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绿野仙踪［美］莱·弗·鲍姆／原著
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

英文中文双语对照双语交替

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Chapter 17. How the Balloon Was Launched

第17章　奥芝失踪

For three days Dorothy heard nothing from Oz. These were sad days for the little girl, although her friends were all quite happy and contented. The Scarecrow told them there were wonderful thoughts in his head; but he would not say what they were because he knew no one could understand them but himself. When the Tin Woodman walked about he felt his heart rattling around in his breast; and he told Dorothy he had discovered it to be a kinder and more tender heart than the one he had owned when he was made of flesh. The Lion declared he was afraid of nothing on earth, and would gladly face an army or a dozen of the fierce Kalidahs.

三天很快就过去了，多萝茜从奥芝那里没有听到任何消息。

Thus each of the little party was satisfied except Dorothy, who longed more than ever to get back to Kansas.

虽然她的同伴，都感到快乐和满足，可是对于这个小女孩子，这些日子是郁郁不乐的。

On the fourth day, to her great joy, Oz sent for her, and when she entered the Throne Room he greeted her pleasantly:

稻草人对他们说，在他的头脑里，产生了一种奇异的思想，但是他无法用语言表达出来，因为那只是他模糊的感觉罢了，当然没有一个人能够懂得。

"Sit down, my dear; I think I have found the way to get you out of this country."

当铁皮人走动的时候，他觉得他的心在胸腔的四周，发出辘辘的声音来；然后他告诉多萝茜，他已经感觉到，这颗心和他的肉身时所有的心相比较，是更加善良，而且更加慈爱的了。

"And back to Kansas?" she asked eagerly.

狮子则宣称：在这个地球上，它不会怕任何东西了，并且能镇定地去迎战一支军队，或者十二只凶猛的开力大。

"Well, I'm not sure about Kansas," said Oz, "for I haven't the faintest notion which way it lies. But the first thing to do is to cross the desert, and then it should be easy to find your way home."

在这个小团体里，除了多萝茜以外，每一个都处于兴奋和快乐中，所以，她渴望能够回到堪萨斯州的愿望更强烈了。

"How can I cross the desert?" she inquired.

第四天，奥芝召唤了她，这使她充满了希望。当她走进宫殿中去时，奥芝微笑地说：“我的亲爱的宝贝儿，请坐下来，我想有办法使你走出这个国度了。”

"Well, I'll tell you what I think," said the little man. "You see, when I came to this country it was in a balloon. You also came through the air, being carried by a cyclone. So I believe the best way to get across the desert will be through the air. Now, it is quite beyond my powers to make a cyclone; but I've been thinking the matter over, and I believe I can make a balloon."

“还能回到堪萨斯州去？”她急迫地问。

"How?" asked Dorothy.

“唔，我也不能说是堪萨斯州，”奥芝说；”因为我也不知道那条路在哪里。但是我相信，只要能越过大沙漠，就很容易地找到你回家去的路。”

"A balloon," said Oz, "is made of silk, which is coated with glue to keep the gas in it. I have plenty of silk in the Palace, so it will be no trouble to make the balloon. But in all this country there is no gas to fill the balloon with, to make it float."

她问：“我怎么能够穿越这沙漠？”

"If it won't float," remarked Dorothy, "it will be of no use to us."

“哦，我有一个绝妙的主意，”矮小的老人说。“我告诉过你的，我来到这个国土上，是坐在一个轻气球里面的。你也是被一阵旋风卷着，从空中飘来的，所以我相信从空中走，一定能越过沙漠。现在要制造一阵旋风，这我们都做不到；但是我认真地想过这件事情了，我相信我能够做一个轻气球。”

"True," answered Oz. "But there is another way to make it float, which is to fill it with hot air. Hot air isn't as good as gas, for if the air should get cold the balloon would come down in the desert, and we should be lost."

多萝茜问：“做轻气球？”

"We!" exclaimed the girl. "Are you going with me?"

“不错，”奥芝说，“是用绸来做的，涂上了胶，使它里面储藏着煤气。在我的宫殿里，有许多的绸，所以做一个轻气球，不费什么事儿的。但是在我这整个国家里，没有煤气，来装进轻气球里去，使它飞起来。”

"Yes, of course," replied Oz. "I am tired of being such a humbug. If I should go out of this Palace my people would soon discover I am not a Wizard, and then they would be vexed with me for having deceived them. So I have to stay shut up in these rooms all day, and it gets tiresome. I'd much rather go back to Kansas with you and be in a circus again."

“如果没有煤气，”多萝茜注意地说，“那轻气球对我就没有用处了。”

"I shall be glad to have your company," said Dorothy.

“确实是这样，”奥芝回答。“但是还有一个办法让它升起来，可以用热气灌满在里面，但是热气不如煤气那般安全，因为假如碰到了寒冷，那轻气球便会坠落在沙漠里，我们将迷失在沙漠里了。”

"Thank you," he answered. "Now, if you will help me sew the silk together, we will begin to work on our balloon."

“我们！”女孩子高声喊出来；“你要跟我一起走！”

So Dorothy took a needle and thread, and as fast as Oz cut the strips of silk into proper shape the girl sewed them neatly together. First there was a strip of light green silk, then a strip of dark green and then a strip of emerald green; for Oz had a fancy to make the balloon in different shades of the color about them. It took three days to sew all the strips together, but when it was finished they had a big bag of green silk more than twenty feet long.

“是的，当然，”奥芝回答说。“我不愿意再做一个骗子了。

Then Oz painted it on the inside with a coat of thin glue, to make it airtight, after which he announced that the balloon was ready.

