有声名著之简爱Jene Eyer Chapter13

　　CHAPTER THIRTEEN Mr. Mason is Attacked
I woke up in the middle of the night to hear someone shouting. I jumped out of bed. It came from the top floor! What was happening? Then I heard the sounds of two people fighting.
“Help! Help! Help! Won’t anyone help me?” yelled¹ a man’s voice. “Rochester! Rochester! for God’s sake²!”
All the ladies and gentlemen woke up and opened their doors. “What’s happening? Are there murderers⁴ in the house? Where’s Rochester?” they cried.
“Here I am!” said Rochester, coming from the stairs. “It’s all right. Don’t be afraid, ladies. A servant has had a bad dream, that’s all, and started shouting. There’s nothing to worry about. Please go back to sleep.” These words seemed to calm everyone, so they went back to bed.
But I knew that I had heard two people fighting. I dressed and waited in my room, in case Mr. Rochester needed me. Soon Thornfield Hall was quiet again. Then I heard someone outside my door.
“Are you awake, Jane?” said Mr. Rochester.
“yes, sir, and dressed.”
“Good, I need your help. Bring a clean cloth with you.” Quickly and quietly we went up to the top floor. Mr. Rochester opened one of the small black doors. “Does the sight of blood frighten you? He asked.
“I don’t think so,” I said. We walked into a large, dark room with curtains hung on the walls. On one of the walls a curtain was pushed back. I saw a secret door that led into another room. From inside the room, I heard angry sounding noises. They sounded like an animal’s but also like a human’s
“Wait here,” said Mr. Rochester. Quickly he went into the secret room. I heard loud, frightening laughter⁵, and Mr. Rochester speaking in a soft voice. Grace⁶ Poole was in there, I thought. She must truly be crazy! Then Mr. Rochester came out, closing the secret door behind him. Suddenly I noticed that Mr. Mason was witting in a chair. He was covered in blood. Suddenly he opened his eyes and looked at us.
“Am I going to die?” he asked.
“No, of course not,” answered Mr. Rochester. “Now Jane,” he said, turning to me, “I’ll have to leave you alone with Mason while I find the doctor. Please care for him while I’m gone, but do not speak to him.” I nodded, and nervously⁷ watched him leave the room. He locked the door when he left.
So here I was, locked in a room with a wounded⁸ man and a crazy, violent⁹ murderer³, only on the other side of a small door! It was a long night. I had plenty of time to think about all the strange things that had happened. First, there was the fire in Mr. Rochester’s room, and now another attack on a stranger. How was Mr. Mason involved? What was he doing on the top floor? Not many people at Thornfield went up there, Mr. Mason’s bedroom was near mine. And, most of all, why was Mr. Rochester so frightened when I told him that Mr. Mason had come to Thornfield?
At last, Rochester and the doctor arrived.
“This is strange!” said the doctor. “The skin on the shoulder has been bitten, but also cut with a knife.”
“When Rochester took the knife from her, she bit me,” Mason said weakly.
“Well, Mason, I told you never to see her alone, or something like this might happen.” Said Rochester. “When you return to the West Indies, forget about her. She is not the same person you knew. You must think of her as dead. Now, doctor, is Mason going to be all right? When you leave here, you can take him home with you, and then in a few days he can leave England.”
It was now early in the morning, and the birds were beginning to sing. But the house was still quiet. No one saw Mr. mason leave with the doctor.
“Look after him, doctor.” Said Rochester. “Goodbye, Richard.” I thought his voice sounded tired ,and sad.
“Edward, always take care of her, treat her well…”
“I’ll do my best, Richard. I always have,” said Rochester, Then Mr. Mason left. “But I wish all this would be over!” he said to himself, after he had gone.
As we returned to the house, he said to me, “Jane, were you frightened when I left you there with Mason?”
“I wasn’t afraid of Mason, sir. I was afraid of Grace Poole.”
“But I licked¹⁰ her in that room so no one would be hurt. I would never leave you in danger.”
“Will she continue to live here, sir?” I asked.
“Yes, but don’t think about her. She can’t hurt you.”
“Sir, I’m sure your life is in danger while she’s at Thornfield.”
“Don’t worry, Jane. Mason is more dangerous to me. He could hurt me very badly.”
“How, sir?” I asked.
“If he decided¹¹ to talk about me, he could destroy my chance for happiness in life. Sit sown¹² with me in the garden, Jane. I want to ask you something.”
The sky was blue and the birds were singing. “Now, Jane, what if there was a man who made a terrible mistake, years ago in a foreign country. For many years he must live with this mistake. It seems he will always be unhappy and alone. Suddenly, he meets someone fresh, good and pure. Now, can he forget the terrible past, and live the rest of his life with her in peace?”
It was a difficult question to answer. In the end I said.
“Sir, even if this woman was very good, another human can’t give you peace. You must ask for God’s help.”
“But I think I’ve found the woman who can make me happy forever! It’s…” he paused¹³. I thought my heart would stop. I was waiting for him to say…
“Blanche Ingram,” Mr. Rochester said in a hard-sounding voice. His face looked much less happy than before. He would not look at me as he spoke¹⁴. “You know that I love her, don’t you, Jane? Don’t you think she’ll make me happy?”

