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作者：马克·吐温 (Mark Twain) [美国]
19世纪上半世纪美国密西西比河畔的一个普通小镇。汤姆天真活泼、敢于探险、追求自由，不堪忍受束缚个性、枯燥乏味的生活，幻想干一番英雄事业。小说的时代在南北战争前，写的虽是圣彼得堡小镇，但该镇某种程度上可以说是当时美国社会的缩影。小说通过主人公的冒险经历，对美国虚伪庸俗的社会习俗、伪善的宗教仪式和刻板陈腐的学校教育进行了讽刺和批判，以欢快的笔调描写了少年儿童自由活泼的心灵。
第一章: 汤姆耍斗，东躲西藏
"Tom!"
“汤姆！”
No answer.
没人答应。
"Tom!"
“汤姆！”
No answer.
又没人答应。
"What's gone with that boy, I wonder? You Tom!"
“这孩子到底怎么啦，我真搞不懂？你这个汤姆！”
No answer.
还是没有人答应。
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:
这老太太拉低眼镜从镜片上方朝房间看了看，然后她又抬高眼镜从镜片下面看。她很少或者干脆说她从来没戴正眼镜来找像一个小男孩这样小的东西。这副眼镜是很考究的，也是她的骄傲，她配这副眼镜不是为了实用，而是为了“装饰”，为了“漂亮”。她看东西时，即使戴上两片炉子盖也照样看得一清二楚。她茫然不知所措地愣了一会儿。然后虽然不是凶神恶煞般，但嗓门高得让每个角落都能听到，她说：
"Well, I lay if I get hold of you I'll --"
“好，我发誓如果我抓住你，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.
她话没有说完，因为这时她正弯腰用扫把往床下猛捣，每捣一下，她需要停下来换口气。结果，只捣出来一只猫。
"I never did see the beat of that boy!"
“我还从没有见过这么令人吃惊的孩子！”
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:
她走到敞开的门口，站在那里朝满园子的西红柿藤和吉普逊草丛中看，想找到汤姆，可还是没有。于是她亮开嗓子朝远处，高声喊到：
"Y–o–u–u Tom!"
“汤姆呀，汤姆！”
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.
这时在她身后传来一声轻微的响声，她转身一把抓住了一个小男孩的短外套的衣角，他想跑都跑不掉了。
"There! I might 'a' thought of that closet. What you been doing in there?"
“嘿！我早该想到那个壁橱，你躲在那里干什么？”
"Nothing."
“没干什么。”
"Nothing! Look at your hands. And look at your mouth. What is that truck?"
“没干什么？！瞧你那双手，再看你那张嘴，还有那浑身是什么？”
"I don't know, aunt."
“我不知道，姨妈。”
"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."
“哎，我知道，那是蜜饯——对，就是。我已跟你讲过有四十遍了，不要动我的蜜饯，否则我就扒你的皮。把鞭子递给我。”
The switch hovered in the air-the peril was desperate --
鞭子在空中晃悠——情况万分紧急。
"My! Look behind you, aunt!"
“不得了！瞧你身后是什么，姨妈！”
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.
老太太以为有危险，急忙撩起裙子，转过身去。汤姆拨腿就逃，顷刻他爬过高高的木栅栏，一转眼就消失得无影无踪。
His aunt Polly stood surprised a moment, and then broke into a gentle laugh.
他的波莉姨妈站在那儿先是一愣，随后突然轻声笑了起来。
"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 [* Southwestern for "afternoon"] 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."
