Outline

【故事主線】

分別來自中國香港、印度、英國和澳大利亞的六位主人公為了尋找傳說中的食人族踏上了開往南美的郵輪……

Profile

【人物簡介】

小強：男，香港富豪之子，喜好探險旅游，本次探險旅行的發(fā)起人。

蜜兒：女，香港某野外生存俱樂部教練，武功出色，中國的“勞拉”。

威廉：男，英國作家，以經(jīng)常發(fā)布一些驚世奇聞的旅行游記著稱。

桑杰：印度小男孩，印度洋海嘯后當?shù)氐奈ㄒ恍掖嬲摺?/p>

艾德里安：男，澳大利亞生物學家，喜歡研究昆蟲。

白雪：蜜兒的寵物狗，忠心耿耿，總給人帶來意外驚喜。

編?。篔ames Palmer（英國）

情節(jié)策劃：何彥平、王妮

插畫：姚薇

本欄目有償歡迎讀者參與劇情策劃

投稿信箱：contribution@bilingualtime.com

Plot Synopsis

【本期劇情】

天氣突然變得十分惡劣，很多小隕石不斷降落，地球上死傷無數(shù)，小強和蜜兒在神秘人的幫助下才幸免于難。維多利亞號不得已駛回悉尼，大家應艾德里安的邀請一起前往他家，等待維多利亞號再次啟航。但在途中卻發(fā)生了意想不到的離奇車禍，隨之而來的還有那個如影隨形的神秘人……

Episode 7: Traffic Accident

第七集：突發(fā)車禍

情景1：

輪船駛離悉尼已經(jīng)一天左右，小強站在甲板上，蜜兒讓他看奇異的天象。天上有紫光和綠光在旋轉，還有奇怪的閃電。

Xiaoqiang: Look at the sky! What a weird storm.

Candy: No kidding! Especially those lights - it?s like seeing the aurora borealis or something.

Xiaoqiang: The what?

Candy: The Northern Lights. You know, at the pole, you get those strange lights in the sky, like fireworks. Like that.

（她指向天空。）

Xiaoqiang: And those flashes - like shooting stars.

Candy: Maybe there?s a meteorite storm? A whole bunch of them hitting the atmosphere and burning up.

Xiaoqiang: That could be - hold on, what?s that?

Candy: I don?t - what? Oh god, run!

（一枚隕石從天空砸向輪船。蜜兒和小強在甲板下跑，突然看到一個神秘的人，全身被海水浸透，沿船體爬上來。）

Xiaoqiang: Quick, in here! What?s he doing? It?s going to hit him right on. It?s going to hit us!Brace yourself!

（眼看隕石就要砸到輪船了，陌生人以驚人的力量和速度猛地擊向它，隕石應聲落入海里，煮沸了附近的海水，濺起一團水花和霧氣。）

Captain: (over the loudspeaker) This is your captain speaking. Please remain calm. In view of the unusual weather events -

Candy: No kidding!

Captain: - we?re returning to harbour, where we will disembark you as soon as possible. We?re receiving reports of these same bizarre anomalies throughout the Pacific, including numerous meteorites striking the ocean, so it may be some time before we?re safe to travel. We?ll handle enquiries and compensation back in port. For now, let?s get you back safely.

Xiaoqiang: What can be going on? I?ve never heard of so many meteorites falling before.

Candy: Beats me. I just hope we can make it back to Sydney

情景2：

輪船回到了悉尼。蜜兒、小強、威廉、桑杰和白雪聚在甲板上，想下一步怎么做，而風暴繼續(xù)肆虐著港口。

William: My god, it?s like the very elements are working with that woman!

Candy: Don?t you think you?re being a bit paranoid, William? I mean, Im sure she?s dangerous, but I don?t think she actually controls the weather.

William: I suppose. But you have to admit, it?s an odd coincidence.

Xiaoqiang: I?m sure that?s all it is, coincidence. Sanjay, how?s Snow White doing?

