牛津書蟲系列 遠大前程 Chapter 1

1 Pip meets a stranger

1 匹普與一位陌生人相遇

My first name was Philip，but when I was a small child I could only manage to say Pip.So Pip was what every-body called me.I lived in a small village in Essex with my sister，who was over twenty years older than me，and married to Joe Gargery，the village blacksmith.My parents had died when I was a baby，so I could not remember them at all，but quite often I used to visit the churchyard，abut a mile from the village，to look at their names on their gravestones.

我的教名叫菲利普，但是在我小時候，我僅會說匹普。因此，匹普就成了大家叫我的名字。我與姐姐住在埃森克斯的一個小村莊，姐姐比我大20多歲，她與村里的鐵匠喬·葛吉瑞結(jié)了婚。當(dāng)我還是一個嬰兒時，父母就離開了人間，所以我記不得他們的一切情況，但是，我常常去離村莊大約1英里的教堂墓地，瞻仰墓碑上他們的名字。

My first memory is of sitting on a gravestone in that church-yard one cold，grey，December afternoon，looking out at the dark，flat，wild marshes divided by the black line of the River Thames，and listening to the rushing sound of the sea in the distance.

我的最初記憶是在十二月份一個寒冷的、天色陰沉的下午，正坐在那個教堂墓地的一塊墓石上?？吹降氖潜荒呛谏┪钍亢臃指畛傻囊黄趬簤旱恼訚苫牡?，聽到的是從遠處大海刮來的嗖嗖呼嘯聲。

‘Don’t say a word!’cried a terrible voice，as a man jumped up from among the graves and caught hold of me.‘If you shout I’ll cut your throat!’He was a big man，dressed all in grey，with an iron chain on his leg.His clothes were wet and torn.He looked exhausted，and hungry，and very fierce.I had never been so frightened in my whole life.

“別出聲!”一個兇惡的聲音大喊起來，這時，從墓地里竄出一個人來，一把抓住我，“安靜點，不然我割斷你的喉嚨!”他身材高大，穿著一身灰色衣服，腿上拴著一副腳鐐。他的衣服濕淋淋的并且破爛不堪，看上去筋疲力勁饑寒交迫、十分兇殘的樣子，在我一生中從沒有見過如此可怕的人。

‘Oh!Don’t cut my throat，sir!’I begged in terror.

“噢!先生，不要殺我!”我害怕地乞求著。

‘Tell me your name，boy!Quick!’he said，still holding me.‘And show me where you live!’

“小子，告訴我你叫什么名字!快點!”他仍然抓著我說，‘’指給我`看你住在哪兒!”

‘My name’s Pip，sir.And I live in the village over there.’

“先生，我叫匹普，我住在那邊的村莊里。”

He picked me up and turned me upside-down.Nothing fell out of my pocket except a piece of old bread.He ate it in two bites，like a dog，and put me back on the gravestone.

他抓起我，又把我按倒在地。我的口袋里除了一塊剩面包則一無所有，他狼吞虎咽地吃下兩口，又把我放回墓石上。

‘So where are your father and mother?’he asked.

“那么，你的爸爸媽媽在哪兒?”他問道。

‘There，sir，’I answered，pointing to their graves.

“先生，在那兒，”我指著那里的墳?zāi)够卮稹?/p>

‘What!’he cried，and was about to run，when he saw where I was pointing.‘Oh!’he said.‘ I see.They’re dead.Well，who do you live with，if I let you live，which I haven’t decided yet?’

當(dāng)他看到我所指的地方時，“什么!”他叫起來拔腿就跑。“噢!”他說，“我明白了，他們已經(jīng)死了。嘿，你跟誰一起生活?但是，我是否讓你活著還沒決定。”

‘With my sister，sir，wife of Joe Gargery，the blacksmith.’

“和我姐姐在一起，先生，鐵匠喬·葛吉瑞的妻子。”

Blacksmith，you say?And he looked down at his leg.Then he held me by both arms and stared fiercely down into my eyes.

