前言

秘方简介

常用词列表

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

CHAPTER XVII

BUT there was no hilarity in the little town that same tranquil 宁静 Saturday afternoon. The Harpers, and Aunt 阿姨 Polly’s family, were being put into mourning 悼, with great grief 哀思 and many tears. An unusual 异常 quiet possessed 拥有 the village, although it was ordinarily quiet enough, in all conscience 良心. The villagers 村民 conducted 进行 their concerns with an absent 缺席的 air, and talked little; but they sighed 叹 often. The Saturday holiday 假日 seemed a burden 负荷，重负 to the children. They had no heart in their sports, and gradually 逐步地 gave them up.

In the afternoon Becky Thatcher found her‧self 她自己 moping 拖把 about the deserted 沙漠；抛弃 school‧house 学校‧房屋 yard, and feeling very melancholy 愁绪. But she found nothing there to comfort her. She soliloquized:

“Oh, if I only had a brass 黄铜 and‧iron 和‧铁器-knob 把手 again! But I haven’t got anything now to remember him by.” And she choked 呛 back a little sob 哭泣.

Presently she stopped, and said to her‧self 她自己:

“It was right here. Oh, if it was to do over again, I wouldn’t say that—I wouldn’t say it for the whole world. But he’s gone now; I’ll never, never, never see him any more.”

This thought broke break her down, and she wandered 漫步 away, with tears rolling down her cheeks 脸颊. Then quite a group of boys and girls—playmates of Tom’s and Joe’s—came by, and stood looking over the paling fence 栅栏 and talking in reverent tones 音 of how Tom did so-and-so the last time they saw him, and how Joe said this and that small trifle 琐事 (pregnant 孕 with awful 糟糕的 prophecy 预言, as they could easily see now!)—and each speaker pointed out the exact spot where the lost lads 小伙子 stood at the time, and then added something like “and I was a-standing just so—just as I am now, and as if you was him—I was as close as that—and he smiled, just this way—and then something seemed to go all over me, like— awful 糟糕的, you know—and I never thought what it meant, of course, but I can see now!”

Then there was a dispute 争议 about who saw the dead boys last in life, and many claimed that dismal 惨淡 distinction 区别, and offered evidences 证据, more or less tampered 篡改 with by the witness; and when it was ultimately 最终 decided who did see the departed 离开 last, and exchanged the last words with them, the lucky 幸运 parties took upon themselves a sort of sacred 神圣的 importance, and were gaped 盱；目瞪口呆 at and envied 嫉妒 by all the rest. One poor chap 皴裂, who had no other grandeur 富丽堂皇 to offer, said with tolerably manifest 表现 pride 自尊 in the remembrance 纪念:

“Well, Tom Sawyer he licked 舔 me once.”

But that bid 出价 for glory 光荣 was a failure. Most of the boys could say that, and so that cheapened the distinction 区别 too much. The group loitered away, still recalling 召回 memories of the lost heroes 英雄, in awed 威严 voices.

When the Sunday-school hour was finished, the next morning, the bell 钟 began to toll 收费, instead of ringing in the usual way. It was a very still Sabbath, and the mournful sound seemed in keeping with the musing 沉思 hush 嘘 that lay lie upon nature. The villagers 村民 began to gather, loitering a moment in the vestibule to con‧verse 交谈 in whispers 低声说 about the sad 悲哀的 event. But there was no whispering 低声说 in the house; only the funereal rustling 沙沙 of dresses as the women gathered to their seats disturbed 打扰 the silence there. None could remember when the little church had been so full before. There was finally a waiting pause 暂停, an expect‧ant 期望‧蚂蚁 dumbness, and then Aunt 阿姨 Polly entered, followed by Sid and Mary, and they by the Harper family, all in deep black, and the whole congregation 集合, the old minister as well, rose rise reverently and stood until the mourners were seated in the front pew. There was another communing 公社 silence, broken break at intervals 间隔 by muffled sobs 哭泣, and then the minister spread his hands abroad 到国外 and prayed. A moving hymn 圣歌 was sung sing, and the text 文本 followed: “I am the Resurrection and the Life.”

As the service proceeded 继续, the clergy‧man 牧师 drew draw such pictures of the graces 优雅；惠赐, the winning ways, and the rare promise of the lost lads 小伙子 that every soul there, thinking he recognized these pictures, felt a pang in remembering that he had persistently 一贯 blinded himself to them always before, and had as persistently 一贯 seen only faults 缺点 and flaws 缺陷 in the poor boys. The minister related many a touching incident 事件 in the lives of the departed 离开, too, which illustrated 说明 their sweet, generous 慷慨的 natures, and the people could easily see, now, how noble 高尚的 and beautiful 美丽 those episodes 事件 were, and remembered with grief 哀思 that at the time they occurred 发生 they had seemed rank 排列 rascalities, well deserving 应受 of the cow‧hide 奶牛‧隐藏. The congregation 集合 became more and more moved, as the pathetic 可怜 tale 故事，不实之词 went on, till 到 at last the whole company broke down and joined the weeping 哭泣 mourners in a chorus 合唱 of anguished 痛苦 sobs 哭泣, the preacher 说教 himself giving way to his feelings, and crying in the pulpit 讲坛.

There was a rustle 沙沙 in the gallery 画廊, which nobody noticed; a moment later the church door creaked 吱吱; the minister raised his streaming eyes above his handkerchief 手帕, and stood transfixed! First one and then another pair of eyes followed the minister’s, and then almost with one impulse 冲动 the congregation 集合 rose and stared while the three dead boys came marching 行军；三月 up the aisle 走道, Tom in the lead, Joe next, and Huck, a ruin 破坏 of drooping rags 抹布, sneaking 潜行 sheepishly in the rear 后! They had been hid hide in the unused 没用过 gallery 画廊 listening to their own funeral 葬礼 sermon 讲道!

Aunt 阿姨 Polly, Mary, and the Harpers threw throw themselves upon their restored 修复；使复位；使复职 ones, smothered 扼杀 them with kisses 接吻 and poured 淋；倒 out thanksgivings, while poor Huck stood abashed and uncomfortable 不舒服, not knowing exactly what to do or where to hide from so many unwelcoming 不受欢迎 eyes. He wavered 动摇, and started to slink away, but Tom seized 抓住 him and said:

“Aunt 3 Polly, it ain’t fair. Somebody’s got to be glad 高兴的 to see Huck.”

“And so they shall. I’m glad to see him, poor mother‧less 母亲‧少 thing!” And the loving attentions Aunt Polly lavished 阔气 upon him were the one thing cap‧able 能 of making him more uncomfortable 不舒服 than he was before.

Suddenly the minister shouted at the top of his voice: “ Praise 赞扬 God from whom 谁 all blessings 祝福 flow—sing!—and put your hearts in it!”

And they did. Old Hundred swelled 膨胀；增强:swell up with a triumphant 凯 burst 爆裂, and while it shook shake the rafters Tom Sawyer the Pirate looked around upon the envying 嫉妒 juveniles 少年 about him and confessed 供认 in his heart that this was the proudest moment of his life.

As the “sold sell” congregation 集合 trooped 部队 out they said they would almost be willing to be made ridiculous 荒谬 again to hear Old Hundred sung like that once more.

Tom got more cuffs 袖口 and kisses that day—according to Aunt Polly’s varying 变化 moods 心境—than he had earned before in a year; and he hardly knew which expressed the most gratefulness to God and affect‧ion 感情 for himself.

CHAPTER XVIII

THAT was Tom’s great secret—the scheme 方案 to return home with his brother pirates 海盗 and attend their own funerals 葬礼. They had paddled 桨 over to the Missouri shore on a log 记录, at dusk 黄昏 on Saturday, landing five or six miles below the village; they had slept sleep in the woods at the edge of the town till 到 nearly day‧light 日光, and had then crept 爬行:creep through back lanes 车道 and alleys 胡同 and finished their sleep in the gallery 画廊 of the church among a chaos 混沌 of invalided 无效 benches 长凳.

At break‧fast 早餐, Monday morning, Aunt Polly and Mary were very loving to Tom, and very attentive 注意的 to his wants. There was an unusual 异常 amount of talk. In the course of it Aunt Polly said:

“Well, I don’t say it wasn’t a fine joke 笑话, Tom, to keep everybody suffering ‘most a week so you boys had a good time, but it is a pity 怜悯 you could be so hard-hearted as to let me suffer so. If you could come over on a log 记录 to go to your funeral 葬礼, you could have come over and give me a hint 暗示 some way that you warn’t dead, but only run off.”

“Yes, you could have done that, Tom,” said Mary; “and I believe you would if you had thought of it.”

“Would you, Tom?” said Aunt Polly, her face lighting wistfully. “Say, now, would you, if you’d thought of it?”

“I—well, I don’t know. ‘Twould ‘a’ spoiled 损坏；变质 everything.”

“Tom, I hoped you loved me that much,” said Aunt Polly, with a grieved 悼 tone 音 that discomforted 不舒适 the boy. “It would have been something if you’d cared enough to think of it, even if you didn’t do it.”

“Now, auntie, that ain’t any harm 损害,” pleaded 求情 Mary; “it’s only Tom’s giddy way—he is always in such a rush 仓促 that he never thinks of anything.”

