书虫三级 铁路少年：5.拯救火车

5．Saving the train
5．拯救火车

One day, the children were walking by the fence along the top of the hill beside the railway line. The line here ran through a deep little valley and the hillside on both sides of the line was very rocky. But among the rocks, grass and flowers grew, and many small trees.

这天，孩子们正沿着铁路边山顶上的篱笆走着。这一段铁路线要穿过一条深深的小山谷，山谷的两侧石头遍地。但是在这些石头中间长着草、花，还有很多小树。

Phyllis stood by the fence and looked down to the lines at the bottom. 'It's like looking down the side of a mountain,' she said.

菲利斯站在篱笆旁，往谷底的铁路看去。“真像是站在山边往下瞧。”她说。

Suddenly, they heard a noise. It was soft, but very clear, and slowly began to get louder.

突然，他们听到了一个声音。这声音很弱，却很清晰，渐渐地，声音变得越来越大。

Look at the tree over there!' cried Peter.

“瞧那边那棵树！”彼得大喊。

The girls looked and saw a tree moving slowly downwards on the opposite side of the railway line!

女孩们望过去，看到在铁路线的另一边，一棵树正在往下缓缓移动！

It's magic!' said Phyllis. 'I knew the railway was magic. Look, some other trees are moving, too.'

“太神奇了！”菲利斯说，“我就知道这铁路是有魔力的。瞧，其他的树也在动呢。”

They watched as the trees moved on and on, grass and stones moving with them. Then a big rock began to move as well, and suddenly half the hillside was moving. A second or two later, everything came crashing down in a big heap on the railway line below.

他们看着那些树动呀，动呀，青草和石头也随着它们一起移动。紧跟着，有一块大岩石也开始动了，突然间半边山都动了起来。一两秒钟之后，所有这些东西一下子都塌到了下面的铁路上，堆成了一大堆。

It's right across the line!' said Phyllis, feeling a little frightened now.

“正好都堆在铁路上！”菲利斯说，这会儿她感到有点儿害怕了。

Yes,' said Peter, slowly. 'And the 11.29 hasn't gone by yet. We must let them know at the station, or there will be an awful accident.'

“是的，”彼得慢吞吞地说，“11点29分那趟车还没通过呢。我们一定得到车站去告诉他们，不然恐怕就要出大事故了。”

There isn't time,' said Bobbie. 'It's past eleven now.'

“没时间了，”博比说，“现在都11点多了。”

They thought for a moment.

大家想了想。

We need something red. Then we could go down on the line and wave it,' said Peter. 'Everyone knows that red means danger, and the train would stop.'

“我们需要一些红颜色的东西。然后我们可以下到铁路上，挥舞它，”彼得说，“人人都知道红色表示危险，火车就会停下来的。”

Our petticoats!' said Phyllis. 'They're red. Let's take them off.'

“我们的衬裙！”菲利斯说，“我们的衬裙都是红色的。我们把衬裙脱下来吧。”

The girls did this, then the three of them ran along the line to a corner. When they were round the corner, it was impossible to see the heap of trees and rocks.

女孩儿们脱下衬裙。然后，三个孩子一起沿着铁路跑到一个拐弯处。在那里他们发现，在弯道的这一侧，根本看不到那堆树和石头。

We'll need some sticks as well,' said Peter, taking one of the petticoats. 'Now...' He took a knife from his pocket.

“我们还需要些棍子，”彼得一边说着，一边抓起了一条衬裙，“现在……”他从口袋里掏出了一把刀子。

You're not going to cut them, are you?' said Phyllis.

“你该不会把衬裙割了吧？”菲利斯问。

Yes, cut them!' said Bobbie. 'If we can't stop the train, there will be a real accident and people will be killed.'

“是的，要把衬裙割了！”博比回答，“如果我们不能让火车停下来的话，真会出事故的，而且肯定会死人的。”

They cut the petticoats into six pieces and put them on to sticks. Now they had six red flags. Next, they pushed two of the flags into heaps of stones between the lines, then Bobbie and Phyllis each took one, and Peter took the other two. They stood ready to wave them immediately the train appeared.

他们把红衬裙割成六块，然后把它们分别绑在六根棍子上。现在他们就有了六面红色的旗子。然后，他们把两面旗子插在铁轨中间的石子堆上。接下来，博比和菲利斯每人拿一面旗子，彼得拿起另外两面。他们站在那里等着，只要火车一出现就马上冲它摇旗子。

It seemed a long time before the railway lines began to shake, and they heard the train coming.

似乎过了很长时间，铁路才开始有些震颤，他们听见有火车开过来的声音。

Wave your flags!' ordered Peter. 'But don't stand on the line, Bobbie!'

“摇你们手中的旗子！”彼得马上发出命令，“但不要站在铁轨上，博比！”

The train came very, very fast. The lines began to shake and the two flags that were pushed into the heaps of stones soon fell over, but Bobbie ran across and picked up one of them.

火车风驰电掣而来。铁轨颤得愈加厉害，很快插在石堆上的那两面旗都倒了，但是博比跑过去，捡起其中的一面。

The train's not going to stop!' she shouted. 'They won't see us, it's no good!'

“火车不会停的！”她大喊，“他们看不到我们，这样做没有用！”

She ran on to the line, waving her two flags.

她跑到铁轨上，挥舞着手中的两面旗子。

Get back, Bobbie!' shouted Peter.

