你认识伊莱恩吗？（中级）

一位善良的老妇人把时间花在做志愿者和慈善捐赠上，但她从不让人进她的房子。

A kind old woman spends her time volunteering and giving to charity, but she never lets anyone into her house.

她到底在隐藏什么？

What could she be hiding?

请在今天的故事中找出答案。

Find out in today's story.

大家好，我亲爱的英语学习者们，欢迎收听《轻松英语故事》，这个播客将帮助你的英语从一般提升到良好，从良好提升到优秀。

Hello, my lovely learners, and welcome to Easy Stories in English, the podcast that will take your English from okay to good and from good to great.

我是你们的主持人阿里尔·古德贝迪。

I am Ariel Goodbody, your host for this show.

今天的故事是中级水平的，你认识伊莲娜吗？

Today's intermediate level story is called, have you met Elaine?

和往常一样，文本和PDF文件可在easystoriesinenglish.com上获取，链接请见简介。

As always, the transcript and PDF are available at easystoriesinenglish.com, and you can find the link in the description.

好了。

Alright.

闲话少说，让我们开始这个故事。

Without further ado, let's get into the story.

你认识伊莲吗？

Have you met Elaine?

你认识伊莲吗？

Have you met Elaine?

伊莲是个特别的人。

Elaine is a character.

当我们说一个人是‘特别的人’时，意思是他们与众不同，性格独特，很特别。

When we say someone is a character, we mean they're unusual, they have an unusual character, they're special.

非常慷慨，但不太友善。

Very giving, but not very nice.

这里的‘慷慨’是指乐于助人。

Giving as in generous.

哦，她爱所有人，但她用行动表达爱，而不是微笑。

Oh, she loves everyone, but she shows her love through action, not smiles.

伊莲在本地学校帮助孩子们学习阅读。

Elaine helps teach children to read at the local school.

伊莲为教堂烤蛋糕，可能是为了慈善活动，或者只是给教堂里的人。

Elaine bakes cakes for her church, so like maybe for charitable events or just for people at the church.

伊莲会去公园跟孤独的人聊天，尽管并不是很有热情。

Elaine talks to lonely people at the park, although not with great enthusiasm.

所以她可能并不表现出自己很享受这个过程。

So she doesn't maybe show that she enjoys it a lot.

但她总是有时间聊天。

But she always has time to talk.

伊莲会把身上的衣服脱下来给你。

Elaine would give you the clothes off her own back.

所以‘把身上的衣服脱下来给别人’这个说法意味着你非常慷慨，如果有人需要你的衣服，你就会给对方。

So this expression to give someone the clothes off your own back means when you're very generous and, you know, if someone needed your clothes, you would give them.

伊莲会把最后十英镑都给你。

Elaine would give you her last 10 pounds.

如果你开口要，伊莲会把她的午餐给你，即使她饿得要死，即使她饿得要死，即使她快饿死了。

Elaine would give you her lunch if you asked for it, even if she was starving, even if she was starving, even if she was dying of hunger.

伊莲会让你睡她的床，而她自己睡地板，但这种情况不会发生，因为伊莲从不让人进她家。

Elaine would let you sleep in her bed and she would sleep on the floor, but that won't happen because Elaine never lets people into her house.

这是她唯一不会做的事。

That's the one thing she won't do.

她可以为教堂组织五千场咖啡聚会，却从不邀请你进屋喝一杯。

She'll organize 5,000 coffee mornings at the church, but she'll never invite you in for a cuppa.

教堂和其他地方如咖啡馆经常举办咖啡聚会，这是一种社交活动，其实就是喝咖啡和吃饼干。

So churches and other places like cafes often do coffee mornings, it's like a social event, so basically just coffee and biscuits.

当你邀请别人进屋喝一杯时，这是非常英式的行为，你会说：‘进来喝杯茶吧。’

When you invite someone in for a cuppa, this is a very British thing, you say, oh, come in and have a cup of tea.

‘cuppa’是‘cup of tea’（一杯茶）的缩写，就是‘cuppa’。

So a cuppa is short for a cup of tea, a cuppa.

她大部分时间都拉着窗帘，但偶尔你还是能看到她从窗帘后往外张望。

She mostly keeps her curtains closed, although you do occasionally see her looking out of them.

不过，从房子里没有传来奇怪的气味，她大概不是收藏狂。

Still, there are no strange smells coming from the house, she's probably not a hoarder.

收藏狂是指那些把东西留在家里、从不扔掉任何东西的人。

So a hoarder is someone who keeps things in their home and never throws things away.

如果你是收藏狂，你的房子里会堆满东西，也许是旧食品盒、杂志之类的，他们就是不断收集东西，从不丢弃。

So if you are a hoarder, your house is filled with things, maybe old food boxes, magazines, whatever, they just collect things and never throw things away.

了解伊莲娜的人都觉得，如果她是收藏狂，他们一定会知道，她只是喜欢保持隐私。

People who know Elaine feel like they would know if she was a hoarder, She just likes her privacy.

伊莲娜有亲戚，她有家人。

Elaine has relatives, so she has family.

她愉快地谈起她那个有五个孩子的妹妹，那些小捣蛋鬼。

She talks cheerily about her younger sister who has five kids, the little ragamuffins.

