牛津書(shū)蟲(chóng)系列 神秘及幻想故事集 05 The Tell-Tale Heart

The Tell-Tale Heart

泄密的心

It is true that I had been-and I am -very nervous，but do you really think that I am mad ? I could see and hear more clearly7-not less ,because of the disease. My hearing，more than anything，was excellent. I could hear all things，things in this world and things in heaven. I heard many things，things in this world and things in heaven . I heard many things in hell，too. So how can I be mad ? See how clearly and calmly I can tell my story.

的確，我過(guò)去——現(xiàn)在也是——極端神經(jīng)過(guò)敏，但是，你們真地覺(jué)得我發(fā)瘋了嗎?因?yàn)榈昧诉@病，我看東西和聽(tīng)東西都比以往更清楚了——而不是相反。尤其我的聽(tīng)覺(jué)，簡(jiǎn)直好極了。我什么都聽(tīng)得見(jiàn)，無(wú)論是這世界上的聲音還是天堂的聲音。好多地獄里的聲音我也聽(tīng)得見(jiàn)。那么，我怎么會(huì)是發(fā)了瘋呢?瞧，我講述自己的故事的時(shí)候是多么有條理，多么鎮(zhèn)靜埃

I cannot explain how the idea first came into my head. But once I had thought of the idea，I could not forget it. I had no reason to do it . I was not angry. I loved the old man .H e had never hurt me in any way . I didn't want his gold. I think it was his eye! Yes! He had a pale，blue eye，the eye of a vulture. Whenever I looked at it ,my blo0od became cold; and so ,very slowly，I decided to kill the old man and escape from the eye for ever.

我難以解釋清楚那個(gè)念頭起初是如何出現(xiàn)在我腦際的，但我一旦有了那個(gè)念頭，便不能將其忘記了。我干那件事毫無(wú)道理。我并不憤怒，我喜歡那個(gè)老頭，他從來(lái)就沒(méi)什么地方冒犯過(guò)我。我也不貪圖他的金銀財(cái)寶。我想，起因是他的眼睛!是的!他長(zhǎng)了一只發(fā)白的藍(lán)眼睛，一只鷹眼。無(wú)論我何時(shí)見(jiàn)了那只眼睛，我渾身的血液就要變得冰冷;于是，漸漸地，我打定了主意要?dú)⒌裟抢项^，從此永遠(yuǎn)擺脫那只眼睛。

You are thinking ,I know，that I am mad . But madmen are not clever. And see how cleverly I prepared my plan! Every day that week I was so kind to the old man ! And every night of that week，at about midnight，I opened his door very，very quietly. First I put my dark lantern through the opening of the door. The lantern was closed，and so no light came out of it ,none at all . Then slowly，very slowly，I put my head inside the opening. I took sixty long minutes just to put my head inside. Would a madman have worked so carefully? And when my head was inside the room，I opened the lantern carefully and a thin ray of light fell onto the vulture eye. But the eye was always closed，so I could not do the work.You see，I did not hate the man; it was only the eye that I hated.

我知道，諸位在想，我準(zhǔn)是發(fā)了瘋。然而瘋子可沒(méi)這么機(jī)靈。瞧啊，我準(zhǔn)備我的計(jì)劃時(shí)干得有多聰明!那個(gè)禮拜的每一天我待那老頭有多好!那個(gè)禮拜的每天夜里，大概是午夜時(shí)分，我都要非常非常輕地打開(kāi)他的房門。首先，我把我那熄了火的提燈伸進(jìn)門開(kāi)處。提燈已經(jīng)關(guān)滅了，于是沒(méi)有任何光亮發(fā)出，一絲兒也沒(méi)有。然后，慢慢地，極慢地，我把頭伸進(jìn)門開(kāi)處我花了長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的六十分鐘，就為了伸進(jìn)一個(gè)腦袋。一個(gè)瘋子做事情有這么小心翼翼嗎?我把腦袋伸到了屋子里面之后，便小心地?cái)Q開(kāi)提燈，讓一道微弱的光線落在那只鷹眼上。但是那只眼睛總是合著，所以我沒(méi)法下手。你們看見(jiàn)了，我并不恨那人;我恨的僅僅是那只眼睛。

On the eighth night I started opening the door even more carefully.I was feeling calm and strong.There I was，opening his door，and he did not even know that I was there! I almost laughed at the idea. And perhaps，at that moment，he heard me，because he suddenly moved in his bed But I did not move away. I knew that he could not see the opening of the door，so I continued pushing it open，slowly and quietly.

第八天夜里，我去開(kāi)房門時(shí)更為小心謹(jǐn)慎。我感覺(jué)很平靜，很強(qiáng)壯。我在這兒開(kāi)著他的房門，可他甚至根本不知道我的存在!我差點(diǎn)兒因?yàn)檫@個(gè)念頭笑出聲來(lái)。不過(guò)，說(shuō)不定他這時(shí)候聽(tīng)見(jiàn)了我的動(dòng)靜，因?yàn)樗鋈辉诖采蟿?dòng)了一下。但我并未走開(kāi)。我知道他看不見(jiàn)開(kāi)著的門縫，于是繼續(xù)慢慢地、悄悄地把門推開(kāi)。

When my head was in the room，I tried to open the lantern but my thumb slipped and I made a noise.Immediately，the man sat up in bed and shouted，‘Who's there?’

