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Audiobooks, James and the Giant Peach Chapter 1

James and the Giant Peach Chapter 1

Until he was four years old, James Henry Trotter had a happy life.

He lived peacefully with his mother and father in a beautiful house beside the sea. There were always plenty of other children for him to play with, and there was the sandy beach for him to run about on, and the ocean to paddle in. It was the perfect life for a small boy. Then, one day, James's mother and father went to London to do some shopping, and there a terrible thing happened.

Both of them suddenly got eaten up (in full daylight, mind you, and on a crowded street) by an enormous angry rhinoceros which had escaped from the London Zoo. Now this, as you can well imagine, was a rather nasty experience for two such gentle parents.

But in the long run it was far nastier for James than it was for them. Their troubles were all over in a jiffy. They were dead and gone in thirty-five seconds flat. Poor James, on the other hand, was still very much alive, and all at once he found himself alone and frightened in a vast unfriendly world. The lovely house by the seaside had to be sold immediately, and the little boy, carrying nothing but a small suitcase containing a pair of pajamas and a toothbrush, was sent away to live with his two aunts. Their names were Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker, and I am sorry to say that they were both really horrible people.

They were selfish and lazy and cruel, and right from the beginning they started beating poor James for almost no reason at all. They never called him by his real name, but always referred to him as "you disgusting little beast" or "you filthy nuisance" or "you miserable creature," and they certainly never gave him any toys to play with or any picture books to look at. His room was as bare as a prison cell. They lived - Aunt Sponge, Aunt Spiker, and now James as well - in a queer ramshackle house on the top of a high hill in the south of England.

The hill was so high that from almost anywhere in the garden James could look down and see for miles and miles across a marvelous landscape of woods and fields; and on a very clear day, if he looked in the right direction, he could see a tiny gray dot far away on the horizon, which was the house that he used to live in with his beloved mother and father. And just beyond that, he could see the ocean itself - a long thin streak of blackish-blue, like a line of ink, beneath the rim of the sky. But James was never allowed to go down off the top of that hill.

Neither Aunt Sponge nor Aunt Spiker could ever be bothered to take him out herself, not even for a small walk or a picnic, and he certainly wasn't permitted to go alone. "The nasty little beast will only get into mischief if he goes out of the garden," Aunt Spiker had said. And terrible punishments were promised him, such as being locked up in the cellar with the rats for a week, if he even so much as dared to climb over the fence. The garden, which covered the whole of the top of the hill, was large and desolate, and the only tree in the entire place (apart from a clump of dirty old laurel bushes at the far end) was an ancient peach tree that never gave any peaches.

There was no swing, no seesaw, no sand pit, and no other children were ever invited to come up the hill to play with poor James. There wasn't so much as a dog or a cat around to keep him company. And as time went on, he became sadder and sadder, and more and more lonely, and he used to spend hours every day standing at the bottom of the garden, gazing wistfully at the lovely but forbidden world of woods and fields and ocean that was spread out below him like a magic carpet. Here is James Henry Trotter after he had been living with his aunts for three whole years - which is when this story really begins.

For now, there came a morning when something rather peculiar happened to him.

And this thing, which as I say was only rather peculiar, soon caused a second thing to happen which was very peculiar. And then the very peculiar thing, in its own turn, caused a really fantastically peculiar thing to occur.


James and the Giant Peach Chapter 1 James und der Riesenpfirsich Kapitel 1 James and the Giant Peach Chapter 1 James y el melocotón gigante Capítulo 1 ジェームズと巨大な桃 第1章 Jakub i brzoskwinia olbrzymka Rozdział 1 James e o Pêssego Gigante Capítulo 1 Джеймс и гигантский персик Глава 1 James ve Dev Şeftali Bölüm 1 詹姆斯和巨桃》 第1章

Until he was four years old, James Henry Trotter had a happy life. Bis er vier Jahre alt war, hatte James Henry Trotter ein glückliches Leben. Até os quatro anos de idade, James Henry Trotter teve uma vida feliz. Пока ему не исполнилось четыре года, Джеймс Генри Троттер прожил счастливую жизнь.

He lived peacefully with his mother and father in a beautiful house beside the sea. Er lebte friedlich mit seiner Mutter und seinem Vater in einem schönen Haus am Meer. Он мирно жил с матерью и отцом в красивом доме у моря. There were always plenty of other children for him to play with, and there was the sandy beach for him to run about on, and the ocean to paddle in. Vždy měl spoustu dalších dětí, se kterými si mohl hrát, a byla tu písečná pláž, po které mohl běhat, a oceán, ve kterém mohl pádlovat. Es gab immer viele andere Kinder, mit denen er spielen konnte, und es gab den Sandstrand, an dem er herumlaufen konnte, und das Meer, in dem er paddeln konnte. У него всегда было много других детей, с которыми он мог играть, и песчаный пляж, по которому он мог бегать, и океан, в котором можно было грести. It was the perfect life for a small boy. Es war das perfekte Leben für einen kleinen Jungen. Это была идеальная жизнь для маленького мальчика. Then, one day, James’s mother and father went to London to do some shopping, and there a terrible thing happened. Dann, eines Tages, fuhren Mutter und Vater von James nach London, um einzukaufen, und dort passierte etwas Schreckliches.

