【连载】提供《高級英語教程》27课至......

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高級英語教材第1——13課
高級教材閱讀指導
高級英語教材第14——26課
高級英語教材第27課
先讀課文﹕
The Sea Wolf
by Jack London
Chapter I
I scarcely know where to begin, though I sometimes facetiously place the
cause of it all to Charley Furuseth's credit. He kept a summer cottage in
Mill Valley, under the shadow of Mount Tamalpais, and never occupied it
except when he loafed through the winter mouths and read "Nietzsche and
Schopenhauer" to rest his brain. When summer came on, he elected to sweat
out a hot and dusty existence in the city and to toil incessantly. Had it
not been my custom to run up to see him every Saturday afternoon and to
stop over till Monday morning, this particular January Monday morning would
not have found me afloat on San Francisco Bay.
        Not but that I was afloat in a safe craft, for the Martinez[船名] was a
new ferry-steamer, making her fourth or fifth trip on the run between Sausalito
and San Francisco. The danger lay in the heavy fog which blanketed the bay,
and of which, as a landsman, I had little apprehension. In fact, I remember
the placid exaltation with which I took up my position on the forward upper
deck, directly beneath the pilot-house, and allowed the mystery of the fog
to lay hold of my imagination. A fresh breeze was blowing, and for a time
I was alone in the moist obscurity - yet not alone, for I was dimly conscious
of the presence of the pilot, and of what I took to be the captain, in the
glass house above my head.
        I remember thinking how comfortable it was, this division of labour which
made it unnecessary for me to study fogs, winds, tides, and navigation,
in order to visit my friend who lived across an arm of the sea. It was good
that men should be specialists, I mused. The peculiar knowledge of the pilot
and captain sufficed for many thousands of people who knew no more of the
sea and navigation than I knew. On the other hand, instead of having to devote
my energy to the learning of a multitude of things, I concentrated it upon
a few particular things, such as, for instance, the analysis of Poe's [指
Edgar Allan Poe] place in American literature - an essay of mine, by the
way, in the current Atlantic.[雜誌名] Coming aboard, as I passed through
the cabin, I had noticed with greedy eyes a stout gentleman reading the Atlantic,
which was open at my very essay. And there it was again, the division of
labour, the special knowledge of the pilot and captain which permitted the
stout gentleman to read my special knowledge on Poe while they carried him
safely from Sausalito to San Francisco.
        A red-faced man, slamming the cabin door behind him and stumping out on
the deck, interrupted my reflections, though I made a mental note of the
topic for use in a projected essay which I had thought of calling "The Necessity
for Freedom: A Plea for the Artist." The red-faced man shot a glance up
at the pilot-house, gazed around at the fog, stumped across the deck and
back (he evidently had artificial legs), and stood still by my side, legs
wide apart, and with an expression of keen enjoyment on his face. I was
not wrong when I decided that his days had been spent on the sea.
        "It's nasty weather like this here that turns heads grey before their time,"
he said, with a nod toward the pilot-house.
        "I had not thought there was any particular strain," I answered. "It seems
as simple as A, B, C. They know the direction by compass, the distance,
and the speed. I should not call it anything more than mathematical certainty.
"
        "Strain!" he snorted. "Simple as A, B, C! Mathematical certainty!"
        He seemed to brace himself up and lean backward against the air as he stared
at me. "How about this here tide that's rushin' out through the Golden Gate?"
[指金門大橋] he demanded, or bellowed, rather. "How fast is she ebbin'?
What's the drift, eh? Listen to that, will you? A bell-buoy, and we're a-top
of it! See 'em alterin' the course!"
        From out of the fog came the mournful tolling of a bell, and I could see
the pilot turning the wheel with great rapidity. The bell, which had seemed
straight ahead, was now sounding from the side. Our own whistle was blowing
hoarsely, and from time to time the sound of other whistles came to us from
out of the fog.
        "That's a ferry-boat of some sort," the new-comer said, indicating a whistle
off to the right. "And there! D'ye [Do you] hear that? Blown by mouth. Some
scow schooner, most likely. Better watch out, Mr. Schooner-man. Ah, I thought
so. Now hell's a poppin' for somebody!"
        The unseen ferry-boat was blowing blast after blast, and the mouth-blown
horn was tooting in terror-stricken fashion.
        "And now they're payin' their respects to each other and tryin' to get
clear," the red-faced man went on, as the hurried whistling ceased.
        His face was shining, his eyes flashing with excitement as he translated
into articulate language the speech of the horns and sirens. "That's a steam-
siren a-goin' it over there to the left. And you hear that fellow with a
frog in his throat - a steam schooner as near as I can judge, crawlin' in
from the Heads [指地角﹐伸出海中的狹長陸地] against the tide."
        A shrill little whistle, piping as if gone mad, came from directly ahead
and from very near at hand. Gongs sounded on the Martinez. Our paddle-wheels
stopped, their pulsing beat died away, and then they started again. The
shrill little whistle, like the chirping of a cricket amid the cries of
great beasts, shot through the fog from more to the side and swiftly grew
faint and fainter. I looked to my companion for enlightenment.
        "One of them dare-devil launches," he said. "I almost wish we'd sunk him,
the little rip! They're the cause of more trouble. And what good are they?
Any jackass gets aboard one and runs it from hell to breakfast, blowin'
his whistle to beat the band and tellin' the rest of the world to look out
for him, because he's comin' and can't look out for himself! Because he's
comin'! And you've got to look out, too! Right of way! [路權﹐指路上的先
行權] Common decency! They don't know the meanin' of it!"
        I felt quite amused at his unwarranted choler, and while he stumped indignantly
up and down I fell to dwelling upon the romance of the fog. And romantic
it certainly was - the fog, like the grey shadow of infinite mystery, brooding
over the whirling speck of earth; and men, mere motes of light and sparkle,
cursed with an insane relish for work, riding their steeds of wood and steel
through the heart of the mystery, groping their way blindly through the Unseen,
and clamouring and clanging in confident speech the while [WHILE] their
hearts are heavy with incertitude and fear.
        The voice of my companion brought me back to myself with a laugh. I too
had been groping and floundering, the while I thought I rode clear-eyed
through the mystery.
        "Hello! somebody comin' our way," he was saying. "And d'ye hear that? He's
comin' fast. Walking right along. Guess he don't hear us yet. Wind's in
wrong direction."
        The fresh breeze was blowing right down upon us, and I could hear the whistle
plainly, off to one side and a little ahead.
        "Ferry-boat?" I asked.
        He nodded, then added, "Or he wouldn't be keepin' up such a clip." He gave
a short chuckle. "They're gettin' anxious up there."
        I glanced up. The captain had thrust his head and shoulders out of the
pilot-house, and was staring intently into the fog as though by sheer force
of will he could penetrate it. His face was anxious, as was the face of
my companion, who had stumped over to the rail and was gazing with a like
intentness in the direction of the invisible danger.
        Then everything happened, and with inconceivable rapidity. The fog seemed
to break away as though split by a wedge, and the bow of a steamboat emerged,
trailing fog-wreaths on either side like seaweed on the snout of Leviathan
[a sea monster referred to in the Bible]. I could see the pilot-house and
a white-bearded man leaning partly out of it, on his elbows. He was clad
in a blue uniform, and I remember noting how trim and quiet he was. His quietness,
under the circumstances, was terrible. He accepted Destiny, marched hand
in hand with it, and coolly measured the stroke. As he leaned there, he
ran a calm and speculative eye over us, as though to determine the precise
point of the collision, and took no notice whatever when our pilot, white
with rage, shouted, "Now you've done it!"
        On looking back, I realize that the remark was too obvious to make rejoinder
necessary.
        "Grab hold of something and hang on," the red-faced man said to me. All
his bluster had gone, and he seemed to have caught the contagion of preternatural
calm. "And listen to the women scream," he said grimly - almost bitterly,
I thought, as though he had been through the experience before.
        The vessels came together before I could follow his advice. We must have
been struck squarely amidships, for I saw nothing, the strange steamboat
having passed beyond my line of vision. The Martinez heeled over, sharply,
and there was a crashing and rending of timber. I was thrown flat on the
wet deck, and before I could scramble to my feet I heard the scream of the
women. This it was, I am certain, - the most indescribable of blood-curdling
