The Football Beast (Ⅰ) 足球怪兽 （Ⅰ）

李明娟

“It looks rubbish！” I said， frowning1 at the rundown ghost train and comparing it to the cooler rides at the funfair2. The cool rides were huge and fast and everyone was screaming. The ghost train was deserted like a ghost town！

“这看起来很垃圾！”我皱着眉头看着破败的幽灵火车，将其与游乐场上更酷的游乐设施进行了比较。那些非常酷的游乐设施巨大，速度又快，每个人都在尖叫。幽灵火车像鬼城一样空无一人！

“Cant I have another go on the Dinosaur Dipper or the Rocket Launcher？” I asked.

我恳求道：“我就不能再玩一次恐龙七星或火箭发射车吗？”

“We queued for hours to get on those rides，” Mum said， tearing off a ride-token and handing it to the woman in the ghost-train booth. “And this one has no queues at all！”

“我们排了几个小时才轮到坐火车。”妈妈说着，撕下一张乘车券，交给了幽灵火车展位上的那个女人，“而且这个没有人排队！”

“I wonder why，” I said， reluctantly3 taking a seat on the empty train.

“我想知道为什么，”我无奈地坐在空车上，说道。

Mum never goes on rides because they make her feel sick， so she waved happily as the train crawled towards two doors. The doors had “Tunnel of Terror” written above them in blood-red lettering. Ive been on loads of ghost trains before and theyre never， ever scary.

媽妈从不坐这种火车，因为会让她感到恶心，所以当火车爬向两道门时，她开心地挥了挥手。门的上方是用血红色字母写的“恐怖隧道”，我以前坐过幽灵火车，从来没有被吓到过。

The doors closed behind me and the train rattled along the track， taking a sharp right turn where a green plastic skeleton4 bounced up and down on a piece of elastic5.

门在我身后关上，火车沿着铁轨嘎嘎作响，在绿色的塑料骷髅骨架绑在一块松紧带上上下弹跳时向右急转。

“YAWN！” I yawned.

“啊！”我打了个呵欠。

The train carried on through the darkness and at the next turn there was a coffin6 with a creaky7 cover. As it creaked open a plastic vampire rose slightly and then flopped back down again.

火车在黑暗中继续前进，在下个转弯处有个棺材，盖子嘎吱作响地打开时，一个塑料吸血鬼稍稍探了一下头，然后又跌了回去。

“YAWN！” I yawned again.

“啊！”我又打了个哈欠。

The third turn turned out a flapping white sheet that was probably supposed to be a ghost， but it was about as scary as a white sheet hanging on a windy washing line.

第三个转弯处出现了一张飘动的白纸，可能是个鬼影，但它就像悬挂在风中的晾衣绳上的床单一样，一点也不可怕。

“BORING！” I sighed， batting a rubber bat that dangled over my head.

“无聊！”我叹了口气，击打了一下悬挂在我头顶的橡胶棒。

The train continued to run along at about one kilometre an hour， while a scratchy8 recording of moans and groans echoed in the darkness.

火车继续以每小时约一公里的速度前进，在黑暗中回荡着录音效果很差的呻吟声。

“Theyre probably moaning and groaning out of boredom！” I chuckled.

“他们可能因为无聊而唉声叹气！”我咯咯地笑了。

My chuckle was cut short when the train suddenly stopped with a jolt that made me jump. Then a bright blue phantom9 appeared on the track in front of me！“Im doing my best，” he growled. “You dont have to make fun of it！”

火車突然停下来震动了一下，吓得我跳了起来，笑声也被打断了。然后一道亮蓝色的幻影出现在我面前的轨道上！“我正在尽力而为，”他咆哮道。“你没必要嘲笑！”

I wasnt sure whether to scream or say sorry because he wasnt very scary and looked pretty upset. But the phantom vanished10 before I had a chance to do either. And the next thing I knew the train had started up again.

我不确定是尖叫，还是说对不起，因为他不是很吓人，而且看上去很沮丧。但在我没有机会做什么之前幻影就消失了，我知道接下来火车又开动了。

Judging by the poor quality of frights in the Tunnel of Terror I was certain the phantom was real. And I knew he was a phantom because he was a bit see-through like a ghost. Phantoms are very similar to ghosts—except theyre monster-shaped instead of people-shaped.

根据恐怖隧道中很差的恐怖质量判断，我确信幻影是真实的。我知道他是个幻像，因为他像幽灵一样有点透明。幻影与幽灵非常相似，只是幽灵是怪兽状而不是人形。

It also made sense that a phantom would live in a ghost-train ride because all theyre good for is scaring people. Although this one wasnt even good at that judging by the lack of queues！

幻影会在幽灵火车上也是有道理的，因为他们最擅长的就是吓人。但由于没人排队，可以判断这只幻影甚至都不擅长于此！

The train was now running towards the exit and as it crashed through the doors into daylight I was pretty confused. How could a phantom living in a ghost train be so bad at scaring people？

火车现在正朝出口驶去，当它冲出大门开到日头底下时，我感到非常困惑。住在幽灵火车上的幻影怎么这么不会吓人呢？

I decided not to tell Mum about the phantom because shed just consider it was part of the ride. If I insisted he was real shed think I couldnt tell the difference between a monster and a dummy11.

