牛津書蟲系列 呼嘯山莊 03 中英雙語

3 Ellen Dean’s story—Catherine and Heathcliff as children

3 艾倫·迪恩講述的故事——凱瑟琳和希斯克利夫的童年

1770 When I was a child，I was always at Wuthering Heights，because my mother was a servant with the Earnshaw family.They are a very old family who have lived in that house for centuries，as you can see from their name on the stone over the front door. I grew up with Catherine and Hindley Earnshaw，and we three played together as children.

1770年。我小時候一直在呼嘯山莊，因為我母親在歐肖家做用人。歐肖家是一個很古老的家族，在那幢宅子住了好幾百年，你能從門前石頭上刻著的名字看出來。我是同凱瑟琳和亨德雷·歐肖一起長大的，小時候我們仨都在一起玩兒。

One day，their father Mr Earnshaw came back from a long journey. He had travelled sixty miles to Liverpool and back on business，and was very tired.

一天，他們的父親歐肖先生出遠門回來。他步行了六十英里去利物浦辦事后又趕回來，非常疲倦。

‘Look what I’ve brought you!’he told us all，unwrapping something he was holding carefully in his arms.Catherine and Hindley were expecting presents，and they rushed eagerly to see what it was. They were very disappointed to see only a dirty，black-haired gipsy child.

“看我給你們帶來了什么!”他對我們大家說，一邊打開了懷里小心抱著的東西。凱瑟琳和亨德雷正指望著是禮物呢，興沖沖地圍上來看到底是什么東西。當他們只看到一個臟兮兮、黑頭發(fā)的吉卜賽孩子時，大失所望。

‘I found him all alone in the busy streets of Liverpool，’Mr Earnshaw explained to them，‘and I couldn’t leave him to die. He can sleep in your room.’But Hindley and Catherine were angry because they had not received any presents，and refused to let the strange child share their room.However Mr Earn-shaw insisted，and little by little the boy became accepted by the family.He was called Heathcliff，as a first and last name.No one ever discovered who his parents had been.

“我看到他孤零零地呆在利物浦繁忙的街頭，”歐肖先生對他們解釋說，“我總不能讓他就那么死了吧。他可以睡在你們的房里。”但亨德雷和凱瑟琳氣惱沒有得到禮物，不肯讓這個野孩子睡在他們的房間。在歐肖先生的堅持下，一家人還是漸漸地接受了這個孩子。給他起了個名字叫希斯克利夫，既是名，也是姓。始終沒人搞清楚他的父母是誰。

Catnerine and he became great friends，but Hindley hated him，and was often cruel to him.Old Mr Earnshaw was strangely fond of this gipsy child，and frequently punished his son for behaving badly to Heathcliff.Hindley began to be jealous of his father’s feelings for Heathcliff，and saw them both as enemies.

凱瑟琳和他成了好朋友，但亨德雷不喜歡他，對他常常很粗暴。老歐肖先生異乎尋常地喜歡這個吉卜賽孩子，時常因為自己的兒子對希斯克利夫不友善而懲罰他。亨德雷開始嫉妒他父親對希斯克利夫的感情，視他倆為敵。

This situation could not last.As Mr Earnshaw grew old and ill，Heathcliff became even more his favourite，and Hindley often quarrelled with his father.When Hindley was sent away to study，I hoped that we would have peace in the house.But then it was that old servant Joseph who caused trouble.He tried to persuade his master to be stricter with the children，and was always complaining that Heathcliff and Catherine did not spend enough time studying the Bible or attending church services.

這種情況不可能持續(xù)下去。隨著歐肖先生變得年邁多病，他越發(fā)地偏愛希斯克利夫了，而亨德雷則常同他父親吵架。當亨德雷被送到外頭上學后，我本指望我們能在家里過上安穩(wěn)日子。但又輪到老仆人約瑟夫招惹是非。他試圖慫恿他的主人對孩子們再嚴厲些，總是抱怨希斯克利夫和凱瑟琳不下功夫研讀《圣經(jīng)》和參加教堂的禮拜。

Catherine was a wild，wicked girl in those days.We had to watch her every moment of the day，to stop her playing her tricks on us.She was proud，and liked giving orders.But she had the prettiest face and the sweetest smile you’ve ever seen.I could forgive her anything when she came to say she was sorry.

凱瑟琳當時是個任性、淘氣的姑娘。我們一天到晚都得盯著她，一不留意就做我們的惡作劇。她自大，好發(fā)號施令。但您從沒看到過她那可愛的小臉和甜甜的微笑。只要她過來說抱歉時，我就什么都原諒她了。

She was much too fond of Heathcliff，and the worst punishment we could invent was to keep her separate from him.Her father could no longer understand her or her behaviour，and Catherine did not realize that his illness made him less patient with her.

她太喜歡希斯克利夫了，不讓她和希斯克利夫在一起是我們所能采取的最嚴厲的懲罰。她的父親已無法理解她和她的所作所為，而凱瑟琳也沒有意識到父親的病情已使他對自己不像以前那樣慣著了。

At last Mr Earnshaw found peace.He died quietly in his chair by the fire one October evening in 1775.The night was wild and stormy，and we were all sitting together in the big kitchen.Joseph was reading his Bible at the table，while Catherine had her head on her father’s knee.He was pleased to see her so gentle for once，and she was singing him to sleep.I was glad the old gentleman was sleeping so well.But when it was time to go to bed，Catherine put her arms round her father’s neck to say goodnight，and immediately screamed，‘Oh，he’s dead，Heathcliff!He’s dead!’

歐肖先生最終安息了。1775年10月的一個晚上，他安祥地死在火爐旁他的椅子上。那天晚上狂風肆虐，我們都一起坐在大廚房里。約瑟夫伏案讀著他的《圣經(jīng)》，凱瑟琳把頭枕在她父親的膝頭。好不容易看到她這么乖，歐肖先生很高興，她唱著歌兒催他入眠。老先生睡得這么好，我很欣慰。但該上床睡覺，凱瑟琳用胳膊摟著她父親的脖子道晚安時，她突然尖叫起來，“啊，他死了，希斯克利夫!他死了!”

Heathcliff and I started crying loudly and bitterly too.Joseph told me to fetch the doctor，so I ran to the village，although I knew it was too late.When I came back，I went to the children’s room，to see if they needed me，and I listened for a moment at their door. They were imagining the dead man in a beautiful distant place，far from the troubles of this world.And as I listened，crying silently，I could not help wishing we were all there safe together.

希斯克利夫和我也都開始嚎啕痛哭。約瑟夫叫我去喊大夫，雖然我知道太晚了，但還是跑去了村子?；貋砗?，我到孩子們的房間去看看他們是否需要我，我在門前站著聽了一會兒。他們正在那兒想像死去的人如何在一個遙遠、美麗的地方遠離凡世的煩惱。我邊聽邊默默地哭著，不禁開始祈望我們都能在天堂相安無事地相處。