前言

秘方简介

常用词列表

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

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 场面；眼镜 down and looked over them about the room; then she put them up and looked out under them. She seldom 很少 or never looked through them for so small a thing as a boy; they were her state pair, the pride 自尊 of her heart, and were built for “style 样式,” not service—she could have seen through a pair of stove 炉-lids 盖子 just as well. She looked perplexed 困扰 for a moment, and then said, not fiercely 凶猛的, but still loud 响亮的 enough for the furniture 家具 to hear:

“Well, I lay lie if I get hold of you I’ll—”

She did not finish, for by this time she was bending down and punching 冲床 under the bed with the broom 扫帚, and so she needed breath to punctuate 圈点 the punches 冲床 with. She resurrected 复活 nothing but the cat 猫.

“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 番茄 vines 藤蔓 and “jimpson” weeds 杂草 that constituted 构成，组成，被视作 the garden. No Tom. So she lifted up her voice at an angle calculated 计算 for distance and shouted:

“Y-o-u-u TOM!”

There was a slight noise 噪音 behind her and she turned just in time to seize 抓住 a small boy by the slack 松弛 of his round‧about 迂回 and arrest 逮捕 his flight 飞行.

“There! I might ‘a’ thought of that closet 壁橱. 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 阿姨.”

“Well, I know. It’s jam 果酱—that’s what it is. Forty times I’ve said if you didn’t let that jam 果酱 alone I’d skin 皮 you. Hand me that switch 开关.”

The switch 开关 hovered 徘徊 in the air—the peril 岌 was desperate 殊死—

“My! Look behind you, aunt!”

The old lady whirled 旋转 round, and snatched 抢夺 her skirts 裙子 out of danger. The lad 小伙子 fled on the instant 瞬间, scrambled 争夺 up the high board-fence 栅栏, and disappeared 不见 over it.

His aunt Polly stood surprised a moment, and then broke break into a gentle laugh.

“Hang the boy, can’t I never learn anything? Ain’t he played me tricks 哄骗；诀窍 enough like that for me to be looking out for him by this time? But old fools is the biggest fools there is. Can’t learn an old dog new tricks, as the saying is. But my goodness 善良, he never plays them alike 同样的, two days, and how is a body to know what’s coming? He ‘pears 梨 to know just how long he can torment 折磨 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 舔. I ain’t doing my duty by that boy, and that’s the Lord’s truth, goodness 善良 knows. Spare 节省；多余的；备用件 the rod 杆 and spile the child, as the Good Book says. I’m a laying up sin 罪 and suffering for us both, I know. He’s full of the Old Scratch 刮, but laws-a-me! he’s my own dead sister 姐妹’s boy, poor thing, and I ain’t got the heart to lash 睫毛 him, somehow. Every time I let him off, my conscience 良心 does hurt 损害 me so, and every time I hit him my old heart most breaks. Well-a-well, man that is born bear of woman is of few days and full of trouble, as the Scripture says, and I reckon 估计 it’s so. He’ll play hookey this evening, * and [* Southwestern for “afternoon”] I’ll just be obleeged to make him work, tomorrow, to punish 处罚 him. It’s mighty 威武 hard to make him work Saturdays, when all the boys is having holiday 假日, 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 光秃秃的 in season to help Jim, the small colored boy, saw next-day’s wood and split 分裂 the kindlings before supper 晚饭—at least he was there in time to tell his adventures 冒险活动 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 芯片), for he was a quiet boy, and had no adventurous 爱冒险的, trouble-some ways.

While Tom was eating his supper 晚饭, and stealing 偷 sugar 食糖 as opportunity offered, Aunt 3 Polly asked him questions that were full of guile, and very deep—for she wanted to trap 陷阱；诱骗 him into damaging 损害 revealments. Like many other simple-hearted souls, it was her pet 宠物 vanity 虚荣 to believe she was endowed 赋予 with a talent 天赋 for dark and mysterious 神秘 diplomacy 外交, and she loved to contemplate 沉思 her most trans‧parent 透明 devices 设备 as marvels 奇迹 of low cunning 狡猾. Said she:

“Tom, it was middling warm in school, warn’t it?”

“Yes’m.”

“Powerful 强大 warm, warn’t it?”

“Yes’m.”

“Didn’t you want to go in a-swimming 游泳, Tom?”

A bit 一点 of a scare 惊恐 shot shoot through Tom—a touch of uncomfortable 不舒服 suspicion 怀疑. He searched Aunt Polly’s face, but it told him nothing. So he said:

“No’m—well, not very much.”

The old lady reached out her hand and felt Tom’s shirt 衬衫, and said:

“But you ain’t too warm now, though.” And it flattered 奉承 her to reflect that she had discovered that the shirt was dry without any‧body 任何人 knowing that that was what she had in her mind. But in spite 恶意 of her, Tom knew where the wind lay, now. So he forestalled what might be the next move:

“Some of us pumped 泵 on our heads—mine’s damp 微湿的 yet. See?”

Aunt Polly was vexed to think she had over‧look 俯瞰 that bit 一点 of circumstantial evidence 证据, and missed a trick 哄骗；诀窍. Then she had a new inspiration 灵感:

“Tom, you didn’t have to undo 解开 your shirt 衬衫 collar 衣领 where I sewed 缝:sew it, to pump 泵 on your head, did you? Unbutton your jacket 衣服!”

The trouble vanished 消失 out of Tom’s face. He opened his jacket. His shirt 3 collar was securely 安全 sewed.

“Bother! Well, go ‘long with you. I’d made sure you’d played hookey and been a-swimming. But I for‧give 原谅 ye, Tom. I reckon 估计 you’re a kind of a singed cat, as the saying is—better’n you look. This time.”

She was half sorry 对不起的 her saga‧city 冒险故事‧城市 had miscarried, and half glad 高兴的 that Tom had stumbled 绊倒 into obedient 顺从的 conduct 进行 for once.

But Sidney said:

“Well, now, if I didn’t think you sewed his collar 衣领 with white thread 线, but it’s black.”

“Why, I did sew 缝 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 舔 you for that.”

In a safe place Tom examined two large needles 针 which were thrust 推力 into the lapels of his jacket 衣服, and had thread 线 bound 必定；跳 about them—one needle 针 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 缝 it with white, and sometimes she sews it with black. I wish to gee 哎呀-miny she’d stick to one or t’other—I can’t keep the run of ‘em. But I bet you I’ll lam Sid for that. I’ll learn him!”

He was not the Model Boy of the village. He knew the model boy very well though—and loathed 厌恶 him.

Within two minutes, or even less, he had forgotten forget 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 强大 interest bore bear them down and drove drive them out of his mind for the time—just as men’s misfortunes 不幸 are forgotten in the excitement 激动 of new enterprises 企业. This new interest was a valued novelty 新奇 in whistling 吹口哨, which he had just acquired 获得 from a negro, and he was suffering to practise it un-disturbed 打扰. It consisted 组成 in a peculiar 奇怪的 bird-like turn, a sort of liquid 液体 warble, produced by touching the tongue 舌头 to the roof of the mouth at short intervals 间隔 in the midst 中间 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 和谐 and his soul full of gratitude 感谢. He felt much as an astronomer 天文学家 feels who has discovered a new planet 行星—no doubt, as far as strong, deep, unalloyed pleasure is concerned, the advantage was with the boy, not the astronomer 天文学家.

The summer evenings were long. It was not dark, yet. Presently Tom checked his whistle 吹口哨. A stranger was before him—a boy a shade 遮阳；阴 larger than himself. A new-comer of any age or either sex 性别 was an im-pressive curiosity 好奇心 in the poor little shabby 破旧 village of St. Petersburg. This boy was well dressed, too—well dressed on a week-day. This was simply astounding 惊奇. His cap 盖 was a dainty thing, his close-buttoned 按钮 blue cloth 布 round‧about 迂回 was new and natty, and so were his pantaloons. He had shoes on—and it was only Friday. He even wore wear a neck‧tie 颈‧打结；系上；关系, a bright bit of ribbon 带. He had a citified air about him that ate into Tom’s vitals 重要的. The more Tom stared at the splendid 壮观的 marvel 奇迹, the higher he turned up his nose at his finery and the shabbier 破旧 and shabbier 破旧 his own outfit 配备 seemed to him to grow. Neither boy spoke speak. If one moved, the other moved—but only side‧wise 边；面‧明智的；聪明的, in a circle; they kept face to face and eye to eye all the time. Finally Tom said:

“I can lick 舔 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 不舒服 pause 暂停. Then Tom said:

“What’s your name?”

“‘Tisn’t any of your business, maybe.”

“Well I ‘low 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 威武 smart 聪明, don’t you? I could lick 舔 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 块 that hat if you don’t like it. I dare 敢 you to knock 敲 it off—and any‧body 任何人 that’ll take a dare will suck 吮吸 eggs 鸡蛋.”

“You’re a liar 说谎者!”

“You’re another.”

“You’re a fighting liar and dasn’t take it up.”

“Aw—take a walk!”

“Say—if you give me much more of your sass I’ll take and bounce 弹跳 a rock off’n 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 暂停, and more eying and sidling around each other. Presently they were shoulder to shoulder. Tom said:

“Get away from here!”

“Go away your‧self 你自己!”

“I won win’t.”

“I won’t either.”

So they stood, each with a foot placed at an angle as a brace 支撑, and both shoving 推 with might and main, and glowering at each other with hate. But neither could get an advantage. After struggling till 到 both were hot and flushed 红晕, each relaxed 放松 his strain 压力 with watchful caution 小心, and Tom said:

“You’re a coward 胆小鬼 and a pup 小狗. I’ll tell my big brother on you, and he can thrash 鞭打 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 thatfence 栅栏, too.” [Both brothers were imaginary 想像中的.]

“That’s a lie.”

“Your saying so don’t make it so.”

Tom drew draw a line in the dust with his big toe 脚趾, and said:

“I dare you to step over that, and I’ll lick 舔 you till 到 you can’t stand up. Anybody that’ll take a dare will steal sheep 羊.”

The new boy stepped over promptly 敏捷的, 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 铜 out of his pocket 口袋 and held them out with derision. Tom struck strike them to the ground grind. In an instant 瞬间 both boys were rolling and tumbling 下跌 in the dirt, gripped 握 together like cats 猫; and for the space of a minute they tugged 拖船 and tore tear at each other’s hair and clothes, punched 冲床 and scratched 刮 each other’s nose, and covered themselves with dust and glory 光荣. Presently the confusion 混乱 took form, and through the fog 多雾路段 of battle Tom appeared, seated astride the new boy, and pounding him with his fists 拳头. “Holler ‘nuff!” said he.

The boy only struggled to free himself. He was crying—mainly from rage 愤怒.

“Holler ‘nuff!”—and the pounding went on.

At last the stranger got out a smothered 扼杀 “‘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 哭泣, snuffling, and occasionally 偶尔，间或；有时 looking back and shaking his head and threatening what he would do to Tom the “next time he caught catch him out.” To which Tom responded 响应 with jeers, and started off in high feather 羽毛, and as soon as his back was turned the new boy snatched 抢夺 up a stone, threw throw it and hit him between the shoulders and then turned tail 尾 and ran like an antelope. Tom chased 追 the traitor 叛徒 home, and thus found out where he lived. He then held a position at the gate 门 for some time, daring 敢 the enemy to come outside, but the enemy only made faces at him through the window and declined 下降. At last the enemy’s mother appeared, and called Tom a bad, vicious 恶毒, vulgar 庸俗 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 小心的 in at the window, he uncovered 揭露 an ambuscade, in the person of his aunt; and when she saw the state his clothes were in her resolution 解析度 to turn his Saturday holiday 假日 into captivity 囚禁 at hard labor 劳动 became adamantine in its firmness.

CHAPTER II

SATURDAY morning was come, and all the summer world was bright and fresh, and brimming 边 with life. There was a song in every heart; and if the heart was young the music issued at the lips. There was cheer 欢呼 in every face and a spring in every step. The locust-trees were in bloom 盛开 and the fragrance 香味 of the blossoms 开花 filled the air. Cardiff Hill, beyond the village and above it, was green with vegetation 植被 and it lay just far enough away to seem a Delectable Land, dreamy, reposeful, and inviting.

Tom appeared on the side‧walk 人行道 with a bucket 水桶 of white‧wash 撇清 and a long-handled brush. He surveyed 调查 the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy 愁绪 settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine 九 feet high. Life to him seemed hollow 空的, and existence but a burden 负荷，重负. Sighing, he dipped 浸 his brush and passed it along the top‧most 顶‧最 plank 板; repeated the operation; did it again; compared the insignificant 微不足道 white‧wash 撇清 streak 条纹 with the far-reaching continent 大陆 of unwhitewashed fence, and sat sit down on a tree-box discouraged 不鼓励. Jim came skipping 跳跃 out at the gate 门 with a tin 锡 pail, and singing Buffalo Gals. Bringing water from the town pump 泵 had always been hateful work in Tom’s eyes, before, but now it did not strike him so. He remembered that there was company at the pump. White, mulatto, and negro boys and girls were always there waiting their turns, resting, trading playthings, quarrelling 争吵, fighting, skylarking. And he remembered that although the pump 3 was only a hundred 百 and fifty 五十 yards off, Jim never got back with a bucket 水桶 of water under an hour—and even then somebody generally had to go after him. Tom said:

“Say, Jim, I’ll fetch 取 the water if you’ll white‧wash 撇清 some.”

Jim shook shake his head and said:

“Can’t, Mars Tom. Ole missis, she tole me I got to go an’ git dis water an’ not stop foolin’ roun’ wid anybody. She say she spec 规范’ Mars Tom gwine to ax 斧头 me to white‧wash 撇清, an’ so she tole me go ‘long an’ ‘tend to my own business—she ‘lowed she’d ‘tend to de whitewashin’.”

“Oh, never you mind what she said, Jim. That’s the way she always talks. Gimme the bucket 水桶—I won’t be gone only a a minute. She won’t ever know.”

“Oh, I dasn’t, Mars Tom. Ole missis she’d take an’ tar 柏油 de head off’n me. ‘ Deed 行为 she would.”

