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There were between fifteen and twenty of them, and all mounted on sea-horses--not the tiny little sea-horses which you may have seen in museums but horses rather bigger than themselves.
有十五个人到二十个人, 他们全骑在海马上----不是博物馆里人们所看到的那种小海马, 而是比他们高得多的海马。
They must be noble and lordly people, Lucy thought, for she could catch the gleam of gold on some of their foreheads and streamers of emerald--or orange--coloured stuff fluttered from their shoulders in the current.
露茜心想, 他们一定是王公贵族, 因为她一眼就能看见水里的有些人脑门上金光闪闪, 翠绿色的飘带或橙红色的流苏在肩上飘动。
Then："Oh, bother these fish !"said Lucy, for a whole shoal of small fat fish, swimming quite close to the surface, had come between her and the Sea People.
"忽然, 露茜说："哦, 这些鱼真讨厌!"因为一群小肥鱼跟水面贴得很近, 挡在她和海人之间。
But though this spoiled her view it led to the most interesting thing of all.
这样一来虽说扫了兴致, 却让她看到了更有趣的事。
Suddenly a fierce little fish of a kind she had never seen before came darting up from below, snapped, grabbed, and sank rapidly with one of the fat fish in its mouth.
一条她没见过的小鱼冷不防从水底跳出来, 猛地咬住一条肥鱼不放, 迅速沉到水下。
And all the Sea People were sitting on their horses staring up at what had happened.
海人都骑在海马上, 一抬头就看到了这一幕。
They seemed to be talking and laughing. And before the hunting fish had got back to them with its prey, another of the same kind came up from the Sea People.
他们还有说有笑地, 那条小鱼并没有带着猎物回到他们身边, 有一条同样的小鱼又从海人身边跳出水面。
And Lucy was almost certain that one big Sea Man who sat on his sea-horse in the middle of the party had sent it or released it; as if he had been holdng it back till then in his hand or on his wrist.
露茜基本上肯定是中间那个骑着海马的高个子把这些小鱼放出去的。因为刚才那些凶猛的小鱼好像就架在他手里和手腕上。"
"Why, I do declare, "said Lucy, "it's a hunting party. Or more like a hawking party.
"啊, 我明白了, "露茜说, "原来这是一支狩猎队啊, 不过倒更像一支放鹰打猎队。
Yes, that's it. They ride out with these little fierce fish on their wrists just as we used to ride out with falcons on our wrists when we were Kings and Queens at Cair Paravel long ago.
是的, 就是这样。他们手腕上戴着凶猛的小鱼, 骑海马出来, 就像我们很久以前在凯尔帕拉维尔当国王和女王的时候, 手腕上架着猎鹰, 骑马出去一样。
And then they fly them--or I suppose I should say swim them--at the others. How--"
见到猎物就放飞猎鹰---- 确切地说是放猎鱼游向猎物。"
She stopped suddenly because the scene was changing. The Sea People had noticed the Dawn Treader.
她突然停住了, 因为一切景象突然变了。海人看到了黎明踏浪号。
The shoal of fish hard scattered in every direction：the People themselves were coming up to find out the meaning of this big, black thing which had come between them and the sun.
鱼群向四处逃窜, 海人也亲自冒出来查看挡在太阳和他们之间的庞然大物是什么玩意儿。
And now they were so close to the surface that if they had been in air, instead of water, Lucy could have spoken to them.
他们很快就贴近了水面, 如果他们在水上, 而不是在水里, 露茜倒愿意跟他们说说话。
There were men and women both. All wore coronets of some kind and many had chains of pearls.
他们有男有女, 头上都戴着某种王冠, 一些人还戴着珍珠项链,
They wore no other clothes. Their bodies were the colour of old ivory, their hair dark purple.
身上没有其他衣服, 皮肤是陈年的象牙白, 头发是深紫红色。
The King in the centre(no one could mistake him for anything but the King)looked proudly and fiercely into Lucy's face and shook a spear in his hand.
国王在当中( 没人会认错他) 高傲而凶狠地注视着露茜, 手里挥着一支长矛。
His knights did the same. The faces of the ladies were filled with astonishment.
他手下的骑士跟他一致行动, 同行的几位女士脸上露出惊讶的神色。
Lucy felt sure they had never seen a ship or a human before--and how should they, in seas beyond the world's end where no ship ever came ?
露茜认为可能之前他们根本没见过船或人, 他们在世界尽头之外的海洋里, 根本没有船到过那儿, 又怎么会见到呢?
"What are you staring at, Lu ?"said a voice close beside her.
"你在看什么啊, 露茜?"身边有个声音说。
Lucy had been so absorbed in what she was seeing that she started at the sound, and when she turned she found that her arm had gone"dead"from leaning so long on the rail in one position.
露茜看得出了神, 听到声音吓了一跳。她回过头来, 才发现全身重心压在栏杆一边, 一条手臂早发麻了,
Drinian and Edmund were beside her.
德里宁和爱德蒙在她身边。
"Look, "she said.
"你们看。"她说。
They both looked, but almost at once Drinian said in a low voice：
他们两个都看了一眼, 可是德里宁立刻小声说：
"Turn round at once, your Majesties--that's right, with our backs to the sea.
"两位陛下, 马上转过来, 对, 背对着大海,
And don't look as if we were talking about anything important. "
不要像在谈论什么大事那般。"
"Why, what's the matter ?"said Lucy as she obeyed.
"为什么, 怎么了?"露茜一边按照他说的去做, 一边问。
"It'll never do for the sailors to see all that, "said Drinian.
"水手绝对不能看这些东西, "德里宁说,
"We'll have men falling in love with a sea--woman, or falling in love with the under-sea country itself, and jumping overboard.
"看了以后, 我们就会爱上海女, 或者爱上海底世界, 然后跳下水去。
I've heard of that kind of thing happening before in strange seas. It's always unlucky to see these people. "
我听说过以前在其他海域里出过这种事。总之, 看见这些人会倒霉的。"
