英语阅读一-The-open-window

“My aunt will come down very soon, Mr. Nuttel,” said a very calm young lady of fifteen years of age; “meanwhile you must try to bear my company.”

Framton Nuttel tried to say something which would please the niece now present, without annoying the aunt that was about to come. He was supposed to be going through a cure for his nerves; but he doubted whether these polite visits to a number of total strangers would help much.

“I know how it will be,” his sister had said when he was preparing to go away into the country;“you will lose yourself down there and not speak to a living soul, and your nerves will be worse than ever through loneliness. I shall just give you letters of introduction to all the people I know there. Some of them, as far as I can remember, were quite nice.”

“纳托先生，我姑妈很快就会下来”，说话人是一位十五岁的年轻小姐，看上去沉着自信，“现在我来陪您，请多包涵。”

弗雷顿想说些让面前这位侄女高兴，而且又不会令即将到来的姑妈感到厌烦的话。弗雷顿?纳托目前需要接受精神忧郁症的治疗，可是一个接着一个的拜访这样完全陌生的人真的会对他的神经有什么帮助吗？

当时他正收拾行装准备来乡下静居，姐姐对他说：“我知道最后会是什么样子！到了那里你会迷糊，不跟任何人说一句话，而你的神经会因为抑郁不乐而变得更加糟糕。我还是要写一些引见信，把你介绍给那里所有我认识的人，在我的印象中，有些人还是很和善的。”

Framton wondered whether Mrs. Sappleton, the lady to whom he was bringing one of the letters of introduction, one of the nice ones.

“Do you know many of the people round here?”asked the niece,when she thought that they had sat long enough in silence.

“Hardly one,” said Framton. “My sister was staying here, you know, about four years ago, and she gave me letters of introduction to some of the people here.”

He made the last statement in a sad voice.

弗雷顿现在就要把这样一封引见信交给赛普顿夫人，不知道这位夫人是不是属于和善之流。

“您在这里认识很多人吗？”那位小姐开口问道，因为她发现他们这样沉默的交流时间过长了。

“几乎一个人都不认识，”弗雷顿答道，“四年前我的姐姐在这里住过一段时间，是她写的引见信让我认识这里的人。”他说最后一句话时，语气中透露出伤感。

“Then you know almost nothing about my aunt?”continued the calm young lady.

“Only her name and address;” Framton admitted. He was wondering whether Mrs. Sappleton was married; perhaps she had been married and her husband was dead. But there was something of a man in the room.

“Her great sorrow came just three years ago,” said the child. “That would be after your sister’s time.

“Her sorrow?”asked Framton. Somehow, in this restful country place, sorrows seemed far away.

“那么您实际上对我姑妈是一无所知了？”年轻的小姐继续问道。

“只知道她的名字和地址，”弗雷顿承认，同时他又在暗自考虑，这位赛普顿夫人是否结婚了，

可能她结过婚但她的丈夫去世了。但房间里有些说不清的迹象表明这里是有男人居住的。

“三年前她的家里发生了一场悲剧，”那孩子接着说，“当时您的姐姐应该已经离开这里了。”

“悲剧？”弗雷顿觉得有些不可思议，不知为什么他觉得在这样的乡村静地是不会发生什么悲剧的。

“You may wonder why we keep that window wide open on an October afternoon,” said the niece, pointing to a long window that opened like a door on to the grass outside.

“It is quite warm for the time of the year,” said Framton; “but has that window got anything to do with your aunt’s sorrow?”

