美国语文第四册 第59期：好奇的玛芝莉（03）
The grass was surely beginning to grow!
小草已经开始生长了！
There were fresh, juicy shoots running up among the withered blades of last year,
去年枯萎的叶片中冒出鲜嫩的新芽，
as if in hopes of bringing them back to life;
仿佛希望它们能重获新生。
and closer down she saw the sharp points of new spears peeping from their sheaths.
凑到近前，她看到了新芽外鞘里依稀可见的芽间。
And scattered here and there were small, dark green leaves folded around buds shut up so tightly
四周分布着小小的深绿色叶子，将花蕾紧紧包裹在里面，
that only those who had watched them many seasons could tell what flowers were to be let out of their safe prisons by and by.
只有那些观察过它们很多季的人才能辨别出不久以后从安全的‘监牢’里会开放出什么花朵。
So no one could blame Margery for not knowing that they were only common things,
因此，没人会责怪玛芝莉不仅不知道那些只是平常之物，
nor for stooping over the tiny buds, and wondering.
还弯腰好奇地去看小花蕾。
What made the grass come up so green out of the black earth?
什么使得小草从黑色的土壤里长出来却长得这么绿油油呢？
And how did the buds know when it was time to take off their little green hoods,
花蕾是如何知道该什么时候脱去它们绿色的斗篷，
and see what there was in the world around them? And how came they to be buds at all?
看看身边周遭世界的呢？它们到底又是怎么变成花蕾的呢？
Did they bloom in another world before they sprung up here?
它们在这里发芽之前是否已经在另一个世界里开过花了呢？
and did they know, themselves, what kind of flowers they should blossom into?
它们自己是否清楚，它们将开出什么样的花朵？
Had flowers souls, like little girls, that would live in another world when their forms had faded away in this?
当它们的躯体在这个世界凋零后，花儿的灵魂是不是和小女孩的一样，会生活在另一个世界呢？
Margery thought she would like to sit down on the bank, and wait beside the buds until they opened;
玛芝莉想她愿意坐在岸上，等在花蕾旁边，直到它们开放；
perhaps they would tell her their secret if the very first thing they saw was her eyes watching them.
也许当最先看到的是她注视的眼睛，它们会告诉她它们的秘密。
One bud was beginning to unfold; it was streaked with yellow in little stripes that she could imagine became wider every minute.
一个花蕾正在慢慢绽开，上面长有黄色的细条纹，她能够想象它每分钟都在向外展开。
But she would not touch it, for it seemed almost as much alive as herself.
但她不去碰它，因为它看上去和她自己一样，是有生命的。
She only wondered, and wondered!
她只是在好奇地想啊，想啊！