“More’s the pity 怜悯. Sid would have thought. And Sid would have come and done it, too. Tom, you’ll look back, some day, when it’s too late, and wish you’d cared a little more for me when it would have cost you so little.”

“Now, auntie, you know I do care for you,” said Tom.

“I’d know it better if you acted more like it.”

“I wish now I’d thought,” said Tom, with a repentant tone 音; “but I dreamt dream about you, anyway 无论如何. That’s something, ain’t it?”

“It ain’t much—a cat 猫 does that much—but it’s better than nothing. What did you dream?”

“Why, Wednesday night I dreamt that you was sitting over there by the bed, and Sid was sitting by the wood‧box 木材；树林‧盒；耳光, and Mary next to him.”

“Well, so we did. So we always do. I’m glad your dreams could take even that much trouble about us.”

“And I dreamt that Joe Harper’s mother was here.”

“Why, she was here! Did you dream any more?”

“Oh, lots. But it’s so dim 暗淡, now.”

“Well, try to recollect—can’t you?”

“Somehow it seems to me that the wind—the wind blowed the—the—”

“Try harder, Tom! The wind did blow something. Come!”

Tom pressed his fingers on his fore‧head 前额 an anxious 焦急的 minute, and then said:

“I’ve got it now! I’ve got it now! It blowed the candle 蜡烛!”

“ Mercy 宽容 on us! Go on, Tom—go on!”

“And it seems to me that you said, ‘Why, I believe that that door—‘”

“Go on, Tom!”

“Just let me study a moment—just a moment. Oh, yes—you said you believed the door was open.”

“As I’m sitting here, I did! Didn’t I, Mary! Go on!”

“And then—and then—well I won win’t be certain, but it seems like as if you made Sid go and—and—”

“Well? Well? What did I make him do, Tom? What did I make him do?”

“You made him—you—Oh, you made him shut 关闭 it.”

“Well, for the land’s sake 缘故! I never heard the beat of that in all my days! Don’t tell me there ain’t anything in dreams, any more. Sereny Harper shall know of this before I’m an hour older. I’d like to see her get around this with her rubbage ‘bout 回合 superstition 迷信. Go on, Tom!”

“Oh, it’s all getting just as bright as day, now. Next you said I warn’t bad, only mischeevous and harum-scarum, and not any more responsible than—than—I think it was a colt, or something.”

“And so it was! Well, goodness 善良 gracious 亲切! Go on, Tom!”

“And then you began to cry.”

“So I did. So I did. Not the first time, neither. And then—”

“Then Mrs. Harper she began to cry, and said Joe was just the same, and she wished she hadn’t whipped 鞭打 him for taking cream 乳霜 when she’d throwed it out her own self 自己—”

“Tom! The sperrit was upon you! You was a prophesying—that’s what you was doing! Land alive 活的；有生命的, go on, Tom!”

“Then Sid he said—he said—”

“I don’t think I said anything,” said Sid.

“Yes you did, Sid,” said Mary.

“ Shut 关闭 your heads and let Tom go on! What did he say, Tom?”

“He said—I think he said he hoped I was better off where I was gone to, but if I’d been better sometimes—”

“There, d’you hear that! It was his very words!”

“And you shut him up sharp.”

“I lay I did! There must ‘a’ been an angel 天使 there. There was an angel 天使 there, somewheres!”

“And Mrs. Harper told about Joe scaring 惊恐 her with a fire‧cracker 火‧饼干, and you told about Peter and the Pain-killer—”

“Just as true as I live!”

“And then there was a whole lot of talk ‘bout 回合 dragging 拖拽 the river for us, and ‘bout 回合 having the funeral 葬礼 Sunday, and then you and old Miss Harper hugged 拥抱 and cried, and she went.”

“It happened just so! It happened just so, as sure as I’m a-sitting in these very tracks 小路. Tom, you couldn’t told it more like if you’d ‘a’ seen it! And then what? Go on, Tom!”

“Then I thought you prayed for me—and I could see you and hear every word you said. And you went to bed, and I was so sorry 对不起的 that I took and wrote on a piece of sycamore bark 吠, ‘We ain’t dead—we are only off being pirates 海盗,’ and put it on the table by the candle 蜡烛; and then you looked so good, laying there asleep 睡着的, that I thought I went and leaned lean over and kissed 接吻 you on the lips.”

“Did you, Tom, did you! I just for‧give 原谅 you everything for that!” And she seized the boy in a crushing 压破 embrace 拥抱 that made him feel like the guiltiest of villains 恶棍.

“It was very kind, even though it was only a—dream,” Sid soliloquized just audibly 听得见.

“Shut up, Sid! A body does just the same in a dream as he’d do if he was awake 醒着的. Here’s a big Milum apple 苹果 I’ve been saving for you, Tom, if you was ever found again—now go ‘long to school. I’m thankful 感谢 to the good God and Father of us all I’ve got you back, that’s long-suffering and merciful to them that believe on Him and keep His word, though goodness 善良 knows I’m unworthy of it, but if only the worthy 值得 ones got His blessings and had His hand to help them over the rough places, there’s few enough would smile here or ever enter into His rest when the long night comes. Go ‘long Sid, Mary, Tom—take yourselves off—you’ve hendered me long enough.”

The children left for school, and the old lady to call on Mrs. Harper and vanquish her realism 现实主义 with Tom’s marvellous dream. Sid had better judgment 判断 than to utter 说出 the thought that was in his mind as he left the house. It was this: “Pretty thin—as long a dream as that, without any mistakes in it!”

What a hero 英雄 Tom was become, now! He did not go skipping 跳跃 and prancing, but moved with a dignified 褒 swagger as became a pirate 海盗 who felt that the public eye was on him. And indeed it was; he tried not to seem to see the looks or hear the remarks as he passed along, but they were food and drink to him. Smaller boys than himself flocked 群 at his heels 脚跟, as proud to be seen with him, and tolerated 容忍 by him, as if he had been the drummer 鼓 at the head of a procession 队伍 or the elephant 象 leading a menagerie into town. Boys of his own size pretended 假装 not to know he had been away at all; but they were consuming 消耗 with envy 嫉妒, nevertheless 虽然. They would have given anything to have that swarthy sun-tanned 黄褐色 skin 皮 of his, and his glittering 闪光 notoriety; and Tom would not have parted with either for a circus 马戏团.

At school the children made so much of him and of Joe, and delivered such eloquent 雄辩 admiration 钦佩 from their eyes, that the two heroes were not long in becoming insufferably “stuck stick-up.” They began to tell their adventures 冒险活动 to hungry 饥饿 listeners 倾听者—but they only began; it was not a thing likely to have an end, with imaginations 想像力 like theirs to furnish material. And finally, when they got out their pipes 管子 and went serenely 安详 puffing 噗 around, the very summit 首脑 of glory 光荣 was reached.

Tom decided that he could be independent 独立 of Becky Thatcher now. Glory was sufficient 足够. He would live for glory. Now that he was distinguished, maybe she would be wanting to “make up.” Well, let her—she should see that he could be as indifferent 冷漠 as some other people. Presently she arrived. Tom pretended not to see her. He moved away and joined a group of boys and girls and began to talk. Soon he observed that she was tripping gayly 快乐的 back and forth with flushed 红晕 face and dancing eyes, pretending 假装 to be busy chasing 追 schoolmates, and screaming 叫喊 with laughter 笑 when she made a capture 捕获; but he noticed that she always made her captures 捕获 in his vicinity 附近, and that she seemed to cast 投 a conscious eye in his direction at such times, too. It gratified 取悦 all the vicious 恶毒 vanity 虚荣 that was in him; and so, instead of winning him, it only “set him up” the more and made him the more diligent to avoid betraying 背叛 that he knew she was about. Presently she gave over skylarking, and moved irresolutely about, sighing 叹 once or twice 两次 and glancing 一瞥 furtively and wistfully toward Tom. Then she observed that now Tom was talking more particularly to Amy Lawrence than to any one else. She felt a sharp pang and grew grow disturbed and uneasy 不安 at once. She tried to go away, but her feet were treacherous 奸诈, and carried her to the group instead. She said to a girl almost at Tom’s elbow 弯头—with sham 假 vivacity:

“Why, Mary Austin! you bad girl, why didn’t you come to Sunday-school?”

“I did come—didn’t you see me?”

“Why, no! Did you? Where did you sit?”

“I was in Miss Peters’ class, where I always go. I saw you.”

“Did you? Why, it’s funny 有趣的 I didn’t see you. I wanted to tell you about the picnic 野餐.”

“Oh, that’s jolly 欢乐. Who’s going to give it?”

“My ma 嘛’s going to let me have one.”

“Oh, goody 感伤的; I hope she’ll let me come.”

“Well, she will. The picnic 野餐’s for me. She’ll let any‧body 任何人 come that I want, and I want you.”

“That’s ever so nice. When is it going to be?”

“By and by. Maybe about vacation 假期.”

“Oh, won’t it be fun 乐趣! You going to have all the girls and boys?”

“Yes, every one that’s friends to me—or wants to be”; and she glanced 一瞥 ever so furtively at Tom, but he talked right along to Amy Lawrence about the terrible storm 暴风雨 on the island, and how the lightning 闪电 tore tear the great sycamore tree “all to flinders” while he was “standing within three feet of it.”

