夏洛的網(wǎng) Chapter 13：盡善盡美

Far into the night, while the other creatures slept, Charlotte worked on her web. First she ripped out a few of the orb lines near the center. She left the radial lines alone, as they were needed for support. As she worked, her eight legs were a great help to her. So were her teeth. She loved to weave and she was an expert at it. When she was finished ripping things out, her web looked something like this:

深夜，其他的動物都睡了，夏洛還在織他的網(wǎng)。她把網(wǎng)中央附近的一些圓線拉掉，只留下一些支撐住整張網(wǎng)的放射狀線。在她工作時，她的八條腿起了很大的作用，她的牙也是。她喜歡織網(wǎng)，對這工作也很勝任。當(dāng)她把多余的線都拆除以后，她的網(wǎng)看起來就像這樣一個圓環(huán)：

A spider can produce several kinds of thread. She uses a dry, tough thread for foundation lines, and she uses a sticky thread for snare lines--the ones that catch and hold insects. Charlotte decided to use her dry thread for writing the new message.

一只蜘蛛能吐出很多種絲線。她用一種干的粗線作主線，用另一種黏的絲線作陷阱線——這些線是用來抓和粘昆蟲的。夏洛決定用她的干絲線來織這新的預(yù)言。

"If I write the word 'Terrific' with sticky thread," she thought, "every bug that comes along will get stuck in it and spoil the effect."

“如果我用黏線來織'很棒'這個單詞，”她想，“每個撞上去的蟲子都能破壞字的效果的。”

"Now let's see, the first letter is T."

“現(xiàn)在讓我想想，第一個字母應(yīng)該是T。”

Charlotte climbed to a point at the top of the left hand side of the web. Swinging her spinnerets into position, she attached her thread and then dropped down. As she dropped, her spinning tubes went into action and she let out thread. At the bottom, she attached the thread. This formed the upright part of the letter T. Charlotte was not satisfied, however. She climbed up and made another attachment, right next to the first. Then she carried the line down, so that she had a double line instead of a single line. "It will show up better if I make the whole thing with double lines."

夏洛爬到網(wǎng)左邊的高處，把她的絲囊擺到正確的位置，橫著拉了一條線，然后才開始下落。當(dāng)她下落時，她的織網(wǎng)管開始運作起來，從中釋放出絲線。蕩到網(wǎng)底時，她收住了線?，F(xiàn)在“T”這個字母的橫線織成了。可是夏洛覺得它看上去并不理想。她又爬上去，在那道橫線的右下方另外拉出了一條線，這樣她就織好兩道線了。“如果我把所有的字母都用雙線織，看起來效果一定更完美。”

She climbed back up, moved over about an inch to the left, touched her spinnerets to the web, and then carried a line across to the right, forming the top of the T. She repeated this, making it double. Her eight legs were very busy helping.

想著，她便往上爬回去，挪到左邊織出的第一道橫線下面約一英寸的地方，拍拍絲囊，向右平行地又拉出一道絲線，織成了由雙線構(gòu)成的字母“T”的上半部。接著她又同樣的開始去織那兩道豎線。她的八條腿不停地忙碌著，一會兒就把這個字母全織成了。

"Now for the E!"

“現(xiàn)在該織字母E了!”

Charlotte got so interested in her work, she began to talk to herself, as though to cheer herself on. If you had been sitting quietly in the barn cellar that evening, you would have heard something like this:

夏洛對她這工作的興趣越來越濃了，她一邊干一邊自語起來，好像這樣能令她更興奮。如果那天夜里你正靜坐在谷倉地窖里，你就會聽到下面的話：

"Now for the R! Up we go! Attach! Descend! Pay out line! Whoa! Attach! Good! Up you go! Repeat! Attach! Descend! Pay out line. Whoa, girl! Steady now1 Attach! Climb! Attach! Over to the right! Pay out line! Attach! Climb! Attach! Over to the right! Pay loop and around and around! Now in to the left! Attach! Climb! Repeat! O.K.! Easy, keep those lines together! Now, then, out and down for the leg of the R! Pay out line! Whoa! Attach! Ascend! Repeat! Good girl!"

