高級英語教材第31課

先讀課文﹕
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 湯姆‧沙亞歷險記
by Mark Twain

CHAPTER  I
"TOM!"
No answer.
"TOM!"
No answer.
"What's gone with that boy, I wonder? You TOM!"
No answer.
The old lady pulled her spectacles 複數指眼鏡 down and looked over them
about the room; then she put them up and looked out under them. She seldom
or never looked THROUGH them for so small a thing as a boy; they were her
state pair 指擺樣子的, the pride of her heart, and were built for "style,"
not service -- she could have seen through a pair of stove-lids just as well.
 She looked perplexed for a moment, and then said, not fiercely, but still
loud enough for the furniture to hear:
"Well, I lay if I get hold of you I'll --"
She did not finish, for by this time she was bending down and punching under
the bed with the broom, and so she needed breath to punctuate the punches
with. She resurrected nothing but the cat.
"I never did see the beat of that boy!"
She went to the open door and stood in it and looked out among the tomato
vines and "jimpson" weeds that constituted the garden. No Tom. So she lifted
up her voice at an angle 指頭抬高一點 calculated for distance and shouted:
"Y-o-u-u TOM!"
There was a slight noise behind her and she turned just in time to seize
a small boy by the slack of his roundabout and arrest his flight.
"There! I might 'a' [have] thought of that closet. What you been doing in
there?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing! Look at your hands. And look at your mouth. What IS that truck?"
"I don't know, aunt."
"Well, I know. It's jam -- that's what it is. Forty times I've said if you
didn't let that jam alone I'd skin you. Hand me that switch."
The switch hovered in the air -- the peril was des-perate --
"My! Look behind you, aunt!"
The old lady whirled round, and snatched her skirts out of danger. The lad
fled on the instant, scrambled up the high board-fence, and disappeared
over it.
His aunt Polly stood surprised a moment, and then broke into a gentle laugh.
"Hang the boy, can't I never learn anything? Ain't he played me tricks enough
like that for me to be look-ing out for him by this time? But old fools
is the big-gest fools there is. Can't learn an old dog new tricks, as the
saying is. But my goodness, he never plays them alike, two days, and how
is a-body [anybody] to know what's coming? He 'pears [appears] to know just
how long he can torment me before I get my dander up, and he knows if he
can make out to put me off for a minute or make me laugh, it's all down
again and I can't hit him a lick. I ain't doing my duty by that boy, and
that's the Lord's truth, goodness knows. Spare the rod and spile [spoil]
the child, as the Good Book 指聖經 says. I'm a laying up sin and suffering
for us both, I know. He's full of the Old Scratch [a folk name for The Devil],
 but laws-a-me [Lord save me感嘆語]! he's my own dead sister's boy, poor
thing, and I ain't got the heart to lash him, some-how. Every time I let
him off, my conscience does hurt me so, and every time I hit him my old heart
most breaks. Well-a-well, man that is born of woman is of few days and full
of trouble, as the Scripture says, and I reckon it's so. He'll play hookey
this evening, and I'll just be obleeged [obliged] to make him work, to-morrow,
 to punish him. It's mighty hard to make him work Saturdays, when all the
boys is having holiday, but he hates work more than he hates anything else,
and I've GOT to do some of my duty by him, or I'll be the ruination of the
child."
Tom did play hookey, and he had a very good time. He got back home barely
in season to help Jim, the small colored boy 指黑小孩, saw next-day's wood
and split the kindlings before supper -- at least he was there in time to
tell his adventures to Jim while Jim did three-fourths of the work. Tom's
younger brother (or rather half-brother) Sid was already through with his
part of the work (picking up chips), for he was a quiet boy, and had no
adventurous, trouble- some ways.
While Tom was eating his supper, and stealing sugar as opportunity offered,
Aunt Polly asked him questions that were full of guile, and very deep --
for she wanted to trap him into damaging revealments. Like many other simple-
hearted souls, it was her pet vanity to believe she was endowed with a talent
for dark and mysterious diplomacy, and she loved to contemplate her most
transparent devices as marvels of low cunning. Said she:
"Tom, it was middling warm [Somewhere between the last rays of morning,
the middling warmth of the day] in school, warn't it?" [wasn't it]
"Yes'm." [Yes, madam]
"Powerful warm, warn't it?"
"Yes'm."
"Didn't you want to go in a-swimming, Tom?"
A bit of a scare shot through Tom -- a touch of uncomfortable suspicion.
He searched Aunt Polly's face, but it told him nothing. So he said:
"No'm [no, madam] -- well, not very much."
The old lady reached out her hand and felt Tom's shirt, and said:
"But you ain't too warm now, though." And it flattered her to reflect that
she had discovered that the shirt was dry without anybody knowing that that
was what she had in her mind. But in spite of her, Tom knew where the wind
lay, now. So he forestalled what might be the next move:
"Some of us pumped on our heads 指把涼水澆在頭上降溫 -- mine's damp yet.
