Unit 3 A Hanging 課文翻譯

1、-作者xxxx-日期xxxxUnit 3 A Hanging 課文翻譯【精品文檔】Unit 3 A HangingA HANGINGGeorge Orwell1. It was in Burma, a sodden morning of the rains. We were waiting outside the condemned cells, a row of sheds fronted with double bars, like small animal cages. Each cell measured about ten feet by ten and was quite bare

2、 within except for a plank bed and a pot for drinking water. In some of them brown silent men were squatting at the inner bars, with their blankets draped round them. These were the condemned men, due to be hanged within the next week or two.Detailed Reading2.One prisoner had been brought out of his

3、 cell. He was a Hindu, a puny wisp of a man, with a shaven head and vague liquid eyes. Six tall Indian warders were guarding him and getting him ready for the gallows. Two of them stood by with rifles and fixed bayonets, while the others handcuffed him, passed a chain through his handcuffs and fixed

4、 it to their belts, and lashed his arms tightly to his sides. They crowded very close about him, with their hands always on him in a careful, caressing grip, as though all the while feeling him to make sure he was there. But he stood quite unresisting, yielding his arms limply to the ropes, as thoug

5、h he hardly noticed what was happening.3.Eight oclock struck and a bugle call floated from the distant barracks. The superintendent of the jail, who was standing apart from the rest of us, moodily prodding the gravel with his stick, raised his head at the sound. For Gods sake hurry up, Francis, he s

6、aid irritably. The man ought to have been dead by this time. Arent you ready yet?4.Francis, the head jailer, a fat Dravidian in a white drill suit and gold spectacles, waved his black hand. Yes sir, yes sir, he bubbled. All is satisfactorily prepared. The hangman is waiting. We shall proceed. 5.Well

7、, quick march, then. The prisoners cant get their breakfast till this jobs over.6.We set out for the gallows. Two warders marched on either side of the prisoner, with their rifles at the slope; two others marched close against him, gripping him by arm and shoulder, as though at once pushing and supp

8、orting him. The rest of us, magistrates and the like, followed behind.7.It was about forty yards to the gallows. I watched the bare brown back of the prisoner marching in front of me. He walked clumsily with his bound arms, but quite steadily. At each step his muscles slid neatly into place, the loc

9、k of hair on his scalp danced up and down, his feet printed themselves on the wet gravel. And once, in spite of the men who gripped him by each shoulder, he stepped slightly aside to avoid a puddle on the path.8.It is curious, but till that moment I had never realized what it means to destroy a heal

10、thy, conscious man. When I saw the prisoner step aside to avoid the puddle I saw the mystery, the unspeakable wrongness, of cutting a life short when it is in full tide. This man was not dying, he was alive just as we are alive. All the organs of his body were working - bowels digesting food, skin r

11、enewing itself, nails growing, tissues forming - all toiling away in solemn foolery. His nails would still be growing when he stood on the drop, when he was falling through the air with a tenth of a second to live. His eyes saw the yellow gravel and the gray walls, and his brain still remembered, fo

12、resaw, reasoned - reasoned even about puddles. He and we were a party of men walking together, seeing, hearing, feeling, understanding the same world; and in two minutes, with a sudden snap, one of us would be gone - one mind less, one world less.9.The gallows stood in a small yard. The hangman, a g

13、ray-haired convict in the white uniform of the prison, was waiting beside his machine. He greeted us with a servile crouch as we entered. At a word from Francis the two warders, gripping the prisoner more closely than ever, half led half pushed him to the gallows and helped him clumsily up the ladde

14、r. Then the hangman climbed up and fixed the rope around the prisoners neck.10.We stood waiting, five yards away. The warders had formed a rough circle round the gallows. And then, when the noose was fixed, the prisoner began crying out to his god. It was a high, reiterated cry of Ram! Ram! Ram! Ram

15、! not urgent and fearful like a prayer or a cry for help, but steady, rhythmical, almost like the tolling of a bell.11.The hangman climbed down and stood ready, holding the lever. Minutes seemed to pass. The steady crying from the prisoner went on and on, Ram! Ram! Ram! never faltering for an instan

16、t. The superintendent, his head on his chest, was slowly poking the ground with his stick; perhaps he was counting the cries, allowing the prisoner a fixed number - fifty, perhaps, or a hundred. Everyone had changed color. The Indians had gone gray like bad coffee, and one or two of the bayonets wer

