李明娟

The childrens plans for the next day did not come to pass. Unluckily， Leonore had caught a cold. It was nothing very bad， but she was subject1 to sore throats2 sometimes. And for some days to come the little girl was not allowed3 to go out.

孩子们第二天的计划没有实现。不幸的是，利奥诺感冒了。一切都还好，但是有时她会感到喉咙痛。接下来这几天，小女孩不许出门。

At first she felt rather bored and unhappy， but as her friends were soon satisfied4 that there was not much the matter with her， Hildegarde was allowed to come to see her.

起初，她感到无聊和难过，但是当她的朋友们很快就为她平安无事感到满意时，希尔德加德就被允许来看她。

“How did you catch a cold？” said her visitor. “It couldnt surely have been from...” and she stopped short with a smile. The children did not talk very much when they were together5， of their fairy adventures6 Leonore gave a little laugh.

“你是怎么感冒的？”她的客人希尔德加德说，“那肯定不可能是……”她微笑着停了一下，当孩子们在一起时，她们很少说话，对于两人童话般的历险，利奥诺却只轻声笑了一下。

“From riding on a cloud，” she said. “No， I am quite sure it was not from that， though surely if we told anybody about it， they would think it a sure way of catching a cold.”

“因为腾云驾雾。”她说，“不，我很确定这不是那样来的，但可以肯定的是，如果我们这样告诉别人，他们会认为这确实是一种得感冒的方法。”

“They wouldnt believe7 it，” said Hildegarde， “or at least they would think we had been dreaming. But do you know， Leonore，” she went on quickly， “I shouldnt wonder if some good came of your cold. Its only two weeks to Christmas now， and what Grandma said that last day you were at the Castle seems coming true. There are all the signs8 of a hard winter， they say. Though Grandma hasnt told me so， I have a great idea that they are planning for you all to come and stay at the Castle with us.” Leonore was happy.

希尔德加德说：“他们不会相信这一点，或者至少他们会以为我们一直在做梦。但利奥诺，你知道吗？”她急切地说道，“我不应该怀疑你的感冒是否会带来好处。现在离圣诞节只有两个星期了，奶奶说你圣诞节的最后一天会在城堡里度過，现在似乎成真了。他们说，有严冬到来的迹象，尽管奶奶没有告诉我，但我感觉他们正在计划让你们所有人和我们一起住到城堡里。”利奥诺很高兴。

“How lovely that would be，” she said. “Do tell me what makes you think so， Hildegarde？”

“那将是多么好。”她说，“告诉我，是什么让你这样想的，希尔德加德？”

“Two or three things. I heard Grandpapa talking about this house，‘Aunt Annas little house， he called it.”

“两三件事吧。”她说，“我听到爷爷谈论这所房子，他称之为‘安娜姨妈的小房子。”

He said the roof9 should have something done to it， in case10 of heavy snow， and that the bailiff11 should have told him of this before， for it hardly could be done while the ladies were living in it. Then Grandma smiled， and said that she thought the difficulty might be over. And once or twice lately I have met old Maria on her way to the blue-silk room.

他说，为了防止下大雪，屋顶应该修一下，而且法警应该早点告诉他这个，因为女士们住在里面时就几乎做不了了。然后奶奶笑了，说她认为困难可能已经解决了。最近一两次，我在去蓝丝绸房间的路上遇到了老玛丽亚。

（英语原文选自：mocomi.com）