See?"
Aunt Polly was vexed to think she had overlooked that bit of circumstantial
evidence, and missed a trick. Then she had a new inspiration:
"Tom, you didn't have to undo your shirt collar where I sewed it, to pump
on your head, did you? Unbutton your jacket!"
The trouble vanished out of Tom's face. He opened his jacket. His shirt
collar was securely sewed.
"Bother! Well, go 'long [along] with you. I'd made sure you'd played hookey
and been a-swimming. But I forgive ye, Tom. I reckon you're a kind of a
singed cat, as the saying is -- better'n [than] you look. THIS time."
She was half sorry her sagacity had miscarried, and half glad that Tom had
stumbled into obedient conduct for once.
But Sidney said:
"Well, now, if I didn't think you sewed his collar with white thread, but
it's black.
"Why, I did sew it with white! Tom!"
But Tom did not wait for the rest. As he went out at the door he said:
"Siddy, I'll lick you for that."
In a safe place Tom examined two large needles which were thrust into the
lapels of his jacket, and had thread bound about them -- one needle carried
white thread and the other black. He said:
"She'd never noticed if it hadn't been for Sid. Confound it! sometimes she
sews it with white, and sometimes she sews it with black. I wish to geeminy
[Oh my goodness] she'd stick to one or t'other [the other] -- I can't keep
the run of 'em [them]. But I bet you I'll lam Sid for that. I'll learn [teach]
him!"
He was not the Model Boy of the village. He knew the model boy very well
though -- and loathed him.
Within two minutes, or even less, he had forgotten all his troubles. Not
because his troubles were one whit less heavy and bitter to him than a man's
are to a man, but because a new and powerful interest bore them down and
drove them out of his mind for the time -- just as men's misfortunes are
forgotten in the excitement of new enterprises. This new interest was a valued
novelty in whistling, which he had just acquired from a negro, and he was
suffering to practise it undisturbed. It consisted in a peculiar bird-like
turn, a sort of liquid warble, produced by touching the tongue to the roof
of the mouth at short intervals in the midst of the music -- the reader
probably remembers how to do it, if he has ever been a boy. Diligence and
attention soon gave him the knack of it, and he strode down the street with
his mouth full of harmony and his soul full of gratitude. He felt much as
an astronomer feels who has discovered a new planet -- no doubt, as far
as strong, deep, unalloyed pleasure is concerned, the advantage was with
the boy, not the astronomer.
The summer evenings were long. It was not dark, yet. Presently Tom checked
his whistle. A stranger was before him -- a boy a shade larger than himself.
A new-comer of any age or either sex was an impressive curiosity in the
poor little shabby village of St. Peter*****urg. This boy was well dressed,
too -- well dressed on a week-day. This was simply astounding. His cap was
a dainty thing, his close-buttoned blue cloth roundabout was new and natty,
and so were his pantaloons. He had shoes on -- and it was only Friday. He
even wore a necktie, a bright bit of ribbon. He had a citified air about
him that ate into Tom's vitals. The more Tom stared at the splendid marvel,
the higher he turned up his nose at his finery and the shabbier and shabbier
his own outfit seemed to him to grow. Neither boy spoke. If one moved, the
other moved -- but only sidewise, in a circle; they kept face to face and
eye to eye all the time. Finally Tom said:
"I can lick you!"
"I'd like to see you try it."
"Well, I can do it."
"No you can't, either."
"Yes I can."
"No you can't."
"I can."
"You can't."
"Can!"
"Can't!"
An uncomfortable pause. Then Tom said:
"What's your name?"
"'Tisn't any of your business, maybe."
"Well I 'low [allow] I'll MAKE it my business."
"Well why don't you?"
"If you say much, I will."
"Much -- much -- MUCH. There now."
"Oh, you think you're mighty smart, DON'T you? I could lick you with one
hand tied behind me, if I wanted to."
"Well why don't you DO it? You SAY you can do it."
"Well I WILL, if you fool with me."
"Oh yes -- I've seen whole families in the same fix."
"Smarty! You think you're SOME, now, DON'T you? Oh, what a hat!"
"You can lump that hat if you don't like it. I dare you to knock it off
-- and anybody that'll take a dare will suck eggs."
"You're a liar!"
"You're another."
"You're a fighting liar and dasn't [dare not] take it up."
"Aw -- take a walk!"
"Say -- if you give me much more of your sass I'll take and bounce a rock
off'n [on] your head."
"Oh, of COURSE you will."
"Well I WILL."
"Well why don't you DO it then? What do you keep SAYING you will for? Why
don't you DO it? It's because you're afraid."
"I AIN'T afraid."
"You are."
"I ain't."
"You are."
Another pause, and more eying and sidling around each other. Presently they
were shoulder to shoulder. Tom said:
"Get away from here!"
