牛津書蟲系列 弗蘭肯斯坦 07

7

7 怪物的故事

After I had left the laboratory， I escaped into the country outside the town. I soon felt hungry and thirsty，and my first food was fruit which I found on some trees near a river. I drank from the river and then lay down and went to sleep.

我離開實驗室后，便逃到了城外的鄉(xiāng)間。不久我便感到又饑又渴;我的第一頓食物是我在河邊的樹上找到的果子。我喝了河里的水，然后躺倒睡著了。

At first my eyes and ears did not work very well，but after a while I began to see and hear clearly.

開始時我的眼睛和耳朵不大靈便，但過了一會兒我就能看清楚、聽明白了。

One day， snow began to fall. Of course， I had never walked in snow before， and I found that it made my feet very cold. I realized that I needed food and a place to get warm.Soon I saw a small hut where an old man was cooking his breakfast over a fire. When the old man saw me， he shouted loudly and ran away as fast as he could. I did not understand what the man was doing， but I wanted to be near the fire. So I sat down in the warm， and ate the man's breakfast. Then I walked across empty fields for some hours until I reached a village. I went into one of the houses， but there were children inside. They began to scream when they saw me， and their mother fainted. The whole village came to see what was the trouble. Some of the people ran away when they saw me， but the others shouted and threw stones at me.They wanted to kill me. I was badly hurt， but I escaped and ran into the open country.

有一天，天下起了雪。當(dāng)然，我以前從未在雪中走過，我發(fā)現(xiàn)它讓我的雙腳感覺非常冷。我意識到我需要食物和住處取暖。我很快便看到了一個小茅舍，里面有個老人正在火上做早飯。當(dāng)那個老人看到我時，他大聲喊叫了起來并以自己最快的速度跑開了。我不明白這個老人在干什么，但是我想靠近火堆。于是我暖暖和和地坐下并吃了這個人做的早餐。然后我在空曠的田野中走了好幾個小時，直到到了一個村莊。我走進了其中的一家房子，可是里面有幾個孩子。他們見到我后便尖叫起來，他們的母親也暈倒了。全村的人都來看發(fā)生了什么事情。有些人見到我后便跑開了，但另外一些人則喊叫起來并朝我扔石頭。他們想要殺死我。我傷得很重，可還是逃脫了并跑進了曠野之中。

Later， I found an empty hut， which was built against the wall of a small house. I was afraid to go into the house after what had happened in the village， so I hid in the hut. There I was safe， and could escape from the cold， and hide from people who wished to hurt me.

后來，我找到了一個空茅屋。它是靠著一個小屋子的一堵墻而建起來的。在那個村子里發(fā)生了那樁事之后，我不敢進屋，因而便藏在茅屋中。我在那兒是安全的，并且可以避寒，還可以逃避那些想要傷害我的人。

And then I found that there was a small hole in the wall between the hut and the house.Through this hole I could see in-to the room next to the hut. Three people lived in the house—a beautiful girl， an old man， and a young man.

接著我發(fā)現(xiàn)在茅屋和那房屋之間的墻之間有一個洞。通過這個洞我可以看見茅屋隔壁的房間。有三個人住在那個屋子里——一個漂亮的女孩，一個老人，還有一個年輕人。

Day after day I watched the three people.I saw how kind they were to each other. I wanted so much to go into the house and be with them， but I knew I must stay in the hut. I could not forget how the village people had hurt me when I tried to go into the house there.

我一天天地觀察著這三個人。我看到他們之間是多么親密。我非常想進屋去加入他們的行列，但我清楚我必須呆在茅屋里。我想走進那個屋子時總忘不了村民們是怎么傷害我的。

Each night， after the people in the house had gone to bed，I stole some of their food for myself. But soon I realized that the old man was blind. And I realized too that often the three of them did not have enough to eat.I saw the two young people put extra food on the blind man's plate， although they were hungry themselves.

每天晚上，在屋子里的那三個人睡下之后，我便把他們的食物偷來給自己吃。然而不久我就意識到那個老人是個瞎子。并且我還意識到那三個人常常食不裹腹。我見到那兩個年輕人常給那個老盲人的盤子里多放些食物，盡管他們自己在挨餓。

When I saw that，I stopped stealing their food.Their life was already hard enough， so I went back to the wild fruit in the woods. I tried to help them in other ways， too.During the night I cut firewood for them， and added it secretly to the wood which the young man had cut during the day. I was very happy to see how much this pleased the young man.

看到這些后，我就不再偷他們的食物了。他們的生活已經(jīng)夠艱苦的了，于是我便重新靠樹林里的野果為生。我還盡力想一些其他辦法幫助他們。晚上我為他們砍柴火，還暗中把它們添在那個年輕小伙子白天砍的柴火中。我很高興看到這能如此取悅于那個年輕人。

After a while I began to understand some of the noises that the people made to each other. The first words that I under-stood were words like ‘fire’， and‘bread’. I also learnt that the three people called each other by names. The girl was Agatha， the young man was Felix， and the old man was called Father. I tried to make the noises that they made， and slowly I began to speak.

不久我開始懂得了那些人彼此之間發(fā)出的一些聲音了。我最初理解的單詞是像“火”還有“面包”這樣的詞。我還了解到那三個人彼此之間稱呼的名字。那個女孩叫“阿加莎”，那個小伙子叫“菲力克斯”，而那老人則叫“父親”。我努力去發(fā)他們發(fā)出的聲音，于是慢慢地開始說話了。

The two young people were very beautiful. One day I saw my own face in the water of the river. It was a terrible face.I understood why people were frightened， why they shouted and threw stones. I knew then that I could not let these beautiful people see me. They would be frightened by my horrible face and body.

那兩個年輕人很漂亮。有一天我從河中看見我自己的臉。那是張可怕的臉。我明白了人們?yōu)槭裁磿ε?、為什么會喊叫并扔石頭的原因。那時我才知道我不能讓這些漂亮的人們看見我，他們會因為我那可怕的臉和身體而驚恐的。

Summer was coming， and I continued to watch and learn. I also continued to help the two people and their father， and did many jobs for them in the night. They were always surprised in the morning when they saw what I had done. I heard them talk about the ‘good creature’ who did these‘wonderful’things.

夏天臨近了，我在繼續(xù)觀察和學(xué)習(xí)。我也在繼續(xù)幫助那兩個人和他們的父親，并且在晚上給他們干很多活兒。他們早上看到我所做的事情后總是感到很驚奇。我聽到他們談?wù)撃莻€做了這些“好”事的“好人”。

But the family were often sad， and I wished I could make them happy.I looked forward to the time when I could speak well enough to talk to them. And I was happy because I was sure I would soon have three good friends.

可是這家人經(jīng)常悶悶不樂。我希望我能讓他們高興。我期盼著我能學(xué)會說話而同他們交談的那一時刻。我也很高興，因為我確信不久我便會有三個好朋友了。