“Oh, may I come?” said Grace 优雅；惠赐 Miller.

“Yes.”

“And me?” said Sally Rogers.

“Yes.”

“And me, too?” said Susy Harper. “And Joe?”

“Yes.”

And so on, with clapping 拍 of joyful 快乐 hands till all the group had begged 乞讨 for invitations 邀请 but Tom and Amy. Then Tom turned coolly away, still talking, and took Amy with him. Becky’s lips trembled 发抖 and the tears came to her eyes; she hid hide these signs with a forced gayety and went on chattering 喋喋不休, but the life had gone out of the picnic 野餐, now, and out of everything else; she got away as soon as she could and hid hide her‧self 她自己 and had what her sex 性别 call “a good cry.” Then she sat sit moody, with wounded 创伤 pride 自尊, till the bell 钟 rang. She roused 唤醒 up, now, with a vindictive cast 投 in her eye, and gave her plaited tails 尾 a shake and said she knew what she’d do.

At recess 凹槽 Tom continued his flirtation with Amy with jubilant self 自己-satisfaction 满足. And he kept drifting 漂移 about to find Becky and lace‧rate 花边‧速度 her with the performance. At last he spied 间谍 her, but there was a sudden falling of his mercury 汞. She was sitting cosily on a little bench 长凳 behind the school‧house 学校‧房屋 looking at a picture-book with Alfred Temple 庙—and so absorbed 吸收 were they, and their heads so close together over the book, that they did not seem to be conscious of anything in the world besides. Jealousy 妒忌 ran red-hot through Tom’s veins 静脉. He began to hate himself for throwing away the chance Becky had offered for a reconciliation 和解. He called himself a fool, and all the hard names he could think of. He wanted to cry with vexation. Amy chatted 聊 happily along, as they walked, for her heart was singing, but Tom’s tongue 舌头 had lost its function 功能. He did not hear what Amy was saying, and when‧ever 随时 she paused 暂停 expectantly he could only stammer an awkward 难堪 assent 同意, which was as often misplaced 错位 as otherwise. He kept drifting 漂移 to the rear 后 of the school‧house 学校‧房屋, again and again, to sear his eyeballs with the hateful spectacle 场面；眼镜 there. He could not help it. And it maddened him to see, as he thought he saw, that Becky Thatcher never once suspected 怀疑；嫌疑犯 that he was even in the land of the living. But she did see, nevertheless 虽然; and she knew she was winning her fight, too, and was glad to see him suffer as she had suffered.

Amy’s happy prattle became intolerable 无法忍受. Tom hinted 暗示 at things he had to attend to; things that must be done; and time was fleeting 舰队. But in vain 徒劳的—the girl chirped on. Tom thought, “Oh, hang her, ain’t I ever going to get rid 使摆脱 of her?” At last he must be attending to those things—and she said artlessly that she would be “around” when school let out. And he hastened 加速 away, hating her for it.

“Any other boy!” Tom thought, grating 炉排 his teeth. “Any boy in the whole town but that Saint Louis smarty that thinks he dresses so fine and is aristocracy 贵族! Oh, all right, I licked 舔 you the first day you ever saw this town, mister 薄雾, and I’ll lick 舔 you again! You just wait till I catch you out! I’ll just take and—”

And he went through the motions of thrashing 鞭打 an imaginary 想像中的 boy—pummelling the air, and kicking 踢 and gouging. “Oh, you do, do you? You holler ‘nough, do you? Now, then, let that learn you!” And so the imaginary flogging was finished to hissatisfaction 满足.

Tom fled home at noon 正午. His conscience 良心 could not endure 忍受 any more of Amy’s grateful 感激的 happiness 幸福, and his jealousy 妒忌 could bear no more of the other distress 苦难. Becky resumed 恢复 her picture inspections 检查 with Alfred, but as the minutes dragged 拖拽 along and no Tom came to suffer, her triumph 胜利 began to cloud and she lost interest; gravity 重力 and absentmindedness followed, and then melancholy 愁绪; two or three times she pricked 刺 up her ear at a foot‧step 脚步, but it was a false 虚伪的 hope; no Tom came. At last she grew entirely miserable 悲惨的 and wished she hadn’t carried it so far. When poor Alfred, seeing that he was losing her, he did not know how, kept exclaiming 喊叫: “Oh, here’s a jolly 欢乐 one! look at this!” she lost patience 耐心 at last, and said, “Oh, don’t bother me! I don’t care for them!” and burst 爆裂 into tears, and got up and walked away.

Alfred dropped along‧side 并肩 and was going to try to comfort her, but she said:

“Go away and leave me alone, can’t you! I hate you!”

So the boy halted 停, wondering what he could have done—for she had said she would look at pictures all through the nooning 正午—and she walked on, crying. Then Alfred went musing 沉思 into the deserted school‧house 学校‧房屋. He was humiliated 羞辱 and angry 生气的. He easily guessed his way to the truth—the girl had simply made a convenience 方便 of him to vent 发泄 her spite 恶意 upon Tom Sawyer. He was far from hating Tom the less when this thought occurred 发生 to him. He wished there was some way to get that boy into trouble without much risk to himself. Tom’s spelling 拼写-book fell fall under his eye. Here was his opportunity. He gratefully 感激的 opened to the lesson 教训 for the afternoon and poured ink 墨水 upon the page.

Becky, glancing 一瞥 in at a window behind him at the moment, saw the act, and moved on, without discovering her‧self 她自己. She started home‧ward 家‧病房, now, intending to find Tom and tell him; Tom would be thankful 感谢 and their troubles would be healed 治愈. Before she was half way home, however, she had changed her mind. The thought of Tom’s treatment 治疗 of her when she was talking about her picnic 野餐 came scorching 烧焦 back and filled her with shame 羞愧. She resolved 解决 to let him get whipped on the damaged 损害 spelling-book’s account, and to hate him for‧ever 永远, into the bar‧gain 讨价还价；交易.

CHAPTER XIX

TOM arrived at home in a dreary 凄凉 mood 心境, and the first thing his aunt said to him showed him that he had brought his sorrows 悲痛 to an unpromising market:

“Tom, I’ve a notion 概念 to skin 皮 you alive 活的；有生命的!”

“Auntie, what have I done?”

“Well, you’ve done enough. Here I go over to Sereny Harper, like an old softy, expecting I’m going to make her believe all that rubbage about that dream, when lo and behold 不料 you she’d found out from Joe that you was over here and heard all the talk we had that night. Tom, I don’t know what is to become of a boy that will act like that. It makes me feel so bad to think you could let me go to Sereny Harper and make such a fool of myself 我 and never say a word.”

This was a new aspect 方面 of the thing. His smartness of the morning had seemed to Tom a good joke 笑话 before, and very ingenious 巧妙. It merely looked mean and shabby 破旧 now. He hung his head and could not think of anything to say for a moment. Then he said:

“Auntie, I wish I hadn’t done it—but I didn’t think.”

“Oh, child, you never think. You never think of anything but your own selfishness. You could think to come all the way over here from Jackson’s Island in the night to laugh at our troubles, and you could think to fool me with a lie about a dream; but you couldn’t ever think to pity 怜悯 us and save us from sorrow 悲痛.”

“Auntie, I know now it was mean, but I didn’t mean to be mean. I didn’t, honest 诚实的. And besides, I didn’t come over here to laugh at you that night.”

“What did you come for, then?”

“It was to tell you not to be uneasy 不安 about us, because we hadn’t got drownded.”

“Tom, Tom, I would be the thankfullest 感谢 soul in this world if I could believe you ever had as good a thought as that, but you know you never did—and I know it, Tom.”

“Indeed and ‘ deed 行为 I did, auntie—I wish I may never stir 搅动 if I didn’t.”

“Oh, Tom, don’t lie—don’t do it. It only makes things a hundred 百 times worse.”

“It ain’t a lie, auntie; it’s the truth. I wanted to keep you from grieving 悼—that was all that made me come.”

“I’d give the whole world to believe that—it would cover up a power of sins 罪, Tom. I’d ‘most be glad you’d run off and acted so bad. But it ain’t reasonable; because, why didn’t you tell me, child?”

“Why, you see, when you got to talking about the funeral 3, I just got all full of the idea of our coming and hiding in the church, and I couldn’t somehow bear to spoil 损坏；变质 it. So I just put the bark 吠 back in my pocket 口袋 and kept mum 沉默.”

“What bark 吠?”

“The bark 吠 I had wrote on to tell you we’d gone pirating 海盗. I wish, now, you’d waked 醒 up when I kissed you—I do, honest 诚实的.”

The hard lines in his aunt’s face relaxed 放松 and a sudden tenderness 压痛 dawned 黎明 in her eyes.

“Did you kiss 接吻 me, Tom?”

“Why, yes, I did.”

“Are you sure you did, Tom?”

“Why, yes, I did, auntie—certain sure.”

“What did you kiss me for, Tom?”

“Because I loved you so, and you laid there moaning 呻吟 and I was so sorry 对不起的.”

The words sounded like truth. The old lady could not hide a tremor 震 in her voice when she said:

“Kiss me again, Tom!—and be off with you to school, now, and don’t bother me any more.”

