绿野仙踪 第114期:奥芝的秘密(7)

 "What is that?" asked Dorothy. 多萝茜问：“轻气球？”

"A man who goes up in a balloon on circus day, so as to draw a crowd of people together and get them to pay to see the circus," he explained. “在马戏团，一个人坐在升起来的轻气球里面，吸引一大群的观众，赶来看马戏，从而让观众购买门票。”他解释着。

"Oh," she said, "I know." 她说：“唔，原来是这样。”

"Well, one day I went up in a balloon and the ropes got twisted, so that I couldn't come down again.  “啊，有一天，我坐在升起了的轻气球里面，那绳子被弄断了，因此，我便降落不了。”

It went way up above the clouds, so far that a current of air struck it and carried it many, many miles away.  “轻气球飘荡在云上面，上空有一种气流，向那老远的地方推着它，把它带走很长一段路。

For a day and a night I traveled through the air,  我在高空中游荡了一天一夜，

and on the morning of the second day I awoke and found the balloon floating over a strange and beautiful country. 在第二天早晨，我醒来时发觉轻气球飞在异常美丽的国土上空。

"It came down gradually, and I was not hurt a bit.  “它慢慢地降落下来，我也没有受伤。

But I found myself in the midst¹ of a strange people, who, seeing me come from the clouds, thought I was a great Wizard.  但是我发现自己落在奇异的人群中间，他们看见我从云端里下来，便认定我是一个伟大的魔术师。

Of course I let them think so, because they were afraid of me,  当然，我也没有纠正他们，因此他们都敬畏我，

and promised to do anything I wished them to. 而且完全听从我的命令。

"Just to amuse myself, and keep the good people busy, I ordered them to build this City, and my Palace;  “为了让我自己快乐，并且为了使这些善良的人民忙碌起来，我命令他们建造这座城，以及我的宫殿，

and they did it all willingly and well.  他们全都愿意而且尽力做得完美。

Then I thought, as the country was so green and beautiful, I would call it the Emerald City;  于是我想，因为这个国土覆盖着绿色，而且这样的美丽，我就叫它做翡翠城，

and to make the name fit better I put green spectacles² on all the people, so that everything they saw was green." 为了使它更加名副其实，我命令所有的人戴上了绿眼镜，这样每一种东西，看起来必然都是绿的。”

1 midst   

n.中部，中间，当中

参考例句：

• The hut is in the midst of the forest.小屋在森林深处。
• There is a thief in our midst.我们当中有小偷。

2 spectacles   

n.眼镜

参考例句：

• a pair of spectacles 一副眼镜
• People wear spectacles so that they can see better. 人们戴眼镜是为了看得更清楚。