Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife. Their house was small, for the lumber to build it had to be carried by wagon many miles. There were four walls, a floor and a roof, which made one room; and this room contained a rusty looking cookstove, a cupboard for the dishes, a table, three or four chairs, and the beds. Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had a big bed in one corner, and Dorothy a little bed in another corner. There was no garret at all, and no cellar--except a small hole dug in the ground, called a cyclone cellar, where the family could go in case one of those great whirlwinds arose, mighty enough to crush any building in its path. It was reached by a trap door in the middle of the floor, from which a ladder led down into the small, dark hole.
在辽阔的肯萨斯大草原中央，住着朵洛茜，她和亨利叔叔、爱玛婶婶一起过着牧民生活。他们住在一栋木屋里，要从几英里外用马车运来木材，所以木屋建得很小。四面墙加上地板和房顶，组成了简单的小屋，房内布置也很简单，只有一个生锈的炉子、一个碗厨、一张桌子、三四把椅子、两张床。叔叔和婶婶睡一角的大床，朵洛茜睡另一角的小床。他们即没有阁楼，也没有地下室，只在地板下面有一地窖，叫做“飓风地下室”，可以用来躲避肆虐的龙卷风。地板中间的地窖口盖着扇活门，下面竖着梯子，打开这扇门，顺着梯子就可以下到黢黑的地窖里。
When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached to the edge of the sky in all directions. The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere. Once the house had been painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else.
朵洛茜站在门口，放眼望去，四周尽是灰色的大草原。无边无际的大草原一马平川，即没树木也不见房屋。太阳火辣辣地炙烤着新犁地土地，一片土灰色中依稀可见些皲裂的细小裂纹。小草也被烤得灰突突，难以与周围分辨开来。屋子刚上漆就晒得起泡，雨水一冲，什么也不会剩下，又变得暗淡无光了。
When Aunt Em came there to live she was a young, pretty wife. The sun and wind had changed her, too. They had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also. She was thin and gaunt, and never smiled now. When Dorothy, who was an orphan, first came to her, Aunt Em had been so startled by the child's laughter that she would scream and press her hand upon her heart whenever Dorothy's merry voice reached her ears; and she still looked at the little girl with wonder that she could find anything to laugh at.
爱玛婶婶刚到这里时还是一位年轻美貌的妻子。烈日狂风改变了她本来模样，不仅夺走了她双眸中的光彩，使之晦暗无光，连她双颊上的红润亦不放过，爱玛婶婶只剩得瘦削憔悴，再也不见其当初的笑颜。爱玛刚遇到朵洛茜时，朵洛茜已是孤儿。每当听到朵洛茜的甜美笑声，爱玛就会吃惊地捂着胸口尖叫。既使现在，她仍对这个无时无刻不活泼快乐的小姑娘无比好奇。
Uncle Henry never laughed. He worked hard from morning till night and did not know what joy was. He was gray also, from his long beard to his rough boots, and he looked stern and solemn, and rarely spoke.
亨利叔叔从来都不笑，只知道一天到晚工作，一点都不好玩，彻头彻尾的一根木头，看上去呆板又严肃，话语也不多。
It was Toto that made Dorothy laugh, and saved her from growing as gray as her other surroundings. Toto was not gray; he was a little black dog, with long silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled merrily on either side of his funny, wee nose. Toto played all day long, and Dorothy played with him, and loved him dearly.
唯一使朵洛茜高兴的就是小狗托托——一只活泼可爱的小黑狗。托托有着一身柔软黑亮的长毛，小巧可爱的鼻子两旁闪着乌黑发光的小眼睛。朵洛茜非常喜欢它，整天和它在一起玩耍。
Today, however, they were not playing. Uncle Henry sat upon the doorstep and looked anxiously at the sky, which was even grayer than usual. Dorothy stood in the door with Toto in her arms, and looked at the sky too. Aunt Em was washing the dishes.
今天，她们却没玩，亨利叔叔坐在台阶上，忧心忡忡地望着天空，天色比平时更阴沉了。朵洛茜抱着托托站在门口也朝天空望去，爱玛婶婶正在刷碗。
From the far north they heard a low wail of the wind, and Uncle Henry and Dorothy could see where the long grass bowed in waves before the coming storm. There now came a sharp whistling in the air from the south, and as they turned their eyes that way they saw ripples in the grass coming from that direction also.
极北的远处传来了呼呼的风啸声，成片的草在风中摇摆，如同海浪一般。忽然南面也传来了尖锐的呼啸声，转身望去，南方也是一片草的波浪。
Suddenly Uncle Henry stood up.