“Ragamuffin”是一个用来形容孩子的有趣词语，比如：‘哦，你这个小捣蛋鬼。’

Ragamuffin is like a fun word to refer to children, like, oh, you little ragamuffin.

她的父母已经去世，她的姨妈和叔叔们都住得很远。

Her parents are dead, and her aunts and uncles live far away.

给她喝点酒，她就会跟你讲她所有表兄弟姐妹的事。

Get a drink in her, and she'll tell you all about her cousins.

所以一旦她喝醉了，就会坦率地谈起这些事。

So once she gets drunk, she talks openly about this.

给她喝点酒，她就会跟你讲她所有表兄弟姐妹的事，说他们小时候有多疯，骑着自行车去农场偷蔬菜。

Get a drink in her, and she'll tell you all about her cousins, how they used to play wild as kids, riding their bikes down to the farm and stealing vegetables.

很难相信那个曾经这么做的就是现在的伊莲。

It's hard to believe it's the same Elaine who did that.

她看起来不像是能干出那种事的人。

She doesn't seem capable.

她不像是那种会做这种事的人。

She doesn't seem like the kind of person who could do that.

伊莲从不出城去探望亲戚。

Elaine never leaves town to visit her relatives.

她说自己太忙了。

She says she's too busy.

有几次，她在失踪几天后突然来教堂了。

A few times, she's come to church after a few days missing in action.

所以，在人们好几天没见到她之后，她说自己有侄子侄女来家里住。

So after a few days of people not seeing her, and said that she had her nieces and nephews to stay.

你为什么从来都不把他们介绍给我们认识？

Why on earth didn't you introduce us to them?

人们心里这么想，但从不说出口，也从来没人见过他们来来往往。

People think, but they never say, and nobody ever sees them coming or going.

尽管她说有人来探望，但并没有证据证明她的家人真的来过。

So although she says she has people visiting, there's no proof that her family actually visits her.

曾经有一群调皮的孩子，一些刚搬来镇上的坏孩子，破坏了伊莲的家。

Once some naughty children, some bad children, relatively new in town, vandalized Elaine's house.

破坏行为通常是指孩子们或年轻人去喷漆涂墙，或在学校课桌上乱画，总之就是在不该写的地方留下字迹，对吧？破坏财产。

So vandalizing is when usually kids or young people go and maybe spray paint a wall or draw on the tables at school, basically writing a message somewhere that you shouldn't, right, damaging property.

也可能像砸碎窗户这样的行为。

It could also be like breaking a window, for example.

我没有亲眼看到。

I didn't see it with my own two eyes.

发生的时候我正在树林里散步，我总是晚上去，那样更安静，黑暗中也没人看得见你。

I was walking in the woods when it happened, I always go at night, it's quieter that way, and nobody can see you in the dark.

但我已经从教区委员会的人那里听到了足够多关于这起事件的版本，所以故事中的‘目击者’已经从教区委员会的人那里听到了足够多关于这起破坏事件的议论。

But I've heard enough versions of the incident from people in the parish council, So the eye in the story has heard enough people talking about this thing that happened, this vandalism, the incident, from people in the parish council.

所以教区指的是与教堂相关联的区域。

So the parish is like a region that a church is connected to.

这在英国历史上相当重要，因为地区被划分为教区，每个教区的所有居民都归属于同一座教堂。

So this is quite important in like British history, where regions are split up into parishes, and then all the people in that parish belong to one church.

如今，它也像是一种行政管理事务，教区委员会有时纯粹是政府机构，并不一定具有宗教性质。

These days, it's also kind of like an administrative thing, like the parish council sometimes is just like a government thing, it's not necessarily always religious.

所以这仅仅是一种组织方式。

So it's just like an organisational thing.

我从教区委员会的人以及学校外各种母亲们私下透露的消息中，听到了足够多关于这起事件的版本。

I've heard enough versions of the incident from people in the parish council and various mothers hushed reports outside the school grounds.

所以妈妈们会在学校外面聚集，等着接孩子，如果她们在低声议论，那就是压低声音说话，基本上就是在学校外围等待孩子时传播这种流言。

So mothers collect outside school when they're waiting to pick up their kids, so if they're giving hushed reports, they're hushed, they're talking very quietly, so they're basically kind of spreading this gossip outside the school grounds while they wait for their kids.

所以我认为发生的事情是这样的。

So here's what I think happened.

孩子们来朝伊莲的房子扔鸡蛋。

The children came and egged Elaine's house.

他们朝她的房子扔鸡蛋。

They egged her house, they threw eggs at her house.

这是一种破坏行为，因为鸡蛋很难清理干净。

This is a form of vandalism, because eggs are really horrible to clean off.

他们很紧张，其实并不是那种会做这种事的孩子，尽管其中一些人来自大城市，但他们还没能融入这个小镇，当你和某人‘合得来’时，你们就会开始相处得很好。

They were nervous, they weren't really the kind of kids that did these things, even though some of them came from a big city, they hadn't clicked with the town yet, So when you click with someone, you kind of start getting on well.

是的。

Yeah.

你会找到那种联系。

You find that connection.

他们还没有融入这个小镇。

They hadn't clicked with the town yet.

他们格格不入。

They didn't fit in.

你看，在这种小镇上，这种事很重要。

See, that sort of thing matters in a small town like this.