sounds, - that threw me into a panic. I remembered the life-preservers stored
in the cabin, but was met at the door and swept backward by a wild rush
of men and women. What happened in the next few minutes I do not recollect,
though I have a clear remembrance of pulling down life-preservers from the
overhead racks, while the red-faced man fastened them about the bodies of
an hysterical group of women. This memory is as distinct and sharp as that
of any picture I have seen. It is a picture, and I can see it now, - the
jagged edges of the hole in the side of the cabin, through which the grey
fog swirled and eddied; the empty upholstered seats, littered with all the
evidences of sudden flight, such as packages, hand satchels, umbrellas, and
wraps; the stout gentleman who had been reading my essay, encased in cork
and canvas, the magazine still in his hand, and asking me with monotonous
insistence if I thought there was any danger; the red-faced man, stumping
gallantly around on his artificial legs and buckling life-preservers on
all corners; and finally, the screaming bedlam of women.
        This it was, the screaming of the women, that most tried my nerves. It
must have tried, too, the nerves of the red-faced man, for I have another
picture which will never fade from my mind. The stout gentleman is stuffing
the magazine into his overcoat pocket and looking on curiously. A tangled
mass of women, with drawn, white faces and open mouths, is shrieking like
a chorus of lost souls; and the red-faced man, his face now purplish with
is shouting, "Shut up! Oh, shut up!"
        I remember the scene impelled me to sudden laughter, and in the next instant
I realized I was becoming hysterical myself; for these were women of my
own kind, like my mother and sisters, with the fear of death upon them and
unwilling to die. And I remember that the sounds they made reminded me of
the squealing of pigs under the knife of the butcher, and I was struck with
horror at the vividness of the analogy. These women, capable of the most
sublime emotions, of the tenderest sympathies, were open-mouthed and screaming.
They wanted to live, they were helpless, like rats in a trap, and they
screamed.
        The horror of it drove me out on deck. I was feeling sick and squeamish,
and sat down on a bench. In a hazy way I saw and heard men rushing and shouting
as they strove to lower the boats. It was just as I had read descriptions
of such scenes in books. The tackles jammed. Nothing worked. One boat lowered
away with the plugs out, filled with women and children and then with water,
and capsized. Another boat had been lowered by one end, and still hung in
the tackle by the other end, where it had been abandoned. Nothing was to
be seen of the strange steamboat which had caused the disaster, though I
heard men saying that she [指另一艘船] would undoubtedly send boats to our
assistance.
        I descended to the lower deck. The Martinez was sinking fast, for the water
was very near. Numbers of the passengers were leaping overboard. Others,
in the water, were clamouring to be taken aboard again. No one heeded them.
A cry arose that we were sinking. I was seized by the consequent panic,
and went over the side in a surge of bodies. How I went over I do not know,
though I did know, and instantly, why those in the water were so desirous
of getting back on the steamer. The water was cold - so cold that it was
painful. The pang, as I plunged into it, was as quick and sharp as that
of fire. It bit to the marrow. It was like the grip of death. I gasped with
the anguish and shock of it, filling my lungs before the life-preserver popped
me to the surface. The taste of the salt was strong in my mouth, and I was
strangling with the acrid stuff in my throat and lungs.
        But it was the cold that was most distressing. I felt that I could survive
but a few minutes. People were struggling and floundering in the water about
me. I could hear them crying out to one another. And I heard, also, the
sound of oars. Evidently the strange steamboat had lowered its boats. As
the time went by I marvelled that I was still alive. I had no sensation
whatever in my lower limbs, while a chilling numbness was wrapping about
my heart and creeping into it. Small waves, with spiteful foaming crests,
continually broke over me and into my mouth, sending me off into more strangling
paroxysms.
        The noises grew indistinct, though I heard a final and despairing chorus
of screams in the distance, and knew that the Martinez had gone down. Later,
- how much later I have no knowledge, - I came to myself with a start of
fear. I was alone. I could hear no calls or cries - only the sound of the
waves, made weirdly hollow and reverberant by the fog. A panic in a crowd,
which partakes of a sort of community of interest, is not so terrible as
a panic when one is by oneself; and such a panic I now suffered. Whither
was I drifting? The red-faced man had said that the tide was ebbing through
the Golden Gate. Was I, then, being carried out to sea? And the life-preserver
in which I floated? Was it not liable to go to pieces at any moment? I had
heard of such things being made of paper and hollow rushes which quickly
became saturated and lost all buoyancy. And I could not swim a stroke. And
I was alone, floating, apparently, in the midst of a grey primordial vastness.
I confess that a madness seized me, that I shrieked aloud as the women
had shrieked, and beat the water with my numb hands.
        How long this lasted I have no conception, for a blankness intervened,
of which I remember no more than one remembers of troubled and painful sleep.
When I aroused, it was as after centuries of time; and I saw, almost above
me and emerging from the fog, the bow of a vessel, and three triangular
sails, each shrewdly lapping the other and filled with wind. Where the bow
cut the water there was a great foaming and gurgling, and I seemed directly
in its path. I tried to cry out, but was too exhausted. The bow plunged
down, just missing me and sending a swash of water clear over my head. Then
the long, black side of the vessel began slipping past, so near that I could
have touched it with my hands. I tried to reach it, in a mad resolve to claw
into the wood with my nails, but my arms were heavy and lifeless. Again I
strove to call out, but made no sound.
        The stern of the vessel shot by, dropping, as it did so, into a hollow
between the waves; and I caught a glimpse of a man standing at the wheel,
and of another man who seemed to be doing little else than smoke a cigar.
I saw the smoke issuing from his lips as he slowly turned his head and glanced
out over the water in my direction. It was a careless, unpremeditated glance,
one of those haphazard things men do when they have no immediate call to
do anything in particular, but act because they are alive and must do something.
        But life and death were in that glance. I could see the vessel being swallowed
up in the fog; I saw the back of the man at the wheel, and the head of the
other man turning, slowly turning, as his gaze struck the water and casually
lifted along it toward me. His face wore an absent expression, as of deep
thought, and I became afraid that if his eyes did light upon me he would
nevertheless not see me. But his eyes did light upon me, and looked squarely
into mine; and he did see me, for he sprang to the wheel, thrusting the
other man aside, and whirled it round and round, hand over hand, at the
same time shouting orders of some sort. The vessel seemed to go off at a
tangent to its former course and leapt almost instantly from view into the
fog.
        I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness, and tried with all the power
of my will to fight above the suffocating blankness and darkness that was
rising around me. A little later I heard the stroke of oars, growing nearer
and nearer, and the calls of a man. When he was very near I heard him crying,
in vexed fashion, "Why in hell don't you sing out?" This meant me, I thought,
and then the blankness and darkness rose over me.
1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕John Griffith "Jack" London (born John Griffith Chaney, January
12, 1876 -- November 22, 1916) was an American author, journalist, and social
activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine
fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity
and a large fortune from his fiction alone. He is best remembered as the
author of "Call of the Wild" and "White Fang", both set in the Klondike Gold
Rush, as well as the short stories "To Build a Fire", "An Odyssey of the
North", and "Love of Life". He also wrote of the South Pacific in such stories
as "The Pearls of Parlay" and "The Heathen", and of the San Francisco Bay
area in "The Sea Wolf". London, who was called "Wolf" by his close friends,
also used a picture of a wolf on his bookplate, and named his mansion "Wolf
House".
3) 小說介紹﹕The Sea-Wolf is a 1904 psychological adventure novel by American
novelist Jack London about a literary critic, survivor of an ocean collision
who comes under the dominance of Wolf Larsen, the powerful and amoral sea
captain who rescues him. The personal character of the novel's antagonist
"Wolf Larsen" was attributed to a real sailor London had known, Captain
Alex MacLean.
4) Jack London傑克‧倫敦﹐也是美國一個大作家。從上面的作者介紹裡可以知道﹐
他也寫了許多小說。我們已經介紹了一些男作家﹐及一些女作家﹐搞文學或有興趣
的人﹐可以比較一下男女作家間文筆的不同。