17、e wavering.12.Suddenly the superintendent made up his mind. Throwing up his head he made a swift motion with his stick. Chalo! he shouted almost fiercely.13.There was a clanking noise, and then dead silence. The prisoner had vanished, and the rope was twisting on itself. We went round the gallows to

18、 inspect the prisoners body. He was dangling with his toes pointing straight downward. Very slowly revolving, as dead as a stone.14.The superintendent reached out with his stick and poked the bare brown body; it oscillated slightly. Hes all right, said the superintendent. He backed out from under th

19、e gallows, and blew out a deep breath. The moody look had gone out of his face quite suddenly. He glanced at his wrist watch. Eight minutes past eight. Well, thats all for this morning, thank God. 15. The warders unfixed bayonets and marched away. We walked out of the gallows yard, past the condemne

20、d cells with their waiting prisoners, into the big central yard of the prison. The convicts were already receiving their breakfast. They squatted in long rows, each man holding a tin pannikin, while two warders with buckets march round ladling out rice; it seemed quite a homely, jolly scene, after t

21、he hanging. An enormous relief had come upon us now that the job was done. One felt an impulse to sing, to break into a run, to snigger. All at once everyone began chattering gaily.16.The Eurasian boy walking beside me nodded toward the way we had come, with a knowing smile, Do you know sir, our fri

22、end (he meant the dead man) when he heard his appeal had been dismissed, he pissed on the floor of his cell. From fright. Kindly take one of my cigarettes, sir. Do you not admire my new silver case, sir? Classy European style.17.Several people laughed - at what, nobody seemed certain.18.Francis was

23、walking by the superintendent, talking garrulously, Well, sir, all has passed off with the utmost satisfactoriness. It was all finished - flick! Like that. It is not always so - oah no! I have known cases where the doctor was obliged to go beneath the gallows and pull the prisoners legs to ensure de

24、cease. Most disagreeable.19.Wriggling about, eh? Thats bad, said the superintendent.20.Ach, sir, it is worse when they become refractory! One man, I recall, clung to the bars of his cage when we went to take him out. You will scarcely credit, sir, that it took six warders to dislodge him, three pull

25、ing at each leg.21.I found that I was laughing quite loudly. Everyone was laughing. Even the superintendent grinned in a tolerant way. Youd better all come and have a drink, he said quite genially. Ive got a bottle of whiskey in the car. We could do with it.22.We went through the big double gates of

26、 the prison into the road. Pulling at his legs! exclaimed a Burmese magistrate suddenly, and burst into a loud chuckling. We all began laughing again. At that moment Francis anecdote seemed extraordinarily funny. We all had a drink together, native and European alike, quite amicably. The dead man wa

27、s a hundred yards away. 1.那是發(fā)生在緬甸的事情。在一個(gè)很潮濕的雨季清晨，我們都在死囚牢房外面等著，一排小屋的門上加了雙根鐵條，就像小動(dòng)物的籠子。每間牢房大約10英寸見方，里面只有一張木板床和一個(gè)盛飲水的罐兒。有幾間里，棕色皮膚的人默默無聲地蹲在里面一間的鐵條后面，身上披著毯子。這些都是死囚，在一兩周以內(nèi)將被處以絞刑。2.有個(gè)囚犯從他的牢房里被帶了出來。他是個(gè)印度教徒，身材瘦小，弱不禁風(fēng)，頭頂剃得光光的，雙眼水汪汪的，渾濁無神。六個(gè)高大的印度獄卒看著他，準(zhǔn)備送他上絞刑架。其中兩個(gè)手持上了刺刀的長槍，站在旁邊，其余幾個(gè)給他戴上手銬，從手銬中穿上一根鏈條系在他們的皮帶上，再

