讀點好英文:Young Goodman Brown 年輕的布朗大爺

Young Goodman Brown 年輕的布朗大爺

[美]納撒尼爾·霍桑（Nathaniel Hawthorne）

在這篇小說里，霍桑寫了早年的新英格蘭，故事主人公去出席在半夜舉行的魔鬼聚會，發(fā)現(xiàn)在座的不僅有鎮(zhèn)上所有德高望重的人，甚至還有他的妻子費思……

Young Goodman Brown came forth at sunset into the street at Salem village;but put his head back, after crossing the thresh old, to exchange a parting kiss with his young wife. And Faith, as the wife was aptly named, thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap while she called to Goodman Brown.

“Dearest heart,”whispered she, softly and rather sadly, when her lips were close to his ear,“prithee put off your journey until sunrise and sleep in your own bed tonight. A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts that she's afeard of herself sometimes.Pray tarry with me this night, dear husband, of all nights in the year.”

“My love and my Faith,”replied young Goodman Brown,“of all nights in the year, this one night must I tarry away from thee. My journey, as thou callest it, forth and back again, must needs be done twixt now and sunrise.What, my sweet, pretty wife, dost thou doubt me already, and we but three months married?”

“Then God bless yo u!”said Faith, with the pink ribbons;“and may you find all well when you come back.”

“Ame n!”cried Goodman Brown,“Say thy prayers, dear Faith, and go to bed at dusk, and no harm will come to thee.”

So they parted;and the young man pursued his way until, being about to turn the corner by the meeting-house, he looked back and saw the head of Faith still peeping after him with a melancholy air, in spite of her pink ribbons.

“Poor little Faith!”thought he, for his heart smote him.“What a wretch am I to leave her on such an erran d!She talks of dreams, too. Me thought as she spoke there was trouble in her face, as if a dream had warned her what work is to be done tonight.But no;no;‘t would kill her to think it.Well, she's a blessed angel on earth;and after this one night I'll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven.”

With this excellent resolve for the future, Goodman Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose. He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind.It was all as lonely as could be, and there is this peculiarity in such a solitude, that the traveler knows not who may be concealed by the innumerable trunks and the thick boughs overhead, so that with lonely footsteps he may yet be passing through an unseen multitude.

“There may be a devilish Indian behind every tree,”said Goodman Brown to himself;and he glanced fearfully behind him as he added,“What if the devil himself should be at my very elbo w!”

His head being turned back, he passed a crook of the road, and, looking forward again, beheld the figure of a man, in grave and decent attire, seated at the foot of an old tree. He arose at Goodman Brown's approach and walked onward side by side with him.

年輕的布朗大爺在落日時分出現(xiàn)在塞勒姆村的街上，他走出去又返回來，跟年輕的妻子吻別。妻子名叫費思，這時她把自己美麗的頭伸過來，在她叫布朗大爺時，任風吹拂著軟帽上的粉紅色緞帶。

“親愛的心肝兒，”等她的嘴唇湊近他的耳朵時，她溫柔地、傷感地小聲說，“請你把這次旅程推遲到日出以后，今兒晚上還是在自家的床上安歇吧。一個孤獨的女人常受到噩夢和憂慮的煩擾。在一年里所有的夜晚中，親愛的丈夫，今夜請你留下陪著我吧?！?/p>

“我親愛的費思，”年輕的布朗大爺回答，“在一年里所有的夜晚中，我這一夜必須離開。我的往返旅程，如同你所說的，必須在現(xiàn)在和日出之間結(jié)束。怎么，我親愛又美麗的妻子，你是在懷疑我嗎，我們結(jié)婚才不過三個月?。俊?/p>

“那么，愿上帝降福給你！”扎著粉紅色緞帶的費思說，“愿你回來時，發(fā)覺一切順遂。”

“阿門！”布朗大爺喊了一聲，“你祈禱吧，親愛的費思，黃昏時分就上床睡覺，不會有事的?！?/p>

就這樣，他們分別了。年輕人起程上路。后來在那個聚所旁邊準備拐彎時，他回頭看了一下，看見費思仍然帶著一種憂郁的神情在注視著他，根本不顧那條粉紅色的緞帶。

“可憐的小費思！”他想著，因此他心里十分難受，“我撇下她去辦這樣一件事，是多么卑鄙?。∷€談到做夢。我覺得她說的時候，很是不悅，仿佛有一場夢事先已經(jīng)告訴了她今天這個夜晚將要出什么事?？墒?，不，不；想著它會送了她的性命的。嘿，她是世上一位幸運的天使。過了這一夜，我就跟她去天堂?！?/p>

對于未來做出了這一美好的決定之后，布朗覺得可以心安理得地趕緊去了結(jié)眼下這邪惡的勾當了。他走的是一條沉寂的道路，樹林里所有最幽暗的樹木把這條路遮得一片漆黑。那些樹木長得密密匝匝，簡直不容這條羊腸小道穿過，而且總在后面立刻就又合攏了起來。四下里一片凄涼，在這樣的落寞中，行路人并不知道那些樹和粗枝上可能隱藏著些什么人，所以他邁著孤單的步伐，可能還在經(jīng)過一大群隱而不現(xiàn)的人哩。

“也許每棵樹后面都藏著一個兇惡的印第安人?！辈祭蚀鬆敯底赃@么說。他滿懷恐懼地朝身后瞥了一眼，又加上一句：“要是魔鬼本人就在我的身旁，那可怎么辦！”

他回頭張望著，走到了一個拐彎處，然后又朝前望去，看見一個穿著樸實大方的人，坐在一棵老樹的腳下。當布朗大爺走近時，他站起身來，和他并排朝前走去。

實戰(zhàn)提升

作者介紹

納撒尼爾·霍桑（1804—1864），美國小說家?；羯Ｊ乔褰掏降暮笠?，深受道德洗禮。他的作品包括《我的親屬，莫理斯上校》《羅杰·馬爾文的葬禮》《年輕的布朗大爺》和被列入“美國最好小說”的《紅字》等。他是一位文學藝術(shù)家，也是寓言兼象征主義大師，他被稱為“美國最偉大的小說家”。

單詞注解

exchange[iks5tFeindV]n./v.交換；調(diào)換；兌換

melancholy[5melEnkEli]n.憂思，愁思

excellent[5eksElEnt]adj.出色的；杰出的；優(yōu)等的

decent[5di:snt]adj.正派的；合乎禮儀的

名句大搜索

一個孤獨的女人常受到噩夢和憂慮的煩擾。

他走的是一條沉寂的道路，樹林里所有最幽暗的樹木把這條路遮得一片漆黑。那些樹木長得密密匝匝，簡直不容這條羊腸小道穿過，而且總在后面立刻就又合攏了起來。

他回頭張望著，走到了一個拐彎處，然后又朝前望去，看見一個穿著樸實大方的人，坐在一棵老樹的腳下。