The moment he was gone, she ran to a closet 壁橱 and got out the ruin 破坏 of a jacket 衣服 which Tom had gone pirating 海盗 in. Then she stopped, with it in her hand, and said to her‧self 她自己:

“No, I don’t dare 敢. Poor boy, I reckon 估计 he’s lied lie about it—but it’s a blessed 祝福, blessed lie, there’s such a comfort come from it. I hope the Lord—I know the Lord will for‧give 原谅 him, because it was such good-heartedness in him to tell it. But I don’t want to find out it’s a lie. I won’t look.”

She put the jacket 衣服 away, and stood by musing 沉思 a minute. Twice 两次 she put out her hand to take the garment 服装 again, and twice 两次 she ref‧rain 副歌. Once more she ventured 企业；投机活动；商业冒险, and this time she fortified 强化 her‧self 她自己 with the thought: “It’s a good lie—it’s a good lie—I won’t let it grieve 悼 me.” So she sought the jacket pocket 口袋. A moment later she was reading Tom’s piece of bark 吠 through flowing tears and saying: “I could forgive the boy, now, if he’d committed 承诺 a million sins 罪!”

CHAPTER XX

THERE was something about Aunt Polly’s manner, when she kissed Tom, that swept sweep away his low spirits and made him lighthearted and happy again. He started to school and had the luck of coming upon Becky Thatcher at the head of Meadow Lane. His mood 心境 always determined his manner. Without a moment’s hesitation 犹豫 he ran to her and said:

“I acted mighty 威武 mean today, Becky, and I’m so sorry. I won’t ever, ever do that way again, as long as ever I live—please make up, won’t you?”

The girl stopped and looked him scorn‧fully 鄙视‧完全地 in the face:

“I’ll thank you to keep your‧self 你自己 to your‧self 你自己, Mr. Thomas Sawyer. I’ll never speak to you again.”

She tossed 折腾 her head and passed on. Tom was so stunned 击晕 that he had not even presence of mind enough to say “Who cares, Miss Smarty?” until the right time to say it had gone by. So he said nothing. But he was in a fine rage 愤怒, nevertheless 虽然. He moped 拖把 into the school‧yard 学校‧院子 wishing she were a boy, and imagining how he would trounce her if she were. He presently encountered 遭遇 her and delivered a stinging 叮 remark as he passed. She hurled 投 one in return, and the angry 生气的 breach 突破口 was complete. It seemed to Becky, in her hot resentment 怨恨, that she could hardly wait for school to “take in,” she was so impatient 不耐烦 to see Tom flogged for the injured 损伤 spelling-book. If she had had any lingering 萦绕 notion 概念 of exposing 暴露 Alfred Temple 庙, Tom’s offensive 进攻 fling 一扔 had driven drive it entirely away.

Poor girl, she did not know how fast she was nearing trouble her‧self 她自己. The master, Mr. Dobbins, had reached middle age with an unsatisfied ambition 抱负. The darling 宠儿 of his desires was, to be a doctor, but poverty 贫穷 had decreed 法令 that he should be nothing higher than a village school‧master 学校‧主人；硕士. Every day he took a mysterious 神秘 book out of his desk and absorbed 吸收 himself in it at times when no classes were reciting 背诵. He kept that book under lock and key. There was not an urchin 顽童 in school but was perishing 沦 to have a glimpse 一瞥 of it, but the chance never came. Every boy and girl had a theory 理论 about the nature of that book; but no two theories 理论 were alike 同样的, and there was no way of getting at the facts in the case. Now, as Becky was passing by the desk, which stood near the door, she noticed that the key was in the lock! It was a precious 宝贵的 moment. She glanced 一瞥 around; found her‧self 她自己 alone, and the next instant 瞬间 she had the book in her hands. The title‧page 标题‧页—Professor 教授 Somebody’s Anatomy—carried no information to her mind; so she began to turn the leaves. She came at once upon a hand‧some 英俊 engraved 雕刻 and colored frontispiece—a human figure, stark 与之形成鲜明 naked 裸. At that moment a shadow fell on the page and Tom Sawyer stepped in at the door and caught catch a glimpse 一瞥 of the picture. Becky snatched 抢夺 at the book to close it, and had the hard luck to tear the pictured page half down the middle. She thrust 推力 the volume 卷 into the desk, turned the key, and burst out crying with shame 羞愧 and vexation.

“Tom Sawyer, you are just as mean as you can be, to sneak 潜行 up on a person and look at what they’re looking at.”

“How could I know you was looking at anything?”

“You ought to be ashamed 惭愧的 of your‧self 你自己, Tom Sawyer; you know you’re going to tell on me, and oh, what shall I do, what shall I do! I’ll be whipped, and I never was whipped in school.”

Then she stamped 邮票 her little foot and said:

“Be so mean if you want to! I know something that’s going to happen. You just wait and you’ll see! Hateful, hateful, hateful!”—and she flung out of the house with a new explosion 爆炸 of crying.

Tom stood still, rather flustered by this onslaught 猛攻. Presently he said to himself:

“What a curious kind of a fool a girl is! Never been licked 舔 in school! Shucks! What’s a licking 舔! That’s just like a girl—they’re so thin-skinned 皮 and chicken 鸡-hearted. Well, of course I ain’t going to tell old Dobbins on this little fool, because there’s other ways of getting even on her, that ain’t so mean; but what of it? Old Dobbins will ask who it was tore his book. Nobody’ll answer. Then he’ll do just the way he always does—ask first one and then t’other, and when he comes to the right girl he’ll know it, without any telling. Girls’ faces always tell on them. They ain’t got any back‧bone 骨干. She’ll get licked 舔. Well, it’s a kind of a tight 紧的 place for Becky Thatcher, because there ain’t any way out of it.” Tom conned CON the thing a moment longer, and then added: “All right, though; she’d like to see me in just such a fix—let her sweat 流汗 it out!”

Tom joined the mob 暴民 of skylarking scholars 学者 outside. In a few moments the master arrived and school “took in.” Tom did not feel a strong interest in his studies. Every time he stole a glance 一瞥 at the girls’ side of the room Becky’s face troubled him. Considering all things, he did not want to pity 3 her, and yet it was all he could do to help it. He could get up no exultation that was really worthy 值得 the name. Presently the spelling-book discovery 发现 was made, and Tom’s mind was entirely full of his own matters for a while after that. Becky roused 唤醒 up from her lethargy of distress 苦难 and showed good interest in the proceedings 继续. She did not expect that Tom could get out of his trouble by denying 拒绝 that he spilt 溢出:spill the ink 墨水 on the book himself; and she was right. The denial 否认 only seemed to make the thing worse for Tom. Becky supposed she would be glad of that, and she tried to believe she was glad of it, but she found she was not certain. When the worst 生病:ill came to the worst, she had an impulse 冲动 to get up and tell on Alfred Temple, but she made an effort and forced her‧self 她自己 to keep still—because, said she to her‧self 她自己, “he’ll tell about me tearing the picture sure. I wouldn’t say a word, not to save his life!”

Tom took his whipping 鞭打 and went back to his seat not at all broken-hearted, for he thought it was possible that he had unknowingly upset 打翻 the ink 墨水 on the spelling-book himself, in some skylarking bout 回合—he had denied 拒绝 it for form’s sake 缘故 and because it was custom 习惯, and had stuck to the denial 否认 from principle 原理.

A whole hour drifted 漂移 by, the master sat nodding 点头 in his throne 王座, the air was drowsy with the hum 哼 of study. By and by, Mr. Dobbins straightened 变直 himself up, yawned 打哈欠, then unlocked 开锁 his desk, and reached for his book, but seemed undecided 未定 whether to take it out or leave it. Most of the pupils 学生 glanced 一瞥 up languidly, but there were two among them that watched his movements 运动 with intent 意图 eyes. Mr. Dobbins fingered his book absently 缺席的 for a while, then took it out and settled himself in his chair to read! Tom shot shoot a glance 一瞥 at Becky. He had seen a hunted and help‧less 无助 rabbit 兔子 look as she did, with a gun levelled at its head. Instantly he forgot forget his quarrel 争吵 with her. Quick—something must be done! done in a flash 使闪光, too! But the very imminence of the emergency 急 paralyzed 瘫痪 his invention 发明. Good!—he had an inspiration 灵感! He would run and snatch 抢夺 the book, spring through the door and fly. But his resolution 解析度 shook for one little instant 瞬间, and the chance was lost—the master opened the volume 卷. If Tom only had the wasted opportunity back again! Too late. There was no help for Becky now, he said. The next moment the master faced the school. Every eye sank 淹没:sink under his gaze 凝视. There was that in it which smote even the innocent 无辜 with fear. There was silence while one might count ten 十—the master was gathering his wrath 愤怒. Then he spoke speak: “Who tore this book?”

There was not a sound. One could have heard a pin 钉 drop. The stillness continued; the master searched face after face for signs of guilt.

“Benjamin Rogers, did you tear this book?”

A denial 否认. Another pause 暂停.

“Joseph Harper, did you?”

Another denial 否认. Tom’s uneasiness grew more and more intense 强烈的，极度的 under the slow torture 拷打 of these proceedings 继续. The master scanned 扫描 the ranks 排列 of boys—considered a while, then turned to the girls:

“Amy Lawrence?”

A shake of the head.

“Gracie Miller?”