“你說，鐵匠?”他低下頭看看自己的腿，然后抱住我，用兇狠的眼光盯著我的雙眼。

‘Now look here.You bring me a file.You know what that is?And you bring me some food.If you don’t，or if you tell anyone about me，I’ll cut your heart out.’

“你看這兒，給我?guī)О唁S子來，你知道什么是銼嗎?再給我弄點吃的，如果你辦不到，或者把我的情況告訴別人，我會挖出你的心臟來。”

‘I promise I’ll do it，sir，’I answered.I was badly fright ened and my whole body was trembling .

“我保證會做到的，先生。”我回答說。我非常害怕，整個身體在顫抖。

‘You see，’he continued，smiling unpleasantly，‘I travel with a young man，a friend of mine，who roasts boys’hearts and eats them.He’ll find you，wherever you are，and he’ll have your heart.So bring the file and the food to that wooden shelter over there，early tomorrow morning，if you want to keep your heart，that is Remember，you promised!’

“你明白，”他不高興地冷笑著繼續(xù)說，“同我一起來的還有一個年輕人，是我的朋友，他烤過小孩的心臟并把它們吃掉。不管你在哪兒，他都會找到你并吃掉你的心臟。所以，明天一大早，把帶來的銼和食物送到那邊的木制遮蔽體前。如果你要活命的話，那么，記住你的諾言!”

I watched him turn and walk with difficulty across the marshes，the chain hanging clumsily around his leg.Then I ran home as fast as I could.

我注視著他轉(zhuǎn)過身去，腳鐐懸掛在笨拙的腿上。踉踉蹌蹌地穿過沼澤地，這時我拼命地往家跑。

My sister，Mrs Joe Gargery，was very proud of the fact that she had brought me up‘by hand’.Nobody explained to me what this meant，and because she had a hard and heavy hand，which she used freely on her husband as well as me，I supposed that Joe and I were both brought up by hand.She was not a beautiful woman，being tall and thin，with black hair and eyes and a very red face.She clearly felt that Joe and I caused her a lot of trouble，and she frequently complained about it.Joe，on the other hand，was a gentle，kind man with fair hair and weak blue eyes，who quietly accepted her scolding.

我的姐姐，喬·葛吉瑞夫人。事實上，她以“親手”把我?guī)Т蟾械胶茏院溃瑳]有人給我解釋這意味著什么。因為，她有十分厲害、粗糙有力的手，隨便用在她的丈夫及我的身上，我想像喬和我都是這樣被“親手撫養(yǎng)”的。她不是一個漂亮的女人，長得瘦高條，黑色的頭發(fā)和眼睛，一副赤紅的面孔。她確實覺得喬和我給她添了不少麻煩，常常為這些發(fā)牢騷。相反，喬是一個和藹、心地善良的人。長有金色的頭發(fā)和淺藍色的眼睛，老老實實地聽從她的訓(xùn)斥。

Because Joe and I were in the same position of being scolded by Mrs Joe，we were good friends，and Joe protected me from her anger whenever he could.So when I ran breathless into the kitchen，he gave me a friendly warning.‘She’s out look-ing for you，Pip!And she’s got the stick with her!’This stick had been used so often for beating me that it was now quite smooth.

因為我和喬都處于被喬夫人責(zé)罵的地位，我們倆是好朋友，喬隨時都在保護我免遭她的怒斥。所以，當(dāng)我上氣不接下氣地跑進廚房時，他給了我一個友好的忠告：“她正在外面找你，匹普!她還拿了條棍子!”這條棍子過去常用來敲打我，它現(xiàn)在是非常光滑了。

Just then Mrs Joe rushed in.

正在這時，喬夫人闖了進來。

‘Where have you been，you young monkey?’she shouted.I jumped behind Joe to avoid being hit with the stick.

“到哪里去了，你這個小淘氣鬼?”她大叫著，我跳著躲到喬的背后，以避開她棍子的毒打。

‘Only to the churchyard，’I whispered，starting to cry.

“只去了教堂墓地，”我小聲嘟囔著，接著哭了起來。

‘Churchyard!If I hadn’t brought you up，you’d be in the churchyard with our parents.You’ll send me to the church-yard one day!Now let me get your supper ready，both of you!’

