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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
THAT was Tom's great secret -- the scheme to return home with his brother pirates and attend their own funerals. They had paddled over to the Missouri shore on a log, at dusk on Saturday, landing five or six miles below the village; they had slept in the woods at the edge of the town till nearly daylight, and had then crept through back lanes and alleys1 and finished their sleep in the gallery of the church among a chaos2 of invalided3 benches.
At breakfast, Monday morning, Aunt Polly and Mary were very loving to Tom, and very attentive4 to his wants. There was an unusual amount of talk. In the course of it Aunt Polly said:
"Well, I don't say it wasn't a fine joke, Tom, to keep everybody suffering 'most a week so you boys had a good time, but it is a pity you could be so hard-hearted as to let me suffer so. If you could come over on a log to go to your funeral, you could have come over and give me a hint some way that you warn't dead, but only run off."
"Yes, you could have done that, Tom," said Mary; "and I believe you would if you had thought of it."
"Would you, Tom?" said Aunt Polly, her face lighting5 wistfully. "Say, now, would you, if you'd thought of it?"
"I -- well, I don't know. 'Twould 'a' spoiled everything."
"Tom, I hoped you loved me that much," said Aunt Polly, with a grieved tone that discomforted the boy. "It would have been something if you'd cared enough to think of it, even if you didn't do it."
"Now, auntie, that ain't any harm," pleaded Mary; "it's only Tom's giddy way -- he is always in such a rush that he never thinks of anything."
"More's the pity. Sid would have thought. And Sid would have come and done it, too. Tom, you'll look back, some day, when it's too late, and wish you'd cared a little more for me when it would have cost you so little."
"Now, auntie, you know I do care for you," said Tom.
"I'd know it better if you acted more like it."
"I wish now I'd thought," said Tom, with a repentant6 tone; "but I dreamt about you, anyway. That's something, ain't it?"
"It ain't much -- a cat does that much -- but it's better than nothing. What did you dream?"
"Why, Wednesday night I dreamt that you was sitting over there by the bed, and Sid was sitting by the woodbox, and Mary next to him."
"Well, so we did. So we always do. I'm glad your dreams could take even that much trouble about us."
"And I dreamt that Joe Harper's mother was here."
"Why, she was here! Did you dream any more?"
"Oh, lots. But it's so dim, now."
"Well, try to recollect8 -- can't you?"
"Somehow it seems to me that the wind -- the wind blowed the -- the --"
"Try harder, Tom! The wind did blow something. Come!"
Tom pressed his fingers on his forehead an anxious minute, and then said:
"I've got it now! I've got it now! It blowed the candle!"
"Mercy on us! Go on, Tom -- go on!"
"And it seems to me that you said, 'Why, I believe that that door --'"
"Go on, Tom!"
"Just let me study a moment -- just a moment. Oh, yes -- you said you believed the door was open."
"As I'm sitting here, I did! Didn't I, Mary! Go on!"
"And then -- and then -- well I won't be certain, but it seems like as if you made Sid go and -- and --"
"Well? Well? What did I make him do, Tom? What did I make him do?"
"You made him -- you -- Oh, you made him shut it."
"Well, for the land's sake! I never heard the beat of that in all my days! Don't tell me there ain't anything in dreams, any more. Sereny Harper shall know of this before I'm an hour older. I'd like to see her get around this with her rubbage 'bout7 superstition9. Go on, Tom!"
"Oh, it's all getting just as bright as day, now. Next you said I warn't BAD, only mischeevous and harum-scarum, and not any more responsible than -- than -- I think it was a colt, or something."
"And so it was! Well, goodness gracious! Go on, Tom!"
"And then you began to cry."
"So I did. So I did. Not the first time, neither. And then --"
"Then Mrs. Harper she began to cry, and said Joe was just the same, and she wished she hadn't whipped him for taking cream when she'd throwed it out her own self --"
"Tom! The sperrit was upon you! You was a prophesying10 -- that's what you was doing! Land alive, go on, Tom!"
