书虫二级 坎特维尔幽灵：4.四面受敌
4．Enemies everywhere!
4．四面受敌
For the next five days the ghost stayed in his room. He was very tired, and he didn't feel well. He decided to stop putting the bloodstain on the library floor.
接下来的五天幽灵都待在自己的房间里。他疲惫极了，感觉也不好。他决定不再去书房的地板上染血迹。
The Otis family don't want it,' he thought, 'so they're not going to have it!'
“奥蒂斯一家不想要它，”他想，“所以他们不会拥有它！”
Ghostly appearances were different, of course. It was his job to appear in the passage once a week, and to 'Oooooh!' and 'Aaaaagh!' from the great window on the stairs on the first and third Wednesday in every month.
幽灵的外形是可以变化的，这是肯定的。每周，他都要出现在走廊里一次，每个月的第一和第三个星期三，他还要在楼梯旁的大窗户那儿“啾”、“啊”地鬼叫一番。
So for the next three Saturdays, as usual, he walked along the passages between midnight and three o'clock. But he didn't want anybody to see or hear him. He took off his shoes and walked as quietly as he could. He wore a large black coat, and was careful to use Tammany's Sun Oil on his chains. At first he didn't want to, but one evening, while the family was at dinner, he went into Mr Otis's bedroom and took the bottle. After a time, he saw that the oil was really very useful.
在接下来的三个星斯六，他会跟往常一样，从午夜到凌晨3点，一直在走廊里游走。但他却不想让任何人看到或听到。他脱下鞋子，尽可能轻手轻脚地走着，身穿一件大黑袍，还小心翼翼地在锁链上涂上坦马尼太阳油。最开始他不愿意这么做，但是有天晚上，在一家人吃晚饭时，幽灵跑进奥蒂斯先生的卧室，拿走了瓶子。经过一段时间之后，他发现这润滑油真是非常有用。
But the twins still went on with their tricks. They put things in his way in dark corners, and he fell over them. They put butter on the top stair, and one night his feet went from under him and he went crashing down the stairs to the bottom. This made him very angry, and he decided to visit the boys the next night, as the famous 'Duke with No Head', and frighten them half to death.
可是那对双胞胎仍在不断地搞花样。他们在黑暗的角落里摆上东西挡他的路，结果他被绊倒了。他们还在楼梯顶端抹上黄油，有天晚上幽灵脚一滑，从楼梯顶上一直滚到最底下。这令他恼羞成怒，决心变成著名的“无头公爵”，在第二天晚上去找这兄弟俩，要把他们吓个半死。
He spent three hours getting ready, and was very pleased with how he looked. At a quarter past one he walked through the wall and moved silently through the passages to the twins' bedroom.
他花了三个小时准备，对自己的扮相十分满意。1点1刻，他穿过墙壁，静悄悄地走过走廊，来到那对双胞胎的卧室。
The door was open a little way. Pushing it hard, the ghost walked into the room — and a heavy jug of water fell right down on him. At the same time, he heard the twins laughing in their beds.
卧室门虚掩着。幽灵用力推开门，走进房间——一大壶水正好浇在他身上，同时，他听到那对双胞胎在床上大笑。
The ghost — wet from top to bottom — turned and ran from the room. He did not stop until he was back in his room. The next day he was ill with a bad cold.
幽灵从头到脚全都湿透了，他转身就跑出了卧室，直到回到自己的房间，才停了下来。第二天，他患上了重感冒。
After this, the ghost stopped trying to frighten the American family. He walked silently round the passages in soft shoes, carrying an old gun, and tried to stay away from everyone.
在这之后，幽灵再不想吓唬这家美国佬了。他穿着柔软的鞋子，悄悄地漫游于走廊上，还拿着一把老枪，试图躲开任何人。
The last of the tricks happened on the 19th of September. That night the ghost was wearing one of his favourite shrouds, and he decided to walk down to the library. He wanted to see what was left of the bloodstain. He was on his way there when two shapes jumped out of a dark corner of the passage and shouted 'BOO!' in his ear.
