第二册第19篇：海德公园里的窃贼

19 The Burglar In Hyde Park 海德公园里的窃贼
L.G. Alexander L．G．亚历山大
 
Loud shouting in the distance made us look up. This was nothing unusual for Hyde Park, for many people come here on a Sunday to air their views, and shouting is the only means by which they can make themselves heard. We had become part of a large crowd which moved from speaker to speaker to hear what each one had to say. So far, we had listened to political speeches, serious debates, and lonely singers wailing¹ dolefully to themselves. Now the newcomer attracted our attention, mainly because of the extreme loudness of his voice.
远处的大声叫嚷引起我们抬头看望。这在海德公园是很寻常的事，因为有许多人星期天来这里发表自己的观点，而只有大声叫喊才能使别人听清楚他们讲话。我们随着人群在一个又一个演讲者的跟前拥过去，听他们各自要说些什么。到这时为止，我们已经听了一些政治演说，严肃的辩论以及孤独的歌唱者自悲自叹的哀唱。忽然，一个新来者引起了我们的注意，这主要是因为他的嗓门特别高。

We soon discovered that the cause of all this commotion² was certainly the ugliest fellow we had ever seen. He was completely bald and his face was painted red and blue so that he looked rather like a Red Indian chieftain. When a reasonable crowd had gathered, the man quietened down, surveyed everybody with some contempt, and proceeded to undo³ his shirt. Soon he was displaying a huge, coloured tattoo⁴ which covered the whole of his back and chest. When the man was satisfied that he had produced the desired effect on the crowd, he explained quite plainly that he was a burglar and wanted to say a few words about his trade. He commenced by criticizing the police severely⁵ tor impeding⁶ him in his work. Policemen, he explained, were ungrateful to him, because it was people like himself who kept them busy. These remarks so astonished the crowd, that it drew round him closer, anxious to hear more. The man began describing the art of getting through a closed window at night, when a formidable old lady shook her umbrella at him and said that if he did not go away, she would call a policeman. The burglar calmly pointed⁷ out that the police were his friends, and only took an interest in him when he was about his 'lawful⁸' work(2). Glaring at the crowd, he said that if anyone else had any further comments to make, he would be glad to meet him in the dark(3). The crowd laughed uneasily, but the old lady stalked off(4) angrily to fetch a policeman. We waited expectantly to see what would happen as the burglar continued to explain how easy it was to pick a lock(5) with a hairpin⁹.
我们不久就发觉，引起这场骚动的，肯定是那个我们有生以来所见到的第一号丑汉。他完全秃了顶，满脸涂着红蓝两色，看上去活象一个印第安人的酋长。当一个相当大的人群汇拢以后，他便安静下来，用带有几分轻蔑的目光打量了一下每个人，接着开始脱衬衣。不一会，他向众人展示了满布他前胸和后背的彩色文身。当他相信在群众中已经产生了预期的效果时，便很坦率地表明自己是个撬窃贼，想就自己所干的那一行谈一些想法。他一开始就严厉地批评警察妨碍他的工作。他解释道，警察对他忘恩负义，因为正是象他这种人才使警察忙忙碌碌。他的这一番话使周围的人感到惊讶，就朝他靠得更近，急于想听听下文。那人开始描述他深夜撬窗入室的窍门，而就在那时，一个威风凛凛的老太婆朝他挥舞着雨伞，并且说，要是他不离开的话，她就要去叫警察。窃贼若无其事地向她指出；警察都是他的朋友，只有当他在干他的"法定的"工作时，他们才对他感兴趣。窃贼虎视眈眈地望着人群说，假若有什么人还有意见要发表的话，他将乐意与他秘密会谈。人群中发出了不自然的笑声，而那个老太婆却愤然大踏步离开了人群去叫警察。当窃贼接下去讲述用发夹撬开一把锁是如何轻而易举的时候，我们倒很想瞧一瞧结局将会怎样。
 
 
英文注释：
(1) Hyde Park：伦敦的海德公园，因常常举行各种政治性集会而著称。
(2) was about his…work：在从事于自己的……工作。
(3)to meet him in the dark：与他秘密会淡。in the dark此处解作"不为人知"，"偷偷地"。
(4)stalked off；高视阔步地离去。
(5)pick a lock；撬锁。

1 wailing   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱

参考例句：

• A police car raced past with its siren wailing. 一辆警车鸣着警报器飞驰而过。
• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。

2 commotion   

n.骚动，动乱

参考例句：

• They made a commotion by yelling at each other in the theatre.他们在剧院里相互争吵，引起了一阵骚乱。
• Suddenly the whole street was in commotion.突然间，整条街道变得一片混乱。

3 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

4 tattoo   

n.纹身，(皮肤上的)刺花纹；vt.刺花纹于

参考例句：

• I've decided to get my tattoo removed.我已经决定去掉我身上的纹身。
• He had a tattoo on the back of his hand.他手背上刺有花纹。

5 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

6 impeding   

a.(尤指坏事)即将发生的，临近的

参考例句：

• Fallen rock is impeding the progress of rescue workers. 坠落的石头阻滞了救援人员的救援进程。
• Is there sufficient room for the kiosk and kiosk traffic without impeding other user traffic? 该环境下是否有足够的空间来摆放信息亭？信息亭是否会妨碍交通或者行走？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

7 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

8 lawful   

adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的

参考例句：

• It is not lawful to park in front of a hydrant.在消火栓前停车是不合法的。
• We don't recognised him to be the lawful heir.我们不承认他为合法继承人。

9 hairpin   

n.簪,束发夹，夹发针

参考例句：

• She stuck a small flower onto the front of her hairpin.她在发簪的前端粘了一朵小花。
• She has no hairpin because her hair is short.因为她头发短，所以没有束发夹。