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《水孩子》
The Water Babies
Then he began to watch the lady to see where she kept the sweet things: and began hiding, and sneaking, and following her about, and pretending to be looking the other way, or going after something else, till he found out that she kept them in a beautiful mother-of -pearl cabinet away in a deep crack of the rocks.
And he longed to go to the cabinet, and yet he was afraid; and then he longed again, and was less afraid; and at last, by continual thinking about it, he longed so violently that he was no afraid at all. And one night, when all the other children were asleep, and he could not sleep for thinking of lollipops ), he crept away among the rocks, and got to the cabinet, and behold )! It was open.
But, when he saw all the nice things inside, instead of being delighted, he was quite frightened, and wished he had never come there. And then he would only touch them, and he did; and then he would only taste one, and he did; and then he would only eat one, and he did; and then he would only eat two, and then three, and so on; and then he was terrified lest she should come and catch him, and began gobbling ) them down so fast that he did not taste them, or have any pleasure in them; and then he felt sick, and would have only one more; and then only one more again, and so on till he had eaten them all up.
And all the while, close behind him, stood Mrs Bedonebyasyoudid ).
Some people may say—But why did she not keep her cupboard locked? Well, I know. It may seem a very strange thing, but she never does keep her cupboard locked; everyone may go and taste for themselves, and fare ) accordingly. It is very odd, but so it is; and I am quite sure that she knows best. Perhaps she wished people to keep their fingers out of the fire, by having them burned.
She took off her spectacles ), because she did not like to see too much; and in her pity she arched up her eyebrows into her very hair, and her eyes grew so wide that they would have taken in all the sorrows of the world, and filled with great big tears, as they too often do.
But all she said was: “Ah, you poor little dear! You are just like all the rest.”
But she said it to herself, and Tom neither heard nor saw her. Now, you must not fancy that she was sentimental at all. If you do, and think that she is going to let you off, or me, or any human being when we do wrong, because she is too tender-hearted to punish us, then you will find yourself very much mistaken, as many a man does every year and every day.
But what did the strange fairy do when she saw all her lollipops eaten?
Did she fly at ) Tom, catch him by the scruff ) of the neck, hold him, howk him, hump him , hurry him, hit him, poke him, pull him, pinch him, pound him, put him in the corner, shake him, slap him, set him on a cold stone to reconsider himself, and so forth?
Not a bit. You may watch her at work if you know where to find her. But you will never see her do that. For, if she had, she knew quite well Tom would have fought, and kicked, and bit, and said bad words, and turned again that moment into a naughty little heathen ) chimney-sweep.
Did she question him, hurry him, frighten him, threaten him, to make him confess? Not a bit. You may see her, as I said, at her work often enough if you know where to look for her: but you will never see her do that. For, if she had, she would have tempted him to tell lies in his fright; and that would have been worse for him, if possible, than even becoming a heathen chimney-sweep again.
No. She leaves that for anxious parents and teachers (lazy ones, some call them), who, instead of giving children a fair trial, such as they would expect and demand for themselves, force them by fright to confess their own fault—which is so cruel and unfair that no judge on the bench dare do it to the wickedest thief or murderer, for the good British law forbids it—ay ), and even punish them to make them confess, which is so detestable ) a crime that it is never committed now, save by Inquisitors ), and Kings of Naples , and a few other wretched ) people of whom the world is weary. And then they say, “We have trained up the child in the way he should go, and when he grew up he has departed from it.” But perhaps the way of beating, and hurrying, and frightening, and questioning, was not the way that the child should go; for it is not even the way in which a colt ) should go if you want to break ) it in and make it a quiet serviceable horse.