“She! She never licks 舔 anybody—whacks 重打 ‘em over the head with her thimble—and who cares for that, I’d like to know. She talks awful 糟糕的, but talk don’t hurt 损害— anyways 无论如何 it don’t if she don’t cry. Jim, I’ll give you a marvel 奇迹. I’ll give you a white alley 胡同!”

Jim began to waver.

“White alley 胡同, Jim! And it’s a bully 欺负 taw.”

“My! Dat’s a mighty 威武 gay 快乐的 marvel 奇迹, I tell you! But Mars Tom I’s powerful 强大 ‘fraid ole missis—”

“And besides, if you will I’ll show you my sore 疼痛的 toe 脚趾.”

Jim was only human—this attraction 吸引 was too much for him. He put down his pail, took the white alley 胡同, and bent bend over the toe with absorbing 吸收 interest while the band‧age 绷带 was being unwound. In another moment he was flying down the street with his pail and a tingling rear 后, Tom was white‧wash 撇清 with vigor 活力, and Aunt Polly was retiring from the field with a slipper in her hand and triumph 胜利 in her eye.

But Tom’s energy 能源 did not last. He began to think of the fun 乐趣 he had planned for this day, and his sorrows 悲痛 multiplied 乘. Soon the free boys would come tripping along on all sorts of delicious 美味的 expeditions 远征, and they would make a world of fun of him for having to work—the very thought of it burnt burn him like fire. He got out his worldly wealth 财产 and examined it— bits 一点 of toys 玩具, marbles 大理石, and trash 垃圾; enough to buy an exchange of work, maybe, but not half enough to buy so much as half an hour of pure freedom. So he returned his straitened means to his pocket 口袋, and gave up the idea of trying to buy the boys. At this dark and hope‧less 绝望 moment an inspiration 灵感 burst 爆裂 upon him! Nothing less than a great, magnificent 华丽的 inspiration 灵感.

He took up his brush and went tranquilly 宁静 to work. Ben Rogers hove in sight presently—the very boy, of all boys, whose 谁的 ridicule 嘲笑 he had been dreading 恐惧. Ben’s gait was the hop 跳-skip 跳跃-and-jump— proof 证明 enough that his heart was light and his anticipations 预期 high. He was eating an apple 苹果, and giving a long, melodious whoop 叫喊, at intervals 间隔, followed by a deep-toned 音 ding-dong-dong, ding-dong-dong, for he was personating a steam‧boat 蒸汽‧小船. As he drew near, he slackened speed, took the middle of the street, leaned lean far over to star‧board 星‧板，上船 and rounded to ponderously and with laborious pomp and circumstance 环境—for he was personating the Big Missouri, and considered himself to be drawing nine 九 feet of water. He was boat and captain and engine-bells 钟 combined, so he had to imagine himself standing on his own hurricane 飓风-deck 甲板 giving the orders and executing 执行 them:

“Stop her, sir 先生! Ting-a-ling-ling!” The head‧way 头；上端‧路；方法 ran almost out, and he drew up slowly toward the side‧walk 人行道.

“Ship up to back! Ting-a-ling-ling!” His arms straightened 变直 and stiffened 弄硬 down his sides.

“Set her back on the stab‧board 刺‧板，上船! Ting-a-ling-ling! Chow! ch-chow-wow 哇! Chow!” His right hand, mean-time, describing stately circles—for it was representing a forty 四十-foot wheel.

“Let her go back on the lab‧board 实验室‧板，上船! Ting-a-ling-ling! Chow-ch-chow-chow!” The left hand began to describe circles.

“Stop the stab‧board 刺‧板，上船! Ting-a-ling-ling! Stop the lab‧board 实验室‧板，上船! Come ahead on the stab‧board 刺‧板，上船! Stop her! Let your outside turn over slow! Ting-a-ling-ling! Chow-ow-ow! Get out that head-line! lively now! Come—out with your spring-line—what’re you about there! Take a turn round that stump 树墩 with the bight of it! Stand by that stage, now—let her go! Done with the engines, sir 先生! Ting-a-ling-ling! SH’T! S’H’T! SH’T!” (trying the gauge 测量-cocks 公鸡).

Tom went on white‧wash 撇清—paid no attention to the steam‧boat 蒸汽‧小船. Ben stared a moment and then said: “Hi 嗨-Yi! You’re up a stump 树墩, ain’t you!”

No answer. Tom surveyed 调查 his last touch with the eye of an artist 艺术家, then he gave his brush another gentle sweep and surveyed 调查 the result, as before. Ben ranged up along‧side 并肩 of him. Tom’s mouth watered for the apple 苹果, but he stuck stick to his work. Ben said:

“ Hello 哈喽, old chap 皴裂, you got to work, hey 嘿?”

Tom wheeled suddenly and said:

“Why, it’s you, Ben! I warn’t noticing.”

“Say—I’m going in a-swimming, I am. Don’t you wish you could? But of course you’d druther work—wouldn’t you? Course you would!”

Tom contemplated 沉思 the boy a bit, and said:

“What do you call work?”

“Why, ain’t that work?”

Tom resumed 恢复 his white‧wash 撇清, and answered care‧less 粗心:

“Well, maybe it is, and maybe it ain’t. All I know, is, it suits Tom Sawyer.”

“Oh come, now, you don’t mean to let on that you like it?”

The brush continued to move.

“Like it? Well, I don’t see why I oughtn’t to like it. Does a boy get a chance to white‧wash 撇清 a fence every day?”

That put the thing in a new light. Ben stopped nibbling his apple 苹果. Tom swept sweep his brush daintily back and forth—stepped back to note the effect—added a touch here and there—criticised the effect again—Ben watching every move and getting more and more interested, more and more absorbed 吸收. Presently he said:

“Say, Tom, let me white‧wash 撇清 a little.”

Tom considered, was about to consent 同意; but he altered 改变 his mind:

“No—no—I reckon 估计 it wouldn’t hardly do, Ben. You see, Aunt Polly’s awful 糟糕的 particular about this fence—right here on the street, you know—but if it was the back fence I wouldn’t mind and she wouldn’t. Yes, she’s awful particular about this fence; it’s got to be done very careful 小心; I reckon 估计 there ain’t one boy in a thou‧sand 千, maybe two thou‧sand 千, that can do it the way it’s got to be done.”

“No—is that so? Oh come, now—lemme just try. Only just a little—I’d let you, if you was me, Tom.”

“Ben, I’d like to, honest 诚实的 injun; but Aunt Polly—well, Jim wanted to do it, but she wouldn’t let him; Sid wanted to do it, and she wouldn’t let Sid. Now don’t you see how I’m fixed? If you was to tackle 滑车 this fence and anything was to happen to it—”

“Oh, shucks, I’ll be just as careful 小心. Now lemme try. Say—I’ll give you the core 核心 of my apple 3.”

“Well, here—No, Ben, now don’t. I’m afeard—”

“I’ll give you all of it!”

Tom gave up the brush with reluctance 不情愿 in his face, but alacrity in his heart. And while the late steamer 蒸汽 Big Missouri worked and sweated 流汗 in the sun, the retired artist 艺术家 sat on a barrel 桶 in the shade 遮阳；阴 close by, dangled 吊着 his legs, munched his apple, and planned the slaughter 屠宰 of more innocents 无辜. There was no lack of material; boys happened along every little while; they came to jeer, but remained to white‧wash 撇清. By the time Ben was fagged out, Tom had traded the next chance to Billy Fisher for a kite 风筝, in good repair 修理; and when he played out, Johnny Miller bought buy in for a dead rat 鼠 and a string 绳子 to swing it with—and so on, and so on, hour after hour. And when the middle of the afternoon came, from being a poor poverty 贫穷-stricken boy in the morning, Tom was literally 按照字面 rolling in wealth 财产. He had besides the things before mentioned, twelve 十二 marbles 大理石, part of a jews-harp 竖琴, a piece of blue bottle-glass to look through, a spool cannon 大炮, a key that wouldn’t unlock 开锁 anything, a fragment 分段 of chalk 粉笔, a glass stopper of a decanter, a tin 锡 soldier, a couple of tadpoles, six fire-crackers 饼干, a kitten 小猫 with only one eye, a brass 黄铜 door-knob 把手, a dog-collar 3—but no dog—the handle of a knife, four pieces of orange 桔子-peel 剥, and a dilapidated old window sash.

He had had a nice, good, idle 无意义的 time all the while—plenty of company—and the fence had three coats of white‧wash 撇清 on it! If he hadn’t run out of white‧wash 撇清 he would have bankrupted 破产者 every boy in the village.

Tom said to himself that it was not such a hollow 空的 world, after all. He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it—namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet 贪图 a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain 达到. If he had been a great and wise 明智的；聪明的 philosopher 哲学家, like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended 理解 that Work consists 组成 of whatever a body is obliged 责成 to do, and that Play consists 组成 of whatever a body is not obliged 责成 to do. And this would help him to understand why constructing 构造 artificial 人造的 flowers or performing on a tread 踏-mill 磨坊 is work, while rolling ten 十-pins 钉 or climbing Mont Blanc is only amusement 娱乐. There are wealthy 富裕 gentlemen in England who drive four-horse passenger 乘客-coaches 教练 twenty 二十 or thirty 三十 miles on a daily line, in the summer, because the privilege 特权 costs them consider‧able 大量 money; but if they were offered wages for the service, that would turn it into work and then they would resign 辞职.

The boy mused 沉思 awhile 一会儿 over the substantial 大量的 change which had taken place in his worldly circumstances 环境, and then wended toward head‧quarter 总部 to report.

CHAPTER III

TOM presented himself before Aunt Polly, who was sitting by an open window in a pleasant rearward apartment, which was bed‧room 卧室, break‧fast 早餐-room, dining 吃饭-room, and library, combined. The balmy summer air, the restful quiet, the odor 气味 of the flowers, and the drowsing murmur 私语 of the bees 蜜蜂 had had their effect, and she was nodding 点头 over her knitting 针织—for she had no company but the cat, and it was asleep 睡着的 in her lap 膝部. Her spectacles 场面；眼镜 were propped 支柱 up on her gray head for safety 安全. She had thought that of course Tom had deserted 沙漠；抛弃 long ago, and she wondered at seeing him place himself in her power again in this intrepid way. He said: “Mayn’t I go and play now, aunt?”

“What, a’ready? How much have you done?”

“It’s all done, aunt.”

“Tom, don’t lie to me—I can’t bear it.”

“I ain’t, aunt; it is all done.”

Aunt Polly placed small trust in such evidence 证据. She went out to see for her‧self 她自己; and she would have been content to find twenty 二十 per cent. of Tom’s statement 声明 true. When she found the entire fence white-washed, and not only white‧wash 撇清 but elaborately 阐述 coated and recoated, and even a streak 条纹 added to the ground, her astonishment 惊愕 was almost unspeakable. She said:

“Well, I never! There’s no getting round it, you can work when you’re a mind to, Tom.” And then she diluted 稀 the compliment 赞扬 by adding, “But it’s powerful 强大 seldom 很少 you’re a mind to, I’m bound 必定；跳 to say. Well, go ‘long and play; but mind you get back some time in a week, or I’ll tan 黄褐色 you.”

She was so over‧come 战胜 by the splendor 辉 of his achievement 成就 that she took him into the closet 壁橱 and selected 选择 a choice apple and delivered it to him, along with an improving lecture 讲座，课 upon the added value and flavor 味 a treat took to itself 本身 when it came without sin 罪 through virtuous 贤 effort. And while she closed with a happy Scriptural flourish 繁荣, he “ hooked 钩” a dough‧nut 面团‧螺母.

Then he skipped 跳跃 out, and saw Sid just starting up the outside stair‧way 楼梯‧路；方法 that led to the back rooms on the second floor. Clods were handy 便利 and the air was full of them in a twinkling 眨眼. They raged 愤怒 around Sid like a hail 冰雹-storm 暴风雨; and before Aunt Polly could collect her surprised faculties 学院 and sally to the rescue 营救, six or seven 七 clods had taken personal 个人 effect, and Tom was over the fence and gone. There was a gate, but as a general thing he was too crowded for time to make use of it. His soul was at peace, now that he had settled with Sid for calling attention to his black thread 3 and getting him into trouble.

Tom skirted 裙子 the block, and came round into a muddy 浑 alley 胡同 that led by the back of his aunt’s cow 奶牛-stable 稳定. He presently got safely beyond the reach of capture 捕获 and punishment 惩罚, and hastened 加速 toward the public square of the village, where two “military 军事” companies of boys had met for conflict 冲突, according to previous 以前 appointment 约定. Tom was General of one of these armies, Joe Harper (a bosom friend) General of the other. These two great commanders did not con‧descend CON‧下来 to fight in person—that being better suited 套房 to the still smaller fry 油炸；炒—but sat together on an eminence and conducted 进行 the field operations by orders delivered through aides 助手-de-camp. Tom’s army won a great victory, after a long and hard-fought fight battle. Then the dead were counted, prisoners 犯人，囚犯 exchanged, the terms of the next disagreement 异议 agreed upon, and the day for the necessary battle appointed; after which the armies fell fall into line and marched 行军；三月 away, and Tom turned home‧ward 家‧病房 alone.

As he was passing by the house where Jeff Thatcher lived, he saw a new girl in the garden—a lovely 可爱的 little blue-eyed creature 动物；生物 with yellow hair plaited into two long-tails 尾, white summer frock and embroidered 绣 pan 平底锅-talettes. The fresh-crowned 王冠 hero 英雄 fell without firing a shot. A certain Amy Lawrence vanished 消失 out of his heart and left not even a memory of her‧self 她自己 behind. He had thought he loved her to distraction 娱乐; he had regarded his passion 激情，热情；强烈情感 as adoration; and behold 不料 it was only a poor little evanescent partiality. He had been months winning her; she had confessed 供认 hardly a week ago; he had been the happiest and the proudest boy in the world only seven 七 short days, and here in one instant of time she had gone out of his heart like a casual 随便 stranger whose 谁的 visit is done.

