You would never have thought,to see Jack,that he could jump.He looked as if he had grown on the bitter-sweet vine.He looked like a thorn that would stay there even in winter,like the bright red berries.
看到杰克，你绝对想不到他会跳。他看起来就像是长在苦甜藤上的一根刺，和鲜红的浆果一样，即使是冬天，也会待在树上不肯下来。
When you stop to think about it you remember that a bitter-sweet vine does not have thorns.
你只要定神想一想，就能想起来苦甜藤是没有刺的。
But when you stopped to think about it,you would remember that a bitter-sweet vine does not have thorns—not real ones.Then you would point your finger at Jack and say,"You can't fool me,sir!You are not a thorn";and before you got through telling him that,Jack would be gone.
不过，如果你静下心来想一想，就会记得苦甜藤上其实根本就没有刺，没有真刺。于是，你可能会指着杰克说“喂，先生！你蒙不了我！你不是刺！”可能你话还没说完，他就不见了。
He wouldn't jump,though.Not that time!He would just slip around to the other side of the branch,where you could not see him,and sit there looking as if he had not moved,and as if that were the place he had always grown in.So you would play hide-andseek with him for a long time:Jack would hide and you would seek.
不过，他不是跳走的。那个时候他不跳！他只是溜到了树枝的另一侧而已，在那儿，你就看不到他了。他原模原样地坐在那儿，好像根本没有挪过地方，好像他一直就长在那里。所以，你会和他玩很长时间的“捉迷藏”：杰克藏，你来找。
But if Jack is touched too hard,then he is nimble and he is quick and he will jump off with a snap and spread his four wings and fly a little way.
可是，如果被逼急了，他也是身手不凡哟！他会啪的一声跳起来，张开四个翅膀，飞到不远处。
For Jack can fly,and so can Jill,his little mate;but they will both come back again to drink the sap of the bitter-sweet vine.
杰克会飞了，他的小伙伴吉尔自然也会了。不过，他俩都会再飞回来喝藤蔓里那又苦又甜的汁液。
There they sit now,with their sharp slender beaks stuck right down through the bark,and drawing the juice up through the hollow tube,as you suck lemonade through a straw.They find it pleasant to sit there all the summer day and sip the juice of the vine.
这会儿，他们就坐在藤蔓上，又尖又细的嘴巴扎进树皮里，吸着藤里的汁液，就和你用吸管喝柠檬汁一样。他们整个夏天都坐在那里，喝着藤蔓里的汁液，真惬意呀！
Jack and Jill
杰克和吉尔
Do you think Jack and Jill look like little birds?Well,that is just what a man who watched them nearly seventy years ago thought,too.Not that Jack and Jill are seventy years old.Oh my,no!But there were some others just like them on bitter-sweet then.
你觉得杰克和吉尔长得像小鸟？嗯，大约七十年前，有一个观察过他们的人也是这么想的。可别以为杰克和吉尔已经七十岁了。噢，天哪！不是那样的。七十年前苦甜藤上也有他们的同类，和他们长得一模一样。
Our own little Jack and Jill hatched out of their eggs in May.They had stayed in their nests all winter without hatching.Just think of it!It didn't hurt them one bit.I don't know why;but it didn't.The nests they lived in while they were eggs were holes their mothers cut in the stem of the vine and tucked full of eggs,in little rows.Jack had twelve brother-and sistereggs in the nest with him,and Jill had even more.
我们的小杰克和小吉尔是五月份才孵化出来的。整个冬天，他们都待在自己的小窝里，没有孵化。想想吧！他们竟然一点儿事也没有。我不知道这是为什么。反正，就是没事。他们还是卵的时候，住在藤茎上妈妈为他们挖的洞里，里面塞满了一小排一小排的卵。杰克和十二个卵兄卵弟、卵姐卵妹同住一室，而吉尔的兄弟姐妹比他的还多。
Jack was the last egg his mother put through the hole in the bark into the nest.When he was safely poked down at the end of the row,she covered the hole with something that looked like the nice sticky frosting that is dripped from a spoon to the top of a cake.It wasn't sweet,so it couldn't have been frosting;but that is the way it looked,and it was in a wavy heap almost as big as Jack's mother.
