中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
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Chapter One Before Breakfast “Where’s Papa going with that ax?” said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast. “Out to the hog house,” replied Mrs. Arable. “Some pigs were born last night.” “I don’t see why he needs an ax,” continued Fern, who was only eight. “Well,” said her mother, “one of the pigs is a runt. It’s very small and weak, and it will never amount to anything. So your father has decided to do away with it.” “Do away with it?” shrieked Fern. “You mean kill it? Just because it’s smaller than the others?” Mrs. Arable put a pitcher of cream on the table. “Don’t yell, Fern!” she said. “Your father is right. The pig would probably die anyway.” Fern pushed a chair out of the way and ran outdoors. The grass was wet and the earth smelled of springtime. Fern’s sneakers were sopping by the time she caught up with her father. “Please don’t kill it!” she sobbed. “It’s unfair.” Mr. Arable stopped walking. “Fern,” he said gently, “you will have to learn to control yourself.” “Control myself?” yelled Fern. “This is a matter of life and death, and you talk about controlling myself.” Tears ran down her cheeks and she took hold of the ax and tried to pull it out of her father’s hand. “Fern,” said Mr. Arable, “I know more about raising a litter of pigs than you do. A weakling makes trouble. Now run along!” “But it’s unfair,” cried Fern. “The pig couldn’t help being born small, could it? If I had been very small at birth, would you have killed me?” Mr. Arable smiled. “Certainly not,” he said, looking down at his daughter with love. “But this is different. A little girl is one thing, a little runty pig is another.” |
第一章 早飯前 “爸爸拿著那把斧子去哪兒呀？”擺放餐具準備吃早飯時，弗恩問她媽媽。 “去豬圈，”阿拉布爾太太答道。“昨晚幾只小豬出生了。” “我不明白，他為什么需要一把斧子，”只有八歲的弗恩又說。 “這個嘛”，她媽媽說，“有一只小豬是個小個子。它又小又弱，沒什么用處。所以你爸爸決定去消滅它。” “消滅它？”弗恩尖叫道。“你是說殺掉它嗎？就因為它比別的豬長得小？” 阿拉布爾太太把一罐奶油放到桌上。“別嚷嚷，弗恩！”她說。“你爸是對的。反正那只小豬不管怎樣都有可能死掉的。” 弗恩推開擋路的椅子，跑了出去。草地濕漉漉的，泥土散發著春天的氣息。等到追上爸爸時，弗恩的運動鞋都濕透了。 “請不要殺它！”她嗚咽道。“這不公平。” 阿拉布爾先生停下了腳步。 “弗恩”，他溫和地說，“你應該學會控制自己。” “控制自己？”弗恩叫道，“這可是一件生死攸關的大事，你還說什么控制自己。”淚水順著弗恩的面頰流下來。她一把抓住了斧子，想把它從爸爸手里搶下來。 “弗恩”，阿拉布爾先生說，“養一窩小豬的事我比你懂得多。小弱豬麻煩大著呢。快走開吧！” “可是這不公平，”弗恩哭喊道。“這頭豬生下來就小，它自己也沒辦法，它愿意嗎？如果我生下來時也很小，你也會殺我嗎？” 阿拉布爾先生笑了。“當然不會啦，”他說著，低下頭疼愛地看著女兒。“但這是兩碼事。小女孩是一碼事兒，小弱豬是另一碼事。” |
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“I see no difference,” replied Fern, still hanging on to the ax. “This is the most terrible case of injustice I ever heard of.” A queer look came over John Arable’s face. He seemed almost ready to cry himself. “All right,” he said. “You go back to the house and I will bring the runt when I come in. I’ll let you start it on a bottle, like a baby. Then you’ll see what trouble a pig can be.” When Mr. Arable returned to the house half an hour later, he carried a carton under his arm. Fern was upstairs changing her sneakers. The kitchen table was set for breakfast, and the room smelled of coffee, bacon, damp plaster, and wood smoke from the stove. “Put it on her chair!” said Mrs.Arable. Mr.Arable set the carton down at Fern’s place. Then he walked to the sink and washed his hands and dried them on the roller towel. Fern came slowly down the stairs. Her eyes were red from crying. As she approached her chair, the carton wobbled, and there was a scratching noise. Fern looked at her father. Then she lifted the lid of the carton. There, inside, looking up at her, was the newborn pig. It was a white one. The morning light shone through its ears, turning them pink. “He’s yours,” said Mr. Arable. ... Fern couldn’t take her eyes off the tiny pig. “Oh,” she whispered. “Oh, look at him! He’s absolutely perfect.” |
