魔术店

魔术店

The Magic Shop

我曾好几次远远地看见过这家魔术店；我也曾从它门前走过一两次。店里的橱窗摆满了诱人的小玩意儿：魔术球、魔术母鸡、奇妙的圆锥筒、口技木偶、魔术篮的道具、看起来毫无破绽的扑克牌，诸如此类。但我从未想过要走进去，直到有一天，吉普几乎没打声招呼，就拉着我的手指直奔橱窗前。他的样子让我别无选择，只能带他进去。

I had seen the Magic Shop from afar several times; I had passed it once or twice, a shop window of alluring little objects, magic balls, magic hens, wonderful cones, ventriloquist dolls, the material of the basket trick, packs of cards that LOOKED all right, and all that sort of thing, but never had I thought of going in until one day, almost without warning, Gip hauled me by my finger right up to the window, and so conducted himself that there was nothing for it but to take him in.

说实话，我本来没觉得这家店就在这里——这是摄政街上一处不大不小的门面，正好在画店和刚从专利孵化器里出来的小鸡到处乱跑的地方之间，但它确实就在那里。

I had not thought the place was there, to tell the truth—a modest-sized frontage in Regent Street, between the picture shop and the place where the chicks run about just out of patent incubators, but there it was sure enough.

我原本以为它在更靠近圆环广场的地方，或者在牛津街的拐角处，甚至在霍尔本；它总是好像在马路对面，总有点让人够不着，位置就像海市蜃楼一样；但现在它毫无疑问就在眼前，吉普胖乎乎的指尖敲在玻璃上，发出了声音。

I had fancied it was down nearer the Circus, or round the corner in Oxford Street, or even in Holborn; always over the way and a little inaccessible it had been, with something of the mirage in its position; but here it was now quite indisputably, and the fat end of Gip’s pointing finger made a noise upon the glass.

“如果我有钱，”吉普用手指轻点着“消失的鸡蛋”说，“我就给自己买那个。还有那个”——那是一个“哭泣的婴儿，逼真极了”——“还有那个，”那是一个神秘物件，上面一张工整的小卡片写着：“买一个，让你的朋友大吃一惊。”

“If I was rich,” said Gip, dabbing a finger at the Disappearing Egg, “I’d buy myself that. And that”—which was The Crying Baby, Very Human—“and that,” which was a mystery, and called, so a neat card asserted, “Buy One and Astonish Your Friends.”

“任何东西，”吉普说，“放在那些圆锥筒下面都会消失。我曾在一本书里读到过。

“Anything,” said Gip, “will disappear under one of those cones. I have read about it in a book.

“还有那里，爸爸，是‘消失的半便士’——只是他们把它这样朝上放着，我们才看不出它是怎么变出来的。”

“And there, dadda, is the Vanishing Halfpenny—, only they’ve put it this way up so’s we can’t see how it’s done.”

可爱的吉普继承了他母亲的好教养。他既没有主动要求进店，也没有以任何方式闹腾；只是，你知道的，他完全是不由自主地把我的手指往门口拉，清楚地表达了他的兴趣。

Gip, dear boy, inherits his mother’s breeding, and he did not propose to enter the shop or worry in any way; only, you know, quite unconsciously he lugged my finger doorward, and he made his interest clear.

“那个，”他说着，指向了那个魔术瓶。

“That,” he said, and pointed to the Magic Bottle.

“要是你有了那个呢？”我说；听到这句很有希望的话，他抬起头来，脸上顿时容光焕发。

“If you had that?” I said; at which promising inquiry he looked up with a sudden radiance.

“我可以拿给洁西看，”他说，一如既往地为别人着想。

“I could show it to Jessie,” he said, thoughtful as ever of others.

“离你的生日还不到一百天呢，吉布尔斯，”我说着，把手放在了门把手上。

“It’s less than a hundred days to your birthday, Gibbles,” I said, and laid my hand on the door-handle.

吉普没有回答，但他紧紧抓住了我的手指，于是我们走进了店里。

Gip made no answer, but his grip tightened on my finger, and so we came into the shop.

这不是一家普通的商店；这是一家魔术店。如果是普通的玩具，吉普早就欢蹦乱跳地抢在前面了，可现在全没了那股劲头。他把说话的担子全留给了我。

It was no common shop this; it was a magic shop, and all the prancing precedence Gip would have taken in the matter of mere toys was wanting. He left the burthen of the conversation to me.