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三怪客泛舟记
Three Men in a Boat

英文中文双语对照双语交替

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Chapter 6 On the river

At Kingston our boat was waiting for us．Harris and I put all our things into it，and we moved off along the River Thames．Montmorency was at the front of the boat．We travelled along the river without any accidents．Well，there was only one little accident．That was when the boat hit the river bank，and Harris fell over backwards．When we came to Hamp-ton Court Palace，Harris asked me if I had ever been in the maze there．He told me a story about it…

He went into the maze once，to show a friend the way．He had studied a map of the maze，and so he knew it was very easy to get out of it again．Harris said to his friend，'We'll just go in and walk around for ten minutes，and then we'll come out and get some lunch．It's easy，you see．You just keep taking the first turning to the right．'

Soon after they had gone in，they met some people．These people said that they had been there for three quarters of an hour．They said they wanted to get out．Harris said，'Follow me！I'm going out myself in about ten minutes．'

The people all said that Harris was very kind，and they began to follow him．

As they were going along，they collected other people who wanted to get out．In the end，all the people in the maze were following Harris．There were about twenty of them．Some of them had thought that they were never going to see their friends and their families again．One woman was carrying a baby．She held on to Harris's arm because she did not want to lose him．

Harris continued to turn to the right，but it seemed to be a long way．At last，Harris's friend said to him，'This must be a very big maze．'

'One of the biggest in Europe，'Harris answered．

'Yes，it must be，'his friend continued，'because we've walked about three kilometres already．'

Harris began to think that it was rather strange，but he went on．After some time，they came to a piece of cake on the ground．Harris's friend said that they had passed the piece of cake earlier．Harris replied，'No！lmpos-sible！'

The woman with the baby said，'No，I took it from the baby，and I threw it there myself．It was just before we met you．In fact，I wish I never had met you，'she added．

Harris got angry then，and he took out his map．He showed it to the people，but one man said，'A map's no good when you don't know where you are．'

So then Harris said that the best thing was to go back to the entrance and start again．Everybody agreed，and they all turned and followed Harris the other way．

After ten minutes they found themselves in the centre of the maze．Harris was going to pretend that he wanted to be in the centre，but the crowd looked dangerous．So Harris decided to say that it was an accjdent．

Anyway，now they knew where they were on the map，and it looked easy．So they all started off again for the third time．

And three minutes later，they were back in the centre again．

After that，every time they tried again，they arrived back in the centre．Harris took out his map again，but this made the crowd angry．They told him what to do with his map．Harris felt that the crowd was not very grateful to him．

Then they all started to shout，and in the end the keeper came．He climbed up a ladder，and he called to them，'Wait，there！l'll come and get you．'

But he was a young keeper，and he was new to the job，so when he got into the maze，he could not find them．Then he got lost．From time to time，they saw him as he ran past，on the other side of the hedge．He shouted，'Wait there！I'm coming！'

Then，five minutes later，he appeared again in the same place．He asked them why they had moved．

They had to wait for one of the old keepers to come back from lunch and let them out…

Harris said that it was a fine maze，and we agreed that we would try to get George into it on the way back．