 of the bottle. The butterfly did not move. Poltu thought it must be sleeping. He shookthe bottle some more， but still no response. Poltu was scared all of a sudden. He poured alittle water from the drinking-glass in his table into the bottle.

波尔图在午夜时分突然醒来。他走到书桌旁，轻轻地拍了拍瓶盖。蝴蝶一动不动。波尔图认为它一定在睡觉。他又摇了摇瓶子，但蝴蝶还是没有反应。波尔图突然吓了一跳。他从桌上的玻璃水杯里倒了一点点水到瓶子里。

The water seemed to help as the butterfly shivered 12 a little. Poltu breathed a sigh 13 0frelief 14. Sitting on his bed， he stared at the bottle for a long time. The butterfly was stillagam.

蝴蝶微微颤抖，水似乎起了作用。波尔图松了一口气。他坐在床上，盯着瓶子看了很久。蝴蝶又安静了下来。

After a while Poltu got up， and， holding the bottle tightly in his hand， ran outside. Theair was so fresh and cool. He went to the backyard of his house， quickly opened the lid of thebottle and started shaking it gently. The butterfly started to move， but slowly， as if wakingfrom a deep sleep. It stopped on the edge of the bottle and flapped 15 its colourful wings. Itwaited there for a long time. Poltu also waited.

过了一会儿，波尔图站起来，手里紧紧地攥着瓶子，跑了出去。空气是如此清新凉爽。他跑到自家后院，迅速打开瓶盖，开始轻轻摇晃瓶子。蝴蝶开始移动，但是很慢，就像正从沉睡中醒来。它停在了瓶子的边缘，拍动着彩色的翅膀。它在那儿停了很久。波尔图也在等着。

All of a sudden it began to flutter its wings. To Poltu， the tiny noise of the flutteringwings was musical. Suddenly there was a loud dull sound behind him， and he turned around.A coconut 16 had fallen from the tree. When Poltu looked at the bottle again， he found thebutterfly gone. He sat staring at the empty bottle for a while， feeling a little empty himself.But he was happy that he had sent the butterfly back to where it belonged-nature.

突然，它開始扇动翅膀。对波尔图来说，这拍动翅膀的微小声音十分悦耳。突然，波尔图身后传来一声沉闷的巨响，他转过头去。是一颗椰子从树上掉了下来。波尔图再次看向瓶子，发现蝴蝶不见了。他坐那儿盯着空瓶子看了一会儿，觉得心里空落落的。但他很高兴，因为他把蝴蝶送回了属于它的地方——大自然。

（英语原文选自：pitara.com）

[Note]

1.trophy [?tr??f?]n，奖品

2.intrusion [?n?tru???n] n.打扰;侵扰

3.diagram [?da???ɡr?m] n.图表

4.flutter[?fl?t?] v.扑动;鼓翼

5.tender[?tend?] adj.脆弱的;嫩的6 breeze [bri?z] n.微风

7.widowsill [?w?nd???s?l] n.窗台

8.sheen [?i?n] n.光泽，光彩

9.initiative[?n????t?v] n.积极性

10. royalty [?r???lt?] n.皇室

I1. lid [l?d] n.盖子

12. shiver [???v?] v.颤抖

13.sigh [sa?] n.叹息

14. relief [r??li?f] n·宽慰;安心

15. flap[fl?p]v.拍动

16. coconut [?k??k??n?t] n.椰子