美国语文第五册 第138期:遗嘱(1)

 　　Characters: Swipes, a brewer¹; Currie, a saddler; Frank Millington; and squire² Drawl. 人物：斯威伯：酿酒人；柯里：马具商；弗兰克·米林顿；德洛法官。

　　Swipes says: A sober occasion, this, brother Currie.  斯威伯：这地方忒严肃正经了，柯里兄弟，

　　Who would have thought the old lady was so near her end?  谁能想到那老太太这么快就走了呢？

　　Currie says: Ah! we must all die, brother Swipes; and those who live the longest outlive the most.  柯里：哈，人人免不了一死，斯威伯兄弟，谁活得最长，谁就活得最好。

　　True, true; but, since we must die and leave our earthly possessions,  不错，此言不虚。不过，既然我们都会死，留下身后世俗财富，

　　it is well that the law takes such good care of us. Had the old lady her senses when she departed?  老天有眼啊，律法还能这样眷顾我们，老太太去世时，她果真这么想的？

　　Perfectly³, perfectly. Squire Drawl told me she read every word of the will aloud, and never signed her name better.  当然，千真万确的事。德洛法官告诉我，老太太当时一字字大声读出自己遗嘱，签名时，她从未把自己名字写得那么顺溜。

　　Had you any hint from the Squire what disposition⁴ she made of her property?  你是否从法官那听到什么风声，她如何处置她的遗产？

　　Not a whisper; the Squire is as close as an underground tomb;  一丝口风也没听到，那家伙嘴紧得像墓里的死鬼。

　　but one of the witnesses hinted to me that she had cut off her graceless nephew, Frank, without a shilling.  不过，有位在场的对我透露，老太太剥夺了弗兰克的遗产继承权，即她那不争气的侄儿，愣是一个子儿也没给他留下。

　　Has she, good soul, has she? You know I come in, then, in right of my wife.  真是这样？她太好了，真的吗？你要知道，我代表我老婆来这儿的。

　　And I in my own right; and this is no doubt the reason why we have been called to hear the reading of the will. 我可是代表我自己，之所以来听法官大人宣读老太太的遗嘱，我俩来这里的理由完全无懈可击。

　　Squire Drawl knows how things should be done, though he is as air-tight as one of your beer barrels.  德洛法官知道如何处理遗产问题，尽管他不露丝毫风声，嘴巴严实地好像你家那些密封的啤酒桶。

1 brewer   

n. 啤酒制造者

参考例句：

• Brewer is a very interesting man. 布鲁尔是一个很有趣的人。
• I decided to quit my job to become a brewer. 我决定辞职，做一名酿酒人。

2 squire   

n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅

参考例句：

• I told him the squire was the most liberal of men.我告诉他乡绅是世界上最宽宏大量的人。
• The squire was hard at work at Bristol.乡绅在布里斯托尔热衷于他的工作。

3 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

4 disposition   

n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署

参考例句：

• He has made a good disposition of his property.他已对财产作了妥善处理。
• He has a cheerful disposition.他性情开朗。