血字的研究 61和先知的会谈(5)

He was still sitting with his elbow upon his knee, considering how he should broach¹ the matter to his daughter,

他用肘支在膝头上，一直坐在那里，考虑着究竟如何对女儿说起这件事才好。

when a soft hand was laid upon his, and looking up, he saw her standing² beside him.

这时，忽然有一只柔软的手握住了他的手。他抬头一看，只见他的女儿站在他的身旁。

One glance at her pale, frightened face showed him that she had heard what had passed.

他一瞧见她那苍白、惊恐的脸，他就明白了，她已经听见刚才这一番谈话了。

"I could not help it," she said, in answer to his look.

她看见了父亲的脸色，就说："我没法不听，

"His voice rang through the house. Oh, father, father, what shall we do?"

他的声音那么大，整个房子里都听得见。哦，爸爸，爸爸，咱们究竟该怎么办呢？"

"Don't you scare yourself," he answered, drawing her to him, and passing his broad, rough hand caressingly³ over her chestnut⁴ hair.

"你不要惊慌，"他一面说，一面把她拉到身边，用他的粗大的手抚摸着她的栗色秀发，

"We'll fix it up somehow or another.

"咱们总能想出个办法来的。

You don't find your fancy kind o' lessening⁵ for this chap, do you?"

你对那个小伙子的爱情不会淡薄下来吧，会吗？"

A sob⁶ and a squeeze of his hand were her only answer.

露茜没有回答，只是紧握着老人的手，默默地啜泣着。

"No; of course not. I shouldn't care to hear you say you did.

"不，当然不会。我并不愿听到你说你会。

He's a likely lad, and he's a Christian⁷, which is more than these folks here, in spite o' all their praying and preaching.

他是一个有前途的小伙子，而且他还是个基督徒。就凭这一点，他也就比这里的人强多了，不管他们是怎样礼拜祈祷，也不管他们怎样谆谆说教。

There's a party starting for Nevada to-morrow, and I'll manage to send him a message letting him know the hole we are in.

明天早晨有一伙人动身到内华达去，我准备给侯波送个信，让他知道咱们现在的恶劣处境。

If I know anything o' that young man, he'll be back with a speed that would whip electro-telegraphs."

如果我对这个年轻人还算有点了解的话，那么，他一定会象接着电报一样，飞也似地跑回来的。"

Lucy laughed through her tears at her father's description.

露茜听了她父亲的这番描述，不禁破涕为笑。

"When he comes, he will advise us for the best. But it is for you that I am frightened, dear.

"他回来以后，一定会给咱们想个万全的办法的。可是，我担心的倒是你，爸爸。

One hears–one hears such dreadful stories about those who oppose the Prophet; something terrible always happens to them."

有人听说--听说关于反对先知的那些可怕的事，说什么反对他的人都要遭到可怕的灾难。"

"But we haven't opposed him yet," her father answered.

她的父亲回答说："可是，咱们还没有反对他呢。

"It will be time to look out for squalls when we do.

如果咱们反对了他，那可就真得防备一下呢。

We have a clear month before us; at the end of that, I guess we had best shin out of Utah."

咱们还有整整一个月的时间哩。期限一到，我想咱们最好是逃出犹他这个地方去。"

"Leave Utah!"

"离开犹他！"

"That's about the size of it."

"就得这样吧。"

"But the farm?"

"可是田庄呢？"

"We will raise as much as we can in money, and let the rest go.

"可以变卖的，我们尽量把它变卖成钱。卖不掉的也只好算了。

To tell the truth, Lucy, it isn't the first time I have thought of doing it.

说实在的，露茜，并不是现在我才想到要这样做。

I don't care about knuckling⁸ under to any man, as these folk do to their darned Prophet.

至于屈从在任何人之下这一点，就象这里的人屈从在他们那位该死的先知淫威之下一样，我倒不斤斤计较。

I'm a free-born American, and it's all new to me.

但是，我是一个自由的美国人，这里的一切，我实在看不惯。

Guess I'm too old to learn.

我认为我是太老了，学不来他们这一套。

If he comes browsing⁹ about this farm, he might chance to run up against a charge of buckshot travelling in the opposite direction."

可是假如他真要到我的田庄里来横行霸道的话，他就要尝尝迎面飞来的猎枪子弹的滋味了。"

"But they won't let us leave," his daughter objected.

他的女儿看法不同，她说："可是，他们不会放咱们走的。"

"Wait till Jefferson comes, and we'll soon manage that.

"等到杰弗逊回来以后，咱们很快就能逃出去了。

In the meantime, don't you fret¹⁰ yourself, my dearie, and don't get your eyes swelled¹¹ up, else he'll be walking into me when he sees you.

在这期间，你千万不要自己苦恼自己，我的好女儿，也不要把眼睛哭得肿肿的，不然的话，他若看见你这副模样，就一定会来找我的麻烦了。

There's nothing to be afeared about, and there's no danger at all."

没有什么可怕的，根本也不会有什么危险。"

John Ferrier uttered these consoling remarks in a very confident tone,

约翰·费瑞厄对她说了这些安慰的话，说得十分坚定而有信心。

but she could not help observing that he paid unusual care to the fastening of the doors that night,

但是，当天晚上，她却看到，他与往日不同，非常仔细谨慎地把门户一一加闩，

and that he carefully cleaned and loaded the rusty¹² old shot-gun which hung upon the wall of his bedroom.

并且把挂在卧室墙上的那支生了锈的旧猎枪取了下来，把它擦拭干净，装上了子弹。

1 broach   

v.开瓶，提出(题目)

参考例句：

• It's a good chance to broach the subject.这是开始提出那个问题的好机会。
• I thought I'd better broach the matter with my boss.我想我最好还是跟老板说一下这事。

2 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

3 caressingly   

爱抚地，亲切地

参考例句：

• His voice was caressingly sweet. 他的嗓音亲切而又甜美。

4 chestnut   

n.栗树，栗子

参考例句：

• We have a chestnut tree in the bottom of our garden.我们的花园尽头有一棵栗树。
• In summer we had tea outdoors,under the chestnut tree.夏天我们在室外栗树下喝茶。

5 lessening   

减轻，减少，变小

参考例句：

• So however much he earned, she spent it, her demands growing and lessening with his income. 祥子挣多少，她花多少，她的要求随着他的钱涨落。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
• The talks have resulted in a lessening of suspicion. 谈话消减了彼此的怀疑。

6 sob   

n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣

参考例句：

• The child started to sob when he couldn't find his mother.孩子因找不到他妈妈哭了起来。
• The girl didn't answer,but continued to sob with her head on the table.那个女孩不回答，也不抬起头来。她只顾低声哭着。

7 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

8 knuckling   

n.突球v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的现在分词 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝

参考例句：

9 browsing   

v.吃草( browse的现在分词 )；随意翻阅；（在商店里）随便看看；（在计算机上）浏览信息

参考例句：

• He sits browsing over[through] a book. 他坐着翻阅书籍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Cattle is browsing in the field. 牛正在田里吃草。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 fret   

v.(使)烦恼；(使)焦急；(使)腐蚀，(使)磨损

参考例句：

• Don't fret.We'll get there on time.别着急，我们能准时到那里。
• She'll fret herself to death one of these days.她总有一天会愁死的.

11 swelled   

增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情）

参考例句：

• The infection swelled his hand. 由于感染，他的手肿了起来。
• After the heavy rain the river swelled. 大雨过后，河水猛涨。

12 rusty   

adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的

参考例句：

• The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
• I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用，我的法语又荒疏了。