当人们不接纳你时，你会感觉就像脸上贴着一块油污，正等着爆裂出脓液。

When the people don't accept you, you feel it like you're an oily spot sitting on a cheek waiting to explode with pus.

当你皮肤有问题时，可能会出现一个小红疙瘩，我额头上现在就有一个，它们非常油腻、黏腻，有些人喜欢挤痘痘、弄破痘痘。

So when you have a problem with your skin you might have a spot like a little red bump, I have a spot on my forehead right now and they are very oily, they're very greasy and some people like to squeeze their spots and burst their spots.

但如果你这么做，就会挤出一种叫脓液的白色物质，那可不怎么好受。

But if you do that, then this white stuff will come out called pus, and it's not very nice.

其实，我觉得你不该挤痘痘。

Actually, you're not supposed to squeeze your spots, I don't think.

当人们不接纳你时，你会感觉就像脸上贴着一块油污，正等着爆裂出脓液。

When the people don't accept you, you feel it, like you're an oily spot sitting on a cheek waiting to explode with pus.

孩子们以为会有人冲出来冲他们大喊大叫。

The kids expected someone to come out and scream at them.

他们不知道自己砸的是伊莲的家，只以为是某个老妇人的房子。

They didn't know it was Elaine's house they were egging, just some old woman.

但奇怪的是，他们偏偏选了她的家。

But it was strange that of all people, they chose hers.

她不是那种你即使觉得她烦也想砸鸡蛋的房子主人。

She's not the sort of person whose house you'd want to egg, even if you did find her annoying.

所以如果他们知道是她，就不会想砸她的房子。

So if they knew it was her, they wouldn't have wanted to egg her house.

但没人出来，于是他们砸完了两打鸡蛋，直到其中一个注意到楼上窗户里探出的脸。

But nobody did come out, and so they got through two dozen eggs before one of them noticed the face peering out of the window upstairs.

一打鸡蛋是12个鸡蛋。

So a dozen eggs is 12 eggs.

鸡蛋通常以打为单位出售，每盒12个。

Eggs are often sold in dozens, boxes of 12.

所以其中一人注意到一张脸正从窗户往外观望。

So one of them noticed a face peering out, so looking out of the window upstairs.

透过窗帘的缝隙，透过窗帘上的一点小空隙，伊莲一直默默地看着他们。

Through a crack in the curtain, through a small space in the curtain, Elaine had been watching them silently.

孩子们自然扔下蛋盒就跑了。

Naturally, the kids dropped the cartons and ran.

蛋盒是一种纸板容器，你知道的，至少在英国，买鸡蛋时它们会装在这种纸板盒里，鸡蛋就放在里面。

So a carton is a cardboard container, you know, well, at least in The UK when you buy eggs, it comes in this cardboard carton that the eggs sit in.

之后，一些教会的人帮忙打扫了伊莲的家。

After that, some people from the church helped clean Elaine's house.

我没有参与。

I wasn't involved.

我和伊莲正好相反。

I'm sort of the opposites of Elaine.

我独来独往，但我相信每个人都觉得必须帮她。

I keep to myself, but I'm sure everyone felt like they had to help her.

我会没事的，她坚持说，但他们却更加坚持。

I'll be alright, she insisted, but they insisted all the more.

坚持的意思是强烈地表达，就是反复地说同一件事。

So to insist to say really strongly, it's okay to keep repeating something.

伊莲的家是神圣之地。

Elaine's house was sacred territory.

神圣之地，圣土。

Sacred territory, holy ground.

除了她之外，没人进入过那里，而扔鸡蛋的行为打破了平衡，那种保护着这个地方的奇异能量。

Nobody entered it apart from her and the egging upset the balance, the strange energy that protected the place.

‘女巫’这个词从未被说出。

The word witch was never uttered.

没人说出‘女巫’这个词，但思想往往比言语更有力量。

Nobody said the word witch, but thoughts can speak louder than words.

而且人们是用柔软的海绵轻轻擦拭她的石墙的——海绵是一种大而柔软的东西，用来清洁。

And by the way that people gently sponged her stone walls, So a sponge is this big soft thing that you use to clean.

从人们轻轻擦拭她石墙的方式，你可以看出他们预期自己会遭到诅咒。

By the way that people gently sponged her stone walls, you could tell they expected a curse to befall them.

诅咒就像女巫施加在某人身上的恶咒。

So a curse is like a bad spell that a witch casts on someone.

所以如果诅咒降临在你身上，就意味着你被诅咒了。

So if a curse befalls you, you are hit by a curse.

诅咒会降临在你身上。

A curse falls on you.

所以他们预期自己会遭到诅咒。

So they expected a curse to befall them.

清理完混乱之后，伊莲娜继续以她那坚毅的面目出现——认真勤奋，帮助每一个遇到的人，并烤出镇上最棒的仙女蛋糕。

Once the mess was cleaned up, Elaine continued on as her stoic self, so her serious hardworking self, helping all she came across and baking the best fairy cakes in town.

仙女蛋糕是一种小蛋糕，深受孩子们喜爱，制作非常简单，有点像纸杯蛋糕，但更具英式风格。

A fairy cake is a kind of small cake, very popular with kids, they're very easy to bake, they're kind of similar to cupcakes, but more British.

当然，我也不太清楚。

Not that I would know.

