Chapter 1. PETER BREAKS THROUGH(1)
All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppo she must have looked rather delightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, "Oh, why can't you remain like this for ever!" This was all that pasd between them on the subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up. Y ou always know after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end.
Of cour they lived at 14 [their hou number on their street], and until Wendy came her mother was the chief one. She was a lovely lady, with a romantic mind and such a sweet mocking mouth. Her romantic mind was like the tiny boxes, one within the other, that come from the puzzling East, however many you discover there is always one more; and her sweet mocking mouth had one kiss on it that Wendy could never get, though there it was, perfectly conspicuous in the right-hand corner.
The way Mr. Darling won her was this: the many gentlemen who had been boys when she was a girl discovered simultaneously that they loved her, and they all ran to her hou to propo to her except Mr. Darling, who took a cab and nipped in first, and so he got her. He got all of her, except the innermo
st box and the kiss. He never knew about the box, and in time he gave up trying for the kiss. Wendy thought Napoleon could have got it, but I can picture him trying, and then going off in a passion, slamming the door. Mr.Darling ud to boast to Wendy that her mother not only loved him but respected him.He was one of tho deep ones who know about stocks and shares.
Of cour no one really knows, but he quite emed to know, and he often said stocks were up and shares were down in a way that would have made any woman respect him.
Mrs. Darling was married in white, and at first she kept the books perfectly, almost gleefully, as if it were a game, not so much as a Brusls sprout was missing; but by and by whole cauliflowers dropped out, and instead of them there were pictures of babies without faces. She drew them when she should have been totting up. They were Mrs. Darling's guess.
Wendy came first, then John, then Michael.
For a week or two after Wendy came it was doubtful whether they would be able to keep her, as she was another mouth to feed. Mr. Darling was frightfully proud of her, but he was very honourable, and he sat on the edge of Mrs. Darling's bed, holding her hand and calculating expens, while she looked at him imploringly. She wanted to risk it, come what might, but that was not his way; his way
was with a pencil and a piece of paper, and if she confud him with suggestions he had to begin at the beginning again. "Now don't interrupt," he would beg of her.
"I have one pound venteen here, and two and six at the office; I can cut off my coffee at the office, say ten shillings, making two nine and six, with your eighteen and three makes three nine ven, with five naught naught in my cheque-book makes eight nine ven—who is that moving?—eight nine ven, dot and carry ven—don't speak, my own—and the pound you lent to that man who came to the door—quiet, child—dot and carry child—there, you've done it!—did I say nine nine ven? yes, I said nine nine ven; the question is, can we try it for a year on nine nine ven?"
生日祝福语大全"Of cour we can, George," she cried. But she was prejudiced in Wendy's f avour, and hewas really the grander character of the two.
"Remember mumps," he warned her almost threateningly, and off he went a gain. "Mumpsone pound, that is what I have put down, but I daresay it will b e more like thirty shillings—don't speak—measles one five, German measle s half a guinea, makes two fifteen six—don't waggle your finger—whooping-cough, say fifteen shillings"—and so on it went, and itadded up differently e ach time; but at last Wendy just got through, with mumps reduced totwelve s ix, and the two kinds of measles treated as one.
校园广播There was the same excitement over John, and Michael had even a narrow er squeak; butboth were kept, and soon, you might have en the three of t hem going in a row to MissFulsom's Kindergarten school, accompanied by t heir nur.
