一月十九日早晨，还没到五点钟贝茜就端了蜡烛来到我房间，看见我己经起身，并差不多梳理完毕。她进来之前半小时，我就已起床。一轮半月正在下沉、月光从床边狭窄的窗户泻进房间，我借着月光洗了脸，穿好了衣服，那天我就要离开盖茨黑德，乘坐早晨六点钟经过院子门口的马车，只有贝茜己经起来了。她在保育室里生了火，这会儿正动手给我做早饭。孩子们想到出门而兴奋不已，是很少能吃得下饭的，我也是如此，贝茜硬劝我吃几口为我准备的热牛奶和面包，但白费工夫，只得用纸包了些饼干，塞进了我兜里。随后她帮我穿上长外衣，戴上宽边帽，又用披巾把她自己包裹好，两人便离开了保育室，经过里德太太卧房时，她说："想进去同太太说声再见吗。"



"算啦，贝茜，昨天晚上你下楼去吃晚饭的时候，她走到我床边，说是早晨我不必打搅她或表妹们了，她让我记住，她永远是我最好的朋友，让我以后这么谈起她，对她感激万分。"



"你怎么回答她呢，小姐？"



"我什么也没说，只是用床单蒙住脸，转过身去对着墙壁，"



"那就是你的不是了，简小姐。"



"我做得很对，贝茜。你的太太向来不是我的朋友，她是我的敌人。"



"简小姐！别这样说！"



"再见了盖茨黑德！"我路过大厅走出前门时说。



月亮已经下沉，天空一片漆黑。贝茜打着灯，灯光闪烁在刚刚解冻而湿漉漉的台阶和砂石路上。冬天的清晨阴湿寒冷。我匆匆沿着车道走去，牙齿直打哆棘，看门人的卧室亮着灯光。到了那里，只见他妻子正在生火。前一天晚上我的箱子就已经拿下楼，捆好绳子放在门边。这时离六点还差几分。不一会钟响了，远处传来辚辚的车声，宣告马车已经到来。我走到门边，凝望着车灯迅速冲破黑暗，渐渐靠近。



"她一个人走吗？"门房的妻子问。



"是呀。"



"离这儿多远？"



"五十英里。"



"多远啊！真奇怪，里德太太竟让她一个人走得那么远，却一点也不担心。"



马车停了下来，就在大门口，由四匹马拖着，车顶上坐满了乘客。车夫和护车的大声催促我快些上车，我的箱子给递了上去，我自己则从贝茜的脖子上被拖下来带走，因为我正贴着她脖子亲吻呢。



"千万好好照应她呀，"护车人把我提起来放进车里时，贝茜对他说。



"行啊，行啊！"那人回答。车门关上了，"好啦，"一声大叫，我们便上路了。就这样我告别了贝茜和盖茨黑德，一阵风似地被卷往陌生的、当时看来遥远和神秘的地方。



一路行程，我已记得不多。只知道那天长得出奇，而且似乎赶了几百里路。我们经过几个城镇，在其中很大的一个停了下来。车夫卸了马，让乘客们下车吃饭。我被带进一家客找，护车人要我吃些中饭，我却没有胃口，他便扔下我走了，让我留在个巨大无比的房间里，房间的两头都有一个火炉，天花板上悬挂着一盏枝形吊灯，高高的墙上有一个小小的红色陈列窗，里面放满了乐器。我在房间里来回走了很久，心里很不自在，害怕有人会进来把我拐走。我相信确有拐子，他们所干的勾当常常出现在贝茜火炉旁所讲的故事中。护车人终于回来了，我再次被塞进马车，我的保护人登上座位，吹起了闷声闷气的号角，车子一阵丁当，驶过了Ｌ镇的"石子街"。

FIVE o'clock had hardly struck on the morning of the 19th of January, when Bessie brought a candle into my closet and found me already up and nearly dressed. I had risen half an hour before her entrance, and had washed my face, and put on my clothes by the light of a half-moon just setting, whose rays streamed through the narrow window near my crib. I was to leave Gateshead that day by a coach which passed the lodge gates at six A.M. Bessie was the only person yet risen; she had lit a fire in the nursery, where she now proceeded to make my breakfast. Few children can eat when excited with the thoughts of a journey; nor could I. Bessie, having pressed me in vain to take a few spoonfuls of the boiled milk and bread she had prepared for me, wrapped up some biscuits in a paper and put them into my bag; then she helped me on with my pelisse and bonnet, and wrapping herself in a shawl, she and I left the nursery. As we passed Mrs. Reed's bedroom, she said, 'Will you go in and bid Missis good-bye?'

'No, Bessie: she came to my crib last night when you were gone down to supper, and said I need not disturb her in the morning, or my cousins either; and she told me to remember that she had always been my best friend, and to speak of her and be grateful to her accordingly.'



'What did you say, Miss?'



'Nothing: I covered my face with the bedclothes, and turned from her to the wall.'



'That was wrong, Miss Jane.'



'It was quite right, Bessie. Your Missis has not been my friend: she has been my foe.'



'O Miss Jane! don't say so!'



'Good-bye to Gateshead!' cried I, as we passed through the hall and went out at the front door.



The moon was set, and it was very dark; Bessie carried a lantern, whose light glanced on wet steps and gravel road sodden by a recent thaw. Raw and chill was the winter morning: my teeth chattered as I hastened down the drive. There was a light in the porter's lodge: when we reached it, we found the porter's wife just kindling her fire: my trunk, which had been carried down the evening before, stood corded at the door. It wanted but a few minutes of six, and shortly after that hour had struck, the distant roll of wheels announced the coming coach; I went to the door and watched its lamps approach rapidly through the gloom.



'Is she going by herself?' asked the porter's wife.



'Yes.'



'And how far is it?'



'Fifty miles.'



'What a long way! I wonder Mrs. Reed is not afraid to trust her so far alone.'



The coach drew up; there it was at the gates with its four horses and its top laden with passengers: the guard and coachman loudly urged haste; my trunk was hoisted up; I was taken from Bessie's neck, to which I clung with kisses.



'Be sure and take good care of her,' cried she to the guard, as he lifted me into the inside.



'Ay, ay!' was the answer: the door was slapped to, a voice exclaimed 'All right,' and on we drove. Thus was I severed from Bessie and Gateshead; thus whirled away to unknown, and, as I then deemed, remote and mysterious regions.



I remember but little of the journey; I only know that the day seemed to me of a preternatural length, and that we appeared to travel over hundreds of miles of road. We passed through several towns, and in one, a very large one, the coach stopped; the horses were taken out, and the passengers alighted to dine. I was carried into an inn, where the guard wanted me to have some dinner; but, as I had no appetite, he left me in an immense room with a fireplace at each end, a chandelier pendent from the ceiling, and a little red gallery high up against the wall filled with musical instruments. Here I walked about for a long time, feeling very strange, and mortally apprehensive of some one coming in and kidnapping me; for I believed in kidnappers, their exploits having frequently figured in Bessie's fireside chronicles. At last the guard returned; once more I was stowed away in the coach, my protector mounted his own seat, sounded The afternoon came on wet and somewhat misty: as it waned into dusk, I began to feel that we were getting very far indeed from Gateshead: we ceased to pass through towns; the country changed; great grey hills heaved up round the horizon: as twilight deepened, we descended a valley, dark with wood, and long after night had overclouded the prospect, I heard a wild wind rushing amongst trees.

昨日链接

http://sl.iciba.com/html/2006/1011/10/151369_1.htm?random=1160617068

最后由 蓝色雨恋 于 2006-10-12 09:39 编辑


关键字:双语故事
生词表: