Chapter One
Bruno Makes a Discovery
布魯諾的發現
One afternoon, when Bruno came home from school, he was surprised to find Maria, the family's maid – who always kept her head bowed and never looked up from the carpet – standing in his bedroom, pulling all his belongings out of the wardrobe and packing them in four large wooden crates, even the things he'd hidden at the back that belonged to him and were nobody else's business.
一天下午，布魯諾放學回到家，他驚訝地發現家裡的女傭瑪麗亞——那個總是低垂著腦袋、視線從不曾離開地毯的女人——正站在他的房間裡，把他衣櫃裡所有的東西都拿了出來，放進四個大木箱子裡。就連那些他藏在衣櫃後面、不為人知的東西也不例外。
'What are you doing?' he asked in as polite a tone as he could muster, for although he wasn't happy to come home and find someone going through his possessions, his mother had always told him that he was to treat Maria respectfully and not just imitate the way Father spoke to her. 'You take your hands off my things.'
「你在幹什麼？」他儘量用一種禮貌的語氣詢問女傭，雖然一回家就看到別人亂翻自己的東西令他很不高興，但是媽媽總是告訴自己要尊重瑪麗亞，不能像爸爸那樣對她說話：「你別碰我的東西！」
Maria shook her head and pointed towards the staircase behind him, where Bruno's mother had just appeared. She was a tall woman with long red hair that she bundled into a sort of net behind her head, and she was twisting her hands together nervously as if there was something she didn't want to have to say or something she didn't want to have to believe.
瑪麗亞搖搖頭，用手指向布魯諾身後的樓梯，他的媽媽出現在了那裡。她身材高挑，長長的紅髮用發網盤在腦後。她緊張地把雙手擰在一起，似乎有些事情令她無法開口，又或者發生了什麼她根本無法相信的事情。
'Mother,' said Bruno, marching towards her, 'what's going on? Why is Maria going through my things?'
「媽媽，」布魯諾說著，朝她走了過去，「怎麼回事？為什麼瑪麗亞在翻我的東西？」
'She's packing them,' explained Mother.
「她正在把這些東西打包。」媽媽解釋說。
'Packing them?' he asked, running quickly through the events of the previous few days to consider whether he'd been particularly naughty or had used those words out loud that he wasn't allowed to use and was being sent away because of it. He couldn't think of anything though. In fact over the last few days he had behaved in a perfectly decent manner to everyone and couldn't remember causing any chaos at all. 'Why?' he asked then. 'What have I done?'
「把東西打包？」布魯諾問道。他的腦海中飛快地閃過這幾天發生的事情，細想著自己有沒有淘氣，或是大聲說了什麼不得體的話，以至於自己要被送走。然而，他一無所獲。事實上，過去這幾天他在所有人面前的行為舉止都很得體，他根本想不起自己犯了什麼過錯。「為什麼？」他又問，「我做錯了什麼事嗎？」
Mother had walked into her own bedroom by then but Lars, the butler, was in there, packing her things too. She sighed and threw her hands in the air in frustration before marching back to the staircase, followed by Bruno, who wasn't going to let the matter drop without an explanation.
這時，媽媽走進了她的房間，而管家拉爾斯正在那裡將她的東西打包。她嘆了口氣，失落地攤開手，然後走回樓梯間。布魯諾跟在她身後，他一定要把事情給弄明白。
'Mother,' he insisted. 'What's going on? Are we moving?'
「媽媽，」他繼續問，「究竟發生了什麼事？我們要搬家嗎？」
'Come downstairs with me,' said Mother, leading the way towards the large dining room where the Fury had been to dinner the week before. 'We'll talk down there.'
「跟我到樓下來，」媽媽說著，領著他朝樓下的大餐廳走去，上周「圓叟」剛在那裡吃過晚餐，「我們去那兒談。」
Bruno ran downstairs and even passed her out on the staircase so that he was waiting in the dining room when she arrived. He looked at her without saying anything for a moment and thought to himself that she couldn't have applied her make-up correctly that morning because the rims of her eyes were more red than usual, like his own after he'd been causing chaos and got into trouble and ended up crying.
布魯諾跑下樓，甚至跑到了媽媽前面，媽媽還沒走到餐廳，他就已經在那裡等她了。他一句話也不說地盯著媽媽看了一會兒，心想她今天早晨一定沒有好好化妝，因為她的眼睛比平時紅，就跟自己犯了錯、惹上麻煩之後哭鼻子一個樣。
'Now, you don't have to worry, Bruno,' said Mother, sitting down in the chair where the beautiful blonde woman who had come to dinner with the Fury had sat and waved at him when Father closed the doors. 'In fact if anything it's going to be a great adventure.'
