As soon as the people were gone, Charlotte spoke to Wilbur.
人们一走,夏洛就对威尔伯说:
"It's a good thing you can't see what I see," she said.
“我在上面看到的东西是你在下面看不到的。”它说。
"What do you see?" asked Wilbur.
“你看到什么了?”威尔伯问道。
"There's a pig in the next pen and he's enormous.
“隔壁猪圈有只猪,很大很大。
I'm afraid he's much bigger than you are."
我怕它比你大多了。”
"Maybe he's older than I am, and has had more time to grow," suggested Wilbur.
“也许它的岁数比我大,活得比我长。”威尔伯说。
Tears began to come to his eyes.
它的眼里流出了泪水。
"I'll drop down and have a closer look," Charlotte said.
“让我吊下去好好近看看它。”夏洛说。
Then she crawled along a beam till she was directly over the next pen.
于是它顺着横梁爬到隔壁猪圈上面。
She let herself down on a dragline until she hung in the air just in front of the big pig's snout.
它吐出一根长丝,一直落到那大猪的鼻子前面。
"May I have your name?" she asked, politely.
“能请问一下,你叫什么名字吗?”夏洛彬彬有礼地问道。
The pig stared at her.
那猪看着它。
"No name," he said in a big, hearty voice. "Just call me Uncle."
“我没有名字,”它响亮地大声说。“那就叫我‘叔叔’吧。”
"Very well, Uncle," replied Charlotte.
“很好,‘叔叔’,”夏洛回答说,
"What is the date of your birth? Are you a spring pig?"
“你是哪一天出生的?你是春猪吗?”
"Sure I'm a spring pig," replied Uncle.
“我当然是春猪,”“叔叔”回答说,
"What did you think I was, a spring chicken?
“你以为我是什么,一只春鸡吗?
Haw, haw - that's a good one, eh, Sister."
哈,哈——这笑话不错吧,对吗,小妹妹?”
"Mildly funny," said Charlotte. "I've heard funnier ones, though.
“相当滑稽,”夏洛说,“不过我听到过更滑稽的。
Glad to have met you, and now I must be going."
很高兴碰到你,现在我得走了。”
She ascended slowly and returned to Wilbur's pen.
夏洛慢慢地爬上去,回到威尔伯的猪圈。