Sanjay: He doesn?t like the storm. (Snow White whimpers, and curls himself against Sanjay.) But I will take care of him.

Xiaoqiang: Good boy. Now, what are we going to do? I?ve been calling around, and all the hotels are booked up. So many people are stuck here because of the meteorites - flights are grounded, of course. Imagine if one of those things hit a plane!

Adrian: G?day, folks. Glad I found you - it?s chaos out here.

William: Good to see you, Adrian.

Candy: I think William speaks for everyone there. What a mess!

Adrian: Don?t worry, guys. You can stay in my place out near the Blue Mountains till all this has blown over.

Xiaoqiang: That?s so generous of you. You must let me compens-

Adrian: I wouldn?t hear of it. You?re my guests.

Candy: Thank you again.

Adrian: Really, no worries. It?s a big place, and I?m sure the storm won?t last beyond a day or two.Come on, let?s take my jeep.

(他們擠進艾德里安的車里。)

Candy: Wow, this is a massive SUV!

Adrian: Yeah, I brought it for field work - you know, the bush here is rough, so you need to be able to go over all sorts of terrain.

Candy: How long have you been a - how do you say it?

Adrian: (laughing) A lepidopterist?

Sanjay: What is that?

Adrian: A butterfly hunter, son. Anyway - going on for twenty years now, since a couple of years out of college.

Candy: Why did you get into it?

Adrian: I had a biology degree, no job, and one of my old professors suggested it. But I became enthusiastic about it pretty fast. Theyre really fascinating creatures, butterflies.

Candy: How do you mean?

Adrian: Well, they?re beautiful - but also, there?s so many of them. More variety than almost any other species, and you can find them everywhere. Ive been all over the world on butterfly hunts.China, South America, Russia … about the only place you won?t find butterflies is the Antarctic. Round here the best specimens are in the rainforests, up in Queensland. Sydney?s actually a bit of a butterfly desert, but the department at the university is good, weirdly, so I teach here and travel elsewhere.

Candy: You like the travel?

Adrian: (laughing) Of course! Though you see some pretty weird things. I was in Mexico once, looking for a rare species, and I stumbled straight into a drug deal on the border.

Candy: No!

Adrian: There I was, in my hat and waving my net around, and suddenly six guys were pointing guns at me. I was lucky they didn?t shoot me on the spot.

Candy: How did you get away?

Adrian: Well, my Spanish wasn?t very good at the time, but I guess it was obvious enough that I was harmless. Two of them wanted to kill me anyway, but the boss said I was just some stupid gringo scientist, and he liked butterflies. So they just tied me up, blindfolded me, and dumped me on the edge of town. They left my equipment, even.

Candy: Oh my god!

Adrian: And then in Russia - that?s where I met William for the first time - I met a shaman who said that when his spirit left his body at night, it went into a butterfly. Or a group of butterflies. The translation wasn?t very clear, but he knew amazing details about the local species - breeding grounds, habits, all kinds of things.

Candy: You think his spirit really went into the butterflies?

Adrian: Well, he was an old man, and he?d lived in the area all his life. Sometimes people are just very in tune with the natural world, especially those who live close to the earth, you know? Ive seen the Aboriginals here find water in a desert as dry as bone, or track prey with nothing but traces. But maybe he was telling the truth. There are a lot of strange things in the world, after all.

Candy: Like the meteorites!

Adrian: Bugger me if I know what?s going on with that.

Candy: Look, Sanjay and Xiaoqiang have fallen asleep.

William: They?re exhausted. I?m pretty much the same myself.

Adrian: Don?t worry, mate, we?ll have you back in the – JESUS CHRIST!

Candy: Aaargggh!

（不知從哪兒沖來一輛卡車，撞上SUV，SUV從路上墜下。）

Adrian: Hang on!

（SUV墜下，大家都被甩了出來。）

情景3：

他們蘇醒后……

Xiaoqiang: Unnnhhh … my head.

Candy: Is everyone all right? I think - oww - I?ve broken some fingers.