她在义卖会上的摊位总是人潮汹涌，也就是说，她卖蛋糕的地方总是非常、非常繁忙。

Her stool at the bake sale is always thronging, So her stool, the place that she sells cakes at the bake sale, is always thronging, always very, very busy.

根本挤不进去，但我见过她拖着巨大的塑料桶装着蛋糕放进车里，然后开车离开。

It's impossible to get through, but I've seen her lugging massive plastic tubs of them into her car and driving off.

所以故事中的眼睛看到她扛着大塑料桶的仙女蛋糕放进车里，然后开车离去。

So the eye in the story has seen her carrying, lugging big plastic tubs of fairy cakes into her car and driving off.

重要的是，那些扔鸡蛋的孩子们受到了惩罚。

Importantly, the children who'd committed the egging were punished.

其中一个女孩——我这里说的完全是道听途说——那个女孩群体中的一个女孩并没有好接受惩罚，她对惩罚非常不满。

One of the girls, and I'm really speaking based on rumor here, one of the girls from that group did not take it well, so she didn't accept the punishment very well.

她本来就不想来，但其他人都拉着她一起去。

She hadn't wanted to go in the first place, but the others dragged her along.

他们逼她去，她站在后面，一个鸡蛋都没扔。

They made her go, and she stood at the back and didn't throw a single egg.

然而她的父母严厉地惩罚了她，重重地处罚了她，没收了她的手机和电脑，让她禁足一个月。

Yet her parents punished her harshly, they punished her strongly, taking away her phone and computer and grounding her for a month.

所以禁足是一种惩罚方式，你会告诉孩子不能出门，只能去学校和回家，不能见朋友。

So grounding is a kind of punishment where you tell a child you can't leave the house, you can only go to school and come home, you can't see your friends.

更糟糕的是，B，这个女孩患有阅读障碍。

Worse, B, this girl was dyslexic.

阅读障碍是一种学习困难，表现为阅读和写作比较困难。

So dyslexia is a learning difficulty where you find it harder to read and write.

她患有阅读障碍，在学校得到了额外的阅读辅导。

She was dyslexic and got extra help with reading at school.

那么，是谁负责这些额外的阅读课程呢？

And who led these extra reading sessions?

艾琳。

Elaine.

于是，日复一日，比娅不得不坐下来和那个毁了她生活的愚蠢女人一起读书。

So day after day, Bea had to sit and read with that stupid woman who'd ruined her life.

有一天，我坐了一会儿，想象着她的痛苦。

I sat a while one day and imagined her pain.

我的童年充满了类似的情况。

My childhood was filled with similar situations.

我受不了这个老太婆，她一定这么想。

I can't stand this old biddy, she must have thought.

所以‘老太婆’是对老女人的粗鲁称呼。

So an old biddy is a rude way to refer to an old woman.

为什么大家都那么喜欢她？

Why does everyone like her so much?

她只是一个孤独的老妇人，有太多空闲时间。

She's just a lonely old woman with too much free time.

一天放学后，当伊莲在教堂帮忙时，比娅闯入了她家。

One day after school, when Elaine was helping out at the church, Bea broke into her house.

这出奇地容易。

It was shockingly easy.

闯进去简直出人意料地简单。

It was surprisingly easy to break in to go in.

我亲眼所见。

I saw it with my own two eyes.

花园的墙抓握起来很稳，能牢牢抓住，抓握感很好。

The garden wall had a good grip, so you could hold on to it well, it had a good grip.

当贝娅走过布满丑陋地精的小石园时，没有陷阱或诅咒跳出来袭击她。

And no traps or curses jumped at Bea as she walked across the small stone garden filled with ugly gnomes.

地精就是你花园里那种东西，像一个留着胡子、戴着尖帽的小矮人，在德国非常流行，园子里摆满了丑陋的地精。

So a gnome is this like thing you have in your garden, it's like a short man with a beard and a pointed hat, they're very popular in Germany, filled with ugly gnomes.

奇怪的是，后门没上锁，所以她没用钥匙就打开了。

Strangely the back door was unlocked so she could open it without a key.

她环顾四周，四处张望，没看到我，然后走了进去。

She cast a glance around, she looked around missing me and went inside.

所以故事中的‘我’正在某个地方旁观这一切，我们不知道具体在哪里。

So the I in the story is watching this from somewhere, we don't know where.

所以贝娅环顾四周，但她没看到叙述者，也就是故事中的‘我’。

So Bee looked around, but she didn't see the narrator, the I in the story.

她在那里找到的只是一座再普通不过的老妇人房子。

All she found there was a perfectly ordinary old woman's house.

我想象中是这样的。

I imagine.

我本人没进去过，但当有人传播谣言时，他们的眼神会透露出嘴唇所不曾言说的细节。

I haven't been in there myself, but when someone passes on a rumor, their eyes tell you details that their lips do not.

小时候，我总因为想象力太丰富而被责备。

I was always told off for my overactive imagination as a child.

所以我总是被责备，总是因为想象力太丰富而受到批评，想象力太强，就是一直在编造事情。

So I was always told off, I was always criticized for my overactive imagination, having an imagination that's too strong, you're just making things up all the time.

但如今我知道，想象力是真理的肥料。

But now I know that imagination is the fertilizer of truth.

肥料就是你浇在植物和花朵上以帮助它们生长的东西。

So fertilizer is something you pour onto plants and flowers to help them grow.

