英語(yǔ)背誦文選第二冊(cè)(陳冠商)40．The Burglar In Hyde Park 海德公園里的竊賊

40．The  Burglar  In  Hyde  Park

Loud shouting in the distance made us look up. This was nothing unusual

for Hyde Park, for many people come here on a Sunday to air their views,

and shouting is the only means by which they can make themselves  heard.

We  had  become  part  of  a  large  crowd  which  moved  from  speaker  to  speaker

to  hear  what  each  one  had  to  say.  So  far,  we  had  listened  to  political

speeches,  serious  debates,  and  lonely  singers  wailing  dolefully  to

themselves. Now the newcomer attracted our attention, mainly because of

the  extreme  loudness  of  his;  voice.

We soon discovered that the cause of all this commotion was certainly the

ugliest fellow we had ever seen. He was completely bald and his face was

painted red and blue so that he looked rather like a Red Indian chieftain.

When  a  reasonable  crowd  had  gathered,  the  man  quietened  down,  surveyed

everybody  with  some  contempt,  and  proceeded  to  undo  his  shirt.  Soon  he

was displaying a huge, coloured tattoo which covered the whole of his back

and  chest.  When  the  man  was  satisfied  that  he  had  produced  the  desired

effect on the crowd, he explained quite plainly that he was a burglar and

wanted  to  say  a  few  words  about  his  trade.  He  commenced  by  criticizing

the police severely tor impeding him in his work. Policemen, he explained,

were ungrateful to him, because it was people like himself who kept them

busy. These remarks so astonished the crowd, that it drew round him closer,

anxious to hear more. The man began describing the art of getting through

a closed window at night, when a formidable old lady shook her umbrella

at  him  and  said  that  if  he  did  not  go  away,  she  would  call  a  policeman.

The burglar calmly pointed out that the police were his friends, and only

took an interest in him when he was about his 'lawful' work(2). Glaring

at the crowd, he said that if anyone else had any further comments to make,

he would be glad to meet him in the dark(3). The crowd laughed uneasily,

but the old lady stalked off(4) angrily to fetch a policeman. We  waited

expectantly to see what would happen as the burglar continued to explain

how  easy  it  was  to  pick  a  lock(5)  with  a  hairpin.

海德公園里的竊賊

遠(yuǎn)處的大聲叫嚷引起我們抬頭看望。這在海德公園是很尋常的事，因?yàn)橛性S

多人星期天來(lái)這里發(fā)表自己的觀點(diǎn)，而只有大聲叫喊才能使別人聽(tīng)清楚他們講

話(huà)。我們隨著人群在一個(gè)又一個(gè)演講者的跟前擁過(guò)去，聽(tīng)他們各自要說(shuō)些什么。

到這時(shí)為止，我們已經(jīng)聽(tīng)了一些政治演說(shuō)，嚴(yán)肅的辯論以及孤獨(dú)的歌唱者自悲自

嘆的哀唱。忽然，一個(gè)新來(lái)者引起了我們的注意，這主要是因?yàn)樗纳らT(mén)特別高。

我們不久就發(fā)覺(jué)，引起這場(chǎng)騷動(dòng)的，肯定是那個(gè)我們有生以來(lái)所見(jiàn)到的第一

號(hào)丑漢。他完全禿了頂，滿(mǎn)臉涂著紅藍(lán)兩色，看上去活象一個(gè)印第安人的酋長(zhǎng)。

當(dāng)一個(gè)相當(dāng)大的人群匯攏以后，他便安靜下來(lái)，用帶有幾分輕蔑的目光打量了一

下每個(gè)人，接著開(kāi)始脫襯衣。不一會(huì)，他向眾人展示了滿(mǎn)布他前胸和后背的彩色

文身。當(dāng)他相信在群眾中已經(jīng)產(chǎn)生了預(yù)期的效果時(shí)，便很坦率地表明自己是個(gè)撬

竊賊，想就自己所干的那一行談一些想法。他一開(kāi)始就嚴(yán)厲地批評(píng)警察妨礙他的

工作。他解釋道，警察對(duì)他忘恩負(fù)義，因?yàn)檎窍笏@種人才使警察忙忙碌碌。

他的這一番話(huà)使周?chē)娜烁械襟@訝，就朝他靠得更近，急于想聽(tīng)聽(tīng)下文。那人開(kāi)

始描述他深夜撬窗入室的竅門(mén)，而就在那時(shí)，一個(gè)威風(fēng)凜凜的老太婆朝他揮舞著

雨傘，并且說(shuō)，要是他不離開(kāi)的話(huà)，她就要去叫警察。竊賊若無(wú)其事地向她指出；

警察都是他的朋友，只有當(dāng)他在干他的"法定的"工作時(shí)，他們才對(duì)他感興趣。竊

賊虎視眈眈地望著人群說(shuō)，假若有什么人還有意見(jiàn)要發(fā)表的話(huà)，他將樂(lè)意與他秘

密會(huì)談。人群中發(fā)出了不自然的笑聲，而那個(gè)老太婆卻憤然大踏步離開(kāi)了人群去

叫警察。當(dāng)竊賊接下去講述用⒓星絲　話(huà)閹　僑綰吻岫　拙俚氖焙潁　頤塹購(gòu)芟

肭埔磺平峋紙　嵩躚　?

L．G．亞歷山大

(1)  Hyde  Park：倫敦的海德公園，因常常舉行各種政治性集會(huì)而著稱(chēng)。

(2)  was  about  his¼work：在從事于自己的¼¼工作。

(3)to  meet  him  in  the  dark：與他秘密會(huì)淡。in  the  dark  此處解作"不

為人知"，"偷偷地"。

(4)stalked  off；高視闊步地離去。

(5)pick  a  lock；撬鎖。