Halloween
11月的第一天是西方傳統(tǒng)的萬圣節(jié)，也稱“鬼節(jié)”，而10月31日之夜就是著名的萬圣節(jié)前夜了。這一天，孩子們都會興高采烈地穿上五顏六色的化妝服，甚至還會戴上千奇百怪的面具，將自己打扮得“鬼模鬼樣”，為這個節(jié)日平添了許多樂趣。本文小作者為大家講述了最讓她難忘的一次“鬼節(jié)”經(jīng)歷……
Growing up, I always felt a great animosity[2] towards the holiday Halloween. Why you ask? Long story short, I was so easily scared, that it wasn’t even funny (okay, looking back on it, maybe it was a little funny). However, even though I was scared, I still had to try and hide it and pretend that I wasn’t scared so that I wouldn’t become a target of Halloween pranks[3]. Yep, that was the complicated life of a pre-adolescent scaredy cat.[4] Out of all the years of this, probably the most memorable was the Halloween of 2006. Here’s the story.
在我成長的這些年里，我一直都對萬圣節(jié)懷有一種強烈的憎惡感。你會問為什么?長話短說吧，我太容易被嚇到了，而且這一點都不好玩(好吧，現(xiàn)在回想起來，還算有點意思)。不過，即便我感到很害怕，也必須努力隱藏這個弱點，裝作不害怕，這樣我才不會成為萬圣節(jié)前夕惡作劇的目標。是的，這就是一個青春期之前的膽小鬼的復(fù)雜生活。在所有萬圣節(jié)前夜的經(jīng)歷中，最令人難忘的就是2006年了。故事是這樣的。
My day started out normal, or at least as normal as it can get on Halloween morning. I was in 3rd grade, and I was walking towards my classroom. Since it was Halloween, we were all dressed up in costumes and I was a fairy princess (don’t judge me, I was a girly[5] girl back then).
那一天一如平常，或者說，至少在萬圣節(jié)前夜的上午還算正常。當時我上三年級，往教室走去。那天是萬圣節(jié)前夜，我們都穿上了特色服裝，我扮成精靈公主的樣子(可不要批評我哦，那時我還只是個小姑娘呢)。
As I walked in to my classroom, all the lights were off and the teacher was nowhere to be seen. As soon as the clock struck 8, the door slammed shut and we heard a horrible cackling[6] voice. “Hello my children!” said the voice. It came from a woman in a black robes and a pointy hat. Her skin was green and she had warts all over her face. It took me a few minutes to realize that this was actually my teacher, Mrs. Roberson. Thankfully, after the long speech of how she was not Mrs. Roberson, she turned the lights back on and let us work on crossword puzzles.
當我走進教室時，所有的燈都熄滅了，四處不見老師的身影。鐘表一敲響8點，門就砰地關(guān)上了，我們聽到一個恐怖而急促的聲音說道：“你們好啊，我的孩子們!”聲音出自一個穿黑袍、戴尖帽的女人，她的皮膚是綠色的，臉上還長滿了疣子。我花了幾分鐘時間才認出她其實就是我的老師——羅伯遜夫人。所幸的是，她在發(fā)表了一大段自己不是羅伯遜夫人的講話后，便重新打開燈，讓我們做填字游戲。
Sadly, this didn’t last very long. After about an hour, Mrs. Roberson (or Mrs. Hagatha, as she told us she was) led us through a dark hallway formerly known as the 5th grade wing[7]. The hall looked nothing like the hall I walked past every day! Cobwebs were everywhere, glowing eyes stared at me from behind doors, and I could have sworn that I heard the howling of a werewolf[8].
可惜，沒過多久，大概一小時后，羅伯遜夫人(或是哈加莎夫人，因為她是這樣告訴我們的)帶著大家穿過一條漆黑的走廊，這里曾是5年級的側(cè)廊。這條走廊看上去跟我每天走過的完全不一樣!到處都是蜘蛛網(wǎng)，門后還有發(fā)光的眼睛正瞪著我，而且我發(fā)誓聽見了狼人的嗥叫。
I shuddered. Don’t worry, I told myself. You’ll be okay.? After all, what’s the worse that could happen during school? She took us to an empty classroom where the other 3rd grade teachers were (also dressed as witches) and then blindfolded all of us after we sat down on the ground. “Now, I will be passing around various body parts.” she said, “Do not attempt to peek at the organs, or we will eat you. First is the heart...”
