A sudden noise of shrill voices made him open his eyes and, after hastily brushing away the tears, look round.

一阵突如其来的尖声吵闹叫他睁开了眼睛，他匆匆擦去眼泪，四面一望。

What seemed an interminable stream of identical eight-year-old male twins was pouring into the room.

一道好像无穷无尽的人流正在往病房里泛滥。全是八岁的、长相相同的多生子男孩，

Twin after twin, twin after twin,they came—a nightmare.

一个跟一个，一个跟一个像梦魇一样进来了。

Their faces, their repeated face—for there was only one between the lot of them—puggishly stared, all nostrils and pale goggling eyes.

那些面孔，那些老是重复的面孔——那么多人却只有一张脸——一模一样的鼻孔，一模一样的灰色大眼，像哈巴狗一样瞪着，转动着。

Their uniform was khaki. All their mouths hung open. Squealing and chattering they entered.

他们穿着咔叽制服，耷拉着嘴唇，尖叫着唧喳着进来了。

In a moment, it seemed, the ward was maggoty with them.

顷刻之间病房里就像爬满了蛆虫。

They swarmed between the beds, clambered over, crawled under, peeped into the television boxes,made faces at the patients.

有的又从病床下钻过，有的则往电视机里张望，有的则对病人做鬼脸。

Linda astonished and rather alarmed them. A group stood clustered at the foot of her bed, staring with the frightened and stupid curiosity of animals suddenly confronted by the unknown.

琳妲叫他们吃惊，或者说是叫他们害怕。一大群人挤在她的床头，带着恐怖而愚昧的好奇盯着她，像野兽突然发现了从未见过的东西。

"Oh, look, look!" They spoke in low, scared voices.

“啊，看看，看看！”多生子们用恐怖的低声说道，

Whatever is the matter with her? Why is she so fat?

她这到底是怎么回事了？怎么这么肥呀？

They had never seen a face like hers before—had never seen a face that was not youthful and taut-skinned, a body that had ceased to be slim and upright.

他们以前从来没有见过像她这样的面孔，他们见过的面孔都是年轻的光洁的，身子都是苗条的笔挺的。

All these moribund sexagenarians had the appearance of childish girls.

所有这些六十多岁的垂死的人都有着青春少女的容貌。

At forty-four, Linda seemed, by contrast, a monster of flaccid and distorted senility.

琳妲才四十多岁，可对比起来，她已经是一个皮肤松弛，形容歪扭的老妖怪。

"Isn't she awful?" came the whispered comments. "Look at her teeth!"

“她不是很吓人吗？”悄悄的议论传来，“你看她那牙！”

Suddenly from under the bed a pug-faced twin popped up between John's chair and the wall, and began peering into Linda's sleeping face.

一个哈巴狗脸的多生子突然从约翰的椅子和墙壁之间的床下钻了出来，开始盯着琳妲睡着了的脸。

"I say …" he began; but the sentence ended prematurely in a squeal.

“我说呀……”他开始说话了，可话还没说完，突然变成了尖叫。