The Snatch 一把抓走

The Snatch
Under the blanket, Sophie waited.
After a minute or so, she lifted a corner of the blanket and peeped out.
For the second time that night her blood froze to ice and she wanted to scream, but no sound
came out. There at the window, with the curtains pushed aside, was the enormous long pale wrinkly
face of the Giant Person, staring in. The flashing black eyes were fixed¹ on Sophie’s bed.
The next moment, a huge hand with pale fingers came snaking in through the window. This was
followed by an arm, an arm as thick as a tree-trunk, and the arm, the hand, the fingers were reaching
out across the room towards Sophie’s bed.
This time Sophie really did scream, but only for a second because very quickly the huge hand
clamped down over her blanket and the scream was smothered² by the bedclothes.
Sophie, crouching³ underneath⁴ the blanket, felt strong fingers grasping hold of her, and then she
was lifted up from her bed, blanket and all, and whisked out of the window.
If you can think of anything more terrifying than that happening to you in the middle of the
night, then let’s hear about it.
The awful thing was that Sophie knew exactly what was going on although she couldn’t see it
happening. She knew that a Monster (or Giant) with an enormous long pale wrinkly face and
dangerous eyes had plucked her from her bed in the middle of the witching hour and was now
carrying her out through the window smothered in a blanket.
What actually happened next was this. When the Giant had got Sophie outside, he arranged the
blanket so that he could grasp all the four corners of it at once in one of his huge hands, with Sophie
imprisoned⁵ inside. In the other hand he seized the suitcase and the long trumpet⁶ thing and off he ran.
Sophie, by squirming around inside the blanket, managed to push the top of her head out
through a little gap just below the Giant’s hand. She stared around her.
She saw the village houses rushing by on both sides. The Giant was sprinting⁷ down the High
Street. He was running so fast his black cloak was streaming out behind him like the wings of a bird.
Each stride he took was as long as a tennis court. Out of the village he ran, and soon they were racing⁸
across the moonlit fields. The hedges dividing the fields were no problem to the Giant. He simply
strode over them. A wide river appeared in his path. He crossed it in one flying stride.
Sophie crouched⁹ in the blanket, peering out. She was being bumped against the Giant’s leg like
a sack of potatoes. Over the fields and hedges and rivers they went, and after a while a frightening
thought came into Sophie’s head. The Giant is running fast, she told herself, because he is hungry
and he wants to get home as quickly as possible, and then he’ll have me for breakfast.

一把抓走
索菲躲在毯子底下等着。
过了一分钟左右，她掀起毯子的一角，偷偷地朝外看。
那天夜里，她的血第二次冻成了冰。她想大叫，可是发不出声音。窗子那儿，窗帘拉开
了，露出巨人那张满是皱纹的苍白而巨大的长脸，他正望进来，那双闪光的黑眼睛盯住了索
菲的床。
一转眼，一只根根手指都那么苍白的大手伸进了窗子。紧接着是一条大胳膊，一条跟树
干一样粗的大胳膊。那条胳膊、那只手、那五根手指正穿过房间向索菲的床伸过来。
这一回索菲尖叫出来了，可只有一转眼的工夫，因为那只巨手落下来捂住了毯子，尖叫
声被毯子捂住了。
索菲在毯子底下缩起了身子，感觉到那些强有力的手指抓住了她。接着她被从床上抓了
起来，连同毯子一起，被抓出了窗口。
如果你想得出还有什么事比你半夜里碰到这种事更恐怖的话，倒请你说出来让我们听
听。
可怕的是，索菲虽然自己一点儿看不到，却清清楚楚地知道正在发生什么事。她知道，
一个长着满是皱纹的苍白长脸和吓人眼睛的大怪物（或者说是巨人）在巫师出没时刻把她从
床上抓了起来，这会儿正把她由毯子裹着抓到窗子外面。
紧接着发生的事是这样的：巨人把索菲一弄到外面，马上把毯子的四个角拎了起来，用
一只大手提溜着，把索菲裹在里面。他用另一只手拿起手提箱和长小号，跑着离开了。
索菲在毯子里面拼命地扭，总算用头顶出了一条小缝，就在巨人的手下面一点儿。她马
上朝四周看。
她看见街道两边的房子不断闪过。巨人正沿着大街飞也似的跑。他跑得那么快，那件黑
色大氅在他身后像鸟儿的翅膀一样飘起来。他每一步有一个网球场那么大。他跑出了镇子，
紧接着他们就飞驰在月光照亮的田野上了。巨人根本不把隔开一块块地的树篱当回事，他一
步就跨过了它们。路上出现了一条宽阔的大河，他飞快地一步就迈过去了。
索菲缩在毯子里朝外看。她像一袋土豆似的在巨人的一条腿上碰来碰去。他们就这样过
了一块块田地、一道道树篱和一条大河。不久，索菲的脑子里出现了一个可怕的念头，她
想：巨人跑得飞快，因为他饿了，要尽快回家，然后把我当早饭吃掉。

1 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

2 smothered   

（使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制

参考例句：

• He smothered the baby with a pillow. 他用枕头把婴儿闷死了。
• The fire is smothered by ashes. 火被灰闷熄了。

3 crouching   

v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• a hulking figure crouching in the darkness 黑暗中蹲伏着的一个庞大身影
• A young man was crouching by the table, busily searching for something. 一个年轻人正蹲在桌边翻看什么。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

4 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。

5 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

6 trumpet   

n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘

参考例句：

• He plays the violin, but I play the trumpet.他拉提琴，我吹喇叭。
• The trumpet sounded for battle.战斗的号角吹响了。

7 sprinting   

v.短距离疾跑( sprint的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Stride length and frequency are the most important elements of sprinting. 步长和步频是短跑最重要的因素。 来自互联网
• Xiaoming won the gold medal for sprinting in the school sports meeting. 小明在学校运动会上夺得了短跑金牌。 来自互联网

8 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

9 crouched   

v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He crouched down beside her. 他在她的旁边蹲了下来。
• The lion crouched ready to pounce. 狮子蹲下身，准备猛扑。