“現(xiàn)在開始織字母R!我們往上去!系住!下降!抽絲!停!系住!好的!你往上去!再來!系住!下降!抽絲。停，小姑娘!預(yù)備!系住!爬!系住!往右拽!拉線!現(xiàn)在往右往下轉(zhuǎn)個圈兒轉(zhuǎn)圈轉(zhuǎn)圈兒!現(xiàn)在往左邊來!系住!爬!再來!OK!小意思，把那些線連起來!現(xiàn)在，往下織R的一條腿兒!放線!停!系住!下降!再來!好姑娘!”

And so, talking to herself, the spider worked at her difficult task. When it was completed, she felt hungry. She are a small bug that she had been saving. Then she slept.

夏洛就這樣一面自語著，一面做著她艱難的工作。這一切都弄完之后，她感到餓極了。她吃了一只事先儲存的小蟲子，便睡著了。

Next morning, Wilbur arose and stood beneath the web. He breathed the morning air into his lungs. Drops of dew, catching the sun, made the web stand out clearly. When Lurvy arrived with breakfast, there was the handsome pig, and over him, woven neatly in block letters, was the word TERRIFIC. Another miracle.

第二天一早，威伯醒來后，便來到了網(wǎng)跟前。他的肺盡情呼吸著早晨的空氣。網(wǎng)上的露珠，把陽光返照到網(wǎng)里，使那張網(wǎng)看起來格外清晰。當(dāng)魯維來送早餐時，一眼就看到了那頭漂亮的豬，和豬的頭頂上的那些織得整整齊齊的大寫字母，那些字母拼成了一個單詞“很棒”。這又是一個神跡。

Lurvy rushed and called Mr. Zuckerman. Mr. Zuckerman rushed and called Mrs. Zuckerman. Mrs. Zuckerman ran to the phone and called the Arables. The Arables climbed into their truck and hurried over.

魯維沖出去喊祖克曼先生。祖克曼先生沖出去喊祖克曼太太。祖克曼太太跑向電話給阿拉貝爾家打電話，阿拉貝爾一家鉆進他們的卡車急忙趕了過來。

Everybody stood at the pigpen and stared at the web and read the word, over and over, while Wilbur, who really felt terrific, stood quietly swelling out his chest and swinging his snout from side to side.

每個人都站到豬圈里盯著蜘蛛網(wǎng)，把那單詞反復(fù)讀了又讀。這時威伯也覺得自己很棒了，他驕傲地挺著胸脯站在那里，快活的把鼻子不停地晃來晃去。

"Terrific!" breathed Zuckerman, in joyful admiration. "Edith, you better phone the reporter on the Weekly Chronicle and tell him what has happened. He will want to know about this. He may want to bring a photographer. There isn't a pig in the whole state that is as terrific as our pig."

“很棒!”祖克曼以帶著羨慕的驕傲說，“伊迪絲，你最好給《時代周刊》的記者打個電話，告訴他們這里出了什么事兒。他們會對這個感興趣的，沒準(zhǔn)兒還會派個攝影記者來呢。我們整個州都沒有我們這么棒的豬。”

The news spread. People who had journeyed to see Wilbur when he was "some pig" came back again to see him now that he was "terrific."

消息傳開了。當(dāng)威伯是“好豬”時，那些曾從遠方來看的人，現(xiàn)在又回來看他是多么的“很棒”了。

That afternoon, when Mr. Zuckerman went to milk the cows and clean out the tie-ups, he was still thinking about what a wondrous pig he owned.

那天下午，在祖克曼先生去給母牛擠奶并清理牛糞時，他還在想著他擁有了一頭多么奇異的豬。

"Lurvy!" he called. "There is to be no more cow manure thrown down into that pigpen. I have a terrific pig. I want that pig to have clean, bright straw every day for his bedding. Understand?