The same sign.

“Susan Harper, did you do this?”

Another negative 负. The next girl was Becky Thatcher. Tom was trembling 发抖 from head to foot with excitement 激动 and a sense of the hopelessness of the situation.

“Rebecca Thatcher” [Tom glanced 一瞥 at her face—it was white with terror 恐怖]—“did you tear—no, look me in the face” [her hands rose in appeal 上诉]—“did you tear this book?”

A thought shot like lightning 闪电 through Tom’s brain. He sprang to his feet and shouted—“I done it!”

The school stared in perplexity at this incredible 难以置信 folly 蠢事. Tom stood a moment, to gather his dismembered faculties 学院; and when he stepped forward to go to his punishment 惩罚 the surprise, the gratitude 感谢, the adoration that shone 发光:shine upon him out of poor Becky’s eyes seemed pay enough for a hundred 百 floggings. Inspired by the splendor 辉 of his own act, he took without an outcry 喊叫 the most merciless flaying that even Mr. Dobbins had ever administered 管理; and also received with indifference 漠不关心 the added cruelty 残酷 of a command to remain two hours after school should be dismissed 解雇—for he knew who would wait for him outside till his captivity 囚禁 was done, and not count the tedious 乏味 time as loss, either.

Tom went to bed that night planning vengeance 复仇 against Alfred Temple; for with shame 羞愧 and repentance Becky had told him all, not forgetting her own treachery; but even the longing for vengeance 复仇 had to give way, soon, to pleasanter musings 沉思, and he fell asleep 睡着的 at last with Becky’s latest words lingering 萦绕 dreamily in his ear—

“Tom, how could you be so noble 高尚的!”

CHAPTER XXI

VACATION was approaching. The school‧master 学校‧主人；硕士, always severe 严峻的, grew severer 严峻的 and more exacting than ever, for he wanted the school to make a good showing on “Examination 检查” day. His rod 杆 and his ferule were seldom 很少 idle 无意义的 now—at least among the smaller pupils. Only the biggest boys, and young ladies of eighteen 十八 and twenty 二十, escaped lashing 睫毛. Mr. Dobbins’ lashings 睫毛 were very vigorous 蓬勃 ones, too; for although he carried, under his wig 假发, a perfectly bald 秃 and shiny 闪亮 head, he had only reached middle age, and there was no sign of feebleness in his muscle 肌肉，身体部份. As the great day approached, all the tyranny 暴政 that was in him came to the surface; he seemed to take a vindictive pleasure in punishing 处罚 the least shortcomings 缺点. The consequence 后果 was, that the smaller boys spent spend their days in terror 恐怖 and suffering and their nights in plotting 情节 revenge 报仇. They threw away no opportunity to do the master a mischief 恶作剧. But he kept ahead all the time. The retribution 报应 that followed every vengeful success was so sweeping and majestic 雄伟 that the boys always retired from the field badly 很糟地 worsted. At last they conspired 合谋 together and hit upon a plan that promised a dazzling 炫 victory. They swore 发誓:swear in the sign‧painter 符号‧画家’s boy, told him the scheme 方案, and asked his help. He had his own reasons for being delighted, for the master boarded in his father’s family and had given the boy ample 充足 cause to hate him. The master’s wife would go on a visit to the country in a few days, and there would be nothing to interfere 干预 with the plan; the master always prepared himself for great occasions by getting pretty well fuddled, and the sign‧painter 符号‧画家’s boy said that when the dominie had reached the proper condition on Examination 检查 Evening he would “manage the thing” while he napped 小憩 in his chair; then he would have him awakened 憬 at the right time and hurried away to school.

In the fulness of time the interesting occasion arrived. At eight 八 in the evening the school‧house 学校‧房屋 was brilliantly 出色的 lighted, and adorned 装饰 with wreaths and festoons of foliage 叶子 and flowers. The master sat throned 王座 in his great chair upon a raised platform 平台, with his black‧board 黑色‧板，上船 behind him. He was looking tolerably mellow 醇厚. Three rows 行 of benches 长凳 on each side and six rows in front of him were occupied 占据 by the dignitaries of the town and by the parents of the pupils. To his left, back of the rows of citizens, was a spacious 宽敞 temporary 临时 platform upon which were seated the scholars 学者 who were to take part in the exercises of the evening; rows of small boys, washed and dressed to an intolerable 无法忍受 state of discomfort 不舒适; rows of gawky big boys; snowbanks of girls and young ladies clad 包层的 in lawn 草坪 and muslin and conspicuously 显着 conscious of their bare 光秃秃的 arms, their grand‧mother 祖母’ ancient trinkets, their bits 一点 of pink 粉红色的 and blue ribbon 带 and the flowers in their hair. All the rest of the house was filled with non 非-participating 参加 scholars 学者.

The exercises began. A very little boy stood up and sheepishly recited 背诵, “You’d scarce 缺乏的 expect one of my age to speak in public on the stage,” etc.—accompanying 陪 himself with the painfully 痛苦 exact and spasmodic gestures 手势 which a machine might have used—supposing the machine to be a trifle 琐事 out of order. But he got through safely, though cruelly 残酷的 scared 惊恐, and got a fine round of applause 热烈鼓掌 when he made his manufactured bow 弓 and retired.

A little shamefaced girl lisped, “Mary had a little lamb 羊肉,” etc., performed a compassion 同情-inspiring 激励，鼓舞 curtsy, got her meed of applause, and sat down flushed 红晕 and happy.

Tom Sawyer stepped forward with conceited confidence 信心 and soared 翱翔 into the unquenchable and indestructible “Give me liberty 自由 or give me death” speech, with fine fury 愤怒 and frantic 疯狂的 gesticulation, and broke down in the middle of it. A ghastly 阴森 stage-fright 恐怖 seized him, his legs quaked under him and he was like to choke 呛. True, he had the manifest 表现 sympathy 同情 of the house but he had the house’s silence, too, which was even worse than its sympathy. The master frowned 皱眉, and this completed the disaster 灾难，大祸. Tom struggled awhile 一会儿 and then retired, utterly 完全 defeated 击败. There was a weak attempt at applause 热烈鼓掌, but it died early.

“The Boy Stood on the Burning Deck” followed; also “The Assyrian Came Down,” and other declamatory gems 宝石. Then there were reading exercises, and a spelling fight. The meagre Latin class recited 背诵 with honor. The prime 主要 feature 特征 of the evening was in order, now—original 原版的 “ compositions 作文；构图” by the young ladies. Each in her turn stepped forward to the edge of the platform 平台, cleared her throat, held up her manuscript 手稿 (tied with dainty ribbon 带), and proceeded 继续 to read, with labored 劳动 attention to “expression” and punctuation. The themes 主题 were the same that had been illuminated 照亮 upon similar 类似 occasions by their mothers before them, their grand‧mother 祖母, and doubt‧less 毫无疑问， all their ancestors 祖先 in the female line clear back to the Crusades. “ Friendship 友情” was one; “Memories of Other Days”; “Religion in History”; “Dream Land”; “The Advantages of Culture 文化”; “Forms of Political Government Compared and Contrasted”; “Melancholy”; “Filial Love”; “Heart Longings,” etc., etc.

A prevalent 流行 feature 特征 in these compositions was a nursed 护士 and petted 宠物 melancholy 愁绪; another was a wasteful and opulent gush 喷 of “fine language”; another was a tendency 趋势 to lug in by the ears particularly prized 奖赏 words and phrases 短语 until they were worn wear entirely out; and a peculiarity that conspicuously 显着 marked and marred 损伤 them was the inveterate and intolerable 无法忍受 sermon 讲道 that wagged 摇摆 its crippled 削弱 tail 尾 at the end of each and every one of them. No matter what the subject might be, a brainracking effort was made to squirm it into some aspect 方面 or other that the moral and religious 宗教 mind could contemplate 沉思 with edification. The glaring 强光 insincerity of these sermons 讲道 was not sufficient 足够 to compass 罗盘 the banishment of the fashion from the schools, and it is not sufficient 足够 today; it never will be sufficient 足够 while the world stands, perhaps. There is no school in all our land where the young ladies do not feel obliged 责成 to close their compositions with a sermon 讲道; and you will find that the sermon 讲道 of the most frivolous and the least religious 宗教 girl in the school is always the longest and the most relentlessly 无情 pious. But enough of this. Homely truth is unpalatable.

Let us return to the “Examination 检查.” The first composition 作文；构图 that was read was one entitled 使有资格，允许 “Is this, then, Life?” Perhaps the reader can endure 忍受 an extract 提取 from it:

“In the common walks of life, with what delightful 愉快 emotions 情感 does the youthful 青春的 mind look forward to some anticipated 预期 scene of festivity 欢宴! Imagination 想像力 is busy sketching 草图 rose-tinted 着色 pictures of joy 喜悦. In fancy 想像, the voluptuous votary of fashion sees her‧self 她自己 amid 际 the festive 欢乐的 throng 人群, ‘the observed of all observers 观察者.’ Her graceful 优美 form, arrayed 排列 in snowy 似雪 robes 长袍, is whirling 旋转 through the mazes 迷宫 of the joyous dance; her eye is brightest, her step is lightest in the gay 快乐的 assembly 部件.