“也许您会奇怪，为什么十月份的下午我们会将窗户大敞着，”那位小姐用手指着那扇宽敞的象扇门的落地窗说。窗外是一片草坪。“今年的十月天气不是很凉，”弗雷顿回答，“不过你的意思是说，这扇窗户跟那场悲剧有什么关系吗？”

“Out through that window, exactly three years ago, her husband and her two young brothers went off for their day’s shooting. They never came back. In crossing the country to the shooting-ground, they were all three swallowed in a bog. It had been that terrible wet summer, you know, and places that were safe in other years became suddenly dangerous. Their bodies were never found. That was the worst part of it.”Here the child’s voice lost its calm sound and became almost human.“Poor aunt always thinks that they will come back someday, they and the little brown dog that was lost with them, and walk in at that window just as they used to do. That is why the window is kept open every evening till it is quite dark. Poor dear aunt, she has often told me how they went out, her husband with his white coat over his arm, and Ronnie, her youngest brother, singing a song, as he always did to annoy her, because she said it affected her nerves. Do you know, sometimes on quiet evenings like this, I almost get a strange feeling that they will all walk in through the window ??”

“三年前的今天，她的丈夫和两个弟弟，就是穿过那扇窗户去打猎，但是一去无返。他们当时要去那块最适合猎射的地方，但是在穿过野地的时候，三个人意想不到的全部陷进沼泽里。就是那个可怕的潮湿的夏天，让在其他年份里一直很安全的地方变得突然危险了。最糟糕的是从未找到他们的尸体。”说到这小孩的声音变得不再镇定，而是充满了感情色彩。“可怜的姑妈总是相信他们有一天会回来，他们三个，还有那条跟他们一块儿失踪的棕色猎狗，会像从前一样从那扇窗户走进来。那就是为什么这扇窗每个傍晚都会敞开着直到很晚的时候才关。可怜的，亲爱的姑妈，她总是跟我提起当时他们出门的情景，她的丈夫胳膊上搭着一件白色外衣，她最小的弟弟，罗尼，象平常一样唱着会让她心烦意乱的歌，她曾说他的歌刺激着她的神经。你知道吗，在这样安静的夜晚，我有时也会觉得他们会从那扇窗子走进来，这种感觉让我浑身发怵。”

She stopped and trembled. It was a relief to Framton when the aunt came busily into the room and apologized for being late.

“I hope Vera has been amusing you?” she said.

“She has been very interesting,” said Framton.

“I hope you don’t mind the open window,”said Mrs. Sappleton brightly; “my husband and brothers will be home soon from shooting, and they always come in this way. They’ve been shooting birds today near the bog, so they’ll make my poor carpets dirty. All you men do that sort of thing, don’t you?

讲到这里，她停了下来，打了个寒颤。这时，那位姑妈匆匆走进房间，让弗雷顿松了一口气，她一进屋就不停的道歉说自己这么迟才下楼来。

“维拉没有让您觉得无聊吧？”她问道。

“她是位很有趣的小姐。”弗雷顿回答。

“希望您不会介意我把窗户开着，”赛普顿夫人轻快的说，“我丈夫和弟弟打猎以后回家，总是从这边进来。他们今天去沼泽地打鸟，回来的时候肯定会把我的地毯弄得脏兮兮的。男人都是这样子，对吧？”

She talked on cheerfully about the shooting and the scarcity of birds, and the hopes of shooting in the winter.To Framton it was all quite terrible. He made a great effort, which was only partly successful,to turn the talk on to a more cheerful subject. He was conscious that his hostess was giving him only a part of her attention, and her eyes were frequently looking past him to the open window and the grass beyond. It was certainly unfortunate that he should have paid his visit on this sorrowful day.

“The doctors agree in ordering me complete rest, no excitement and no bodily exercise,” said Framton, who had the common idea that total strangers want to know the least detail of one’s illnesses, their cause and cure. “On the matter of food, they are not so much in agreement,” he continued.

“No?”said Mrs. Sappleton in a tired voice. Then she suddenly brightened into attention? but not to what Framton was saying.