“魯維!”他喊，“不要再把牛糞倒進豬圈了。我有了一頭很棒的豬。我想讓那頭豬保持清潔，每天用稻草給他鋪床。明白了嗎?”

"Yes, sir," said Lurvy.

“是的，先生。”魯維說。

"Furthermore," said Mr. Zuckerman, "I want you to start building a crate for Wilbur. I have decided to take the pig to the County Fair on September sixth. Make the crate large and paint it green with gold letters!"

“另外，祖克曼先生說，“我要你給威伯造一個板條箱，我決定把這頭豬帶到九月十六日的郡農(nóng)業(yè)展覽會(County Fair)①上去。把這箱子造大些，漆成綠色，上面寫上金字兒!”

"What will the letters say?" asked Lurvy.

“寫什么字呢?”魯維問。

"They should say Zuckerman's Famous Pig."

“上面應(yīng)該寫‘祖克曼家的名豬’。”

Lurvy picked up a pitchfork and walked away to get some clean straw. having such an important pig was going to mean plenty of extra work, he could see that.

魯維拾起長柄叉去弄干凈的稻草了。有了這樣一頭重要的豬，就意味著要有大量的額外工作，他能明白這一點。

Below the apple orchard, at the end of a path, was the dump where Mr. Zuckerman threw all sorts of trash and stuff that nobody wanted any more. here, in a small clearing hidden by young alders and wild raspberry bushes, was an astonishing pile of old bottles and empty tin cans and dirty rags and bits of metal and broken bottles and broken hinges and broken springs and dead batteries and last month's magazines and old discarded dishmops and tattered overalls and rusty spikes and leaky pails and forgotten stoppers and useless junk of all kinds, including a wrong-size crank for a broken ice-cream freezer.

蘋果園下的小路盡頭，是祖克曼先生扔各種垃圾和廢物的地方，沒人愿意到那里去。那兒，在一叢小樺樹與野覆盆子的遮掩下，有一小塊開闊地，里面堆滿了多得驚人的垃圾：有舊瓶子，空罐頭盒，破鏈條，壞彈簧，廢電池，上月的雜志，用舊的破碗刷，襤褸的工作服，生銹的釘子，漏了的桶，被遺忘的塞子，還有各種別的無用的垃圾，甚至包括從一個破冰激凌機上掉下來的，不能用的曲柄。

Templeton knew the dump and liked it. There were good hiding places there--excellent cover for a rat. And there was usually a tin can with food still clinging to the inside.

坦普爾曼熟悉這個垃圾堆，也喜歡這里。這是個藏身的好地方——對一個老鼠特別合適。那里還通常有可口的，吃剩的罐頭。

Templeton was down there now, rummaging around. When he returned to the barn, he carried in his mouth an advertisement he had torn from a crumpled magazine.

坦普爾曼此刻正在那里搜尋。當(dāng)他回到谷倉時，他的嘴里咬著從一本皺巴巴的雜志里撕下來的一條廣告詞。

"How's this?" he asked, showing the ad to Charlotte. "It says 'Crunchy.' 'Crunchy' would be a good word to write in your web."

“這個怎么樣?”他把這廣告遞給夏洛問，“這上面寫著‘脆生生’，‘脆生生’是你可以織到網(wǎng)里的一個好詞兒。”

"Just the wrong idea," replied Charlotte. "Couldn't be worse. We don't want Zuckerman to think Wilbur is crunchy. He might start thinking about crisp, crunchy bacon and tasty ham. That would put ideas into his head. We must advertise Wilbur's noble qualities, not his tastiness. Go get another word, please, Templeton!"

“這是個糟糕的詞，”夏洛回答，“不能再糟了。我們不想讓祖克曼以為威伯是脆生生的，這樣他就會聯(lián)想起脆的、嚼起來嘎嘎帶響兒的腌肉和美味的火腿來的。這個詞絕對能給他這種印象。我們要宣揚的是威伯的貴族氣質(zhì)，而不是他的滋味。請找個別的詞來吧，坦普爾曼!”