本质上就是动物的粪便。

It's basically animal poo.

所以，想象力是真理的肥料。

So imagination is the fertilizer of truth.

想象力有助于滋养真理。

Imagination helps fertilize truth.

它帮助真理成长。

It helps truth to grow.

因此，显然故事中的叙述者有一些奇怪的信念。

So, obviously, the narrator in the story has some strange beliefs.

那里有丑陋的旧沙发，满架的言情小说，一个展示中国瓷器的玻璃柜，还有无数个装满茶和饼干的橱柜，那么多、那么多装茶和饼干的橱柜。

There were ugly old sofas, shelves full of romance novels, a display case of China, so like a glass box for displaying China porcelain, endless cupboards of tea and biscuits, so many, many cupboards of tea and biscuits.

B感到失望。

B was disappointed.

壁橱里没有骷髅。

No skeletons in the closet.

当我们说某人壁橱里有骷髅时，意思是他们在隐藏秘密。

So when we say someone has skeletons in the closets, it means they're hiding secrets.

对吧？

Right?

所以她在寻找某种黑暗的秘密。

So she's looking for some kind of dark secret.

没有藏在壁橱里的骷髅。

No skeletons in the closet.

甚至也没有给人一种悲伤孤独的印象。

And it didn't even give off the impression of someone sad and lonely.

但总得有什么地方不对劲。

Well, there had to be something somewhere.

当比娅爬上楼梯，翻查伊莲的卧室时，翻查，意思是快速翻看某人的东西。

As Bea climbed the stairs to rifle through Elaine's bedroom, to rifle through, to look through someone's things very quickly.

她感到背部一阵刺痛。

She felt a twinge in her back.

她感到背部一阵剧痛。

She felt a sharp pain in her back.

在半路上，她开始喘不过气来。

And halfway up, she started running out of breath.

到底发生了什么？

What was going on?

也许她前几天打排球把背弄伤了。

Maybe she did her back in playing volleyball the other day.

也许她前几天打排球伤了背。

Maybe she hurt her back playing volleyball the other day.

此外，这里的空气非常闷热。

Besides, the air was very close in here.

空气非常沉闷，几乎没有流通，因为伊莲从不开窗。

It was very stuffy, there wasn't a lot of movement in the air, since Elaine never opened a window.

在浴室里，比娅发现了一大堆薰衣草香味的产品。

Inside the bathroom, Bea found a hoard of lavender scented products.

所以她找到了一大堆，发现了一整套薰衣草香味的产品，薰衣草是一种紫色的花，这种香味在老年女性中非常流行。

So she found a hoard, she found a collection of lavender scented, so having the smell of lavender products, so lavender is this purple flower, and it's very popular as a scent, as a smell with older women.

在卧室里，有许多伊莲过去参加教会活动时穿的旧派对礼服。

And in the bedroom, there were lots of old party dresses that Elaine wore to church events.

我喜欢想象伊莲当年一定非常迷人。

I like to imagine that Elaine was quite glamorous in her day.

当比娅翻找这些东西时，她背上的疼痛加剧了，开始咳嗽起来。

As Bea searched through all this, the pain in her back got worse and she started to cough.

这个地方到底怎么了？

What was wrong with this place?

这里的一切都如此平常，但比娅看了看时间，差一刻钟到五点，她必须搞点破坏然后离开，以防伊莲回来。

Everything inside it was so normal and yet B checks the time quarter to five she needed to vandalize something and get out in case Elaine came back.

什么能造成最大的破坏？

What would cause the most damage?

然后她在房间角落看到了一面漂亮的古董立镜。

Then she saw it in the corner of the room there was a lovely old antique standing mirror.

立镜就是那种放在地板上的镜子，对，像那种高大的镜子。

So a standing mirror is the kind that stands on the floor yeah like a big tall mirror.

她会砸碎它，会打碎它，七年的厄运算什么。

She would smash it, she would break it, seven years bad luck be damned.

据说打碎镜子会带来七年厄运，但她根本不在乎。

So they say there's a superstition that if you break a mirror you have seven years bad luck, but she doesn't care about that.

七年的厄运算什么。

Seven years bad luck be damned.

你现在可能觉得我在编故事，但当时阳光正好照进伊莲的卧室，透过薄薄的窗帘，我清楚地看到了那个年轻女孩的剪影。

Now you may be thinking that I'm just making things up, but the sunlight happened to be shining right into Elaine's bedroom at that moment, and through the thin curtains, I could easily make out the young girl's silhouette.

我清楚地看到了那个年轻女孩身体的轮廓，她动作迟缓，移动得很慢。

I could easily see the shape of the young girl's body, which was moving sluggishly, which was moving slowly.

总之，要推测愚蠢年轻女性的想法和行为其实很容易。

Anyway, it's quite easy to infer the thoughts and behaviours of silly young women.

所谓推测，就是用你的智慧去猜测某事是什么。

So when you infer something, you guess what something is using your intelligence.

如果你要推测一个人的想法，就观察他们的行为，然后判断：他们就是在这样想。

So if you infer someone's thoughts, you look at how they behave and you decide, this is what they're thinking.

所以，推断傻姑娘的想法很容易。

So it's easy to infer the thoughts of silly young women.

比娅走向镜子，但当她看到自己的倒影时，停住了。

Bea approached the mirror, but when she saw her own reflection, she stopped.

