书名：五个孩子和沙精
作者：伊迪丝·内斯比特
简介：它是个“赛米德”（即沙精）。有一大孩子们在砾石坑中挖沙时发现了它。它已经几千岁了。当然了，沙精们可以帮人们实现他们的愿望——愿望每天只能实现一个，而且当太阳落山时一切也就结束了。安西娅、西里尔、罗伯特和简觉得这棒极了。他们的小弟弟还太小，不会许愿，而且大部分时间都呆在家里；可其他几个盘算着要些激动人心的东西。
可那又是什么呢？变得漂亮，富有，还是能像鸟儿一样飞翔？有时候想出真正的好愿望很困难，可是脱口说出“但愿……”却是很容易的，那时你就得到了并不真正想要的东西。这时沙精就不肯帮忙了。出了差错时它就生气地说：“为什么你不先想好了再说？”
而事情的确常出差错……
伊迪丝·内斯比特1858年生于伦敦，1924年逝世。她一生从事写作，为儿童写了很多书。其中著名的有《五个孩子和沙精》、《长生鸟与地毯》及《铁路上的孩子》等。
3 Wings
3 翅膀
The next day was very wet. It rained all day and the children could not go to see the Psammead. They stayed at home and wrote letters to their mother. But none of them told her about the Psammead. And the day after that，their Uncle Richard came and took them out，so they did not see the Psammead for two days. But Anthea spent a lot of time thinking about what to wish for.
第二天外面很湿。雨下了一天，孩子们不能去看赛米德。他们呆在家里给母亲写信。可谁也没把赛米德的事告诉她。又过了一天，他们的理查德叔叔来了并带他们出去了，所以他们两天没见赛米德。可安西娅花了很多时间想她该许些什么愿。
The next morning，while Martha was busy with Baby，the children left the house quietly and went to see the Psammead. On the way，Anthea said to the others，' I know what we can ask for—— wings！'
再一天的早上，马莎正忙着照顾小弟弟时，孩子们悄悄离开家去看赛米德。在路上安西娅对大家说：“我知道我们希望要什么了——翅膀！”
The others were silent for a minute，but then they all agreed that they too would like to have wings.
一时别人都没说话，可然后他们都赞成，他们也愿意长出翅膀。
They found the Psammead easily. ' I wish we all had beauti-ful wings to fly with，'Anthea said.
他们没费劲就找到了赛米德。“我希望我们都有美丽的、可以用以飞翔的翅膀，”安西娅说。
The Psammead made itself very big and then went small again. The children felt strange for a minute and when they looked，they saw that they had beautiful soft wings of many colours. They moved them about and jumped up and down，and soon they could see the green fields and sunny woodsbelow them and the blue sky above. They could fly！It was wonderful，and they flew over the woods and trees，the townsand villages，for a long time. But they began to get hungry.
赛米德把自己变得非常大，然后又变小。一时孩子们觉得有些异样，可当他们一看，他们看见自己已长出了五颜六色的、软软的、美丽的翅膀。他们拍着翅膀跳上跳下，很快看见他们下方绿色的田野和阳光照耀着的小树林以及上方蔚蓝色的天空。他们会飞了！这太棒了。他们飞过树林、城乡，飞了好久。可他们开始饿了。
Just then they saw below them some trees full of large red plums. ' We mustn't steal，'Cyril said.
正在这时他们看见下面有些树，树上满是又大又红的李子。“我们可不能偷啊。”西里尔说。
' We've got wings，'Jane answered quickly，' so we're birds. It's all right for birds to take things. Birds can't steal. '
“我们长了翅膀，”简很快地答道，“所以我们就是鸟。鸟拿点东西没关系。鸟不会偷。”
So they flew down onto the trees，and they ate as many of the plums as they could.
所以他们飞下来落在树上，尽情地大吃李子。
They were finishing the plums when they saw a very angry little fat man，who was hurrying through the trees. They were his plums and the poor man thought that boys from the village were stealing them. But when he saw that the children had wings，his mouth fell open and his face went green. Anthea did not want to steal anything，of course，so she flew down and pushed some money into his pocket.
他们正要吃完的时候，突然看见一个非常生气的小矮胖子。他正急急忙忙地在树间穿梭。那是他的李子，那可怜的人认为是村里的孩子们在偷他的李子。但是当他看见这几个孩子长着翅膀时，他张大了嘴巴，脸色苍白。安西娅当然不愿偷东西，所以她飞下来把一些钱塞在他兜里。
'Don't be afraid，'she said. ' We've had some of your plums. We thought that it wasn't stealing，but now I'm not so sure. So that was some money to pay for them. '
“别怕，”她说，“我们吃了你的一些李子。我们起初觉得这不是偷，可现在我也不敢那么肯定。所以那是付给你的些李子钱。”
The little man sat there on the ground and looked up into the sky. 'Talking birds！Children with wings！This is a lesson for me. From now on，I'm going to live a better life，'he said. And he went into the house and was very kind to his wife.
那个胖子坐在那儿地上，仰望着天空。“会说话的鸟！长翅膀的孩子！这对我可是一课。从今以后，我要过得好点儿，”他说。他进房里去，对他的妻子很和蔼。
Plums are very nice，of course，but you soon feel hungry again. So the children stopped first at one house，then another，to ask for something to eat. They didn't get anything because everyone was afraid of them and screamed and ran away when they saw them. By four o'clock they were getting very tired and hungry，so they flew down onto the roof of a church，to think what to do.
李子当然很好吃，可很快你就又饿了，所以孩子们在一幢又一幢房子前停下来，想要些东西吃。他们什么也没得到，因为所有的人见到他们时都很害怕，尖叫着跑开了。到4点时他们变得又累又饿，于是就飞落在教堂的屋顶上，想想怎么办。
' We can't possibly fly all the way home without something to eat，'said Robert.