“教堂墓地!如果不是我照顧你，你早就和我們的父母被埋在教堂墓地里了。有一天你會把我送到墳?zāi)谷?現(xiàn)在，我給你們準(zhǔn)備晚餐，你們倆!”

For the rest of the evening，I thought of nothing but the stranger on the marshes.Sometimes，as the wind blew round the house，I imagined I heard his voice outside，and I thought with horror of the young man who ate boys’ hearts.

晚上休息時，我其它的事情都不想，只考慮沼澤地里那個陌生人。有時，當(dāng)風(fēng)在房屋周圍掠過時，我想自己聽到外面他的聲音，還想起吞吃小孩子心臟的那個可怕的年輕人。

Just before I went to bed，we heard the sound of a big gun on the marshes.‘Was that a gun，Joe?’I asked.

我剛要睡覺，我們聽到從沼澤地傳來的一陣槍聲。“喬，那槍聲是干什么的?”我問道。

‘Ah!’said Joe.‘Another convict’s escaped.One got away last night.They always fire the gun when one escapes.’

“噢!”喬說，“又有一個囚犯逃走了，昨晚上有一個囚犯逃跑了。當(dāng)有囚犯逃跑時，他們總是要開火”。

‘Who fires the gun?’I asked.Joe shook his head to warn me.

“向誰開的槍?”我問道，喬搖搖頭警告我。

‘Too many questions，’frowned my sister.‘If you must know it’s the men in the prison-ships who fire the gun.’

“問得太多了，”我的姐姐皺著眉頭說，“你要是知道關(guān)在船上監(jiān)獄的那些人，就明白向誰開槍了。”

‘I wonder who is put into prison-ships，and why?’I asked，in a general way，quietly desperate to know the answer.

“我想知道誰被關(guān)在船上監(jiān)獄里，為什么他們被關(guān)在那里?”我追問道，通常，我非常想知道這類問題的答案。

This was too much for Mrs Joe.‘Listen，my boy，I didn’t bring you up by hand to annoy people to death!There are ships on the river which are used as prisons.People who steal and murder are put in the prison-ships，and they stay there for years sometimes.And they always begin their life of crime by asking too many questions!Now，go to bed!’

對于喬夫人來說，這是問得太多了，“聽著，我的孩子，我不讓你跌入絕望和死亡的深淵!在那條河里有一些船專門用其當(dāng)監(jiān)獄，小偷和殺人犯被關(guān)在那些船上監(jiān)獄里，有時他們在那里要呆上很多年。而且，他們通常在他們犯罪開始的時候總是會提出許多為什么!喂，睡覺去!”

I could not sleep at all that night.I was in terror of the young man who wanted my heart，I was in terror of the man with the iron chain，I was in terror of my sister，who would soon discover I had stolen her food.As soon as there was a lit-tle light in the sky outside my window， I got up and went qui-etly down to the kitchen.I stole some bread，cheese and a big meat pie，hoping that，as there was a lot of food ready for Christmas，nobody would notice what was missing.I did not dare take the whole brandy bottle，so I poured some into a smaller bottle to take away with me.Then I filled up the brandy bottle with what I thought was water from a big brown bottle.I took a file from Joe’s box of tools，and ran out on to the dark marshes.

那天晚上，我徹夜未眠，在想要吃我心臟的那個兇惡的年輕人，在想帶著腳鐐的那個兇狠的人，在想我那可怕的姐姐，馬上就會發(fā)現(xiàn)我偷了她的食物。外面的天空透過窗戶剛出現(xiàn)朦朦的亮，我就起了床，悄悄地下了樓進了廚房。我偷了一些面包、黃油和一大塊肉餅。因為，為過圣誕節(jié)準(zhǔn)備了許多吃的，希望沒有人會發(fā)現(xiàn)少了東西。我沒敢拿整瓶的白蘭地酒，而是倒了一些盛在小瓶里帶上了。然后，我用自己認為是盛水的大褐色瓶子里的水把白蘭地瓶子倒?jié)M。我從喬的工具盒里拿了一把銼，隨之跑出了家門，直奔黑壓壓的沼澤地。

The mist was so thick that I could not see anything.Al-though I knew my way to the shelter very well，I almost got lost this time.I was near it when I saw a man sitting on the ground，half asleep.I went up and touched his shoulder.He jumped up，and it was the wrong man!He was dressed in grey，too，and had an iron chain on his leg.He ran away into the mist.