The rat looked disgusted. But he sneaked away to the dump and was back in a while with a strip of cotton cloth. "How's this?" he asked. "It's a label off an old shirt."

老鼠有些不太高興了。但他還是又偷偷爬回垃圾堆，帶了一塊布回來。“這個如何?”他問，“這是一件破襯衣上的商標(biāo)。”

Charlotte examined the label. It said PRE-SHRUNK.

夏洛檢查著這標(biāo)簽。上面寫著“事先縮過水。”

"I'm sorry, Templeton," she said, "but 'Pre-shrunk' is out of the question. We want Zuckerman to think Wilbur is nicely filled out, not all shrunk up. I'll have to ask you to try again."

“抱歉，坦普爾曼，”她說，“‘事先縮過水’這個詞太離譜了。我們想要祖克曼覺得威伯很豐滿，而不是縮了水的。我不得不請你再試一次了。”

"What do you think I am, a messenger boy?" grumbled the rat. "I'm not going to spend all my time chasing down to the dump after advertising material."

“你以為我是誰，一個小搬運工嗎?”老鼠抱怨，“我可不想把我的時間浪費在去垃圾堆翻廣告詞上面。”

"Just once more--please!" said Charlotte.

“就再去一次——求你了!”夏洛說。

"I'll tell you what I'll do," said Templeton. "I know where there's a package of soap flakes in the woodshed. It has writing on it. I'll bring you a piece of the package."

“我告訴你我這次給你帶什么來，”坦普爾曼說，“我知道柴棚里有一個肥皂包裝盒，那上面也寫著廣告。我給你撕一小塊帶回來吧。”

He climbed the rope that hung on the wall and disappeared through a hole in the ceiling. When he came back he had a strip of blue-and-white cardboard in his teeth.

他順著懸在墻上的繩子爬進天花板上的一個小洞里去了。當(dāng)他再回來時，嘴里咬著一片藍白相間的硬紙板。

"There!" he said, triumphantly. "How's that?"

“這個!”他勝利地說，“怎么樣?”

Charlotte read the words: "With New Radiant Action."

夏洛讀著上面的字：“帶著閃光的新行動②。”

"What does it mean?" asked Charlotte, who had never used any soap flakes in her life.

“那是什么意思?”一生中從沒用過肥皂的夏洛問。

"How should I know?" said Templeton. "You asked for words and I brought them. I suppose the next thing you'll want me to fetch is a dictionary."

“我怎么知道?”坦普爾曼說，“你是在問我?guī)淼倪@些字是什么意思嗎?我想你馬上要讓我替你找本字典來吧。”

Together they studied the soap ad. "'With new radiant action,'" repeated Charlotte, slowly. "Wilbur!" she called.

他們一起研究著這條肥皂廣告。“帶著閃光的新行動。”夏洛慢慢地重念著。“威伯!”她喊道。

Wilbur, who was asleep in the straw, jumped up.

正在稻草堆里睡覺的威伯跳了起來。

"Run around!" commanded Charlotte. "I want to see you in action, to see if you are radiant."

“轉(zhuǎn)圈跑!”夏洛命令，“我想看你動起來的樣子是不是閃光。”

Wilbur raced to the end of his yard.

威伯跑到了院子的盡頭。

"Now back again, faster!" said Charlotte.

“現(xiàn)在跑回來，快點!”夏洛說。

Wilbur galloped back. His skin shone. His tail had a fine, tight curl in it.

威伯飛奔過來。他的皮膚很光滑。他的尾巴很好看，上面還打著一個漂亮的卷兒。

"Jump into the air!" cried Charlotte.

“往天上跳!”夏洛喊道。

Wilbur jumped as high as he could.

威伯跳得盡可能的高。

"Keep your knees straight and touch the ground with your ears!" called Charlotte.

“伸直腿，耳朵挨到地面!”夏洛道。

Wilbur obeyed.

威伯照做不誤。

"Do a back flip with a half twist in it!" cried Charlotte.

