Chapter 3 Where is Silas’s gold?(1)
第三章塞拉斯的金子哪儿去了?(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.
邓斯坦·凯斯跑出小屋时，塞拉斯·马南仅隔着一百米远。他正从村子里走回家，他到那去买第二天工作要用的东西。他双腿疲累，但人却很高兴。正想着晚餐时，他就能把金子拿出来瞧瞧。今晚他还有别的理由要快点回家。他今晚要吃肉，一般都没肉吃的。肉没花他一分钱，因为有人送了他一块肉当礼物。他把它挂在炉火上烤。门钥匙需要锁在门上的，但塞拉斯丝毫不担心将他的金子关在没上锁的小屋里。他想不出来在一片浓雾、大雨中，伸手不见五指，一个小偷能从采石场找到去小屋的路。
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，推开门，他没有注意到有什么地方不一样。他脱下湿大衣，把肉往火上推了推。他一暖和起来，就想到他的金子。他想要看金子，似乎等吃完晚饭都太久了。所以他想趁着肉还在煮，立马把他的金子拿出来。
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!
但拉起织布机附近的地板后，看到地上空空的，他一下子没反应过来。他双手正摸着那块空地方忍不住发抖，心跳地厉害。那里什么都没有！他用手抱住头，拼命想。他把金子放在别的地方，不记得了吗？他翻遍小屋的每一个角落，直到自己都没法骗自己了。他不得不承认——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.
他发出一阵狂燥、绝望的尖叫，愣了一会。他看向织布机，几乎跌坐到他工作的椅子上。他摸了摸织布机，确定它没被偷。现在他才冷静地想。“小偷来过这！如果我能把他找出来。他就得把我的金子还我！但我只离开了一会会，也没有任何人进过小屋的迹象。”他想是真有小偷偷了他的钱，还是那个毁了他幸福的残忍的上帝的手笔？但塞拉斯更愿意是小偷偷了他的钱，他可能会把钱还回来。他想，一定是杰姆·罗德尼(Jem Rodney)偷了他的钱，当地的一位扒手，他知道塞拉斯有钱，有时还光顾小屋。现在塞拉斯觉得他认识那个小偷的感觉更强烈了。“我得去告诉乡绅和警察！”他兀自说。“他们会让杰姆把钱还我！”于是，他外套都没来得及穿，就急急忙忙冲到了雨中，朝彩虹酒馆去了。
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.
他想他会在酒馆找到拉弗尔最重要的人，但实际上他们大多数人都在奥斯古德夫人的生日舞会上。然而，彩虹酒馆有五个村民，正在一边喝啤酒一边聊鬼故事。
‘I tell you, people have seen ghosts,’ the butcher said. ‘And I'll tell you where, too. Behind the church!'
“我跟你说，有人看见过鬼，”屠夫说。“我告诉你在哪见的。就在教堂后面！”
‘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.'
“这话没错，”老梅西先生附和道。“你们这伙年轻人年级小记不得那事。人们在教堂附近见过鬼，当时我都还是个孩子。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!’
蹄铁匠讥讽地笑了笑。“鬼！人们想像他们在漆黑的夜晚看到的东西！你不能让我相信那就是鬼！这是事实问题！根本就没有鬼！“
‘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...’
“现在，现在听我说，”总在维持场面的酒馆店主说，“在某些方面你们都错了，在某些方面你们又是对的，这是我的看法。有人说有鬼魂，有人说没有，呃，都是各人说各话。还有……”
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.
这时，塞拉斯惨白的脸突然出现在门口。他一直从小屋跑过来的，喘得说不出话。他用奇怪的眼神紧紧地盯着那些人，简直跟鬼一样。有几分钟，塞拉斯在调整他的呼吸时，没人说一句话。然后酒馆店主开口了。
PS:本书为书虫系列四级读物，由英国著名女作家乔治·艾略特所著、英国书虫系列著名作家克莱尔·韦斯特改写。
英文为书虫系列原文，译文是笔者翻译。本文仅因个人兴趣而译，故本文谢绝转载和各种商业用途，同时承诺若出现任何责任由作者承担，必要时简书可删除文章。