顽童流浪记1

My name is Huckleberry Finn, but it is too long, so everybody calls me Huck. Have you ever read a book called The Adventures of Tom Sawyer? It is a story about Tom Sawyer and me. Tom is my best friend.

　　This is the story: Tom and I found the money that some robbers hid in a cave and it made us rich. Each of us got six thousand dollars. When Judge Thatcher learned this, he said, "I'll keep the money for you. I'll give you one dollar every day. It is not good for young boys to have lots of money."

　　Widow Douglas took me as her son. She said, "Huck, stay with me. Your father has gone somewhere. I'll take good care of you and make you a good boy." So I decided to stay with her. She was very kind, but I didn't feel comfortable there because her sister Miss Watson lived with us. She always tried to teach me reading and writing. I didn't like to study so much at home.

　　One day, after supper, I went up to my room with a piece of candle and put it on the table. Then I sat down in the chair by the window. I tried to think of something cheerful, but it was no use. I felt so lonesome that I wanted to die. The stars were shining in the sky, and the leaves rustled in the woods. Then I thought I heard a "Me-yow! me-yow!" in the distance. A cat was coming closer and closer. When it came to our house, it stopped. That was good. Now I said, "Me-yow! me-yow!" Then I put out the light and scrambled out of the window, and slipped down onto the ground.

　　There I found Tom Sawyer in the dark. We went along a path among the trees. We were very careful not to make a noise. I followed Tom till we got to the edge of the hilltop. There we could see the whole village with three or four lights twinkling, and the Mississippi River.

　　We went down the hill and saw Jo, Rogers, and two or three more boys.

　　After Tom made everybody swear to keep it a secret, he showed them a hole in the hill in the thickest part of the bushes. Then we lit the candles and crawled in on our hands and knees. We went about two hundred yards and there the cave opened up. Then we went along a narrow place and got into a room which was damp and cold.

　　When we stopped there, Tom said, "Now, we'll form this band of robbers and call it Tom Sawyer's Gang." "What do we do?" said one of the boys.

　　"Only robbery and murder," Tom answered.

　　Little Tommy was asleep now, and when the boys woke him up, he was scared. He cried,and said, "I want to go home to Mammy. I don't want to be a robber any more." So they all made fun of him and called him cry-baby. That made him mad and he said, "I will go home and tell everyone about the secret."

　　But Tom gave him five cents to keep him quiet. He said, "All of us will go home and meet next week. Then we'll rob somebody and kill some people."

　　Ben said the only days he could go out were Sundays. But other boys said it was not right to do something wrong on Sundays. So they agreed to get together and fix a day as soon as possible.

　　Then we elected Tom Sawyer first captain of the gang and we all went home. When I got into my room through the window, the sun was already beginning to rise.

　　My daddy had gone somewhere. I had not seen him for more than a year. That was fine with me. I didn't want to see him any more because he often hit me when he had no money to buy whiskey.

　　We played robbers now and then for a month and then I resigned. All the boys did, too. We robbed nobody, and we killed nobody, either.

　　Three or four months passed, and winter came. I went to school every day. I could spell and write a little now and could say the multiplication table up to six times seven is thirty-five. At first I hated school, but by and by I was able to stand it. I got used to the widow's ways, too.

　　One day I went to the front garden. There was an inch of snow on the ground. I found somebody's tracks there. They were my daddy's, I thought. When I lit my candle and went up to my room that night, there sat Daddy. I shut the door. He looked very old. His hair was long and his clothes were just rags. There was no color in his face. He looked like a sick man.

　　He said, "You seem to be very happy and rich. They say you have six thousand dollars. I came here to get some money from you. Give me that money tomorrow. I have no money and I'm very poor."

　　"Judge Thatcher has got it. I don't have any money with me now," I said. But when he knew I had one dollar, he took it and said he was going downtown to get some whiskey.

　　The next day he was drunk and went to Judge Thatcher's and tried to make him give upthe money, but he couldn't. Then he came to me again and told me not to go to school. He didn't think I needed to learn how to read and write. So when he saw me going to school, he always hit me.

　　One day he came to the widow's house where I lived. He took me up the river about three miles in a boat. We crossed over to the Illinois shore, where there was an old cabin. He kept me with him all the time, so I never had a chance to run off. We lived in that old cabin and he always locked the door, and put the key under his head every night. He had a gun which he had stolen. He went hunting wild animals with it. I fished in the Mississippi. Wild animals and fish were all we got for our meals. Almost every other day he locked me in and went to town. He traded game and fish for whiskey, and brought it home and got drunk.

　　I didn't go to school for a month. At first I wanted to go back to school because I was beginning to enjoy studying. But by and by I got lazy. Then I thought it comfortable to lie or fish every day instead of studying.

