目 录 上一节 下一节 
我没必要做傻事，他们会很快杀死我的，但他们要想让我活着过河去，那是绝对不可能的。" "O, George, for my sake, do be careful! Don't do anything wicked; don't lay hands on yourself, or anybody else! You are tempted too much--too much; but don't--go you must--but go carefully, prudently; pray God to help you."" 乔治，你要当心。为了我别做坏事，也别做傻事，也不要杀死人。这真是太诱惑人了，但千万不要--你是要走的，但要小心行事，愿上帝保佑你。" "Well, then, Eliza, hear my plan. Mas'r took it into his head to send me right by here, with a note to Mr. Symmes, that lives a mile past. I believe he expected I should come here to tell you what I have. It would please him, if he thought it would aggravate `Shelby's folks,' as he calls 'em. I'm going home quite resigned, you understand, as if all was over. I've got some preparations made,--and there are those that will help me; and, in the course of a week or so, I shall be among the missing, some day. Pray for me, Eliza; perhaps the good Lord will hear _you_."" 好吧，艾莉查，你听一听我的计划。主人突然决定派我送给居住于一英里外的西门斯先生一封信。我想他知道我会到这儿来告诉你这件事的。他会非常高兴我这样做，因为这会激怒希尔比先生--他一直这样称呼他。我要赶回庄园，好像什么也没有发生，一切听其自然。我已经做了些准备，大约一周以后的某一天，我会出现在失踪名单中。所以，艾莉查，为我祷告吧，或许你的祷告会被上帝听到。" "O, pray yourself, George, and go trusting in him; then you won't do anything wicked."" 噢，乔治，请相信上帝吧，为自己祈祷，这样你就不会做坏事了。" "Well, now, _good-by_," said George, holding Eliza's hands, and gazing into her eyes, without moving. They stood silent; then there were last words, and sobs, and bitter weeping,--such parting as those may make whose hope to meet again is as the spider's web,--and the husband and wife were parted." 好的，再见吧。"乔治说。他紧握着艾莉查的双手，深情地注视着她的双眸，但他却没有动。他们只是静静地站着，然后悄然话别，他们哭泣着，痛哭着。他们是那样的舍不得分离，就像蛛网一样难以割断。这一对小夫妻就这样分别了。 
汤姆叔叔的小屋是一所用圆木盖成的小房子，紧挨着"大宅"（黑人通常这样称呼主人的住宅）。小屋前有个小园子，在主人的精心栽培和浇灌下，每逢夏季，里面便长满了草莓、木莓，以及各种各样的水果蔬菜。园子的前面被错综交织的比格诺亚藤条和当地的多花玫瑰所覆盖，就连横放在园子前面的园木也被遮住了。这里，每到夏天，万寿菊、矮牵牛花和紫茉莉等鲜花就在园子的一个角落里竞相开放，所有这些无不令克鲁伊大婶喜悦和自豪。 Let us enter the dwelling. The evening meal at the house is over, and Aunt Chloe, who presided over its preparation as head cook, has left to inferior officers in the kitchen the business of clearing away and washing dishes, and come out into her own snug territories, to "get her ole man's supper"; therefore, doubt not that it is her you see by the fire, presiding with anxious interest over certain frizzling items in a stew-pan, and anon with grave consideration lifting the cover of a bake-kettle, from whence steam forth indubitable intimations of "something good." A round, black, shining face is hers, so glossy as to suggest the idea that she might have been washed over with white of eggs, like one of her own tea rusks. Her whole plump countenance beams with satisfaction and contentment from under her well-starched checked turban, bearing on it, however, if we must confess it, a little of that tinge of self-consciousness which becomes the first cook of the neighborhood, as Aunt Chloe was universally held and acknowledged to be. 