四签名 114琼诺赞·斯茂的奇异故事（24）

Well, there was one thing which very soon struck me,

有一个情况不久就引起了我的注意：

and that was that the soldiers used always to lose and the civilians¹ to win.

每次赌钱总是军官们输，司狱官员们赢。

Mind, I don't say there was anything unfair, but so it was.

我可不是说这里有什么弊病，

These prison-chaps had done little else than play cards ever since they had been at the Andamans,

只是因为司狱的官员们自从来到安达曼群岛，每天无事可做，

and they knew each other's game to a point,

就拿着玩牌消磨时光，

while the others just played to pass the time and threw their cards down anyhow.

日久熟练，技术也就精了。

Night after night the soldiers got up poorer men, and the poorer they got the more keen² they were to play.

军官们技术不高，所以每赌必输，他们愈输愈急，下的注就愈大，因此军官们在经济上一天比一天窘困，

Major Sholto was the hardest hit.

其中以舒尔托少校输的最多。

He used to pay in notes and gold at first, but soon it came to notes of hand and for big sums.

起初他还用钱币钞票，后来钱光了，只好用期票赌，

He sometimes would win for a few deals just to give him heart,

他有时稍微赢一点儿，胆子一大，

and then the luck would set in against him worse than ever.

接着就输得更多，

All day he would wander about as black as thunder, and he took to drinking a deal more than was good for him.

以致搞得他整天愁眉苦脸，借酒浇愁。

One night he lost even more heavily than usual.

有一晚他输的较往常更多了，

I was sitting in my hut when he and Captain Morstan came stumbling³ along on the way to their quarters.

当时我正在茅屋外边乘凉，他和摩斯坦上尉缓步回营。

They were bosom⁴ friends, those two, and never far apart. The major was raving⁵ about his losses.

他们两人是极要好的朋友，每天形影不离。这位少校正在抱怨他的赌运不佳。

1 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

2 keen   

adj.热心的；敏锐的；激烈的；锋利的

参考例句：

• There is keen competition between the two motorcar firms.两家汽车公司之间存在着激烈的竞争。
• The children are mad keen to go to the zoo.孩子们非常想去动物园。

3 stumbling   

adj.摇摇晃晃或跌跌撞撞的v.（不顺畅地）说( stumble的现在分词 )；跌跌撞撞地走；绊脚；（说话、演奏等）出错

参考例句：

• The question of disarmament proved a major stumbling block to agreement. 结果证明裁军问题是达成协议的主要障碍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His stumbling attempts at colloquial Russian amused her. 他结结巴巴地学说俄语，把她逗乐了。 来自辞典例句

4 bosom   

n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的

参考例句：

• She drew a little book from her bosom.她从怀里取出一本小册子。
• A dark jealousy stirred in his bosom.他内心生出一阵恶毒的嫉妒。

5 raving   

adj.说胡话的；疯狂的，怒吼的；非常漂亮的；令人醉心[痴心]的v.胡言乱语(rave的现在分词)n.胡话；疯话adv.胡言乱语地；疯狂地

参考例句：

• The man's a raving lunatic. 那个男子是个语无伦次的疯子。
• When I told her I'd crashed her car, she went stark raving bonkers. 我告诉她我把她的车撞坏了时，她暴跳如雷。