冰默樱娘

学习。问好老师！

海外逸士

高級英語教材第28課
先讀課文﹕
Of Human Bondage
by Somerset Maugham
Chapter I
The day broke gray and dull. The clouds hung heavily, and there was a rawness
in the air that suggested snow. A woman servant came into a room in which
a child was sleeping and drew the curtains. She glanced mechanically at
the house opposite, a stucco house with a portico, and went to the child's
bed.
"Wake up, Philip," she said. She pulled down the bed-clothes, took him in
her arms, and carried him downstairs. He was only half awake.
"Your mother wants you," she said. She opened the door of a room on the
floor below and took the child over to a bed in which a woman was lying.
It was his mother. She stretched out her arms, and the child nestled by
her side. He did not ask why he had been awakened. The woman kissed his
eyes, and with thin, small hands felt the warm body through his white flannel
nightgown. She pressed him closer to herself.
"Are you sleepy, darling?" she said. Her voice was so weak that it seemed
to come already from a great distance. The child did not answer, but smiled
comfortably. He was very happy in the large, warm bed, with those soft arms
about him. He tried to make himself smaller still as he cuddled up against
his mother, and he kissed her sleepily. In a moment he closed his eyes and
was fast asleep. The doctor came forwards and stood by the bed-side.
"Oh, don't take him away yet," she moaned. The doctor, without answering,
looked at her gravely. Knowing she would not be allowed to keep the child
much longer, the woman kissed him again; and she passed her hand down his
body till she came to his feet; she held the right foot in her hand and
felt the five small toes; and then slowly passed her hand over the left one.
She gave a sob.
"What"s the matter?" said the doctor. "You're tired." She shook her head,
unable to speak, and the tears rolled down her cheeks. The doctor bent down.
"Let me take him." She was too weak to resist his wish, and she gave the
child up. The doctor handed him back to his nurse.
"You'd better put him back in his own bed."
"Very well, sir." The little boy, still sleeping, was taken away. His mother
sobbed now broken-heartedly. "What will happen to him, poor child?" The
monthly nurse tried to quiet her, and presently, from exhaustion, the crying
ceased. The doctor walked to a table on the other side of the room, upon
which, under a towel, lay the body of a still-born child. He lifted the towel
and looked. He was hidden from the bed by a screen, but the woman guessed
what he was doing.
"Was it a girl or a boy?" she whispered to the nurse.
"Another boy."
The woman did not answer. In a moment the child's nurse came back. She approached
the bed.
"Master Philip never woke up," she said. There was a pause. Then the doctor
felt his patient's pulse once more.
"I don't think there's anything I can do just now," he said. "I'll call
again after breakfast."
"I'll show you out, sir," said the child's nurse. They walked downstairs
in silence. In the hall the
doctor stopped.
"You've sent for Mrs. Carey's brother-in-law, haven't you?"
"Yes, sir."
"D'you know at what time he'll be here?"
"No, sir, I'm expecting a telegram."
"What about the little boy? I should think he'd be better out of the way."
"Miss Watkin said she'd take him, sir."
"Who's she?"
"She's his godmother, sir. D'you think Mrs. Carey will get over it, sir?"
The doctor shook his head.
1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕William Somerset Maugham (25 January 1874 -- 16 December 1965)
was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among
the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest paid author
during the 1930s.
3) 該書介紹﹕Of Human Bondage (1915) is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham.
It is generally agreed to be his masterpiece and to be strongly autobiographical
in nature, although Maugham stated, "This is a novel, not an autobiography,
though much in it is autobiographical, more is pure invention." Maugham,
who had originally planned to call his novel Beauty from Ashes, finally
settled on a title taken from a section of Spinoza's Ethics. In 1998, the
Modern Library ranked Of Human Bondage #66 on its list of the 100 best English-
language novels of the 20th century.
4) 情節簡介﹕The book begins with the death of the mother of the nine-year-old
protagonist, Philip Carey. Philip's father had already died a few months
before, and the orphan Philip is sent to live with his aunt and uncle. His
uncle is vicar of Blackstable, a small village in Kent. Philip inherits
a small fortune but the money is held in custody by his uncle until he is
twenty-one, giving his uncle a great deal of power over him until he reaches
his maturity.
Early chapters relate Philip's experience at the vicarage. His aunt tries
to be a mother to Philip, but she is herself childish and unsure of how
to behave, whereas his uncle takes a cold disposition towards him. Philip's
uncle has an eclectic collection of books, and in reading Philip finds a
way to escape his mundane existence and experience fascinating worlds of
fiction.
Less than a year later, Philip is sent to a boarding school. His uncle and
aunt wish for him to eventually go to Oxford to study to become a clergyman.
Philip's shyness and his club foot make it difficult for him to fit in with
the boys at the school, and he does not make many friends. Philip goes through
an episode of deep religious belief, and believes that through true faith
he can petition God to heal his club foot; but when this does not happen,
his belief falters. He becomes close friends with one boy; but the friendship
breaks up, and he becomes miserable. Philip shows considerable academic
talent and is informed by the school's headmaster that he could have earned
a scholarship for Oxford, but instead he becomes determined to leave the
school and go to Germany. 欲知後事如何﹐請上網閱讀全文。
5) Somerset Maugham是20世紀上半頁的英國偉大作家之一。他的文筆簡潔明快。他
的這本代表作品Of Human Bondage可作英文專業學生的精讀本。本人在國內時曾有
意把它譯成中文﹐當時擬定書名為“人間桎梏”﹐後因事冗未果。不知現在已有中
文譯本嗎﹖本壇有興趣者亦可翻譯出來。

木樨黄谷

杰克伦敦的The Call of the Wild乃最爱{:soso_e100:}

海外逸士

you can read it on internet.