"Go away yourself!"
"I won't."
"I won't either."
So they stood, each with a foot placed at an angle as a brace, and both
shoving with might and main, and glowering at each other with hate. But
neither could get an advantage. After struggling till both were hot and
flushed, each relaxed his strain with watchful caution, and Tom said:
"You're a coward and a pup. I'll tell my big brother on you, and he can
thrash you with his little finger, and I'll make him do it, too."
"What do I care for your big brother? I've got a brother that's bigger than
he is -- and what's more, he can throw him over that fence, too." (Both
brothers were imaginary.)
"That's a lie."
"YOUR saying so don't make it so."
Tom drew a line in the dust with his big toe, and said:
"I dare you to step over that, and I'll lick you till you can't stand up.
Anybody that'll take a dare will steal sheep 指剽竊."
The new boy stepped over promptly, and said:
"Now you said you'd do it, now let's see you do it."
"Don't you crowd me now; you better look out."
"Well, you SAID you'd do it -- why don't you do it?"
"By jingo! for two cents I WILL do it."
The new boy took two broad coppers out of his pocket and held them out with
derision. Tom struck them to the ground. In an instant both boys were rolling
and tumbling in the dirt, gripped together like cats; and for the space
of a minute they tugged and tore at each other's hair and clothes, punched
and scratched each other's nose, and covered themselves with dust and glory.
Presently the confusion took form, and through the fog of battle Tom appeared,
 seated astride the new boy, and pounding him with his fists. "Holler 'nuff!"
 said he.
The boy only struggled to free himself. He was crying -- mainly from rage.
"Holler 'nuff!" -- and the pounding went on.
At last the stranger got out a smothered "'Nuff!" and Tom let him up and
said:
"Now that'll learn you. Better look out who you're fooling with next time."
The new boy went off brushing the dust from his clothes, sobbing, snuffling,
and occasionally looking back and shaking his head and threatening what
he would do to Tom the "next time he caught him out." To which Tom responded
with jeers, and started off in high feather, and as soon as his back was
turned the new boy snatched up a stone, threw it and hit him between the
shoulders and then turned tail and ran like an antelope. Tom chased the traitor
home, and thus found out where he lived. He then held a position at the
gate for some time, daring the enemy to come outside, but the enemy only
made faces at him through the window and declined. At last the enemy's mother
appeared, and called Tom a bad, vicious, vulgar child, and ordered him away.
So he went away; but he said he "'lowed" to "lay" for that boy.
He got home pretty late that night, and when he climbed cautiously in at
the window, he uncovered an ambuscade, in the person of his aunt; and when
she saw the state his clothes were in her resolution to turn his Saturday
holiday into captivity at hard labor became adamantine in its firmness.

1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835-- April 21, 1910),
better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist.
 He is most noted for his novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), and
its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), the latter often called
"the Great American Novel."
Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the setting
for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He apprenticed with a printer. He also
worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to his older brother Orion's
newspaper. After toiling as a printer in various cities, he became a master
riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River, before heading west to join Orion.
He was a failure at gold mining, so he next turned to journalism. While a
reporter, he wrote a humorous story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras
County", which became very popular and brought nationwide attention.
3) 筆名由來﹕If you don't already know why Samuel Clemens is known as Mark
Twain, it has to do with his love of the Mississippi River, and his time
as a pilot of the beautiful and functional steamboats of the time. Mark
twain was an old term used on the river. It meant two fathoms or twelve
feet, which indicated safe water that the steamboat could make safe passage
on the river at that point. Sam Clemens would have been very familiar with
the term, as he was a riverboat pilot. 據說這是密西西比河上水手的用語﹐表
示這裡水深標誌MARK是TWAIN﹐即two fathoms﹐水深測量單位。
4) 情節簡介﹕The story takes place in the small village of St. Peter*****urg,
Missouri, which is located on the banks of the Mississippi River. The time
period is the mid-1800's and is therefore a possible reflection of Mark
Twain's opinion on the politics and racial prejudice of the time. Tom Sawyer
and his brother, Sid, are orphans and live with their Aunt Polly. Tom is
very mischievous and at the beginning of the novel he is hiding from Aunt
Polly in the pantry, where he steals some jam. When she catches him he runs
away and plays hookey from school by going swimming.
Tom's punishment is to whitewash the entire fence. Although he doesn't want
to do this chore, he sets to it and when his friends come along he convinces
them that it is so much fun that they eagerly pay him to let them do some
of the work. When Aunt Polly lets him go, Tom and his friend Joe go off
playing the games that they think up through their imaginations. On the way
home, Tom sees a new girl, Becky Thatcher, and instantly falls in love. 網
上可讀全書。
5) 馬克‧吐溫也是美國著名作家﹐其“湯姆‧沙亞歷險記”也屬世界名著。還拍成
電影。學英文者不可不讀。