《魔法师的外甥》第9期:开错的门(5)
"A lot you care," said Digory fiercely. "But I'm sick of this jaw. What have I got to do?"
"You really must learn to control that temper of yours, my boy," said Uncle Andrew coolly. "Otherwise you'll grow up like your Aunt Letty. Now. Attend to me."
He got up, put on a pair of gloves, and walked over to the tray that contained the rings.
"They only work," he said, "if they're actually touching your skin. Wearing gloves, I can pick them up - like this - and nothing happens. If you carried one in your pocket nothing would happen: but of course you'd have to be careful not to put your hand in your pocket and touch it by accident. The Moment you touch a yellow ring, you vanish out of this world. When you are in the Other Place I expect - of course this hasn't been tested yet, but I expect - that the moment you touch a green ring you vanish out of that world and - I expect - reappear in this. Now. I take these two greens and drop them into your right-hand pocket. Remember very carefully which pocket the greens are in. G for green and R for right. G.R. you see: which are the first two letters of green. One for you and one for the little girl. And now you pick up a yellow one for yourself. I should put it on on your finger - if I were you. There'll be less chance of dropping it."
Digory had almost picked up the yellow ring when he suddenly checked himself.
"Look here," he said. "What about Mother? Supposing she asks where I am?"
"The sooner you go, the sooner you'll be back," said Uncle Andrew cheerfully.
"But you don't really know whether I can get back."
Uncle Andrew shrugged his shoulders, walked across to the door, unlocked it, threw it open, and said:
"Oh very' well then. Just as you please. Go down and have your dinner. Leave the little girl to be eaten by wild animals or drowned or starved in Otherworld or lost there for good, if that's what you prefer. It's all one to me. Perhaps before tea time you'd better drop in on Mrs Plummer and explain that she'll never see her daughter again; because you were afraid to put on a ring."
"By gum," said Digory, "don't I just wish I was big enough to punch your head!"
Then he buttoned up his coat, took a deep breath, and picked up the ring. And he thought then, as he always thought afterwards too, that he could not decently have done anything else.
“你实在该学学怎样控制你的脾气，我的孩子，”安德鲁舅软平静地说，”否则，你长大了，就会跟你的蕾蒂姨妈样一。好，现在听我的。’
他站起身，截上一副手套，向装戒指的托盘走去。“它们只有在触到你的皮肤时才起作用，”他说，“像这样，戴上手套去拿，平安无事。如果你装一个在口袋里，会很安全的。可是，你一定要小心，不能无意中把手伸进口袋碰到它。一旦你接触到一枚黄戒指，你就从这个世界消失了。当你到了那个世界，我想——当然这还没经过试验证明，但我想——一旦你触到一枚绿戒指，你就离开了那个世界——我想——
又会回到这里来。看好，我把这两枚绿的放进你右边的口袋。记清楚绿戒指在哪个口袋。G 代表绿色，R 代表右边。你知道，G 和R
恰好是绿色一词的头两个宁母。一个给你，另一个给那小女孩。现在，你给自己拿一枚黄戒指吧。如果我是你，就会把它套在手指上，这样不容易掉。”
迪格雷正要去拿，又突然停住了。
“唉呀，”他说，“妈妈怎么办呢？要是她问我到哪儿去了呢？”
“早点儿走，早点儿回来。”安德鲁舅舅得意地说。
“但你并不敢肯定我是否能问来。”
安德鲁舅舅耸耸肩，走过去打开门，说：
”那好，请便吧，下去吃饭。要是你乐意，就让那小女孩在那个世界里被野兽吃掉，或淹死，或饿死，或永远留在那儿吧。对我来说都是一样的。也许，存喝茶以前，你最好去看看普卢默夫人，告诉她再也见不到她的女儿了；就因为你害怕戴上一枚戒指。”
“老天在上，”迪格雷说，“我真希望有足够的力气来捶扁你的脑袋！”
然后，他扣上外衣，深深地吸了一口气，拿起了戒指。他想，正如他后来常常想的，他从没有这么休面正派地做过其他任何事了。