她不是她自己。

She was not herself.

她的背弯着，手臂和脸颊上的皮肤都松垂下来。

Her back was bent and her skin sagged from her arms and cheeks.

松垂得厉害，像垂挂下来一样，就像你老了的时候。

So sagged, it hung down, like when you're old.

她的头发短而灰白，衣服是由各种柔软、宽松、色彩鲜艳的布料制成的。

Her hair was short and gray, and her clothes were made of various soft, loose, colorful fabrics.

那副眼镜镜片厚得让她的眼睛看起来巨大无比，还挂着一条挂在脖子上的链子。

And those glasses they were so thick her eyes looked massive and they were attached to a chain around her neck.

老年人，至少在英国，常常把眼镜挂在链子上，以便随时摘戴。

So old people, at least in The UK, they often wear their glasses on a chain so that they can easily take them on and off.

比娅咳嗽了一声，环顾四周。

Bea coughed and looked around.

她又陷入回忆中了。

There she was getting caught up in memories again.

那面镜子在许多年前曾是美好的存在，但她没时间耽溺于此。

That mirror had been a wonderful presence all those years ago, but she didn't have time for that.

她走到床头柜旁，查看她的待办事项清单，也就是她要做的事情列表。

She went over to the bedside table and checked her to do list, so her list of things to do.

烤个蛋糕，给苏珊写信，给冰箱除霜。

Bake a cake, write to Susan, defrost the freezer.

当你的冰箱里结满冰，东西放不进去时，你就需要除霜。

So when your freezer gets full of ice and you can't fit things in there, you need to defrost it.

你需要把所有食物拿出来，融化冰块，然后再把食物放回去。

You need to take all the food out, melt the ice, and then put the food back in.

是的。

Yes.

明天有个义卖会。

There was that bake sale tomorrow.

她会烤蛋糕，趁蛋糕在烤箱里的时候写信。

She'd bake the cake, and while it was in the oven, write the letter.

她明天去义卖会的路上可以把信寄出去。

She could post it tomorrow on the way to the bake sale.

她会尽量用掉冰箱里所有的冷冻食品做晚餐，然后整晚解冻冰箱。

She'd use up as much frozen food as she could for dinner and defrost the freezer overnight.

你可能会争辩说，那个叫比阿的年轻女孩从未存在过，那个叫伊莲的老人也从未存在过。

You might argue that the young girl called Bea never existed, nor did the old woman called Elaine.

但如果你像我一样闯入学校的档案系统，也就是入侵学校的档案管理系统，你就会找到一条关于某个比阿特丽斯·沃姆的已删除记录。

But if you break into the school's record, as I did, so if you hack into the school's filing system, if you go into their filing system, you will find a deleted entry for a certain Beatrice Wadham.

所以曾经有一条关于这个叫比阿特丽斯·沃姆的女孩的记录，B是她的姓氏，这是她的全名，但这条记录已经被删除了。

So there was an entry for this girl Beatrice Wadham, that's B, that's her full name, but it's been deleted.

而你偶尔可能会找到一封来自某个叫伊莲的人的信或便条，你发誓这封信其实是比阿寄给你的。

And occasionally you might find a letter or a note from a certain Elaine, which you swear you got from B instead.

你真的确定你发誓你收到的是B寄的。

You're really sure you swear you got it from B instead.

她的字迹一向很差。

Well, her handwriting always was atrocious.

她的字迹一直都很糟糕。

Her handwriting has always been very bad.

你见过Bea吗？

Have you met Bea?

Bea是个性格独特的人，非常慷慨，但不太讨人喜欢。

Bea is a character, very giving, but not very nice.

她爱每一个人，但她用行动表达爱，而不是微笑。

She loves everyone, but she shows her love through action, not smiles.

Bea在当地学校帮助孩子们学习阅读。

Bea helps teach children to read at the local school.

Bea为她的教堂烤蛋糕。

Bea bakes cakes for her church.

比娅常去公园跟孤独的人聊天，虽然谈不上热情，但她总愿意抽出时间倾听。

Bea talks to lonely people at the park, although not with great enthusiasm, but she always has time to talk.

最近，比娅经常去那对夫妇家吃晚饭。

Lately, Bea has been going around for supper at that couple's house.

他们是新搬来的，觉得自己除了比娅之外谁也无法倾诉，所以无法敞开心扉，无法坦率地表达情感。

They're new to town, and they don't feel they can open up to anyone but Bea, so they can't open up, they can't share their emotions openly.

他们一直想要个女儿，你看，他们房间里堆满了女孩的东西，却始终没能拥有梦想中的女儿。

They've always wanted a daughter you see they even have a bedroom full of young girls things but they never had the daughter they dreamed of.

然而，B，这个冷漠而慷慨的女人让他们感觉好多了。

Still, B, this cold giving woman makes them feel better.

至少他们看起来更开心了。

At least they look happier.

有时候我担心他们会抬头透过窗户看到我，但到目前为止还没发生过。

Sometimes I worry that they'll look up and see me through the window, but it hasn't happened yet.

结束。

The end.

好吧，现在我们再听一遍这个故事，但这次不要打断。

Alright then, now we'll listen to the story again, but this time without interruptions.

所以请认真听，好好享受。

So listen and enjoy.

你见过伊莲吗？

Have you met Elaine?

