【George s Marvellous Medicine】再見姥姥

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STORY

George"s Marvellous Medicine

喬治的神奇藥水

Goodbye Grandma

再見姥姥

There"s still something you"ve left out, Mr Kranky said.

I can"t think what it could be, George said.

Give it up. Pack it in. Said Mrs kranky. You will never get it right.

Mr Kranky looked very forlorn.

George looked pretty fed up, too. He was still kneeling down on the ground with a spoon in one hand and a cup full of medicine in the other. The ridiculous tiny chicken walked slowly away.

你還是忘掉了什麼東西，克蘭奇先生說道。

可是我想不起來是什麼啊，喬治說。

放棄吧，結束了吧。克蘭奇太太說，你們永遠也成功不了的。

克蘭奇先生看上去絕望極了。

喬治看起來也夠了。他現在依然雙膝跪地，一隻手拿著一把湯匙，一隻手拿著一瓶滿滿的藥水。

這隻可笑的微型雞慢慢地走開了。

At this point, grandma was striding into the yard. From her enormous height, she looked down at the three people below and shouted, what was going on around here? Why hasn"t anyone brought me any cup of morning tea? It was bad enough to sleep in the yard with the rats and mice. But I"ll be blowed if I am going to starve as well. No tea. No bread. No milk.

此時，姥姥大步踏進了院里。她從異常高處俯瞰這三個人，並大喊道，這裡發生什麼事情了？為什麼沒有人給我端茶？跟老鼠和耗子睡在穀倉里實在是太糟糕了。如果我挨餓的話，會被吹跑的，沒有茶，沒有麵包，沒有牛奶。

At this time, the old woman spotted the cup in George"s hand. She bent down and peered into it. It was full of brown liquid. It looked very much like a cup of tea. Aha. So that"s your little game, is it? You are looking after yourself all right, don"t you. You make quite sure you"ve got a nice cup of tea. But you didn"t think to bring one to your poor old grandma. I always knew you were a selfish pig.

Now pass it up here.

No that is not for you.

這時，老太婆發現了喬治手裡的杯子。她彎下腰，往杯子里仔細看了看。裡面是慢慢地棕色液體。看起來很像一杯茶。啊哈！這是你的小把戲，對嗎？你把自己照顧地舒舒服服的，你準備了一杯好茶，卻不想端一杯來給你這又可憐又老的姥姥。我就知道你是一個自私鬼。

現在，快把它給我。

不，這不是給您的。

Now you are against me. My own daughter stopping me having breakfast. Trying to starve me out.

Mr kranky looked up at the old hag and smiled sweetly, yes, grandma, it is for you. Take it and drink it while it is nice and hot.

Don"t think I won"t. She said, bending down from her enormous height, reaching out a huge horny hand for the tea.

你現在是在違抗我的命令。我的親閨女不給我吃早飯，她想餓死我。

克蘭奇先生抬頭看了看這個老太婆，然後詭異的笑了笑，是的，他姥姥，這就是給您準備的。拿著喝了吧，很香，還熱乎著呢。

別以為我不敢。說著，她從高高的地方彎下了腰，將一隻巨大的瘦骨嶙峋的手伸向那杯茶。

She snatched the cup out of his hand and held it up out of reach. In one gulp she swallowed everything in the cup.

A tremendous hissing sound came from above them. A steam began to come out from her head and mouth and nose and ears and whistle as it came.

She"s got better after she"s let out a bit of steam.

她從喬治手中搶過杯子，然後舉到遙不可及的高空中，然後一口乾了杯中的液體。

緊接著，一陣巨大的泄氣聲從上方響起，然後蒸汽從她的腦袋、嘴巴、鼻子和耳朵里吹哨似地冒出來。

放出蒸汽之後，她的情況有所好轉。

She"s going to blow up. Mrs Kranky wailed. Her boiler is going to burst.

Stand clear!

George was alarmed. He stood up and ran back a few paces. A jet of steam kept squirting out of her head and whistling was so high and shrill it hurts ears.

Call the fire-brigade. Man the hose-pipes.

她好像要爆炸了。克蘭奇太太嚎啕大哭起來，她的鍋爐要爆炸了。

快閃開！

喬治十分警覺，他立刻起身往後退了幾步。一股蒸汽流從姥姥的腦袋裡噴射而出，發出尖銳刺耳的鳴笛聲。

Mother, run to the drinking-trough and put your head under the water.

She had started off with her head as high as the roof of the house, but now she was coming down fast. In another half minute, she was as small as a bottle of lemonade.

Her face still bore the same foul and furious expression as it always had. Her eyes were blazing with anger.

I must stop her! Mrs Kranky wailed. I can hardly see her as it is!

Catch hold of each end and pull, Mr Kranky said.

By then, grandma was the size of a match-stick and still shrinking fast.

A moment later, she was no bigger than a pin...

Then a pumpkin seed..

Then...

母親，快跑到水槽那，把頭放到水裡面。

開始的時候，她的頭跟房子的屋頂一樣高，但是現在她正在迅速下降，不到半分鐘的時間，她變得跟一瓶檸檬水一樣大小了。

她的臉上仍然一副厭惡、憤怒的表情，如往常一樣，眼裡怒火中燒。

我必須阻止她！克蘭奇太太大聲叫道，我都快看不見她了。

那就抓住她的兩端然後使勁兒拉，克蘭奇先生說。

此時的姥姥已經變成一根火柴棍那麼大小了，並且仍在迅速縮小。

過了一會兒，她已經比一根大頭針還要小了，然後變成一顆南瓜籽那麼小，然後...

For a few minutes, Mrs Kranky kept wandering round with a puzzled look on her face, saying, mother, where are you? How can I find you? But after a while, she calmed downquickly. And by lunchtime, she was saying, ah well, I suppose it"s all for the best, really. She was a bit of a nuisance around the house, wasn"t she?

Yes, Mr Kranky said, she most certainly was.

George didn"t say a word. He felt quite trembly. He knew something tremendous had taken place that morning. For a few brief moments he had touched with the very tips of his fingers the edge of a magic world.

幾分鐘後，克蘭奇太太滿臉疑惑，四處遊盪，不停地呼喊著，母親，您在哪兒啊？我怎麼才能找到您啊？但是過了一會兒，她冷靜了下來。到了午餐的時候，她說，也好，也許這樣的結局對大家都好，真的。她在的時候就是有點兒討人厭，不是嗎？

沒錯，克蘭奇先生回應道，你說的很對。

喬治一句話也沒說。他感到十分戰慄，他很清楚那天上午發生了一些可怕的事情。有那麼幾個短暫的瞬間，他的指尖已經觸碰到了魔法世界的邊緣。

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