《铁路边的孩子们》开篇：英文原著带中文翻译

They were not railway children to begin with. I don't suppose they had ever thought about railways except as a means of getting to Maskelyne and Cook's, the Pantomime, Zoological Gardens, and Madame Tussaud's. They were just ordinary suburban children, and they lived with their Father and Mother in an ordinary red-brick-fronted villa, with coloured glass in the front door, a tiled passage that was called a hall, a bath-room with hot and cold water, electric bells, French windows, and a good deal of white paint, and 'every modern convenience', as the house-agents say.

他们起初并不是铁路儿童。我猜想，除了作为去马斯克林和库克剧院、哑剧、动物园和杜莎夫人蜡像馆的手段之外，他们从未想过铁路。他们只是普通的郊区孩子，和爸爸妈妈住在一栋普通的红砖前墙别墅里，前门有彩色玻璃，一条铺着瓷砖的过道被称为门厅，浴室有冷热水，电铃，法式窗户，大量白色油漆，以及房屋中介所说的「一切现代便利设施」。

There were three of them. Roberta was the eldest. Of course, Mothers never have favourites, but if their Mother HAD had a favourite, it might have been Roberta. Next came Peter, who wished to be an Engineer when he grew up; and the youngest was Phyllis, who meant extremely well.

他们有三个孩子。罗伯塔是最大的。当然，母亲们从不偏心，但如果他们的母亲真有偏心，那可能是罗伯塔。接下来是彼得，他长大后想当工程师；最小的是菲利斯，她心地极好。

Mother did not spend all her time in paying dull calls to dull ladies, and sitting dully at home waiting for dull ladies to pay calls to her. She was almost always there, ready to play with the children, and read to them, and help them to do their home-lessons. Besides this she used to write stories for them while they were at school, and read them aloud after tea, and she always made up funny pieces of poetry for their birthdays and for other great occasions, such as the christening of the new kittens, or the refurnishing of the doll's house, or the time when they were getting over the mumps.

母亲并没有把所有时间都花在拜访无聊的女士和坐在家里无聊地等待无聊女士来访上。她几乎总是在家，准备和孩子们玩耍，给他们读书，帮助他们做家庭作业。除此之外，她还在他们上学时为他们写故事，下午茶后大声朗读，并且总是为他们的生日和其他重大场合编有趣的诗歌，比如新小猫的命名仪式，或玩具屋的重新布置，或他们从腮腺炎中恢复的时候。

These three lucky children always had everything they needed: pretty clothes, good fires, a lovely nursery with heaps of toys, and a Mother Goose wall-paper. They had a kind and merry nursemaid, and a dog who was called James, and who was their very own. They also had a Father who was just perfect—never cross, never unjust, and always ready for a game—at least, if at any time he was NOT ready, he always had an excellent reason for it, and explained the reason to the children so interestingly and funnily that they felt sure he couldn't help himself.

这三个幸运的孩子总是拥有他们需要的一切：漂亮的衣服，温暖的火炉，一个可爱的育儿室，里面堆满了玩具，还有鹅妈妈墙纸。他们有一个善良快乐的保姆，一只叫詹姆斯的狗，它是他们自己的。他们还有一个完美的父亲，从不发脾气，从不不公平，总是准备玩游戏，至少，如果他有时没准备好，他总是有极好的理由，并且以如此有趣和滑稽的方式向孩子们解释理由，以至于他们确信他无法控制自己。

You will think that they ought to have been very happy. And so they were, but they did not know HOW happy till the pretty life in the Red Villa was over and done with, and they had to live a very different life indeed.

你会认为他们应该非常幸福。他们确实如此，但他们不知道有多幸福，直到红别墅的美丽生活结束，他们不得不过上一种截然不同的生活。

The dreadful change came quite suddenly.

可怕的变化来得相当突然。

Peter had a birthday—his tenth. Among his other presents was a model engine more perfect than you could ever have dreamed of. The other presents were full of charm, but the Engine was fuller of charm than any of the others were.

彼得过生日，他的十岁生日。在他的其他礼物中，有一个模型引擎，比你梦寐以求的还要完美。其他礼物充满魅力，但引擎比任何其他礼物都更有魅力。

Its charm lasted in its full perfection for exactly three days. Then, owing either to Peter's inexperience or Phyllis's good intentions, which had been rather pressing, or to some other cause, the Engine suddenly went off with a bang. James was so frightened that he went out and did not come back all day. All the Noah's Ark people who were in the tender were broken to bits, but nothing else was hurt except the poor little engine and the feelings of Peter. The others said he cried over it—but of course boys of ten do not cry, however terrible the tragedies may be which darken their lot. He said that his eyes were red because he had a cold. This turned out to be true, though Peter did not know it was when he said it, the next day he had to go to bed and stay there. Mother began to be afraid that he might be sickening for measles, when suddenly he sat up in bed and said:

它的魅力完整地持续了整整三天。然后，由于彼得的缺乏经验或菲利斯的好意，那好意相当迫切，或其他原因，引擎突然砰的一声坏了。詹姆斯吓得跑出去，一整天都没回来。在煤水车里的所有诺亚方舟人物都碎成了碎片，但除了可怜的小引擎和彼得的感情之外，没有其他东西受伤。其他人说他为此哭了，但当然，十岁的男孩不会哭，无论笼罩他们命运的悲剧多么可怕。他说他的眼睛红是因为他感冒了。这后来证明是真的，尽管彼得说的时候并不知道，第二天他不得不卧床休息。母亲开始担心他可能得了麻疹，这时他突然从床上坐起来说：