「你不用擔心，布魯諾。」媽媽說著坐了下來。上周和「圓叟」一起用餐的那位美麗的金髮美女當時就坐在這把椅子上，爸爸關門時，她還朝布魯諾揮了揮手。「事實上我們要去進行一次探險。」
'What is?' he asked. 'Am I being sent away?'
「什麼樣的探險？」布魯諾問，「我要被送走嗎？」
'No, not just you,' she said, looking as if she might smile for a moment but thinking better of it. 'We all are. Your father and I, Gretel and you. All four of us.'
「不，不只是你，」媽媽說。她想了想，臉上露出了一絲微笑。「我們都會被送走。你爸爸和我，還有格蕾特爾和你，我們四個都會被送走。」
Bruno thought about this and frowned. He wasn't particularly bothered if Gretel was being sent away because she was a Hopeless Case and caused nothing but trouble for him. But it seemed a little unfair that they all had to go with her.
布魯諾思考了一會兒，不由得皺起眉頭。他並不在意格蕾特爾會被送走，因為她實在是個不可救藥的孩子，只會帶來麻煩。但是全家人都要和她一起被送走，這似乎有點不公平。
'But where?' he asked. 'Where are we going exactly? Why can't we stay here?'
「可是去哪兒呢？」布魯諾問，「我們究竟要去哪兒？為什麼我們不能留在這兒？」
'Your father's job,' explained Mother. 'You know how important it is, don't you?'
「為了你爸爸的工作，」媽媽解釋道，「你知道這有多重要，不是嗎？」
'Yes, of course,' said Bruno, nodding his head, because there were always so many visitors to the house – men in fantastic uniforms, women with typewriters that he had to keep his mucky hands off – and they were always very polite to Father and told each other that he was a man to watch and that the Fury had big things in mind for him.
「是的，我當然知道。」布魯諾說著，點了點頭，因為家裡總是有很多訪客——男士都穿著氣派的軍裝，女士都隨身帶著打字機，布魯諾從不敢伸出髒兮兮的手去碰那些打字機。這些人對爸爸都非常客氣，他們說爸爸很受重視，「圓叟」一定會對爸爸委以重任的。
'Well, sometimes when someone is very important,' continued Mother, 'the man who employs him asks him to go somewhere else because there's a very special job that needs doing there.'
「某些時候，當一個人很重要，」媽媽繼續說，「他的上級就會派他去某個地方，因為那兒有一項重要任務需要他去做。」
'What kind of job?' asked Bruno, because if he was honest with himself – which he always tried to be – he wasn't entirely sure what job Father did.
「什麼樣的任務？」布魯諾問。說句老實話，他一直以來完全不知道爸爸的工作是什麼。
In school they had talked about their fathers one day and Karl had said that his father was a greengrocer, which Bruno knew to be true because he ran the greengrocer's shop in the centre of town. And Daniel had said that his father was a teacher, which Bruno knew to be true because he taught the big boys who it was always wise to steer clear of. And Martin had said that his father was a chef, which Bruno knew to be true because he sometimes collected Martin from school and when he did he always wore a white smock and a tartan apron, as if he'd just stepped out of his kitchen.
有一天在學校里，大家談論起各自的爸爸。卡爾說他爸爸是賣蔬菜的，布魯諾知道他說的是真的，因為他爸爸的蔬菜店就在小鎮的中心。丹尼爾說他爸爸是一位老師，布魯諾知道這也是真的，因為他爸爸給那些年紀大一些的男孩上課，布魯諾見到那些大男孩時，總是躲得遠遠的。馬丁說他爸爸是一名廚師，布魯諾知道這同樣是真的，因為他爸爸有時候會來學校接馬丁，而他總是穿著白色的工作服和格子圍裙，就好像剛從廚房裡走出來一樣。
But when they asked Bruno what his father did he opened his mouth to tell them, then realized that he didn't know himself. All he could say was that his father was a man to watch and that the Fury had big things in mind for him. Oh, and that he had a fantastic uniform too.