所有的孩子都要长大的，只有一个例外。所有的孩子很快都知道他们将要长大成人。温迪是这样知道的：她两岁的时候，有一天在花园里玩，她摘了一朵花，拿在手里，朝妈妈跑去。我琢磨，她那个小样儿一定是怪讨人喜欢的，因为，达林太太把手按着胸口，大声说：“要是你老是这么大该多好呵！”事情的经过就是这样。可是，打那以后，温迪就明白了，她终归是要长大的。人一过两岁就总会知道这一点的。两岁，是个结束，也是个起点。
当然罗，他们是住在门牌十四号的那所宅子里，在温迪来到世上以前，妈妈自然是家中主要人物。她是个招人喜欢的太太，一脑子的幻想；还有一张甜甜的、喜欢逗弄人的嘴。她那爱幻想的脑子，就像从神奇的东方来的那些小盒子，一个套一个，不管你打开了多少，里面总还藏着一个。她那张甜甜的、逗弄人的嘴，老是挂着一个温迪得不到的吻，可那吻明明就在那儿，就在右边的嘴角上挂着。
达林先生是这样赢得他太太的：她还是个女孩的时候，周围有好些男孩，他们长成大人以后，忽然一齐发现他们爱上了她，于是他们都跑着拥进她家向她求婚；只有达林先生的做法不同，他雇了一辆马车，抢在他们头里来到她家里，于是就赢得了她。达林先生得到了她的一切，只是没有得到她那些小
盒子最里面的一只和那个吻。那只小盒子他从来也不知道，那个吻他渐渐地也不再想去求得了。温迪心想，兴许拿破仑能得到那个吻，不过据我估摸，拿破仑必定试图求吻来着，可是过后却怒气冲冲地甩门而去。
全城疯狂达林先生时常向温迪夸口说，她妈妈不光爱他，而且敬重他。他是一个学问高深的人，懂得股票和红利什么的。当然啦，这些事谁也搞不清，可达林先生像是挺懂行的，他老是说，股票上涨了，红利下跌了。他说得那么头头是道，就像随便哪个女人都得佩服他。
达林太太结婚时，穿一身雪白的嫁衣。起初，她把家用账记得一丝不苟，甚至很开心，像玩游戏一样，连一个小菜芽都不漏记。可是渐渐地，整个整个的大菜花都漏掉了，账本上出现了一些没有面孔的小娃娃的图像。在她应该结账的地方，她画上了这些小娃娃。她绘画欣赏
估摸他们要来了。
第一个来的是温迪，接着是约翰，随后是迈克尔。
温迪出生后一两个星期，父母亲不知道能不能养活她，因为又添一张吃饭的嘴。达林先生有了温迪自然是得意非常，可他是个实实在在的人，他坐在达林太太的床沿上，握着她的手一笔一笔给她算开销账。达林太太带着央告的神情望着他。她想，不管怎么着也得冒一冒风险看，可达林先生的做法不是这样的。他的做法是拿来一支铅笔一张纸算细账。要是达林太大提意见搅乱了他，他又得从头算起。
“好了，别插嘴了。”他央求说，“我这儿有一镑十七先令，在办公室还有两先令六便士；办公室的咖啡我可以取消，就算省下十先令吧，就有两镑九先令六便士。加上你的十八先令三便士，合计三镑九先令七便士，我的存折上还有五镑，总共八镑九先令七便士——是谁在那儿动？——八——九——七，小数点进位七——别说话，我亲爱的——还有你借给找上门来的那个人的一镑钱——安静点，乖乖——小数点进位，乖乖——瞧，到底让你给搅乱了——我刚才是说九——九——七来着？对了，我说的是九——九——七；问题是，我们靠这个九——九——七，能不能试试看对付它一年？”
“我们当然能，乔治。”达林太太嚷道。她当然是偏袒温迪的，可达林先生是两人中更有能耐的一个。
“别忘了腮腺炎，”达林先生几乎带点威胁地警告她，接着又算下去，“腮腺炎我算它一镑，不过我敢说，更大的可能要花三十先令——别说话——麻疹一镑五先令，德国麻疹半个几尼，加起来是两镑十五先令六便士——别摇手——百日咳，算十五先令。”——他继续算下去，每次算出的结果都不一样。不过最后温迪总算熬了过来，腮腺炎减到了十二先令六便士，两种麻疹并作一次处理。
殷通
约翰生下时，也遇到同样的风波，迈克尔遇到的险情更大。不过他们两个到底都还是留下来养活了，不久你就会看见姐弟三个排成一行，由保姆陪伴着，到福尔萨姆小姐的幼儿园上学去了
Chapter 1. PETER BREAKS THROUGH(2)
Mrs. Darling loved to have everything just so, and Mr. Darling had a passion for beingexactly like his neighbours; so, of cour, they had a nur. As the y were poor, owing to theamount of milk the children drank, this nur was a prim Newfoundland dog, called Nana,who had belonged to no one in partic ular until the Darlings engaged her. She had alwaysthought children importa nt, however, and the Darlings had become acquainted with her inKensingto n Gardens, where she spent most of her spare time peeping into perambula tors,and was much hated by careless nurmaids, whom she followed to th eir homes andcomplained of to their mistress. She proved to be quite a tr easure of a nur. Howthorough she was at bath-time, and up at any mome nt of the night if one of her chargesmade the slightest cry. Of cour her ken nel was in the nurry. She had a genius forknowing when a cough is a thin g to have no patience with and when it needs stockingaround your throat. S he believed to her last day in old-fashioned remedies like rhubarb leaf,and made sounds of contempt over all this new-fangled talk about germs, and s o on. It wasa lesson in propriety to e her escorting the children to school, walking dately by theirside when they were well behaved, and butting the武卫将军