1 yelled   

v.叫喊，号叫，叫着说( yell的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He yelled at the other driver. 他冲着另一位司机大叫。
• The lost man yelled, hoping someone in the woods would hear him. 迷路的人大声喊着，希望林子里的人会听见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 sake   

n.缘故，理由

参考例句：

• He loves poetry for beauty's sake.他因为爱美而喜欢诗歌。
• We can't risk big things for the sake of small ones.我们不能因小失大。

3 murderer   

n.杀人犯，凶手

参考例句：

• How long should a murderer be kept in prison?犯了谋杀罪的人应在监狱关多少年？
• They discovered the murderer to have run away.他们发现凶手已逃之夭夭。

4 murderers   

n.谋杀犯，凶手( murderer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The murderers lurked behind the trees. 谋杀者埋伏在树后。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Hollywood films misrepresented us as drunks, maniacs and murderers. 好莱坞电影把我们歪曲成酒鬼、疯子和杀人凶手。 来自辞典例句

5 laughter   

n.笑，笑声

参考例句：

• I don't know how my story caused so much laughter.我不知我的故事怎么引起如此大笑。
• The audience gave way to uncontrollable bursts of laughter.听众忍不住发出一阵阵笑声。

6 grace   

n.优雅，雅致，魅力，恩惠，慈悲

参考例句：

• She is a beautiful girl with the grace and poise.她是一位仪态优雅的佳丽。
• I hope the grace of God would descend on me.我期望上帝的恩惠。

7 nervously   

adv.神情激动地，不安地

参考例句：

• He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇，努力忍着不哭出来。
• He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。

8 wounded   

adj.受伤的；n.伤员

参考例句：

• The wounded man let out a cry of pain.伤员发出一阵痛苦的叫喊声。
• She attended on the wounded soldier day and night.她日夜护理着负伤的战士。

9 violent   

adj.暴力的，猛烈的，激烈的，极端的，凶暴的，歪曲的

参考例句：

• The madman was violent and had to be locked up.这个精神病患者很凶暴，不得不把他锁起来。
• They caught him and gave him a violent beating.他们抓住了他，把他狠狠打了一顿。

10 licked   

舔( lick的过去式和过去分词 )； 打败； （波浪）轻拍； （火焰）吞卷

参考例句：

• He licked his fingers. 他舔了一下自己的手指。
• The flames of the fire licked the sides of the fireplace. 火焰卷烧着壁炉的边缘。

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

12 sown   

v.（在已播种有另一种作物的土地上）套种（晚栽作物）( undersow的过去式和过去分词 )；sow的过去分词

参考例句：

• We sowed our vegetable seed yesterday.Have you sown yours? 昨天我们播下了菜籽，你也播了吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Once you've sown, you just have to trust to luck. 播下种子后，让它听天由命长吧。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 paused   

v.停顿( pause的过去式和过去分词 )；暂停；（按暂停键）暂停放音；暂停放像

参考例句：

• We paused for the red light at State College Street. 我们在州立大学大街上因遇到红灯而停了一下。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The joggers paused to catch their breath. 慢跑者们暂停下来以便喘口气。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。