海外逸士

高級英語教材第29課
先讀課文﹕
New Colossus (十四行詩)
by Emma Lazarus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, [1]
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. [2]
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost [tossed] to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
1) 生詞自查。
2) 該詩介紹﹕The poem has proven to be so powerful over the years that it
has even changed the meaning and purpose of the Statue of Liberty itself.
As a gift from the government of France, the Statue dedicated 125 years
ago today, was meant to be a monument for international republicanism. Today,
because of Lazarus's sonnet it is known as a beacon to immigrants and a
welcoming to America. When the world's most famous sonnet was written in
1883 it barely caused a ripple. When it's author died in 1887 it wasn't
even mentioned in her obituary. Today, most everyone can recite at least
a line. Emma Lazarus's New Colossus did not create much of a stir until
it was affixed inside the base of the Statue of Liberty in 1903.
3) 關於詩人﹕Born in New York City on July 22, 1849, Emma was an American
Jewish poetess, and would become known posthumously as the Poet of Exiles.
In 1866, when Emma was seventeen, her father privately published her first
book, Poems and Translations Written Between the Ages of Fourteen and Seventeen.
She died Novemeber 19, 1887 at the age of 38. Emma Lazarus was honored
by the Office of the Manhattan Borough President in March 2008 and was included
in a map of historical sites related or dedicated to important women.
4) 註解﹕[1] The Colossus of Rhodes. It was a huge statue of the Greek god
Helios that stood on Rhodes for 56 years until it was destroyed in an earthquake.
It was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. [2] She refers to
the New York Harbor as "the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame."
The twin cities that she refers to are New York and Brooklyn.  Brooklyn was
a separate city before 1898.
5) 這首有關描寫自由女神像的十四行詩對大部份華人來說是不熟悉的﹐甚至沒聽說
過。但這是一首很好的詩﹐所以介紹給大家一讀。這首十四行詩不是一般人所熟悉
的莎士比亞十四行詩﹐而是意大利式十四行詩。兩者相同處都是五音步抑揚格﹐不
同的是押韻模式不同。這首詩的押韻模式是ABBA﹐ABBA﹐CDCDCD。