于是他开始观察那位仙女，想看看她把糖果藏在哪儿了：他开始躲躲藏藏、鬼鬼祟祟地到处跟踪她，假装在朝另一边看，或是在追其他东西，直到他发现仙女把糖果放在一个漂亮的贝壳柜子里，在远处一道很深的岩石缝中。
他很想到那个柜子那儿去，但很害怕；然后他又渴望过去，内心的害怕也减少了几分；最后，由于脑子里不停地在想这个事儿，他内心的渴望愈发强烈，他不再害怕了。一天夜里，其他孩子都睡着了，他因为想着棒棒糖怎么也睡不着，于是他在岩石堆中蹑手蹑脚地溜走，来到那个柜子跟前，瞧啊！柜子是开着的。
但是，当他看见里面所有那些好东西时，他没有觉得欣喜若狂，反而十分害怕，心里真希望自己从来没有来过这里。然后，他想着就只摸一摸，于是他就摸了一下；然后他想就只尝一口，于是他就尝了一口；接着他想就只吃一个，于是他就吃了一个；接着他又想就只吃两个，然后又想吃三个，就这么吃了下去。随后他害怕了起来，生怕仙女来抓他个现行，于是他开始狼吞虎咽，可吃得太快了，根本尝不出味道，也没享受到任何乐趣。接着他觉得恶心难受，想着就只再吃一个；然后又想再只吃一个，就这么一个又一个，最后把柜子里所有糖果全都吃光了。
自始自终，惩恶仙女都一直紧挨着他的身后站着。
有人也许会说，那她为什么不把柜子锁上呢？好吧，我知道。这可能看起来是一件很奇怪的事情，但她的确从来都不锁柜子；每个人都可以去自取品尝，后果自负。这的确很奇怪，但实际情况就是这样；我相信她最了解个中道理。也许她希望通过给人们小小的惩罚，让人们不做坏事。
惩恶仙女摘下眼镜，因为她不想看到太多；她内心深感遗憾，她的眉毛高高地拱进了头发里，她的眼睛睁得那么大，似乎能装进全世界所有的悲痛，她的眼里噙满了大颗的泪珠——这双眼睛经常如此。
但她却只说了一句：“哦，可怜的小家伙！你只不过也和其他所有人一样。”
但她是自言自语的，汤姆既没有听见也没有看见她。现在，你绝对不要幻想她会感情用事。如果你心存这样的幻想，以为她会因为心肠太软不忍心下手惩罚而宽恕你、我或任何一个犯错误的人，那你就会发现自己大错特错了。每一年、每一天都有许多人这样幻想。
但是，这位奇怪的仙女看见她的棒棒糖全都被吃光了之后做了什么呢？
她是不是扑向汤姆，从后面抓住他的脖子，控制住他、抠他的嘴、压弯他的背、赶他、打他、戳他、拽他、捏他、捶他，把他逼到角落里，摇晃他、扇他耳光、罚他到冰冷的大石头上反省自己，诸如此类？
完全不会。如果你知道在哪里能找到她，你或许能看着她工作。但你永远不会看见她做那样的事。因为，如果她那么做了，她很清楚汤姆会上手打、上脚踢、上嘴咬，会说脏话，会在那一刻变回那个顽劣粗鲁的扫烟囱的小孩。
那她会不会盘问他、催促他、吓唬他、威胁他，逼他坦白一切呢？完全不会。就像我刚才说的，如果你知道在哪里可以找到她，你可能可以经常看见她工作的样子，但你永远不可能看见她做这些事情。因为，如果她这么做了，她可能会诱使汤姆因为恐惧而撒谎，那对他来说更糟糕，如果可能的话，比变回那个粗鲁的扫烟囱小孩还要糟糕。
不。那些事她留给那些焦虑的父母和老师(懒惰的人们，有人这么称呼他们)去做。他们非但不能给孩子们一个公正的审判，一个他们希望和要求得到的对自己的公正审判，相反，还吓唬孩子们，迫使他们坦白自己的错误。这太残忍、太不公平了，哪怕是法庭上的法官，也没有谁敢对最坏的小偷或谋杀犯这么做，因为伟大的英国法律明文禁止这一点——唉！更别说用惩罚的手段逼他们坦白了，这简直就是可恶的罪行，现在根本没有人这么做了，除了审判官们、那不勒斯的国王们及其他一些被整个世界唾弃的卑鄙小人。他们可能会说：“我们已经朝着正确的方向培养孩子了，但当他长大了，他却偏离了原来的方向。”但或许这种狠揍、催促、吓唬、质问，不应该是培养孩子的正确方向；因为即便你想驯服一匹小马，想让它成为一匹安静的、有用的马，这也不是正确的方式。
文章摘自：《新东方英语·中学生》杂志2016年11月号
