Nine
Hungry and trembling, James stood alone out in the open, wondering what to do. The night was allaround him now, and high overhead a wild white moon was riding in the sky. There was not a sound,not a movement anywhere.
Most people – and especially small children – are often quite scared of being out of doors alone inthe moonlight. Everything is so deadly quiet, and the shadows are so long and black, and they keepturning into strange shapes that seem to move as you look at them, and the slightest little snap of a twigmakes you jump.
James felt exactly like that now. He stared straight ahead with large frightened eyes, hardly daring tobreathe. Not far away, in the middle of the garden, he could see the giant peach towering overeverything else. Surely it was even bigger tonight than ever before? And what a dazzling sight it was!
The moonlight was shining and glinting on its great curving sides, turning them to crystal and silver. Itlooked like a tremendous silver ball lying there in the grass, silent, mysterious, and wonderful.
And then all at once, little shivers of excitement started running over the skin on James’s back.
Something else, he told himself, something stranger than ever this time, is about to happen to meagain soon. He was sure of it. He could feel it coming.
He looked around him, wondering what on earth it was going to be. The garden lay soft and silver inthe moonlight. The grass was wet with dew and a million dewdrops were sparkling and twinkling likediamonds around his feet. And now suddenly, the whole place, the whole garden seemed to be alivewith magic.
Almost without knowing what he was doing, as though drawn¹ by some powerful magnet, JamesHenry Trotter started walking slowly towards the giant peach. He climbed over the fence thatsurrounded it, and stood directly beneath it, staring up at its great bulging² sides. He put out a hand andtouched it gently with the tip of one finger. It felt soft and warm and slightly furry³, like the skin of ababy mouse. He moved a step closer and rubbed his cheek lightly against the soft skin. And thensuddenly, while he was doing this, he happened to notice that right beside him and below him, close tothe ground, there was a hole in the side of the peach.



九
饿得发抖的小詹姆斯，一个人站在露天地里，不知道该怎么办才好。这会儿，夜色四合，头顶上方凄凉苍白的月亮，正在天空游弋。到处没有一丝声响，没有一点动静。

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