杰克是妈妈从树皮上的洞里放到窝里的最后一颗卵。妈妈把他稳稳当当地捅到他那一排的末尾放好后，就用一种细细的、黏糊糊的东西把洞口盖了起来。那种东西很像是从勺子上滴到蛋糕上的糖霜。它不甜，所以不可能是糖霜。可是，看上去就是，而且一圈一圈地堆成一堆，几乎和杰克的妈妈一样大。
Now wasn't that a good way of tucking her eggs in—to plaster them down with a sticky white blanket?Jill's mother made her nest just the same way.So there they were,snug as could be,little Jack and Jill and all their brother-and sister-eggs.
你说，这种把卵塞进去、用一条黏糊糊的白毯子盖住的方法是不是很妙呀？吉尔的妈妈也是用这个方法做好了自己的窝。现在，你瞧他们，小杰克、小吉尔和他们所有的卵兄卵弟、卵姐卵妹们都躲在里面，可真是要多舒服有多舒服呀！
Think of the things that were to happen before they could hatch!Ann Gusti was still playing her clown tricks in the meadow,with the big blue sky for a tent,several weeks after Jack and Jill were tucked into their beds.Gryl sat before his open door,and fiddled a happy lullaby of"Cri-cri-cri."Luna,brown as a nut,lay on the ground in her own silk bedroom,fast asleep,too.
想想他们孵化之前都会发生些什么事吧！杰克和吉尔被塞到床上都好几个星期了，可是，假死虫安妮却还在草地上玩着她的小丑把戏，广阔无边的蓝天就是她的帐篷；蟋蟀唧唧则坐在敞开的门前，唧啾——唧地哼着快乐的催眠曲；全身像坚果一样棕褐色的月形天蚕蛾卢娜也躺在地上她自己的小丝屋里睡得正香。
Cold weather came,when the ice did not melt even in the daytime and when the chilly earth was wrapped in a deep blanket of snow,as white as the cover Jack's mother had put over him and much thicker.
天冷了。大白天都在结冰。寒冷的大地盖着一条厚厚的雪毯，白得就像杰克的妈妈盖在他身上的那条毯子，当然，比它厚多了。
There were a few days in January when the snow thawed,and Van wakened in the hollow tree,and came out,and flew about the sunny places in the lane,and drank at the edge of a little pool.
一月份有那么几天，雪融化了。树洞里的帆儿醒了。她爬出树洞，在小路上找有阳光的地方飞了一会儿，还在一个小水塘边上喝了点儿水。
Candlemas Day came,and Old Bumble was so sound asleep she never even buzzed.
圣烛节到了，黄蜂老奔奔睡得太香了，甚至连嗡都没嗡过一声。
And all this time Jack slept under his blanket,that was wrapped so closely to the twig that the snow could not sift in,and stuck down so tightly that the wind could not lift the corners.
Even when the willow pussies crept out along the twigs to warm their fur in the March sun—even then Jack was asleep.
这期间，杰克一直盖着毯子沉睡。毯子紧紧地裹着树枝，掖得严严实实，雪渗不进去，风也甭想掀开。
就连毛茸茸的银柳花悄悄地爬满枝条，在三月的阳光下晒太阳时，杰克都在睡觉。
Some pretty blue lilies blossomed for Easter Day,but Jack was still a tiny Easter egg himself,and it was not yet time for him to hatch.
为了迎接复活节的到来，许多漂亮的蓝百合也开放了。可是，杰克仍旧是一个小小的复活“蛋”，现在，还没到他孵化的时候。（注：在西方，复活节人们把蛋染成各种鲜艳的颜色，把它作为礼物送给朋友，表达友谊、关爱和祝愿。复活蛋也象征着生命的开始与延续。这里，egg：卵，也有蛋的意思。这里是一语双关。）
And then at last May came and woke him.How did she call him when he had slept so long and so soundly?Perhaps with her sunshine,which brooded the nest of eggs in the bittersweet vine with its warmth,as a mother hen broods over her nest of eggs in the hay with her cozy feathers.
