擦星星的人

文◎霍華德·派爾 譯◎SAI 繪◎秋林夕

擦星星的人

The Stars Cleaner

文◎霍華德·派爾 譯◎SAI 繪◎秋林夕

“該工作了，”月中人說，“大衛。你要用柔軟的羊毛擦拭星星的灰塵，月亮漸缺之時，天空也變得黑暗，那時它們就會閃閃發光?！?/p>

大衛拾起一顆大號的星星。吹了吹表面，用羊毛擦了擦。星星越擦越亮，越來越燙，像是活過來一樣。

大衛從不知道，星星可以如此美麗。我敢說，一定有些“聰明人”會告訴你，這些都是無稽之談。

但你要做的是，在滿月之時，望向天空。你會發現星星的跡象幾乎不可見。只有幾盞暗淡而又微弱的影子，可憐地閃爍著。

因為此時的月球上，有人正在擦著剩下的星星，當天幕再次漆黑一片，群星又將燦爛閃耀。

"It is time for your work now" said the Man-in-the-moon, "David. It is to polish the stars with soft lamb's①lamb 英 [l?m] 美 [l?m] n. 羔羊，小羊；羔羊肉wool, so that they may shine brightly when the moon wanes②wane 英 [we?n] 美 [wen] vi. 衰落；變小n. 衰退；月虧, and the sky is dark once more."

David took up a big star. He blew③blow 英 [bl??] 美 [blo] n. 吹；打擊vi. 風吹；喘氣(過去式 blew )his breath upon it, and rubbed it with lamb's wool. As he robbed, the star grew brighter and brighter, and glowed with light as though it was alive.

David did not know how beautiful a star could be. I dare say that there are some wise folk who will tell you that this is all nonsense④nonsense 英 ['n?ns(?)ns] 美 ['nɑns?ns] n. 胡說；廢話adj. 荒謬的. All that you have to do then is to look up into the sky when the moon is full.

There you will see for yourself that there are hardly any stars to be seen. Those few are so dull and dim that they hardly twinkle⑤twinkle 英 ['tw??k(?)l] 美 ['tw??kl] vi. 閃爍vt. 使閃耀；閃耀n. 閃爍at all.

That is because somebody in the moon is polishing⑥polish 英 ['p?l??] 美 ['pɑl??] v. 拋光；磨光the others with lamb's wool to make them bright for the time when the sky is dark again.