“回来，博比！”彼得大喊。

But Bobbie did not move from the line. She waved and waved her flags, shouting 'Stop, stop!' as the big black engine came towards her.

但是博比并没有从铁轨上走开。她拼命地摇动手中的旗子，还一边大喊：“停下，停下！”此时巨大的黑色火车头正向她开过来。

It did stop... but only twenty metres from Bobbie.

它终于停下了……就在离博比只有20米远的地方。

Peter and Phyllis ran along the line to tell the driver about the trees and rocks around the corner. But Bobbie couldn't move because her legs were shaking too much. She had to sit down on the ground.

彼得和菲利斯沿着铁路跑过去，告诉火车司机前面拐弯处堆有树和石头。而此时，博比却动不了了，因为她的腿抖得厉害。她不得不坐在了地上。

But they had saved the train.

但他们救了这列火车。

You're brave and clever children,' the driver told them.

“你们真是又勇敢又聪明的好孩子。”火车司机对他们说。

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*　　*　　*

Some weeks later, a letter arrived at the little white house on the hill. It was for Peter, Bobbie, and Phyllis, and it said:

几个星期之后，一封信寄到了山上的白色小屋。信是寄给彼得、博比和菲利斯的，信上写着：

Dear Sir and Ladies—We would like to say thank you for saving the train and stopping a very bad accident. Please come to the station at three o'clock on the 30th of the month, if this is a suitable day.

亲爱的先生和女士们——你们拯救了火车，避免了一场可怕事故的发生，我们特向你们表示感谢。如果方便的话，请于本月30日下午3点钟到车站来一趟。

J. Inglewood

J．英格伍德

Secretary, the Northern and Southern Railway Company

南北铁路公司　秘书

It was to be a very special day indeed.

这的确成了一个非常特殊的日子。

The three children went down to the station at the right time, dressed in their best clothes, and the Station Master came to meet them.

三个孩子穿着他们最好的衣服，准时来到了车站，站长过来迎接他们。

Come into the waiting room,' he said.

“到候车室来吧。”他说。

He took them into the room where people usually waited for the trains—but now there was a carpet on the floor, and flowers above the pictures on the walls.

他带他们进了候车室，这原本是人们等车的地方——但是现在地板上铺上了地毯，墙上的画的上方，还插着花。

Perks the Porter was there, and several men in high hats and long coats. There were ladies in expensive dresses, and people who had been on the train on 'red-petticoat day'. Best of all, their own old gentleman was there, and he came across to shake their hands.

除了守道工珀克斯以外，在场的还有几个戴着高帽，穿着长外衣的先生。还有几位穿着盛装的女士，以及一些在“红衬裙日”那天坐在火车上的人。最让他们高兴的是，每天跟他们招手的那个老先生也在场，他径直走过来和他们握手。

Then everybody sat down on chairs and an important looking man got up to speak. He said nice things about the children—how brave and clever they were—and then he sat down. Next, the old gentleman got up and said more nice things about them. Then he called them across and gave each of them a beautiful gold watch.

大家落座以后，一个看起来像是个大人物的人站起来讲话。他把孩子们表扬了一番——夸奖他们又勇敢又聪明——然后他就坐下了。接着，那位和蔼的老先生站起来，又把他们称赞了一番。说完以后，他把他们叫到身边，送给他们每人一只漂亮的金表。

These are from the Northern and Southern Railway Company,' he said, 'to say thank you for the brave and sensible thing that you did to save the train.'

“这是南北铁路公司送的礼物，”老先生说，“用以感谢你们拯救火车时勇敢聪明的表现。”

It was a wonderful day. A day that seemed more like a dream than real life.

今天简直是太棒了。与其说这是真的，还不如说是在做梦。

Afterwards, the old gentleman walked with them to the little white house. 'I want to meet the mother of these clever children,' he said.

会见之后，老先生和他们一起，步行来到了他们的白色小屋里。“我想见一见这些聪明孩子们的妈妈。”他说。

Mother was surprised to see their visitor, but she thanked him again for the things he had sent when she was ill. Then they talked about 'red-petticoat day', and the children showed Mother their watches and told her about the people at the station.

看到客人，妈妈很吃惊，但她再次向老先生致谢，感谢老先生在她生病时送给她的东西。随后，他们谈到了那个“红衬裙日”，孩子们让妈妈看了他们的表，跟她讲了刚才在车站里所见到的人。

I've been very pleased to meet you,' Mother said to the old gentleman, when it was time for him to leave. 'I'm sorry we can't ask you to come and see us again, but we live very quietly.'

“见到您我很高兴，”当老先生起身告辞的时候，妈妈说，“但是我很抱歉今后不能再邀请您到我们家来，因为我们不想打破生活的平静。”

The children thought this was very strange. They had made a friend—a very good friend—and they dearly wanted him to come and see them again.

孩子们感到很纳闷。他们成了朋友——他是他们一个非常要好的朋友——他们诚恳地希望老先生能再过来看看他们。

What did the old gentleman think? They didn't know. He looked closely at Mother and said, 'I thank you, Madam, for welcoming me to your house today.'

老先生又是怎么想的呢？他们不得而知。老先生注视着妈妈，开口说道：“谢谢您，夫人，谢谢您今天的款待。”

But Bobbie was watching her mother's face as the old gentleman walked away. It was a sad, tired face.

但当老先生离开的时候，博比一直注视着妈妈的脸。那是一张伤感、满是倦容的脸。

She's thinking about Father,' thought Bobbie.

“她又在想爸爸了。”博比心想。

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