The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
馬克‧吐溫《湯姆歷險記》
"Tom!" No answer.
「湯姆！」沒有回答。
"Tom!" No answer.
「湯姆！」沒有回答。
"What's gone with that boy, I wonder? You Tom!" No answer.
「真搞不懂這孩子怎麼回事？湯姆！」沒有回答。
The old lady pulled her spectacles down and looked over them about the room; then she put them up and looked out under them. She seldom or never looked through them for so small a thing as a boy; they were her state pair, the pride of her heart, and were built for "style," not service -- she could have seen through a pair of stove-lids just as well. She looked perplexed for a moment, and then said, not fiercely, but still loud enough for the furniture to hear:
年邁的女人拉下眼鏡，從鏡片上方看了看房間；然後又拉高眼鏡並往下看。她很少，或者該說從未戴正眼鏡來找男孩這樣的小東西；這副眼鏡可是她的驕傲，不是實用，而是「時髦」–– 她即使戴著兩片爐蓋也照樣看得清楚。她不知所措了一會兒，接著不凶狠，但用大聲到足以讓屋裡每個角落都聽到的聲音說：
"Well, I lay if I get hold of you I'll --"
「好，我告訴你，如果讓我抓到，我就 – –」
She did not finish, for by this time she was bending down and punching under the bed with the broom, and so she needed breath to punctuate the punches with. She resurrected nothing but the cat.
她沒有說完，因為她正彎下腰，拿著掃把往床下猛搗，所以她需要不時停下來喘口氣。結果她什麼也沒挖到，只有一隻貓。
"I never did see the beat of that boy!"
「我從沒見過這麼令人火大的孩子！」
She went to the open door and stood in it and looked out among the tomato vines and "jimpson" weeds that constituted the garden. No Tom. So she lifted up her voice at an angle calculated for distance and shouted:
她走到敞開的門口，站在那，並往外看向充滿番茄藤蔓和曼陀羅花的花園。沒有湯姆。她提高音量往遠處吼著：
"Y-o-u-u Tom!"
「湯！姆！」
There was a slight noise behind her and she turned just in time to seize a small boy by the slack of his roundabout and arrest his flight.
一個細微的聲響從她背後傳來，她轉身，正好抓住一個小男孩寬鬆的衣角並阻止他繼續奔逃。
"There! I might 'a' thought of that closet. What you been doing in there?"
"Nothing."
「這裡！我早該想到那個衣櫥，你在這兒做什麼？」
「沒什麼。」
"Nothing! Look at your hands. And look at your mouth. What is that truck?"
"I don't know, aunt."
「沒什麼！看你那雙手，再看看你的嘴，那是什麼？」
「我不知道，阿姨。」
"Well, I know. It's jam -- that's what it is. Forty times I've said if you didn't let that jam alone I'd skin you. Hand me that switch."
「是阿，我知道，那是果醬 – – 沒錯。我已經跟你說過四十遍了，如果你不放過我的果醬，我就不放過你。把鞭子給我拿來。」
The switch hovered in the air -- the peril was desperate --
"My! Look behind you, aunt!"
那鞭子在空氣中晃啊晃的 – – 情況非常危急 – –
「天啊！快看妳後面，阿姨！」
The old lady whirled round, and snatched her skirts out of danger. The lad fled on the instant, scrambled up the high board-fence, and disappeared over it.
年邁的女人轉身，以為有危險地抓住裙子。小伙子一溜煙逃走，翻過高高的木頭圍籬就消失得無影無蹤。
His aunt Polly stood surprised a moment, and then broke into a gentle laugh.
他的阿姨起先驚訝了一下子，然後突然溫柔地笑起來。
"Hang the boy, can't I never learn anything? Ain't he played me tricks enough like that for me to be looking out for him by this time? But old fools is the biggest fools there is. Can't learn an old dog new tricks, as the saying is. But my goodness, he never plays them alike, two days, and how is a body to know what's coming? He 'pears to know just how long he can torment me before I get my dander up, and he knows if he can make out to put me off for a minute or make me laugh, it's all down again and I can't hit him a lick. I ain't doing my duty by that boy, and that's the Lord's truth, goodness knows. Spare the rod and spile the child, as the Good Book says. I'm a laying up sin and suffering for us both, I know. He's full of the Old Scratch, but laws-a-me! he's my own dead sister's boy, poor thing, and I ain't got the heart to lash him, somehow. Every time I let him off, my conscience does hurt me so, and every time I hit him my old heart most breaks. Well-a-well, man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble, as the Scripture says, and I reckon it's so. He'll play hookey this evening, and I'll just be obleeged to make him work, to-morrow, to punish him. It's mighty hard to make him work Saturdays, when all the boys is having holiday, but he hates work more than he hates anything else, and I've got to do some of my duty by him, or I'll be the ruination of the child."
「我怎麼老是學不會？他玩弄我這麼多次了，難道不足以讓我有所提防嗎？但老糊塗總是最愚蠢，就像俗話說，老狗學不了新把戲。但我的天啊，他的把戲可多了，兩天更新一次，又有誰能知道接下來會是什麼呢？他知道，在發火前能戲弄我多久，他也知道可以拖延個一分鐘或逗我笑，一切就沒事了，我也揍不了他。我沒有在對那孩子盡責，天知道那是再真不過的事實。孩子不打不成器，就像聖經裡說的。我在累積罪惡且為我們兩個受苦，我知道。他真是個小惡魔，但上帝會救我！他是我死去姊姊的孩子，可憐的小東西，不知怎麼的，我也不忍心揍他。每次讓他溜走，我會良心不安，可每次打他的時候，我這顆老心臟也幾乎碎一地。哎呀，哎呀，人生下來，光陰短暫，可充滿著苦難，就像聖經上說的，我也是這樣認為的。他要是今天下午逃學，明天我就強迫他做些工作，算是懲罰他。讓他在禮拜六工作可會要他的命，畢竟其他孩子們都在放假，但他比起任何事，更討厭工作，我是該做些什麼，算是對他盡到我的職責了，否則我會毀了這孩子的。」
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