"Then Sid he said -- he said --"
"I don't think I said anything," said Sid.
"Yes you did, Sid," said Mary.
"Shut your heads and let Tom go on! What did he say, Tom?"
"He said -- I think he said he hoped I was better off where I was gone to, but if I'd been better sometimes --"
"There, d'you hear that! It was his very words!"
"And you shut him up sharp."
"I lay I did! There must 'a' been an angel there. There was an angel there, somewheres!"
"And Mrs. Harper told about Joe scaring her with a firecracker, and you told about Peter and the Painkiller11 --"
"Just as true as I live!"
"And then there was a whole lot of talk 'bout dragging the river for us, and 'bout having the funeral Sunday, and then you and old Miss Harper hugged and cried, and she went."
"It happened just so! It happened just so, as sure as I'm a-sitting in these very tracks. Tom, you couldn't told it more like if you'd 'a' seen it! And then what? Go on, Tom!"
"Then I thought you prayed for me -- and I could see you and hear every word you said. And you went to bed, and I was so sorry that I took and wrote on a piece of sycamore bark, 'We ain't dead -- we are only off being pirates,' and put it on the table by the candle; and then you looked so good, laying there asleep, that I thought I went and leaned over and kissed you on the lips."
"Did you, Tom, did you! I just forgive you everything for that!" And she seized the boy in a crushing embrace that made him feel like the guiltiest of villains12.
"It was very kind, even though it was only a -- dream," Sid soliloquized just audibly.
"Shut up, Sid! A body does just the same in a dream as he'd do if he was awake. Here's a big Milum apple I've been saving for you, Tom, if you was ever found again -- now go 'long to school. I'm thankful to the good God and Father of us all I've got you back, that's long-suffering and merciful to them that believe on Him and keep His word, though goodness knows I'm unworthy of it, but if only the worthy13 ones got His blessings14 and had His hand to help them over the rough places, there's few enough would smile here or ever enter into His rest when the long night comes. Go 'long Sid, Mary, Tom -- take yourselves off -- you've hendered me long enough."
The children left for school, and the old lady to call on Mrs. Harper and vanquish15 her realism with Tom's marvellous dream. Sid had better judgment16 than to utter the thought that was in his mind as he left the house. It was this: "Pretty thin -- as long a dream as that, without any mistakes in it!"
What a hero Tom was become, now! He did not go skipping and prancing17, but moved with a dignified18 swagger as became a pirate who felt that the public eye was on him. And indeed it was; he tried not to seem to see the looks or hear the remarks as he passed along, but they were food and drink to him. Smaller boys than himself flocked at his heels, as proud to be seen with him, and tolerated by him, as if he had been the drummer at the head of a procession or the elephant leading a menagerie into town. Boys of his own size pretended not to know he had been away at all; but they were consuming with envy, nevertheless. They would have given anything to have that swarthy suntanned skin of his, and his glittering notoriety; and Tom would not have parted with either for a circus.
At school the children made so much of him and of Joe, and delivered such eloquent19 admiration20 from their eyes, that the two heroes were not long in becoming insufferably "stuck-up." They began to tell their adventures to hungry listeners -- but they only began; it was not a thing likely to have an end, with imaginations like theirs to furnish material. And finally, when they got out their pipes and went serenely22 puffing23 around, the very summit of glory was reached.
Tom decided24 that he could be independent of Becky Thatcher25 now. Glory was sufficient. He would live for glory. Now that he was distinguished26, maybe she would be wanting to "make up." Well, let her -- she should see that he could be as indifferent as some other people. Presently she arrived. Tom pretended not to see her. He moved away and joined a group of boys and girls and began to talk. Soon he observed that she was tripping gayly back and forth27 with flushed face and dancing eyes, pretending to be busy chasing schoolmates, and screaming with laughter when she made a capture; but he noticed that she always made her captures in his vicinity, and that she seemed to cast a conscious eye in his direction at such times, too. It gratified all the vicious vanity that was in him; and so, instead of winning him, it only "set him up" the more and made him the more diligent28 to avoid betraying that he knew she was about. Presently she gave over sky-larking, and moved irresolutely29 about, sighing once or twice and glancing furtively30 and wistfully toward Tom. Then she observed that now Tom was talking more particularly to Amy Lawrence than to any one else. She felt a sharp pang31 and grew disturbed and uneasy at once. She tried to go away, but her feet were treacherous32, and carried her to the group instead. She said to a girl almost at Tom's elbow -- with sham33 vivacity34:
"Why, Mary Austin! you bad girl, why didn't you come to Sunday-school?"