28、把他的手臂緊緊地捆在他身體的兩側(cè)。獄卒們團(tuán)團(tuán)站在他周圍，手都小心地緊握住他，似乎在撫摸他，時(shí)刻確信人就在那兒。然而，囚犯毫無反抗地站著，雙臂耷拉地讓繩子捆著，似乎他并沒有注意將要發(fā)生的事情。3.八點(diǎn)鐘的鐘聲響起，從遠(yuǎn)處的軍營傳來一陣軍號(hào)聲。監(jiān)獄長站在我們的外圍，悶悶不樂地用手杖戳了戳沙礫地面，隨著傳來的聲響抬起頭來。“天哪，快點(diǎn)兒，法朗西斯，”他焦躁地說道?！斑@家伙此刻早該死啦。你還沒有準(zhǔn)備好嗎？”4.法朗西斯是獄卒小隊(duì)長，一個(gè)胖胖的達(dá)羅毗荼人，身穿白色的斜紋布制服，還戴副金絲邊眼鏡，揮了揮黑色的手?！昂昧?，好了，監(jiān)獄長，”他反反復(fù)復(fù)地說道?！叭f事俱備。絞刑手等著呢。我們馬上動(dòng)手?！?.“行，

29、聽好了，齊步走。等這活兒干完，囚犯們才可以吃早飯。”6.我們向絞刑架走去。各有兩名獄卒走在死囚左右兩邊，掮著長槍；另外兩名緊靠著他，死死地抓住他的手臂和肩膀，似推似扶著他。我們其余的人，像執(zhí)法官一類的，跟在后面。7.在離絞刑架大約40碼的地方，我眼望著那死囚光著膀子的棕顏色脊背，走在我的前面。他雙臂被捆著，走起路來雖不靈活，但穩(wěn)穩(wěn)的。身上的肌肉與邁出的步伐很協(xié)調(diào)，腦袋上的那簇頭發(fā)上下跳躍，雙腳在潮濕的沙礫地面上留下腳印。有一次，盡管兩個(gè)肩膀被人緊握著，他稍稍地向一旁邁出一小步，為了避開小道上的水坑。8.真奇怪，在那一刻之前，我從來沒有意識(shí)到把一個(gè)活生生的、身體健康的人置于死地是怎么回事。等看到

30、那死囚為了避開水坑向旁邊側(cè)一步的時(shí)候，我發(fā)現(xiàn)了將一個(gè)正當(dāng)壯年的生命戛然結(jié)束的神秘，那是一種無以言表的錯(cuò)誤。那個(gè)人不是生命垂危，他活著，像我們一樣活著。他身體里的所有器官還在運(yùn)作腸子在消化食品、皮膚在自我更新、指甲在生長、細(xì)胞組織在形成全在一本正經(jīng)地、愚蠢地忙碌著。他站在那塊活動(dòng)踏板上的時(shí)候，指甲還在長；當(dāng)他從空中落下來的時(shí)候，他還有十分之一秒的時(shí)間活著。他的雙眼將看見黃顏色的沙礫地面和灰顏色的墻壁，他的頭腦仍然會(huì)記憶、預(yù)見和思考甚至?xí)伎寄莻€(gè)水坑。他和我們是一起向前走的一群人，看見、聽見、感覺、理解同一個(gè)世界。然而，兩分鐘后，突然咔嗒一聲，我們當(dāng)中有一個(gè)將死去少了一個(gè)頭腦，少了一個(gè)世界。9.絞

31、刑架豎立在一個(gè)小院子里。絞刑手是個(gè)滿頭花白頭發(fā)的囚犯，身穿監(jiān)獄里白顏色的囚服，在那臺(tái)機(jī)器旁等候著。我們走進(jìn)去時(shí)，他奴顏婢膝地向我們躬身致意。隨著法朗西斯的一句話，兩名獄卒靠得更近地抓住死囚，半拉半推地把他帶到絞刑架，笨手笨腳地幫他爬上扶梯。然后，絞刑手也爬上去，將絞索套在死囚的脖子上。10.我們在五碼開外的地方等著。獄卒們圍著絞刑架一圈站開。接著，等絞索套好后，死囚開始向他的神喊叫起來。聲音很高，反復(fù)地喊著“羅摩！羅摩！羅摩！羅摩！”，不像焦急恐懼求救的祈禱或喊叫，倒是一聲接一聲，很有節(jié)奏感，像擊鐘的聲音。11.絞刑手爬了下來，站立著手握杠桿，準(zhǔn)備就緒。好像又過了幾分鐘。死囚發(fā)出的那一聲接一聲呼喊還在繼續(xù)?！傲_摩！羅摩！羅摩！”一刻兒都不停頓。監(jiān)獄長的腦袋低垂在胸前，慢慢地用手杖戳著地面，他也許正在數(shù)著喊叫的次數(shù)，允許讓死囚喊叫一個(gè)固定的次數(shù)大概五