Chapter 3 Escape
第三章 逃離

The barn was very large. It was very old. It smelled of hay and it smelled of manure. It smelled of the perspiration of tired horses and the wonderful sweet breath of patient cows. It often had a sort of peaceful smell -- as though noghing bad could happen ever again in the world. It smelled of grain and of harness dressing and of axle grease and of rubber boots and of new rope. And whenever the cat was given a fish-head to eat, the barn would smell of fish. But mostly it smelled of hay, for there was always hay in the great loft up overhead. And there was always hay being pitched down to the cows and the hourses and the sheep.
谷倉很大，也很舊。里面全是干草和糞肥的氣味。還有種跑累了的馬身上的汗味兒與好脾氣的母牛噴出的奇妙的香甜味道。空氣中常駐的，是一種和平的氣息——好像這個世界上再不會有壞事情發生了。這里偶爾還會有谷粒的香味，馬具上的草料味，車子上的潤滑油味，橡膠靴子味，或是新扎的草繩味兒。如果貓兒叼著人們扔給他的魚頭到這里來享受時，谷倉里就會多了股魚腥味兒。不過，這里面最濃的味道卻是干草味兒，因為谷倉上面的大閣樓里總是堆滿了干草。這些干草被不斷地扔給下面的母牛、馬、綿羊們吃。

The barn was pleasantly warm in winter when the animals spent most of their time indoors, and it was pleasantly cool in summer when the big doors stood wide open to the breeze. The barn had stalls on the main floor for the work hourses, tie-ups on the main floor for the cows, a sheepfold down below for the sheep, a pigpen down below for Wilbur, and it was full of all sorts of things that you find in barns: ladders, grindsones, pitch forks, monkey wrenches, scythes, lawn mowers, snow shovels, ax handles, milk pails, water buchers, empty grain sacks, and rusty rat traps. It was the kind of barn that swallows like to build their nests in. It was the kind of barn that children like to play in. And the whole thing was owned by Fern's uncle, Mr. Homer L. Zuckerman.
冬天，當動物們在外面呆久了，回來后會覺得這個谷倉格外的溫暖；而夏天呢，當谷倉的門大大敞開著，微風吹進來，這里又變得說不出的涼爽。谷倉上層面有馬廄、牛棚，下層的地窖里是羊圈、威伯住的豬圈；里面還堆著你能從谷倉里找到的各類的器具：梯子，磨石，長柄草叉，活手搬子，大號的鐮刀，割草機，清雪鏟，斧子柄兒，牛奶桶，水桶，空糧食袋子，生銹的捕鼠夾等等。這是燕子們喜歡來筑巢的谷倉。這里的一切都是屬于芬的舅舅，霍默·L·祖克曼先生的。

Wilbur's new home was in the lower part of the barn, directly underneath the cows. Mr. Zuckerman knew that a manure pile is a good place to keep a young pig. Pigs need warmth, and it was warm and comfortable down there in the barn cellar on the south side.
威伯的新家在谷倉的下層，正好在牛棚底下。祖克曼先生知道牛糞堆是養小豬的好地方。豬喜歡溫暖，而谷倉下朝南的地窖正是溫暖而又舒適的地方。

Fern came almost every day to visit him. She found an old milking stool that had been discarded, and she placed the stool in the sheepfold next to Wilbur's pen. Here she sat quietly during the long afternoons, thinking and listening and watching Wilbur. The sheep soon got to know her and trust her. So did the geese, who lived with the sheep. All the animals trusted her, she was so quiet and friendly. Mr. Zuckerman did not allow her to take Wilbur out, and he did not allow to get into the pigpen. But he told Fern that she could sit on the stool and watch Wilbur as long as she wanted to. It made her happy just to be near the pig, and it made her happy just to be near the pig, and it made Wilbur happy to know that she was sitting there, right outside his pen. But he never had any fun--no walks, no redes, no swims.
芬差不多每天都來看威伯。她找到一張沒人要的擠奶凳，于是便把凳子搬到緊挨著威伯的豬圈的羊圈旁。整個漫長的下午，她就這么靜靜地坐在那里，望著威伯，想著，聽著。綿羊不久便認識她，并信任她了。和羊住在一起的母鵝也是。所有的動物都信任她，因為她是那么的文靜、和善。祖克曼先生不讓她把威伯帶出去，也不讓她進豬圈。不過，他告訴芬，如果她愿意，她坐在凳子上看威伯多久都行。能靠近威伯她就感到很幸福了；知道芬就坐在他家的外面，威伯也感到無比的快活。只是他卻再不能做從前的樂事了——不能再散步，不能再坐嬰兒車，也不能再去游泳了。