我感到不寒而栗。“別擔心，”我告訴自己。“不會有事的。畢竟，在學(xué)校里還能發(fā)生更糟的事嗎?”她把我們帶到一間空教室，其他三年級的老師都在場(他們也穿成了巫師的樣子)。接著，我們席地而坐，所有人的眼睛都被蒙住了。“現(xiàn)在，我會分發(fā)各種各樣的身體器官，”她說，“不要企圖偷窺這些器官，否則的話，我們會吃掉你哦。首先是心臟……”
I held my breath. Of course they weren’t really body parts, but what was it? The “heart” was slimy, cold, and it smelled really weird! And... it was moving! I was terrified. Then came the eyeballs, the stomach, and the disembodied hand. What could this be? I wondered. Finally, as the “intestines” came around, I snuck a peak.[9] It was only cold spaghetti[10] noodles! I breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t something horrid like pickled pig’s feet of cow eyeballs, just noodles.[11] The spleen[12] and the brain didn’t seem so bad after that.
我屏住呼吸。當然了，它們不是真正的器官，那會是什么呢?這個“心臟”黏糊糊的，冷冰冰的，而且聞起來真的很怪異!還有……它在滑動!我嚇壞了。接著是眼球、胃和斷手。我很納悶兒，“這是什么做的呢?”終于，當“大腸小腸”傳過來時，我偷窺了一眼。原來那只是冷的意大利面條啊!我如釋重負地松了口氣。它并不像腌豬蹄或牛眼那么令人毛骨悚然，就只是面條而已。在這之后分發(fā)的脾臟和大腦似乎也沒那么糟糕了。
After that ordeal[13], we went back to our own classrooms. “Betty,” I heard a voice cackle[14], “May I have a word[15]?” Frozen in fear, I walked towards my teacher. She must have seen me peek! The other students were at recess[16], what would she do? “I just wanted to congratulate you on your perfect test score. Now begone[17]!” she said pointing towards the playground. I sighed in relief for maybe the umpteenth[18] time that day. I was safe, at least for today. (Of course, I knew she wouldn’t eat me, but still.)
在那場磨難之后，我們回到了自己的教室。“貝蒂，”我聽見一個聲音咯咯地笑著說道，“我可以和你談?wù)剢?”我嚇呆了，向老師走去。她一定是看見我偷窺了!其他學(xué)生都去課間休息了，她會做什么呢?“我只是想祝賀你測驗考了個理想的好成績。現(xiàn)在走吧!”她邊說邊指向了操場。我寬慰地松口氣，這在那天都不知是第幾次了。我安全了，至少今天是這樣。(當然，我知道她是不會吃了我的，但我依然很害怕。)
Now do you see why I hate Halloween? Even though my logic told me I was perfectly safe, I would still jump at the slightest thing! Maybe visit me at my blog, and I’ll tell you the (even funnier) story of my horrid trip to a haunted[19] house.
現(xiàn)在，你明白我為何憎惡萬圣節(jié)前夜了吧?即使我的理智告訴我，我絕對是安全的，但我還是會因為一點小動靜就嚇得突然跳起來!或許你可以登陸我的博客，我會告訴你我去鬼屋所經(jīng)歷的(甚至更有趣的)恐怖故事哦。
Vocabulary:
1. Halloween: 萬圣節(jié)前夕(10月31日晚上)。
2. animosity: 憎惡，敵意。
3. prank: 胡鬧，惡作劇。
4. yep: 〈美俚〉是，是的(yes的變體);scaredy cat: 〈口〉= ’fraid cat，膽小鬼，懦夫。
5. girly: = girlie，姑娘，小姑娘(常用作愛稱)。
6. cackling: 發(fā)急促而輕微聲音的。
7. wing: 房屋翼部，側(cè)廳，廂房。
8. werewolf: (神話傳說中)變成狼的人，狼人。
9. intestines: 腸(通稱);sneak a peak: 偷窺，悄悄看。
10. spaghetti：意大利面。
11. horrid: 可怕的，極討厭的; pickle: 腌制。
12. spleen: 脾臟。
13. ordeal: 苦難經(jīng)歷，折磨，煎熬。
14. cackle: 咯咯地笑。
15. word: 談話。
16. recess: 〈美〉(學(xué)校的)課間休息，假期。
17. begone: 出去，走開(僅用于祈使句或不定式)。
18. umpteenth: 〈口〉第無數(shù)(個或次)的，許多的。
19. haunted: 鬧鬼的，鬼魂出沒的。
