英语PK台 第450期:《疯狂的世界》—农村孩子进城记

 　　Julian finally left his village when there was no one left living there. He had never left his beloved village before, but intrigued¹ by the fact that everyone had gone to the city, he decided² to go and see for himself what wonderful things those cities had. So he packed a knapsack with a few clothes, put on his best smile, and off he went to the city.

　　在同乡们无一例外地选择离开之后，朱利安也终于告别了他的村庄。在此之前，他从没有离开过他深爱的家乡。但看着那一个个义无反顾奔向城市的背影，朱利安感到十分好奇，他决定要亲眼去瞧瞧那些城市到底有什么迷人之处。于是他在背包里塞了几件衣服，带上他最美好的微笑，进了城。

　　On reaching the city, he was given a most unexpected welcome. A couple of policemen stopped Julian and questioned him in great detail. It turned out that Julian had seemed 'suspiciously happy' for someone with hardly any possessions. In the end, the police had to let him go, but they were still suspicious about this apparently³ simple and good-natured fellow.

　　一进城，朱利安就遭遇了一个出人意料的欢迎仪式。两个警察把他拦住仔仔细细地盘问了一番。原来，对于一个几乎没有任何财产的人来说，朱利安看起来似乎“高兴得过于可疑了”。最后，警察也只能放他走，但他们心里仍然对这个貌似天真善良的家伙表示十分怀疑。

　　The first thing Julian noticed about the city was all the rushing around. Everyone was in such a hurry that he thought that there must be something special happening that day, which no one wanted to miss.

　　关于城市，朱利安注意到的第一件事就是所有人都步履匆匆。他想，每个人都走得这么快，一定是今天将有什么特别的事情要发生，才没有人想错过吧。

　　Curious as to what it was, Julian started following a man who looked like he was hurrying to see whatever it was that was happening. However, after several hours following him, the man arrived at a small flat and went inside. He had done or seen nothing of interest that whole day.

　　出于好奇，朱利安跟在一个人后面，想看看他究竟要迫不及待地去迎接什么激动人心的事情。然而，在跟着他走了几个小时之后，那个人只是来到了一间小公寓跟前走了进去。他一整天什么有趣的事情也没做，连见都没见到。

　　That night Julian slept in a park. The park was strewn with bits of paper and plastic. As the bins⁴ were completely empty, Julian thought how cool it was that the city had seemingly invented plants with petals⁵ made of paper and plastic. He only believed this until the following morning, when a man came by and dropped his chocolate wrapper.

　　那天晚上朱利安睡在了公园里，那儿到处都散落着纸和塑料。看到垃圾桶是完全空的，朱利安心想：城市人简直太酷了，他们似乎发明了一种新型的植物，花瓣是用纸和塑料构成的。直到第二天早上，他看到一个男人经过，随手丢弃了他的巧克力包装。

　　Julian carried on walking through the city streets, trying to understand what was going on, when he arrived at a group of big warehouses⁶, which many people were entering. "This must be the best museum in the world," he thought, on entering, and seeing all the useless-looking things they had inside. But then he saw that people were picking these things up, paying for them, and taking them away.

　　朱利安继续游走在城市的街道上，试图了解这里到底在发生些什么。他来到一组大仓库门前，只见人们串流而入。“这一定是世界上最好的博物馆吧。”他想着，走了进去。然而，里面摆放的净是一些没什么实用的东西。令他惊奇的是，人们正在兴致勃勃地挑选着这些东西，并愿意为他们买单，把他们带走。

　　"Why would anyone want a watch which doesn't show the minutes?" he wondered to himself, after seeing a woman very contentedly⁷ leaving with the most modern of watches on her wrist. He thought pretty much the same when seeing a pair of shoes with impossibly high heels, and then some electronic device which did a thousand things, and none of them well.

