One of the first places Julia always ran to when they arrived at their vacation house in Galway was the tunnel. It was a dark, moist tunnel made of smooth branches. She always enjoyed running through the darkness of the tunnel towards the light at the end of it. It felt like a trip through a haunted house at a fun fair to her.
每次茱莉娅和家人一起来到位于戈尔韦的度假屋时，第一个要去的地方肯定是隧道。那条隧道由光滑的枝条结枝而成，阴暗潮湿。她总是非常享受穿过漆黑的隧道抵达另一头重获光明的过程。对于她，这就像在游乐场鬼屋里的冒险经历。
This year she had the extra joy of showing it to her small brother, Stephen, and of terrifying him as well as herself. And for him, the fear lasted longer because his legs were so short that he was still screaming and racing while she had gone out for a long time already.
这一年，她又增添了一个新的乐趣，那便是带着弟弟史蒂芬去见识下隧道，顺便吓一吓他和自己。对于弟弟，这种冒险带来的恐惧感持续时间会更长，因为他腿太短，以至于姐姐已经跑出隧道很长时间，他还在隧道里尖叫着奔跑。
When they had run many times, they went back to their vacation house and told everybody what they had done. He boasted. She mocked. They squabbled. “Cry baby!” “You were afraid yourself!” “You’re a big pig.” Tears were threatening so dad said; “Did you see the well in the tunnel?” She was twelve and at that age little girls are beginning to suspect most stories told by adults: they had found out too many, from Santa Claus to the Stork.
他们就这样反复跑了很多次隧道之后回到了度假屋，然后将在隧道冒险的事情告诉了每一个人。弟弟自吹自擂，姐姐嘲笑弟弟明明胆小还自夸。姐弟俩争吵起来了。“你个爱哭鬼！”“你自己也害怕！”“你个大蠢猪！”眼看着两个孩子就要哭成一片了，他们的爸爸“出手”了，“你们看到隧道里的那口井了吗？”茱莉娅已经12岁了，这个年龄的小女孩已经开始怀疑成年人讲给她们的大部分故事了——从圣诞老人到鹳的故事，她们已经发现自己被大人们骗了很多次。
How could there be a well! In the tunnel? Haughtily she said, “Nonsense.” But she went back, pretending to be going somewhere else of course, and found a hole scooped on one side of the tunnel, shrouded by ferns that she only uncovered it after much searching. Inside there was water, in which she suddenly perceived a panting trout.
那里怎么可能有一口井？隧道里怎么会有井？茱莉亚傲慢地说：“胡说。”但，她还是回到了隧道想去看个究竟（当然她会假装去了别的地方），并且在隧道的一侧找到了一个挖好的洞，洞口被蕨类植物覆盖着，因此找到它并不容易。洞内有水，她突然在水中发现了一条正在喘息着的鳟鱼。
She rushed for Stephen and dragged him to see, and they were both so excited that they were no longer afraid of the darkness as they hunched down and peered at the fish panting in his tiny prison, his silver stomach going up and down like an engine. Nobody knew how the fish got there.
她赶快找到史蒂芬，拉着他去看这个洞和洞里的鳟鱼。并且，在他们弯着腰观看被困在这个小洞里不停喘息，银色的肚皮像发动机一样上下翻动的鳟鱼时，他们俩都兴奋地发现他们不再害怕隧道的黑暗了。天知道这条鱼是怎么来到这里的。
Her mother suggested that a bird had carried the spawn. Her father thought that in the winter a small streamlet might have carried it down there as a baby, and it had been safe until summer came and the water began to dry up.
妈妈说是小鸟把这条鱼带到了这个洞里。爸爸认为可能是冬天这条鱼还很小的时候一条小溪把它带过来的，但到了夏天溪水干涸，它就被困在这了。
She went back to look again. Her brother remained behind with mom and dad, not really interested in the actual trout but much interested in the story about the trout which his mummy began to make up for him; “So one day, Daddy trout and Mommy trout…”
茱莉娅再次回到隧道里去看看那条鱼。但弟弟留在了父母身边，他对那条鳟鱼没什么兴趣，却被妈妈编的关于那条鳟鱼的故事深深地吸引住了——“所以，有一天，鳟鱼爸爸和鳟鱼妈妈也许会来救它……
It troubled her that the trout was always in the same position; he had no room to turn; all the time the silver belly went up and down; otherwise he was motionless. She wondered what he ate and thought of his hunger. She found him a worm. He ignored the food, and just went on panting. Hunched over him she thought how, all the winter, while she was at school, he had been in there. All the winter, in the dark tunnel, all day, all night, floating around alone.