Adrian: I?m just bruised. Bloody car?s a bloody write-off, though.

Candy: He just came out of nowhere - it was like he hit us deliberately.

William: Serafima …

Candy: I think you might be right this time, William. But wait - I thought she wanted us in the Amazon?

Xiaoqiang: Sanjay!

Sanjay: (groaning) I am ok. And Snow White is ok too.

Snow White: Woof!

Candy: Wait, who?s that? Over there?

Xiaoqiang: It looks like the man from the boat!

William: The one who hit the meteorite?

Xiaoqiang: Yes - where did he come from?

Adrian: I?ll check him out - I had a year of pre-med before biology. Here, William, see if you can get the boot open - there?s a first aid kit in there.

Candy: He?s handsome … where?s he from, do you think? India.

Sanjay: He looks like a Sikh - with the turban, and the beard. There are many Sikhs in my hometown.

Adrian: A few in Sydney too, but he doesn?t look like a local. Look at his clothes. Anyway, he?s breathing - just knocked out - he should be right when he wakes up.

Candy: We should call the police - I?m sure that truck deliberately hit us.

Xiaoqiang: I don?t know - this guy was like a superman - and the showers - and the Russian princess - you think the police will believe any of this.

Adrian: I?ll call a mate to come pick you up and drop you at my house. Here, here?s the keys. Alarm code is 1066. I better stick around - I?ve got to get the SUV hauled off for insurance.

Xiaoqiang: OK. We?ll see you back there. Maybe by then this guy will have woken up, and we?ll get some answers at last …

情景1:

輪船駛離悉尼已經(jīng)一天左右，小強站在甲板上，蜜兒讓他看奇異的天象。天上有紫光和綠光在旋轉，還有奇怪的閃光。

小強：看天上！好詭異的風暴。

蜜兒：不是吧！尤其是那些光——就像北極極光什么的。

小強：什么？

蜜兒：北極光。你知道的，在極地，天空有那些奇特的光，像煙花。就那樣。

（她指向天空。）

小強：還有那些閃光，就像流星。

蜜兒：可能會有流星雨？許多流星進入大氣層后燃燒。

小強：有可能，等等，那是什么？

蜜兒：我不知道，什么？噢天哪，快跑！

（一枚隕石從天空砸向輪船。蜜兒和小強在甲板下跑，突然看到一個神秘的人，全身被海水浸透，沿船舷爬上來。）

小強：快，過來！他在干嘛？他要被砸個正著。也會砸到我們。抓緊些！

（眼看隕石就要砸到輪船了，陌生人以驚人的力量和速度猛地擊向它，隕石應聲落入海里，煮沸了附近的海水，濺起一團水花和霧氣。）

船長：（透過擴音器）我是船長。請鎮(zhèn)定。鑒于天氣異?！?/p>

蜜兒：別開玩笑！

船長：我們要回港，然后盡快讓你們下船。我們接到報告說，整個太平洋上空都出現(xiàn)了同樣的異?，F(xiàn)象，無數(shù)隕石墜入海里，我們要過些時候才能安全出發(fā)。我們將在港內(nèi)處理詢問和補償事宜?，F(xiàn)在，我們將把你們送到安全的地方。