海外逸士

高級英語教材第30課
先讀課文﹕
Gulliver's Travels 格列佛遊記
by Jonathan Swift
PART  I.  A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 小人國之旅
CHAPTER  I
My father had a small estate in Nottinghamshire: I was the third of five
sons. He sent me to Emanuel College in Cambridge at fourteen years old,
where I resided three years, and applied myself close to my studies; but
the charge of maintaining me, although I had a very scanty allowance, being
too great for a narrow fortune, I was bound apprentice to Mr. James Bates,
an eminent surgeon in London, with whom I continued four years. My father
now and then sending me small sums of money, I laid them out in learning
navigation, and other parts of the mathematics, useful to those who intend
to travel, as I always believed it would be, some time or other, my fortune
to do. When I left Mr. Bates, I went down to my father: where, by the assistance
of him and my uncle John, and some other relations, I got forty pounds, and
a promise of thirty pounds a year to maintain me at Leyden: there I studied
physic two years and seven months, knowing it would be useful in long voyages.
Soon after my return from Leyden, I was recommended by my good master, Mr.
Bates, to be surgeon to the Swallow 船名, Captain Abraham Pannel, commander;
with whom I continued three years and a half, making a voyage or two into
the Levant, and some other parts. When I came back I resolved to settle
in London; to which Mr. Bates, my master, encouraged me, and by him I was
recommended to several patients. I took part of a small house in the Old
Jewry; and being advised to alter my condition, I married Mrs. Mary Burton,
second daughter to Mr. Edmund Burton, hosier, in Newgate-street, with whom
I received four hundred pounds for a portion.
But my good master Bates dying in two years after, and I having few friends,
my business began to fail; for my conscience would not suffer me to imitate
the bad practice of too many among my brethren. Having therefore consulted
with my wife, and some of my acquaintance, I determined to go again to sea.
I was surgeon successively in two ships, and made several voyages, for six
years, to the East and West Indies, by which I got some addition to my fortune.
My hours of leisure I spent in reading the best authors, ancient and modern,
being always provided with a good number of books; and when I was ashore,
in observing the manners and dispositions of the people, as well as learning
their language; wherein I had a great facility, by the strength of my memory.
The last of these voyages not proving very fortunate, I grew weary of the
sea, and intended to stay at home with my wife and family. I removed from
the Old Jewry to Fetter Lane, and from thence to Wapping, hoping to get
business among the sailors; but it would not turn to account. After three
years expectation that things would mend, I accepted an advantageous offer
from Captain William Prichard, master of the Antelope 船名, who was making
a voyage to the South Sea. We set sail from Bristol, May 4, 1699, and our
voyage was at first very prosperous.
It would not be proper, for some reasons, to trouble the reader with the
particulars of our adventures in those seas; let it suffice to inform him
指前面提到的讀者, that in our passage from thence to the East Indies, we
were driven by a violent storm to the north-west of Van Diemen's Land. By
an observation, we found ourselves in the latitude of 30 degrees 2 minutes
south. Twelve of our crew were dead by immoderate labour and ill food; the
rest were in a very weak condition. On the 5th of November, which was the
beginning of summer in those parts, the weather being very hazy, the seamen
spied a rock within half a cable's length of the ship; but the wind was
so strong, that we were driven directly upon it, and immediately split. Six
of the crew, of whom I was one, having let down the boat into the sea, made
a shift to get clear of the ship and the rock. We rowed, by my computation,
about three leagues, till we were able to work no longer, being already
spent with labour while we were in the ship. We therefore trusted ourselves
to the mercy of the waves, and in about half an hour the boat was overset
by a sudden flurry from the north. What became of my companions in the boat,
as well as of those who escaped on the rock, or were left in the vessel,
I cannot tell; but conclude they were all lost. For my own part, I swam
as fortune directed me, and was pushed forward by wind and tide. I often
let my legs drop, and could feel no bottom; but when I was almost gone, and
able to struggle no longer, I found myself within my depth; and by this
time the storm was much abated. The declivity was so small, that I walked
near a mile before I got to the shore, which I conjectured was about eight
o'clock in the evening. I then advanced forward near half a mile, but could
not discover any sign of houses or inhabitants; at least I was in so weak
a condition, that I did not observe them. I was extremely tired, and with
that, and the heat of the weather, and about half a pint of brandy that
I drank as I left the ship, I found myself much inclined to sleep. I lay
down on the grass, which was very short and soft, where I slept sounder than
ever I remembered to have done in my life, and, as I reckoned, about nine
hours; for when I awaked, it was just day-light. I attempted to rise, but
was not able to stir: for, as I happened to lie on my back, I found my arms
and legs were strongly fastened on each side to the ground; and my hair,
which was long and thick, tied down in the same manner. I likewise felt several
slender ligatures across my body, from my arm-pits to my thighs. I could
only look upwards; the sun began to grow hot, and the light offended my
eyes. I heard a confused noise about me; but in the posture I lay, could
see nothing except the sky. In a little time I felt something alive moving
on my left leg, which advancing gently forward over my breast, came almost
up to my chin; when, bending my eyes downwards as much as I could, I perceived
it to be a human creature not six inches high, with a bow and arrow in his
hands, and a quiver at his back. In the mean time, I felt at least forty
more of the same kind (as I conjectured) following the first. I was in the
utmost astonishment, and roared so loud, that they all ran back in a fright;
and some of them, as I was afterwards told, were hurt with the falls they
got by leaping from my sides upon the ground. However, they soon returned,
and one of them, who ventured so far as to get a full sight of my face,
lifting up his hands and eyes by way of admiration, cried out in a shrill
but distinct voice, HEKINAH DEGUL: the others repeated the same words several
times, but then I knew not what they meant. I lay all this while, as the
reader may believe, in great uneasiness. At length, struggling to get loose,
I had the fortune to break the strings, and wrench out the pegs that fastened
my left arm to the ground; for, by lifting it up to my face, I discovered
the methods they had taken to bind me, and at the same time with a violent
pull, which gave me excessive pain, I a little loosened the strings that
tied down my hair on the left side, so that I was just able to turn my head
about two inches. But the creatures ran off a second time, before I could
seize them; whereupon there was a great shout in a very shrill accent, and
after it ceased I heard one of them cry aloud TOLGO PHONAC; when in an instant
I felt above a hundred arrows discharged on my left hand, which, pricked
me like so many needles; and besides, they shot another flight into the
air, as we do bombs in Europe, whereof many, I suppose, fell on my body,
(though I felt them not), and some on my face, which I immediately covered
with my left hand. When this shower of arrows was over, I fell a groaning
with grief and pain; and then striving again to get loose, they discharged
another volley larger than the first, and some of them attempted with spears
to stick me in the sides; but by good luck I had on a buff jerkin 皮衣,
which they could not pierce. I thought it the most prudent method to lie
still, and my design was to continue so till night, when, my left hand being
already loose, I could easily free myself: and as for the inhabitants, I
had reason to believe I might be a match for the greatest army they could
bring against me, if they were all of the same size with him that I saw.
But fortune disposed otherwise of me. When the people observed I was quiet,
they discharged no more arrows; but, by the noise I heard, I knew their
numbers increased; and about four yards from me, over against my right ear,
I heard a knocking for above an hour, like that of people at work; when
turning my head that way, as well as the pegs and strings would permit me,
I saw a stage erected about a foot and a half from the ground, capable of
holding four of the inhabitants, with two or three ladders to mount it:
from whence one of them, who seemed to be a person of quality, made me a
long speech, whereof I understood not one syllable. But I should have mentioned,
that before the principal person began his oration, he cried out three
times, LANGRO DEHUL SAN (these words and the former were afterwards repeated
and explained to me); whereupon, immediately, about fifty of the inhabitants
came and cut the strings that fastened the left side of my head, which gave
me the liberty of turning it to the right, and of observing the person and
gesture of him that was to speak.
He appeared to be of a middle age, and taller than any of the other three
who attended him, whereof one was a page that held up his train, and seemed
to be somewhat longer than my middle finger; the other two stood one on
each side to support him. He acted every part of an orator, and I could
observe many periods of threatenings, and others of promises, pity, and kindness.
I answered in a few words, but in the most submissive manner, lifting up
my left hand, and both my eyes to the sun, as calling him for a witness;
and being almost famished with hunger, having not eaten a morsel for some
hours before I left the ship, I found the demands of nature so strong upon
me, that I could not forbear showing my impatience (perhaps against the
strict rules of decency) by putting my finger frequently to my mouth, to
signify that I wanted food. The HURGO (for so they call a great lord, as
I afterwards learnt) understood me very well. He descended from the stage,
and commanded that several ladders should be applied to my sides, on which
above a hundred of the inhabitants mounted and walked towards my mouth,
laden with baskets full of meat, which had been provided and sent thither
by the king's orders, upon the first intelligence he received of me. I observed
there was the flesh of several animals, but could not distinguish them by
the taste. There were shoulders, legs, and loins, shaped like those of mutton,
and very well dressed, but smaller than the wings of a lark. I ate them
by two or three at a mouthful, and took three loaves at a time, about the
bigness of musket bullets.
They supplied me as fast as they could, showing a thousand marks of wonder
and astonishment at my bulk and appetite. I then made another sign, that
I wanted drink. They found by my eating that a small quantity would not
suffice me; and being a most ingenious people, they slung up, with great
dexterity, one of their largest hogsheads, then rolled it towards my hand,
and beat out the top; I drank it off at a draught, which I might well do,
for it did not hold half a pint, and tasted like a small wine of Burgundy,
but much more delicious. They brought me a second hogshead, which I drank
in the same manner, and made signs for more; but they had none to give me.
When I had performed these wonders, they shouted for joy, and danced upon
my breast, repeating several times as they did at first, HEKINAH DEGUL.
They made me a sign that I should throw down the two hogsheads, but first
warning the people below to stand out of the way, crying aloud, BORACH MEVOLAH;
and when they saw the vessels in the air, there was a universal shout of
HEKINAH DEGUL. I confess I was often tempted, while they were passing backwards
and forwards on my body, to seize forty or fifty of the first that came
in my reach, and dash them against the ground. But the remembrance of what
I had felt, which probably might not be the worst they could do, and the
promise of honour I made them--for so I interpreted my submissive behaviour--
soon drove out these imaginations. Besides, I now considered myself as bound
by the laws of hospitality, to a people who had treated me with so much
expense and magnificence. However, in my thoughts I could not sufficiently
wonder at the intrepidity of these diminutive mortals, who durst venture
to mount and walk upon my body, while one of my hands was at liberty, without
trembling at the very sight of so prodigious a creature as I must appear
to them. After some time, when they observed that I made no more demands
for meat, there appeared before me a person of high rank from his imperial
majesty. His excellency, having mounted on the small of my right leg, advanced
forwards up to my face, with about a dozen of his retinue; and producing
his credentials under the signet royal, which he applied close to my eyes,
spoke about ten minutes without any signs of anger, but with a kind of determinate
resolution, often pointing forwards, which, as I afterwards found, was towards
the capital city, about half a mile distant; whither it was agreed by his
majesty in council that I must be conveyed. I answered in few words, but
to no purpose, and made a sign with my hand that was loose, putting it to
the other (but over his excellency's head for fear of hurting him or his
train) and then to my own head and body, to signify that I desired my liberty.