终于，五月姑娘姗姗而来叫醒了他。杰克睡了那么长时间、睡得又是那么香，她是怎么叫醒他的呢？也许是她那温暖的阳光孵化了苦甜藤里的这些卵，就像母鸡用暖融融的羽毛孵化干草窝里的鸡蛋一样。
And here he was—a feeble baby,so wee you would need a magnifying glass to see him with!What was he to do with that heavy blanket over him?If his mother had stuck it down so tightly that even the strong north wind could not move it,how was Jack to get out of bed?Poor little Jack with his twelve brothers and sisters!Whatever were they to do?
他孵出来了，多么虚弱的一个小宝宝呀！太小了，你得用放大镜才能看清他。他身上那条又厚又重的毯子可怎么办呢？她妈妈当初把毯子掖得那么紧，就连呼啸的北风都掀不开，那么，现在，杰克可怎么起床呀？好可怜呀，小杰克和他那十二个兄弟姐妹！他们到底该怎么办呀？
Well,here he comes,like a tiny Jack-in-a-box,poking his head right up through the white blanket.He does not try to lift it;he just sticks up his yellow head and red eyes,and pushes himself out of bed.
瞧，他出来了！直接穿透白色的毯子伸出了脑袋，就像是“精灵盒”里的小精灵。他没有掀毯子，只是挺起自己黄黄的脑袋和红红的眼睛，从床上钻了出来。
Of course Jack is thirsty,and of course a baby who can get out of his nest all by himself the first day can feed himself,too.So out he creeps to the tender leaf,and digs his little beak down into it,and takes his first drink of sap.
当然了，杰克很渴。同样理所当然，一个出生第一天就凭自己的本事出窝的宝宝，也肯定能自己养活自己。他爬到一片嫩叶跟前，把小嘴刺进去，喝了他有生以来的第一口树汁。
He likes it!Oh my!my!how he likes it!He likes it so well that for seven whole days he hardly stops drinking.(www.xing528.com)
他喜欢！噢，天哪！天哪！太喜欢了！喜欢得几乎停不下嘴，一连喝了整整七天。
By that time his first baby clothes are so tight that he can not swallow another drop.What is the greedy youngster to do about that?His clothes are grown on him,too!Think of it!
那个时候，他的第一身宝宝服已经绷得太紧了，多一滴都喝不下去了。贪吃的小家伙这下该怎么办呢？他的衣服可是长在身上的呀！想想吧！
Never mind.Baby Jack is so strong now,after taking a drink that is seven days long,that all he has to do is to stretch himself;and this rips his clothes in a little seam near the back of his head and tears his baby cap.Now he can pull his head out of the old cap and then get out of his first baby clothes through the torn place.
别担心！连喝了七天的杰克宝宝现在已经很健壮了，他只需伸伸懒腰，后脑勺那儿的一条衣缝就裂开了，婴儿帽也破了。现在，他能把头从旧帽子里伸出来，然后，从撕破的地方钻出来，甩掉他的第一套宝宝服了。
His first dress had long hairs on it,but his second one,which grew on him under the old one,does not have these hairs.Instead,it has six lumps in a row on the middle of his back.You would think that the second dress,growing under the first one,would be even smaller and tighter.
他的第一套衣服上有长毛。第二套衣服也长在身上，就在第一套衣服下面，却没有这些毛。不过，背中线上却鼓着排成一列的六个包。你可能会想，他的第二套衣服既然长在第一套衣服下面，那么，第二套衣服一定会比第一套衣服还要小还要紧。
But as it stretches as Jack grows,he can take another long drink before his second dress is stretched as big as it can be.So he puts down his beak again and drinks for six more days.Then he needs a third dress,which he gets in just the same way as before—he creeps out through a torn place at the back.
Jack's foreign cousins
杰克的外来表亲们
可是，杰克的第二套衣服却能随着他的成长而伸展，所以，在第二套衣服撑破之前，他还能再喝个够。于是，他又一次伸出嘴巴，连喝了六天。然后，他又要换第三套衣服了。和以前一样，这套衣服也是在他从后背撕破的地方钻出来之前就已经准备好了。
This time he still has the six lumps in a row in the middle of his back,and,besides,a hump has begun to grow at the back of his head.While he looks like that,he takes his third drink of bitter-sweet sap,and this lasts about six days,too.