“这个该死的，我怎么老是不吸取教训？和我开这样的玩笑，也不知开过多少次了。难道我不该有所提防吗？人老了，糊涂才是最大的糊涂蛋。俗话说得好，老狗学不会新把戏。可是天啦！他耍的鬼把戏里从来没有两天一样的，谁能猜出下个鬼主意是什么？他似乎知道，他能折磨我多长时间，我才会动肝火，而且他也知道他只要想个法哄哄我，惹我大笑一场，就会万事皆休，我也不会揍他一顿。我对他是敢怒不能揍。我对那孩子没尽到责任，上帝知道那是真的。《圣经》里说：‘孩子不打不成器。’我太溺爱那孩子，我也知道这对我俩都不好。他一肚鬼点子。哎呀，但他是我那死去的亲姐姐的儿子，可怜的孩子，我怎么也不忍心揍他。每一次饶了他，我良心都受谴责；可是每一回打他，我都有点心痛不忍。哎，哎，就像《圣经》所说的，人为母生，光阴荏苒，充满苦难。我看这话说得一点都不错。今天下午他要是逃学，明天我就想法让他干点活，惩罚惩罚他。星期六让他干活，恐怕苛刻了点，因为所有的孩子都放了假，他又恨透了干活，比恨什么都厉害。可是我不得不对他尽到我的责任，否则我会把这个孩子给毁了。”
Tom did play hookey, and he had a very good time. He got back home barely in season to help Jim, the small colored boy, saw next–day's wood and split the kindlings before supper-at least he was there in time to tell his adventures to Jim while Jim did three–fourths of the work. Tom's younger brother (or rather half–brother) Sid was already through with his part of the work (picking up chips), for he was a quiet boy, and had no adventurous, troublesome ways.
汤姆真的没去上课，而且痛痛快快地玩了一场。他回家时正好赶上帮那小黑孩吉姆的忙，帮他在晚饭前锯第二天用的木头，劈引火用的柴——至少他及时赶到那儿，把他所干的事讲给吉姆听，而活却是吉姆干了四分之三。汤姆的弟弟（确切地说是同母异父的弟弟）希德已干完了他那份活（捡碎木块），因为他是个不声不响的孩子，从不干什么冒险的事，也不惹什么麻烦。
While Tom was eating his supper, and stealing sugar as opportunity offered, Aunt Polly asked him questions that were full of guile, and very deep-for she wanted to trap him into damaging revealments. Like many other simple–hearted souls, it was her pet vanity to believe she was endowed with a talent for dark and mysterious diplomacy, and she loved to contemplate her most transparent devices as marvels of low cunning. Said she:
汤姆吃晚饭的时候，总是瞅机会偷糖吃，波莉姨妈这时开始问他，话里充满了诡计，而且非常巧妙——因为她要设点圈套，套他说出实话来。跟其他许多头脑简单的人一样，她很自负，并且相信自己很有点子，会耍弄诡秘狡猾的手腕，把自己极易被人识破的诡计当作最高明的计策，她说：
"Tom, it was middling warm in school, warn't it?"
“汤姆，学校里挺热的，对吧？”
"Yes'm."
“是的，姨妈。”
"Powerful warm, warn't it?"
“热的厉害，对不对？”
"Yes'm."
“对，姨妈。”
"Didn't you want to go in a–swimming, Tom?"
“你是不是想去游泳来着，汤姆。”
A bit of a scare shot through Tom-a touch of uncomfortable suspicion. He searched Aunt Polly's face, but it told him nothing. So he said:
汤姆忽然感到有点慌张——一丝不安和疑惑掠过心头。他偷眼察看波莉姨妈的脸色，可什么也没有看出来。于是他说：
"No'm-well, not very much."
“没有啊，姨妈——呃，没怎么想去。”
The old lady reached out her hand and felt Tom's shirt, and said:
老太太伸出手摸摸汤姆的衬衣，说道：
"But you ain't too warm now, though." And it flattered her to reflect that she had discovered that the shirt was dry without anybody knowing that that was what she had in her mind. But in spite of her, Tom knew where the wind lay, now. So he forestalled what might be the next move:
“可是你现在却并不怎么热，是吧！”她已发现衬衣是干的，却没有人知道她内心的真正用意，为此她感到很得意。而汤姆猜透了她的心思，所以他为防老太太的下一招来了个先发制人。
"Some of us pumped on our heads-mine's damp yet. See?"
“有的人往大家头上打水——你瞧，我的头发还是湿的呢！”
Aunt Polly was vexed to think she had overlooked that bit of circumstantial evidence, and missed a trick. Then she had a new inspiration:
波莉姨妈很懊恼，她居然没注意到这个明摆着的事实，以致错过了一次机会。可接着她灵机一动，计上心来：
"Tom, you didn't have to undo your shirt collar where I sewed it, to pump on your head, did you? Unbutton your jacket!"
“汤姆，你往头上浇水的时候，不必拆掉我给你衬衫上缝的领子吧？把上衣的纽扣解开！”
The trouble vanished out of Tom's face. He opened his jacket. His shirt collar was securely sewed.