让我们进屋看看吧。大宅里的晚餐已经结束，克鲁伊大婶作为领班厨师准备好晚餐后，把收拾碗筷等杂活交给其他仆人，回到了她自己的安乐窝来给老头烧饭来了。所以，在锅灶边忙碌的人一定是克鲁伊大婶无疑。她一会儿忙着在炖锅里炖着什么东西，一会儿又若有所思地揭开烤炉的盖子，顿时一股香气升腾而起，一看就是在烧好吃的东西。她圆圆的脸庞儿黝黑发亮，光光亮亮就像涂了一层蛋清似的，俨然就是她为茶点所做的小甜饼。她的头上戴着一个浆得笔挺的无沿帽，一张丰满的脸上，常挂着一丝满意的笑容。而且我们必须承认，对于附近首屈一指的厨师来说，脸上带着洋洋自得的神气也是一件很自然的事情。 A cook she certainly was, in the very bone and centre of her soul. Not a chicken or turkey or duck in the barn-yard but looked grave when they saw her approaching, and seemed evidently to be reflecting on their latter end; and certain it was that she was always meditating on trussing, stuffing and roasting, to a degree that was calculated to inspire terror in any reflecting fowl living. Her corn-cake, in all its varieties of hoe-cake, dodgers, muffins, and other species too numerous to mention, was a sublime mystery to all less practised compounders; and she would shake her fat sides with honest pride and merriment, as she would narrate the fruitless efforts that one and another of her compeers had made to attain to her elevation. 克鲁伊大婶浑身上下都透露出一种天生的厨师的神韵。当她走近时，空地上的鸡、鸭和火鸡无一不是担惊受怕，显然它们也意识到了自己即将面临的悲惨命运。而且克鲁伊大婶确实青睐于将鸡鸭的翅膀扎在身上、往鸡鸭腹中塞配料以及烹烤等事情，而这又使那些感觉敏锐的家禽深感恐惧。她做的玉米饼花样繁多，如锄形饼、多角饼、松饼以及其它名目众多的饼，这让那些经验不足的厨子觉得真是不可思议。 The arrival of company at the house, the arranging of dinners and suppers "in style," awoke all the energies of her soul; and no sight was more welcome to her than a pile of travelling trunks launched on the verandah, for then she foresaw fresh efforts and fresh triumphs. 客人的到来、酒席的置办，会引发她无穷的力量和精力；对她来说，没有什么比看到堆在门廓的一行行旅行箱更令她兴奋了。因为这时，她又可以大展厨技，再立新功了。 Just at present, however, Aunt Chloe is looking into the bake-pan; in which congenial operation we shall leave her till we finish our picture of the cottage. 这会儿，克鲁伊大婶正在向平底锅里端详着。我们就让她暂时沉浸于自己的快乐，趁此机会，我们仔细瞧一下她住的小屋吧。 
屋里的一角放着一张床，上面铺着一条洁白的床单。床边铺着一块相当面积的地毯。克鲁伊大婶站在地毯上，显示了她在这个庄园的上层身份。这地毯、床铺和这个小角落，都被给予了足够的重视，而且如果可能的话，这块地方是不容那些小机灵鬼们胡闹的。事实上，这个角落就是这家的客厅。在屋子的另一角，有一张粗陋得多的床，显然是供日常实用的。壁炉上方的墙上，是几幅《圣经》插图，旁边还挂着一幅华盛顿将军的肖像，其技法和色彩，如果将军偶然亲眼看到的话，肯定会目瞪口呆的。 On a rough bench in the corner, a couple of woolly-headed boys, with glistening black eyes and fat shining cheeks, were busy in superintending the first walking operations of the baby, which, as is usually the case, consisted in getting up on its feet, balancing a moment, and then tumbling down,--each successive failure being violently cheered, as something decidedly clever. 屋角的长凳上坐着两个卷发男孩，他们都有晶亮的黑眼睛和光润的脸蛋，此时，他们正在忙于教一个幼儿学步。正像其他的小儿一样，这个小家伙站起来，摇晃着没走几步，就一跤跌倒在地。她接连的失败受到了热烈的喝彩，好像是在观看绝妙的表演似的。 