He worshipped 崇拜 this new angel 天使 with furtive eye, till he saw that she had discovered him; then he pretended 假装 he did not know she was present, and began to “show off” in all sorts of absurd 荒诞 boyish ways, in order to win her admiration 钦佩. He kept up this grotesque 奇怪的 foolishness for some time; but by-and-by, while he was in the midst 中间 of some dangerous 危险 gymnastic performances, he glanced 一瞥 aside and saw that the little girl was wending her way toward the house. Tom came up to the fence and leaned on it, grieving 悼, and hoping she would tarry yet awhile 一会儿 longer. She halted 停 a moment on the steps and then moved toward the door. Tom heaved 举起 a great sigh 叹 as she put her foot on the threshold 阈. But his face lit up, right away, for she tossed 折腾 a pansy over the fence a moment before she disappeared.

The boy ran around and stopped within a foot or two of the flower, and then shaded 遮阳；阴 his eyes with his hand and began to look down street as if he had discovered something of interest going on in that direction. Presently he picked up a straw 稻草 and began trying to balance it on his nose, with his head tilted 倾斜 far back; and as he moved from side to side, in his efforts, he edged nearer and nearer toward the pansy; finally his bare 光秃秃的 foot rested upon it, his pliant toes 脚趾 closed upon it, and he hopped 跳 away with the treasure 金银财宝 and disappeared round the corner. But only for a minute—only while he could button 按钮 the flower inside his jacket 衣服, next his heart—or next his stomach 胃, possibly, for he was not much posted in anatomy 解剖学, and not hypercritical, anyway 无论如何.

He returned, now, and hung about the fence till night‧fall 夜‧落下, “showing off,” as before; but the girl never exhibited 展示 her‧self 她自己 again, though Tom comforted himself a little with the hope that she had been near some window, mean‧time 其时, and been aware 知道的 of his attentions. Finally he strode home reluctantly 勉强, with his poor head full of visions 视力.

All through supper 晚饭 his spirits were so high that his aunt wondered “what had got into the child.” He took a good scolding 责骂 about clodding Sid, and did not seem to mind it in the least. He tried to steal sugar 食糖 under his aunt’s very nose, and got his knuckles 指关节 rapped 敲击 for it. He said:

“Aunt, you don’t whack 重打 Sid when he takes it.”

“Well, Sid don’t torment 折磨 a body the way you do. You’d be always into that sugar if I warn’t watching you.”

Presently she stepped into the kitchen, and Sid, happy in his immunity 免疫, reached for the sugar 3-bowl 碗—a sort of glorying 光荣 over Tom which was wellnigh unbearable 不堪忍受. But Sid’s fingers slipped and the bowl dropped and broke. Tom was in ecstasies 狂喜. In such ecstasies 狂喜 that he even controlled his tongue 舌头 and was silent. He said to himself that he would not speak a word, even when his aunt came in, but would sit perfectly still till she asked who did the mischief 恶作剧; and then he would tell, and there would be nothing so good in the world as to see that pet 宠物 model “catch it.” He was so brimful of exultation that he could hardly hold himself when the old lady came back and stood above the wreck 破坏；使遇难 discharging 卸货 lightnings 闪电 of wrath 愤怒 from over her spectacles 场面；眼镜. He said to himself, “Now it’s coming!” And the next instant he was sprawling 蔓生 on the floor! The potent 有力的 palm 棕榈 was uplifted 抬起 to strike again when Tom cried out:

“Hold on, now, what ‘er you belting 腰带 me for?—Sid broke it!”

Aunt Polly paused 暂停, perplexed 困扰, and Tom looked for healing 治愈 pity 怜悯. But when she got her tongue 舌头 again, she only said:

“Umf! Well, you didn’t get a lick 舔 amiss, I reckon 估计. You been into some other audacious mischief 恶作剧 when I wasn’t around, like enough.”

Then her conscience 良心 reproached 责备 her, and she yearned 向往 to say something kind and loving; but she judged that this would be construed 诠释 into a confession 承认 that she had been in the wrong, and discipline 训练 forbade 禁止:forbid that. So she kept silence, and went about her affairs with a troubled heart. Tom sulked in a corner and exalted his woes 荣辱与共. He knew that in her heart his aunt was on her knees to him, and he was morosely gratified 取悦 by the consciousness 意识 of it. He would hang out no signals, he would take notice of none. He knew that a yearning 向往 glance 一瞥 fell upon him, now and then, through a film of tears, but he refused recognition 认识 of it. He pictured himself lying sick unto 对 death and his aunt bending over him beseeching one little for‧give 原谅 word, but he would turn his face to the wall, and die with that word unsaid. Ah, how would she feel then? And he pictured himself brought home from the river, dead, with his curls 一绺鬈发 all wet 湿的, and his sore 疼痛的 heart at rest. How she would throw her‧self 她自己 upon him, and how her tears would fall like rain, and her lips pray God to give her back her boy and she would never, never abuse 滥用 him any more! But he would lie there cold and white and make no sign—a poor little sufferer, whose 谁的 griefs 哀思 were at an end. He so worked upon his feelings with the pathos of these dreams, that he had to keep swallowing 吞, he was so like to choke 呛; and his eyes swam 游泳:swim in a blur 模糊 of water, which over‧flow 溢出 when he winked 眨眼, and ran down and trickled 潺 from the end of his nose. And such a luxury 豪华 to him was this petting 宠物 of his sorrows, that he could not bear to have any worldly cheeriness or any grating 炉排 delight intrude 侵入 upon it; it was too sacred 神圣的 for such contact 联系; and so, presently, when his cousin Mary danced in, all alive 活的；有生命的 with the joy 喜悦 of seeing home again after an age-long visit of one week to the country, he got up and moved in clouds and darkness 黑暗 out at one door as she brought song and sun‧shine 阳光 in at the other.

He wandered 漫步 far from the accustomed 使习惯 haunts 出没 of boys, and sought desolate 荒凉 places that were in harmony 和谐 with his spirit. A log 记录 raft 筏 in the river invited him, and he seated himself on its outer edge and contemplated 沉思 the dreary 凄凉 vastness of the stream, wishing, the while, that he could only be drowned 淹死, all at once and unconsciously 不知不觉, without undergoing 经历 the uncomfortable 不舒服 routine 惯例，常规；例行公事 devised 设计 by nature. Then he thought of his flower. He got it out, rumpled and wilted, and it mightily 威武 increased his dismal 惨淡 felicity. He wondered if she would pity 怜悯 him if she knew? Would she cry, and wish that she had a right to put her arms around his neck and comfort him? Or would she turn coldly away like all the hollow 空的 world? This picture brought such an agony 痛苦 of pleasurable 愉快的 suffering that he worked it over and over again in his mind and set it up in new and varied 变化 lights, till he wore it thread‧bare 线‧光秃秃的. At last he rose rise up sighing 叹 and departed 离开 in the darkness 黑暗.

About half-past nine 九 or ten 十 o’ clock 钟 he came along the deserted street to where the Adored Unknown 未知 lived; he paused a moment; no sound fell upon his listening ear; a candle 蜡烛 was casting 种姓 a dull 钝的；没兴趣 glow 辉光 upon the curtain 窗帘 of a second-story window. Was the sacred 神圣的 presence there? He climbed the fence, threaded 线 his steal‧thy 偷，拿‧你的 way through the plants, till he stood under that window; he looked up at it long, and with emotion 情感; then he laid him down on the ground under it, disposing 部署 himself upon his back, with his hands clasped 钩 upon his breast 乳房 and holding his poor wilted flower. And thus he would die—out in the cold world, with no shelter over his home‧less 无家可归 head, no friendly hand to wipe 擦 the death-damps 微湿的 from his brow 眉头, no loving face to bend pityingly over him when the great agony 痛苦 came. And thus she would see him when she looked out upon the glad 高兴的 morning, and oh! would she drop one little tear upon his poor, life‧less 生活‧少 form, would she heave 举起 one little sigh 叹 to see a bright young life so rudely 粗鲁的 blighted 枯萎病, so untimely cut down?

The window went up, a maid 女佣-servant 仆人’s discordant voice profaned the holy 神圣的 calm 镇定的, and a deluge of water drenched the prone 易于 martyr 烈士’s remains!

The strangling 扼杀 hero 英雄 sprang up with a relieving 解除 snort 哼. There was a whiz 呼啸 as of a missile in the air, mingled 交融 with the murmur 私语 of a curse 诅咒, a sound as of shivering 发抖 glass followed, and a small, vague 模糊 form went over the fence and shot away in the gloom 愁云.

Not long after, as Tom, all undressed 脱衣服 for bed, was surveying 调查 his drenched garments 服装 by the light of a tallow dip 浸, Sid woke 醒:wake up; but if he had any dim 暗淡 idea of making any “references to allusions 典故,” he thought better of it and held his peace, for there was danger in Tom’s eye.

Tom turned in without the added vexation of prayers 祷告, and Sid made mental 心理 note of the omission 省略.

CHAPTER IV

THE sun rose upon a tranquil 宁静 world, and beamed 梁 down upon the peaceful 平静的 village like a benediction. Breakfast 早餐 over, Aunt Polly had family worship 崇拜: it began with a prayer built from the ground up of solid courses of Scriptural quotations 行情, welded 焊接 together with a thin mortar 砂浆 of originality 独创性; and from the summit 首脑 of this she delivered a grim 严峻 chapter 章节 of the Mosaic Law, as from Sinai.

Then Tom girded up his loins, so to speak, and went to work to “get his verses 诗.” Sid had learned learn his lesson 教训 days before. Tom bent all his energies 能源 to the memorizing 记忆 of five verses, and he chose choose part of the Sermon on the Mount 增加, because he could find no verses that were shorter. At the end of half an hour Tom had a vague 模糊 general idea of his lesson, but no more, for his mind was traversing 横过 the whole field of human thought, and his hands were busy with distracting 转移 recreations 娱乐. Mary took his book to hear him recite 背诵, and he tried to find his way through the fog 多雾路段:

“Blessed are the—a—a—”

“Poor”—

“Yes—poor; blessed 祝福 are the poor—a—a—”

“In spirit—”

“In spirit; blessed are the poor in spirit, for they—they—”

“Theirs—”

“For theirs. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom 王国 of heaven 天. Blessed are they that mourn 悼, for they—they—”

“Sh—”

“For they—a—”

“S, H, A—”

“For they S, H—Oh, I don’t know what it is!”

“Shall!”

“Oh, shall! for they shall—for they shall—a—a—shall mourn 悼—a—a—blessed are they that shall—they that—a—they that shall mourn 悼, for they shall—a—shall what? Why don’t you tell me, Mary?—what do you want to be so mean for?”

“Oh, Tom, you poor thick-headed thing, I’m not teasing 逗 you. I wouldn’t do that. You must go and learn it again. Don’t you be discouraged 不鼓励, Tom, you’ll manage it—and if you do, I’ll give you something ever so nice. There, now, that’s a good boy.”

“All right! What is it, Mary, tell me what it is.”

“Never you mind, Tom. You know if I say it’s nice, it is nice.”

“You bet you that’s so, Mary. All right, I’ll tackle 滑车 it again.”

And he did “tackle 滑车 it again”—and under the double pressure of curiosity 好奇心 and prospective 预期 gain he did it with such spirit that he accomplished 完成；实现；达到；做到 a shining 发光 success. Mary gave him a brand 牌-new “Barlow” knife worth twelve 十二 and a half cents; and the convulsion of delight that swept his system shook him to his foundations 基础. True, the knife would not cut anything, but it was a “sure-enough” Barlow, and there was inconceivable grandeur 富丽堂皇 in that—though where the Western boys ever got the idea that such a weapon could possibly be counterfeited 伪造 to its injury 伤 is an imposing 强加 mystery and will always remain so, perhaps. Tom contrived 图谋 to scarify the cup‧board 橱柜 with it, and was arranging to begin on the bureau 局, when he was called off to dress for Sunday-school.

Mary gave him a tin 锡 basin 盆 of water and a piece of soap 肥皂, and he went outside the door and set the basin on a little bench 长凳 there; then he dipped the soap in the water and laid it down; turned up his sleeves 袖; poured 淋；倒 out the water on the ground, gently, and then entered the kitchen and began to wipe 擦 his face diligently on the towel 毛巾 behind the door. But Mary removed 去掉 the towel and said:

“Now ain’t you ashamed 惭愧的, Tom. You mustn’t be so bad. Water won’t hurt you.”

Tom was a trifle 琐事 disconcerted 搅乱. The basin 盆 was refilled 充值, and this time he stood over it a little while, gathering resolution 解析度; took in a big breath and began. When he entered the kitchen presently, with both eyes shut 关闭 and groping 摸索 for the towel 毛巾 with his hands, an honor‧able 光彩 testimony 见证 of suds and water was dripping 滴 from his face. But when he emerged 出现 from the towel 3, he was not yet satisfactory 满意, for the clean territory 疆土，领域 stopped short at his chin 下巴 and his jaws 下巴, like a mask 面具; below and beyond this line there was a dark expanse 广阔 of unirrigated soil that spread down‧ward 向下 in front and backward 向后的 around his neck. Mary took him in hand, and when she was done with him he was a man and a brother, without distinction 区别 of color, and his saturated 饱和 hair was neatly 整洁的 brushed, and its short curls wrought 锻 into a dainty and symmetrical general effect. [He privately smoothed out the curls, with labor 劳动 and difficulty, and plastered 灰泥 his hair close down to his head; for he held curls to be effeminate, and his own filled his life with bitterness 苦味.] Then Mary got out a suit of his clothing that had been used only on Sundays during two years—they were simply called his “other clothes”—and so by that we know the size of his wardrobe 衣柜. The girl “put him to rights” after he had dressed himself; she buttoned his neat 整洁的 round‧about 迂回 up to his chin 下巴, turned his vast 广大 shirt collar down over his shoulders, brushed him off and crowned him with his speckled straw 稻草 hat. He now looked exceedingly 非常 improved and uncomfortable 不舒服. He was fully 充分 as uncomfortable 不舒服 as he looked; for there was a restraint 克制 about whole clothes and cleanliness that galled 加仑 him. He hoped that Mary would forget his shoes, but the hope was blighted 枯萎病; she coated them thoroughly with tallow, as was the custom 习惯, and brought them out. He lost his temper 性情 and said he was always being made to do everything he didn’t want to do. But Mary said, persuasively 说服力:

“Please, Tom—that’s a good boy.”