你见过伊莲吗？

Have you met Elaine?

伊莲是个性格非常慷慨但并不讨人喜欢的人。

Elaine is a character, very giving but not very nice.

她爱每一个人，但她用行动而非微笑来表达爱意。

She loves everyone but she shows her love through action not smiles.

伊莲在当地学校帮助孩子们学习阅读。

Elaine helps teach children to read at the local school.

伊莲为教堂烤蛋糕。

Elaine bakes cakes for her church.

伊莲会在公园里和孤独的人聊天，虽然并不是特别热情，但她总是有时间倾听。

Elaine talks to lonely people at the park, although not with great enthusiasm, but she always has time to talk.

伊莲会脱下自己的衣服给你，会把最后的十英镑给你，如果你开口，她甚至会把午餐给你，哪怕她自己正饿着肚子。

Elaine would give you the clothes off her own back, Elaine would give you her last 10 pounds, Elaine would give you her lunch if you asked for it, even if she was starving.

伊莲会让你睡在她的床上，而她自己睡在地上。

Elaine would let you sleep in her bed and she would sleep on the floor.

但这种情况不会发生，因为伊莲从不让人进她的房子，这是她唯一不会做的事。

But that won't happen because Elaine never lets people into her house, that's the one thing she won't do.

她可以在教堂组织五千场咖啡聚会，却从不邀请你进去喝杯茶。

She'll organize 5,000 coffee mornings at the church, but she'll never invite you in for a cuppa.

她大部分时间都拉着窗帘，尽管你偶尔会看到她从窗帘后向外张望。

She mostly keeps her curtains closed, although you do occasionally see her looking out of them.

不过，从她家里并没有传出奇怪的气味。

Still, there are no strange smells coming from the house.

她大概不是个囤积者。

She's probably not a hoarder.

认识伊莲的人都觉得，如果她是囤积者，他们一定会知道。

People who know Elaine feel like they would know if she was a hoarder.

她只是喜欢自己的隐私。

She just likes her privacy.

伊莲会愉快地谈起她的妹妹，妹妹有五个孩子，都是些小顽童；她的父母已经去世，叔叔阿姨们住得都很远。只要和她多喝几杯，她就会跟你讲她那些表兄弟姐妹的往事，说他们小时候多么顽皮，骑着自行车去农场偷蔬菜。

Elaine has relatives she talks cheerily about her younger sister who has five kids the little ragamuffins her parents are dead and her aunts and uncles live far away Get a drink in her, and she'll tell you all about her cousins, how they used to play wild as kids, riding their bikes down to the farm and stealing vegetables.

很难相信那个曾经这么做的就是伊莲。

It's hard to believe it's the same Elaine who did that.

她看起来根本不像是能干出那种事的人。

She doesn't seem capable.

伊莲从不出远门去探望亲戚。

Elaine never leaves town to visit her relatives.

她说自己太忙了。

She says she's too busy.

有几次她缺席几天后回到教会，说她让侄子侄女们来家里住了。

A few times she's come to church after a few days missing in action and said that she had her nieces and nephews to stay.

你到底为什么没把他们介绍给我们？

Why on earth didn't you introduce us to them?

人们都这么想，但从不说出来，也没人见过他们来来往往。

People think, but they never say and nobody ever sees them coming or going.

有一次，一些刚搬来镇上的顽皮孩子破坏了伊莲的家。

Once some naughty children relatively new in town vandalized Elaine's house.

我没有亲眼看到，当时我正在树林里散步。

I didn't see it with my own two eyes, I was walking in the woods when it happened.

我总是晚上去，那样更安静，黑暗中也没人看得见你。

I always go at night, it's quieter that way and nobody can see you in the dark.

但我从教区委员会的成员和一些母亲在校园外私下透露的版本中，听到了足够多的关于这件事的描述。

But I've heard enough versions of the incident from people in the parish council, and various mothers hushed reports outside the school grounds.

所以，这就是我认为发生的事。

So here's what I think happened.

孩子们来了，朝伊莲的房子扔鸡蛋。

The children came and egged Elaine's house.

他们很紧张。

They were nervous.

他们其实不是那种会做这种事的孩子，即使其中一些人来自大城市。

They weren't really the kind of kids that did these things, even though some of them came from a big city.

他们还没能融入这个小镇。

They hadn't clicked with the town yet.

他们格格不入。

They didn't fit in.

你看，在这种小镇上，这种事情很重要。

See, that sort of thing matters in a small town like this.

当人们不接纳你时，你会感受到，就像脸上黏着一块油污，正等着爆裂出脓液。

When the people don't accept you, you feel it, like you're an oily spot sitting on a cheek waiting to explode with pus.

孩子们以为会有人冲出来大骂他们。

The kids expected someone to come out and scream at them.

他们不知道自己砸的是伊莲的家，只以为是某个老妇人的房子。

They didn't know it was Elaine's house they were egging, just some old woman.

但奇怪的是，他们偏偏选了她的房子。

But it was strange that of all people, they chose hers.

她可不是那种你即使觉得她烦也想往她家扔鸡蛋的人。

She's not the sort of person whose house you'd want to egg, even if you did find her annoying.

但没有人出来。

But nobody did come out.

于是他们扔完了两打鸡蛋，直到其中一个注意到楼上窗户里探出的一张脸。

And so they got through two dozen eggs before one of them noticed the face peering out of the window upstairs.

