Great Expectations（在线收听）

My father’s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my ¹⁾infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more ²⁾explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.

    I give Pirrip as my father’s family name, on the authority of his ³⁾tombstone and my sister - Mrs. Joe Gargery, who married the ⁴⁾blacksmith. I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them (for their days were long before the days of photographs).

    Ours was the ⁵⁾marsh country, down by the river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles of the sea. My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things, seems to me to have been gained on a ⁶⁾memorable raw afternoon towards evening near my parents’ graves in the ⁷⁾churchyard.

    “Hold your noise!” came a terrible voice, as a man started up from among the graves at the side of the church ⁸⁾porch. “Keep still, you little devil, or I’ll cut your throat!”

     A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A man who had been 9)soaked in water, and ¹⁰⁾smothered in mud, and ¹¹⁾lamed by stones, and cut by ¹²⁾flints, and stung by ¹³⁾nettles, and torn by ¹⁴⁾briars; who limped, and shivered, and glared and ¹⁵⁾growled; and whose teeth chattered in his head as he seized me by the chin.

    “Tell us your name!” said the man. “Quick!”

    “Pip, sir.”

    “Show us where you live,” said the man. “Point out the place!”

    I pointed to where our village lay, on the flat in-shore among the ¹⁶⁾alder-trees and ¹⁷⁾pollards, a mile or more from the church.

    The man, after looking at me for a moment, turned me upside down, and emptied my pockets. There was nothing in them but a piece of bread.

    “You young dog,” said the man, licking his lips, “¹⁸⁾what fat cheeks you ha” got. Darn me if I couldn’t eat em, and if I han’t half a mind to’t!”

I earnestly expressed my hope that he wouldn’t, and held tighter to the tombstone on which he had put me; partly, to keep myself upon it; partly, to keep myself from crying.

“Now then ¹⁹⁾lookee here!” said the man. “Where’s your mother?”

“There, sir!” said I.

He started, made a short run, and stopped and looked over his shoulder.

“There, sir!” I timidly explained, pointed to the tombstone. “That’s my mother.”

“Oh!” said he, coming back. “And is that your father ²⁰⁾alonger your mother?”

“Yes, sir,” said I; “him too; late of this ²¹⁾parish.”

“Ha!” he muttered then, considering. “²²⁾Who d’ye live with – supposin’ you’re kindly let to live, which I han’t made up my mind about?”

“My sister, sir - Mrs Joe Gargery - wife of Joe Gargery, the blacksmith, sir.”

“Blacksmith, eh? Now lookee here,” he said, “the question being whether you’re to be let to live. You know what a file is?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And you know what ²³⁾wittles is?”

“Yes, sir.”

    “You get me a file.” He tilted me again. “And you get me wittles.” He tilted me again. “You bring ’em both to me.” He tilted me again. “Or I’ll have your heart and liver out.” He tilted me again.

I said that I would get him the file, and I would get him what broken bits of food I could, and I would come to him at the Battery, early in the morning.

“Say Lord strike you dead if you don’t!” said the man.

I said so, and he took me down.

“Now,” he ²⁴⁾pursued, “you remember what you’ve undertook, and you remember that ²⁵⁾young man, get home!”

When he came to the low church wall, he got over it, like a man whose legs were ²⁶⁾numbed and stiff, and then turned round to look for me. When I saw him turning, I set my face towards home, and made the best use of my legs. CE

17、远大前程

狄更斯（1812-1870）是19世纪英国现实主义文学的主要代表作家，一生共创作了14部长篇小说以及其他多种风格的作品。他擅长将细致入微的心理分析、现实主义描写和浪漫主义气氛巧妙地结合起来，代表作有《艰难时代》、《双城记》、《大卫·科波菲尔》和《远大前程》等。《远大前程》写于1861年，下文为第一章节选片段。

我父亲的姓是皮利普，而我的教名是菲利普。无论是皮利普还是菲利普，年幼的我既发不出这么长的音节，又咬字不清，只会说皮普。所以，我干脆就把自己叫做皮普，以后别人也就跟着叫我皮普了。