當他們問起布魯諾的爸爸的職業時，布魯諾張開嘴想要告訴他們，卻突然間意識到他根本不知道，只好說他爸爸很受重視，「圓叟」有很多重要任務委派給他，對了，他還總穿著一身非常氣派的軍裝。
'It's a very important job,' said Mother, hesitating for a moment. 'A job that needs a very special man to do it. You can understand that, can't you?'
「這是一項非常重要的任務。」媽媽說。她猶豫了一會兒，又說：「這項任務需要一個非同尋常的人來完成。你能夠明白，對嗎？」
'And we all have to go too?' asked Bruno.
「那我們都要去嗎？」布魯諾問。
'Of course we do,' said Mother. 'You wouldn't want Father to go to his new job on his own and be lonely there, would you?'
「我們當然都要去。」媽媽說，「你也不想讓爸爸一個人孤零零地去那兒開始他的新工作，對嗎？」
'I suppose not,' said Bruno.
「我當然不想。」布魯諾說。
'Father would miss us all terribly if we weren't with him,' she added.
「假如我們不和爸爸一起去，他會非常想我們的。」媽媽又說。
'Who would he miss the most?' asked Bruno. 'Me or Gretel?'
「他會最想誰呢？」布魯諾問，「是我還是格蕾特爾？」
'He would miss you both equally,' said Mother, for she was a great believer in not playing favourites, which Bruno respected, especially since he knew that he was her favourite really.
「他對你們的想念一樣多。」媽媽說，她堅信對待孩子不能偏寵任何一方。布魯諾很尊重媽媽的態度，尤為重要的是，他知道自己才是媽媽最愛的孩子。
'But what about our house? asked Bruno. 'Who's going to take care of it while we're gone?'
「可我們的房子怎麼辦？」布魯諾問，「我們走了，誰來照看我們的房子？」
Mother sighed and looked around the room as if she might never see it again. It was a very beautiful house and had five floors in total, if you included the basement, where Cook made all the food and Maria and Lars sat at the table arguing with each other and calling each other names that you weren't supposed to use. And if you added in the little room at the top of the house with the slanted windows where Bruno could see right across Berlin if he stood up on his tiptoes and held onto the frame tightly.
媽媽嘆了口氣，把整個房間環顧了一遍，就好像再也不會見到這座房子一樣。這座房子很漂亮，總共有五層。庫克在地下室準備各種食物。瑪麗亞和拉爾斯總是坐在桌邊爭吵個不停，他們還用別人想不到的綽號來稱呼對方。頂樓的小房間有一扇斜窗戶，如果布魯諾踮起腳，緊抓住窗框，他可以從這裡看見整個柏林。
'We have to close up the house for now,' said Mother. 'But we'll come back to it someday.'
「我們得暫時把房子鎖起來，」媽媽說，「不過總有一天我們會回來的。」
'And what about Cook?' asked Bruno. 'And Lars? And Maria? Are they not going to live in it?'
「那庫克怎麼辦？」布魯諾問，「還有拉爾斯和瑪麗亞怎麼辦？他們就不住在這兒了嗎？」
'They're coming with us,' explained Mother. 'But that's enough questions for now. Maybe you should go upstairs and help Maria with your packing.'
「他們會和我們一起離開。」媽媽解釋說，「好了，你問的問題已經夠多了。或許你應該上樓去幫瑪麗亞收拾你自己的東西。」
Bruno stood up from the seat but didn't go anywhere. There were just a few more questions he needed to put to her before he could allow the matter to be settled.
布魯諾從椅子上站了起來，但是哪兒也沒去。他還有一些問題要問媽媽，這樣他才能弄明白整件事情。
'And how far away is it?' he asked. 'The new job, I mean. Is it further than a mile away?'
「那地方有多遠？」他問，「我是說爸爸新工作的地方。超過一英里遠嗎？」
'Oh my,' said Mother with a laugh, although it was a strange kind of laugh because she didn't look happy and turned away from Bruno as if she didn't want him to see her face. 'Yes, Bruno,' she said. 'It's more than a mile away. Quite a lot more than that, in fact.'
「哦，我的孩子。」媽媽笑了，不過她的笑容有些奇怪，因為她看起來並不開心。她轉過身去，似乎不想讓布魯諾看到她的臉。「是的，布魯諾。」她說，「那裡超過了一英里遠。事實上，比一英里遠多了。」
Bruno's eyes opened wide and his mouth made the shape of an O. He felt his arms stretching out at his sides like they did whenever something surprised him. 'You don't mean we're leaving Berlin?' he asked, gasping for air as he got the words out.