So he got into the shoes snarling 搞乱. Mary was soon ready, and the three children set out for Sunday-school—a place that Tom hated with his whole heart; but Sid and Mary were fond 喜欢的 of it.

Sabbath-school hours were from nine 九 to half-past ten 十; and then church service. Two of the children always remained for the sermon 讲道 voluntarily 自行, and the other always remained too—for stronger reasons. The church’s high-backed, uncushioned pews would seat about three hundred 百 persons; the edifice was but a small, plain affair, with a sort of pine 松树 board tree-box on top of it for a steeple. At the door Tom dropped back a step and accosted a Sunday-dressed comrade 同志:

“Say, Billy, got a yaller ticket 票?”

“Yes.”

“What’ll you take for her?”

“What’ll you give?”

“Piece of lickrish and a fish-hook 钩.”

“Less see ‘em.”

Tom exhibited 展示. They were satisfactory 满意, and the property changed hands. Then Tom traded a couple of white alleys 胡同 for three red tickets 票, and some small trifle 琐事 or other for a couple of blue ones. He waylaid other boys as they came, and went on buying tickets of various colors ten 十 or fifteen 十五 minutes longer. He entered the church, now, with a swarm 一群 of clean and noisy 嘈杂 boys and girls, proceeded 继续 to his seat and started a quarrel 争吵 with the first boy that came handy 便利. The teacher, a grave 坟墓；严重的, elderly 年老的；上了年纪的 man, interfered 干预; then turned his back a moment and Tom pulled a boy’s hair in the next bench 长凳, and was absorbed 吸收 in his book when the boy turned around; stuck a pin 钉 in another boy, presently, in order to hear him say “Ouch!” and got a new reprimand 惩戒 from his teacher. Tom’s whole class were of a pattern—rest‧less 不安, noisy 嘈杂, and trouble‧some 麻烦. When they came to recite 背诵 their lessons 教训, not one of them knew his verses perfectly, but had to be prompted 敏捷的 all along. However, they worried through, and each got his reward 报酬—in small blue tickets, each with a passage of Scripture on it; each blue ticket 票 was pay for two verses of the recitation. Ten 十 blue tickets equalled a red one, and could be exchanged for it; ten 十 red tickets equalled a yellow one; for ten 十 yellow tickets the superintendent 所长 gave a very plainly bound 必定；跳 Bible (worth forty 四十 cents in those easy times) to the pupil 学生. How many of my readers 读者 would have the industry and application to memorize 记忆 two thou‧sand 千 verses, even for a Dore Bible? And yet Mary had acquired 获得 two Bibles in this way—it was the patient work of two years—and a boy of German parent‧age 父母‧年龄 had won four or five. He once recited 背诵 three thou‧sand 千 verses without stopping; but the strain 压力 upon his mental 心理 faculties 学院 was too great, and he was little better than an idiot 白痴 from that day forth—a grievous misfortune 不幸 for the school, for on great occasions, before company, the superintendent 所长 (as Tom expressed it) had always made this boy come out and “spread himself.” Only the older pupils 学生 managed to keep their tickets and stick to their tedious 乏味 work long enough to get a Bible, and so the delivery 传送 of one of these prizes 奖赏 was a rare and note‧worthy 值得一提的 circumstance 环境; the successful 成功 pupil 学生 was so great and conspicuous 显着 for that day that on the spot every scholar 学者’s heart was fired with a fresh ambition 抱负 that often lasted a couple of weeks. It is possible that Tom’s mental 心理 stomach 胃 had never really hungered 饿 for one of those prizes, but unquestionably his entire being had for many a day longed for the glory 光荣 and the eclat that came with it.

In due course the superintendent 所长 stood up in front of the pulpit 讲坛, with a closed hymn 圣歌-book in his hand and his fore‧finger 前面‧手指 inserted 插 between its leaves, and commanded attention. When a Sunday-school superintendent 所长 makes his customary 习惯的 little speech, a hymn 圣歌-book in the hand is as necessary as is the inevitable 必然 sheet of music in the hand of a singer 歌唱家，歌手 who stands forward on the platform 平台 and sings a solo 独奏 at a concert 音乐会—though why, is a mystery: for neither the hymn 圣歌-book nor the sheet of music is ever referred to by the sufferer. This superintendent 所长 was a slim 瘦 creature 动物；生物 of thirty 三十-five, with a sandy 沙 goatee and short sandy 沙 hair; he wore a stiff 严厉的 standing-collar whose 谁的 upper edge almost reached his ears and whose 4 sharp points curved forward abreast the corners of his mouth—a fence that compelled 迫使 a straight look‧out 小心 ahead, and a turning of the whole body when a side view was required; his chin 下巴 was propped 支柱 on a spreading cravat which was as broad and as long as a bank-note, and had fringed 边缘 ends; his boot 靴；鞋 toes were turned sharply up, in the fashion of the day, like sleigh-runners 跑步者—an effect patiently and laboriously produced by the young men by sitting with their toes pressed against a wall for hours together. Mr. Walters was very earnest 热心的 of mien, and very sincere 真诚的 and honest 诚实的 at heart; and he held sacred things and places in such reverence, and so separated them from worldly matters, that unconsciously 不知不觉 to himself his Sunday-school voice had acquired 获得 a peculiar 奇怪的 into‧nation 腔调 which was wholly 全 absent 缺席的 on week-days. He began after this fashion:

“Now, children, I want you all to sit up just as straight and pretty as you can and give me all your attention for a minute or two. There—that is it. That is the way good little boys and girls should do. I see one little girl who is looking out of the window—I am afraid she thinks I am out there somewhere—perhaps up in one of the trees making a speech to the little birds. [Applausive titter.] I want to tell you how good it makes me feel to see so many bright, clean little faces assembled 集合 in a place like this, learning to do right and be good.” And so forth and so on. It is not necessary to set down the rest of the oration. It was of a pattern which does not vary 变化, and so it is familiar to us all.

The latter third of the speech was marred 损伤 by the resumption 恢复 of fights and other recreations 娱乐 among certain of the bad boys, and by fidgetings and whisperings 低声说 that extended far and wide, washing even to the bases of isolated 隔离；孤立；分离 and incorruptible rocks like Sid and Mary. But now every sound ceased 停止 suddenly, with the subsidence of Mr. Walters’ voice, and the conclusion 结论 of the speech was received with a burst 爆裂 of silent gratitude 感谢.

A good part of the whispering 低声说 had been occasioned by an event which was more or less rare—the entrance 入口 of visitors 访问者: lawyer Thatcher, accompanied 陪 by a very feeble 微弱 and aged man; a fine, portly 港口, middle-aged gentle‧man 先生 with iron 铁器-gray hair; and a dignified 褒 lady who was doubt‧less 毫无疑问， the latter’s wife. The lady was leading a child. Tom had been rest‧less 不安 and full of chafings and repinings; conscience 良心-smitten, too—he could not meet Amy Lawrence’s eye, he could not brook 溪 her loving gaze 凝视. But when he saw this small newcomer 新人 his soul was all ablaze with bliss 福 in a moment. The next moment he was “showing off” with all his might—cuffing 袖口 boys, pulling hair, making faces—in a word, using every art that seemed likely to fascinate 深深吸引；迷住 a girl and win her applause 热烈鼓掌. His exaltation had but one alloy 合金—the memory of his humiliation 屈辱 in this angel 天使’s garden—and that record in sand 沙 was fast washing out, under the waves of happiness 幸福 that were sweeping over it now.

The visitors were given the highest seat of honor, and as soon as Mr. Walters’ speech was finished, he introduced them to the school. The middle-aged man turned out to be a prodigious person‧age 人‧年龄—no less a one than the county 县 judge— altogether 全部地 the most august 八月 creation 创建 these children had ever looked upon—and they wondered what kind of material he was made of—and they half wanted to hear him roar 咆哮, and were half afraid he might, too. He was from Constantinople, twelve 十二 miles away—so he had travelled, and seen the world—these very eyes had looked upon the county 县 court-house—which was said to have a tin 锡 roof. The awe 威严 which these reflections 反映 inspired 激励，鼓舞 was attested 表明 by the impressive 有声有色 silence and the ranks 排列 of staring eyes. This was the great Judge Thatcher, brother of their own lawyer. Jeff Thatcher immediately went forward, to be familiar with the great man and be envied 嫉妒 by the school. It would have been music to his soul to hear the whisperings:

“Look at him, Jim! He’s a going up there. Say—look! he’s a going to shake hands with him—he is shaking hands with him! By jings, don’t you wish you was Jeff?”

Mr. Walters fell to “showing off,” with all sorts of official bustlings 忙碌 and activities, giving orders, delivering judgments 判断, discharging 卸货 directions here, there, every‧where 到处 that he could find a target 目标. The librarian 图书馆员 “showed off”—running hither and thither with his arms full of books and making a deal of the splutter and fuss 小题大作 that insect 虫 authority 权威 delights in. The young lady teachers “showed off”—bending sweetly over pupils that were lately 近来 being boxed, lifting pretty warning fingers at bad little boys and patting 拍 good ones lovingly 含情脉脉. The young gentlemen teachers “showed off” with small scoldings 责骂 and other little displays 显示 of authority 权威 and fine attention to discipline 训练—and most of the teachers, of both sexes 性别, found business up at the library, by the pulpit 讲坛; and it was business that frequently had to be done over again two or three times (with much seeming vexation). The little girls “showed off” in various ways, and the little boys “showed off” with such diligence 勤勉 that the air was thick with paper wads and the murmur 私语 of scufflings. And above it all the great man sat and beamed a majestic 雄伟 judicial 司法 smile upon all the house, and warmed himself in the sun of his own grandeur 富丽堂皇—for he was “showing off,” too.

There was only one thing wanting to make Mr. Walters’ ecstasy 狂喜 complete, and that was a chance to deliver a Bible-prize 奖赏 and exhibit 展示 a prodigy. Several pupils had a few yellow tickets, but none had enough—he had been around among the star pupils inquiring 打听. He would have given worlds, now, to have that German lad 小伙子 back again with a sound mind.

And now at this moment, when hope was dead, Tom Sawyer came forward with nine 九 yellow tickets, nine 九 red tickets, and ten 十 blue ones, and demanded a Bible. This was a thunder‧bolt 雷声‧螺栓 out of a clear sky. Walters was not expecting an application from this source 资源 for the next ten 十 years. But there was no getting around it—here were the certified 证明 checks, and they were good for their face. Tom was therefore elevated 提升 to a place with the Judge and the other elect 选举, and the great news was announced 宣布 from head‧quarter 总部. It was the most stunning 击晕 surprise of the decade 十, and so profound 深刻 was the sensation 感觉 that it lifted the new hero 英雄 up to the judicial 司法 one’s altitude 高度, and the school had two marvels 奇迹 to gaze 凝视 upon in place of one. The boys were all eaten up with envy 嫉妒—but those that suffered the bitterest pangs were those who perceived 认为 too late that they themselves had contributed 有助于 to this hated splendor 辉 by trading tickets to Tom for the wealth 财产 he had amassed 攒 in selling white‧wash 撇清 privileges 特权. These despised 讨厌 themselves, as being the dupes of a wily fraud 舞弊, a guileful snake in the grass 草.

Theprize 奖赏 was delivered to Tom with as much effusion as the superintendent 所长 could pump up under the circumstances 环境; but it lacked some‧what 有些 of the true gush 喷, for the poor fellow’s instinct 直觉 taught teach him that there was a mystery here that could not well bear the light, perhaps; it was simply preposterous that this boy had ware‧house 仓库 two thou‧sand 千 sheaves of Scriptural wisdom 智慧 on his premises 前提—a dozen would strain 压力 his capacity 容量, without a doubt.

Amy Lawrence was proud and glad, and she tried to make Tom see it in her face—but he wouldn’t look. She wondered; then she was just a grain 谷物 troubled; next a dim 暗淡 suspicion 怀疑 came and went—came again; she watched; a furtive glance 一瞥 told her worlds—and then her heart broke, and she was jealous 妒忌的, and angry 生气的, and the tears came and she hated everybody. Tom most of all (she thought).

Tom was introduced to the Judge; but his tongue 3 was tied, his breath would hardly come, his heart quaked—partly because of the awful 糟糕的 greatness 伟大 of the man, but mainly because he was her parent. He would have liked to fall down and worship 崇拜 him, if it were in the dark. The Judge put his hand on Tom’s head and called him a fine little man, and asked him what his name was. The boy stammered, gasped 喘气, and got it out:

“Tom.”

“Oh, no, not Tom—it is—”

“Thomas.”

“Ah, that’s it. I thought there was more to it, maybe. That’s very well. But you’ve another one I dare‧say 敢‧说, and you’ll tell it to me, won’t you?”

“Tell the gentle‧man 先生 your other name, Thomas,” said Walters, “and say sir 先生. You mustn’t forget your manners.”

“Thomas Sawyer—sir 3.”

“That’s it! That’s a good boy. Fine boy. Fine, manly little fellow. Two thou‧sand 千 verses is a great many—very, very great many. And you never can be sorry 对不起的 for the trouble you took to learn them; for knowledge is worth more than anything there is in the world; it’s what makes great men and good men; you’ll be a great man and a good man your‧self 你自己, some day, Thomas, and then you’ll look back and say, It’s all owing 欠…债 to the precious 宝贵的 Sunday-school privileges 特权 of my boy‧hood 男孩‧引擎罩—it’s all owing to my dear teachers that taught me to learn—it’s all owing to the good superintendent 所长, who encouraged me, and watched over me, and gave me a beautiful 美丽 Bible—a splendid 壮观的 elegant 优雅 Bible—to keep and have it all for my own, always—it’s all owing to right bringing up! That is what you will say, Thomas—and you wouldn’t take any money for those two thou‧sand 千 verses—no indeed you wouldn’t. And now you wouldn’t mind telling me and this lady some of the things you’ve learned—no, I know you wouldn’t—for we are proud of little boys that learn. Now, no doubt you know the names of all the twelve 十二 disciples 弟子. Won’t you tell us the names of the first two that were appointed?”