我说父亲姓皮利普是有根有据的，因为他的墓碑上刻着姓氏，而且我姐姐也这么说——我姐姐嫁给了铁匠乔·葛奇里，现在是葛奇里夫人了。至于我，从来没有见到过父母，也没有看到过他们两位的照片（其实他们在世的时候照片还没出现呢）。

我们的家乡是一片沼泽地区，靠着一条河流，沿着河流蜿蜒而下，不足二十英里就是大海。让我最初领略了世面、留下最生动印象的似乎是那个令人难以忘怀的下午，当时正是傍晚时分，就在埋葬我父母的教堂墓地旁。

“别出声！”一个令人毛骨悚然的声音喊道，同时，有一个人从教堂门廊一边的墓地里蹿了出来。“不许出声，你这个小鬼，不然我就掐断你的脖子！”

此人面容狰狞，穿了一身灰色粗布衫，腿上挂着一条粗大的铁镣。他头上没有帽子，只用一块破布扎住头，脚上的鞋已经破烂。看上去他曾在水中浸泡过，在污泥中忍受过煎熬。他的腿被石头碰伤了，脚又被小石块割破，荨麻和荆棘的利刺使得他身上伤痕累累；他一跛一跛地走着，全身发着抖，还瞪着双眼吼叫着；他嘴里的牙齿在格格打战，然后一把抓住我的下巴。

“你叫什么名字！”那个人说道，“快讲！”

“我叫皮普，先生。”

“你住在哪里？”那人说道，“把方向指给我看！”

我把我们村子的位置指给他看，村子就坐落在距离教堂一英里多远的平坦河岸上，四周种着恺树和截梢树。

这人打量了我一会儿，便把我头朝下地倒拎起来，我口袋里的东西也就掉了下来。其实我口袋里没别的，只有一片面包。

“你这小狗崽子，”他一面舔着嘴唇，一面说道，“你这张小脸蛋倒生得肥肥的。他妈的，我不吃你的脸蛋儿才怪呢，我不想你吃掉这脸蛋才怪。”

我连忙恳请他无论如何不要吃我的脸蛋儿，同时紧紧地抓住他把我放在上面的那块墓碑；这样，一则我可以坐稳不至于摔下来，二则可以忍住眼泪不至于哭出来。

“看着我！”那人说道，“你妈妈在什么地方？”

“在那里，先生！”我答道。

听了我的话，他大吃一惊，拔腿就逃，跑了几步又停下来，回过头看了看。

“就在那里，先生！”我指着墓碑，怯怯地解释着，“那就是我的妈妈。”

“噢！”他说道，又走了回来，“那么和你妈妈葬在一起的是你的爸爸喽？”

我答道：“一点不错，先生，是我爸爸；那里写着‘已故的本教区居民’。”

“哈！”他嘟嘟哝哝、若有所思地说道，“假设我不杀你，让你活下去，你和谁住在一起？当然，我还没有决定究竟让不让你活下去。”

“我和姐姐一起生活，先生，她是乔·葛奇里夫人，也就是铁匠乔·葛奇里的妻子，先生。”

“哦，是铁匠？仔细听着，”他说，“现在的问题是究竟让不让你活。你懂不懂什么是锉子？”

“懂，先生。”

“那你懂不懂什么是食物？”

“懂，先生。”

“我要你给弄一把锉子来，”他把我又按了一下说，“再给我弄些吃的东西来。”他又把我向后按了一下。“这两样东西都要拿来。”他再一次把我向后按。“你要不拿来，我就把你的心肝五脏都掏出来。”说完，他又把我向后按了一下。

我答应带给他锉子，再给他带些吃的东西，哪怕是粗粮剩饭，我说明天一大清早我一定到炮台来把东西交给他。

“那么你发誓，要是你不送来，天主就用雷电劈死你。”那人说道。

我发了誓，他这才把我从墓碑上抱下来。

“听着，”他继续说道，“不要忘记你说过的话、该做的事；也不要忘记那个年轻人。现在，你可以回家了！”

他走到那堵低矮的教堂围墙前，从墙头上爬过去。他的两条腿看上去简直是又麻木又僵直，过了墙头，他又回过头来望了望我。看到他转过脸，我立刻拼命地迈开我的两条腿，头也不回地朝着家奔去。CE