“In such delicious 美味的 fancies 想像 time quickly glides 滑行 by, and the welcome hour arrives for her entrance 入口 into the Elysian world, of which she has had such bright dreams. How fairy 仙女-like does everything appear to her enchanted 蛊惑 vision 视力! Each new scene is more charming 魔力；使陶醉 than the last. But after a while she finds that beneath 之下 this goodly exterior 外观, all is vanity 虚荣, the flattery which once charmed 魔力；使陶醉 her soul, now grates 炉排 harshly 粗暴地 upon her ear; the ball‧room 舞厅 has lost its charms 魔力；使陶醉; and with wasted health and imbittered heart, she turns away with the conviction 定罪 that earthly pleasures cannot satisfy the longings of the soul!”

And so forth and so on. There was a buzz 蜂鸣器 of gratification from time to time during the reading, accompanied 陪 by whispered 低声说 ejaculations of “How sweet!” “How eloquent 雄辩!” “So true!” etc., and after the thing had closed with a peculiarly 奇怪的 afflicting 折磨 sermon 讲道 the applause 热烈鼓掌 was enthusiastic 热情.

Then arose arise a slim 瘦, melancholy 愁绪 girl, whose 谁的 face had the “interesting” paleness that comes of pills 丸 and indigestion, and read a “poem.” Two stanzas of it will do:

“A MISSOURI MAIDEN’S FAREWELL TO ALABAMA

“Alabama, good‧bye 再见! I love thee well! But yet for a while do I leave thee now! Sad 悲哀的, yes, sad thoughts of thee my heart doth swell 膨胀；增强, And burning recollections 回忆 throng 人群 my brow 眉头! For I have wandered through thy 你的 flowery woods; Have roamed 漫游 and read near Tallapoosa’s stream; Have listened to Tallassee’s warring floods 洪水, And wooed 求爱 on Coosa’s side Aurora’s beam 梁. “Yet shame 3 I not to bear an o’erfull heart, Nor blush 脸红 to turn behind my tearful eyes; ‘Tis from no stranger land I now must part, ‘Tis to no strangers 陌生人 left I yield these sighs 叹. Welcome and home were mine within this State, Whose 谁的 vales I leave— whose spires fade 褪去 fast from me And cold must be mine eyes, and heart, and tete, When, dear Alabama! they turn cold on thee!”

There were very few there who knew what “tete” meant, but the poem was very satisfactory 满意, nevertheless 虽然.

Next appeared a dark-complex‧ion 肤色, black-eyed, black-haired young lady, who paused an impressive 有声有色 moment, assumed 承担 a tragic 悲惨 expression, and began to read in a measured, solemn 庄严的 tone 音:

“A VISION 视力

“Dark and tempestuous was night. Around the throne 王座 on high not a single star quivered 颤动; but the deep into‧nation 腔调 of the heavy thunder 雷声 constantly 总是；经常地，不断地 vibrated 颤动 upon the ear; whilst 同时 the terrific 了不起 lightning 闪电 revelled 陶醉 in angry mood 心境 through the cloudy 多云的 chambers 室 of heaven 天, seeming to scorn 鄙视 the power exerted 发挥 over its terror 恐怖 by the illustrious Franklin! Even the boisterous winds unanimously 一致 came forth from their mystic homes, and blustered about as if to enhance 提高 by their aid 援助 the wildness of the scene.

“At such a time, so dark, so dreary 凄凉, for human sympathy my very spirit sighed 叹; but instead thereof 其,

“‘My dearest friend, my counsellor, my comforter and guide—My joy 喜悦 in grief 哀思, my second bliss 福 in joy,’ came to my side. She moved like one of those bright beings 蜜蜂 pictured in the sunny 晴朗 walks of fancy 想像’s Eden by the romantic 浪漫 and young, a queen 女王 of beauty unadorned save by her own transcendent loveliness. So soft was her step, it failed to make even a sound, and but for the magical 神奇 thrill 颤抖 imparted 传授 by her genial touch, as other unobtrusive beauties, she would have glided 滑行 away unperceived—unsought. A strange sadness 悲 rested upon her features 特征, like icy 冷冰冰 tears upon the robe 长袍 of December, as she pointed to the con‧tend 抗衡 elements 元件 without, and bade me contemplate 沉思 the two beings 蜜蜂 presented.”

This night‧mare 恶梦 occupied 占据 some ten 十 pages of manuscript 手稿 and wound 创伤 up with a sermon 讲道 so destructive 破坏性的 of all hope to non 非-Presbyterians that it took the first prize 奖赏. This composition 作文；构图 was considered to be the very finest effort of the evening. The mayor 市长 of the village, in delivering the prize to the author 作者 of it, made a warm speech in which he said that it was by far the most “eloquent 雄辩” thing he had ever listened to, and that Daniel Webster himself might well be proud of it.

It may be remarked, in passing, that the number of compositions in which the word “beauteous” was over-fondled, and human experience referred to as “life’s page,” was up to the usual average.

Now the master, mellow 醇厚 almost to the verge 边缘 of geniality, put his chair aside, turned his back to the audience, and began to draw a map 地图 of America on the black‧board 黑色‧板，上船, to exercise the geography 地理 class upon. But he made a sad business of it with his unsteady hand, and a smothered 扼杀 titter rippled 波纹 over the house. He knew what the matter was, and set himself to right it. He sponged 海绵 out lines and remade them; but he only distorted 歪曲 them more than ever, and the tittering was more pronounced 发音. He threw his entire attention upon his work, now, as if determined not to be put down by the mirth. He felt that all eyes were fastened 系牢 upon him; he imagined he was succeeding, and yet the tittering continued; it even manifestly 表现 increased. And well it might. There was a garret above, pierced 刺穿 with a scuttle over his head; and down through this scuttle came a cat, suspended 暂停 around the haunches by a string 绳子; she had a rag 抹布 tied about her head and jaws 下巴 to keep her from mewing; as she slowly descended 下来 she curved upward 向上 and clawed 爪 at the string, she swung swing down‧ward 向下 and clawed 爪 at the intangible 无形 air. The tittering rose higher and higher—the cat was within six inches of the absorbed 吸收 teacher’s head—down, down, a little lower, and she grabbed 用手抓 his wig 假发 with her desperate 殊死 claws 爪, clung to it, and was snatched 抢夺 up into the garret in an instant with her trophy 杯 still in her possession 所有物! And how the light did blaze 火焰 abroad 到国外 from the master’s bald 秃 pate—for the sign‧painter 符号‧画家’s boy had gilded 镀金 it!

That broke up the meeting. The boys were avenged. Vacation had come.

NOTE:—The pretended “compositions” quoted 引用 in this chapter 章节 are taken without alteration 改造 from a volume 卷 entitled “Prose and Poetry 诗歌, by a Western Lady”—but they are exactly and precisely 精确地 after the school‧girl 学校‧女孩 pattern, and hence 因此 are much happier than any mere imitations 模仿 could be.

CHAPTER XXII

TOM joined the new order of Cadets of Temperance, being attracted 吸引 by the showy character of their “regalia.” He promised to abstain from smoking, chewing 嚼, and profanity as long as he remained a member. Now he found out a new thing—namely, that to promise not to do a thing is the surest way in the world to make a body want to go and do that very thing. Tom soon found himself tormented 折磨 with a desire to drink and swear 发誓; the desire grew to be so intense 强烈的，极度的 that nothing but the hope of a chance to display 显示 himself in his red sash kept him from with‧draw 撤回 from the order. Fourth of July was coming; but he soon gave that up—gave it up before he had worn his shackles over forty 四十-eight 八 hours—and fixed his hopes upon old Judge Frazer, justice of the peace, who was apparently 据…所知；看来；据说；听说 on his death‧bed 死亡‧床 and would have a big public funeral, since he was so high an official. During three days Tom was deeply concerned about the Judge’s condition and hungry 饥饿 for news of it. Sometimes his hopes ran high—so high that he would venture 企业；投机活动；商业冒险 to get out his regalia and practise before the looking-glass. But the Judge had a most discouraging 不鼓励 way of fluctuating 波动. At last he was pronounced upon the mend 修理—and then convalescent. Tom was disgusted 反感; and felt a sense of injury 伤, too. He handed in his resignation 辞职 at once—and that night the Judge suffered a relapse 复发 and died. Tom resolved 解决 that he would never trust a man like that again.

The funeral was a fine thing. The Cadets paraded 游行 in a style 样式 calculated 计算 to kill the late member with envy 嫉妒. Tom was a free boy again, however—there was something in that. He could drink and swear 发誓, now—but found to his surprise that he did not want to. The simple fact that he could, took the desire away, and the charm 魔力；使陶醉 of it.

Tom presently wondered to find that his coveted 贪图 vacation 假期 was beginning to hang a little heavily 很大，沉重地 on his hands.

He attempted a diary 日记—but nothing happened during three days, and so he abandoned 放弃 it.

The first of all the negro minstrel shows came to town, and made a sensation 感觉. Tom and Joe Harper got up a band of per‧former 演员 and were happy for two days.

Even the Glorious Fourth was in some sense a failure, for it rained hard, there was no procession 队伍 in consequence 后果, and the greatest man in the world (as Tom supposed), Mr. Benton, an actual United States Senator, proved an overwhelming 压倒 disappointment 失望—for he was not twenty 二十-five feet high, nor even any‧where 任何地方 in the neighborhood of it.

