paragraph 01
The Authorities, it is true, differ whether this last question was a
mere 'question' and not a 'riddle' according to the strict rules of the Game; but all agree that, after accepting it and trying to guess the answer, Gollum was bound by his promise. And Bilbo pressed him to keep his word; for the thought came to him that this slimy creature might prove false, even though such promises were held sacred, and of old all but the wickedest things feared to break them. But after ages alone in the dark Gollum's heart was black, and treachery was in it. He slipped away, and returned to the island, of which Bilbo knew nothing, not far off in the dark water. There, he thought, lay his ring. He was hungry now, and angry, and once his 'precious' was with him he would not fear any weapon at all.
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严格按照游戏规则来的话，一些权威人士认为最后的这个问题更像是一个“提问”而不是“谜语”。 但是大家都认为，咕噜接受了这个问题并试图回答的时候，他已经被自己的承诺束缚了。比尔博强迫咕噜履行他的诺言，因为他觉得这个滑头也许会背弃诺言。即使这样的诺言在过去是非常严肃的，而且只有最邪恶生物才敢于背弃诺言。但是在黑暗中度过了很多年的咕噜的心已经变得黑暗和叛逆了。他溜回了自己的岛上，比尔博不知道在黑暗的水中有这个岛。咕噜以为这个岛上藏着自己的戒指。他现在又饥又恼，只要他的戒指带在身上，他不会惧怕任何武器。
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- slip away 溜走
paragraph 02
But the ring was not on the island; he had lost it, it was gone. His screech sent a shiver down Bilbo's back, though he did not yet understand what had happened. But Gollum had at last leaped to a guess, too late. What has it got in its pocketses? he cried. The light in his eyes was like a green flame as he sped back to murder the hobbit and recover his 'precious'. Just in time Bilbo saw his peril, and he fled blindly up the passage away from the water; and once more he was saved by his luck. For just as he ran he put his hand in his pocket, and the ring slipped quietly on to his finger. So it was that Gollum passed him without seeing him, and went to guard the way out, lest the 'thief' should escape. Warily Bilbo followed him, as he went along, cursing, and talking to himself about his 'precious'; from which talk at last even Bilbo guessed the truth, and hope came to him in the darkness: he himself had found the marvellous ring and a chance of escape from the orcs and from Gollum.
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但是戒指不在这个岛上，他已经把戒指丢掉了，戒指也离开了他。他的尖叫让比尔博打了个冷颤，即使比尔博还没有意识到发生了什么。咕噜最终还是想到了那个猜测，他的口袋里到底有什么？他尖叫着，眼里闪着绿色的光。他要赶紧回去杀了那个霍比特人，把宝贝夺回来。比尔博及时意识到了自己的危险，他摸黑从水边的一条通道逃走了，他再一次被自己的幸运救了一命。在他逃跑的时候，他把手放在了口袋里，戒指静悄悄地滑在了他的手指上。所以咕噜与比尔博擦肩而过，却没有发现他，咕噜去看守其他的路，唯恐那个小偷逃走。比尔博谨慎地尾随着咕噜，咕噜便走边诅咒着，不停嘀咕着自己的宝贝。从这些嘀咕中，比尔博最终猜到了真相，他在黑暗中重拾了希望。他找到了这个神奇的戒指，也找到了从半兽人和咕噜身边逃走的机会。
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paragraph 03
At length they came to a halt before an unseen opening that led to the lower gates of the mines, on the eastward side of the mountains. There Gollum crouched at bay, smelling and listening; and Bilbo was tempted to slay him with his sword. But pity stayed him, and though he kept the ring, in which his only hope lay, he would not use it to help him kill the wretched creature at a disadvantage. In the end, gathering his courage, he leaped over Gollum in the dark, and fled away down the passage, pursued by his enemy's cries of hate and despair: Thief, thief! Baggins! We hates it
for ever!
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最终，他们在一块通往矿洞更底层的开阔地停了下来，这里在山脉的东部。咕噜哀嚎着蹲了下来，这里闻闻那里听听。比尔博想用他的剑杀了咕噜。但怜悯让他收手了，他已经拿到了寄托他唯一希望的戒指，也就没有必要冒险使用它去杀掉这个不幸的生物。最终，他鼓起勇气从咕噜身边走开，顺着通道逃走了，把敌人绝望和憎恨的哭喊抛之脑后：“小偷，小偷!巴金斯!我们永远恨你!”
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- At length 最终
paragraph 04
Now it is a curious fact that this is not the story as Bilbo first told
it to his companions. To them his account was that Gollum had promised to give him a present, if he won the game; but when Gollum went to fetch it from his island he found the treasure was gone: a magic ring, which had been given to him long ago on his birthday. Bilbo guessed that this was the very ring that he had found, and as he had won the game, it was already his by right. But being in a tight place, he said nothing about it, and made Gollum show him the way out, as a reward instead of a present. This account Bilbo set down in his memoirs, and he seems never to have altered it himself, not even after the Council of Elrond. Evidently it still appeared in the original Red Book, as it did in several of the copies and abstracts. But many copies contain the true account (as an alternative), derived no doubt from notes by Frodo or Samwise, both of whom learned the truth, though they seem to have been unwilling to delete anything actually written by the old hobbit himself.