我把腦袋伸進(jìn)屋子，想把提燈擰開(kāi)，但大拇指滑了一卜，弄出了一點(diǎn)聲響。床上那人立即坐起身，喝問(wèn)道：“是誰(shuí)?”

I said nothing.For an hour I just stood there，without moving，and he sat in his bed，listening.Then he made a soft noise，a noise which I recognized. It was the noise of terror，the terror of death.I knew the sound because I had made it myself，many times，in the deep of the night，when all the world was asleep I felt sorry for the old man，but I laughed silently.I knew that he had been awake since the first noise，and his fear had grown and grown.Death had entered his room，and now the shadow of deatn lay all around him. He could neither see me nor hear me，but he could feel my head inside his room.

我沒(méi)有吱聲。有一個(gè)鐘頭的工夫，我就在那兒站著，一動(dòng)不動(dòng);而他則坐在床上，側(cè)耳傾聽(tīng)。然后他輕輕地發(fā)出了一個(gè)聲音。我聽(tīng)出了這聲音的含義，這是一種恐懼的聲音，恐懼死亡的聲音。我之所以能夠理解這種聲音，是因?yàn)槲易约阂苍l(fā)出過(guò)好多次，當(dāng)夜深人靜、萬(wàn)籟俱寂的時(shí)候。我為那老頭感到難過(guò)，但又不禁暗笑。我知道，自打第一個(gè)動(dòng)靜響起，他就已經(jīng)醒了，他內(nèi)心的恐懼已經(jīng)越升越高。死神已經(jīng)進(jìn)了他的屋子，現(xiàn)在，死亡的陰影已在他四周布滿。他既看不見(jiàn)我也聽(tīng)不見(jiàn)我，但他能感覺(jué)到我的腦袋已伸進(jìn)了他的屋子。

I opened the lantern a little and a thin ray of light feel on his eye.It was open，and as I looked at it，I became angry.I could see it clearly，a horrible，pale blue eye that turned my blood cold. I could see nothing of the man's face or body，just his eye.

我把提燈稍稍擰亮一點(diǎn)，一道微弱的光線照在他的那只眼睛上。它是睜開(kāi)的。我一看見(jiàn)它，便心頭火起。我能夠清晰地看見(jiàn)它，一只可怖的淡藍(lán)色眼睛，能讓我的血液變得冰冷。那人的臉龐或是身體我都看不見(jiàn)了，能看見(jiàn)的只有這只眼睛。

And then I heard a sound.Hadn't I told you that my hearing was excellent? I knew the sound.It was the beating of the old man's heart.It grew louder and quicker.Yes，louder and louder with every minute.The old man's terror must have been very great. And now a new terror came to me-a neighbour might hear the noise of this beating heart! The old man's time had come!

然后我聽(tīng)到一聲響動(dòng)。我不是對(duì)你們說(shuō)過(guò)我的聽(tīng)覺(jué)極為靈敏嗎?我知道這聲音是什么。是老頭的心跳聲。他的心越跳越快，聲音越來(lái)越大。沒(méi)錯(cuò)，每分鐘都愈發(fā)大起來(lái)了。那老頭一定是處于極度的恐懼之中。而現(xiàn)在，一種新的恐懼降臨到了我身上——哪個(gè)鄰居會(huì)聽(tīng)見(jiàn)這種怦怦的心跳聲!老頭的時(shí)辰到啦!

I opened the lantern fully and ran into the room.He shouted once-but only once because I pulled him to the floor and pulled the heavy bed over him. For many minutes the heart continued to beat，but then it stopped.The old man was dead.I put my hand on his heart and held it there for many minutes.There was no life in him at all.Now his eye would not trouble me again.

我將提燈徹底擰亮，沖進(jìn)屋子。他尖叫了一聲——但只叫了那么一聲，因?yàn)槲野阉系搅说匕迳?，又拽過(guò)沉甸甸的床壓在他身上。那顆心接著又跳了好幾分鐘，但然后就停住了。老頭死了。我把手按在他胸口，就那樣放了好幾分鐘。他已經(jīng)徹底沒(méi)氣兒了，現(xiàn)在，他的眼睛再也不會(huì)困擾我了。

Perhaps you are still thinking that I am mad.You will not，when I tell you of way I hid the body.First，I cut it into pieces. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs. I then took up three boards from the wooden floor，and hid the body underneath.Finally，I replaced the wooden boards with great care.Now no human eye-not even his- would see anything wrong.There was nothing to see-not even any blood.A bowl had caught it all-ha! ha!

