精灵鼠小弟 第18期:一顿悲伤的午饭

 　　It was no use. No answer was heard.

　　这没有用。还是听不到任何回答。

　　Mrs. Little went up to her bedroom, lay down, and sobbed¹.

　　利特尔太太跑进她的卧室，躺下来小声哭起来。

　　Mr. Little went to the telephone and called up the Bureau of Missing Persons, but when the man asked for a description of Stuart and was told that he was only two inches high, he hung up in disgust.

　　利特尔先生跑向电话，给失踪人员登记处打电话，可是当接线员要求叙述一下斯图亚特的长相，并被告知他只有两英寸高时，便厌恶地挂断了电话。

　　George meantime went down cellar and hunted around to see if he could find the other entrance to the mousehole.

　　那时乔治正在下面的地窖里检查着，想找找是否还有别的老鼠洞出口。

　　He moved a great many trunks, suitcases, flower pots, baskets, boxes,

　　他搬开了许多的大衣箱，手提箱，花盆，篮子，盆子，

　　and broken chairs from one end of the cellar to the other in order to get at the section of wall which he thought was likeliest, but found no hole.

　　破椅子，把它们不停地从地窖这边挪到另一边，只为找到他认为最可能有洞口的地方，可却一个洞都没发现。

　　He did, however, come across an old discarded rowing machine of Mr. Little's, and becoming interested in this, carried it upstairs with some difficulty and spent the rest of the morning rowing.

　　不过，在翻找的过程中，他碰巧发现了利特尔先生的一个废旧的划船机，立刻来了兴趣，就费了许多气力把它搬到楼上，把早上剩下的时间都用来坐在上面划船上了。

　　When lunchtime came (everybody had forgotten about breakfast) all three sat down to a lamb stew² which Mrs. Little had prepared,

　　到了午饭时间（每个人都忘了吃早饭），他们才摆上了利特尔太太早就炖好的小羊羔肉。

　　but it was a sad meal, each one trying not to stare at the small empty chair which Stuart always occupied, right next to Mrs. Little's glass of water.

　　那真是一顿悲伤的午饭，每个人都试图不去注意那张放在利特尔太太的水杯附近的，斯图亚特常坐的空空的小椅子。

　　No one could eat, so great was the sorrow. George ate a bit of dessert but nothing else.

　　没有一个人想吃饭，因为他们都沉浸在强烈的悲痛之中。乔治除了一点儿餐后甜点外什么都没吃。

1 sobbed   

哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说

参考例句：

• She sobbed out the story of her son's death. 她哭诉着她儿子的死。
• She sobbed out the sad story of her son's death. 她哽咽着诉说她儿子死去的悲惨经过。

2 stew   

n.炖汤，焖，烦恼；v.炖汤，焖，忧虑

参考例句：

• The stew must be boiled up before serving.炖肉必须煮熟才能上桌。
• There's no need to get in a stew.没有必要烦恼。