海外逸士

It appeared that he understood me well enough, for he shook his head by
way of disapprobation, and held his hand in a posture to show that I must
be carried as a prisoner. However, he made other signs to let me understand
that I should have meat and drink enough, and very good treatment. Whereupon
I once more thought of attempting to break my bonds; but again, when I felt
the smart of their arrows upon my face and hands, which were all in blisters,
and many of the darts still sticking in them, and observing likewise that
the number of my enemies increased, I gave tokens to let them know that they
might do with me what they pleased. Upon this, the HURGO and his train withdrew,
with much civility and cheerful countenances. Soon after I heard a general
shout, with frequent repetitions of the words PEPLOM SELAN; and I felt great
numbers of people on my left side relaxing the cords to such a degree, that
I was able to turn upon my right, and to ease myself with making water;
which I very plentifully did, to the great astonishment of the people; who,
conjecturing by my motion what I was going to do, immediately opened to
the right and left on that side, to avoid the torrent, which fell with such
noise and violence from me. But before this, they had daubed my face and
both my hands with a sort of ointment, very pleasant to the smell, which,
in a few minutes, removed all the smart of their arrows. These circumstances,
added to the refreshment I had received by their victuals and drink, which
were very nourishing, disposed me to sleep. I slept about eight hours, as
I was afterwards assured; and it was no wonder, for the physicians, by the
emperor's order, had mingled a sleepy potion in the hogsheads of wine.
It seems, that upon the first moment I was discovered sleeping on the ground,
after my landing, the emperor had early notice of it by an express; and
determined in council, that I should be tied in the manner I have related,
(which was done in the night while I slept;) that plenty of meat and drink
should be sent to me, and a machine prepared to carry me to the capital
city.
This resolution perhaps may appear very bold and dangerous, and I am confident
would not be imitated by any prince in Europe on the like occasion. However,
in my opinion, it was extremely prudent, as well as generous: for, supposing
these people had endeavoured to kill me with their spears and arrows, while
I was asleep, I should certainly have awaked with the first sense of smart,
which might so far have roused my rage and strength, as to have enabled me
to break the strings wherewith I was tied; after which, as they were not
able to make resistance, so they could expect no mercy.
These people are most excellent mathematicians, and arrived to a great perfection
in mechanics, by the countenance and encouragement of the emperor, who is
a renowned patron of learning. This prince has several machines fixed on
wheels, for the carriage of trees and other great weights. He often builds
his largest men of war, whereof some are nine feet long, in the woods where
the timber grows, and has them carried on these engines three or four hundred
yards to the sea. Five hundred carpenters and engineers were immediately
set at work to prepare the greatest engine they had. It was a frame of wood
raised three inches from the ground, about seven feet long, and four wide,
moving upon twenty-two wheels. The shout I heard was upon the arrival of
this engine, which, it seems, set out in four hours after my landing. It
was brought parallel to me, as I lay. But the principal difficulty was to
raise and place me in this vehicle. Eighty poles, each of one foot high,
were erected for this purpose, and very strong cords, of the bigness of
packthread, were fastened by hooks to many bandages, which the workmen had
girt round my neck, my hands, my body, and my legs. Nine hundred of the strongest
men were employed to draw up these cords, by many pulleys fastened on the
poles; and thus, in less than three hours, I was raised and slung into the
engine, and there tied fast. All this I was told; for, while the operation
was performing, I lay in a profound sleep, by the force of that soporiferous
medicine infused into my liquor. Fifteen hundred of the emperor's largest
horses, each about four inches and a half high, were employed to draw me
towards the metropolis, which, as I said, was half a mile distant.
About four hours after we began our journey, I awaked by a very ridiculous
accident; for the carriage being stopped a while, to adjust something that
was out of order, two or three of the young natives had the curiosity to
see how I looked when I was asleep; they climbed up into the engine, and
advancing very softly to my face, one of them, an officer in the guards,
put the sharp end of his half-pike a good way up into my left nostril, which
tickled my nose like a straw, and made me sneeze violently; whereupon they
stole off unperceived, and it was three weeks before I knew the cause of
my waking so suddenly. We made a long march the remaining part of the day,
and, rested at night with five hundred guards on each side of me, half with
torches, and half with bows and arrows, ready to shoot me if I should offer
to stir. The next morning at sunrise we continued our march, and arrived
within two hundred yards of the city gates about noon. The emperor, and
all his court, came out to meet us; but his great officers would by no means
suffer his majesty to endanger his person by mounting on my body.
At the place where the carriage stopped there stood an ancient temple, esteemed
to be the largest in the whole kingdom; which, having been polluted some
years before by an unnatural murder, was, according to the zeal of those
people, looked upon as profane, and therefore had been applied to common
use, and all the ornaments and furniture carried away. In this edifice it
was determined I should lodge. The great gate fronting to the north was
about four feet high, and almost two feet wide, through which I could easily
creep. On each side of the gate was a small window, not above six inches
from the ground: into that on the left side, the king's smith conveyed four-score
and eleven chains, like those that hang to a lady's watch in Europe, and
almost as large, which were locked to my left leg with six-and-thirty padlocks.
Over against this temple, on the other side of the great highway, at twenty
feet distance, there was a turret at least five feet high. Here the emperor
ascended, with many principal lords of his court, to have an opportunity
of viewing me, as I was told, for I could not see them. It was reckoned that
above a hundred thousand inhabitants came out of the town upon the same
errand; and, in spite of my guards, I believe there could not be fewer than
ten thousand at several times, who mounted my body by the help of ladders.
But a proclamation was soon issued, to forbid it upon pain of death. When
the workmen found it was impossible for me to break loose, they cut all the
strings that bound me; whereupon I rose up, with as melancholy a disposition
as ever I had in my life. But the noise and astonishment of the people,
at seeing me rise and walk, are not to be expressed. The chains that held
my left leg were about two yards long, and gave me not only the liberty
of walking backwards and forwards in a semicircle, but, being fixed within
four inches of the gate, allowed me to creep in, and lie at my full length
in the temple.
1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 -- 19 October 1745) was an
Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then
for the Tories), poet and cleric who became Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral,
Dublin.  He is remembered for works such as Gulliver's Travels, A Modest
Proposal, A Journal to Stella, Drapier's Letters, The Battle of the Books,
An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity, and A Tale of a Tub.
3) 格列佛遊記中描述的小人國﹐我從小就聽說過﹐後來又讀了整本書。裡面還有大
人國。非常有趣。我還看過小人國的電影。這本書也是學英文的人應該讀一下的。