亨利叔叔立马站了起来。
"There's a cyclone coming, Em," he called to his wife. "I'll go look after the stock." Then he ran toward the sheds where the cows and horses were kept.
“龙卷风就要来了，爱玛”他朝就婶婶说了一声“我去牛棚看一下。”说完就奔牛棚跑去。
Aunt Em dropped her work and came to the door. One glance told her of the danger close at hand.
舅母爱玛放下手头的活，到门口一看就知道龙卷风马上就要到了。
"Quick, Dorothy!" she screamed. "Run for the cellar!"
“快，朵洛茜！”她喊道，“快到地窖里去！”
Toto jumped out of Dorothy's arms and hid under the bed, and the girl started to get him. Aunt Em, badly frightened, threw open the trap door in the floor and climbed down the ladder into the small, dark hole. Dorothy caught Toto at last and started to follow her aunt. When she was halfway across the room there came a great shriek from the wind, and the house shook so hard that she lost her footing and sat down suddenly upon the floor.
托托从朵洛茜怀里跳下来躲到了床底下，朵洛茜急忙去找它。爱玛婶婶吓坏了，打开地板上的门顺着梯子就爬进了狭小黑暗的洞里。朵洛茜终于抓住托托，也准备去地窖。她刚走到一半，忽然狂风呼啸，整个房子抖动起来，朵洛茜踉跄一下，摔在地板上。
Then a strange thing happened.
接着，神奇的事情发生了。
The house whirled around two or three times and rose slowly through the air. Dorothy felt as if she were going up in a balloon.
房子转了两三圈，慢慢向天上飞去，朵洛茜感到就好像坐在气球里向天上飞。
The north and south winds met where the house stood, and made it the exact center of the cyclone. In the middle of a cyclone the air is generally still, but the great pressure of the wind on every side of the house raised it up higher and higher, until it was at the very top of the cyclone; and there it remained and was carried miles and miles away as easily as you could carry a feather.
南面和与北面的风刚好在她家房子的地方碰头了，她便处在龙卷风正中心。龙卷风中心却很平静，但四周狂风的压力把房子推得越来越高，直到到达龙卷风的顶端。房子停在上面随风飘呀飘呀，就像一片羽毛一样飘到了不知多少英里之外。
It was very dark, and the wind howled horribly around her, but Dorothy found she was riding quite easily. After the first few whirls around, and one other time when the house tipped badly, she felt as if she were being rocked gently, like a baby in a cradle.
虽然四周一片黑暗并且狂风呼啸，但是房子飞行得很平稳。自从刚开始转了几圈之后，每当房子摇晃时，朵洛茜感到就像躺在摇篮里被人轻轻摇晃一样。
Toto did not like it. He ran about the room, now here, now there, barking loudly; but Dorothy sat quite still on the floor and waited to see what would happen.
托托却不喜欢这样，它满屋里跑，大声吠叫。朵洛茜静静地呆在地板上，好奇接下来会发生什么。
Once Toto got too near the open trap door, and fell in; and at first the little girl thought she had lost him. But soon she saw one of his ears sticking up through the hole, for the strong pressure of the air was keeping him up so that he could not fall. She crept to the hole, caught Toto by the ear, and dragged him into the room again, afterward closing the trap door so that no more accidents could happen.
托托忽然距地板门太近的地方，掉了下去。朵洛茜还以为再也见不到它了，但接下来她发现托托的一只耳朵从洞口露了出来，原来是风压把托托推了上来。朵洛茜爬到洞口，扯着托托的耳朵，又把它拉进房內。接着她赶紧关闭了那扇门，以免再发生意外。
Hour after hour passed away, and slowly Dorothy got over her fright; but she felt quite lonely, and the wind shrieked so loudly all about her that she nearly became deaf. At first she had wondered if she would be dashed to pieces when the house fell again; but as the hours passed and nothing terrible happened, she stopped worrying and resolved to wait calmly and see what the future would bring. At last she crawled over the swaying floor to her bed, and lay down upon it; and Toto followed and lay down beside her.
时间一分一秒地过去了，朵洛茜慢慢不再害怕，只是有些孤独。四周的风声震耳欲聋，朵洛茜起初还担心房子会被吹翻，她也会被飓风撕碎。但几个小时过去了，什么也没有发生，朵洛茜就不再担心了，决定安心等下去，看看接下来会发生什么。后来，她干脆爬上床躺下，托托也趴在了她身旁。
In spite of the swaying of the house and the wailing of the wind, Dorothy soon closed her eyes and fell fast asleep.
尽管周围狂风还在怒吼，房子也在摇晃，但朵洛茜很快就闭上眼睛，睡着了。