A table, somewhat rheumatic in its limbs, was drawn out in front of the fire, and covered with a cloth, displaying cups and saucers of a decidedly brilliant pattern, with other symptoms of an approaching meal. At this table was seated Uncle Tom, Mr. Shelby's best hand, who, as he is to be the hero of our story, we must daguerreotype for our readers. He was a large, broad-chested, powerfully-made man, of a full glossy black, and a face whose truly African features were characterized by an expression of grave and steady good sense, united with much kindliness and benevolence. There was something about his whole air self-respecting and dignified, yet united with a confiding and humble simplicity. 一张桌子摆在壁炉前，桌腿就像患了风湿病似的放不平稳，桌上铺着一张桌布，上面摆放着图案艳丽的茶杯托盘。一些其它迹象表明晚饭就要开始了。桌子旁边坐着希尔比先生最得力的仆人汤姆。他将是本书的主人公，所以我们要向读者仔细介绍一下他。他身材魁梧，胸膛宽广，身体强壮，皮肤黝黑发亮，他的脸庞是典型的非洲式的，他脸上表情严肃、稳重，同时又流露出善良和仁慈。他的神态显示出某种自尊，然而又显得对人坦诚，兼有忠厚和纯朴的气质。 He was very busily intent at this moment on a slate lying before him, on which he was carefully and slowly endeavoring to accomplish a copy of some letters, in which operation he was overlooked by young Mas'r George, a smart, bright boy of thirteen, who appeared fully to realize the dignity of his position as instructor. 这时他正在小心地、慢慢地往面前的石板上抄写字母。十三岁的小少爷乔治站在旁边指导着他。乔治聪明帅气，看来他正在充分享受当老师的尊严。 "Not that way, Uncle Tom,--not that way," said he, briskly, as Uncle Tom laboriously brought up the tail of his _g_ the wrong side out; "that makes a _q_, you see."" 不是那样写法，汤姆叔叔，不是那样写法，"看到汤姆把g的尾巴拐到了右边，乔治喊道，"看，你那样写就成q了。" 
哟，是吗？"汤姆应道。看着自己的小老师轻而易举地在石板上写了很多g和q，汤姆不禁又尊敬又羡慕。接着，汤姆用粗大的手指握住笔耐心地练习起来。 "How easy white folks al'us does things!" said Aunt Chloe, pausing while she was greasing a griddle with a scrap of bacon on her fork, and regarding young Master George with pride. "The way he can write, now! and read, too! and then to come out here evenings and read his lessons to us,--it's mighty interestin'!"" 白人做事情真是灵巧。"克鲁伊大婶说。她欣赏地赞美着小主人，待了一会，她又用叉子叉了块腊肉来给平锅抹上油。"你瞧他写字时轻松的样子！他还认识许多字，每晚读书给我们听，真是太有趣了。" "But, Aunt Chloe, I'm getting mighty hungry," said George. "Isn't that cake in the skillet almost done?"" 但是，克鲁伊大婶，我现在觉得饿了，你锅里的饼是否快烙好了。"乔治说道。 "Mose done, Mas'r George," said Aunt Chloe, lifting the lid and peeping in,--"browning beautiful--a real lovely brown. Ah! let me alone for dat. Missis let Sally try to make some cake, t' other day, jes to _larn_ her, she said. `O, go way, Missis,' said I; `it really hurts my feelin's, now, to see good vittles spilt dat ar way! Cake ris all to one side--no shape at all; no more than my shoe; go way!"" 快了，乔治少爷，"她掀开锅盖朝里看了一眼，"黄黄的，那颜色真好看。让我负责这事吧。那天，太太让莎莉试着去烙饼，她说，'噢，让莎莉去试一下。'我说，'算了，她把好好的粮食都糟蹋了，真是可惜。饼烙得坑坑洼洼，就像我的鞋子一样难看，我看她还是别再烙了。'"
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