绿野仙踪 第113期:奥芝的秘密(6)

 "This I hung from the ceiling by a wire," said Oz.  “我只消用一根线，把这个头从天花板上吊下来，”奥芝说。

"I stood behind the screen and pulled a thread, to make the eyes move and the mouth open." “我站在屏风后面，拉动那根细线，使得一双眼睛眨动着，并且张开着嘴巴。”

"But how about the voice?" she inquired¹. “但是那些声音是从哪里来的？”她问他。

"Oh, I am a ventriloquist," said the little man.  “啊，我是一个腹语家，”矮小的老人说。

"I can throw the sound of my voice wherever I wish, so that you thought it was coming out of the Head.  “我可以用我的声带发出任何我需要的声音，因此，你感觉到那声音是从那头里发出来的。

Here are the other things I used to deceive² you."  还有这一件东西，这是我用来欺骗你的。”

He showed the Scarecrow the dress and the mask he had worn when he seemed to be the lovely Lady.  他指给稻草人看他穿戴的衣服和面具，穿上它们看起来他是个美丽的贵妇人。

And the Tin Woodman saw that his terrible Beast was nothing but a lot of skins, sewn together, with slats to keep their sides out.  那铁皮人看见的恐布的怪兽，更让人好笑，只是缝缀在一起的一堆毛皮，用板条子让它们随意张了开来。

As for the Ball of Fire, the false Wizard had hung that also from the ceiling.  至于那燃烧的火球，也不过是从天花板上挂下来的伪装品。

It was really a ball of cotton, but when oil was poured upon it the ball burned fiercely. 它只是个棉花球，用油浸湿它，球就会猛烈地燃烧。

"Really," said the Scarecrow, "you ought to be ashamed of yourself for being such a humbug³." “真的，”稻草人说，“你应当感到惭愧，原来你竟是一个骗子。”

"I am--I certainly am," answered the little man sorrowfully;  “我是——我真的很惭愧，”矮小的人羞愧地回答说，

"but it was the only thing I could do. Sit down, please, there are plenty of chairs; and I will tell you my story." “但我只能这么做。请坐，这里有许多椅子；请你们听一听我的故事吧。”

So they sat down and listened while he told the following tale. 他们坐了下来听他讲述下面的一段话。

"I was born in Omaha--" “我是出生在奥马哈——”

"Why, that isn't very far from Kansas!" cried Dorothy. “天哪，那是离堪萨斯州不远呀！”多萝茜叫了出来。

"No, but it's farther⁴ from here," he said, shaking his head at her sadly.  “不远，离这里却很远的！”他说着，向她抱歉地摇摇头。

"When I grew up I became a ventriloquist, and at that I was very well trained by a great master.  “在我长大后，我成了一个腹语家，在这方面，我被一个伟大的主人训练得很好。

I can imitate any kind of a bird or beast."  我可以模仿任何一种鸟类或者兽类的声音。”

Here he mewed so like a kitten that Toto pricked⁵ up his ears and looked everywhere to see where she was.  于是学一只小猫叫，使得托托竖起了耳朵，四下寻找。

"After a time," continued Oz, "I tired of that, and became a balloonist." “过了一段时间，”奥芝继续说下去，“我厌倦了这种生活，我学会驾驶轻气球了。”

1 inquired   

打听，询问( inquire的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• The pilot inquired about the weather condition. 这飞行员查问天气情况。

2 deceive   

vt.欺骗，使弄错；vi.行骗

参考例句：

• I think this is just a government ploy to deceive the public.我认为这只是政府欺骗公众的手段。
• Don't try to deceive me.你别诳我。

3 humbug   

n.花招，谎话，欺骗

参考例句：

• I know my words can seem to him nothing but utter humbug.我知道，我说的话在他看来不过是彻头彻尾的慌言。
• All their fine words are nothing but humbug.他们的一切花言巧语都是骗人的。

4 farther   

adj.更远的，进一步的；adv.更远的，此外；far的比较级

参考例句：

• I can throw the ball farther than you can.这个球我能比你扔得远。
• The farther hill is five kilometres away.那座更远的小山在五公里以外。

5 pricked   

刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛

参考例句：

• The cook pricked a few holes in the pastry. 厨师在馅饼上戳了几个洞。
• He was pricked by his conscience. 他受到良心的谴责。