如果我走出这个宫殿，我的老百姓立刻会发现事实的真相，于是他们让我不得安宁，因为我欺骗了他们。因此我不得不整天地关在这些房间里，我已经厌倦。我决定和你一起回去，宁愿再回到马戏班里。”

"But we must have a basket to ride in," he said. So he sent the soldier with the green whiskers for a big clothes basket, which he fastened with many ropes to the bottom of the balloon.

“我很高兴有你这样的一个同伴，”多萝茜说。

When it was all ready, Oz sent word to his people that he was going to make a visit to a great brother Wizard who lived in the clouds. The news spread rapidly throughout the city and everyone came to see the wonderful sight.

“谢谢你，”他回答说。“现在，我们先把绸缝起来。”

Oz ordered the balloon carried out in front of the Palace, and the people gazed upon it with much curiosity. The Tin Woodman had chopped a big pile of wood, and now he made a fire of it, and Oz held the bottom of the balloon over the fire so that the hot air that arose from it would be caught in the silken bag. Gradually the balloon swelled out and rose into the air, until finally the basket just touched the ground.

多萝茜便取出一枚针和线来，这个女孩子把绸片剪成很多的小块，像奥芝做的一样地快，并把它们整齐地缝在一起。

Then Oz got into the basket and said to all the people in a loud voice:

第一片是淡绿色的，第二片是深绿色的，第三片是翡翠绿的；因为奥芝有一个有趣的想法，他要用不同颜色的绸片来缝制这个轻气球。

"I am now going away to make a visit. While I am gone the Scarecrow will rule over you. I command you to obey him as you would me."

三天以后，他们把所有的绸片缝合在一起了，这个轻气球终于缝好了，他们面前一个比二十尺还长的一个巨大的绿绸袋。

The balloon was by this time tugging hard at the rope that held it to the ground, for the air within it was hot, and this made it so much lighter in weight than the air without that it pulled hard to rise into the sky.

接着奥芝用一层薄胶，涂在里面，使它不透气，忙完这个，他就微笑着宣布那轻气球已经制作完成了。

"Come, Dorothy!" cried the Wizard. "Hurry up, or the balloon will fly away."

他说：“但是我们还得找一口篮子，好让我们坐在下面。”

"I can't find Toto anywhere," replied Dorothy, who did not wish to leave her little dog behind. Toto had run into the crowd to bark at a kitten, and Dorothy at last found him. She picked him up and ran towards the balloon.

因此，他差遣那绿胡须的兵士，找来一块巨大的布做的篮子，用绳子把它紧缚在轻气球的底下。

She was within a few steps of it, and Oz was holding out his hands to help her into the basket, when, crack! went the ropes, and the balloon rose into the air without her.

当一切准备就绪的时候，奥芝对他的百姓宣称，他要拜访云瑞里的一个大魔术家。这个消息很快地传遍了全城，所有人都想来看看这个奇异的现象。

"Come back!" she screamed. "I want to go, too!"

奥芝命令把轻气球放到宫殿的前面去，百姓们非常感兴趣地抬头望着它。铁皮人已经砍好一大堆的木柴，并把它们烧了起来，奥芝把轻气球张在火上面，使得热气上升，进入绸袋里面。慢慢地，那轻气球膨胀起来，同时在空中升起，一直升到那只篮子完全离开地面为止。

"I can't come back, my dear," called Oz from the basket. "Good-bye!"

于是奥芝跨进篮子里，向他所有的百姓，高声地说：“现在，我要出去一个魔术家那里作一次访问。我不在城堡期间，稻草人将管理你们。我命令你们服从他，他的命令就是我的命令。”

"Good-bye!" shouted everyone, and all eyes were turned upward to where the Wizard was riding in the basket, rising every moment farther and farther into the sky.

这时候，轻气球还被系在地上的绳子拉住，因为里面的热气，这就使得它比空气轻了，如果不是有那绳子拖住，恐怕它就要升到天空中去了。

And that was the last any of them ever saw of Oz, the Wonderful Wizard, though he may have reached Omaha safely, and be there now, for all we know. But the people remembered him lovingly, and said to one another:

“多萝茜，上来！”魔术家叫道：“快上来，不然这轻气球就要飞走了。”

"Oz was always our friend. When he was here he built for us this beautiful Emerald City, and now he is gone he has left the Wise Scarecrow to rule over us."

“我找遍了所有地方，我都找不到托托，”多萝茜回答说，她可不想把她的小狗丢失在这里。

Still, for many days they grieved over the loss of the Wonderful Wizard, and would not be comforted.

这时托托正窜入人群中间，追逐那小猫，多萝茜最后找到了它。她抱起它来，向轻气球跑去。只在几步以内她就要跑到了，奥芝正想伸出手来，帮助她跨进篮子里去，这时，“哗啦”

一声！绳子突然断了，轻气球扔下了她，浮到空中去了。

“回来！”她高声地叫；“我也要去！”

“亲爱的，我也无能为力，”奥芝从篮子里喊道。“再会！”

“再会！”每一个人喊着，所有的眼睛都注视着那缓缓升起的轻气球，那魔术家正坐在篮子里，越升越高，越飘越远，最后消失在他们的视野了。

无论对谁，这都是最后一次地见到他了。这伟大的魔术家，他也许已经平安地飘到了奥马哈，据我们所知，他现在还在那里。但是这儿的人民爱戴他，怀念他，时常提起他：“奥芝是我们永远的朋友。他是多么伟大，他为我们建筑下这座翡翠城，然而他走了，他留下这个聪明的稻草人来管理这个城堡。”

翡翠城里的百姓因为这位神奇的魔术家的离去，许多许多日子里，他们仍旧很烦恼，并且得不到安慰。