汤姆脸上的不安马上就消失了。他解开上衣，衬衣的领子还是缝的好好的。
"Bother! Well, go 'long with you. I'd made sure you'd played hookey and been a–swimming. But I forgive ye, Tom. I reckon you're a kind of a singed cat, as the saying is-better'n you look. This time."
“真是怪事。得，算了吧！我看你旷课去游泳了！我认为你就像俗话里说的烧焦毛的猫一样——并不像表面看起来的那样坏。就这一次，下不为例。”
She was half sorry her sagacity had miscarried, and half glad that Tom had stumbled into obedient conduct for once.
她一面为自己的计谋落空而难过，一面又为汤姆这一次竟能如此温顺听话而高兴。
But Sidney said:
可是希德却说：
"Well, now, if I didn't think you sewed his collar with white thread, but it's black."
“哼，我记得你好像给他缝领子用的是白线，可现在却是黑线。”
"Why, I did sew it with white! Tom!"
“嘿，我的确用白线缝的！汤姆！”
But Tom did not wait for the rest. As he went out at the door he said:
可汤姆没等听完话就走了。他走出门口的时候说：
"Siddy, I'll lick you for that."
“希德，为这我可要狠狠揍你一顿。”
In a safe place Tom examined two large needles which were thrust into the lapels of his jacket, and had thread bound about them-one needle carried white thread and the other black. He said:
在一个安全的地方，汤姆仔细检查了别在上衣翻领上的两根大针，针上还穿着线，一根绕着白线，另一根绕着黑线。
"She'd never noticed if it hadn't been for Sid. Confound it! sometimes she sews it with white, and sometimes she sews it with black. I wish to geeminy she'd stick to one or t'other-I can't keep the run of 'em. But I bet you I'll lam Sid for that. I'll learn him!"
他说：“如果不是希德，她是永远不会注意到的。真讨厌！有时她用白线缝，有时又用黑线。我真希望她总是用一种线——换来换去我实在记不住。不过，我发誓非揍希德一顿不可，我要好好教训教训他。”
He was not the Model Boy of the village. He knew the model boy very well though-and loathed him.
汤姆不是村里的模范男孩，但他对那位模范男孩非常熟悉，并且很讨厌他。
Within two minutes, or even less, he had forgotten all his troubles. Not because his troubles were one whit less heavy and bitter to him than a man's are to a man, but because a new and powerful interest bore them down and drove them out of his mind for the time-just as men's misfortunes are forgotten in the excitement of new enterprises. This new interest was a valued novelty in whistling, which he had just acquired from a negro, and he was suffering to practise it undisturbed. It consisted in a peculiar bird–like turn, a sort of liquid warble, produced by touching the tongue to the roof of the mouth at short intervals in the midst of the music-the reader probably remembers how to do it, if he has ever been a boy. Diligence and attention soon gave him the knack of it, and he strode down the street with his mouth full of harmony and his soul full of gratitude. He felt much as an astronomer feels who has discovered a new planet-no doubt, as far as strong, deep, unalloyed pleasure is concerned, the advantage was with the boy, not the astronomer.
不到两分钟，甚至更短，他已将全部烦恼给忘记了。就像大人们的烦恼也是烦恼一样，他忘记烦恼并不是因为他的烦恼对他不怎么沉重和难受，而是因为一种新的、更强烈的兴趣暂时压倒并驱散了他心中的烦闷——就像大人们在新奇感受的兴奋之时，也会暂时忘却自己的不幸一样。这种新产生的兴趣就是一种新的吹口哨方法，它很有价值，是刚从一个黑人那学到的，现在他正要一心练习练习又不想被别人打扰。这声音很特别，像小鸟的叫声，一种流畅而委婉的音调。在吹这个调子的时候，舌头断断续续地抵住口腔的上腭——读者若曾经也是孩子的话，也许还记得该怎样吹这种口哨。汤姆学得很勤奋，练得很专心，很快就掌握了其中要领。于是他沿街大步流星地走着，口中吹着口哨，心里乐滋滋的，那股乐劲如同天文学家发现了新行星时一般，仅就乐的程度之深之强烈而言，此时的汤姆绝对比天文学家还要兴奋。