“在空中轉(zhuǎn)個半圈兒。”夏洛喊。

Wilbur went over backwards, writhing and twisting as he went.

威伯扭過身子，轉(zhuǎn)著圈子跳了起來。

"O. K., Wilbur," said Charlotte. "You can go back to sleep. O.K., Templeton, the soap ad will do, I guess. I'm not sure Wilbur's action is exactly radiant, but it's interesting."

“OK，威伯，”夏洛說，“你可以回去睡覺了。OK，坦普爾曼，這條肥皂廣告還可以，我猜。我只是不能確定威伯跑時是否閃著光，不過那卻很有意思。”

"Actually," said Wilbur, "I feel radiant."

“實際上，”威伯說，“我感覺我在閃光。”

"Do you?" said Charlotte, looking at him with affection. "Well, you're a good little pig, and radiant you shall be. I'm in this thing pretty deep now--I might as well go the limit."

“是嗎?”夏洛說著，深情地看著他。“是的，你是一頭可愛的小豬，你也會閃光的。我在這件事兒上花的時間夠多了——我想還是到此為止吧。”

Tired from his romp, Wilbur lay down in the clean straw. He closed his eyes. The straw seemed scratchy--not as comfortable as the cow manure, which was always delightfully soft to lie in. So he pushed the straw to one side and stretched out in the manure. Wilbur sighed. It had been a busy day--his first day of being terrific. Dozens of people had visited his yard during the afternoon, and he had had to stand and pose, looking as terrific as he could. Now he was tired. Fern had arrived and seated herself quietly on her stool in the corner.

亂蹦了半天的威伯也累了，便躺進干凈的稻草堆，閉上了眼睛。這稻草好像有點兒癢——不像牛糞那么令人舒服。軟軟的躺在牛糞堆里的感覺才舒服呢。因此他把稻草拱到一邊，扒進了牛糞堆里。威伯嘆了一口氣。他在變得很棒后的第一天可真夠忙的。下午有數(shù)不清的人到他的院子里參觀，所以他不得不一直裝模作樣地傻站在那里，好使自己看起來顯得確實很棒。現(xiàn)在他累極了。芬已經(jīng)來了，就在角落里的那張小凳子上靜靜地坐著。

"Tell me a story, Charlotte!" said Wilbur, as he lay waiting for sleep to come. "Tell me a story!"

“給我講一個故事吧，夏洛!”威伯睡前說，“給我講個故事!”

So Charlotte, although she, too, was tired, did what Wilbur wanted.

雖然夏洛也很疲倦，可還是滿足了威伯的請求。

"Once upon a time," she began, "I had a beautiful cousin who managed to build her web across a small stream. One day a tiny fish leaped into the air and got tangled in the web. My cousin was very much surprised, of course. The fish was thrashing wildly. My cousin hardly dared tackle it. But she did. She swooped down and threw great masses of wrapping material around the fish and fought bravely to capture it."

“從前，”她開始講，“我有一個美麗的表妹，在一條特別小的小溪上空織了一張網(wǎng)。一天，一條跳出水的小魚蹦到了她的網(wǎng)里。當(dāng)然，我的表妹很吃驚。那條魚發(fā)瘋地在里面跳著。我表妹嚇得開始都不敢去抓它。但她鎮(zhèn)靜了一下，就勇敢地爬過來，往魚身上纏了大量的絲線，準(zhǔn)備抓住它。”

"Did she succeed?" asked Wilbur.

“她成功了嗎?”威伯問。

"It was a never-to-be-forgotten battle," said Charlotte. "There was the fish, caught only by one fin, and its tail wildly thrashing and shining in the sun. There was the web, sagging dangerously under the weight of the fish."

“那是一場永遠-不-會-忘-記的戰(zhàn)斗，”夏洛說，“那只一條鰭被纏住的魚，尾巴擺動得那么粗野，還在太陽下閃著銀光呢。那張網(wǎng)，也危險地隨著魚的重量往下陷。”

"How much did the fish weigh?" asked Wilbur eagerly.