Tom was tugging 拖船 at a button 按钮-hole and looking sheepish. He blushed 脸红, now, and his eyes fell. Mr. Walters’ heart sank 淹没:sink within him. He said to himself, it is not possible that the boy can answer the simplest question—why did the Judge ask him? Yet he felt obliged 责成 to speak up and say:

“Answer the gentleman, Thomas—don’t be afraid.”

Tom still hung fire.

“Now I know you’ll tell me,” said the lady. “The names of the first two disciples 弟子 were—”

“David And Goliah!”

Let us draw the curtain 窗帘 of charity 慈善 over the rest of the scene.

CHAPTER V

ABOUT half-past ten 十 the cracked 破裂 bell 钟 of the small church began to ring, and presently the people began to gather for the morning sermon 讲道. The Sunday-school children distributed 分发 themselves about the house and occupied 占据 pews with their parents, so as to be under super‧vision 监督. Aunt Polly came, and Tom and Sid and Mary sat with her—Tom being placed next the aisle 走道, in order that he might be as far away from the open window and the seductive 妖媚 outside summer scenes as possible. The crowd filed 文件 up the aisles 走道: the aged and needy 贫穷 post‧master 邮件‧主人；硕士, who had seen better days; the mayor 市长 and his wife—for they had a mayor 市长 there, among other unnecessaries 不必要; the justice of the peace; the widow 寡妇 Douglass, fair, smart 聪明, and forty 四十, a generous 慷慨的, good-hearted soul and well-to-do, her hill mansion 大厦 the only palace 宫 in the town, and the most hospitable and much the most lavish 阔气 in the matter of festivities 欢宴 that St. Petersburg could boast 自夸; the bent and venerable 可敬 Major and Mrs. Ward; lawyer Riverson, the new not‧able 显着 from a distance; next the belle of the village, followed by a troop 部队 of lawn 草坪-clad 包层的 and ribbon 带-decked 甲板 young heart-breakers 断路器; then all the young clerks 店员 in town in a body—for they had stood in the vestibule sucking 吮吸 their cane 甘蔗-heads, a circling wall of oiled and simpering admirers 爱慕者, till the last girl had run their gantlet; and last of all came the Model Boy, Willie Mufferson, taking as heedful care of his mother as if she were cut glass. He always brought his mother to church, and was the pride 自尊 of all the matrons. The boys all hated him, he was so good. And besides, he had been “thrown throw up to them” so much. His white handkerchief 手帕 was hanging out of his pocket behind, as usual on Sundays—accidentally 偶然. Tom had no handkerchief, and he looked upon boys who had as snobs.

The congregation 集合 being fully 充分 assembled 集合, now, the bell 钟 rang once more, to warn laggards and stragglers, and then a solemn 庄严的 hush 嘘 fell upon the church which was only broken break by the tittering and whispering of the choir 唱诗班 in the gallery 画廊. The choir 唱诗班 always tittered and whispered 低声说 all through service. There was once a church choir 唱诗班 that was not ill 生病-bred 养育；繁殖:breed, but I have forgotten where it was, now. It was a great many years ago, and I can scarcely 缺乏的 remember anything about it, but I think it was in some foreign country.

The minister gave out the hymn 圣歌, and read it through with a relish 滋味, in a peculiar style 样式 which was much admired in that part of the country. His voice began on a medium 中 key and climbed steadily up till it reached a certain point, where it bore with strong emphasis 重点 upon the top‧most 顶‧最 word and then plunged 跳水 down as if from a spring-board:

Shall I be car-ri-ed toe 3 the skies 滑雪, on flow’ry beds of ease 轻松,

Whilst others fight to win theprize 奖赏, and sail 航行；帆 thro’ blood-y seas?

He was regarded as a wonderful 精彩 reader. At church “sociables 社交的” he was always called upon to read poetry 诗歌; and when he was through, the ladies would lift up their hands and let them fall help‧less 无助 in their laps 膝部, and “wall” their eyes, and shake their heads, as much as to say, “Words cannot express it; it is too beautiful 美丽, TOO beautiful 美丽 for this mortal 凡人 earth.”

After the hymn 圣歌 had been sung sing, the Rev. Mr. Sprague turned himself into a bulletin 公告-board, and read off “notices” of meetings and societies and things till it seemed that the list would stretch out to the crack 破裂 of doom 厄运—a queer 奇怪 custom 习惯 which is still kept up in America, even in cities, away here in this age of abundant 丰富 newspapers. Often, the less there is to justify 为…辩护；证明…正当；是…的正当理由 a traditional 传统 custom, the harder it is to get rid 使摆脱 of it.

And now the minister prayed. A good, generous 慷慨的 prayer it was, and went into details: it pleaded 求情 for the church, and the little children of the church; for the other churches of the village; for the village itself 本身; for the county 县; for the State; for the State officers; for the United States; for the churches of the United States; for Congress; for the President; for the officers of the Government; for poor sailors 水手, tossed 折腾 by stormy 暴风雨 seas; for the oppressed 压迫 millions groaning 呻吟 under the heel 脚跟 of European monarchies 帝制 and Oriental despotisms; for such as have the light and the good tidings 潮汐, and yet have not eyes to see nor ears to hear withal; for the heat‧hen 热‧母鸡 in the far islands of the sea; and closed with a supplication that the words he was about to speak might find grace 优雅；惠赐 and favor, and be as seed sown in fertile 沃 ground, yielding in time a grateful 感激的 harvest 收割 of good. Amen.

There was a rustling 沙沙 of dresses, and the standing congregation 集合 sat down. The boy whose 5 history this book relates did not enjoy the prayer, he only endured 忍受 it—if he even did that much. He was restive all through it; he kept tally 相符 of the details of the prayer, unconsciously 不知不觉—for he was not listening, but he knew the ground of old, and the clergy‧man 牧师’s regular route 路线 over it—and when a little trifle 琐事 of new matter was interlarded, his ear detected 发现，察觉，看出 it and his whole nature resented 愤恨 it; he considered additions 加成 unfair 不公平, and scoundrelly. In the midst 中间 of the prayer a fly had lit on the back of the pew in front of him and tortured 拷打 his spirit by calmly 镇定的 rubbing 擦 its hands together, embracing 拥抱 its head with its arms, and polishing 擦光 it so vigorously 大力 that it seemed to almost part company with the body, and the slender 苗条 thread of a neck was exposed 暴露 to view; scraping 擦 its wings 翅膀 with its hind legs and smoothing them to its body as if they had been coat-tails; going through its whole toilet 厕所 as tranquilly 宁静 as if it knew it was perfectly safe. As indeed it was; for as sorely 疼痛的 as Tom’s hands itched 痒 to grab 用手抓 for it they did not dare—he believed his soul would be instantly 瞬间 destroyed if he did such a thing while the prayer was going on. But with the closing sentence 句子 his hand began to curve and steal forward; and the instant the “Amen” was out the fly was a prisoner 犯人，囚犯 of war. His aunt detected the act and made him let it go.

The minister gave out his text 文本 and droned 无人驾驶飞机 along monotonously through an argument 论据 that was so prosy that many a head by and by began to nod—and yet it was an argument 论据 that dealt deal in limit‧less 限制‧少 fire and brim‧stone 边‧石头 and thinned the predestined elect down to a company so small as to be hardly worth the saving. Tom counted the pages of the sermon 讲道; after church he always knew how many pages there had been, but he seldom 很少 knew anything else about the discourse 演讲. However, this time he was really interested for a little while. The minister made a grand 宏大的 and moving picture of the assembling 集合 together of the world’s hosts 主人 at the millennium 千年 when the lion 狮子 and the lamb 羊肉 should lie down together and a little child should lead them. But the pathos, the lesson, the moral of the great spectacle 场面；眼镜 were lost upon the boy; he only thought of the conspicuousness of the principal 主要 character before the on-looking nations; his face lit with the thought, and he said to himself that he wished he could be that child, if it was a tame 驯服的 lion 狮子.

Now he lapsed 失误 into suffering again, as the dry argument 论据 was resumed 恢复. Presently he bethought him of a treasure 金银财宝 he had and got it out. It was a large black beetle 甲虫 with formidable 强大 jaws—a “pinch‧bug 捏‧虫；窃听器,” he called it. It was in a percussion-cap box. The first thing the beetle 甲虫 did was to take him by the finger. A natural 自然 fillip followed, the beetle 甲虫 went floundering 比目鱼 into the aisle 走道 and lit on its back, and the hurt finger went into the boy’s mouth. The beetle 甲虫 lay there working its help‧less 无助 legs, unable 无法 to turn over. Tom eyed it, and longed for it; but it was safe out of his reach. Other people uninterested in the sermon 讲道 found relief in the beetle 甲虫, and they eyed it too. Presently a vagrant poodle dog came idling 无意义的 along, sad 悲哀的 at heart, lazy 懒惰的 with the summer softness and the quiet, weary 厌倦 of captivity 囚禁, sighing 叹 for change. He spied 间谍 the beetle 甲虫; the drooping tail 尾 lifted and wagged 摇摆. He surveyed 调查 the prize 3; walked around it; smelt smell at it from a safe distance; walked around it again; grew grow bolder 胆大的；醒目的, and took a closer smell; then lifted his lip and made a gingerly 生姜 snatch 抢夺 at it, just missing it; made another, and another; began to enjoy the diversion 导流; sub‧side 塌陷 to his stomach with the beetle 甲虫 between his paws 爪子, and continued his experiments; grew weary 厌倦 at last, and then indifferent 冷漠 and absent 缺席的-minded. His head nodded 点头, and little by little his chin 下巴 descended 下来 and touched the enemy, who seized 抓住 it. There was a sharp yelp, a flirt 调情 of the poodle’s head, and the beetle 甲虫 fell a couple of yards away, and lit on its back once more. The neighboring spectators 观众 shook with a gentle inward 向内的 joy 喜悦, several faces went behind fans 扇子 and hand-kerchiefs, and Tom was entirely happy. The dog looked foolish 傻, and probably felt so; but there was resentment 怨恨 in his heart, too, and a craving 渴望 for revenge 报仇. So he went to the beetle 甲虫 and began a wary 警惕 attack on it again; jumping at it from every point of a circle, lighting with his fore 前面-paws within an inch of the creature 动物；生物, making even closer snatches 抢夺 at it with his teeth, and jerking 混蛋 his head till his ears flapped 拍打 again. But he grew tired once more, after a while; tried to amuse 使人发笑 himself with a fly but found no relief; followed an ant 蚂蚁 around, with his nose close to the floor, and quickly wearied 厌倦 of that; yawned 打哈欠, sighed 叹, forgot forget the beetle 甲虫 entirely, and sat down on it. Then there was a wild yelp of agony 痛苦 and the poodle went sailing 航行；帆 up the aisle 走道; the yelps continued, and so did the dog; he crossed the house in front of the altar 坛; he flew fly down the other aisle 走道; he crossed before the doors; he clamored 叫嚣 up the home-stretch; his anguish 痛苦 grew with his progress, till presently he was but a woolly 羊毛 comet 彗星 moving in its orbit 轨道 with the gleam 闪光 and the speed of light. At last the frantic 疯狂的 sufferer sheered 绝对 from its course, and sprang into its master’s lap 膝部; he flung it out of the window, and the voice of distress 苦难 quickly thinned away and died in the distance.

By this time the whole church was red-faced and suffocating 窒息 with sup‧press 压制 laughter 笑, and the sermon 讲道 had come to a dead stand‧still 站；台‧仍. The discourse 演讲 was resumed 恢复 presently, but it went lame 瘸 and halting 停, all possibility 可能性 of impressiveness being at an end; for even the gravest 坟墓；严重的 sentiments 情绪 were constantly 总是；经常地，不断地 being received with a smothered 扼杀 burst of unholy mirth, under cover of some remote 远程 pew-back, as if the poor parson had said a rarely 很少；不常见；难得 facetious thing. It was a genuine 真正 relief to the whole congregation 集合 when the ordeal 考验 was over and the benediction pronounced 发音.

Tom Sawyer went home quite cheerful 快乐, thinking to himself that there was some satisfaction 满足 about divine 神圣 service when there was a bit of variety in it. He had but one marring 损伤 thought; he was willing that the dog should play with his pinch‧bug 捏‧虫；窃听器, but he did not think it was upright 直立的 in him to carry it off.

CHAPTER VI

MONDAY morning found Tom Sawyer miserable 悲惨的. Monday morning always found him so—because it began another week’s slow suffering in school. He generally began that day with wishing he had had no intervening 干预 holiday 假日, it made the going into captivity 囚禁 and fetters again so much more odious.

Tom lay thinking. Presently it occurred 发生 to him that he wished he was sick; then he could stay home from school. Here was a vague 模糊 possibility 可能性. He canvassed 帆布 his system. No ailment 病痛 was found, and he investigated 调查 again. This time he thought he could detect 发现，察觉，看出 colicky symptoms 症状, and he began to encourage them with consider‧able 大量 hope. But they soon grew feeble 微弱, and presently died wholly 全 away. He reflected further. Suddenly he discovered something. One of his upper front teeth was loose. This was lucky 幸运; he was about to begin to groan 呻吟, as a “starter,” as he called it, when it occurred 发生 to him that if he came into court with that argument 论据, his aunt would pull it out, and that would hurt. So he thought he would hold the tooth in reserve for the present, and seek 寻求 further. Nothing offered for some little time, and then he remembered hearing the doctor tell about a certain thing that laid up a patient for two or three weeks and threatened to make him lose a finger. So the boy eagerly 渴望的 drew his sore 疼痛的 toe from under the sheet and held it up for inspection 检查. But now he did not know the necessary symptoms. However, it seemed well worth while to chance it, so he fell to groaning 呻吟 with consider‧able 大量 spirit.

But Sid slept sleep on unconscious 无意识.

