Chapter 3 Where is Silas’s gold?(1)
第三章塞拉斯的金子哪兒去了?(一)
When Dunstan Cass left the cottage, Silas Marner was only a hundred metres away. He was walking home from the village, where he had gone to buy what he needed for his next day's work. His legs were tired, but he felt almost happy. He was looking forward to supper-time, when he would bring out his gold. Tonight he had an extra reason to hurry home. He was going to eat hot meat, which was unusual for him. And it would cost him nothing, because someone had given him a piece of meat as a present. He had left it cooking over the fire. The door key was needed to hold it safely in place, but Silas was not at all worried about leaving his gold in the cottage with the door unlocked. He could not imagine that a thief would find his way through the mist, rain and darkness to the little cottage by the quarry.
鄧斯坦·凱斯跑出小屋時，塞拉斯·馬南僅隔着一百米遠。他正從村子裏走回家，他到那去買第二天工作要用的東西。他雙腿疲累，但人卻很高興。正想着晚餐時，他就能把金子拿出來瞧瞧。今晚他還有別的理由要快點回家。他今晚要喫肉，一般都沒肉喫的。肉沒花他一分錢，因爲有人送了他一塊肉當禮物。他把它掛在爐火上烤。門鑰匙需要鎖在門上的，但塞拉斯絲毫不擔心將他的金子關在沒上鎖的小屋裏。他想不出來在一片濃霧、大雨中，伸手不見五指，一個小偷能從採石場找到去小屋的路。
When he reached his cottage and opened the door, he did not notice that anything was different. He threw off his wet coat, and pushed the meat closer to the fire. As soon as he was warm again, he began to think about his gold. It seemed a long time to wait until after supper, when he usually brought out the coins to look at. So he decided to bring out his gold immediately, while the meat was still cooking.
回到小屋，推開門，他沒有注意到有什麼地方不一樣。他脫下溼大衣，把肉往火上推了推。他一暖和起來，就想到他的金子。他想要看金子，似乎等喫完晚飯都太久了。所以他想趁着肉還在煮，立馬把他的金子拿出來。
But when he took up the floorboards near the loom, and saw the empty hole, he did not understand at once. His heart beat violently as his trembling hands felt all round the hole. There was nothing there! He put his hands to his head and tried to think. Had he put his gold in a different place, and forgotten about it? He searched every corner of his small cottage, until he could not pretend to himself any more. He had to accept the truth- his gold had been stolen!
但拉起織布機附近的地板後，看到地上空空的，他一下子沒反應過來。他雙手正摸着那塊空地方忍不住發抖，心跳地厲害。那裏什麼都沒有！他用手抱住頭，拼命想。他把金子放在別的地方，不記得了嗎？他翻遍小屋的每一個角落，直到自己都沒法騙自己了。他不得不承認——他的金子被偷了！
He gave a wild, desperate scream, and stood still for a moment. Then he turned towards his loom, and almost fell into the seat where he always worked. He touched the loom to make sure it too, had not been stolen. Now he was beginning to think more clearly. ‘A thief has been here! If I can find him. he'll have to give back my gold! But I was only away for a short time, and here's no sign of anyone entering the cottage.’ He wondered whether it was really a thief who had taken his money, or whether it was the same cruel God who had already destroyed his happiness once. But Silas preferred to suspect a thief, who would perhaps return the money. He began to think it must be Jem Rodney, a local poacher, who had known about Silas's money, and who sometimes visited the cottage. Silas felt stronger now that he thought he knew the thief. ‘I must go and tell the Squire, and the police!' he said to himself. ‘They’ll make Jem give me back the money!’ So he hurried out in the rain without a coat, and ran towards the Rainbow.
他發出一陣狂燥、絕望的尖叫，愣了一會。他看向織布機，幾乎跌坐到他工作的椅子上。他摸了摸織布機，確定它沒被偷。現在他才冷靜地想。“小偷來過這！如果我能把他找出來。他就得把我的金子還我！但我只離開了一會會，也沒有任何人進過小屋的跡象。”他想是真有小偷偷了他的錢，還是那個毀了他幸福的殘忍的上帝的手筆？但塞拉斯更願意是小偷偷了他的錢，他可能會把錢還回來。他想，一定是傑姆·羅德尼(Jem Rodney)偷了他的錢，當地的一位扒手，他知道塞拉斯有錢，有時還光顧小屋。現在塞拉斯覺得他認識那個小偷的感覺更強烈了。“我得去告訴鄉紳和警察！”他兀自說。“他們會讓傑姆把錢還我！”於是，他外套都沒來得及穿，就急急忙忙衝到了雨中，朝彩虹酒館去了。
He thought he would find the most important people in Raveloe at the public house, but in fact most of them were at Mrs Osgood's birthday dance. There were, however, five villagers at the Rainbow, enjoying an interesting conversation about ghosts, while drinking their beer.
他想他會在酒館找到拉弗爾最重要的人，但實際上他們大多數人都在奧斯古德夫人的生日舞會上。然而，彩虹酒館有五個村民，正在一邊喝啤酒一邊聊鬼故事。
‘I tell you, people have seen ghosts,’ the butcher said. ‘And I'll tell you where, too. Behind the church!'
“我跟你說，有人看見過鬼，”屠夫說。“我告訴你在哪見的。就在教堂後面！”
‘That' s right,’ agreed old Mr Macey. ‘You young ones aren’t old enough to remember, but people have seen ghosts near the church since I was a boy. Oh yes, it's true.'
“這話沒錯，”老梅西先生附和道。“你們這夥年輕人年級小記不得那事。人們在教堂附近見過鬼，當時我都還是個孩子。嗯，真的，是真事。”
The farrier laughed scornfully. ‘Ghosts! People imagine they see things on a dark night! You can't make me believe in ghosts! It's a question of fact! There are no ghosts!’
蹄鐵匠譏諷地笑了笑。“鬼！人們想像他們在漆黑的夜晚看到的東西！你不能讓我相信那就是鬼！這是事實問題！根本就沒有鬼！“
‘Now, now,’ began the landlord, who always tried to keep the peace, ‘in some ways you’re all wrong, and in some ways you're all right, that’s my opinion. There are ghosts, and there aren’t, well, that’s what people say. And...’
“現在，現在聽我說，”總在維持場面的酒館店主說，“在某些方面你們都錯了，在某些方面你們又是對的，這是我的看法。有人說有鬼魂，有人說沒有，呃，都是各人說各話。還有……”
Just then Silas's white face appeared suddenly in the doorway. He had run all the way from his cottage, so he could not speak for a moment. He stared silently at the men with his strange staring eyes, looking exactly like a ghost. For a few minutes nobody said anything, while Silas tried to control his breathing. Then the landlord spoke.
這時，塞拉斯慘白的臉突然出現在門口。他一直從小屋跑過來的，喘得說不出話。他用奇怪的眼神緊緊地盯着那些人，簡直跟鬼一樣。有幾分鐘，塞拉斯在調整他的呼吸時，沒人說一句話。然後酒館店主開口了。
PS:本書爲書蟲系列四級讀物，由英國著名女作家喬治·艾略特所著、英國書蟲系列著名作家克萊爾·韋斯特改寫。
英文爲書蟲系列原文，譯文是筆者翻譯。本文僅因個人興趣而譯，故本文謝絕轉載和各種商業用途，同時承諾若出現任何責任由作者承擔，必要時簡書可刪除文章。