One afternoon in June, when Wilbur was almost two months old, he wandered out into his small yard outside the barn. Fern had not arrived for her usual visit. Wilbur stood in the sun feeling lonely and bored.
六月的一個下午，差不多兩個月大的威伯游蕩到他在谷倉外的院子里。那天芬沒像往常一樣來看他。站在陽光下的威伯，覺得孤單而又無聊。

"There's never anything to do around here," he thought. He walked slowly to his food trough and sniffed to see if anything had been overlooked at lunch. He found a small strip of potato skin and ate it. His back itched, so he leaned against the fence and rubbed against the boards. When he tired of this, he walked indoors, climbed to the top of the manured pile, and sat down. He didn't feel like going to sleep, he didn't feel like digging, he was tired of standing still, tired of lying down. "I'm less than two months old and I'm tired of living," he said. He walked out to the yard again.
“在這里從沒任何事兒可做，”他想。他慢慢地走到食槽前，用鼻子搜尋著，想找找是否有忘了吃的午餐。他發現了一小截土豆皮，就把它吃了下去。他感到背有點兒癢，就斜靠到柵欄上，在木板上使勁的蹭著。當他蹭膩了，便走回他的家門口，爬到牛糞堆頂上，坐了下來。他不想睡，也不想再亂拱了，他厭倦了再這么靜靜的傻站著，也厭倦了睡覺。“我才活了不到兩個月，就對生活厭煩了，”他說。他又往院子里去了。

"When I'm out here," he said, "there's no place to go but in. When I'm indoors, there's no place to go but out in the yard."
“當我來到這兒，”他說，“除了回家沒別的地方可去。當我進了家，除了院子也沒別的地方可逛。”

"That's where you're wrong, my friend, my freiend," said a voice.
“你錯了，我的朋友，我的朋友。”一個聲音說。

Wilbur looked through the fence and saw the goose standing there.
威伯往柵欄那邊看去，發現一只母鵝就站在那里。

"You don't have to stay in that dirty-llittle dirty-little dirty-little yard," said the goose, who talded rather fast. "One of the boards is loose. Push on it, push-push-push on it, and come on out!"
“你不用老呆在那個骯臟的-小 骯臟的-小 骯臟的-小院子里，”母鵝說得相當的快。“這兒有一塊木板松了。推開它，推-推-推開它，就能夠出去！”

"What?" said Wilbur. "Say it slower!"
“什么？”威伯說。“說慢一點兒！”

"At-at-at, at the risk of repeating myself," said the goose, "I suggest that you come on out. It's wonderful out here."
“讓-讓-讓，讓我冒險重復一遍，”母鵝說，“我的意思是，建議你跑出去。這外面的世界精彩極了。”

"Did you say a board was loose?"
“你是說有塊木板松了？”

"That I did, that I did," said the goose.
“那就是我要說的，那就是。”母鵝說。

Wilbur walked up to the fence and saw that the goose was right--one board was loose. He put his head sown, shut his eyes, and pushed. The board gave way. In a minute he had squeezed through the fence and was standing in the long grass outside his yard. The goose chuckled.
威伯走到柵欄旁，發現母鵝說得對——真的有一塊木板松了。他低下頭，閉起眼，用力撞過去。木板松開了。沒用一分鐘，他就擠過了柵欄，來到院子外的長草叢中了。母鵝嘎嘎大笑起來。

"How does it feel to be free?" she asked.
“自由的滋味如何？”她問。

"I like it ," said Wilbur. "That is, I guess I like it."
“我喜歡，”威伯說。“我的意思是說，我想我喜歡這感覺。”

Actually, Wilbur felt queer to be outside his fence, with nothing between him and the big world.
實際上，當威伯站在柵欄外，望著這個與自己毫無阻隔的大大的世界的時候，他只有種夢幻般的，說不清的感覺。

"Where do you think I'd better go?"
“你說我去哪兒比較好？”

"Anywhere you like, anywhere you like," said the goose. "Go down through the orchard, root up the sod! Go down through the garden, dig up the radishes! Root up everything! Eat grass! Look for corn! Look for oats! Run all over! Skip and dance, jump and prance! Go down through the orchard and stroll in the woods! The world is a wonderful place when you're young."
“你喜歡的任何地方，你喜歡的任何地方，”母鵝說。“到果園那里去，把路上的草皮翻出來！到花園去，把蘿卜拱出來！拱開一切！吃草！找玉米粒兒！尋找燕麥！把一切都壓倒！蹦高和跳舞，后腳立地跳起來！走過果園，去樹林里漫步！在你年輕時世界是多么美妙。”

（來源：愛思英語 編輯：丹妮）