m back into line if they strayed. OnJohn's footer [in England soccer was call ed football,
"footer" for short] days she never onceforgot his sweater, and she usually ca rried an umbrella in her
mouth in ca of rain. There isa room in the bame nt of Miss Fulsom's school where the nurs wait. They sat on forms,while Nana lay on the floor, but that was the only difference. They affected to igno re her asof an inferior social status to themlves, and she despid their lig ht talk. She rentedvisits to the nurry from Mrs. Darling's friends, but if th ey did come she first whipped offMichael's pinafore and put him into the one with blue braiding, and smoothed out Wendy andmade a dash at John's hai r.
No nurry could possibly have been conducted more correctly, and Mr. Dar ling knew it, yethe sometimes wondered uneasily whether the neighbours ta lked.
He had his position in the city to consider.
Nana also troubled him in another way. He had sometimes a feeling that sh e did not admirehim. "I know she admires you tremendously, George," Mrs. Darling would assure him, andthen she would sign to the children to be spe cially nice to father. Lovely dances followed, inwhich the only other rvant, Liza, was sometimes allowed to join. Such a midget she lookedin her long s kirt and maid's cap, though she had sworn, when engaged, that she wouldn ever e ten again. The gaiety of tho romps! And gayest of all was Mrs. D arling, whowould pirouette so wildly that all you could e of her
was the kis s, and then if you haddashed at her you might have got it. There never was a simpler happier family until thecoming of Peter Pan.
Mrs. Darling first heard of Peter when she was tidying up her children's mind s. It is thenightly custom of every good mother after her children are asleep t o rummage in their mindsand put things straight for next morning, repacking into their proper places the many articlesthat have wandered during the day . If you could keep awake (but of cour you can't) youwould e your own mother doing this, and you would find it very interesting to watch her. Itis qui te like tidying up drawers. Y ou would e her on her knees, I expect, lingerin ghumorously over some of your contents, wondering where on earth you ha d picked this thingup, making discoveries sweet and not so sweet, pressing this to her cheek as if it were asnice as a kitten, and hurriedly stowing that o ut of sight. When you wake in the morning, thenaughtiness and evil passion s with which you went to bed have been folded up small andplaced at the b ottom of your mind and on the top, beautifully aired, are spread out yourpret tier thoughts, ready for you to put on.