“那條魚有多重?”威伯急切地問。

"I don't know," said Charlotte. "There was my cousin, slipping in, dodging out, beaten mercilessly over the head by the wildly thrashing fish, dancing in, dancing out, throwing her threads and fighting hard. First she threw a left around the tail. The fish lashed back. Then a left to the tail and a right to the mid-back. Then a left to the tail and a right to the mid-section. The fish lashed back. Then she dodged to one side and threw a right, and another right to the fin. Then a hard left to the head, while the web swayed and stretched."

“我不知道，”夏洛說，“我只知道我的表妹在不停地閃躲、進攻著，雖然她的腦袋被那條拼命蹦的魚殘忍地揍了很多下，也還是在和魚做著殊死的搏斗。她先往魚尾的左邊拋了一道絲，于是魚就往右蹦;接著她往魚尾左邊拋了一道絲，又往中間偏右的地方拋了一道，魚便往回跳。然后她溜到另一邊，往魚的右邊纏線，去捆右邊的那條鰭。等她的線纏到左邊的魚頭時，網(wǎng)開始劇烈地搖晃起來。”

"Then what happened?" asked Wilbur.

“接著怎么樣了?”威伯問。

"Nothing," said Charlotte. "My cousin kept the fish for a while, and then, when she got good and ready, she ate it."

“沒什么，”夏洛說，“魚失去了戰(zhàn)斗力。我表妹把它緊緊捆得不能動了。”

“完了呢?”威伯問。

“完了就完了唄，”夏洛說，“我表妹讓魚在那里呆了一會兒，等她恢復(fù)了精力后，就把它吃了。”

"Tell me another story!" begged Wilbur.

“再給我講個別的故事!”威伯央求。

So Charlotte told him about another cousin of hers who was an aeronaut.

夏洛就又給威伯講了她的另一個當(dāng)飛艇駕駛員的表妹的故事。

"What is an aeronaut?" asked Wilbur.

“什么是飛艇駕駛員?”威伯問。

"A balloonist," said Charlotte. "My cousin used to stand on her head and let out enough thread to form balloon. then she'd let go and be lifted into the air and carried upward on the warm wind."

“就是熱汽球駕駛員，”夏洛說，“我的表妹常把腳站在頭上，拋出很多游絲，把它們纏成一個大汽球。然后她就把這汽球放向空中，自己也隨之乘著暖暖的風(fēng)往上飄。”

"Is that true?" asked Wilbur. "Or are you just making it up?"

“那是真的嗎?”威伯說，“或者你是在胡編?”

"It's true," replied Charlotte. "I have some very remarkable cousins. And now, Wilbur, it's time you went to sleep."

“那是真的，”夏洛回答，“我有好幾個本領(lǐng)高強的表妹呢?，F(xiàn)在，威伯，你該去睡覺了。”

"Sing something!" begged Wilbur, closing his eyes.

“唱個歌兒吧!”威伯閉上眼，求著夏洛。

So Charlotte sang a lullaby, while crickets chirped in the grass and the barn grew dark. This was the song she sang.

伴隨著草叢和漸暗的谷倉里傳出的蟋蟀的低吟，夏洛輕輕地唱了一支催眠曲。她是這么唱的：

"Sleep, sleep, my love, my only,Deep, deep, in the dung and the dark;Be not afraid and be not lonely!

睡吧，睡吧，我的愛，我唯一的寶貝，深深地，深深地，在糞堆和靜夜里安睡;不知道恐懼也不知道孤單的滋味!

This is the hour when frogs and thrushes Praise the world from the woods and the woods and rushes.

此刻只有那些青蛙和畫眉在樹林和燈心草間將世界贊美。安心地休息吧，我唯一的唯一的寶貝，深深地，深深地，在糞堆和靜夜里安睡!

Rest form care, my one and only,Deep in the dung and the dark!" But Wilbur was already asleep. When the song ended, Fern got up and went home.

威伯還沒有聽完就睡著了。當(dāng)這支歌唱完，芬才站起身回了往家。