Gerald seemed to hear his own heart thumping deafeningly like elephants marching as he cautiously stepped into the damp and eerie house.
當傑瑞德走進潮濕的屋裏時，彷彿能聽得到自己的心跳～噗通、噗通。
Specks of dust danced in the sunshine that shone through the broken windows, as if welcoming his arrival.
灰塵在透過破窗戶照射進來的陽光下翩翩起舞，似乎在歡迎他的到來。
"Good grief!" Gerald remarked to himself as he glanced around the little room that was supposed to be the living room of the small cottage, "It is just like the witch's lair described in fairy tales- messy, dusty and filled with cobwebs. She must be a witch, or else, how could anyone possibly live in this place?"
「天啊！」傑瑞德一邊四處張望，一邊想著。「這裡真像童話故事裏所描述的巫婆的家一樣～又髒又亂，到處都是蜘蛛網。她一定是個巫婆，不然，怎麼能居住在這種環境裏呢？」
Just when Gerald was starting to be engrossed with his own thoughts, suddenly, the door was slammed shut behind him.
正當傑瑞德準備進入心的旅程時，突然，門在他身後被用力的關上了。
"Come over here, boy! I have something to tell you that is vital for you to understand!" the woman in black whispered whilst revealing a bone-chilling, crooked smile on her long face.
「小孩，過來！我有件事你一定要搞清楚！」黑衣女人臉上露出詭異的笑容。
"As you should have already acknowledged, from now on, you're going to stay here with us. And as you might have already observed, this place is in need of someone to clean!" the witch-like woman paused and stared down at the frightened Gerald, who was holding his carpetbag tightly in his hand. "If you want your bread, you've gotta do some work to earn it. Alright, now wash all the dishes in the sink. And don't you dare to break any of them, they're all extremely fragile.....just like your bones!"
「就如你已經知道的一樣，從現在開始，你要和我們一起住在這裡。還有，你可能也觀察到了，這裡需要有人打掃！」巫婆般的女人暫停一下，看著害怕到緊握著自己的行李袋的傑瑞德。「如果你想要吃飯，你就得用勞力去賺取。好了～現在就去把水槽裏的碗筷通通洗乾淨。如果你膽敢打破任何一個的話，你就知道我的厲害了！」
Gerald took in a deep breath and was about to head over to the kitchen when the woman spoke again, "Oh! I nearly forgot to let you know: you should call me Mrs. Noir!"
傑瑞德深呼吸了一口氣，正準備往廚房的方向走去時，那個女人又開口了：「噢！我差點忘記了，你要叫我諾媧太太。」
After Gerald has washed all the greasy and disgusting dishes, he sank down on a dusty, broken chair nearby, utterly exhausted from the hard work.
傑瑞德把所有油膩的碗盤都洗乾淨了後，筋疲力盡，正準備要坐在旁邊的一張佈滿灰塵、壞掉的椅子上。
However, the unsympathetic Mrs. Noir just couldn't bear to let Gerald take even a moment's rest, so her high-pitched voice penetrated from the kitchen menacingly. “Go to mop the floor and water the flowers right now, you lazy boy!”
然而，毫無同情心的諾媧太太不允許傑瑞德休息，馬上大聲斥罵到：「還不趕快去拖地和澆花，你這個懶惰蟲！」
Mrs. Noir gave a snort of disgust as she was peeling the potatoes. Gerald was so worn-out that he nearly collapsed onto the floor. Too busy to even change into a clean set of clothes, Gerald was still ignorant of where he was going to sleep that night.
諾媧太太一邊削著馬鈴薯皮，一邊冷笑。筋疲力竭的傑瑞德差點累到跌坐在地上。他根本來不及換一套乾淨的衣服，也還不知道那天晚上要睡在哪裡。
When night eventually enveloped the countryside with its black coat, Gerald, exhausted and aching from head to toe from the hard work all day, pulled himself up to the cellar, which was going to be his room during his stay with the Noirs.
當夜晚終於來臨後，傑瑞德才拖著沉重的身軀爬上樓梯前往他的房間，也就是屋子的閣樓。
Only then, did he have time to unpack his luggage, which he laid on the cold floor, next to the corner with a broken mattress, which was supposed to be his bed from now on. As he was taking out his things from the carpetbag, he noticed that his mother had packed his favourite toy with him- a toy ship, which he received as a present on his last birthday. A drop of tear rolled down his cheek as he began to think about the good old times when he was at home, then followed another, and another, like a waterfall, washing away all the sorrows from his face. Eventually, he dozed off on the floor after being tired of crying....
一直到這個時候，他才有空把行李拿出來，擺在一個破了的床墊旁邊。他將東西一一拿出來時，他注意到媽媽有幫他把上次的生日禮物裝進袋子裏，也就是他最喜歡的玩具船。一滴眼淚緩緩的從他的臉頰滑落，然後又緊跟著另一滴，像是瀑布一般，將他的憂愁通通洗掉。最後，他邊哭邊在地上睡著了。
~To be Continued~
～待續～
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