接着她又饶有兴趣喋喋不休地谈起打猎，说最近树林里面鸟不多，能否有所收获寄希望今年冬天了。在弗雷顿看来，没什么比这更可怕的了。他费了好大的劲儿想把谈话引到比较愉快的话题上去，但没有多大效果。弗雷顿意识到这位女主人大部分的注意力并不在他的身上，她的眼光不断的绕过他，朝那扇开着的窗和窗外的草坪望去。他竟然会在这样一个令人悲痛的日子拜访这位夫人，这真是太不幸了！

“医生们一致认为我应该彻底休息，避免任何心理刺激，和任何形式的剧烈体力运动，”弗雷顿说道，他通常认为陌生人很想了解一个人病情的最详细情况，包括病因和治疗手段。“在饮食方面他们没有一致意见。”

“是吗？”赛普顿夫人回答，声音听上去很疲倦。突然，她精神一振，脸上神采焕发，但并不是因为弗雷顿说的话。

“Here they are at last!” she cried. “Just in time for tea, and don’t they look as if they were muddy up to the eyes!”

Framton trembled slightly and turned towards the niece with a look intended to show sympathetic understanding. The child was looking out through the open window with fear in her eyes. With a shock Framton turned round in his seat and looked in the same direction.

“他们终于回来啦！”她大声说，“正好赶上下午茶。他们看上去简直从头脏到了脚！”

弗雷顿轻轻打了个寒颤，目光朝向维拉，那位侄女儿，望去，脸上的表情想表示他的理解和同情。但是那孩子正用惊呆了的目光直直的盯着那扇敞开的窗。一阵莫名的恐惧像冷气一样袭来，弗雷顿在椅子上迅速的转过身，朝同一个方向望去。

In the increasing darkness three figures were walking across the grass towards the window; they all carried guns under their arms, and one of them had also a white coat hung over his shoulders. A tired brown dog kept close at their heels. Noiselessly they drew near to the house, and then a young voice started to sing in the darkness.

Framton wildly seized his hat and stick; he ran out through the front door and through the gate. He nearly ran into a man on a bicycle.

“Here we are, my dear,” said the bearer of the white coat, coming in through the window; “fairly muddy, but most of it’s dry. Who was that who ran out as we came up?”

“A most extraordinary man, a Mr. Nuttel,” said Mrs. Sappleton; “he could only talk about his illnesses, and ran off without a word of good-bye or apology when you arrived. One would think he had seen a ghost.”

在慢慢变深的夜色中，有三个人正穿过草坪朝窗户走来：三个人胳膊上都挎着枪，其中一个人肩上还披了一件白色的外套，一条疲惫的棕色猎犬紧跟在他们脚边。他们悄无声息，离房子越来越近，接着一个年轻的声音在夜色中唱歌。

弗雷顿不顾一切的抓起自己的手杖和帽子，他从前门狂奔出去然后跑出大院门。他差一点撞到一个骑车人。

“我们回来了，亲爱的，”那位身披白色外衣的男人一边穿过窗子走进房间，一边说道，“浑身都是泥，还好衣服没怎么弄湿。刚才有个人看见我们走过来，就匆忙离开了，是谁呀？”

“一位十分不可思议的人，叫什么纳托先生，”赛普顿夫人说，“张口闭口就只知道说他的病情。看见你们回来了竟然连一句告辞或者抱歉的话也不说，转身就走，不知道的还以为看见鬼了呢。

“I expect it was the dog,” said the niece calmly; “he told me he had a terrible fear of dogs. He was once hunted into a graveyard somewhere in India by a lot of wild dogs, and had to spend the night in a newly-dug grave with the creatures just above him. Enough to make anyone lose their nerve.”

She was very clever at making up stories quickly.

“我想可能是因为那条猎狗吧，”她的侄女儿不动声色的说，“他刚才对我说他非常怕狗，有一次他被一群流浪狗一直追赶到了印度的一个公墓里，实在没办法只好在一个新挖的墓穴里呆了一晚上，那些可怕的野狗就在他的头顶上，换成是谁，魂儿也得被吓飞了。”

不做准备就编故事是这位小姐的拿手好戏。