"I did come -- didn't you see me?"
"Why, no! Did you? Where did you sit?"
"I was in Miss Peters' class, where I always go. I saw you."
"Did you? Why, it's funny I didn't see you. I wanted to tell you about the picnic."
"Oh, that's jolly. Who's going to give it?"
"My ma's going to let me have one."
"Oh, goody; I hope she'll let me come."
"Well, she will. The picnic's for me. She'll let anybody come that I want, and I want you."
"That's ever so nice. When is it going to be?"
"By and by. Maybe about vacation."
"Oh, won't it be fun! You going to have all the girls and boys?"
"Yes, every one that's friends to me -- or wants to be"; and she glanced ever so furtively at Tom, but he talked right along to Amy Lawrence about the terrible storm on the island, and how the lightning tore the great sycamore tree "all to flinders" while he was "standing35 within three feet of it."
"Oh, may I come?" said Grace Miller36.
"Yes."
"And me?" said Sally Rogers.
"Yes."
"And me, too?" said Susy Harper. "And Joe?"
"Yes."
And so on, with clapping of joyful37 hands till all the group had begged for invitations but Tom and Amy. Then Tom turned coolly away, still talking, and took Amy with him. Becky's lips trembled and the tears came to her eyes; she hid these signs with a forced gayety and went on chattering38, but the life had gone out of the picnic, now, and out of everything else; she got away as soon as she could and hid herself and had what her sex call "a good cry." Then she sat moody39, with wounded pride, till the bell rang. She roused up, now, with a vindictive40 cast in her eye, and gave her plaited tails a shake and said she knew what she'd do.
At recess41 Tom continued his flirtation42 with Amy with jubilant self-satisfaction. And he kept drifting about to find Becky and lacerate her with the performance. At last he spied her, but there was a sudden falling of his mercury. She was sitting cosily43 on a little bench behind the schoolhouse looking at a picture-book with Alfred Temple -- and so absorbed were they, and their heads so close together over the book, that they did not seem to be conscious of anything in the world besides. Jealousy44 ran red-hot through Tom's veins45. He began to hate himself for throwing away the chance Becky had offered for a reconciliation46. He called himself a fool, and all the hard names he could think of. He wanted to cry with vexation. Amy chatted happily along, as they walked, for her heart was singing, but Tom's tongue had lost its function. He did not hear what Amy was saying, and whenever she paused expectantly he could only stammer47 an awkward assent48, which was as often misplaced as otherwise. He kept drifting to the rear of the schoolhouse, again and again, to sear his eyeballs with the hateful spectacle there. He could not help it. And it maddened him to see, as he thought he saw, that Becky Thatcher never once suspected that he was even in the land of the living. But she did see, nevertheless; and she knew she was winning her fight, too, and was glad to see him suffer as she had suffered.
Amy's happy prattle49 became intolerable. Tom hinted at things he had to attend to; things that must be done; and time was fleeting50. But in vain -- the girl chirped51 on. Tom thought, "Oh, hang her, ain't I ever going to get rid of her?" At last he must be attending to those things -- and she said artlessly that she would be "around" when school let out. And he hastened away, hating her for it.
"Any other boy!" Tom thought, grating his teeth. "Any boy in the whole town but that Saint Louis smarty that thinks he dresses so fine and is aristocracy! Oh, all right, I licked you the first day you ever saw this town, mister, and I'll lick you again! You just wait till I catch you out! I'll just take and --"
And he went through the motions of thrashing an imaginary boy -- pummelling the air, and kicking and gouging52. "Oh, you do, do you? You holler 'nough, do you? Now, then, let that learn you!" And so the imaginary flogging was finished to his satisfaction.
