It took an hour to stop him crying and then, very tired and cross, they took him home. Martha, Baby's nursemaid, was waiting at the front door. She took Baby from them quickly:
花了一个小时才哄他不哭了。他们又累又气,把他带回家。小弟弟的保姆马莎正在前门等候。她很快地把孩子接过去。
‘Where are the others? 'she asked. 'And who are you?'
“别的孩子们在哪儿呢?”她问,“你们是谁?”
'We're us, of course,' Robert said. ‘You don't know us be-cause we're beautiful.'
“我们就是我们,当然了。”罗伯特说,“你不认识我们是因为我们漂亮了。”
'And we're very hungry,’ said Cyril, ‘and we want our lunch, please.'
“我们还非常饿,”西里尔说,“我们想要午饭,求求了。”
'Go away!' Martha screamed. 'Or I'll send for the police,' and she closed the door in their faces.
“走开!”马莎叫道,“不然我要叫警察了。”她当着他们的面关上了门。
The children were very hungry by then, and they tried three times to get into the house—but Martha would not let them in. After a while they went and sat at the bottom of the garden to wait for the sun to go down. 'The wish will finish then, won't it?’ Jane said.
那时孩子们已经非常饿了,他们三次试图进门——但是马莎每次都不让他们进去。过了一会儿,他们去坐在花园尽头,等太阳落下去。“到那会儿愿望就结束了,不是吗?”简说。
But the others didn't answer because no one was really sure.
其他人没有回答,因为谁也不敢肯定。
It was a terrible afternoon. They had no lunch, no tea, and they were tired, angry and afraid. It's true that they were all very beautiful, but that's not a lot of help when you're unhappy. In the end they fell asleep.
那个下午可真糟。他们没有午饭,没有茶点,还又累又气又害怕。他们确实都很漂亮,可人不高兴时漂亮也帮不了多大忙。最后他们睡着了。
It was nearly dark when they woke up. Anthea was the first to wake up and she looked at the others. They were no longer very beautiful. Everything was all right again. Happily, they all went back to the house. Of course, Martha was angry.
他们醒来时天都快黑了。安西娅第一个醒来,她看看其他孩子。他们不再很漂亮了。一切都恢复原样了。他们都高高兴兴地回屋了。当然,马莎很生气。
‘Where have you been all day?’ she cried.
“你们一整天到哪里去了?”她喊道。
It is not easy to explain a Psammead to an angry nursemaid, so the children didn't try.
对一个发怒的保姆解释清楚赛米德是什么可不是件容易的事,所以孩子们没试着解释。
'We met some beautiful children and we couldn't get away from them until it was nearly dark,' Anthea said. ‘They were terrible, and we never want to see them again.'
“我们遇到了些漂亮孩子,直到天快黑才脱身。”安西娅说,“他们太可怕了,我们不想再见到他们。”
And they never have.
他们实际上从来也没见过那几个孩子。