On returning home, Shaun placed the white porcelain vase on the tea-table to show his mother their new purchase of the day.
回到家後，孝恩把這次的戰利品～白色瓷花瓶放在茶几上，給他的媽媽看。
On seeing the vase, Mrs. Lee's face turned as pale as paper, and her breathing quickened.
看見花瓶後，李太太的臉色頓時變得慘白，呼吸也加速了。
She forced some sort of a half-smile onto her face to excuse herself from Jeffrey, then pulled her son aside. She spoke rapidly in Chinese, "Mama has a bad premonition about that vase, it seems to me that it has some sort of a weird atmosphere to it. We must remove it this instance, or it will bring bad luck to not only our family, but also your friend."
她對傑佛瑞硬擠出一個僵硬的微笑，然後便把她的兒子拉到一旁去，並用中文快速地說：「媽媽有種不祥的預感，我感覺到這個花瓶散發著一種詭異的氣息。我們必須趕緊除掉它，不然不幸不僅將降臨到我們家，恐怕就連你的朋友都會被連累到。」
"Mum, I'm sure everything will be fine, there's no need to be worried." Shaun replied, then he continued after perceiving the anxious expression on his mother's face, "And anyways, Jeffrey will take it away with him once he returns to England, it wouldn't stay in our house for too long."
「媽，肯定沒事兒的，你就別擔心了！」孝恩回答道，但看到媽媽緊張的表情後便繼續說：「再說，傑佛瑞會把它帶回英國，那花瓶在我們家的時間也不會太久的！」
So as not to increase his mother's anxiety, Shaun decided to place the vase in Jeffrey's room, so it would be kept out of everyone's sight. Although not completely believing his mother's words, Shaun thought the old man who sold the vase to them seemed pretty suspicious, so he decided that it would be best to be on the safe side and not have anything to do with that vase for the time being.
為了不讓媽媽擔心，孝恩決定把花瓶放在傑佛瑞的房間裏，這樣大家就眼不見為淨了。雖然沒有完全相信媽媽的話，孝恩總覺得賣花瓶給他們的老人家看似有些可疑，所以為了安全起見，他決定目前還是不要和那花瓶沾上任何關係。
That evening, there was a sudden earthquake. Everyone in the family felt the strong shaking, and many things fell off the shelves.
那天晚上，突然間有地震。全家人都感覺到地板搖晃得非常厲害，也有許多東西從架子上掉落了下來。
Suddenly, they heard a deafening noise of something falling onto the floor coming from upstairs. "Oh no! It must the vase!" Jeffrey exclaimed as he dashed upstairs to his room.
突然，他們聽到了從樓上傳出來東西掉落在地板上的聲音。「噢、不！一定是花瓶！」傑佛瑞大叫後便衝上樓梯到他的房間。
To their utter astonishment, the vase, which, fortunately, fell on the carpet, was completely undamaged. When Shaun bent down to pick it up, he noticed a slight mark on the vase, which he didn't remember seeing before. After some close examination, he concluded that it wasn't a crack caused by the drop onto the floor, instead, it was a carving on the vase that seemed like some sort of a symbol, which displayed close resemblance to the Chinese character representing 'death'. However, the symbol was too small, and too faintly carved for Shaun to be certain of its identity.
他們驚訝地發現，很幸運的掉在地毯上的花瓶竟毫髮無傷。當孝恩彎下腰將花瓶撿起來時，他赫然發現之前沒注意到的事～花瓶上有痕跡！經過仔細的檢查一番後，他確定痕跡並不是因花瓶摔在地板所造成的裂痕，甚至，它是一個雕刻上去的符號，長得和中國文字的『死』字有幾分雷同。然而，符號實在太小了，雕刻得也太淺了，所以孝恩無法肯定它到底是什麼。
Is it just Shaun's imagination, or did the symbol suddenly appear on its on?
究竟只是孝恩的幻想，還是那個符號自己突然浮現了出來呢？
~To be Continued~
～待續～
No comments:
Post a Comment