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令人好奇的是，这并不是比尔博向他队员们一开始讲述的故事。他的说法是咕噜承诺了如果他赢得比赛的话，要送他一个礼物。但是当咕噜想去岛上取回戒指时却发现它不见了，这个魔法戒指是很久以前别人在他生日的时候送给他的。比尔博猜测这就是他找到的那枚戒指，当他赢得游戏的时候，这个戒指也就名正言顺的属于他了。在那个狭小的地方，比尔博没有谈起这个事，而且想让咕噜指一条出去的路，作为替代礼物的奖励。比尔博的记忆中一直存留着这个版本，而且他自己从来没有想过改变，即使在埃隆的委员会之前。在原始版本的红皮书中显著记载了这个说法，而且在很多封拷贝和摘要中也是这个说法。但是许多版本中记载了真实的情况(作为替代)，真视情况来源于佛罗多和山姆卫斯的笔记，他们都知道真相，即使他们根本没有意愿去删掉老霍比特人自己写的任何东西。
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paragraph 05
Gandalf, however, disbelieved Bilbo's first story, as soon as he heard it, and he continued to be very curious about the ring. Eventually he got the true tale out of Bilbo after much questioning, which for a while strained their friendship; but the wizard seemed to think the truth important. Though he did not say so to Bilbo, he also thought it important, and disturbing, to find that the good hobbit had not told the truth from the first: quite contrary to his habit. The idea of a 'present' was not mere hobbitlike invention, all the same. It was suggested to Bilbo, as he confessed, by Gollum's talk that he overheard; for Gollum did, in fact, call the ring his 'birthday present', many times. That also Gandalf thought strange and suspicious; but he did not discover the truth in this point for many more years, as will be seen in this book.
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然而甘道夫在听到比尔博的说法时，一个字都不相信。他依旧非常关注这枚戒指。最终在他问了比尔博许多问题后，推测出了真实的故事，这给他们之间的友谊带来了一些尴尬。但是巫师认为真相是最重要的。即使他没有对比尔博这样说，但他依旧这样认为。即使发现这个好霍比特人最开始没有讲真话的时候，给他带来了困扰，霍比特人一般都不会这样。事实上，这个礼物的主意并不是霍比特人的原创。而是他在偷听咕噜的话时知道的，咕噜不止一次的提到这枚戒指是生日礼物。这点也让甘道夫赶到不解和疑惑，但是他在之后的许多年中一直没有发现真相，就像这本书中写到的这些。
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paragraph 06
Of Bilbo's later adventures little more need be said here. With the help of the ring he escaped from the orc-guards at the gate and rejoined his companions. He used the ring many times on his quest, chiefly for the help of his friends; but he kept it secret from them as long as he could. After his return to his home he never spoke of it again to anyone, save Gandalf and Frodo; and no one else in the Shire knew of its existence, or so he believed. Only to Frodo did he show the account of his Journey that he was writing.
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这里没有必要谈到比尔博之后的冒险。在戒指的帮助下，比尔博从半兽人的守卫中逃了出来，和他的伙伴们会和。他自己使用了很多次戒指，主要用来帮助他的朋友; 但是他尽可能的保守着这个秘密。在他回家之后，他也没有向任何人提起这枚戒指，除了甘道夫和佛罗多以外。其他的夏尔人也不知道这个戒指的存在，或者比尔博是这样认为的。他只给比尔博看过自己写的旅程中的记事，
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paragraph 07
His sword, Sting, Bilbo hung over his fireplace, and his coat of marvellous mail, the gift of the Dwarves from the Dragon-hoard, he lent to a museum, to the Michel Delving Mathom-house in fact. But he kept in a drawer at Bag End the old cloak and hood that he had worn on his travels; and the ring, secured by a fine chain, remained in his pocket.
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比尔博把他的剑--刺针挂在了壁炉的墙上，还有他收到的无价的衣服，矮人从龙洞中拿出来作为礼物。这些东西被他送进了博物馆，更确切的说是米歇尔·戴尔文镇的马松之家。但是他在袋底洞中保留着从矮人那里得来的斗篷，作为他在冒险中得到的战利品。至于戒指，则被他拴上了漂亮的链子，一直放在口袋之中。
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paragraph 06
He returned to his home at Bag End on June the 22nd in his fifty-second year (S.R. 1342), and nothing very notable occurred in the Shire until Mr. Baggins began the preparations for the celebration of his hundred-and-eleventh birthday (S.R. 1401). At this point this History begins.
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比尔博在他的五十二岁那一年(夏尔历1342年)的六月二十二日回到了他在袋底洞的家，而且在夏尔的日子里并没有什么特殊的事情。直到巴金斯先生开始着手准备他的117岁生日宴会(夏尔历1401年)。故事便从这里开始。
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