最后一个恶作剧发生在9月19日。那天晚上，幽灵穿着他最喜欢的一件尸袍，决定到书房去，看看那块血迹怎么样了。他正走到半路，突然，在走廊的一个黑暗角落里，有两个人影跳了出来，冲着他大叫一声：“嘘！”
The ghost was very frightened, of course, and ran to the stairs. But Washington Otis was waiting for him there, with a big garden-syringe. There were enemies on all sides! 'Aaaagh!' the ghost cried, then turned quickly and disappeared into the fireplace, which, luckily for him, was not lit. When at last he got back to his room, he was terribly dirty, with black all over his favourite shroud, and very unhappy.
幽灵被吓坏了，连忙向楼梯跑去。可是华盛顿·奥蒂斯正在那儿恭候着，手中拿着浇花用的巨大喷水器。真是四面受敌啊！幽灵大叫一声：“啊！”接着迅速转身，消失在壁炉里——好在壁炉没有点火。当他最终回到自己的屋里时，幽灵邋遢得一塌糊涂，最心爱的裹尸袍全被染黑了，他委屈极了。
After this, nobody saw him again at night. The twins waited to play tricks on him three or four times. They put nutshells all along the passages, which made walking around difficult for everyone in the house, but the ghost did not appear.
这之后，再也没有人在晚上见过他。有三四次那对双胞胎都在等着捉弄他。他们在走廊里全部撒上果壳，这下倒让屋里的人走起路来都别别扭扭的，可幽灵还是没有出现。
Oh dear, he's too unhappy to come out,' they said.
“哎呀，他都不乐意出来了。”双胞胎说。
Mr Otis began work again on his book. Mrs Otis gave a number of big 'American parties' for the English people who lived near them. The boys played in the house and garden, and Virginia went horse-riding with the young Duke of Cheshire. He was staying at Canterville Chase for the last week of his holidays.
奥蒂斯先生又重新钻研起书籍来。而奥蒂斯夫人为附近的英国邻居们举行了一系列的“美国社交会”。男孩子们在房子和花园里玩耍，弗吉尼娅和年轻的柴郡公爵一起去骑马。公爵要在坎特维尔古堡度过他假期的最后一个星期。
Mr Otis wrote a letter to Lord Canterville and said: 'We think that the ghost has gone away.'
奥蒂斯先生给坎特维尔勋爵去了一封信说：“我们觉得那个幽灵已经离开了。”
And Lord Canterville wrote back: 'I am happy to hear it!'
坎特维尔勋爵回信说：“我真高兴听到这消息！”
But Mr Otis was wrong. The ghost was still in the house. It is true that he was ill, but he was not yet ready to stop his ghostly work. The young Duke of Cheshire was staying in the house, and the ghost knew the Duke's family well. He once appeared before the brother of the Duke's grandfather as the Horseman of Death. The poor man's hair turned white in one night, and for the rest of his life he could only say the words, 'Turn out the light, turn out the light.' Now the ghost wanted to do the Horseman of Death for the young Duke too.
可是奥蒂斯先生错了。幽灵仍然在宅子里。虽然他确实是生病了，可他不打算停止作怪。年轻的柴郡公爵正待在古堡里，而幽灵非常熟悉公爵一家。曾经有一次，他变成死神骑士出现在公爵的一个叔爷面前。那个可怜人一夜之间便白了头发，而且在余生当中只会说几个字：“熄掉灯，熄掉灯。”现在幽灵打算给公爵也来这么一下。
He got everything ready, but in the end he never left his room. He was too frightened of the twins to go out, and the young Duke slept happily in his bed, thinking of pretty Virginia.
他一切就绪，但最终还是没离开自己的房间。他太害怕那对双胞胎了，都不敢出门。年轻的公爵在床上美美地睡着，思念着可爱的弗吉尼娅。
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