作者:马克·吐温 (Mark Twain) [美国]
这故事是从弗吉尼亚乡下开的头,时间是1880年。一个家境贫寒的英俊小生和一位富家妙龄女子正在举行婚礼——这是一桩一见钟情、马上结合的婚姻,可姑娘的鳏夫爸爸说什么也不答应这桩婚事。男人(雅各富勒)因被岳父嘲讽,通过婚后虐待女人(斯蒂尔曼太太)来报复他的岳父,最后间接造成岳父死亡。男人逃走。多年后,女人发现他和男人的孩子(阿尔奇.斯蒂尔曼)有奇异的嗅觉,遂想出复仇计划:用孩子独特的嗅觉追踪男人,并通过贴海报的方式,迫使男人一辈子奔走他乡。孩子做得很成功,使雅各富勒(其实是和男人同名的人)逃窜了一辈子,孩子在追踪时感到困惑和愧疚。但是孩子一度追丢,并且到了第二部案子中提到的矿工营地。费特洛克.琼斯(歇洛克.福尔摩斯的侄子)是一个一直被弗特林.巴克纳(就是男人)虐待的人,并一直计划着怎么杀死男人,最后用炸药炸死了男人,并逃过了虚伪的福尔摩斯(本故事里的),但没有瞒过孩子(阿尔奇)的鼻子,并且孩子在营地也闻到了一直被误会的雅各富勒(当时名叫詹姆斯.沃克),并且赎罪。
微信搜索点学英语,使用微信小程序,阅读功能更强大!The first scene is in the country, in Virginia; the time, 1880. There has been a wedding, between a handsome young man of slender means and a rich young girl; a case of love at first sight and a precipitate marriage; a marriage bitterly opposed by the girls widowed father.
这故事是从弗吉尼亚乡下开的头,时间是1880年。一个家境贫寒的英俊小生和一位富家妙龄女子正在举行婚礼——这是一桩一见钟情、马上结合的婚姻,可姑娘的鳏夫爸爸说什么也不答应这桩婚事。
Jacob Fuller, the bridegroom, is twenty-six years old, is of an old but unconsidered family which had by compulsion emigrated from Sedgemoor, and for King James's purses profit, so everybody said; some maliciously, the rest merely because they believed it. The bride is nineteen and beautiful. She is intense, high-strung, romantic, immeasurably proud of her Cavalier blood, and passionate in her love for her young husband. For its sake she braved her fathers displeasure, endured his reproaches, listened with loyalty unshaken to his warning predictions, and went from his house without his blessing, proud and happy in the proofs she was thus giving of the quality of the affection which had made its home in her heart.
新郎傧雅各布·福勒年方二十六岁,他们这个老家族默默无闻,当初是为了给詹姆士国王1创收,被逼著从塞奇莫尔迁到美国来的;大家都是这么说的——有的人是随口说说,其他人是因为真的相信。新娘十九岁,长得漂亮。她热情洋溢,好冲动,爱幻想,对自己保王党人的血统无比自豪,对年轻的丈夫倾心相爱。有这种禀性,她才敢触犯父颜,任凭父亲雷霆震怒和谆谆告诫,她只是洗耳恭听,却不为所动,没有得到父亲的祝福就离家出走;如此说来,爱情到底在她心中占据何等位置,也就不言自明了;她为此深感幸福和自豪。
The morning after the marriage there was a sad surprise for her. Her husband put aside her proffered caresses, and said:
万万没想到,结婚后的第二天早上,新娘就伤了心。丈夫挣脱了她一往情深的爱抚,说:
"Sit down. I have something to say to you. I loved you. That was before I asked your father to give you to me. His refusal is not my grievance; I could have endured that. But the things he said of me to you; that is a different matter. There; you needn't speak; I know quite well what they were; I got them from authentic sources. Among other things he said that my character was written in my face; that I was treacherous, a dissembler, a coward, and a brute without sense of pity or compassion: the Sedgemoor trade-mark, he called it; and white-sleeve badge. Any other man in my place would have gone to his house and shot him down like a dog. I wanted to do it, and was minded to do it, but a better thought came to me: to put him to shame; to break his heart; to kill him by inches. How to do it? Through my treatment of you, his idol! I would marry you; and then; Have patience. You will see."
