The grass was surely beginning to grow!
小草已經(jīng)開始生長了!
There were fresh, juicy shoots running up among the withered blades of last year,
去年枯萎的葉片中冒出鮮嫩的新芽,
as if in hopes of bringing them back to life;
仿佛希望它們能重獲新生。
and closer down she saw the sharp points of new spears peeping from their sheaths.
湊到近前,她看到了新芽外鞘里依稀可見的芽間。
And scattered here and there were small, dark green leaves folded around buds shut up so tightly
四周分布著小小的深綠色葉子,將花蕾緊緊包裹在里面,
that only those who had watched them many seasons could tell what flowers were to be let out of their safe prisons by and by.
只有那些觀察過它們很多季的人才能辨別出不久以后從安全的‘監(jiān)牢’里會開放出什么花朵。
So no one could blame Margery for not knowing that they were only common things,
因此,沒人會責(zé)怪瑪芝莉不僅不知道那些只是平常之物,
nor for stooping over the tiny buds, and wondering.
還彎腰好奇地去看小花蕾。
What made the grass come up so green out of the black earth?
什么使得小草從黑色的土壤里長出來卻長得這么綠油油呢?
And how did the buds know when it was time to take off their little green hoods,
花蕾是如何知道該什么時候脫去它們綠色的斗篷,
and see what there was in the world around them? And how came they to be buds at all?
看看身邊周遭世界的呢?它們到底又是怎么變成花蕾的呢?
Did they bloom in another world before they sprung up here?
它們在這里發(fā)芽之前是否已經(jīng)在另一個世界里開過花了呢?
and did they know, themselves, what kind of flowers they should blossom into?
它們自己是否清楚,它們將開出什么樣的花朵?
Had flowers souls, like little girls, that would live in another world when their forms had faded away in this?
當(dāng)它們的軀體在這個世界凋零后,花兒的靈魂是不是和小女孩的一樣,會生活在另一個世界呢?
Margery thought she would like to sit down on the bank, and wait beside the buds until they opened;
瑪芝莉想她愿意坐在岸上,等在花蕾旁邊,直到它們開放;
perhaps they would tell her their secret if the very first thing they saw was her eyes watching them.
也許當(dāng)最先看到的是她注視的眼睛,它們會告訴她它們的秘密。
One bud was beginning to unfold; it was streaked with yellow in little stripes that she could imagine became wider every minute.
一個花蕾正在慢慢綻開,上面長有黃色的細(xì)條紋,她能夠想象它每分鐘都在向外展開。
But she would not touch it, for it seemed almost as much alive as herself.
但她不去碰它,因?yàn)樗瓷先ズ退约阂粯?,是有生命的?/p>
She only wondered, and wondered!
她只是在好奇地想啊,想?。?/p>