牛津書蟲系列 化學秘密 12 The future

12 The future

12 前途

Six months later，John Duncan was living in a small flat near the sea.He had lost his job，and had had to sell his expensive house. He couldn't afford the payments on it.

6個月以后，約翰住在一所靠海的小公寓里。他已經(jīng)失去了工作，并且不得不賣掉昂貴的房子，他擔負不起房費。

From a window in his flat，he could look at the sea.He sat and looked at the cold，grey sea for hours，every day.

從他公寓的窗口可以望見大海。他每天坐在窗口幾小時望著那冰冷陰沉的大海。

Christine would have her baby soon.He had bought lots of baby clothes to give her.His bedroom was full of baby clothes —little pink coats and trousers for a girl，blue ones for a boy.There were little soft toys too—teddy bears and small animals with blue，empty eyes.

克里斯汀馬上就要生小孩兒了。他買了好多嬰兒的衣服想送給她。他的臥室里堆滿了嬰兒衣物——女孩穿的粉紅色的小外衣、褲子，男孩穿的藍色衣服。還有柔軟的小玩具——玩具熊和嵌有藍色毫無生氣眼睛的小動物。

But he hadn't given any of these things to her，because she wouldn't talk to him.When he went to see her，she closed the door in his face;when he rang，she put the phone down;when he wrote，she sent the letters back unopened.

但是他沒有把任何這些東西給她，因為她不理他。當他去看望她時，她當面把門關上;當他打電話時，她掛上電話;當他寫信給她時，她原封退回。

There were a lot of books and magazines in his bedroom，too.But he kept them under his bed.He read them sometimes at night，but he didn't like to see them during the day.They were about babies，and the diseases that babies could get，be-fore they were born.There were some terrible things in the books，terrible pictures.He didn't like to think about them，but he couldn't stop.He thought about them all day， all the time.

他的臥室里還有很多書和雜志。但他把它們藏在床下。他有時晚上讀它們，但是他不喜歡白天見到它們。它們是關于嬰兒和嬰兒在出生前可能得的疾病的書。書中有一些可怕的情景，可怕的圖片。他不愿去想它們，但他止不祝他整天在想它們，無時無刻地在想。

Today，as he sat staring out of the window at the sea，he could not stop his hands shaking.Every morning he rang the hospital，to ask if his daughter Christine MacDonald was there.He had rung this morning，and a nurse had said yes，Christine was there，and the baby was coming.That had been four hours ago.For two hours John had sat by the telephone，afraid to ring the hospital again.Three times he had picked it up，and three times he had put it down again.

今天，當他坐在窗口凝視著窗外的大海時，他的手禁不住地顫抖。每天早晨他都打電話到醫(yī)院問她的女兒克里斯汀·麥克唐納是否在那兒。今早他又打電話，一個護士說是的，克里斯汀在那兒，嬰兒就要降生了。那已是4小時以前的事了。他已經(jīng)坐在電話機旁兩小時，害怕再給醫(yī)院打電話。他3次拿起電話，又3次放下電話。

He picked it up again，and rang the number.Seven… five …eight… three…it was no good.He put the phone down again.He could not hear the news from the cold voice of a nurse over the telephone.He had to see the baby for himself.

他再次拿起電話，撥了號碼。7—5—8—3，沒有用。他再次放下電話。他不能在電話里護士冷淡的聲音中聽到這個消息，他一定要親自去看孩子。

He got up，put on his coat，and went downstairs.There was a cold wind outside，blowing from the sea.The sea and the sky were grey and miserable.He went into a shop and bought some flowers.He chose them carefully—bright red and yellow colours—and the shopkeeper put paper around them to keep them safe.John took them and walked quickly，nervously，along the windy road by the sea，towards the hos-pital.

他起身穿上外衣，走下樓梯。外面從海上刮來一陣冷風。海面和天空一片陰暗凄涼。他走進一家商店買了一些花。他細心地挑選——鮮紅和黃色——店主把它們用紙包扎好以防損壞。約翰拿起它們在風中飛快地忐忑不安地走在海邊通往醫(yī)院的路上。

It was raining out at sea.Already the rain was falling on the sandbanks where the seals used to live.Soon it would be falling on the town.John Duncan shivered，and turned his coat collar up.Then，with his bright flowers in his hand，he walked on，into the winter wind.

海上下起了雨。已經(jīng)看到雨正落在海豹曾棲身過的沙灘上。很快小鎮(zhèn)上也會下起雨。約翰·鄧肯身上發(fā)抖，他把衣領豎起來。然后手里拿著他鮮艷的花，頂著冬天的寒風繼續(xù)走去。