Tom groaned 呻吟 louder 响亮的, and fancied 想像 that he began to feel pain in the toe.

No result from Sid.

Tom was panting 喘气 with his exertions by this time. He took a rest and then swelled 膨胀；增强:swell himself up and fetched 取 a success‧ion 演替 of admirable 令人钦佩 groans 呻吟.

Sid snored 鼾 on.

Tom was aggravated 加剧. He said, “Sid, Sid!” and shook him. This course worked well, and Tom began to groan 呻吟 again. Sid yawned 打哈欠, stretched, then brought himself up on his elbow 弯头 with a snort 哼, and began to stare at Tom. Tom went on groaning 呻吟. Sid said:

“Tom! Say, Tom!” [No response 响应.] “Here, Tom! TOM! What is the matter, Tom?” And he shook him and looked in his face anxiously 焦急的.

Tom moaned 呻吟 out:

“Oh, don’t, Sid. Don’t joggle me.”

“Why, what’s the matter, Tom? I must call auntie.”

“No—never mind. It’ll be over by and by, maybe. Don’t call anybody.”

“But I must! Don’t groan 呻吟 so, Tom, it’s awful 4. How long you been this way?”

“Hours. Ouch! Oh, don’t stir 搅动 so, Sid, you’ll kill me.”

“Tom, why didn’t you wake 醒 me sooner? Oh, Tom, don’t! It makes my flesh 肉 crawl 爬行 to hear you. Tom, what is the matter?”

“I for‧give 原谅 you everything, Sid. [Groan.] Everything you’ve ever done to me. When I’m gone—”

“Oh, Tom, you ain’t dying, are you? Don’t, Tom—oh, don’t. Maybe—”

“I forgive everybody, Sid. [Groan.] Tell ‘em so, Sid. And Sid, you give my window-sash and my cat with one eye to that new girl that’s come to town, and tell her—”

But Sid had snatched 抢夺 his clothes and gone. Tom was suffering in reality 现实, now, so hand‧some 英俊 was his imagination 想像力 working, and so his groans 呻吟 had gathered quite a genuine 真正 tone 音.

Sid flew downstairs 楼下 and said:

“Oh, Aunt Polly, come! Tom’s dying!”

“Dying!”

“Yes’m. Don’t wait—come quick!”

“Rubbage! I don’t believe it!”

But she fled upstairs 楼上, nevertheless 虽然, with Sid and Mary at her heels 脚跟. And her face grew white, too, and her lip trembled 发抖. When she reached the bed‧side 床头 she gasped 喘气 out:

“You, Tom! Tom, what’s the matter with you?”

“Oh, auntie, I’m—”

“What’s the matter with you—what is the matter with you, child?”

“Oh, auntie, my sore 3 toe’s mortified!”

The old lady sank down into a chair and laughed a little, then cried a little, then did both together. This restored 修复；使复位；使复职 her and she said:

“Tom, what a turn you did give me. Now you shut 关闭 up that non‧sense 废话 and climb out of this.”

The groans 呻吟 ceased 停止 and the pain vanished 消失 from the toe. The boy felt a little foolish 傻, and he said:

“Aunt Polly, it seemed mortified, and it hurt so I never minded my tooth at all.”

“Your tooth, indeed! What’s the matter with your tooth?”

“One of them’s loose, and it aches 疼痛 perfectly awful 5.”

“There, there, now, don’t begin that groaning 呻吟 again. Open your mouth. Well—your tooth is loose, but you’re not going to die about that. Mary, get me a silk 丝 thread, and a chunk 块 of fire out of the kitchen.”

Tom said:

“Oh, please, auntie, don’t pull it out. It don’t hurt any more. I wish I may never stir 搅动 if it does. Please don’t, auntie. I don’t want to stay home from school.”

“Oh, you don’t, don’t you? So all this row 行 was because you thought you’d get to stay home from school and go a-fishing? Tom, Tom, I love you so, and you seem to try every way you can to break my old heart with your outrageousness.” By this time the dental 牙齿 instruments were ready. The old lady made one end of the silk 丝 thread fast to Tom’s tooth with a loop 循环 and tied the other to the bed‧post 床‧邮件. Then she seized the chunk 块 of fire and suddenly thrust 推力 it almost into the boy’s face. The tooth hung dangling 吊着 by the bed‧post 床‧邮件, now.

But all trials bring their compensations 赔偿金. As Tom wended to school after breakfast, he was the envy 嫉妒 of every boy he met because the gap 缺口 in his upper row 行 of teeth enabled 启用 him to expectorate in a new and admirable 令人钦佩 way. He gathered quite a following of lads 小伙子 interested in the exhibition 展览; and one that had cut his finger and had been a centre of fascination 魅力 and homage 尊敬 up to this time, now found himself suddenly without an adherent, and shorn of his glory. His heart was heavy, and he said with a disdain 蔑视 which he did not feel that it wasn’t anything to spit 吐 like Tom Sawyer; but another boy said, “ Sour 有酸味的 grapes 葡萄!” and he wandered away a dismantled 拆除 hero 3.

Shortly Tom came upon the juvenile 少年 pariah of the village, Huckleberry Finn, son of the town drunkard. Huckleberry was cordially hated and dreaded 恐惧 by all the mothers of the town, because he was idle 无意义的 and law‧less 法‧少 and vulgar 庸俗 and bad—and because all their children admired him so, and delighted in his forbidden 禁止:forbid society, and wished they dared 敢 to be like him. Tom was like the rest of the respect‧able 可敬 boys, in that he envied Huckleberry his gaudy out‧cast 出‧演员 condition, and was under strict 严格的 orders not to play with him. So he played with him every time he got a chance. Huckleberry was always dressed in the cast 投-off clothes of full-grown grow men, and they were in perennial 多年生 bloom 盛开 and fluttering 扑 with rags 抹布. His hat was a vast 广大 ruin 破坏 with a wide crescent lopped out of its brim 边; his coat, when he wore one, hung nearly to his heels 脚跟 and had the rearward buttons 按钮 far down the back; but one suspender 暂停 supported his trousers 长裤; the seat of the trousers 长裤 bagged 袋 low and contained nothing, the fringed 边缘 legs dragged 拖拽 in the dirt when not rolled up.

Huckleberry came and went, at his own free will. He slept on door‧step 门阶 in fine weather and in empty hogsheads in wet 湿的; he did not have to go to school or to church, or call any being master or obey 服从 anybody; he could go fishing or swimming when and where he chose, and stay as long as it suited 套房 him; nobody forbade him to fight; he could sit up as late as he pleased; he was always the first boy that went bare‧foot 光秃秃的‧脚；英尺 in the spring and the last to resume 恢复 leather 皮 in the fall; he never had to wash, nor put on clean clothes; he could swear 发誓 wonderfully 奇妙. In a word, everything that goes to make life precious 宝贵的 that boy had. So thought every harassed 骚扰, hampered 阻碍, respect‧able 可敬 boy in St. Petersburg.

Tom hailed 冰雹 the romantic 浪漫 out‧cast 出‧演员:

“ Hello 哈喽, Huckleberry!”

“ Hello your‧self 你自己, and see how you like it.”

“What’s that you got?”

“Dead cat.”

“Lemme see him, Huck. My, he’s pretty stiff 严厉的. Where’d you get him?”

“Bought him off’n a boy.”

“What did you give?”

“I give a blue ticket 票 and a bladder 膀胱 that I got at the slaughter 屠宰-house.”

“Where’d you get the blue ticket 3?”

“Bought it off’n Ben Rogers two weeks ago for a hoop 箍-stick.”

“Say—what is dead cats good for, Huck?”

“Good for? Cure 治愈 warts with.”

“No! Is that so? I know something that’s better.”

“I bet you don’t. What is it?”

“Why, spunk-water.”

“Spunk-water! I wouldn’t give a dern for spunk-water.”

“You wouldn’t, wouldn’t you? D’you ever try it?”

“No, I hain’t. But Bob Tanner did.”

“Who told you so!”

“Why, he told Jeff Thatcher, and Jeff told Johnny Baker, and Johnny told Jim Hollis, and Jim told Ben Rogers, and Ben told a nigger, and the nigger told me. There now!”

“Well, what of it? They’ll all lie. Leastways all but the nigger. I don’t know him. But I never see a nigger that wouldn’t lie. Shucks! Now you tell me how Bob Tanner done it, Huck.”

“Why, he took and dipped his hand in a rotten 腐烂的 stump 树墩 where the rain-water was.”

“In the day‧time 白天?”

“Certainly.”

“With his face to the stump 树墩?”

“Yes. Least I reckon 估计 so.”

“Did he say anything?”

“I don’t reckon 估计 he did. I don’t know.”

“Aha! Talk about trying to cure 治愈 warts with spunk-water such a blame 指责 fool way as that! Why, that ain’t a-going to do any good. You got to go all by your‧self 你自己, to the middle of the woods, where you know there’s a spunk-water stump 树墩, and just as it’s mid‧night 午夜 you back up against the stump 树墩 and jam 果酱 your hand in and say:

‘Barley-corn 玉米, barley 大麦-corn, injun-meal 餐 shorts, Spunk-water, spunk-water, swaller these warts,’

and then walk away quick, eleven 十一 steps, with your eyes shut, and then turn around three times and walk home without speaking to anybody. Because if you speak the charm 魔力；使陶醉’s busted 胸围.”

“Well, that sounds like a good way; but that ain’t the way Bob Tanner done.”

“No, sir, you can bet he didn’t, becuz he’s the wartiest boy in this town; and he wouldn’t have a wart on him if he’d knowed how to work spunk-water. I’ve took off thou‧sand 千 of warts off of my hands that way, Huck. I play with frogs 青蛙 so much that I’ve always got consider‧able 大量 many warts. Sometimes I take ‘em off with a bean 豆.”

“Yes, bean’s good. I’ve done that.”

“Have you? What’s your way?”

“You take and split 分裂 the bean, and cut the wart so as to get some blood, and then you put the blood on one piece of the bean and take and dig 挖 a hole and bury 埋葬 it ‘bout 回合 mid‧night 午夜 at the cross‧road 十字路口 in the dark of the moon, and then you burn up the rest of the bean 4. You see that piece that’s got the blood on it will keep drawing and drawing, trying to fetch 取 the other piece to it, and so that helps the blood to draw the wart, and pretty soon off she comes.”

“Yes, that’s it, Huck—that’s it; though when you’re burying 埋葬 it if you say ‘Down bean 5; off wart; come no more to bother me!’ it’s better. That’s the way Joe Harper does, and he’s been nearly to Coonville and most every‧where 到处. But say—how do you cure ‘em with dead cats?”

“Why, you take your cat and go and get in the grave 坟墓；严重的-yard ‘long about mid‧night 午夜 when somebody that was wicked 邪恶的 has been buried 埋葬; and when it’s mid‧night 午夜 a devil 魔鬼 will come, or maybe two or three, but you can’t see ‘em, you can only hear something like the wind, or maybe hear ‘em talk; and when they’re taking that feller away, you heave 举起 your cat after ‘em and say, ‘ Devil follow corpse 尸体, cat follow devil, warts follow cat, I’m done with ye!’ That’ll fetch 取 any wart.”

“Sounds right. D’you ever try it, Huck?”

“No, but old Mother Hopkins told me.”

“Well, I reckon 估计 it’s so, then. Becuz they say she’s a witch 巫婆.”

“Say! Why, Tom, I know she is. She witched 巫婆 pap. Pap says so his own self 自己. He come along one day, and he see she was a-witching 巫婆 him, so he took up a rock, and if she hadn’t dodged 躲闪, he’d a got her. Well, that very night he rolled off’n a shed wher’ he was a layin drunk drink, and broke his arm.”

“Why, that’s awful. How did he know she was a-witching 巫婆 him?”

“Lord, pap can tell, easy. Pap says when they keep looking at you right stiddy, they’re a-witching 巫婆 you. Specially if they mumble 咕哝. Becuz when they mumble 咕哝 they’re saying the Lord’s Prayer backards.”

“Say, Hucky, when you going to try the cat?”

“To-night. I reckon 估计 they’ll come after old Hoss Williams to-night.”

“But they buried him Saturday. Didn’t they get him Saturday night?”

“Why, how you talk! How could their charms 魔力；使陶醉 work till mid‧night 午夜?—and then it’s Sunday. Devils don’t slosh around much of a Sunday, I don’t reckon 估计.”

“I never thought of that. That’s so. Lemme go with you?”

“Of course—if you ain’t afeard.”

“Afeard! ‘Tain’t likely. Will you meow?”

“Yes—and you meow back, if you get a chance. Last time, you kep’ me a-meowing around till old Hays went to throwing rocks at me and says ‘Dern that cat!’ and so I hove a brick 砖 through his window—but don’t you tell.”

“I won’t. I couldn’t meow that night, becuz auntie was watching me, but I’ll meow this time. Say—what’s that?”

“Nothing but a tick 蜱.”

“Where’d you get him?”

“Out in the woods.”

“What’ll you take for him?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want to sell him.”

“All right. It’s a mighty 威武 small tick 蜱, anyway 无论如何.”

“Oh, anybody can run a tick 蜱 down that don’t belong to them. I’m satisfied with it. It’s a good enough tick 蜱 for me.”

“Sho, there’s ticks 蜱 a plenty. I could have a thou‧sand 千 of ‘em if I wanted to.”

“Well, why don’t you? Becuz you know mighty 威武 well you can’t. This is a pretty early tick 蜱, I reckon 估计. It’s the first one I’ve seen this year.”

“Say, Huck—I’ll give you my tooth for him.”

“Less see it.”

Tom got out a bit of paper and carefully 小心 unrolled it. Huckleberry viewed it wistfully. The temptation 诱惑 was very strong. At last he said:

“Is it genuwyne?”

Tom lifted his lip and showed the vacancy 空缺.

“Well, all right,” said Huckleberry, “it’s a trade.”

Tom enclosed 围起来 the tick 蜱 in the percussion-cap box that had lately 近来 been the pinch‧bug 捏‧虫；窃听器’s prison, and the boys separated, each feeling wealthier 富裕 than before.