小強：要出什么事呢？我以前從未聽說過有這么多隕石降落。

蜜兒：我也沒有。我只是希望我們能回到悉尼。

情景2：

輪船回到了悉尼。蜜兒、小強、威廉、桑杰和白雪聚在甲板上，想下一步怎么做，而風暴繼續(xù)肆虐著港口。

威廉：我的天，似乎這些東西也在跟那個女人合謀！

蜜兒：威廉，你是不是有點疑神疑鬼??？她的確很危險，但我覺得她控制不了天氣。

威廉：希望吧。但你得承認，這巧合得離譜。

小強：肯定是巧合了。桑杰，白雪怎么樣？

桑杰：他不喜歡風暴。（白雪嗚咽著，靠向桑杰。）但我會照看他。

小強：好孩子?，F(xiàn)在我們怎么辦？我到處打電話，所有的旅店都被預訂一空。由于隕石，很多人都被困在這里。航班也取消了。試想如果一顆隕石砸到飛機。

艾德里安：好啊，朋友們。找到你們真是太好了，這里真是一團糟。

威廉：見到你很高興，艾德里安。

蜜兒：我想威廉代表了這里的每個人。好亂！

艾德里安：大家別擔心。你們可以住我在藍山附近的寓所，直至風暴停止。

小強：您真是慷慨大方。我們必須要付錢……

艾德里安：這我可不答應。你們是我的客人。

蜜兒：再次感謝您。

艾德里安：真的，甭?lián)?。我那里地方很大，風暴肯定不會超過一兩天。來吧，上我的吉普車。

（他們擠在艾德里安的車里。）

蜜兒：這個SUV好大。

艾德里安：是啊，我?guī)磉M行野外工作的。你們也知道，灌木叢里坑坑洼洼的，得穿越各種地形。

蜜兒：您作為——有多久了 ，怎么說來著？

艾德里安：（大笑）鱗翅類學者？

桑杰：這是什么？

艾德里安：就是捕捉蝴蝶的人，孩子。到現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)二十年了，大學畢業(yè)幾年之后就開始了。

蜜兒：你為什么干這一行呢？

艾德里安：我拿了生物學學位，卻沒有工作，這是我的一位老教授的建議。但我很快就迷上了它。它們真令人著迷，蝴蝶。

蜜兒：此話怎講？

艾德里安：嗯，它們很美，數(shù)量也很多。種類幾乎比任何其它物種都多，在哪兒都能見到它們。我滿世界地捉蝴蝶。中國、南美、俄羅斯……唯一找不到蝴蝶的地方就是南極。這附近最好的蝴蝶樣本是在北部昆士蘭的雨林。悉尼簡直是蝴蝶的沙漠，但很奇怪，這里大學研究蝴蝶的系所還不錯，我在這兒教書，去其它地方旅行。

蜜兒：你喜歡旅行？

艾德里安：（大笑）當然！不過你會遇到一些怪事兒。有一次我在墨西哥找一個珍稀物種，卻在邊境陷入了一個販毒交易。

蜜兒：不是吧！

艾德里安：我戴著帽子，揮舞著我的網(wǎng)，突然間，六個人用槍指向我。我命大，他們沒有現(xiàn)場斃了我。

蜜兒：你是怎么逃脫的？

艾德里安：當時我的西班牙語還不大好，但我知道自己顯然是無害處的。只是其中兩人想把我殺了，但他們的頭說，我只是個又蠢又笨的外國科學家罷了，他也喜歡蝴蝶。所以他們把我綁了，蒙住我的眼睛，把我扔到城郊。連我的設備也留給我了。

蜜兒：我的天！

艾德里安：有一次在俄羅斯，我是在那里第一次遇見威廉的。我碰到了一位薩滿巫師，他說晚上自己會靈魂出竅，然后進入一個蝴蝶?；蛘咭蝗汉?。翻譯得不大明白，但他知道當?shù)匚锓N的驚人細節(jié)，繁殖地、習性和各種事情。

蜜兒：你認為他的靈魂真的進入蝴蝶了么？

艾德里安：他年紀很大，一輩子都住在當?shù)亍Ｓ袝r候人與大自然很和諧，尤其是跟土地打交道的人，你知道么？我見過這里的土著人在干枯的沙漠里找水，僅憑動物的足跡尋找獵物。不過他說的可能是實話。畢竟這世上怪事兒多得很。

