Death of the Wicked Witch of the East

邪惡的東方女巫之死

She was awakened by a shock, so sudden and severe that if Dorothy had not been lying on the soft bed she might have been hurt. As it was, the jar made her catch her breath and wonder what had happened; and dog Toto put his cold little nose into her face and whined sadly. Dorothy sat up and noticed that the house was not moving; nor was it dark, for the bright sunshine came in at the window, flooding the little room. She sprang from her bed and with Toto at her heels ran and opened the door.

多蘿茜被一陣突如比來的劇烈的震動驚醒，如果她沒有躺在柔軟的床上，她可能會受傷的。震動使她屏住呼吸，尋思著發生的事;小狗托托把它冰冷的小鼻子放到她的臉上，凄慘地哀叫著。多蘿茜坐起來，發現房子不動了，天也不黑了，明亮的陽光從窗口照進來，照滿了小屋。她從床上一躍而起，跑過去開門，托托跟在她腳邊。

The little girl gave a cry of amazement and looked about her, her eyes growing bigger and bigger at the wonderful sights she saw.

女孩驚訝地叫了起來，她環顧四周，看到一幕幕奇特的景象，眼睛睜得越來越大。

The cyclone had set the house down very gently in the midst of a country of great beauty. There were lovely patches of greensward all about, with stately trees bearing rich fruits. Banks of attractive flowers were on every hand, and birds with rare and brilliant plumage sang and fluttered in the trees and bushes. A little way off was a small brook, rushing and sparkling along between green banks, and murmuring in a voice very grateful to a little girl who had lived so long on the dry, gray prairies.

旋風極為輕盈地把房子降落在一個風景秀麗的國家的中央。到處是一塊一塊的綠草地，莊嚴的樹木結著豐饒甜美的果實。斜坡上遍布若迷人的鮮花，鳥兒們披著軍見的亮麗的羽毛.在樹木和灌木叢間歌唱飛舞。不遠處是一條小溪，沿著綠色的堤岸奔流不息，熠熠發光，發出潺潺的流水聲，這對于一個在干旱的灰色草原上住了很久的小女孩來說實在太令人愉快了。

While she stood looking eagerly at the strange and beautiful sights, she noticed coming toward her a group of the queerest people she had ever seen. They were not as big as the grown folk she had always been used to; but neither were they very small. In fact,they seemed about as tall as Dorothy, who was a well-grown child for her age, although they were, so far as looks go, many years older.

當她站在那里，急切地注視著這些奇特美麗的景觀時，她注意到一群人向她走來，這是她見過的最奇異的人。他們沒有她看慣了的成人那么高大，但他們也并不是非常矮小。事實上，他們似乎和多蘿茜一樣高，按照年齡來講，多蘿茜算是一個長得很高的孩子。從外貌來看，這群人比她大許多。

Three were men and one a woman, and all were oddly dressed. They wore round hats that rose to a small point a foot above their heads, with little bells around the brims that tinkled sweetly as they moved. The hats of the men were blue; the little woman's hat was white, and she wore a white gown that hung in pleats from her shoulders. Over it were sprinkled little stars that glistened in the sun like diamonds. The men were dressed in blue,of the same shade as their hats, and wore well-polished boots. The men, Dorothy thought, were about as old as Uncle Henry, for two of them had beards. But the little woman was doubtless much older. Her face was covered with wrinkles, her hair was nearly white, and she walked rather stiffly.

他們當中有三名男子和一名婦女，全都穿著古怪。他們戴著圓帽子，帽子離頭有一英尺高，中間聳起一個小小的尖頂，帽檐四周拄著小鈴檔，他們一動，鈴檔就發出悅耳的叮鈴聲。男人們的帽子是藍色的，女人的帽子一呈白色，她穿著一件帶褶的白色袍子，從肩膀上垂下來，上面閃耀著小星星，在陽光下像鉆石般耀眼。男人們身著藍色衣裳，色調和帽了一致，腳穿擦得亮閃閃的靴子。多蘿茜想，他們和亨利叔叔年紀差不多，因為其中兩個長著胡須。但婦人無疑就大多了，她滿臉皺紋，頭發幾乎全白，走起路來相當僵硬。

When these people drew near the house where Dorothy was standing in the doorway,
they paused and whispered among themselves, as if afraid to come farther. But the little old
woman walked up to Dorothy, made a low bow and said, in a sweet voice:

當這些人走近屋子時，多蘿茜正站在門口，他們停下來互相低語，好像不敢再向前邁進。不過瘦小的老婦人走到多蘿茜面前，深深地鞠了一躬，用甜美的聲音說：

"You are welcome, most noble Sorceress, to the land of Munchkins. We are so grateful to you for having killed the Wicked Witch of the East, and for setting our people free from bondage."

“歡迎你，最高貴的魔法師，來到芒奇金人的國度。我們很感激你殺死了邪惡的東方女巫，感謝你把我們的人民從奴役中解放出來。”

Dorothy listened to this speech with wonder. What could the little woman possibly mean by calling her a sorceress, and saying she had killed the Wicked Witch of the East?Dorothy was an innocent, harmless little girl, who had been carried by a cyclone many miles from home; and she had never killed anything in all her life.

多蘿茜驚訝地聽著這番話。老婦人叫她女巫，還說她殺死了東方壞女巫，這可能意味著什么呢？多蘿茜是個無辜的、不會造成任何傷害的小女孩，從許多英里之外的地方被龍卷風帶到這里，而且她從來沒有殺害過任何事物。

But the little woman evidently expected her to answer; so Dorothy said, with hesitation,"You are very kind, but there must be some mistake. I have not killed anything."

但婦人顯然期待著她回答，于是多蘿茜猶豫地說:“你太好了，但一定是有些錯誤，我沒有殺過任何東西。”

"Your house did, anyway," replied the little old woman, with a laugh, "and that is the same thing. See!" she continued, pointing to the corner of the house. "Them are her two feet, still sticking out from under a block of wood."

“不管怎樣，你的房子殺死了東方女巫”，老婦人笑著答道，“這是一回事。你瞧!”她繼續說著，指著屋子的一角。“她的兩只腳還伸在木板外呢。”

Dorothy looked, and gave a little cry of fright.There, indeed, just under the corner of the great beam the house rested on, two feet were sticking out, shod in silver ,shoes with pointed toes.

多蘿茜看了看，驚叫了一聲。確實，就在屋了一坐落的巨大橫梁的角上，兩只腳伸了出來，穿著銀色尖頭的鞋子。

課堂筆記
1.這句話使用了虛擬語氣，"if"引導的條件從句為過去完成時，表示與過去相反的假設，主句的謂語部分是“might have done"，表示假設可能導致的結果。
2."as it is / as it turns out"意思為“實際情況是”，用于區別兩種不同的情況，表示一種反差。
3.副詞短語"a little way off'’置于句首，主語后置構成倒裝，由"rushing,  sparkling"和 "murmuring”構成的并列分詞短語用作定語，修飾主語“brook"。由“who”引導的定語從句用來修飾“girl".
4.常用句型結構“as ... as...”中第一個“as”為副詞，后接形容詞或副詞，第二個"as"為連詞，連接從句.本句中as后的從句應為“the grown folk was"，從句中“be”動詞往往予以省略."folk"之后是一個定語從句.其中"be used to"在此表示“習慣于……”.
5.固定結構“be grateful to sb. for sth./doing sth.”表示"因為…而感謝某人”。與此同意的搭配還有:"be thankful to sb. for sth./doing sth;thank sb.for sth./doing sth.;show gratitude to sb. for sth./doing sth.”等。

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