这次，他的后背中线那儿依然鼓着排成一列的六个包，另外，他的后脑勺那儿也开始往外鼓包了。带着这副尊容，他第三次喝起了又苦又甜的树汁，这次也连喝了六天。
After that he gets his fourth suit of clothes—much like the third one,lumps and all;only the hump on his shoulders is bigger,and there are two little flaps below on each side.These clothes keep on stretching for two whole weeks,so that Jack has a chance to drink for fourteen days without stopping for his next dress.
之后，他换上了他的第四套衣服——很像第三套，连鼓着的包都很像。只不过肩膀上的包大一些，而且身体两侧靠下面的地方多了两片小羽翼。这套衣服一直伸长了整整两个星期，所以，杰克趁机连喝了十四天，连下一套衣服都没顾上换。
But dear,dear!When he creeps out of his fourth dress,what a hump he does have!It has grown way up over his head.Yes,Jack is a hump-back,and all the doctors in the world can not cure him.And the two flaps on each side are much,much bigger.
可是，天哪，天哪！当他脱下第四套衣服的时候，你看他身上的那个包！已经高出头来一大截了。是的，杰克是个驼背。世界上所有的医生都治不好他。他身体两侧的那两片羽翼也比以前大了很多很多。
Well,never mind!The six lumps down the middle of his back and the hump on his shoulders and the flaps on his sides do not bother him a bit.He is as healthy and as thirsty as ever.By this time he is strong enough to dig his beak right down into the stem of the vine,where the sap is running freely.All his clothes are pale at first,but grow darker as they get older,when they are gray or brown,and trimmed with red and sometimes with a little white.
不过，不用担心！他后背中线上的六个包、肩膀上的那个包，还有身体两侧的羽翼，一点儿都没让他烦恼过。他还一如既往地健康、好饮。这个时候，他已经非常强壮了，能把嘴直接插进藤茎里，去喝里面的汩汩汁液。他的衣服起初都是浅色的，后来，随着衣服变旧，颜色也就变深了，成了灰色或者是褐色，上面还掺杂着一些红色，有时候还会带一点儿白色。
Jack sits and sips and grows in his fifth dress just as he did in all the other four;and at last this one becomes too tight just as the others did,one after another.That does no harm,for he can still have one more suit of clothes.So when these get too tight,he stretches and stretches inside of them,until they rip open and he can crawl out.
杰克穿着他的第五套衣服坐在那儿，一边喝，一边长，就和他身着前四套衣服时一样。前面那几套衣服都是一套接一套紧得没法穿了，这套衣服也一样，最后也紧得没法穿了。不过，这不碍事，因为他还有一套衣服可换。所以，当这身衣服紧得没法穿的时候，他伸起了懒腰，是在衣服里面伸的，一直伸到衣服裂开，他能从里面爬出来。
When he is all out and has rested a bit,he puts his beak down into the bitter-sweet vine and goes on drinking as if nothing much had happened.
出来休息了一会儿之后，他又把嘴扎进了苦甜藤里，接着喝上了，好像没发生什么了不起的事似的。
Why Jack,don't you know that a wonderful change has come to you?Don't you know that the hump on your shoulders is so big that it makes you almost twice as tall as you would be without it?Don't you know that four of your legs now look something like tiny leaves?Don't you know that your two hind legs are longer than they were before,and that you can jump?Oh,how nimble and quick you can be when you jump!And don't you know,you funny Jack,oh,don't you know that the flaps on your sides have changed into wings and that you can fly away and back again?Don't you know—don't you even know that you are no longer a growing baby but a grown-up treehopper?
No matter how much you may drink now,you cannot be any bigger,for this is the last suit of clothes you can ever have—the very,very last!
可是，杰克！你可知道，你已经今非昔比了？你可知道，你肩上的那个包已经长得和你一样高了？如果没有它，你现在可没这么高呀。你可知道，你的四条腿现在看上去有点像小树叶？你可知道，你的两条后腿比以前长了，你能跳起来了？哇！你跳起来的时候一定身手不凡！还有，可爱的杰克，你可知道，你身体两侧的羽翼已经变成了翅膀，现在你能飞出去又飞回来了？你可知道，你不会连这个也不知道吧，现在你已不再是一个小宝宝了，你已经长大变成角蝉了？
现在你喝得再多也不会长个儿了。因为，这是你的最后一套衣服了！的的确确就这一套了！
How much of all this do you suppose the queer little chap really understands,as he sits on the vine looking like a thorn?Well,just as much as Jill knows,who hatched on a May day,too,and grew up in the very same way,humped back and all.