Both of them suddenly got eaten up (in full daylight, mind you, and on a crowded street) by an enormous angry rhinoceros which had escaped from the London Zoo. Oba je najednou sežral (za plného denního světla a na přeplněné ulici) obrovský rozzuřený nosorožec, který utekl z londýnské zoo. Beide wurden plötzlich (wohlgemerkt bei vollem Tageslicht und auf einer überfüllten Straße) von einem riesigen wütenden Nashorn aufgefressen, das aus dem Londoner Zoo entkommen war. Now this, as you can well imagine, was a rather nasty experience for two such gentle parents. Nyní, jak si jistě dokážete představit, to byla pro dva tak něžné rodiče docela ošklivá zkušenost. Nun, das war, wie Sie sich gut vorstellen können, eine ziemlich unangenehme Erfahrung für zwei so sanfte Eltern.

But in the long run it was far nastier for James than it was for them. Ale z dlouhodobého hlediska to bylo pro Jamese mnohem odpornější než pro ně. Aber auf lange Sicht war es für James viel schlimmer als für sie. Pero a la larga fue mucho más desagradable para James que para ellos. Their  troubles were all over in a jiffy. Jejich potíže byly během okamžiku pryč. Ihre Probleme waren im Handumdrehen vorbei. They were dead and gone in thirty-five seconds flat. Byli mrtví a zmizeli během třiceti pěti sekund. Sie waren innerhalb von fünfunddreißig Sekunden tot und verschwunden. Estaban muertos y desaparecidos en treinta y cinco segundos. Poor James, on the other hand, was still very much alive, and all at once he found himself alone and frightened in a vast unfriendly world. Der arme James hingegen war noch sehr lebendig, und plötzlich fand er sich allein und verängstigt in einer riesigen, unfreundlichen Welt wieder. El pobre James, por otro lado, todavía estaba muy vivo, y de repente se encontró solo y asustado en un mundo vasto y hostil. The lovely house by the seaside had to be sold immediately, and the little boy, carrying nothing but a small suitcase containing a pair of pajamas and a toothbrush, was sent away to live with his two aunts. Das schöne Haus am Meer musste sofort verkauft werden, und der kleine Junge, der nichts als einen kleinen Koffer mit einem Schlafanzug und einer Zahnbürste trug, wurde weggeschickt, um bei seinen beiden Tanten zu leben. Their names were Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker, and I am sorry to say that they were both really horrible people. Jmenovali se teta Sponge a teta Spiker a je mi líto, že musím říct, že oba byli opravdu hrozní lidé. Ihre Namen waren Tante Sponge und Tante Spiker, und es tut mir leid sagen zu müssen, dass sie beide wirklich schreckliche Menschen waren.

They were selfish and lazy and cruel, and right from the beginning they started beating poor James for almost no reason at all. Byli sobečtí, líní a krutí a hned od začátku začali chudáka Jamese téměř bezdůvodně mlátit. Sie waren egoistisch und faul und grausam, und von Anfang an fingen sie an, den armen James fast ohne Grund zu schlagen. They never called him by his real name, but always referred to him as "you disgusting little beast" or "you filthy nuisance" or "you miserable creature," and they certainly never gave him any toys to play with or any picture books to look at. Sie nannten ihn nie bei seinem richtigen Namen, sondern nannten ihn immer "du ekelhaftes kleines Biest" oder "du dreckiges Ärgernis" oder "du elendes Geschöpf", und sie gaben ihm schon gar kein Spielzeug zum Spielen oder irgendwelche Bilderbücher ansehen. His room was as bare as a prison cell. Jeho pokoj byl holý jako vězeňská cela. Sein Zimmer war kahl wie eine Gefängniszelle. They lived - Aunt Sponge, Aunt Spiker, and now James as well - in a queer ramshackle house on the top of a high hill in the south of England. Sie lebten – Tante Sponge, Tante Spiker und jetzt auch James – in einem seltsamen, baufälligen Haus auf der Spitze eines hohen Hügels im Süden Englands.