布魯諾睜大了眼睛，他的嘴巴變成了O形。他感覺到自己的雙手在向兩邊伸展，一旦對什麼事情感到驚訝，他就會這麼做。「你該不會是說我們要離開柏林吧？」他問道。當他說出這句話的時候，他簡直無法呼吸了。
'I'm afraid so,' said Mother, nodding her head sadly. 'Your father's job is—'
「恐怕是這樣的。」媽媽說著，悲傷地點了點頭。「你爸爸的新工作——」
'But what about school?' said Bruno, interrupting her, a thing he knew he was not supposed to do but which he felt he would be forgiven for on this occasion. 'And what about Karl and Daniel and Martin? How will they know where I am when we want to do things together?'
「那怎麼上學呢？」布魯諾打斷了媽媽，他知道這樣做不好，但是他覺得在這種情況下媽媽會原諒他的，「還有卡爾、丹尼爾和馬丁怎麼辦呢？當他們想要跟我一起玩的時候，他們知道去哪兒找我嗎？」
'You'll have to say goodbye to your friends for the time being,' said Mother. 'Although I'm sure you'll see them again in time. And don't interrupt your mother when she's talking, please,' she added, for although this was strange and unpleasant news, there was certainly no need for Bruno to break the rules of politeness which he had been taught.
「你得暫時跟你的朋友們告別了。」媽媽說。「不過我相信你會和他們再見面的。還有，不要在媽媽說話的時候插嘴。」她又說道。儘管這個消息來得既突然又令人失落，但是依照家裡的規矩，布魯諾也不應當表現得不禮貌。
'Say goodbye to them?' he asked, staring at her in surprise. 'Say goodbye to them?' he repeated, spluttering out the words as if his mouth was full of biscuits that he'd munched into tiny pieces but not actually swallowed yet. 'Say goodbye to Karl and Daniel and Martin?' he continued, his voice coming dangerously close to shouting, which was not allowed indoors. 'But they're my three best friends for life!'
「跟他們告別？」他問道，同時一臉驚訝地看著媽媽。「跟——他們——告——別？」他結結巴巴地重複了一遍，好像他的嘴裡塞滿了剛剛嚼碎的餅乾，還沒有咽下去。「跟卡爾、丹尼爾、馬丁告別？」他又說了一遍，那聲音幾乎是喊出來的，而在家裡是不允許這樣的。「可他們是我一生中最好的三個朋友！」
'Oh, you'll make other friends,' said Mother, waving her hand in the air dismissively, as if the making of a boy's three best friends for life was an easy thing.
「你會認識其他朋友的。」媽媽一邊說，一邊用手在空中隨意地揮舞了一下，好像對一個男孩來說，要結交三個好朋友是再容易不過的事情。
'But we had plans,' he protested.
「可是我們一起制訂了很多計劃呢。」布魯諾提出了抗議。
'Plans?' asked Mother, raising an eyebrow. 'What sort of plans?'
「計劃？」媽媽問，她的眉毛揚了起來，「什麼樣的計劃？」
'Well, that would be telling,' said Bruno, who could not reveal the exact nature of the plans – which included causing a lot of chaos, especially in a few weeks' time when school finished for the summer holidays and they didn't have to spend all their time just making plans but could actually put them into effect instead.
「這可不能說。」布魯諾說道。事實上，布魯諾根本說不清楚是什麼樣的計劃。他們的計劃無非製造一些事端，尤其是幾周之後，學校就要放暑假了，他們就能去實踐這些計劃。
'I'm sorry, Bruno,' said Mother, 'but your plans are just going to have to wait. We don't have a choice in this.'
「對不起，布魯諾。」媽媽說，「你的計劃只能暫時擱置了。我們別無選擇。」
'But, Mother!'
「可是，媽媽！」
'Bruno, that's enough,' she said, snapping at him now and standing up to show him that she was serious when she said that was enough. 'Honestly, only last week you were complaining about how much things have changed here recently.'
「布魯諾，夠了。」此時媽媽的聲音變得嚴厲，她還站了起來，這表明她真的生氣了，「事實上，上周你還在抱怨這兒發生了很多變化。」
'Well, I don't like the way we have to turn all the lights off at night now,' he admitted.
「我只是不喜歡現在每天晚上都要關上所有的燈。」布魯諾說。
'Everyone has to do that,' said Mother. 'It keeps us safe. And who knows, maybe we'll be in less danger if we move away. Now, I need you to go upstairs and help Maria with your packing. We don't have as much time to prepare as I would have liked, thanks to some people.'