茱莉娅很担心鳟鱼总是在一个位地方，没有空间转身，它那银色的肚皮就得不停地上下翻滚，否则它就无法动弹。她还很好奇那条鳟鱼吃什么，然后想到了它一定在挨饿。她为它找到了一条虫子，但它根本没去理睬虫子，只是继续在水里喘息着。弯腰看着这条鱼，她心里想：整个冬天，当自己每天在学校上学的时候，它一直在这个小洞里。整个冬天，无论白天还是黑夜，它一直在这个漆黑的隧道里孤独地游来游去。
She was still thinking of it as she lay in bed. It was late June, the longest days of the year. The sun had sat still for a week, burning up the world. Although it was after ten o’clock it was still bright and still hot. She lay on her back under a single sheet, trying to keep cool. Before they went to bed her mummy had told Stephen the story of the trout again, and she, in her bed, had resolutely presented her back to them and read her book.
她躺在床上满脑子想的仍是那条鳟鱼。此时正是七月，一年中白天最长的日子。烈日炎炎已经持续了一周时间。即便是晚上十点以后，天仍是大亮，而且气温很高。她仰面躺在床上，身上盖着一个被单，努力让自己平静下来。入睡之前，妈妈又给史蒂芬讲了一遍鳟鱼的故事，而她躺在床上，坚决地转过身背对着他们，读着自己的书。
“And so, in the end, this naughty fish got bigger and bigger and bigger, and the water got smaller and smaller…” She had whirled and cried, “Mummy, don’t make it a horrible old moral story.” Her mom had even brought in a Fairy Godmother, who had made it rain and filled the well, so that the trout could float away down to the river below. Staring at the moon she knew there are no such things as Fairy Godmothers and that the trout, down in the tunnel, was panting for his life.“
这样下去，那条淘气的小鱼会变得越来越大，水却会越来越少……”她在床上辗转反侧，终于嚷了出来：“妈妈，别再编这种可怕的古老寓言故事了。”妈妈甚至在故事中加入了仙女教母，她可以利用法力制造降雨，让井中充满水，这样鳟鱼就可以摆脱那口井，顺着水流游回河里。茱莉娅凝视着挂在空中的月亮，知道这个世界上根本没有仙女教母，而且困在隧道里的那条鳟鱼正在为了生存拼命地喘息。
She sat up. Stephen was a hot lump of sleep, lazy thing! She leaped up and quietly she lifted the ewer of water, climbed out the window and went in the tunnel. Kneeling down in the damp, she put her hand into the slimy hole. When the body of the trout lashed they were both mad with fright. But she gripped him and shoved him into the ewer and raced out to the other end of the tunnel down to the river’s edge.
她站起身来。史蒂芬已经睡得死死的了，懒猪一头！她一跃而起，然后蹑手蹑脚地拎起一个大壶水，从窗户爬出，进入了隧道。她跪在潮湿的隧道地面上，将一只手伸进黏糊糊的洞里。当她的手碰到鳟鱼的身体时，鳟鱼急速地甩动了一下身体，他们俩都吓了一跳。但是，茱莉娅还是抓住了鳟鱼，并把它放入了水壶，飞快地跑到了隧道的另一头，然后出了隧道来到了河边。
She poured him out into the water. For a second he was still visible. Then all she saw was the glimmer of the moon in the silent flowing river. She plonked down the ewer and flew through the air like a bird into bed. In the morning Stephen rushed to her, shouting that “he” was gone, and asking “where” and “how.” Lifting her nose in the air she said superciliously, “Fairy Godmother, I suppose?” and strolled away.
她将鳟鱼倒入河中，看着它一点一点消失在河水中，直至河水中只剩下安静的流水和微弱的月光。她砰的一下放下水壶，像一只小鸟一样“飞”回到自己的床上。第二天一早，史蒂芬冲向她大喊道：“它不见了”，并问它去哪了？她扬起头，高傲地说：“我猜是仙女教母做的吧？”然后漫步离开了。