The hill was so high that from almost anywhere in the garden James could look down and see for miles and miles across a marvelous landscape of woods and fields; and on a very clear day, if he looked in the right direction, he could see a tiny gray dot far away on the horizon, which was the house that he used to live in with his beloved mother and father. Der Hügel war so hoch, dass James von fast überall im Garten hinabblicken und meilenweit über eine wunderbare Landschaft aus Wäldern und Feldern sehen konnte; und an einem sehr klaren Tag, wenn er in die richtige Richtung blickte, konnte er weit entfernt am Horizont einen winzigen grauen Punkt sehen, das das Haus war, in dem er früher mit seiner geliebten Mutter und seinem geliebten Vater gelebt hatte. And just beyond that, he could see the ocean itself - a long thin streak of blackish-blue, like a line of ink, beneath the rim of the sky. A hned za tím viděl samotný oceán – dlouhý tenký černomodrý pruh jako čára inkoustu pod okrajem oblohy. Und direkt dahinter konnte er den Ozean selbst sehen – einen langen dünnen schwarzblauen Streifen, wie eine Tintenlinie, unter dem Rand des Himmels. But James was never allowed to go down off the top of that hill. Ale Jamesovi nebylo nikdy dovoleno sestoupit z vrcholu toho kopce. Aber James durfte nie von der Spitze dieses Hügels herunter.

Neither Aunt Sponge nor Aunt Spiker could ever be bothered to take him out herself, not even for a small walk or a picnic, and he certainly wasn’t permitted to go alone. Weder Tante Sponge noch Tante Spiker konnten sich jemals die Mühe machen, ihn selbst auszuführen, nicht einmal für einen kleinen Spaziergang oder ein Picknick, und es war ihm ganz sicher nicht erlaubt, alleine zu gehen. Ne Sünger Teyze ne de Teyze Spiker, kendisini küçük bir yürüyüşe ya da pikniğe bile götürmek için rahatsız olabilir ve kesinlikle yalnız gitmesine izin verilmedi. "The nasty little beast will only get into mischief if he goes out of the garden," Aunt Spiker had said. "To odporné malé zvíře se dostane do neplechu, jen když odejde ze zahrady," řekla teta Spiker. „Das fiese kleine Biest wird nur sein Unwesen treiben, wenn es den Garten verlässt“, hatte Tante Spiker gesagt. And terrible punishments were promised him, such as being locked up in the cellar with the rats for a week, if he even so much as dared to climb over the fence. Und ihm wurden schreckliche Strafen versprochen, wie zum Beispiel eine Woche im Keller mit den Ratten eingesperrt zu werden, wenn er es auch nur wagte, über den Zaun zu klettern. Y le prometieron terribles castigos, como ser encerrado en el sótano con las ratas durante una semana, si se atrevía a saltar la cerca. The garden, which covered the whole of the top of the hill, was large and desolate, and the only tree in the entire place (apart from a clump of dirty old laurel bushes at the far end) was an ancient peach tree that never gave any peaches. Der Garten, der die gesamte Spitze des Hügels bedeckte, war groß und öde, und der einzige Baum im ganzen Ort (abgesehen von einer Gruppe schmutziger alter Lorbeerbüsche am anderen Ende) war ein uralter Pfirsichbaum, der niemals nachgab irgendwelche Pfirsiche.

There was no swing, no seesaw, no sand pit, and no other children were ever invited to come up the hill to play with poor James. Es gab keine Schaukel, keine Wippe, keinen Sandkasten, und es wurden nie andere Kinder eingeladen, den Hügel hinaufzukommen, um mit dem armen James zu spielen. There wasn’t so much as a dog or a cat around to keep him company. Es gab nicht einmal einen Hund oder eine Katze, die ihm Gesellschaft leisteten. And as time went on, he became sadder and sadder, and more and more lonely, and he used to spend hours every day standing at the bottom of the garden, gazing wistfully at the lovely but forbidden world of woods and fields and ocean that was spread out below him like a magic carpet. Und mit der Zeit wurde er trauriger und trauriger und immer einsamer, und er verbrachte jeden Tag Stunden damit, am Fuße des Gartens zu stehen und sehnsüchtig auf die schöne, aber verbotene Welt der Wälder und Felder und des Ozeans zu starren, die da war wie ein fliegender Teppich unter ihm ausgebreitet. Here is James Henry Trotter after he had been living with his aunts for three whole years - which is when this story really begins. Hier ist James Henry Trotter, nachdem er ganze drei Jahre bei seinen Tanten gelebt hat – und damit beginnt diese Geschichte erst richtig.

For now, there came a morning when something rather peculiar happened to him. Denn jetzt kam ein Morgen, an dem ihm etwas ziemlich Seltsames passierte.

And this thing, which as I say was only  rather  peculiar, soon caused a second thing to happen which was  very  peculiar. Und diese Sache, die, wie gesagt, nur ziemlich sonderbar war, verursachte bald eine zweite Sache, die sehr sonderbar war. And then the  very  peculiar thing, in its own turn, caused a really  fantastically  peculiar thing to occur. Und dann verursachte das sehr Eigentümliche seinerseits etwas wirklich phantastisch Eigentümliches. Y luego la cosa muy peculiar, a su vez, hizo que ocurriera una cosa realmente fantásticamente peculiar.