　　“为什么会有人想要一个没有分针的手表呢？”他疑惑着，看着一个手腕上戴着一只最新款手表的女人心满意足地晃了出去。令他同样疑惑的，还有一双跟儿高得让人不可理解的高跟鞋和那些具备上千种功能却无一出色的电子设备。

　　Once again, he decided to follow the lady with the watch. He saw her joy turn into disappointment when her friends gave her new watch a look of disapproval⁸. Julian started regretting having left his village, just to come to this place where no one seemed happy.

　　再一次，他决定跟随那个买了手表的女士瞧瞧。在她的朋友们对她的新手表显出鄙夷的神色后，他目睹了她的喜悦是如何化成失望的。朱利安开始后悔了。他离开了他的村庄，只是为了来到这个没有人看起来快乐的地方吗？

　　Then he saw a few kids playing. Now, they certainly did seem happy, playing, running about, chasing each other. Except for one child, who seemed troubled by a little machine they were calling a console. He was hitting it so hard with his fingers, and making all kinds of faces and angry gestures, that when one of the other children came over to invite him to play with them, the boy with the console just rudely walked away.

　　后来他看到几个孩子在玩闹。“真难得呀，他们看起来绝对是快乐的！”那些孩子们玩耍着、跑跳着、嬉笑追逐着。只有一个孩子，似乎在为一个他们称之为游戏机的小机器而苦恼。他用手指猛烈地击打着它，做出各种各样激烈的表情和愤怒的手势。当其他孩子中的一个过来邀请他加入他们一起玩时，那个玩游戏机的男孩粗鲁地走开了。

　　Julian thought that the boy was trying to destroy that little machine because it was making him so unhappy. He decided to help the boy. Julian went over, took the console, threw it on the ground, stamped on it, and looked at the boy with great satisfaction.

　　朱利安猜想那个男孩是要试图摧毁那个小机器，因为它令他那么不快乐。他决定帮助那个男孩。朱利安走过去，抓起游戏机，将它扔在地上用力踩了下去，然后他如释重负地转向那个男孩。

　　At this the boy flew into a rage, as did all the other children there, and nearly all the adults. They pursued Julian so relentlessly⁹ that he had to run away. He didn't stop running until he reached the road leading back to his village.

　　那个男孩简直气疯了，正如在场的其他所有孩子和几乎所有成年人一样。他们愤怒地紧追朱利安不放，他只得落荒而逃。他一直跑啊跑，直到跑到了通往他家乡村庄的路上才慢慢停下来。

　　As he was making his way home he couldn't help wondering whether the whole world had gone mad.

　　在他回家的路上，他不禁开始怀疑：整个世界是不是都疯了。

1 intrigued   

adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You've really intrigued me—tell me more! 你说的真有意思—再给我讲一些吧！
• He was intrigued by her story. 他被她的故事迷住了。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

4 bins   

n.大储藏箱( bin的名词复数 )；宽口箱（如面包箱，垃圾箱等）v.扔掉，丢弃( bin的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Garbage from all sources was deposited in bins on trolleys. 来自各方的垃圾是装在手推车上的垃圾箱里的。 来自辞典例句
• Would you be pleased at the prospect of its being on sale in dump bins? 对于它将被陈列在倾销箱中抛售这件事，你能欣然接受吗？ 来自辞典例句

5 petals   

n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣
• The petals of many flowers expand in the sunshine. 许多花瓣在阳光下开放。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。

7 contentedly   

adv.心满意足地

参考例句：

• My father sat puffing contentedly on his pipe.父亲坐着心满意足地抽着烟斗。
• "This is brother John's writing,"said Sally,contentedly,as she opened the letter.

8 disapproval   

n.反对，不赞成

参考例句：

• The teacher made an outward show of disapproval.老师表面上表示不同意。
• They shouted their disapproval.他们喊叫表示反对。

9 relentlessly   

adv.不屈不挠地；残酷地；不间断

参考例句：

• The African sun beat relentlessly down on his aching head. 非洲的太阳无情地照射在他那发痛的头上。
• He pursued her relentlessly, refusing to take 'no' for an answer. 他锲而不舍地追求她，拒不接受“不”的回答。