22.1【精讲课】第5章 回到柜门这边（2）

本部分为《纳尼亚传奇》第5章第2部分。在上一部分的讲解中说到Edmund让妹妹当众下不来台，充满恶意地否认了纳尼亚的存在，哥哥对他非常不满意，批评了Edmund不该一会儿挖苦她，一会儿又怂恿她，那么Edmund是怎么回应的呢？

CHAPTER 5

BACK ON THIS SIDE OF THE DOOR（2）

第5章 回到柜门这边（2）

   "I thought - I thought," said Edmund; but he couldn't think of anything to say.  

    "You didn't think anything at all," said Peter; "it's just spite(恶意). You've always liked being beastly(野蛮的；恶毒的) to anyone smaller than yourself; we've seen that at school before now."  

    "Do stop it," said Susan; "it won't make things any better having a row(吵架) between you two. Let's go and find Lucy."  

      It was not surprising that when they found Lucy, a good deal later（过了好长时间）, everyone could see that she had been crying. Nothing they could say to her made any difference(有影响，起作用). She stuck to (坚持)her story and said:  

    "I don't care (我不在乎……)what you think, and I don't care what you say. You can tell the Professor or you can write to Mother or you can do anything you like. I know I've met a Faun in there and - I wish I'd stayed there and you are all beasts, beasts.(坏蛋)" 

      It was an unpleasant（不愉快） evening. Lucy was miserable（难过） and Edmund was beginning to feel that his plan wasn't working as well as he had expected. The two older ones were really beginning to think that Lucy was out of her mind(脑子出问题了). They stood in the passage talking about it in whispers(低声地) long after she had gone to bed.  

    The result was the next morning they decided that they really would go and tell the whole thing to the Professor. "He'll write to Father if he thinks there is really something wrong with Lu," said Peter; "it's getting beyond us(某人无法控制)." So they went and knocked at the study door, and the Professor said "Come in," and got up and found chairs for them and said he was quite at their disposal(听由某人处理，供某人使用). Then he sat listening to them with the tips of his fingers pressed together and never interrupting(打断), till they had finished the whole story. After that he said nothing for quite a long time. Then he cleared his throat and said the last(最不可能) thing either of them expected:  

    "How do you know," he asked, "that your sister's story is not true?"  

    "Oh, but ---" began Susan, and then stopped. Anyone could see from the old man's face that he was perfectly serious(严肃的). Then Susan pulled herself together(鼓足勇气) and said, "But Edmund said they had only been pretending." 

    "That is a point," said the Professor, "which certainly deserves(值得) consideration; very careful consideration. For instance - if you will excuse me for asking the question - does your experience lead you to regard your brother or your sister as(认为……) the more reliable? I mean, which is the more truthful(诚实的)?"