“坐下。我有话跟你说。我爱你。那是我求你父亲把你嫁给我以前的事。他不答应,我并不抱怨——这我能忍。不过,。他对你说起我的那些话,可就是另外一回事儿了。听著——你不用说,他说的那些话,我全都一清二楚;这我都有真凭实据。其中他说到,从面相就能看到我骨头里去;说我靠不住,是个伪君子、胆小鬼,一个不懂怜悯和同情的蠢货,是‘塞奇莫尔土产’、‘白套袖胚子’,他就是这么叫的。无论换了谁,都会闯到他家,把他像条狗一样杀了。我想这样干,也考虑过,可是我又想出一个更好的办法:丢他的人,碎他的心;一点一点慢慢地收拾他。怎么做这件事呢?通过整治你,他的心肝!我得和你结婚,然后——别著急。你日后就明白了。”
From that moment onward, for three months, the young wife suffered all the humiliations, all the insults, all the miseries that the diligent and inventive mind of the husband could contrive, save physical injuries only. Her strong pride stood by her, and she kept the secret of her troubles. Now and then the husband said, Why don't you go to your father and tell him? Then he invented new tortures, applied them, and asked again. She always answered, He shall never know by my mouth, and taunted him with his origin; said she was the lawful slave of a scion of slaves, and must obey, and would; up to that point, but no further; he could kill her if he liked, but he could not break her; it was not in the Sedgemoor breed to do it. At the end of the three months he said, with a dark significance in his manner, I have tried all things but one; and waited for her reply. Try that, she said, and curled her lip in mockery.
从这时起,一连三个月,这位年轻的妻子尝够了丈夫发挥聪明才智、绞尽脑汁设计出来的羞辱、欺侮和痛苦,只差没受肉体折磨了。靠强烈的自尊心支撑著,她把所有的苦难深藏不露。丈夫还时不时问她:“你干吗不去你父亲那儿告诉他?”随后又发明出新招数来折磨她,折磨完了再问。她总是回答:“他永远别想从我嘴里知道。”并且拿他的出身来嘲弄他,说自己是一个奴才小子的合法奴隶,只能服从——不过也只到此为止,并不得寸进尺;只要高兴,他可以杀了她,可就是打不垮她,塞奇莫尔出身的人做不到这一点。到了三个月结束的时候,他说了一句:“我什么都试过了,只剩下一样东西还没试”——然后等著她答话。“那就试试吧,”她撇了撇嘴唇嘲弄他。
That night he rose at midnight and put on his clothes, then said to her,
那天晚上,他半夜里起来穿好衣服,对她说:
"Get up and dress!"
“起来,穿上衣服!”
She obeyed; as always, without a word. He led her half a mile from the house, and proceeded to lash her to a tree by the side of the public road; and succeeded, she screaming and struggling. He gagged her then, struck her across the face with his cowhide, and set his bloodhounds on her. They tore the clothes off her, and she was naked. He called the dogs off, and said:
像往常一样,她一句话不说,照办了。他带著她离家走了半里路,然后把她绑在大路旁的一棵树上;尽管她大喊大叫,极力挣扎,却无济干事。他塞住她的嘴,拿牛皮鞭子抽她的脸,放那些嗜血成性的大狗扑到她身上,把她的衣服撕得一丝不挂。他喝住那些狗,说:
"You will be found; by the passing public. They will be dropping along about three hours from now, and will spread the news; do you hear? Good-by. You have seen the last of me."
“会有人发现你——那些过路的行人。从现在起,约摸再过三个钟头,他们就能路过这儿,把这条新闻传出去——你听见了?别了。咱们再也不会见面了。”
He went away then. She moaned to herself:
他走了。她悲悲切切地自言自语:
"I shall bear a child; to him! God grant it may be a boy!"
“我怀著孩子哪——是他的呀!上帝保佑我生个男孩!”
The farmers released her by and by; and spread the news, which was natural. They raised the country with lynching intentions, but the bird had flown. The young wife shut herself up in her fathers house; he shut himself up with her, and thenceforth would see no one. His pride was broken, and his heart; so he wasted away, day by day, and even his daughter rejoiced when death relieved him.
不久,农夫们救了她,自然而然也把这个消息传开了。居然有人动私刑的消息震动了乡间,可动刑的家伙却远走高飞了。年轻的妻子把自己反锁在父亲的家里,父亲也和她一起把自己反锁起来,从此不见外人。他的自尊心垮了,肝肠才断;他一天天耗干了,耗到最后,连女儿都为死神解救了他而感到欣慰。
Then she sold the estate and disappeared.
后来,她卖掉家产,不知去向。
网友评论