牛津書蟲系列 弗蘭肯斯坦 02

2

2 維克多的故事開始了

I was born in Switzerland， in the town of Geneva. My parents loved each other very much， and I learnt from the example of their love.I learnt that to love and to be patient are the most important things in the world.

我出生在瑞士的日內瓦城。我父母彼此相愛至深，而且我以他們的愛心為榜樣。我懂得了去愛他人和富有耐心是世界上最重要的事情。

My mother hoped to have a daughter after I was born， but for five years I was the only child. And then my mother found a sister for me.She was helping a family in which there were five children. They were very poor，and the children were thin and hungry. One of the children was a little girl， with golden hair and blue eyes Her name was Elizabeth. My mother took the little girl into our family，and Elizabeth became the daughter that my mother had always wanted. As I grew older， my love for Elizabeth became stronger all the time.

在生下我后，我母親希望再生一個女兒，但在五年之中我都是唯一的孩子。后來我母親給我找了一個妹妹。她那時在一個有五個孩子的家庭里幫忙。他們非常窮，孩子們都又瘦又餓。其中一個孩子是一個頭發(fā)金黃、有一對藍色的眼睛的小女孩。她名叫伊麗莎白。我母親把那個小女孩帶到了我家，于是伊麗莎白便成了我母親盼望已久的女兒。隨著年齡的增長，我對伊麗莎白的愛與日俱增。

Later my mother had two other sons， Ernest and William.A young woman called Justine came to live in the house to help my mother with the children. We loved her as much as she loved us.

后來我母親又生了兩個兒子：歐內斯特和威廉。有個名叫賈斯汀的年輕女子來我家?guī)臀夷赣H照看孩子們。我們像她愛我們一樣地愛她。

The years passed happily， and we had everything that we needed. At school I met another very fine person. His name was Henry Clerval， and he was very clever. My family also liked him very much， so he was a welcome visitor to our house.

歲月快樂地流逝著，我們擁有所需要的一切。在學校里我遇見了另外一個非常好的人，他的名字叫亨利·克勒沃，人非常聰明。我的家人也非常喜歡他，所以他是我們家受歡迎的客人。

I studied very hard at school.I wanted to know the secrets of life， and， most of all， I wanted to know how to make living things.I read all the books that I could find.One day，some-thing happened that added a new idea to the ideas that I al-ready had.I was fifteen at the time， and we were on holiday in the mountains. There was a wild storm， and with it came the most frightening thunder and lightning that I had ever seen in my life. About twenty metres in front of our house was a great tree.Suddenly a huge fork of lightning hit the tree.After a few seconds， there was nothing left of it except a black piece of wood two metres high. The lightning had destroyed it.

我在學校學得很刻苦。我想要知道生命的奧秘，而且我最想知道的便是如何制造有生命的東西。我閱讀了我能找到的一切書籍。有一天發(fā)生了一件事情，它給我新的啟發(fā)。我那時15歲，我們正在山中度假。那天有一場暴風雨，夾雜其間的是我平生見過的最為嚇人的雷霆和閃電。在我們的房子前面約二十米處有一棵大樹。突然間一個叉狀閃電擊中了大樹。 幾秒鐘之后，那棵大樹便只剩下兩米高的一塊黑木頭。閃電摧毀了它。

I saw how strong electricity was. I began to read all the books that I could find about electricity and its terrible power.

我看到了電的力量有多么大。我開始閱讀我能找到的有關電及其可怕力量的一切書籍。