“我们要是没有东西吃，就不可能飞回家去。”罗伯特说。
In the end they decided to take some food from the vicar's house next to the church.
最后他们决定从紧挨着教堂的牧师家里拿些食物。
' He's a good man . He'll understand. We'll leave some money for the food，'Cyril said，'and a note saying that we're sorry. '
“他是好人。他会理解的。我们留些食品钱，”西里尔说，“再留张便条说我们很抱歉。”
Cyril got in through the window and gave the food to the others，who were outside. There was some cold meat，half a cold chicken，some bread and a bottle of soda-water. Then they all flew back up onto the church roof to eat it. They were very hungry，so they really enjoyed it. But when you are very hungry，and then you eat a big meal and sit in the hot sun on a roof，it is very easy to fall asleep. And so they did— while the sun slowly went down in the west.
西里尔从窗子进去，把食物拿给在外边的其他孩子。有些冷肉、半只冷鸡、一些面包和一瓶汽水。然后他们全飞回到教堂房顶上吃起来。他们很饿，所以吃得很香。可是当你很饿的时候大吃了一顿、又在屋顶上晒着太阳时，那是很容易睡着的。他们就睡着了——这时太阳慢慢地从西边落下去。
They slept for a long time. When they woke up it was dark —and，of course，they had no wings.
他们睡了好长时间。他们醒来的时候天黑了——当然了，他们也没有翅膀了。
' We must get home，'Cyril said. ' There's a door over there. That's the way down. '
“我们得回家了。”西里尔说，“那儿有个门。那是下去的路。”
But when they tried the door，they found that it was locked from the other side. They were on top of the church and they had no wings！How were they going to get down？
可他们试着开门时才发现门是从另一面锁上的。他们在教堂顶上，又没有了翅膀！他们怎么下去呢？
Anthea put her arm round Jane，who was beginning to cry. 'It will only be for one night，'she said.
安西娅用单臂挽住简，简这时已开始哭起来了。“只不过呆一夜，”她说。
Then Cyril said，'I know. Let's shout！The lights are on in the vicar's house. Someone will hear us and get us down. '
接着西里尔说：“我知道了。我们喊吧！牧师的家里有灯光。会有人听见并帮我们下去的。”
So they shouted and screamed as loudly as they could，and the people in the house heard them. The vicar ran out with his servant.
所以他们用最大的声音喊叫起来，房子里的人听见了他们的叫声。牧师和他的仆人跑了出来。
' Someone is murdering somebody in the church！'the vicar said，afraid. 'Perhaps it's the thief who stole the cold chicken and things. '
“教堂里有人在杀人！”牧师害怕地说，“可能是偷了冷鸡和别的东西的小偷。”
But they could not understand why the voices were coming from the sky. So the children shouted，' We're up here —on top of the church！'
可他们不明白为什么声音是从空中传来的。于是孩子们就嚷：“我们在这儿——在教堂顶上！”
The two men were still afraid，but，slowly and carefully，they went up the stairs inside the church. When they came to the top，the vicar shouted through the closed door，'How many of you are there？Have you got guns？'
这两个人还很害怕，可他们慢慢地、小心地从教堂内的楼梯走上来。当他们到了顶上时，牧师在锁着的门的另一边叫道：“你们几个人？有枪吗？”
' There are four of us，and，no，we haven't got guns，'Cyril answered.
“我们四个人；没有，我们没有枪。”西里尔回答。
Slowly，the vicar opened the door.
牧师慢慢地打开门。
'Good Heavens！'he cried. 'They're children！'
“天哪！”他叫道，“是些孩子！”
' Oh，please take us down，'cried Jane.
哦，请带我们下去吧。”简哭着说。
So the vicar and his servant took them down and into the vicar's house. Of course，the vicar wanted to know why the children were on the church roof.
牧师和他的仆人带他们下来，进了牧师屋里。当然喽，牧师想知道孩子们为什么在教堂顶上。
' We went up there because we wanted to see what it was like，'said Cyril. 'But then we couldn't get down again be-cause the door was locked. 'He didn't say anything about the wings，of course.
“我们上那儿去是因为我们想看看那是什么样子。”西里尔说，“可是我们下不来了，因为门被锁上了。”关于翅膀的事他当然什么都没说。
' But who locked the door？'the vicar asked.
“可谁锁的门？”牧师问。
' We don't know，'Jane answered. ' But we're not telling you everything. '
“不知道。”简说，“可我们不会把一切都告诉你的。”
'Ah！There's a friend in it，then，'said the vicar's servant man，who was called Beale.
“啊！那么是有个朋友参与其中吧。”牧师的男仆说。他叫比伊尔。
' Yes，but we can't tell you about him，' said Anthea，think-ing of the Psammead. ' We really are very sorry，and please，can we go home now？'
“是的，可我们不能告诉你他的事。”安西娅说，想起了赛米德。“我们真的非常抱歉；还有，请问，我们可以回家了吗？”
The vicar still did not understand，but he was a kind man，so he sent the children home in a carriage with his servant. Martha，of course，was very angry with them，but Mr Beale explained everything very well. He was a good-looking young man with a nice smile，and after a while Martha forgot to be angry.
牧师仍然不明白，可是他是个好心的人，所以他让仆人用马车送孩子们回家。马莎当然十分生他们的气，可是比伊尔先生把事情解释得很好。他是个漂亮的、脸上带着愉快的笑容的青年，不一会儿马莎就忘了生气了。
So the day ended happily after all.
所以，这一天总算快乐地结束了
【短语学习】
run out
用完； 结束； 流走； 过期
【例】We're running out of time...
我们快没有时间了。