我决定不告诉妈妈有关幻影的事，因为她会以为这只是火车之行的一部分，如果我坚持认为他是真的，她会觉得我无法分辨怪物和假人。

“Ive just made an appointment to see the fortune-teller！” Mum said excitedly， pointing to a nearby tent with stars and moons all over it. “But we need to hurry.”

“我刚刚约好了算命先生！”妈妈兴奋地说道，指着附近一个附着着满是星星和月亮的帐篷。“但是我们要快点了。”

“Thats convenient，” I mumbled， because I dont believe fortune-tellers can really tell the future. I think they just say nice things so that people go away feeling happy.

“这真方便。”我喃喃说道，因为我不相信算命先生真能预知未来。我认为他们只是说些好话，让人们高兴地离开。

The last time Mum went to see the funfair fortune-teller it went on for ages， but that was mostly because I kept laughing and doing impressions of Madam Mystic. Madam Mystic said Mum would have a lot of trouble with a certain boy who couldnt take things seriously. I wonder who she was talking about？

距妈妈上一次去游乐场算命已经有很长时间了，但这主要是因为我一直大笑，给神秘女士留下了深刻印象。神秘女士说，一位母亲和一个无法严肃对待事情的男孩一起会遇到很多麻烦。我想知道，她在说谁？

“Cant I stay on the ghost train？” I asked. It had to be better than Madam Mystic， and I was still very curious12 about the funfair phantom.” “Its actually quite good and we do have four ride-tokens left.”

我问：“我不能留在幽灵火车上吗？”它比神秘女士更好玩，而且我仍然对游乐场的幻影感到很好奇。”“实际上还不错，我们还有四张乘车券。”

At the mention of four tokens the woman in the ghost-train booth hurried over. “I can keep an eye on him for you，” she said enthusiastically13. “Oh， I couldnt ask you to do that，” Mum said， frowning at her watch.

在提到四张乘车券时，幽灵列车展位中的那位女士匆匆走过来。“我可以帮你照顾他，”她热情地说道。“哦，我不能要求你这样做。”妈妈皱着眉头看了看手表，说道。

“It would be my pleasure，” said the woman. “The funfair are closing us down after today， so it would be nice to see the old girl rattle14 round a few more times before she goes into retirement.”

女士说：“这是我的荣幸。游乐场在今天之后关闭了我们这个项目，所以很高兴看到那个‘老女孩在退休之前多跑几遍。”

“Closing down？” Mum said. “But why？”

“关闭？”妈妈说。“但是为什么呢？”

“We cant compete with the bigger rides，” the woman said sadly. “It would seem ghost trains are rather old-fashioned and not exciting enough for young people today.”

“我们无法与更大的游乐设施竞争，”那位女士悲伤地说。“看来，幽灵火车已经过时了，对今天的年轻人来说还不够刺激。”

“Im terribly sorry，” Mum said.

妈妈说：“非常遗憾。”

“So can I stay here？” I pleaded.

“那我可以留在这里吗？”我恳求道。

“Oh， all right，” Mum sighed， handing the tickets to the woman. “Now， if he gives you any trouble at all， or starts making up stories about monsters， Ill be just inside that tent.”

“哦，那好吧。”妈妈叹了口气，把券交给了那位女士。“现在，如果他给你带来任何麻烦，或者开始编造有关怪物的故事，我就在那个帐篷里。”

Before leaving， Mum warned me to behave myself for the nice lady and not to make fun of the ghost train any more. Then she hurried off to the fortune-tellers tent to have her future told.

临走前，妈妈警告我在这个好心的女士面前要乖一点，不要再嘲笑幽灵火车了。然后，她急忙走到算命先生的帐篷里去算命了。

The woman started up the ride again and waved at me as the train ran towards the doors. I felt bad for making fun of the ghost train， especially now I knew it was closing down. But as the doors closed and the green skeleton bounced15 around in front of me again， I could surely see why. It just wasnt scary！

那個女士再次开动火车，在火车驶向大门时向我招招手。我为取笑幽灵火车感到难过，尤其是现在我知道它要关闭了。但是当门关上，绿色的骨架再次在我面前弹跳时，我绝对可以明白为什么，因为它一点也不吓人！

As the train crawled past the coffin I looked out for the phantom， but when the train stopped this time， he didnt appear. It was then that I heard a strange noise over the recording of moaning and groaning. It sounded like sobbing16.

当火车爬过棺材时，我四处寻找幻影，但这次火车停下来时，他没有出现。这时，我在录好的呻吟声之外，听到一个奇怪的声音，听起来很像抽泣声。