「每個人都必須這麼做。」媽媽說，「這樣才能保證我們的安全。不過誰知道呢，或許我們搬走以後會更安全一些。現在，我要你上樓去幫助瑪麗亞將你的東西打包。我們沒有足夠的時間來準備，這可真得感謝某人。」
Bruno nodded and walked away sadly, knowing that 'some people' was a grown-up's word for 'Father' and one that he wasn't supposed to use himself.
布魯諾難過地點了點頭，走開了。他知道「某人」是大人們用來指代「爸爸」的詞，但他自己可不敢這麼說。
He made his way up the stairs slowly, holding onto the banister with one hand, and wondered whether the new house in the new place where the new job was would have as fine a banister to slide down as this one did. For the banister in this house stretched from the very top floor – just outside the little room where, if he stood on his tiptoes and held onto the frame of the window tightly, he could see right across Berlin – to the ground floor, just in front of the two enormous oak doors. And Bruno liked nothing better than to get on board the banister at the top floor and slide his way through the house, making whooshing sounds as he went.
他慢慢地走上樓梯，一隻手握著扶手，心想爸爸新工作的地方、那個新家是不是也有這麼好的樓梯扶手。這座房子的樓梯扶手從頂樓，就是那個他只要踮起腳、抓緊窗框就能看見整個柏林的小房間，一直延伸到了底樓，直通向兩扇橡木大門。布魯諾最喜歡順著樓梯扶手從頂樓一直滑到樓下，滑的時候還會發出「呼呼」的聲音。
Down from the top floor to the next one, where Mother and Father's room was, and the large bathroom, and where he wasn't supposed to be in any case.
頂樓下面那一層是爸爸媽媽的房間，那裡有一個很大的衛生間，可是他們不許布魯諾進去。
Down to the next floor, where his own room was, and Gretel's room too, and the smaller bathroom which he was supposed to use more often than he really did.
再下一層就是他自己的房間，以及格蕾特爾的房間，這層樓還有一個小衛生間，不過布魯諾很少使用。
Down to the ground floor, where you fell off the end of the banister and had to land flat on your two feet or it was five points against you and you had to start all over again.
滑到底層的時候，他就會從樓梯扶手上飛落下來，要麼平穩著地，要麼由於動作失誤被扣掉五分，然後他就會再來一次。
The banister was the best thing about this house – that and the fact that Grandfather and Grandmother lived so near by – and when he thought about that it made him wonder whether they were coming to the new job too and he presumed that they were because they could hardly be left behind. No one needed Gretel much because she was a Hopeless Case – it would be a lot easier if she stayed to look after the house – but Grandfather and Grandmother? Well, that was an entirely different matter.
樓梯扶手是這座房子裡最好的東西，而且，爺爺奶奶就住在這附近，想到這兒，布魯諾不禁想知道爺爺奶奶是不是也要搬到爸爸的新工作地點，因為他們總不能丟下爺爺奶奶不管呀。沒人需要格蕾特爾，因為她是個不可救藥的孩子——或許把她留下來看守房子更好，至於爺爺奶奶就另當別論了。
Bruno went up the stairs slowly towards his room, but before going inside he looked back down towards the ground floor and saw Mother entering Father's office, which faced the dining room – and was Out Of Bounds At All Times And No Exceptions – and he heard her speaking loudly to him until Father spoke louder than Mother could and that put a stop to their conversation. Then the door of the office closed and Bruno couldn't hear any more so he thought it would be a good idea if he went back to his room and took over the packing from Maria, because otherwise she might pull all his belongings out of the wardrobe without any care or consideration, even the things he'd hidden at the back that belonged to him and were nobody else's business.
布魯諾慢慢地爬上樓梯，走向自己的房間，走進去之前，扭頭看了看樓下，發現媽媽走進了爸爸的書房。那裡正對著餐廳，是一個「絕對的禁區」。他聽見媽媽在非常大聲地說話，直到爸爸的聲音蓋過媽媽，他們的談話才停止。接著書房的門關上了，布魯諾再也聽不見裡面的聲音。布魯諾這時想到，他最好還是回到房間，自己打包行李，因為瑪麗亞很可能會把衣櫃裡的所有東西胡亂地塞在一起，包括那些他藏在衣櫃後面、不為人知的寶貝。