The Witching Hour 巫师出没时刻

The Witching Hour
Sophie couldn’t sleep.
A brilliant moonbeam was slanting¹ through a gap in the curtains. It was shining right on to her
pillow.
The other children in the dormitory had been asleep for hours.
Sophie closed her eyes and lay quite still. She tried very hard to doze² off.
It was no good. The moonbeam was like a silver blade slicing through the room on to her face.
The house was absolutely silent. No voices came up from downstairs. There were no footsteps
on the floor above either.
The window behind the curtain was wide open, but nobody was walking on the pavement
outside. No cars went by on the street. Not the tiniest sound could be heard anywhere. Sophie had
never known such a silence.
Perhaps, she told herself, this was what they called the witching hour.
The witching hour, somebody had once whispered to her, was a special moment in the middle of
the night when every child and every grown-up was in a deep deep sleep, and all the dark things
came out from hiding and had the world to themselves.
The moonbeam was brighter than ever on Sophie’s pillow. She decided³ to get out of bed and
close the gap in the curtains.
You got punished if you were caught out of bed after lights-out. Even if you said you had to go
to the lavatory⁴, that was not accepted as an excuse and they punished you just the same. But there
was no one about now, Sophie was sure of that.
She reached out for her glasses that lay on the chair beside her bed. They had steel rims⁵ and very
thick lenses, and she could hardly see a thing without them. She put them on, then she slipped out of
bed and tiptoed over to the window.
When she reached the curtains, Sophie hesitated. She longed to duck underneath⁶ them and lean
out of the window to see what the world looked like now that the witching hour was at hand.
She listened again. Everywhere it was deathly still.
The longing⁷ to look out became so strong she couldn’t resist it. Quickly, she ducked under the
curtains and leaned out of the window.
In the silvery moonlight, the village street she knew so well seemed completely different. The
houses looked bent⁸ and crooked⁹, like houses in a fairy tale. Everything was pale and ghostly and
milky-white.
Across the road, she could see Mrs Rance’s shop, where you bought buttons and wool and bits
of elastic¹⁰. It didn’t look real. There was something dim and misty¹¹ about that too.
Sophie allowed her eye to travel further and further down the street.
Suddenly she froze. There was something coming up the street on the opposite side.
It was something black…
Something tall and black…
Something very tall and very black and very thin.

巫师出没时刻
索菲睡不着。
很亮的月光从窗帘上的一条小缝斜斜地照进来，正好照在她的枕头上。
宿舍里，其他孩子好几个钟头以前就睡着了。
索菲闭上眼睛，躺在那里一动不动。她拼了命要睡着。
没有用。月光在房间里像把银刀那样切下来，正好落在她的脸上。
整座房子绝对安静。楼下没有一点儿声音传上来。头顶上的一层也没有脚步走动的声
音。
窗帘后面，窗子是敞开着的，可是外面人行道上没有人在走路。街道上没有汽车开过。
四面八方，哪里都没有一丁点儿声音。索菲从来不知道会静成这个样子。
她心里说：也许这就是人们说的巫师出没时刻吧。
巫师出没时刻，有人悄悄地对她说过，是半夜三更一个特别的时刻，这时候，孩子、大
人个个睡得死死沉沉，所有巫公巫婆、精灵鬼怪从他们隐藏的地方出来，整个世界就是他们
的了。
这会儿索菲的枕头上比什么时候都亮。她决定索性起床，去把窗帘的那条缝合上。
熄灯以后起床，要是给抓住，那是要受罚的，哪怕你说是要上厕所也没用，他们认为这
不算理由，照罚不误。可这会儿周围没有人，这一点索菲料定了。
她伸出手去摸索她的眼镜，眼镜就在床边的椅子上。这副眼镜钢丝边，厚镜片，不戴上
它，她简直什么也看不见。她戴上了眼镜，然后下床，踮起脚尖朝窗子走去。
等来到窗帘旁边，索菲拿不定主意了。她巴不得在窗帘底下弯着腰，把身子探到窗子外
面去，看看这会儿世界究竟是什么样子，好容易才等到了这么一个巫师出没时刻。
她竖起耳朵再仔细听听。四周一片死寂。
她越来越想朝外面看了，想得再也忍不住。她一下子在窗帘下面弯下了腰，把身子探到
了窗子外面。
在银色的月光里，熟悉的街道好像完全变了样。房屋全都又斜又歪，童话故事里的房子
就是那样的。什么东西都那么苍白，都是乳白色的，充满了鬼气。
她看到路对面兰斯太太那家店，是卖纽扣、毛线和松紧带等等小玩意儿的。这家店这会
儿不像是真的，看上去那么朦朦胧胧、模模糊糊。
索菲让她的眼睛顺着街道一路看过去，看过去。
她一下子愣住了，浑身一阵冰凉。有样东西正从街道那一头一路走过来。
这东西是黑色的……
这东西又高又黑……
这东西非常高，非常黑，非常瘦。

1 slanting   

倾斜的，歪斜的

参考例句：

• The rain is driving [slanting] in from the south. 南边潲雨。
• The line is slanting to the left. 这根线向左斜了。

2 doze   

v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐

参考例句：

• He likes to have a doze after lunch.他喜欢午饭后打个盹。
• While the adults doze,the young play.大人们在打瞌睡，而孩子们在玩耍。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 lavatory   

n.盥洗室，厕所

参考例句：

• Is there any lavatory in this building?这座楼里有厕所吗？
• The use of the lavatory has been suspended during take-off.在飞机起飞期间，盥洗室暂停使用。

5 rims   

n.（圆形物体的）边( rim的名词复数 )；缘；轮辋；轮圈

参考例句：

• As she spoke, the rims of her eyes reddened a little. 说时，眼圈微红。 来自汉英文学 - 围城
• Her eyes were a little hollow, and reddish about the rims. 她的眼睛微微凹陷，眼眶有些发红。 来自辞典例句

6 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

7 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

8 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

9 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

10 elastic   

n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的

参考例句：

• Rubber is an elastic material.橡胶是一种弹性材料。
• These regulations are elastic.这些规定是有弹性的。

11 misty   

adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的

参考例句：

• He crossed over to the window to see if it was still misty.他走到窗户那儿，看看是不是还有雾霭。
• The misty scene had a dreamy quality about it.雾景给人以梦幻般的感觉。