A circus 马戏团 came. The boys played circus 马戏团 for three days after‧ward 之后 in tents 帐篷 made of rag 抹布 carpeting 地毯— admission 准许进入, three pins 钉 for boys, two for girls—and then circusing 马戏团 was abandoned 放弃.

A phrenologist and a mesmerizer came—and went again and left the village duller 钝的；没兴趣 and drearier 凄凉 than ever.

There were some boys-and-girls’ parties, but they were so few and so delightful 愉快 that they only made the aching 疼痛 voids 空虚 between ache 疼痛 the harder.

Becky Thatcher was gone to her Constantinople home to stay with her parents during vacation 假期—so there was no bright side to life any‧where 任何地方.

The dreadful 可怕 secret of the murder was a chronic 慢性 misery 痛苦. It was a very cancer 癌症 for permanency and pain.

Then came the measles.

During two long weeks Tom lay a prisoner 犯人，囚犯, dead to the world and its happenings. He was very ill 生病, he was interested in nothing. When he got upon his feet at last and moved feebly 微弱 down‧town 市中心, a melancholy 愁绪 change had come over everything and every creature 动物；生物. There had been a “revival 复兴,” and everybody had “got religion,” not only the adults 成人, but even the boys and girls. Tom went about, hoping against hope for the sight of one blessed sinful face, but disappointment 失望 crossed him every‧where 到处. He found Joe Harper studying a Testament, and turned sadly 悲哀的 away from the depressing 压抑 spectacle 场面；眼镜. He sought Ben Rogers, and found him visiting the poor with a basket 篮 of tracts 管道. He hunted up Jim Hollis, who called his attention to the precious 宝贵的 blessing 祝福 of his late measles as a warning. Every boy he encountered 遭遇 added another ton 吨 to his depression 忧闷，压抑，不快乐; and when, in desperation 绝望, he flew fly for refuge 避难所 at last to the bosom of Huckleberry Finn and was received with a Scriptural quotation 行情, his heart broke and he crept home and to bed realizing that he alone of all the town was lost, for‧ever 永远 and for‧ever 永远.

And that night there came on a terrific 了不起 storm 暴风雨, with driving rain, awful 糟糕的 claps 拍 of thunder 雷声 and blinding sheets of lightning 闪电. He covered his head with the bed‧clothes 床‧衣服，衣物 and waited in a horror 恐怖 of suspense 悬念 for his doom 厄运; for he had not the shadow of a doubt that all this hubbub was about him. He believed he had taxed the forbearance of the powers above to the extremity of endurance 耐力 and that this was the result. It might have seemed to him a waste of pomp and ammunition 弹药 to kill a bug 虫；窃听器 with a battery 电池 of artillery 炮兵, but there seemed nothing incongruous about the getting up such an expensive 昂贵的 thunder‧storm 雷雨 as this to knock 敲 the turf 草皮 from under an insect 虫 like himself.

By and by the tempest 温度 spent itself 本身 and died without accomplishing 完成；实现；达到；做到 its object. The boy’s first impulse 冲动 was to be grateful 感激的, and reform 改革. His second was to wait—for there might not be any more storms 暴风雨.

The next day the doctors were back; Tom had relapsed 复发. The three weeks he spent on his back this time seemed an entire age. When he got abroad at last he was hardly grateful that he had been spared 节省；多余的；备用件, remembering how lonely 孤独的 was his estate 房地产, how companion‧less 同伴‧少 and forlorn he was. He drifted 漂移 listlessly down the street and found Jim Hollis acting as judge in a juvenile 少年 court that was trying a cat for murder, in the presence of her victim 受害者, a bird. He found Joe Harper and Huck Finn up an alley 胡同 eating a stolen melon 瓜. Poor lads 小伙子! they—like Tom—had suffered a relapse 复发.

CHAPTER XXIII

AT last the sleepy 困 atmosphere 大气层 was stirred 搅动—and vigorously 大力: the murder trial came on in the court. It became the absorbing 吸收 topic 话题 of village talk immediately. Tom could not get away from it. Every reference to the murder sent send a shudder 不寒而栗 to his heart, for his troubled conscience 良心 and fears almost persuaded 说服 him that these remarks were put forth in his hearing as “feelers”; he did not see how he could be suspected of knowing anything about the murder, but still he could not be comfort‧able 舒服；自在 in the midst 中间 of this gossip 八卦. It kept him in a cold shiver 发抖 all the time. He took Huck to a lonely 孤独的 place to have a talk with him. It would be some relief to unseal his tongue 舌头 for a little while; to divide his burden 负荷，重负 of distress 苦难 with another sufferer. Moreover, he wanted to assure 向…保证；肯定地说 himself that Huck had remained discreet 慎重.

“Huck, have you ever told any‧body 任何人 about—that?”

“‘Bout what?”

“You know what.”

“Oh—‘course I haven’t.”

“Never a word?”

“Never a solitary 孤 word, so help me. What makes you ask?”

“Well, I was afeard.”

“Why, Tom Sawyer, we wouldn’t be alive two days if that got found out. You know that.”

Tom felt more comfort‧able 舒服；自在. After a pause:

“Huck, they couldn’t anybody get you to tell, could they?”

“Get me to tell? Why, if I wanted that half‧breed 一半的‧养育；繁殖 devil 魔鬼 to drownd 淹死 me they could get me to tell. They ain’t no different way.”

“Well, that’s all right, then. I reckon 估计 we’re safe as long as we keep mum 沉默. But let’s swear 发誓 again, anyway 无论如何. It’s more surer.”

“I’m agreed.”

So they swore again with dread 恐惧 solemnities.

“What is the talk around, Huck? I’ve heard a power of it.”

“Talk? Well, it’s just Muff Potter, Muff Potter, Muff Potter all the time. It keeps me in a sweat 流汗, constant 不变, so’s I want to hide som’ers.”

“That’s just the same way they go on round me. I reckon 估计 he’s a goner. Don’t you feel sorry for him, sometimes?”

“Most always—most always. He ain’t no account; but then he hain’t ever done anything to hurt 损害 anybody. Just fishes a little, to get money to get drunk drink on—and loafs 面包条 around consider‧able 大量; but lord, we all do that—leastways most of us—preachers 牧师 and such like. But he’s kind of good—he give me half a fish, once, when there warn’t enough for two; and lots of times he’s kind of stood by me when I was out of luck.”

“Well, he’s mended 修理 kites 风筝 for me, Huck, and knitted 针织 hooks 钩 on to my line. I wish we could get him out of there.”

“My! we couldn’t get him out, Tom. And besides, ‘twouldn’t do any good; they’d ketch him again.”

“Yes—so they would. But I hate to hear ‘em abuse 滥用 him so like the dickens when he never done—that.”

“I do too, Tom. Lord, I hear ‘em say he’s the bloodiest looking villain 恶棍 in this country, and they wonder he wasn’t ever hung before.”

“Yes, they talk like that, all the time. I’ve heard ‘em say that if he was to get free they’d lynch him.”

“And they’d do it, too.”

The boys had a long talk, but it brought them little comfort. As the twilight 暮 drew on, they found themselves hanging about the neighborhood of the little isolated 隔离；孤立；分离 jail 监狱, perhaps with an undefined hope that something would happen that might clear away their difficulties. But nothing happened; there seemed to be no angels 天使 or fairies 仙女 interested in this luck‧less 运气‧少 captive 俘虏.

The boys did as they had often done before—went to the cell 细胞 grating 炉排 and gave Potter some tobacco 烟草 and matches. He was on the ground grind floor and there were no guards.

His gratitude 感谢 for their gifts 赠品 had always smote their consciences 良心 before—it cut deeper than ever, this time. They felt cowardly and treacherous 奸诈 to the last degree when Potter said:

“You’ve been mighty 威武 good to me, boys—better’n anybody else in this town. And I don’t forget it, I don’t. Often I says to myself 我, says I, ‘I used to mend 修理 all the boys’ kites 风筝 and things, and show ‘em where the good fishin’ places was, and befriend ‘em what I could, and now they’ve all forgot old Muff when he’s in trouble; but Tom don’t, and Huck don’t—they don’t forget him, says I, ‘and I don’t forget them.’ Well, boys, I done an awful 糟糕的 thing—drunk and crazy 荒唐的 at the time—that’s the only way I account for it—and now I got to swing for it, and it’s right. Right, and best, too, I reckon 估计—hope so, anyway. Well, we won’t talk about that. I don’t want to make you feel bad; you’ve befriended me. But what I want to say, is, don’t you ever get drunk—then you won’t ever get here. Stand a litter 窝 furder west—so—that’s it; it’s a prime 主要 comfort to see faces that’s friendly when a body’s in such a muck 粪肥 of trouble, and there don’t none come here but yourn. Good friendly faces—good friendly faces. Git up on one another’s backs and let me touch ‘em. That’s it. Shake hands—yourn’ll come through the bars, but mine’s too big. Little hands, and weak—but they’ve helped Muff Potter a power, and they’d help him more if they could.”

