评论
打印
Angrily, I turned and felt my way down. There was a crash of thunder, and suddenly the rain came down. At the bottom of the stairs I looked towards the kitchen, and could see, in the next flash of lightning, a figure standing still in the doorway, listening. When the thunder sounded again, louder than before, he ran back inside, and I followed as softly as I could. I found him sitting in the kitchen, drinking whisky straight from the bottle, and shaking with fear. Quietly I came up behind him, and, putting my hands suddenly on his shoulders, cried, 'Ah!'
我气呼呼地掉转过头，摸索着往下爬。雷电轰鸣，忽然间下起雨来。我站在楼梯的底端往厨房看，借助下一道闪电的光亮看见一个人静静地站在门口倾听着。当雷声又响起而且雷声大过以前时，他跑回里面，我尽可能悄悄地跟着他。我发现他坐在厨房里，直接用酒瓶喝着威士忌，身体因害怕而在发抖。我轻轻地从他身后走上前去，忽然间把手放到他的肩上，大声叫道：“啊！”
My uncle gave a kind of broken cry, and fell to the floor like a dead man. His face was a strange blue colour, and I began to think that he really was dead.
我叔叔急促地尖叫起来并摔倒在地上，像一个死人一样。他的脸色显现出一种奇怪的蓝色，我开始琢磨他是不是真的死了。
At last his eyes opened, and he looked up and saw me. 'Oh man, are ye alive or a ghost?' he cried 'Get me my medicine, Davie—it's for my heart.' I found the medicine bottle and gave him some. He soon began to look a little better. 'Why did you lie to me?' I asked angrily.
最后他的双眼睁开了，他抬起头看着我。“噢，伙计，你到底是活着还是个幽灵？”他叫道。“把我的药给我，戴维——治疗我的心脏用的那种。”我找到药瓶，给了他一些药。他很快就开始看着好一点了。“你为什么对我扯谎？”我生气地问道。
'Why did you give me money? And why did you try to kill me? Answer me!'
“你为什么给我钱？你为什么还想杀死我？回答我！”
'I'll tell ye tomorrow, Davie, I promise. Help me to bed now, will ye?' He still looked very ill, so I could not refuse. But this time I locked his bedroom door, and went to sleep in front of the kitchen fire.
“明天我会告诉你的，戴维，我发誓。现在帮忙把我扶到床上，行吗？”他看起来仍病得很厉害，所以我不能拒绝。但这一次我锁上了他的卧室的门，然后在厨房的炉火前睡了。
When I woke up in the morning, I felt very pleased with myself. 'He thinks he's cleverer than me, but he isn't!' I thought. When I let my uncle out of his room, I asked him again for an explanation. After a while, he said, 'Davie, I have some business with a ship's captain at Queensferry. Now, we could walk over there, and when I've done my business, we could visit the lawyer, Mr Rankeillor. He'll answer all your questions. He's an honest man, and he knew your father. What do ye say to that?'
第二天早晨当我醒来时，我对自己感到很高兴。“他以为他比我聪明，但他不是！”我想。当我把我叔叔放出房间时，我又要他解释一下。过了一会儿，他说道：“戴维，我和昆斯费里的一个船长有笔生意。现在我们走到那儿去，我做完生意时我们可以拜访一下律师兰基勒先生。他将解答你所有的问题。他是一个诚实的人，他认识你父亲。那么做你意下如何？”
I thought for a moment. I had never seen the sea, but had always wanted to! 'It's a grand idea,' I said.
我想了一下。我从未见过大海，但一直想见！“是个好主意，”我说道。
It was a morning's walk to Queensferry, which was west of Edinburgh, but we did not say a word to each other on the way. Suddenly, at the top of a hill, we could see the Firth of Forth below us, blue and calm, with white sails on it.
昆斯费里位于爱丁堡西侧，我们走了一上午才到，但一路上我们没有互相说话。猛然，在山顶上，我们看见了下面的福斯湾，湛蓝湛蓝的，又风平浪静，白帆点点。
'Ye see that public house?' asked my uncle. 'Captain Hoseason's there, to do business with me. There's the ship's boat on the beach, waiting to take him to the ship. And there's the ship itself! A grand ship!'
“你看见了那个小酒店吗？”我叔叔问道，“霍齐亚森船长在那儿，要和我做生意。海滩上有船上的小艇，等着把他带到船上去。那就是那船本身！一条大船！”
I had to agree with him. The sailors were getting the ship ready for sailing, and I thought what an exciting adventure that would be—to sail away to a foreign country.
我得同意他的。水手们正在把船收拾停当以备远航。我想着远航去一个遥远的国度将是一次多么激动人心的历险啊。
We walked down the hill to the public house and met the captain there. He was a tall, dark, serious-looking man, who shook hands politely with me. Stupidly, I left these two men to their business, and ran down to the beach, to talk to the sailors and look at the boats. It was all new and very interesting to me.
我们走下山到了小酒店，在那儿见到了船长。他是个大高个儿，皮肤黝黑，表情严肃。他有礼貌地和我握握手。傻呵呵地，我让这两个人去干他们自己的事，自己跑到海滩上去和水手们聊天并去看那些小艇。这对我来说都是新鲜事，都很令人感兴趣。
