牛津书虫系列 金银岛 1 The old seaman Squire

1 The old seaman Squire

Squire Trelawney, Dr Livesey, and the others have asked me to write down all I know about Treasure Island .My name is Jim Hawkins, and I was in the story right from the start, back in 17-.I was only a boy then, and it all began at the time my father owned the Admiral Benbow inn, at Black Hill Cove .I remember so clearly the day when the old seaman came to stay-I can almost see him in front of me as I write.

He arrived with his sea-chest, a tall, strong man with a cut across one cheek. He sang that old sea sang as he walked up to the inn door：

Fifeen men on the dead man's chest-

Yo-ho-ho，and a bottle of rum!

The old seaman called for a glass of rum，and stood outside，drinking and looking around. Our inn was on me cliffs above Black Hill Cove, and was a wild ,lonely place. But the seaman seemed to like it.

‘Do many people come here?’ he asked.

‘No,’my father told him.

‘Then it's the place for me,’said the seaman.‘I'll stay here for a bit. You can call me Captain.’He threw down three or four gold coins.‘Tell me when I've spent all that.’

He was a silent man. All day he walked around the cove, or up on the cliffs ;all evening he sat in a corner of the room, and drank rum and water .He only spoke to our other customers when he was drunk. Then he told them terrible stories of his wild and criminal life at sea. Our customers were mostly quiet ,farming people; the captain frightened them and they soon learned to leave him alone.

Every day, he asked if any seamen had gone along the road. At first we thought he wanted friends of his own kind, but then we began to understand that there was a different reason .He told me to watch for a seaman with one leg and to let him know the moment when a man like that appeared. He promised to give me a silver coin every month for doing this .I dreamed about this one-legged seaman for many nights afterwards.

The captain stayed week after week, month after month. His gold coins were soon used up, but my father was a sick man and afraid to ask for more.

Dr Livesey came late one afternoon. After he had seen my father ,he had dinner with my mother, then stayed to smoke his pipe .I noticed the difference between the doctor with his white hair and pleasant way of speaking, and that dirty, heavy, red-faced seaman, drunk with rum.

The captain began to sing his song:

Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-

Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

Drink and the devil had killed off the rest-

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of, rum!

Dr Livesey did not like the song.He looked up angrily before he went on talking to old Taylor, the gardener. Others in the room took no notice of the song. The captain beat the table with his hand for silence. The voices in the room died away, all except Dr Livesey's.The doctor continued to speak.

The captain swore softly, then said,‘ Silence!’

‘Are you speaking to me ,sir?’asked the doctor.

‘Yes,’the captain told him, swearing again.

‘I have only one thing to say to you, sir,’ replied the doctor.‘If you keep on drinking rum ,the world will soon be free of a dirty scoundrel!’

The captain jumped to his feet with a knife in his hand ,but the doctor never moved .He spoke to the captain in a calm and clear voice so that others in the room could hear:

‘If you don't put that knife away, I promise you shall die a criminal's death under the law.’

Then followed a battle of looks between them, but the cap-tain soon put away his weapon and sat down like a beaten dog. Soon after Dr Livesey rode away on his horse. The captain was silent for the rest of the evening, and for many evenings after-wards.

1 老海员

乡绅屈利劳尼、李甫西大夫和其他几位绅士让我把金银岛的故事从头至尾写下来。我的名字叫吉姆·霍金斯，我经历了寻宝的全过程，故事始于公元一千七百多年。那时我还是个孩子，我父亲在布莱克希尔湾开了一家名叫“本葆将军”的客店。我清楚地记得那天客店来了一位老海员——他现在就浮现在我眼前。

他是个高个子，而且很健壮，手里提着一个海员手提箱，脸上有一道伤疤。他来到客店时唱着那支水手老调：

十五个人趴着死人箱——

唷呵呵，快来尝一瓶朗姆酒!

老海员要了一杯朗姆酒，站在客店外面，一边喝酒，一边向四周观望。我们的客店位于布莱克希尔湾的悬崖上，一个荒野的地方。但那个海员好像对这里很感兴趣。

“有很多人来这里吗?”他问。

“不，”我父亲说。

“那么这就是我要找的地方，”老海员说。“我要在这儿住上一段时间，你们叫我老船长好了。”他拿出三四个金币。“钱花完了就告诉我。”

他是个沉默的人，整天在海湾走来走去，或是站在悬崖上;晚上则坐在屋子的一个角落，喝着搀水的朗姆酒。他只在喝醉时才和别的客人说话。那时他就给客人们讲他在海上野蛮和罪恶生活的可怕经历。我们的客人大都是生性安静的农民;老船长的经历令他们惊恐不安，后来他们就避免和他在一起了。

每天他都问有没有水手从此路过。开始我们以为他是想念自己的朋友，后来我们才意识到还有别的原因。他告诉我要注意一个一条腿的水手，如果此人一出现，立刻向他报信。他许诺每月给我一个银币。那以后我经常梦到他说的那个一条腿的水手。

老船长住了一个星期又一个星期，一个月又一个月。他预付的那点钱早就花光了，但我多病的父亲始终没敢向他再要。

一天傍晚，李甫西大夫来了。他看过我父亲之后，就和我母亲一起吃饭，然后坐在一边抽他的烟斗。我注意到：李甫西大夫举止文雅得体，头发花白，和那位喝醉酒的海员形成鲜明对照，后者肥胖、肮脏、面红耳赤。

老船长忽然又唱起那支水手老调：

十五个人趴着死人箱——

唷呵呵，快来尝一瓶朗姆酒!

其余的都成了酒和魔鬼的牺牲品——

唷呵呵，快来尝一瓶朗姆酒!

李甫西大夫不喜欢这首歌。他抬起头来生气地看了老船长一眼，然后继续和老花匠泰勒聊天。屋里其他人都没有注意老船长唱的歌，老船长使劲拍了一下桌子，让大家安静下来。屋里顿时没了声音，只有李甫西大夫仍在说话。

老船长轻声骂了一句，喊道：“安静，听见没有?”

“你在对我说话吗，先生?”大夫问。

“对，”老船长说，又夹着一句咒骂。

“我只想对你讲一句话，先生，”大夫说，“如果你还不戒酒，这世界上很快就会减少一个十足的混蛋!”

老船长跳起来，手里拿着一把刀，但李甫西大夫纹丝未动。他用清晰、洪亮的声音对老船长说话，以使屋里的人都能听清：

“如果你不把刀收起来，我担保你会被送上绞架的。”

他们的目光对峙了一会儿，老船长终于收起了刀子，像一条斗败的狗一样坐在那里。过了一会儿，李甫西大夫骑马走了。这天晚上，老船长没再吭声，以后好几个晚上他也挺老实。