But while Jack can only sit and sip and jump and fly and play hide-and-seek with you as the summer days go by,Jill finds something else to do before the weather gets cold.
这些话，你觉得这个坐在藤蔓上像个刺一样的怪家伙能听懂多少呢？嗯，他知道的应该和吉尔差不了多少。因为吉尔也是五月份孵化的，也是这样长大成蝉的，连驼背都一样。
可是，夏日一天天过去，杰克只会坐在那里，喝呀、跳呀、飞呀的，还和你捉迷藏，而这个时候，吉尔却趁着天还没有变冷，找了点别的事情做。
Jill has a neat little tool at the end of her body,and it would be a pity not to use it.For one thing,it is a cunning knife,and with it she cuts a hole in the twig and digs out a nest for her eggs.For another thing,it is a sort of bubble-blower,and with it she stirs up her foam that looks like frosting.And last,it is a little spoon that she uses to drip the pretty white sticky stuff down over the nest of eggs.Slowly,back and forth and down under and up over,she moves her spoon,standing all the time on tiptoe to make the wavy rows of foam so very,very carefully.
吉尔的身体末端有一个精巧的小工具，要是不用就太可惜了。一来，它是一把精巧的小刀，有了它，她就可以割开嫩枝，挖一个小窝安顿她的卵。二来，它是一个泡泡机，有了它，她可以制作像糖霜一样的泡沫。此外，它还是一把小勺，有了它，她可以把那种白白的、黏糊糊的东西滴到卵巢上面去。她一直踮着脚尖，慢慢地、上下左右、来来回回地转动着她的小勺，小心翼翼、专心致志地堆出一排排像波浪一样的泡沫。
For this is the foam that stiffens into a blanket to cover her eggs;and as she can not stay on the cold twig to take care of them through the winter days that will be coming,she must do what she can to make the blanket just right.
就是这种泡沫，凝固后能变成一条毯子，把她的卵盖起来。冬天即将来临，那时她就无法留在冷飕飕的小树枝上照顾他们了，所以，她必须尽可能地把这个毯子弄得妥妥帖帖。
This is the foam that stiffens into a blanket to cover her eggs.
就是这种泡沫，凝固后能变成一条毯子，把她的卵盖起来。
She makes a good one,little Jill does:one so like the one that her mother put over her and the one that Jack's mother put over him when they were eggs in a nest,themselves,that you could not tell which of the three was the best.
她毯子做得不错！小吉尔做的毯子的确不错！就像她的妈妈盖在她身上的那条毯子，也像杰克的妈妈盖在杰克身上的那条毯子。那个时候，他们自己还是待在窝里的卵呢。你真的无法知道这三条毯子中，哪一条最好。
So there they will stay,tucked in snug and safe.Jack Frost will be about when the cold nights come,but he will not harm them.North Wind will whistle through the bittersweet vine and shake the red berries,but he can not lift the blanket Jill stuck down.And many other strange and wonderful things will happen during the days of fall and winter and early spring.
所以，孩子们将会待在这里，暖暖和和、舒舒服服、安安全全地挤在一起。寒夜里，霜大哥会来做客，但是，他不会伤害他们。北风大叔也会从苦甜藤里呼啸而过，让火棘果瑟瑟发抖，可是，他却无法掀开吉尔盖得严严实实的毯子。当然，秋天、冬天和早春时节，还会有其他许多奇怪而又奇妙的事儿发生。
But,after all,nothing will be stranger and more wonderful than when May calls Jill's babies,and each little yellow head with bright red eyes comes popping up through the white fluff like a Jack-in-a-box.
A May day is a pleasant time,when things like that are happening out on the bitter-sweet vine!
然而，说到底，最奇怪也最奇妙的事儿莫过于吉尔的宝宝们从窝里出来时的情形了。听到五月姑娘的呼唤，他们就砰的一声穿透盖在身上的白绒毯，露出一个个黄黄的小脑袋，脑袋上红红的眼睛亮晶晶的，就好像“精灵盒”里的小精灵，一摁机关，就从里面弹了出来。
五月的日子愉快又惬意，因为苦甜藤那边，每天都在上演这样的故事！
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