Yvonne Freeman

张倩云选译

There was once a very old book whose cover was made of lovely red leather and itspages were of the finest paper. It belonged to a girl named Amelia. His Amelia， as thelittle book liked to think of her， was sweet and kind， and of course she loved to read.

曾經有一本非常古老的书，它的封面是由可爱的红色皮革制成的，书页用的是最好的纸。它属于一个叫阿米莉亚的女孩。就像这本小小的书想象中的一样，阿米莉亚既可爱又善良，当然她很喜欢读书。

At first Amelia ' s mother would read to ber， but as she grew older Amelia could readthe little book all by herself. This was not an ordinary book， for within its pages were themost amazing stories that had ever been written. There were tales of princesses anddragons， of pirates 1 and treasure 2， of things you could hardlv believe！ When you openedthe book， a world of adventure lay within.

起初，阿米莉亚的母亲会读给她听，但随着年龄的增长，阿米莉亚可以独自阅读这本小小的书了。这不是一本普通的书，因为它的书页上是有史以来最令人惊奇的故事。有公主和龙的故事，海盗和宝藏的故事，一些你几乎不敢相信的故事！当你打开这本书时，一个冒险世界就在里面。

Amelia loved the little book， for it had belonged to her mother， and her mother'smother before her， but something was about to happen that the little book did not expect.

阿米莉亚喜欢这本小小的书，因为它曾是属于她母亲的，而在那之前则是属于她外婆的，但即将发生的事情是这本小小的书没有预料到的。

One day as he lay on the heavy nightstand3 next to Amelia's bed， where he spentmuch of his time. a terrible thing happened. The family cat jumped up and accidentallygave him a great big shove4. The little red book slid 5 right over the edge6 and fell behindthe nightstand. He just lay there， wedged7 tightly in the space between the wall and thenightstand. He could not cry out for help. All he could do was hope that help would come.

一天，它躺在阿米莉亚床旁边沉重的床头柜上，它在那里度过了大部分时光，这时一件可怕的事情发生了。家里的猫跳了起来，不小心猛推了它一把。这本红色的小书正好从边缘滑过，落在了床头柜后面。它只能躺在那里，紧紧地挤在墙和床头柜之间的空隙里。它无法大声呼救，所能做的就是期望着有人来帮助它。

Alas 8， it did not.

唉，帮助并没有到来。

His Amelia， in fact her whole family， searched far and wide， high and low， btt noone could see him. So there he lay. Amelia was heartbroken， for she loved the little bookabove all others. No other book that her mother gave her could replace the little red bookwith its wonderful stories.

它的阿米莉亚，其实是她全家人都在四处寻找，却没有人看到它。所以它一直躺在那里。阿米莉亚伤心欲绝，因为她喜爱这本小小的书胜过一切。她母亲给她的其他书都不能取代那本有着精彩故事的小红皮书。

And so the years passed. The little book never really gave up hope of being found， buthis heart was full of sadness. for he missed his Amelia and the way that she had alwaysturned his pages with such gentle and loving hands. Then one day， when he thought that allhope was lost， something happened. The heavy nightstand that had kept him hidden all thoseyears was being moved and suddenly he heard a voice cry out， "My book， my book！ It'sbeen here all this time！ " Then familiar hands gently picked him up， carefully dusted himoff， then held him close.

许多年过去了。这本小小的书从来没有真正放弃过被人找到的希望，但它的心里充满了悲伤，因为它想念它的阿米莉亚，也想念她总是用那样温柔爱惜的手翻过它书页的方式。……