When Tom reached the little isolated frame school-house, he strode in briskly 轻快, with the manner of one who had come with all honest speed. He hung his hat on a peg 衣夹 and flung himself into his seat with business-like alacrity. The master, throned 王座 on high in his great splint-bottom arm-chair, was dozing, lulled 麻痹 by the drowsy hum 哼 of study. The interruption 中断 roused 唤醒 him.

“Thomas Sawyer!”

Tom knew that when his name was pronounced in full, it meant trouble.

“Sir!”

“Come up here. Now, sir, why are you late again, as usual?”

Tom was about to take refuge 避难所 in a lie, when he saw two long tails of yellow hair hanging down a back that he recognized by the electric sympathy 同情 of love; and by that form was the only vacant 空的 place on the girls’ side of the school-house. He instantly said:

“I stopped to talk with Huckleberry Finn!”

The master’s pulse 脉冲 stood still, and he stared help‧less 无助. The buzz 蜂鸣器 of study ceased 停止. The pupils wondered if this fool‧hardy 愚人‧耐寒 boy had lost his mind. The master said:

“You—you did what?”

“Stopped to talk with Huckleberry Finn.”

There was no mistaking the words.

“Thomas Sawyer, this is the most astounding 惊奇 confession 承认 I have ever listened to. No mere ferule will answer for this offence. Take off your jacket 4.”

The master’s arm performed until it was tired and the stock of switches 开关 not‧able 特别是 diminished 减少. Then the order followed:

“Now, sir, go and sit with the girls! And let this be a warning to you.”

The titter that rippled 波纹 around the room appeared to abash the boy, but in reality 现实 that result was caused rather more by his worshipful awe 威严 of his unknown 未知 idol 偶像 and the dread 恐惧 pleasure that lay in his high good for‧tune 命运. He sat down upon the end of the pine 松树 bench 长凳 and the girl hitched 拴住 her‧self 她自己 away from him with a toss 折腾 of her head. Nudges and winks 眨眼 and whispers 低声说 traversed 横过 the room, but Tom sat still, with his arms upon the long, low desk before him, and seemed to study his book.

By and by attention ceased 停止 from him, and the accustomed school murmur 私语 rose upon the dull 钝的；没兴趣 air once more. Presently the boy began to steal furtive glances 一瞥 at the girl. She observed it, “made a mouth” at him and gave him the back of her head for the space of a minute. When she cautiously faced around again, a peach 桃子 lay before her. She thrust 推力 it away. Tom gently put it back. She thrust 推力 it away again, but with less animosity 敌意. Tom patiently returned it to its place. Then she let it remain. Tom scrawled on his slate 石板, “Please take it—I got more.” The girl glanced 一瞥 at the words, but made no sign. Now the boy began to draw something on the slate 石板, hiding his work with his left hand. For a time the girl refused to notice; but her human curiosity 好奇心 presently began to manifest 表现 itself 本身 by hardly perceptible signs. The boy worked on, apparently 据…所知；看来；据说；听说 unconscious 无意识. The girl made a sort of non 非-committal attempt to see, but the boy did not betray 背叛 that he was aware 知道的 of it. At last she gave in and hesitatingly whispered:

“Let me see it.”

Tom partly uncovered 揭露 a dismal 惨淡 caricature 漫画 of a house with two gable ends to it and a cork‧screw 软木塞‧螺丝钉 of smoke issuing from the chimney 烟囱. Then the girl’s interest began to fasten 系牢 itself 本身 upon the work and she forgot everything else. When it was finished, she gazed 凝视 a moment, then whispered:

“It’s nice—make a man.”

The artist 艺术家 erected 直立 a man in the front yard, that resembled 类似 a derrick. He could have stepped over the house; but the girl was not hypercritical; she was satisfied with the monster 怪物, and whispered:

“It’s a beautiful 美丽 man—now make me coming along.”

Tom drew an hour-glass with a full moon and straw 稻草 limbs 肢 to it and armed the spreading fingers with a portentous fan 扇子. The girl said:

“It’s ever so nice—I wish I could draw.”

“It’s easy,” whispered Tom, “I’ll learn you.”

“Oh, will you? When?”

“At noon 正午. Do you go home to dinner?”

“I’ll stay if you will.”

“Good—that’s a whack 重打. What’s your name?”

“Becky Thatcher. What’s yours? Oh, I know. It’s Thomas Sawyer.”

“That’s the name they lick 舔 me by. I’m Tom when I’m good. You call me Tom, will you?”

“Yes.”

Now Tom began to scrawl something on the slate 石板, hiding the words from the girl. But she was not backward 向后的 this time. She begged 乞讨 to see. Tom said:

“Oh, it ain’t anything.”

“Yes it is.”

“No it ain’t. You don’t want to see.”

“Yes I do, indeed I do. Please let me.”

“You’ll tell.”

“No I won’t— deed 行为 and deed and double deed 3 won’t.”

“You won’t tell anybody at all? Ever, as long as you live?”

“No, I won’t ever tell anybody. Now let me.”

“Oh, you don’t want to see!”

“Now that you treat me so, I will see.” And she put her small hand upon his and a little scuffle ensued 接踵而至, Tom pretending 假装 to resist 抵抗 in earnest 热心的 but letting his hand slip by degrees till these words were revealed 揭示: “I love you.”

“Oh, you bad thing!” And she hit his hand a smart 聪明 rap 敲击, but reddened and looked pleased, nevertheless 虽然.

Just at this juncture 契机 the boy felt a slow, fateful grip 握 closing on his ear, and a steady lifting impulse 冲动. In that wise 明智的；聪明的 he was borne bear across the house and deposited 留下 in his own seat, under a peppering 胡椒 fire of giggles 傻笑 from the whole school. Then the master stood over him during a few awful moments, and finally moved away to his throne 王座 without saying a word. But although Tom’s ear tingled, his heart was jubilant.

As the school quieted down Tom made an honest effort to study, but the turmoil 动荡 within him was too great. In turn he took his place in the reading class and made a botch of it; then in the geography 地理 class and turned lakes into mountains, mountains into rivers, and rivers into continents 大陆, till chaos 混沌 was come again; then in the spelling 拼写 class, and got “turned down,” by a success‧ion 演替 of mere baby words, till he brought up at the foot and yielded up the pewter medal 勋章 which he had worn wear with ostentation for months.

CHAPTER VII

THE harder Tom tried to fasten 系牢 his mind on his book, the more his ideas wandered. So at last, with a sigh 叹 and a yawn 打哈欠, he gave it up. It seemed to him that the noon 正午 recess 凹槽 would never come. The air was utterly 完全 dead. There was not a breath stirring 搅动. It was the sleepiest of sleepy 困 days. The drowsing murmur 私语 of the five and twenty 二十 studying scholars 学者 soothed 缓和 the soul like the spell 拼写 that is in the murmur 私语 of bees 蜜蜂. Away off in the flaming 火焰 sun‧shine 阳光, Cardiff Hill lifted its soft green sides through a shimmering 发微光 veil 面纱 of heat, tinted 着色 with the purple 紫色的 of distance; a few birds floated 漂浮 on lazy 懒惰的 wing 翅膀 high in the air; no other living thing was visible 可以看见的；可视的 but some cows 奶牛, and they were asleep 睡着的. Tom’s heart ached 疼痛 to be free, or else to have something of interest to do to pass the dreary 凄凉 time. His hand wandered into his pocket and his face lit up with a glow 辉光 of gratitude 感谢 that was prayer, though he did not know it. Then furtively the percussion-cap box came out. He released 发布 the tick 蜱 and put him on the long flat desk. The creature 3 probably glowed 辉光 with a gratitude 感谢 that amounted to prayer, too, at this moment, but it was pre‧mature 过早: for when he started thankfully 感激地 to travel off, Tom turned him aside with a pin 钉 and made him take a new direction.

Tom’s bosom friend sat next him, suffering just as Tom had been, and now he was deeply and gratefully 感激的 interested in this entertainment 娱乐 in an instant. This bosom friend was Joe Harper. The two boys were sworn 发誓:swear friends all the week, and embattled enemies on Saturdays. Joe took a pin out of his lapel and began to assist 帮助；协助；援助 in exercising the prisoner 犯人，囚犯. The sport grew in interest momently. Soon Tom said that they were interfering 干预 with each other, and neither getting the fullest benefit 效益 of the tick 蜱. So he put Joe’s slate 石板 on the desk and drew a line down the middle of it from top to bottom.

“Now,” said he, “as long as he is on your side you can stir 搅动 him up and I’ll let him alone; but if you let him get away and get on my side, you’re to leave him alone as long as I can keep him from crossing over.”

“All right, go ahead; start him up.”

The tick 蜱 escaped from Tom, presently, and crossed the equator. Joe harassed 骚扰 him awhile 一会儿, and then he got away and crossed back again. This change of base occurred 发生 often. While one boy was worrying the tick 蜱 with absorbing 吸收 interest, the other would look on with interest as strong, the two heads bowed 弓 together over the slate 石板, and the two souls dead to all things else. At last luck seemed to settle and abide 遵守 with Joe. The tick 蜱 tried this, that, and the other course, and got as excited and as anxious 焦急的 as the boys themselves, but time and again just as he would have victory in his very grasp 把握, so to speak, and Tom’s fingers would be twitching 抽搐 to begin, Joe’s pin would deftly head him off, and keep possession 所有物. At last Tom could stand it no longer. The temptation 诱惑 was too strong. So he reached out and lent 把…借给:lend a hand with his pin. Joe was angry 生气的 in a moment. Said he:

“Tom, you let him alone.”

“I only just want to stir 3 him up a little, Joe.”

“No, sir, it ain’t fair; you just let him alone.”

“ Blame 指责 it, I ain’t going to stir him much.”

“Let him alone, I tell you.”

“I won’t!”

“You shall—he’s on my side of the line.”

“Look here, Joe Harper, whose is that tick 蜱?”

“I don’t care whose tick 蜱 he is—he’s on my side of the line, and you sha’n’t touch him.”

“Well, I’ll just bet I will, though. He’s my tick 蜱 and I’ll do what I blame please with him, or die!”

A tremendous 巨大 whack 重打 came down on Tom’s shoulders, and its duplicate 重复 on Joe’s; and for the space of two minutes the dust continued to fly from the two jackets 衣服 and the whole school to enjoy it. The boys had been too absorbed 吸收 to notice the hush 嘘 that had stolen upon the school awhile 一会儿 before when the master came tiptoeing down the room and stood over them. He had contemplated 沉思 a good part of the performance before he contributed 有助于 his bit of variety to it.

When school broke up at noon 正午, Tom flew to Becky Thatcher, and whispered in her ear:

“Put on your bonnet 帽子 and let on you’re going home; and when you get to the corner, give the rest of ‘em the slip, and turn down through the lane 车道 and come back. I’ll go the other way and come it over ‘em the same way.”

So the one went off with one group of scholars 学者, and the other with another. In a little while the two met at the bottom of the lane 车道, and when they reached the school they had it all to themselves. Then they sat together, with a slate 石板 before them, and Tom gave Becky the pencil 铅笔 and held her hand in his, guiding it, and so created another surprising house. When the interest in art began to wane 没落, the two fell to talking. Tom was swimming in bliss 福. He said:

“Do you love rats 鼠?”

“No! I hate them!”

“Well, I do, too—live ones. But I mean dead ones, to swing round your head with a string 绳子.”

“No, I don’t care for rats 鼠 much, anyway. What I like is chewing 嚼-gum 胶.”

“Oh, I should say so! I wish I had some now.”

“Do you? I’ve got some. I’ll let you chew 嚼 it awhile 一会儿, but you must give it back to me.”

That was agree‧able 合适的, so they chewed 嚼 it turn about, and dangled 吊着 their legs against the bench 长凳 in excess 超过 of contentment.

“Was you ever at a circus 马戏团?” said Tom.

“Yes, and my pa’s going to take me again some time, if I’m good.”

“I been to the circus 马戏团 three or four times—lots of times. Church ain’t shucks to a circus 马戏团. There’s things going on at a circus 马戏团 all the time. I’m going to be a clown 小丑 in a circus 马戏团 when I grow up.”

“Oh, are you! That will be nice. They’re so lovely 可爱的, all spotted up.”

“Yes, that’s so. And they get slathers of money—most a dollar a day, Ben Rogers says. Say, Becky, was you ever engaged 从事?”

“What’s that?”

“Why, engaged 从事 to be married.”

“No.”

“Would you like to?”

“I reckon 估计 so. I don’t know. What is it like?”

“Like? Why it ain’t like anything. You only just tell a boy you won’t ever have anybody but him, ever ever ever, and then you kiss 接吻 and that’s all. Anybody can do it.”

“ Kiss? What do you kiss for?”

“Why, that, you know, is to—well, they always do that.”

“Everybody?”

“Why, yes, everybody that’s in love with each other. Do you remember what I wrote on the slate 石板?”

“Ye—yes.”

“What was it?”

“I sha’n’t tell you.”

“Shall I tell you?”

“Ye—yes—but some other time.”

“No, now.”

“No, not now—to-morrow.”

“Oh, no, now. Please, Becky—I’ll whisper 低声说 it, I’ll whisper it ever so easy.”

Becky hesitating 犹豫, Tom took silence for consent 同意, and passed his arm about her waist 腰 and whispered the tale 故事，不实之词 ever so softly, with his mouth close to her ear. And then he added:

“Now you whisper it to me—just the same.”

She resisted 抵抗, for a while, and then said:

“You turn your face away so you can’t see, and then I will. But you mustn’t ever tell anybody—will you, Tom? Now you won’t, will you?”

“No, indeed, indeed I won’t. Now, Becky.”

He turned his face away. She bent timidly 胆小 around till her breath stirred 搅动 his curls and whispered, “I—love—you!”

Then she sprang away and ran around and around the desks and benches 长凳, with Tom after her, and took refuge 避难所 in a corner at last, with her little white apron 围裙 to her face. Tom clasped 钩 her about her neck and pleaded 求情:

“Now, Becky, it’s all done—all over but the kiss. Don’t you be afraid of that—it ain’t anything at all. Please, Becky.” And he tugged 拖船 at her apron 围裙 and the hands.