I don't know whether you have ever en a map of a person's mind. Doctors sometimesdraw maps of other parts of you, and your own map can become intenly interesting, butcatch them trying to draw a map of a child's mind, which is not only confud, but keepsgoing round all the time. There ar
e zig zag lines on it, just like your temperature on a card,and the are probably r
genuineoads in the island, for the Neverland is always more or less anisland, with a stonishing splashes of colour here and there, and coral reefs and rakish-loo kingcraft in the offing, and savages and lonely lairs, and gnomes who are m ostly tailors, andcaves through which a river runs, and princes with six elder brothers, and a hut fast going todecay, and one very small old lady with a ho oked no. It would be an easy map if thatwere all, but there is also first day at school, religion, fathers, the round pond, needle-work,murders, hangings , verbs that take the dative, chocolate pudding day, getting into braces,say n inety-nine, three-pence for pulling out your tooth yourlf, and so on, and eit her theare part of the island or they are another map showing through, an d it is all rather confusing,especially as nothing will stand still.
Of cour the Neverlands vary a good deal. John's, for instance, had a lago on withflamingoes flying over it at which John was shooting, while Michael, who was very small, hada flamingo with lagoons flying over it. John lived in a boat turned upside down on the sands,Michael in a wigwam, Wendy in a h ou of leaves deftly wn together. John had nofriends, Michael had friend s at night, Wendy had a pet wolf forsaken by its parents, but onthe whole th e Neverlands have a family remblance, and if they stood still in a row you could say of them that they have each other's no, and so forth.
On the magic shoreschildren at play are for ever beaching their coracles [simple bo at]. We too have been there;we can still hear the sound of the surf, though we shall land no more.
达林太大是安于现状的，达林先生却喜欢事事都向左邻右舍看齐；所以，当然他们也得请一位保姆。由于孩子们喝的牛奶太多，他们很穷，所以，他们家的保姆只是一只严肃庄重的纽芬兰大狗，名叫娜娜。在达林夫妇雇用她以前，这狗本没有固定的主人，不过她总是把孩子看得很重的。达林一家是在肯辛顿公园里和她结识的。她闲来无事去那儿游逛，把头伸进摇篮车窥望，那些粗心大意的保姆总是讨厌她；因为她老是跟着她们回家，向她们的主人告状。她果然成了一位不可多得的好保姆。给孩子洗澡时，她是多么认真一丝不苟啊。夜里不管什么时候，她看管的孩子只要有一个轻轻地哭一声，她就一跃而起。狗舍当然是设在育儿室里。她天生有一种聪明，知道什么样的咳嗽是不可怠慢的，什么时候该用一只袜子围着脖子。她从来都相信老式的治疗方法，比如用大黄叶；听到那些什么细菌之类的新名词，她总是用鼻子不屑地哼一声。你若是看到她护送孩子上学时那种合乎礼仪的情景，真会大长见识。当孩子们规规矩矩时，她就安详地走在他们身边；要是他们乱跑乱动，她就把他们推进行列。在约翰踢足球的日子，她从不忘带着他的线衣；天要下雨的时候，她总是把伞衔在嘴里。福尔萨姆的幼儿园里，有一间地下室，保姆们就等候在那里。她们坐在长凳上，而娜娜是伏卧在地板上，不过这是唯一的不同之处。她们认为她社会地位比她们低贱，装作没把她放在眼里的样子；其实，娜娜才瞧不起她们那种无聊的闲聊呢。她很不高兴达林太太的朋友们来育儿室看望，可要是她们真的来了，
她就先扯下迈克尔的围裙，给他换上那件带蓝穗子的，把温迪的衣裙抚平，匆匆梳理一下约翰的头发。
思念亲人的歌曲
没有一个育儿室管理得比这个更井井有条了，这一点达林先生不是不知道，不过他有时还是不免心里嘀咕，生怕街坊邻居们会背地里笑话他。
他不能不考虑他在城里的职位。
娜娜还在另一个方面使达林先生不安，他有时觉得娜娜不大佩服他。“我知道，她可