Tom went home miserable 悲惨的, and his dreams that night were full of horrors 恐怖. The next day and the day after, he hung about the court‧room 法庭, drawn draw by an almost irresistible 不可抗拒 impulse 冲动 to go in, but forcing himself to stay out. Huck was having the same experience. They studiously avoided each other. Each wandered away, from time to time, but the same dismal 惨淡 fascination 魅力 always brought them back presently. Tom kept his ears open when idlers sauntered out of the court‧room 法庭, but invariably 不变地 heard distressing 苦难 news—the toils 辛劳 were closing more and more relentlessly 无情 around poor Potter. At the end of the second day the village talk was to the effect that Injun Joe’s evidence 证据 stood firm and unshaken, and that there was not the slightest question as to what the jury 陪审团’s verdict 判决书 would be.

Tom was out late, that night, and came to bed through the window. He was in a tremendous 巨大 state of excitement 激动. It was hours before he got to sleep. All the village flocked 群 to the court‧house 法院 the next morning, for this was to be the great day. Both sexes 性别 were about equally represented in the packed audience. After a long wait the jury 陪审团 filed 文件 in and took their places; shortly after‧ward 之后, Potter, pale and haggard, timid 胆小 and hope‧less 绝望, was brought in, with chains upon him, and seated where all the curious eyes could stare at him; no less conspicuous 显着 was Injun Joe, stolid as ever. There was another pause, and then the judge arrived and the sheriff 郡治安官 pro‧claim 宣布 the opening of the court. The usual whisperings 低声说 among the lawyers and gathering together of papers followed. These details and accompanying 陪 delays 延迟 worked up an atmosphere 大气层 of preparation 制备 that was as impressive 有声有色 as it was fascinating 深深吸引；迷住.

Now a witness was called who testified 作证 that he found Muff Potter washing in the brook 溪, at an early hour of the morning that the murder was discovered, and that he immediately sneaked 潜行 away. After some further questioning, counsel 法律顾问 for the prosecution 检察官 said:

“Take the witness.”

The prisoner 犯人，囚犯 raised his eyes for a moment, but dropped them again when his own counsel 法律顾问 said:

“I have no questions to ask him.”

The next witness proved the finding of the knife near the corpse 尸体. Counsel 法律顾问 for the prosecution 检察官 said:

“Take the witness.”

“I have no questions to ask him,” Potter’s lawyer replied.

A third witness swore he had often seen the knife in Potter’s possession 所有物.

“Take the witness.”

Counsel 法律顾问 for Potter declined 下降 to question him. The faces of the audience began to betray 背叛 annoyance 恼怒. Did this attorney 律师 mean to throw away his client 客户’s life without an effort?

Several witnesses deposed 免职 concerning Potter’s guilty 有罪的；内疚的 behavior when brought to the scene of the murder. They were allowed to leave the stand without being cross-questioned.

Every detail of the damaging 损害 circumstances 环境 that occurred 发生 in the grave‧yard 墓地 upon that morning which all present remembered so well was brought out by credible 可信的 witnesses, but none of them were cross-examined by Potter’s lawyer. The perplexity and dissatisfaction 不满 of the house expressed itself 本身 in murmurs 私语 and provoked 惹 a rep‧roof 代表‧屋顶 from the bench 长凳. Counsel 法律顾问 for the prosecution 检察官 now said:

“By the oaths 誓言 of citizens whose 谁的 simple word is above suspicion 怀疑, we have fastened this awful 4 crime 罪行, beyond all possibility 可能性 of question, upon the unhappy 不快乐 prisoner 犯人，囚犯 at the bar. We rest our case here.”

A groan 呻吟 escaped from poor Potter, and he put his face in his hands and rocked his body softly to and fro 来来往往, while a painful 痛苦 silence reigned 统治 in the court‧room 法庭. Many men were moved, and many women’s compassion 同情 testified 作证 itself 本身 in tears. Counsel 法律顾问 for the defence rose and said:

“Your honor, in our remarks at the opening of this trial, we foreshadowed our purpose to prove that our client 客户 did this fearful 可怕 deed 行为 while under the influence of a blind and irresponsible 不负责任 delirium produced by drink. We have changed our mind. We shall not offer that plea 恳求.” [Then to the clerk 店员:] “Call Thomas Sawyer!”

A puzzled 使迷惑 amazement 惊愕 awoke 醒着的:awake in every face in the house, not even excepting Potter’s. Every eye fastened itself 本身 with wondering interest upon Tom as he rose and took his place upon the stand. The boy looked wild enough, for he was badly 很糟地 scared. The oath 誓言 was administered 管理.

“Thomas Sawyer, where were you on the seventeenth of June, about the hour of mid‧night 午夜?”

Tom glanced 一瞥 at Injun Joe’s iron 铁器 face and his tongue 舌头 failed him. The audience listened breath‧less 咋舌, but the words refused to come. After a few moments, however, the boy got a little of his strength back, and managed to put enough of it into his voice to make part of the house hear:

“In the grave‧yard 墓地!”

“A little bit 一点 louder 响亮的, please. Don’t be afraid. You were—”

“In the grave‧yard 墓地.”

A contemptuous smile flitted across Injun Joe’s face.

“Were you any‧where 任何地方 near Horse Williams’ grave 坟墓；严重的?”

“Yes, sir 先生.”

“Speak up—just a trifle 琐事 louder. How near were you?”

“Near as I am to you.”

“Were you hidden hide, or not?”

“I was hid hide.”

“Where?”

“Behind the elms that’s on the edge of the grave.”

Injun Joe gave a barely 光秃秃的 perceptible start.

“Any one with you?”

“Yes, sir. I went there with—”

“Wait—wait a moment. Never mind mentioning your companion 同伴’s name. We will produce him at the proper time. Did you carry anything there with you.”

Tom hesitated 犹豫 and looked confused 使困窘.

“Speak out, my boy—don’t be diffident. The truth is always respect‧able 可敬. What did you take there?”

“Only a—a—dead cat.”

There was a ripple 波纹 of mirth, which the court checked.

“We will produce the skeleton 骨架 of that cat. Now, my boy, tell us everything that occurred 发生—tell it in your own way—don’t skip 跳跃 anything, and don’t be afraid.”

Tom began—hesitatingly at first, but as he warmed to his subject his words flowed more and more easily; in a little while every sound ceased 停止 but his own voice; every eye fixed itself 本身 upon him; with parted lips and bated 蝙蝠 breath the audience hung upon his words, taking no note of time, rapt in the ghastly 阴森 fascinations 魅力 of the tale 故事，不实之词. The strain 压力 upon pent emotion 情感 reached its climax 高潮 when the boy said:

“—and as the doctor fetched 取 the board around and Muff Potter fell, Injun Joe jumped with the knife and—”

Crash 碰撞! Quick as lightning 闪电 the half‧breed 一半的‧养育；繁殖 sprang for a window, tore his way through all opposers, and was gone!

CHAPTER XXIV

TOM was a glittering 闪光 hero 英雄 once more—the pet 宠物 of the old, the envy 嫉妒 of the young. His name even went into immortal 不朽 print, for the village paper magnified 放大 him. There were some that believed he would be President, yet, if he escaped hanging.

As usual, the fickle, unreasoning world took Muff Potter to its bosom and fondled him as lavishly 阔气 as it had abused 滥用 him before. But that sort of conduct 进行 is to the world’s credit 信用; therefore it is not well to find fault 缺点 with it.

Tom’s days were days of splendor 辉 and exultation to him, but his nights were seasons of horror 恐怖. Injun Joe infested all his dreams, and always with doom 厄运 in his eye. Hardly any temptation 诱惑 could persuade 说服 the boy to stir 搅动 abroad after night‧fall 夜‧落下. Poor Huck was in the same state of wretchedness and terror 恐怖, for Tom had told the whole story to the lawyer the night before the great day of the trial, and Huck was sore 疼痛的 afraid that his share in the business might leak 泄漏 out, yet, notwithstanding 虽然 Injun Joe’s flight 飞行 had saved him the suffering of testifying 作证 in court. The poor fellow had got the attorney 律师 to promise secrecy 保密, but what of that? Since Tom’s harassed 骚扰 conscience 3 had managed to drive him to the lawyer’s house by night and wring 拧 a dread 恐惧 tale 故事，不实之词 from lips that had been sealed 封上，海豹 with the dismalest 惨淡 and most formidable 强大 of oaths 誓言, Huck’s confidence 信心 in the human race was wellnigh obliterated 泯.

Daily Muff Potter’s gratitude 感谢 made Tom glad he had spoken speak; but nightly he wished he had sealed up his tongue 3.

Half the time Tom was afraid Injun Joe would never be captured 捕获; the other half he was afraid he would be. He felt sure he never could draw a safe breath again until that man was dead and he had seen the corpse 尸体.

Rewards had been offered, the country had been scoured 冲刷, but no Injun Joe was found. One of those omniscient and aweinspiring marvels 奇迹, a detective 侦探, came up from St. Louis, moused 老鼠 around, shook his head, looked wise 明智的；聪明的, and made that sort of astounding 惊奇 success which members of that craft 手艺 usually achieve 实现. That is to say, he “found a clew.” But you can’t hang a “clew” for murder, and so after that detective 侦探 had got through and gone home, Tom felt just as insecure 不安全 as he was before.

The slow days drifted 漂移 on, and each left behind it a slightly lightened 变轻 weight of apprehension 顾虑.