　　我叫哈克贝利‧芬，但这个名字太长了，所以大家都叫我哈克。你看过《汤姆历险记》这本书吗？那是一本叙述汤姆‧苏儿和我的故事书。汤姆是我的挚友。
　　故事是这样的：汤姆和我发现盗贼藏在一个洞穴中的一笔钱，于是我们发了财。我和汤姆每人得到六千元。撒切尔法官知道这件事时，便说：『我来替你们保管这些钱。我每天给你们一块钱。小孩子钱太多并不是好事。』

　　道格拉斯寡妇把我当自己儿子看待。她说：『哈克，留在我身边吧。你父亲已不知去向。我会好好照顾你，把你教养成一个好男孩。』于是我决定留在她身边。道格拉斯太太非常和蔼，但她妹妹华森小姐和我们同住，使我很不自在。华森小姐总想要教我读书写字。而我不怎么喜欢在家读那么多书。
　　有一天，晚餐后，我手拿一根蜡烛上楼到我房间把它放在桌上，然后坐在窗边的椅子上。我设法去想些开心的事情，但并没有用。我心中感觉寂寞得要死。天际繁星闪烁，林中树叶飒飒作响。接着我好象听到远处有『喵！喵！』的叫声。一只猫愈来愈近。它来到屋前便停了下来。太好了。现在我也学猫叫，『喵！喵！』！我吹熄蜡烛，爬出窗外，滑落到地上。

　　黑暗中我发现了汤姆‧苏儿。我俩在树林中沿着一条小径走去。我们小心翼翼以免发出任何声音。我跟随着汤姆，一直走到山顶的边缘。在那里，我们可以看到整座村庄，只有三、四盏闪烁的灯光，也可以看到密西西比河。

　　我们走下山坡，看到了乔，罗杰斯和另外两、三个男孩。

　　汤姆要大家都发誓保守秘密后，他便带大伙到浓密的矮树丛中去看一个山洞。然后我们点着蜡烛，膝手着地爬着进去。我们爬了约两百码后，那山洞开始宽敞起来。我们就沿着一条狭窄的信道进入了一个潮湿阴冷的房间。
　　当大伙停下脚步时，汤姆便说：『现在我们结盟为一帮强盗，名字是汤姆‧苏儿帮。』其中一个男孩问：『我们要做什么呢？』

　　汤姆回答说：『只是抢劫和谋杀而已。』

　　此刻，小汤米睡着了，当他们把他叫醒时，他非常惧怕。他哭叫着说：『我要回家去找妈咪，我不想再作强盗了。』于是大伙都取笑他，说他是个爱哭鬼。这一来可把小汤米惹火了，便说：『我要回家去把这个秘密告诉所有的人。』
　　汤姆给他五分钱封住他的口。汤姆说：『我们大伙现在打道回府，下周再集合。我们要找个家伙行抢，然后杀几个人。』

　　班说他只有星期天才能外出。其它男孩则说在星期天做坏事是不对的。于是大伙决议尽快碰头把日子确定。

　　我们在推选汤姆为第一任帮派头目后就各自回家去了。当我从窗户爬进房间时，太阳已开始升起了。
　　爹地不知去了哪里。我已有一年多没见到他了。这对我来说也无所谓。他缺钱买酒时常常打我，因此我根本不想再看到他。

　　我们偶而扮扮强盗达一个月之久，然后我就退出了。其它人也退出了。我们并没有抢夺或杀死任何人。
　　又过了三、四个月，冬天来临了。我每天上学。我现在已会一点拼写，也学会背诵九九表到六乘七等于卅五了。起初，我讨厌上学，但不久后也就能忍受了。同时，我也习惯了道格拉斯太太的生活方式。

　　有一天，我到前花园去。地上积着一英寸厚的白雪。我发现雪上有脚印。我猜想那是我爹地的脚印。那天晚上，我点燃蜡烛进到房间时，爹地正坐在那儿。我关上门。他看起来很苍老。他的头发很长，衣衫褴褛，面无血色，看来像个生病的人。
　　他说：『孩子你看来过得很快乐也很富裕。听人说你有六千块钱。我来这里是跟你拿点钱的。你明天就把那笔钱给我好了。我身无分文，穷得很。』

　　我说：『钱都在撒切尔法官那里，我现在身上没有钱。』但当他发现我尚有一块钱时，他就抢走了，并说他要到城里喝点威士忌酒。
　　第二天他醉醺醺地去找撒切尔法官，企图迫使他交出那笔钱，但无功而返。然后他又来找我，叫我不要再去上学。他认为我没有必要学习读书写字。所以每当他看到我去上学时，就打我。

　　有一天，他来到我住的寡妇家，然后带我上船逆流划行了三英里。我们越过河流到对面伊利诺州河岸，那里有间老旧的小木屋。他一直把我留在他身边，所以我根本没有机会逃走。我们住在老旧的小木屋内，每晚他总是把门锁上，把钥匙放在他头下。他有一把偷来的枪，用来猎杀野生动物。我则在密西西比河中垂钓。我们每天吃的就是野生动物和鱼类。几乎每两天，他就把我锁在屋内，独自一人进城。他用猎物及鱼类换取威士忌酒带回家来，然后喝个酩酊大醉。

　　我有一个月没有上学。起初我很想再回到学校去，因为我已开始喜欢读书，但不久之后我又变得懒散了。现在我觉得每天躺下来或钓钓鱼而不必读书倒是挺舒服的。