蜜兒：就像隕石！

艾德里安：我真的不知道那究竟是怎么回事。

蜜兒：看，桑杰和小強睡著了。

威廉：他們太累了。我也相當累。

艾德里安：大家別擔心，我們要讓你們回到——天哪！

蜜兒：?。?/p>

（不知從哪兒沖來一輛卡車，撞上SUV，SUV從路上墜下。）

艾德里安：抓緊！

（SUV墜下，大家都被甩了出來。）

情景3：

他們蘇醒后……

小強：啊……我的頭。

蜜兒：大家都好么？我想，噢，我?guī)赘种甘軅恕?/p>

艾德里安：我只是擦傷。不過車上沾了血就徹底報廢了。

蜜兒：不知道他從哪里來的，他好像是故意撞我們。

威廉：色拉費馬……

蜜兒：我覺得你這次是對的，威廉。但等等，我以為她希望我們?nèi)嗰R遜呢。

小強：桑杰！

桑杰：（呻吟）我還好。白雪也好。

白雪：汪汪！

蜜兒：等等，那是誰？那邊？

小強：好像是船上的那個人！

威廉：那個擊中隕石的人？

小強：是，他從哪兒來的呢？

艾德里安：我會為他檢查——學生物之前我上了一年的醫(yī)學預科。過來，威廉，看你能不能打開后備箱，這里有急救藥箱。

蜜兒：他真帥……你們猜他是哪兒人？印度。

桑杰：他像是錫克人，裹著長頭巾，蓄著胡子。我家鄉(xiāng)有很多錫克人。

艾德里安：悉尼也有一些，但他不像當?shù)厝恕？纯此囊路Ｏ炔还苓@些，他還有氣兒，只是暈倒了，醒來后應該就沒事了。

蜜兒：我們應該報警。我敢肯定那輛卡車是故意撞我們的。

小強：我不知道。這個人像超人——隕石雨，還有俄國公主，你覺得警察會相信這些么？

艾德里安：我會找個伙計來接你們，把你們送到我家。給，這是鑰匙。報警代碼是1066。我最好待在這兒。我得找人把我的車吊起來，以便要求保險補償。

小強：好吧。我們在那里見。可能那時候這個人已經(jīng)醒了，我們最終會得到一些答案……

Notes

1. a whole bunch of

意為“一群；一束；一伙”。

例句：The reorganization will give us a whole bunch of problems.

重新改組會給我們帶來一連串的問題。

He gave a bunch of flowers to his girlfriend.

他送給女友一束花。

2. hold on

意為“等一等；堅持；別掛電話”。

例句：Hold on for a minute, I've just got to put on my make-up.

等一會兒，我得化一下妝。

If he can just hold on a little longer, we can get help to him.

如果他能再堅持一會兒，我們就能使他得到幫助了。

3. brace yourself

意為“振作精神”。

例句：Brace yourself for a new challenge!

振作起來，迎擊新的挑戰(zhàn)!

4. In view of

意為“由于；鑒于”。

例句：In view of the facts, it seems useless to continue.

鑒于這些事實，繼續(xù)下去似乎是無益的。

5. beat me

意為“難倒我了”，是You beat me的簡稱。

例句：You beat me; I don't know the answer.

你難倒我了；我不知道答案。

6. book up

意為“（票、車位、房間等）訂完”。

7. in tune with

意為 “與……和諧；與……協(xié)調(diào)”。

例句：In his new job, John felt in tune with his surroundings and his associates.

約翰覺得自己與工作環(huán)境及同事們相處得很和睦。

8. as dry as bone

意為“十分干燥”。

例句：We badly need some rain; my garden is as dry as a bone.

我們急需些雨水，我的花園干透了。

9. knock out

意為：“使昏迷”。

例句：The drug knocked him out.

麻醉藥使他昏迷了。

To be continued…

下集預告

艾德里安將所有人帶回家，還有那個昏迷不醒的神秘男子。大家對這一系列奇怪事件都感到非常不安時卻發(fā)現(xiàn)神秘男子的身體構造異于常人，而且他的身上也有一個小型蛇形符，在他奇跡般地蘇醒后，蛇形符背后的秘密初露端倪，而維多利亞號也宣布停止原來的航行計劃，那小強一行人是否因此而放棄他們的探險之旅呢？