Tom fled home at noon. His conscience could not endure any more of Amy's grateful happiness, and his jealousy could bear no more of the other distress53. Becky resumed her picture inspections54 with Alfred, but as the minutes dragged along and no Tom came to suffer, her triumph began to cloud and she lost interest; gravity and absent-mindedness followed, and then melancholy55; two or three times she pricked56 up her ear at a footstep, but it was a false hope; no Tom came. At last she grew entirely57 miserable58 and wished she hadn't carried it so far. When poor Alfred, seeing that he was losing her, he did not know how, kept exclaiming: "Oh, here's a jolly one! look at this!" she lost patience at last, and said, "Oh, don't bother me! I don't care for them!" and burst into tears, and got up and walked away.
Alfred dropped alongside and was going to try to comfort her, but she said:
"Go away and leave me alone, can't you! I hate you!"
So the boy halted, wondering what he could have done -- for she had said she would look at pictures all through the nooning – and she walked on, crying. Then Alfred went musing59 into the deserted60 schoolhouse. He was humiliated61 and angry. He easily guessed his way to the truth -- the girl had simply made a convenience of him to vent21 her spite upon Tom Sawyer. He was far from hating Tom the less when this thought occurred to him. He wished there was some way to get that boy into trouble without much risk to himself. Tom's spelling-book fell under his eye. Here was his opportunity. He gratefully opened to the lesson for the afternoon and poured ink upon the page.
Becky, glancing in at a window behind him at the moment, saw the act, and moved on, without discovering herself. She started homeward, now, intending to find Tom and tell him; Tom would be thankful and their troubles would be healed. Before she was half way home, however, she had changed her mind. The thought of Tom's treatment of her when she was talking about her picnic came scorching62 back and filled her with shame. She resolved to let him get whipped on the damaged spelling-book's account, and to hate him forever, into the bargain.
收听单词发音 |
1
alleys
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| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
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chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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invalided
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| 使伤残（invalid的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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repentant
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| adj.对…感到悔恨的 | |
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bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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prophesying
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| v.预告，预言( prophesy的现在分词 ) | |
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painkiller
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| n.止痛药 | |
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villains
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| n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 )；罪犯；（小说、戏剧等中的）反面人物；淘气鬼 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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14
blessings
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| n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福 | |
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15
vanquish
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| v.征服，战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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16
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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prancing
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| v.（马）腾跃( prance的现在分词 ) | |
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18
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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21
vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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22
serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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23
puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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24
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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thatcher
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| n.茅屋匠 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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27
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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diligent
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| adj.勤勉的，勤奋的 | |
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29
irresolutely
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| adv.优柔寡断地 | |
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furtively
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| adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
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pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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32
treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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sham
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| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
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vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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miller
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| n.磨坊主 | |
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joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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moody
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| adj.心情不稳的，易怒的，喜怒无常的 | |
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vindictive
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| adj.有报仇心的，怀恨的，惩罚的 | |
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recess
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| n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处） | |
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flirtation
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| n.调情，调戏，挑逗 | |
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cosily
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| adv.舒适地，惬意地 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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stammer
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| n.结巴，口吃；v.结结巴巴地说 | |
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assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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49
prattle
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| n.闲谈；v.（小孩般）天真无邪地说话；发出连续而无意义的声音 | |
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50
fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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51
chirped
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| 鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的过去式 ) | |
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52
gouging
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| n.刨削[槽]v.凿( gouge的现在分词 )；乱要价；（在…中）抠出…；挖出… | |
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53
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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inspections
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| n.检查( inspection的名词复数 )；检验；视察；检阅 | |
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55
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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56
pricked
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| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
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57
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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58
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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59
musing
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| n. 沉思，冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式 | |
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60
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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61
humiliated
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| 感到羞愧的 | |
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scorching
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| adj. 灼热的 | |
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