透过窗帘的缝隙，伊莲无声地注视着他们。

Through a crack in the curtain, Elaine had been watching them silently.

孩子们自然扔下蛋盒，拔腿就跑。

Naturally, the kids dropped the cartons and ran.

之后，一些教会的人帮伊莲打扫了房子。

After that, some people from the church helped clean Elaine's house.

我没有参与。

I wasn't involved.

我和伊莲正好相反。

I'm sort of the opposite of Elaine.

我独来独往。

I keep to myself.

但我相信每个人都觉得必须帮她。

But I'm sure everyone felt like they had to help her.

‘我会没事的，’她坚持说，但他们却更加坚持要帮她。

I'll be alright, she insisted, but they insisted all the more.

伊莲的房子是神圣不可侵犯的领地。

Elaine's house was sacred territory.

除了她自己，没人踏进过那里，而砸蛋的行为打破了平衡，那种保护着这个地方的奇异能量。

Nobody entered it apart from her and the egging upset the balance, the strange energy that protected the place.

‘女巫’这个词从未被说出口，但想法往往比言语更有力量。

The word witch was never uttered, but thoughts can speak louder than words.

从人们轻轻擦拭她石墙的样子，你就能看出，他们预期自己会遭到诅咒。

And by the way that people gently sponged her stone walls, you could tell they expected a curse to befall them.

清理完混乱后，伊莲继续以她一贯的沉静姿态生活，帮助遇到的每一个人，并烤出镇上最棒的仙女蛋糕。

Once the mess was cleaned up, Elaine continued on as her stoic self, helping all she came across and baking the best fairy cakes in town.

当然，我并不了解。

Not that I would know.

她在义卖会上的摊位总是人山人海。

Her stall at the bake sale is always thronging.

根本挤不进去。

It's impossible to get through.

但我见过她搬着巨大的容器把蛋糕装进车里，然后开车离开。

But I've seen her lugging massive tubs of them into her car and driving off.

重要的是，那些扔鸡蛋的孩子们受到了惩罚。

Importantly, the children who'd committed the egging were punished.

其中一个女孩——我这里说的完全是道听途说——那个群体里的一个女孩对此反应不佳。

One of the girls, and I'm really speaking based on rumor here, one of the girls from that group did not take it well.

她本来就不想参与，但其他人都拉她一起去，她站在后面，一个鸡蛋都没扔。

She hadn't wanted to go in the first place, but the others dragged her along and she stood at the back and didn't throw a single egg.

然而她的父母严厉惩罚了她，没收了她的手机和电脑，并禁足一个月。

Yet her parents punished her harshly, taking away her phone and computer and grounding her for a month.

更糟糕的是，这个女孩患有阅读障碍，在学校里需要额外的阅读辅导。

Worse, b, this girl, was dyslexic and got extra help with reading at school.

谁负责这些额外的阅读课程呢？

And who led those extra reading sessions?

艾琳。

Elaine.

于是日复一日，比恩不得不坐下来，和这个毁了她生活的愚蠢女人一起读书。

So day after day, Bean had to sit and read with that stupid woman who'd ruined her life.

有一天，我坐了一会儿，想象着她的痛苦。

I sat a while one day and imagined her pain.

我的童年也充满了类似的情况。

My childhood was filled with similar situations.

她一定在心里想：我受不了这个老太婆。

I can't stand this old biddy, she must have thought.

为什么每个人都那么喜欢她？

Why does everyone like her so much?

她只是一个闲得无聊的老太太。

She's just an old lady with too much free time.

一天放学后，当伊莲在教堂帮忙时，比娅闯入了她家。

One day after school, when Elaine was helping out at the church, Bea broke into her house.

这简直轻而易举。

It was shockingly easy.

我亲眼目睹了这一切。

I saw it with my own two eyes.

花园的围墙很容易攀爬，比娅走过布满丑陋地精的小石园时，没有任何陷阱或诅咒跳出来。

The garden wall had a good grip, and no traps or curses jumped at Bea as she walked across the small stone garden filled with ugly gnomes.

奇怪的是，后门竟然没锁。

Strangely, the back door was unlocked.

她环顾四周，没看到我，便走了进去。

She cast a glance around, missing me, and went inside.

她在那里找到的只是一栋再普通不过的老太太的房子。

All she found there was a perfectly ordinary old woman's house.

我想我自己也没进去过。

I imagine I haven't been in there myself.

当有人传播谣言时，他们的眼神会透露出嘴唇所隐瞒的细节。

When someone passes on a rumor, their eyes tell you details that their lips do not.

小时候我总因为想象力太丰富而被责备，但如今我知道，想象力是真相的肥料。

I was always told off for my overactive imagination as a child, but now I know that imagination is the fertilizer of truth.

屋里有丑陋的老沙发，架子上摆满言情小说，一个中国瓷器展示柜，还有无数橱柜装满了茶和饼干。

There were ugly old sofas, shelves full of romance novels, a display case of China, endless cupboards of tea and biscuits.

比伊很失望。

Bee was disappointed.

衣柜里没有骷髅，甚至也看不出主人悲伤孤独的痕迹。

No skeletons in the closet, and it didn't even give off the impression of someone sad and lonely.

好吧，总得有什么东西藏在某个地方。

Well, there had to be something somewhere.