By and by she gave up, and let her hands drop; her face, all glowing 辉光 with the struggle, came up and submitted 给. Tom kissed 接吻 the red lips and said:

“Now it’s all done, Becky. And always after this, you know, you ain’t ever to love anybody but me, and you ain’t ever to marry anybody but me, ever never and for‧ever 永远. Will you?”

“No, I’ll never love anybody but you, Tom, and I’ll never marry anybody but you—and you ain’t to ever marry anybody but me, either.”

“Certainly. Of course. That’s part of it. And always coming to school or when we’re going home, you’re to walk with me, when there ain’t anybody looking—and you choose me and I choose you at parties, because that’s the way you do when you’re engaged 从事.”

“It’s so nice. I never heard of it before.”

“Oh, it’s ever so gay 快乐的! Why, me and Amy Lawrence—”

The big eyes told Tom his blunder 错误 and he stopped, confused 使困窘.

“Oh, Tom! Then I ain’t the first you’ve ever been engaged 从事 to!”

The child began to cry. Tom said:

“Oh, don’t cry, Becky, I don’t care for her any more.”

“Yes, you do, Tom—you know you do.”

Tom tried to put his arm about her neck, but she pushed him away and turned her face to the wall, and went on crying. Tom tried again, with soothing 缓和 words in his mouth, and was repulsed again. Then his pride was up, and he strode away and went outside. He stood about, rest‧less 不安 and uneasy 不安, for a while, glancing 一瞥 at the door, every now and then, hoping she would repent and come to find him. But she did not. Then he began to feel badly 很糟地 and fear that he was in the wrong. It was a hard struggle with him to make new advances, now, but he nerved 神经 himself to it and entered. She was still standing back there in the corner, sobbing 哭泣, with her face to the wall. Tom’s heart smote him. He went to her and stood a moment, not knowing exactly how to proceed 继续. Then he said hesitatingly:

“Becky, I—I don’t care for anybody but you.”

No reply—but sobs 哭泣.

“Becky”—pleadingly. “Becky, won’t you say something?”

More sobs 哭泣.

Tom got out his chiefest jewel 宝石, a brass 黄铜 knob 把手 from the top of an and‧iron 和‧铁器, and passed it around her so that she could see it, and said:

“Please, Becky, won’t you take it?”

She struck it to the floor. Then Tom marched out of the house and over the hills and far away, to return to school no more that day. Presently Becky began to suspect 怀疑；嫌疑犯. She ran to the door; he was not in sight; she flew around to the play-yard; he was not there. Then she called:

“Tom! Come back, Tom!”

She listened intently 意图, but there was no answer. She had no companions 同伴 but silence and loneliness 孤单. So she sat down to cry again and upbraid her‧self 她自己; and by this time the scholars 学者 began to gather again, and she had to hide her griefs 哀思 and still her broken heart and take up the cross of a long, dreary 凄凉, aching 疼痛 afternoon, with none among the strangers 陌生人 about her to exchange sorrows with.

CHAPTER VIII

TOM dodged 躲闪 hither and thither through lanes 车道 until he was well out of the track 小路 of returning scholars 学者, and then fell into a moody jog 慢跑. He crossed a small “branch” two or three times, because of a prevailing 战胜 juvenile 少年 superstition 迷信 that to cross water baffled 障 pursuit 追求. Half an hour later he was disappearing 不见 behind the Douglas mansion 大厦 on the summit 首脑 of Cardiff Hill, and the school-house was hardly distinguish‧able 区分‧能够的 away off in the valley behind him. He entered a dense 稠密 wood, picked his path‧less 小路‧少 way to the centre of it, and sat down on a mossy spot under a spreading oak 橡木. There was not even a zephyr stirring; the dead noon‧day 正午‧一天 heat had even stilled the songs of the birds; nature lay in a trance that was broken by no sound but the occasional 偶然 far-off hammering 铁锤 of a wood-pecker 啄, and this seemed to render 给予 the pervading 弥漫 silence and sense of loneliness 孤单 the more profound 深刻. The boy’s soul was steeped 陡峭的 in melancholy 愁绪; his feelings were in happy accord with his surroundings. He sat long with his elbows 弯头 on his knees and his chin 下巴 in his hands, meditating. It seemed to him that life was but a trouble, at best, and he more than half envied Jimmy Hodges, so lately 近来 released 发布; it must be very peaceful 平静的, he thought, to lie and slumber and dream for‧ever 永远 and ever, with the wind whispering through the trees and caressing 抚摸 the grass 草 and the flowers over the grave, and nothing to bother and grieve 悼 about, ever any more. If he only had a clean Sunday-school record he could be willing to go, and be done with it all. Now as to this girl. What had he done? Nothing. He had meant the best in the world, and been treated like a dog—like a very dog. She would be sorry some day—maybe when it was too late. Ah, if he could only die temporarily 暂时!

But the elastic 有弹力的 heart of youth cannot be compressed 压缩 into one con‧strain 压抑 shape long at a time. Tom presently began to drift 漂移 insensibly back into the concerns of this life again. What if he turned his back, now, and disappeared mysteriously 神秘? What if he went away—ever so far away, into unknown 未知 countries beyond the seas—and never came back any more! How would she feel then! The idea of being a clown 小丑 recurred 复发 to him now, only to fill him with disgust 反感. For frivolity and jokes 笑话 and spotted tights 紧的 were an offense 进攻, when they intruded 侵入 themselves upon a spirit that was exalted into the vague 模糊 august 八月 realm 领域 of the romantic 浪漫. No, he would be a soldier, and return after long years, all war-worn and illustrious. No—better still, he would join the Indians, and hunt buffaloes 水牛 and go on the war‧path 战争‧小路 in the mountain ranges and the track‧less 小路‧少 great plains of the Far West, and away in the future come back a great chief, bristling 鬃 with feathers 羽毛, hideous 可怕 with paint, and prance into Sunday-school, some drowsy summer morning, with a blood-curdling war-whoop 叫喊, and sear the eyeballs of all his companions 同伴 with unappeasable envy 嫉妒. But no, there was something gaudier even than this. He would be a pirate 海盗! That was it! now his future lay plain before him, and glowing 辉光 with unimaginable splendor 辉. How his name would fill the world, and make people shudder 不寒而栗! How gloriously 辉煌 he would go plowing 犁 the dancing seas, in his long, low, black-hulled 船壳 racer, the Spirit of the Storm 暴风雨, with his grisly flag 旗；石地板 flying at the fore 前面! And at the zenith of his fame, how he would suddenly appear at the old village and stalk 茎 into church, brown and weather-beaten beat, in his black velvet 丝绒 doublet and trunks 树干, his great jack 插口-boots 靴；鞋, his crimson sash, his belt 腰带 bristling 鬃 with horse-pistols 手枪, his crime 罪行-rusted 荒废；铁锈 cutlass at his side, his slouch hat with waving plumes 羽, his black flag 旗；石地板 unfurled, with the skull 头骨 and crossbones on it, and hear with swelling 膨胀；增强 ecstasy 狂喜 the whisperings, “It’s Tom Sawyer the Pirate!—the Black Avenger of the Spanish Main!”

Yes, it was settled; his career was determined. He would run away from home and enter upon it. He would start the very next morning. Therefore he must now begin to get ready. He would collect his resources 资源 together. He went to a rotten 腐烂的 log 记录 near at hand and began to dig 挖 under one end of it with his Barlow knife. He soon struck wood that sounded hollow 3. He put his hand there and uttered 说出 this incantation impressively 有声有色:

“What hasn’t come here, come! What’s here, stay here!”

Then he scraped 擦 away the dirt, and exposed 暴露 a pine 松树 shingle 卵石. He took it up and disclosed 透露 a shapely little treasure 金银财宝-house whose bottom and sides were of shingles 卵石. In it lay a marble 大理石. Tom’s astonishment 惊愕 was bound 3-less! He scratched his head with a perplexed 困扰 air, and said:

“Well, that beats anything!”

Then he tossed 折腾 the marble 大理石 away pettishly, and stood cogitating. The truth was, that a superstition 迷信 of his had failed, here, which he and all his comrades 同志 had always looked upon as infallible. If you buried a marble 大理石 with certain necessary incantations, and left it alone a fort‧night 两星期, and then opened the place with the incantation he had just used, you would find that all the marbles 大理石 you had ever lost had gathered themselves together there, mean‧time 其时, no matter how widely they had been separated. But now, this thing had actually and unquestionably failed. Tom’s whole structure 结构体 of faith was shaken shake to its foundations. He had many a time heard of this thing succeeding but never of its failing before. It did not occur 发生 to him that he had tried it several times before, himself, but could never find the hiding-places after‧ward 之后. He puzzled 使迷惑 over the matter some time, and finally decided that some witch 巫婆 had interfered and broken the charm 魔力；使陶醉. He thought he would satisfy himself on that point; so he searched around till he found a small sandy 沙 spot with a little funnel 漏斗-shaped depression 忧闷，压抑，不快乐 in it. He laid himself down and put his mouth close to this depression and called—

“Doodle-bug 虫；窃听器, doodle-bug 虫；窃听器, tell me what I want to know! Doodle-bug 虫；窃听器, doodle-bug 虫；窃听器, tell me what I want to know!”

The sand 沙 began to work, and presently a small black bug 虫；窃听器 appeared for a second and then darted 镖 under again in a fright 恐怖.

“He dasn’t tell! So it was a witch 巫婆 that done it. I just knowed it.”

He well knew the futility of trying to con‧tend 抗衡 against witches 巫婆, so he gave up discouraged 不鼓励. But it occurred 发生 to him that he might as well have the marble 大理石 he had just thrown away, and therefore he went and made a patient search for it. But he could not find it. Now he went back to his treasure 3-house and carefully 小心 placed himself just as he had been standing when he tossed 折腾 the marble 大理石 away; then he took another marble 大理石 from his pocket and tossed 折腾 it in the same way, saying:

“Brother, go find your brother!”

He watched where it stopped, and went there and looked. But it must have fallen fall short or gone too far; so he tried twice 两次 more. The last repetition 重复 was successful 成功. The two marbles 大理石 lay within a foot of each other.

Just here the blast 爆破 of a toy 玩具 tin 4 trumpet 喇叭 came faintly 微弱的 down the green aisles 走道 of the forest. Tom flung off his jacket 5 and trousers 长裤, turned a suspender 暂停 into a belt 腰带, raked 耙子 away some brush behind the rotten 腐烂的 log 记录, disclosing 透露 a rude 粗鲁的 bow 弓 and arrow 箭头；矢, a lath sword 剑 and a tin 5 trumpet 喇叭, and in a moment had seized these things and bounded 必定；跳 away, barelegged, with fluttering 扑 shirt. He presently halted 停 under a great elm, blew blow an answering blast 爆破, and then began to tiptoe and look warily 警惕 out, this way and that. He said cautiously—to an imaginary 想像中的 company:

“Hold, my merry 愉快的 men! Keep hid hide till I blow.”

Now appeared Joe Harper, as airily 轻快的 clad 包层的 and elaborately 阐述 armed as Tom. Tom called:

“Hold! Who comes here into Sherwood Forest without my pass?”

“Guy 家伙 of Guisborne wants no man’s pass. Who art thou 汝 that—that—”

“Dares to hold such language,” said Tom, prompting 敏捷的—for they talked “by the book,” from memory.

“Who art thou 汝 that dares 敢 to hold such language?”

“I, indeed! I am Robin Hood, as thy 你的 caitiff car‧case 汽车‧盒子；案件；例子 soon shall know.”

“Then art thou 汝 indeed that famous 著名 outlaw 取缔? Right gladly 高兴的 will I dispute 争议 with thee the passes of the merry 愉快的 wood. Have at thee!”

They took their lath swords 剑, dumped 倾倒 their other traps 陷阱；诱骗 on the ground, struck a fencing 栅栏 attitude 态度, foot to foot, and began a grave, careful 小心 combat 战斗, “two up and two down.” Presently Tom said:

“Now, if you’ve got the hang, go it lively!”

So they “went it lively,” panting 喘气 and perspiring with the work. By and by Tom shouted:

“Fall! fall! Why don’t you fall?”

“I sha’n’t! Why don’t you fall your‧self 你自己? You’re getting the worst 生病:ill of it.”

“Why, that ain’t anything. I can’t fall; that ain’t the way it is in the book. The book says, ‘Then with one back-handed stroke 一击;轻抚 he slew poor Guy 家伙 of Guisborne.’ You’re to turn around and let me hit you in the back.”

There was no getting around the authorities 权威, so Joe turned, received the whack 重打 and fell.

“Now,” said Joe, getting up, “you got to let me kill you. That’s fair.”

“Why, I can’t do that, it ain’t in the book.”

“Well, it’s blamed 指责 mean—that’s all.”

“Well, say, Joe, you can be Friar Tuck or Much the miller 磨坊’s son, and lam me with a quarter-staff; or I’ll be the Sheriff of Nottingham and you be Robin Hood a little while and kill me.”

This was satisfactory, and so these adventures were carried out. Then Tom became Robin Hood again, and was allowed by the treacherous 奸诈 nun 尼姑 to bleed 使出血 his strength away through his neglected 疏忽 wound 创伤. And at last Joe, representing a whole tribe 部落 of weeping 哭泣 outlaws 取缔, dragged him sadly 悲哀的 forth, gave his bow 弓 into his feeble 微弱 hands, and Tom said, “Where this arrow 箭头；矢 falls, there bury 埋葬 poor Robin Hood under the green‧wood 绿色的‧木材；树林 tree.” Then he shot the arrow and fell back and would have died, but he lit on a nettle and sprang up too gaily 快乐的 for a corpse 尸体.

The boys dressed themselves, hid hide their accoutrements, and went off grieving 悼 that there were no outlaws 取缔 any more, and wondering what modern civilization 文明 could claim to have done to compensate 补偿 for their loss. They said they would rather be outlaws 取缔 a year in Sherwood Forest than President of the United States for‧ever 永远.