“我看不出有啥不同，”弗恩回答著，仍舊抓著斧頭不放。“這是我聽過的最最不公平的事情！” 約翰?阿拉布爾先生的臉上掠過了一種奇怪的表情。他自己好像也要哭了。 “好吧，”他說。“你先回家吧。我回家的時候把那只小弱豬帶進來，讓你用奶瓶喂他，像喂小寶寶一樣。那時，你就會明白一頭小豬有多麻煩了。” 半小時后，阿拉布爾先生回來了，胳膊下夾著一個紙板箱。弗恩正在樓上換她的運動鞋。廚房的桌子上已經擺好了早餐，房間里滿是咖啡、熏肉、濕灰泥的味兒，還有從爐子里飄出來的柴火煙味。 “把它放到她的椅子上！”阿拉布爾太太說。阿拉布爾先生把紙板箱放在弗恩的位子上。然后，他到水池邊洗了手，用滾筒上的擦手毛巾擦干了手。 弗恩慢慢地下了樓。她的眼睛哭紅了。當她走近自己的椅子時，紙板箱開始晃動起來，里面傳出了抓撓聲。弗恩看了看爸爸，然后她掀起了箱蓋。在那里面抬頭望著她的，正是那只新生的小豬。它是白色的。早晨的陽光照在它的耳朵上，顯得粉嘟嘟的。 “他是你的了，”阿拉布爾先生說。…… 弗恩目不轉睛地看著小豬。“哦，”她輕聲說道。“哦，看他呀！他簡直是完美極了。” |
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She closed the carton carefully. First she kissed her father, then she kissed her mother. Then she opened the lid again, lifted the pig out, and held it against her cheek. At this moment her brother Avery came into the room. Avery was ten. He was heavily armed—an air rifle in one hand, a wooden dagger in the other. “What’s that?” he demanded. “What’s Fern got?” “She’s got a guest for breakfast,” said Mrs. Arable. “Wash your hands and face, Avery.” “Let’s see it!” said Avery, setting his gun down. “You call that miserable thing a pig? That’s a ?ne specimen of a pig—it’s no bigger than a white rat.” “Wash up and eat your breakfast, Avery!” said his mother. “The school bus will be along in half an hour.” “Can I have a pig, too, Pop?” asked Avery. “No, I only distribute pigs to early risers,” said Mr. Arable. “Fern was up at daylight, trying to rid the world of injustice. As a result, she now has a pig. A small one, to be sure, but nevertheless a pig. It just shows what can happen if a person gets out of bed promptly. Let’s eat!” But Fern couldn’t eat until her pig had had a drink of milk. Mrs. Arable found a baby’s nursing bottle and a rubber nipple. She poured warm milk into the bottle, fitted the nipple over the top, and handed it to Fern. “Give him his breakfast!” she said. A minute later, Fern was seated on the floor in the corner of the kitchen with her infant between her knees, teaching it to suck from the bottle. The pig, although tiny, had a good appetite and caught on quickly. |
她小心地蓋上了紙板箱。她先親了親爸爸，又親了親媽媽。然后她又打開蓋子，把小豬舉起來，貼到自己的臉頰上。這時，她的哥哥埃弗里走了進來。埃弗里十歲了。他可是全副武裝呢，一只手拿著氣槍，另一只手握著一把木制匕首。 “那是什么？”他問。“弗恩搞到了什么？” “她帶來一位客人共進早餐，”阿拉布爾太太說。“埃弗里，去洗手洗臉！” “讓我看看它！”埃弗里說著，放下了他的槍。“你們把那可憐的東西稱作豬嗎？那不過是一頭豬的微縮模型而已——它還沒有一只白老鼠大呢。” “快洗手吃早飯，埃弗里！”他的媽媽說。“校車半小時內就要來了。” “也能給我一只豬嗎，爸？”埃弗里問。 “不行啦，我只把豬送給早起的人，”阿拉布爾先生說。“為了試圖制止世界上的不公正行為，弗恩天剛亮就起床了。結果，她現在就有了一只豬。當然了，一只小豬，但不管怎么說都是一只豬。這正表明，能早起床總會有好處的。我們開飯吧！” 但弗恩要等她的小豬喝完牛奶才肯吃飯。阿拉布爾太太找出了一個嬰兒用的奶瓶和奶嘴。她把熱乎乎的牛奶倒進奶瓶里，又把奶嘴裝在上面，把奶瓶遞給了弗恩。“給他吃早餐吧！”她說。 一分鐘后，弗恩把她的小寶貝放在膝頭，坐在廚房角落的地板上，開始教它如何從瓶中吸奶。這只小豬雖然很小，胃口卻很好，學得也快。 |
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The school bus honked from the road. “Run!” commanded Mrs. Arable, taking the pig from Fern and slipping a doughnut into her hand. Avery grabbed his gun and another doughnut. The children ran out to the road and climbed into the bus. Fern took no notice of the others in the bus. She just sat and stared out of the window, thinking what a blissful world it was and how lucky she was to have entire charge of a pig. By the time the bus reached school, Fern had named her pet, selecting the most beautiful name she could think of. “Its name is Wilbur,” she whispered to herself. She was still thinking about the pig when the teacher said: “Fern, what is the capital of Pennsylvania?” “Wilbur,” said Fern, dreamily. The pupils giggled. Fern blushed. |
路上傳來了校車的喇叭聲。 “快跑！”阿拉布爾太太命令著，把小豬從弗恩手里抱過來，又把一個炸面圈塞到她手上。埃弗里趕緊抓起他的槍和另一個炸面圈。 孩子們跑到路邊，爬上了校車。弗恩在車里絲毫沒注意到其他人的存在。她只是坐在那里，凝視窗外，想著這是個多么幸福的世界，自己又是多么的幸運，可以全權照管一只小豬。校車開到學校的時候，弗恩已經給她的寵物起好了名字，選的是她能想到的最好聽的名字。 “它的名字叫威爾伯”，她小聲地自言自語。 直到老師問她“弗恩，賓夕法尼亞州的首府叫什么? ”時，她還在想著那只小豬。 “威爾伯”，弗恩神情恍惚地答道。同學們都咯咯地笑了起來，弗恩的臉紅了。 |
（來源：英語學習雜志）