也許你們?nèi)匀辉谙胛沂钳偭?。要是我告訴你們我用了多么聰明的辦法藏匿尸體，你們就不會(huì)這樣想了。首先，我把尸體切成幾塊。我把腦袋、胳膊和雙腿都割了下來(lái)。然后，我從木質(zhì)地板上揭起三塊板子來(lái)，把尸體藏在下面。最后，我加倍小心地將木板重新放好?，F(xiàn)在，沒(méi)有哪只人的眼睛——哪怕是他的眼睛——會(huì)看出有什么破綻了。沒(méi)什么能看出來(lái)的——連一絲血跡都沒(méi)有。一只碗就把血全盛下了——哈!哈!

When I finished，it was four o'clock and it was still dark.There was a knock at the front door.Calmly，because I knew I had nothing to fear，I opened the door.Three policemen came in.They had come because a neighbour had reported a loud shout coming from the house.

我干完這一切，已是凌晨4點(diǎn)鐘，天還黑著。前門傳來(lái)一陣敲門聲。我知道自己沒(méi)什么好怕的，便鎮(zhèn)靜地打開(kāi)了門。進(jìn)來(lái)了三個(gè)警察，他們到這里來(lái)是因?yàn)橐粋€(gè)鄰居報(bào)警，說(shuō)是聽(tīng)見(jiàn)這所房子里傳出了一聲尖叫。

I welcomed the policemen and asked them to come in. I explained that it was I who had shouted，in a dream.The old man，I said，was away in the country.I took them round the house and asked them to search it well.Then I took them to the old man's room and showed them all his things.I brought chairs into the room and invited them to sit down and rest a while Calmly，I put my own chair on the place where I had hidden his body.

我向警察們表示歡迎，請(qǐng)他們進(jìn)屋來(lái)。我解釋說(shuō)，那聲尖叫是我在夢(mèng)中喊出來(lái)的，又說(shuō)，那個(gè)老頭出門到鄉(xiāng)下去了。我領(lǐng)著他們?cè)诜孔永镛D(zhuǎn)了一遍，要他們好好地搜查一番。然后我又把他們帶到老頭的屋子，給他們看老頭的全部家當(dāng)。我搬了幾把椅子進(jìn)來(lái)，請(qǐng)他們坐下休息片刻，又鎮(zhèn)定自若地把我自己的椅子放在我藏匿老頭尸體的地方。

The policemen seemed happy.They could see from the way I spoke that all was well.They continued talking，but I began to get tired.My head ached，and there was a ringing noise in my ears.I wanted the men to go away，but they continued to talk.The ringing became louder and clearer.And then I realized that the noise was not in my ears.

警察們似乎很滿意，他們可以從我的言談舉止中看出一切都很正常。他們繼續(xù)說(shuō)著話，可我卻有點(diǎn)不耐煩了。我頭直疼，耳中嗡嗡作響。我想讓這幾個(gè)人走開(kāi)，可他們沒(méi)完沒(méi)了地聊著天。嗡嗡的轟鳴聲變得更響亮、更清楚了。這時(shí)，我意識(shí)到這聲音不是響在我的耳朵里。

I became very pale，and starting talking more loudly.But the noise became louder too. What could do? It was a low，soft sound，like the sound made by a watch when it is covered in cotton.I spoke more loudly.The noise became louder too.Why，oh why，didn't the men go away? I walked up and down the room. I became angry，I argued，I threw the chair onto the floor.But the noise continued to grow louder，louder than every noise I made.And the men went on talking and smiling.Was it possible that they hadn't heard the terrible noise? No! no! They heard! They knew! They were only pretending that they hadn't heard the noise! I was sure of this-I still am and I hated their smiling faces.I felt that I must scream or die! And now，again，the noise was louder，louder，louder!

我臉色煞白，開(kāi)始提高了嗓門說(shuō)話。但那聲音也愈來(lái)愈大了。我能怎么辦?那是一種低沉、柔和的聲音，像是用棉花捂住了手表發(fā)出的聲響。我把嗓門提得更高。那聲音也隨之變大了。為什么，噢為什么那幾個(gè)人還不走呢?我在屋子里踱來(lái)踱去。我生起氣來(lái)，爭(zhēng)辯著，把椅子往地板上摔。但那聲音一刻不停地越升越高，蓋過(guò)了我制造出的種種噪聲。那幾個(gè)人繼續(xù)說(shuō)著、笑著。他們可能沒(méi)聽(tīng)見(jiàn)那可怕的聲音嗎?不!不!他們聽(tīng)見(jiàn)了!他們?nèi)懒?他們只是裝作沒(méi)聽(tīng)見(jiàn)那聲音!我敢肯定這一點(diǎn)——現(xiàn)在仍然肯定。還有，我討厭他們那副微笑的面孔。我覺(jué)得自己必須尖叫了，否則就會(huì)死去!現(xiàn)在，又來(lái)了，那聲音越來(lái)越大，越來(lái)越大，越來(lái)越大!

'Stop! 'I shouted.'Stop pretending that you cannot hear it! Yes，I did it! Pull up the floorboards here! here，here!-it is the beating of his horrible heart!'

“得了!”我嚷道。“別再裝作你們聽(tīng)不見(jiàn)了!不錯(cuò)，是我干的!把這兒的地板揭起來(lái)吧!這兒!這兒，這兒!——是他那顆可惡的心在跳!”