大霧彌漫，伸手不見五指。雖然我對去遮蔽體的路了如指掌，但這次幾乎是迷了路。我接近遮蔽體時，看見一個人坐在地上，幾乎睡著了。我走過去，拍拍他的肩膀，他一躍而起。他不是我遇見的那個人!他也穿著灰布衣服，腿上也戴著一副腳鐐。他逃跑到濃霧之中。

‘It’s the young man!’I thought，feeling a pain in my heart.

“就是那個年輕人!”我想，心里很害怕。

When I arrived at the shelter，I found the right man.He looked so cold and hungry that I felt sorry for him.Trembling violently he swallowed the brandy and ate the food like a hunt-ed animal，looking around him all the time for danger.

當(dāng)我到達那個遮蔽體時，找到了第一個囚犯。他看上去饑寒交迫，我為他感到很內(nèi)疚。他好像惡狼一樣，抖抖嗦嗦地往嘴里填著食物，喝著白蘭地。

‘You’re sure you didn’t tell anyone?Or bring anyone?’

“你保證你沒告訴任何人?沒有帶任何人來吧?”

‘No，sir.I’m glad you’re enjoying the food，sir.’

“沒有，先生，你吃得這么有滋味，我真高興，先生。”

‘Thank you，my boy.You’ve been good to a poor man.’

“謝謝你，我的孩子。你給一個窮苦人辦了一件好事。”

‘But I’m afraid there won’t be any left for him.’

“我很害怕，沒有留點吃的給他。”

‘Him? Who’s that?’My friend stopped in the middle of eating.

“他?誰呀?”我的朋友停下吃了半截的東西問道。

‘The young man who travels with you.’

“就是和你一起來的那個小伙子。”

‘Oh，him!’he replied，smiling.‘He doesn’t want any food.’

“噢，他嗎!”他譏笑著說，“他是不吃東西的。”

‘I thought he looked rather hungry，’I answered.

“我看他的樣子很餓，”我回答說。

He stared at me in great surprise.‘Looked?When?’

他十分驚訝的盯著我，“看樣子?什么時候?”

‘Just now，over there.I found him half asleep and I thought it was you.He was dressed like you，and—’I was anxious to express this politely‘-he had the same reason for wanting to borrow a file.’

“剛才，在那邊兒。我發(fā)現(xiàn)他正在打瞌睡，開始我還認為是你呢。他穿的衣服和您一樣，還有……”我猶豫了一下，用這種文雅的表達方式，“……他有一個同樣的理由，要借一把銼。”

‘Then I did hear them fire the gun last night!You know，boy，when you’re on the marsh alone at night，you imagine all kinds of things，voices calling，guns firing，soldiers marching!But show me where this man went.I’ll find him and I’ll fin-ish with him!I’ll smash his face!Give me the file first.’

“而且，我昨晚聽到了他們的槍聲!你知道，孩子，當(dāng)你在晚上獨自一人在沼澤地里，你想想，所有形形色色的東西，尖叫聲，槍擊聲，士兵們向前挺進!指給我這個人去的路，我會找到他，結(jié)束他的性命!打爛他的臉!先給我銼。”

I was afraid of him now that he was angry again.

他再一次發(fā)怒，我現(xiàn)在很怕他。

‘I’m sorry，I must go home now，’I said.He did not seem to hear，so I left him bending over his leg and filing away at his iron chain like a madman.Halfway home I stopped in the mist to listen，and I could still hear the sound of the file.

“對不起，我現(xiàn)在該回家了，”我說，他似乎沒聽到，他頭沖著膝蓋，像一個瘋子一樣，正往下銼腳鐐。因此，我趁機溜走，回家的半路上我在濃霧中停住了腳步，聽聽聲音，我仍然能聽到銼腳鐐的聲音。