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高級英語教材第31課
先讀課文﹕
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 湯姆‧沙亞歷險記
by Mark Twain
CHAPTER  I
"TOM!"
No answer.
"TOM!"
No answer.
"What's gone with that boy, I wonder? You TOM!"
No answer.
The old lady pulled her spectacles 複數指眼鏡 down and looked over them
about the room; then she put them up and looked out under them. She seldom
or never looked THROUGH them for so small a thing as a boy; they were her
state pair 指擺樣子的, the pride of her heart, and were built for "style,"
not service -- she could have seen through a pair of stove-lids just as well.
She looked perplexed for a moment, and then said, not fiercely, but still
loud enough for the furniture to hear:
"Well, I lay if I get hold of you I'll --"
She did not finish, for by this time she was bending down and punching under
the bed with the broom, and so she needed breath to punctuate the punches
with. She resurrected nothing but the cat.
"I never did see the beat of that boy!"
She went to the open door and stood in it and looked out among the tomato
vines and "jimpson" weeds that constituted the garden. No Tom. So she lifted
up her voice at an angle 指頭抬高一點 calculated for distance and shouted:
"Y-o-u-u TOM!"
There was a slight noise behind her and she turned just in time to seize
a small boy by the slack of his roundabout and arrest his flight.
"There! I might 'a' [have] thought of that closet. What you been doing in
there?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing! Look at your hands. And look at your mouth. What IS that truck?"
"I don't know, aunt."
"Well, I know. It's jam -- that's what it is. Forty times I've said if you
didn't let that jam alone I'd skin you. Hand me that switch."
The switch hovered in the air -- the peril was des-perate --
"My! Look behind you, aunt!"
The old lady whirled round, and snatched her skirts out of danger. The lad
fled on the instant, scrambled up the high board-fence, and disappeared
over it.
His aunt Polly stood surprised a moment, and then broke into a gentle laugh.
"Hang the boy, can't I never learn anything? Ain't he played me tricks enough
like that for me to be look-ing out for him by this time? But old fools
is the big-gest fools there is. Can't learn an old dog new tricks, as the
saying is. But my goodness, he never plays them alike, two days, and how
is a-body [anybody] to know what's coming? He 'pears [appears] to know just
how long he can torment me before I get my dander up, and he knows if he
can make out to put me off for a minute or make me laugh, it's all down
again and I can't hit him a lick. I ain't doing my duty by that boy, and
that's the Lord's truth, goodness knows. Spare the rod and spile [spoil]
the child, as the Good Book 指聖經 says. I'm a laying up sin and suffering
for us both, I know. He's full of the Old Scratch [a folk name for The Devil],
but laws-a-me [Lord save me感嘆語]! he's my own dead sister's boy, poor
thing, and I ain't got the heart to lash him, some-how. Every time I let
him off, my conscience does hurt me so, and every time I hit him my old heart
most breaks. Well-a-well, man that is born of woman is of few days and full
of trouble, as the Scripture says, and I reckon it's so. He'll play hookey
this evening, and I'll just be obleeged [obliged] to make him work, to-morrow,
to punish him. It's mighty hard to make him work Saturdays, when all the
boys is having holiday, but he hates work more than he hates anything else,
and I've GOT to do some of my duty by him, or I'll be the ruination of the
child."
Tom did play hookey, and he had a very good time. He got back home barely
in season to help Jim, the small colored boy 指黑小孩, saw next-day's wood
and split the kindlings before supper -- at least he was there in time to
tell his adventures to Jim while Jim did three-fourths of the work. Tom's
younger brother (or rather half-brother) Sid was already through with his
part of the work (picking up chips), for he was a quiet boy, and had no
adventurous, trouble- some ways.
While Tom was eating his supper, and stealing sugar as opportunity offered,
Aunt Polly asked him questions that were full of guile, and very deep --
for she wanted to trap him into damaging revealments. Like many other simple-
hearted souls, it was her pet vanity to believe she was endowed with a talent
for dark and mysterious diplomacy, and she loved to contemplate her most
transparent devices as marvels of low cunning. Said she:
"Tom, it was middling warm [Somewhere between the last rays of morning,
the middling warmth of the day] in school, warn't it?" [wasn't it]
"Yes'm." [Yes, madam]
"Powerful warm, warn't it?"
"Yes'm."
"Didn't you want to go in a-swimming, Tom?"
A bit of a scare shot through Tom -- a touch of uncomfortable suspicion.
He searched Aunt Polly's face, but it told him nothing. So he said:
"No'm [no, madam] -- well, not very much."
The old lady reached out her hand and felt Tom's shirt, and said:
"But you ain't too warm now, though." And it flattered her to reflect that
she had discovered that the shirt was dry without anybody knowing that that
was what she had in her mind. But in spite of her, Tom knew where the wind
lay, now. So he forestalled what might be the next move:
"Some of us pumped on our heads 指把涼水澆在頭上降溫 -- mine's damp yet.
See?"
Aunt Polly was vexed to think she had overlooked that bit of circumstantial
evidence, and missed a trick. Then she had a new inspiration:
"Tom, you didn't have to undo your shirt collar where I sewed it, to pump
on your head, did you? Unbutton your jacket!"
The trouble vanished out of Tom's face. He opened his jacket. His shirt
collar was securely sewed.
"Bother! Well, go 'long [along] with you. I'd made sure you'd played hookey
and been a-swimming. But I forgive ye, Tom. I reckon you're a kind of a
singed cat, as the saying is -- better'n [than] you look. THIS time."
She was half sorry her sagacity had miscarried, and half glad that Tom had
stumbled into obedient conduct for once.
But Sidney said:
"Well, now, if I didn't think you sewed his collar with white thread, but
it's black.
"Why, I did sew it with white! Tom!"
But Tom did not wait for the rest. As he went out at the door he said:
"Siddy, I'll lick you for that."
In a safe place Tom examined two large needles which were thrust into the
lapels of his jacket, and had thread bound about them -- one needle carried
white thread and the other black. He said:
"She'd never noticed if it hadn't been for Sid. Confound it! sometimes she
sews it with white, and sometimes she sews it with black. I wish to geeminy
[Oh my goodness] she'd stick to one or t'other [the other] -- I can't keep
the run of 'em [them]. But I bet you I'll lam Sid for that. I'll learn [teach]
him!"
He was not the Model Boy of the village. He knew the model boy very well
though -- and loathed him.
Within two minutes, or even less, he had forgotten all his troubles. Not
because his troubles were one whit less heavy and bitter to him than a man's
are to a man, but because a new and powerful interest bore them down and
drove them out of his mind for the time -- just as men's misfortunes are
forgotten in the excitement of new enterprises. This new interest was a valued
novelty in whistling, which he had just acquired from a negro, and he was
suffering to practise it undisturbed. It consisted in a peculiar bird-like
turn, a sort of liquid warble, produced by touching the tongue to the roof
of the mouth at short intervals in the midst of the music -- the reader
probably remembers how to do it, if he has ever been a boy. Diligence and
attention soon gave him the knack of it, and he strode down the street with
his mouth full of harmony and his soul full of gratitude. He felt much as
an astronomer feels who has discovered a new planet -- no doubt, as far
as strong, deep, unalloyed pleasure is concerned, the advantage was with
the boy, not the astronomer.
