双语阅读：十字路口的幽灵

There is a village with several households in a wild land. Nobody from the village would go near the crossroads after midnight. Everyone said the place was haunted,and lots of people said they had seen a white woman figure there—a horrible one-eyed woman with a big black cat.

荒野上有个小村，住着少数几户人家。每逢午夜过后就无人敢去村旁的十字路口。人人都说那里闹鬼，并且许多人看到过怀里抱着一只大黑猫，只长着一只恐怖眼睛的白衣女人。

One night, Tom and Mick were in the village pub having a drink. They were talking about the ghost at the crossroads. "I don't believe in ghosts," said Tom with a smile. "I bet you won't go to the crossroads, by yourself, after midnight," said Mick.

一天晚上，汤姆和麦克在村里的酒吧喝酒。谈起了十字路口的幽灵。汤姆笑着说：“我不相信有鬼。”麦克说：“我打赌你自己不敢半夜到十字路口去。”

Tom laughed and said, "I'll go if you will." So the two men agreed to meet at midnight at the crossroads.

“你敢，我就敢。”汤姆大笑着说。于是两人约好，午夜时分在十字路口会面。

Tom wanted to play a trick on Mick. He went to the crossroads just before midnight. He took a bag of flour and put it all over his face, hair. It was a very dark and quite night.As the village clock struck twelve, a shrill cry from bird broke the black and made your blood run cold and your flesh creep.Then he heard Mick calling,"Tom, Tom are you there?"Tom didn't speak.He sat on the stone, very still ,as well as held back to laugh. When Mick came close enough to see Tom, he took one look and ran off down the road screaming. Tom laughed so much he fell off the stone.

汤姆想戏弄麦克一下，就在午夜前来到了十字路口，拿了一袋子面把自己浑身上下都涂白了。这是一个漆黑的夜晚，荒野上一片寂静，村里，午夜的钟声敲响了，一声凄厉的鸟叫，撕裂黑暗，让人毛骨悚然。他听到麦克喊：“汤姆，汤姆，你……你来了么?”汤姆忍住笑意，一声不吭，坐在石头上一动也不动。麦克慢慢走近，瞧了一眼石头就惨叫一声，大喊着救命跑掉了。汤姆捧腹大笑从石头上掉了下来。

Early the next day, Tom went to Mick's house.Mick was in the kitchen.He had locked all the doors and windows. He had a shot-gun on the table.He opened the door and let Tom in. Then he locked the door again.He was tired and frightened. He had not been to bed.

第二天早晨，汤姆去麦克家找他，发现麦克躲在厨房里，门窗紧锁，桌上放着一把枪。他让汤姆进去后又把门锁上了。他看上去一夜没睡。

"Well," said Tom trying not to laugh, "did you see the ghost last night?" "Oh yes," whispered Mick, "I saw her as plain as day." Then Tom said,"You fool! That was me you saw sitting on the stone by the crossroads!"

汤姆强忍住笑问：“喂，你昨晚看到幽灵了吗?”麦克压低嗓子回答：“是的，我非常清楚地看到了。”“傻瓜!你看到的那个坐在十字路口的人是我!”汤姆说。

"Oh yes," said Mick, "I saw you on the stone, and I also saw that evil one-eyed witch with her cat, standing right behind you."

麦克说：“是的，我看到你坐在石头上了，我还看到一个手里抱着猫的独眼幽灵，她一直站在你的后面。”

When he heard this,Tom went quite white,as if someone had dusted his face with flour...

汤姆听到此处时，脸色惨白，就像有人撒了他一脸面粉……