The summer evenings were long. It was not dark, yet. Presently Tom checked
his whistle. A stranger was before him -- a boy a shade larger than himself.
A new-comer of any age or either sex was an impressive curiosity in the
poor little shabby village of St. Petersburg. This boy was well dressed,
too -- well dressed on a week-day. This was simply astounding. His cap was
a dainty thing, his close-buttoned blue cloth roundabout was new and natty,
and so were his pantaloons. He had shoes on -- and it was only Friday. He
even wore a necktie, a bright bit of ribbon. He had a citified air about
him that ate into Tom's vitals. The more Tom stared at the splendid marvel,
the higher he turned up his nose at his finery and the shabbier and shabbier
his own outfit seemed to him to grow. Neither boy spoke. If one moved, the
other moved -- but only sidewise, in a circle; they kept face to face and
eye to eye all the time. Finally Tom said:
"I can lick you!"
"I'd like to see you try it."
"Well, I can do it."
"No you can't, either."
"Yes I can."
"No you can't."
"I can."
"You can't."
"Can!"
"Can't!"
An uncomfortable pause. Then Tom said:
"What's your name?"
"'Tisn't any of your business, maybe."
"Well I 'low [allow] I'll MAKE it my business."
"Well why don't you?"
"If you say much, I will."
"Much -- much -- MUCH. There now."
"Oh, you think you're mighty smart, DON'T you? I could lick you with one
hand tied behind me, if I wanted to."
"Well why don't you DO it? You SAY you can do it."
"Well I WILL, if you fool with me."
"Oh yes -- I've seen whole families in the same fix."
"Smarty! You think you're SOME, now, DON'T you? Oh, what a hat!"
"You can lump that hat if you don't like it. I dare you to knock it off
-- and anybody that'll take a dare will suck eggs."
"You're a liar!"
"You're another."
"You're a fighting liar and dasn't [dare not] take it up."
"Aw -- take a walk!"
"Say -- if you give me much more of your sass I'll take and bounce a rock
off'n [on] your head."
"Oh, of COURSE you will."
"Well I WILL."
"Well why don't you DO it then? What do you keep SAYING you will for? Why
don't you DO it? It's because you're afraid."
"I AIN'T afraid."
"You are."
"I ain't."
"You are."
Another pause, and more eying and sidling around each other. Presently they
were shoulder to shoulder. Tom said:
"Get away from here!"
"Go away yourself!"
"I won't."
"I won't either."
So they stood, each with a foot placed at an angle as a brace, and both
shoving with might and main, and glowering at each other with hate. But
neither could get an advantage. After struggling till both were hot and
flushed, each relaxed his strain with watchful caution, and Tom said:
"You're a coward and a pup. I'll tell my big brother on you, and he can
thrash you with his little finger, and I'll make him do it, too."
"What do I care for your big brother? I've got a brother that's bigger than
he is -- and what's more, he can throw him over that fence, too." (Both
brothers were imaginary.)
"That's a lie."
"YOUR saying so don't make it so."
Tom drew a line in the dust with his big toe, and said:
"I dare you to step over that, and I'll lick you till you can't stand up.
Anybody that'll take a dare will steal sheep 指剽竊."
The new boy stepped over promptly, and said:
"Now you said you'd do it, now let's see you do it."
"Don't you crowd me now; you better look out."
"Well, you SAID you'd do it -- why don't you do it?"
"By jingo! for two cents I WILL do it."
The new boy took two broad coppers out of his pocket and held them out with
derision. Tom struck them to the ground. In an instant both boys were rolling
and tumbling in the dirt, gripped together like cats; and for the space
of a minute they tugged and tore at each other's hair and clothes, punched
and scratched each other's nose, and covered themselves with dust and glory.
Presently the confusion took form, and through the fog of battle Tom appeared,
seated astride the new boy, and pounding him with his fists. "Holler 'nuff!"
said he.
The boy only struggled to free himself. He was crying -- mainly from rage.
"Holler 'nuff!" -- and the pounding went on.
At last the stranger got out a smothered "'Nuff!" and Tom let him up and
said:
"Now that'll learn you. Better look out who you're fooling with next time."
The new boy went off brushing the dust from his clothes, sobbing, snuffling,
and occasionally looking back and shaking his head and threatening what
he would do to Tom the "next time he caught him out." To which Tom responded
with jeers, and started off in high feather, and as soon as his back was
turned the new boy snatched up a stone, threw it and hit him between the
shoulders and then turned tail and ran like an antelope. Tom chased the traitor
home, and thus found out where he lived. He then held a position at the
gate for some time, daring the enemy to come outside, but the enemy only
made faces at him through the window and declined. At last the enemy's mother
appeared, and called Tom a bad, vicious, vulgar child, and ordered him away.
So he went away; but he said he "'lowed" to "lay" for that boy.
He got home pretty late that night, and when he climbed cautiously in at
the window, he uncovered an ambuscade, in the person of his aunt; and when
she saw the state his clothes were in her resolution to turn his Saturday
holiday into captivity at hard labor became adamantine in its firmness.
1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835-- April 21, 1910),
better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist.
He is most noted for his novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), and
its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), the latter often called
"the Great American Novel."
Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the setting
for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He apprenticed with a printer. He also
worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to his older brother Orion's
newspaper. After toiling as a printer in various cities, he became a master
riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River, before heading west to join Orion.
He was a failure at gold mining, so he next turned to journalism. While a
reporter, he wrote a humorous story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras
County", which became very popular and brought nationwide attention.
3) 筆名由來﹕If you don't already know why Samuel Clemens is known as Mark
Twain, it has to do with his love of the Mississippi River, and his time
as a pilot of the beautiful and functional steamboats of the time. Mark
twain was an old term used on the river. It meant two fathoms or twelve
feet, which indicated safe water that the steamboat could make safe passage
on the river at that point. Sam Clemens would have been very familiar with
the term, as he was a riverboat pilot. 據說這是密西西比河上水手的用語﹐表
示這裡水深標誌MARK是TWAIN﹐即two fathoms﹐水深測量單位。
4) 情節簡介﹕The story takes place in the small village of St. Petersburg,
Missouri, which is located on the banks of the Mississippi River. The time
period is the mid-1800's and is therefore a possible reflection of Mark
Twain's opinion on the politics and racial prejudice of the time. Tom Sawyer
and his brother, Sid, are orphans and live with their Aunt Polly. Tom is
very mischievous and at the beginning of the novel he is hiding from Aunt
Polly in the pantry, where he steals some jam. When she catches him he runs
away and plays hookey from school by going swimming.
Tom's punishment is to whitewash the entire fence. Although he doesn't want
to do this chore, he sets to it and when his friends come along he convinces
them that it is so much fun that they eagerly pay him to let them do some
of the work. When Aunt Polly lets him go, Tom and his friend Joe go off
playing the games that they think up through their imaginations. On the way
home, Tom sees a new girl, Becky Thatcher, and instantly falls in love. 網
上可讀全書。
5) 馬克‧吐溫也是美國著名作家﹐其“湯姆‧沙亞歷險記”也屬世界名著。還拍成
電影。學英文者不可不讀。