Unit 3 A Hanging 课文翻译

1、【精品文档】如有侵权，请联系网站删除，仅供学习与交流Unit 3 A Hanging 课文翻译.精品文档.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 wa

2、s quite bare 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 brough

3、t out of his 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 handcuf

4、fs and fixed 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 rop

5、es, as though he hardly noticed what was happening.3.Eight o'clock 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 God's

6、sake hurry up, Francis," he said irritably. "The man ought to have been dead by this time. Aren't 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 sati

7、sfactorily prepared. The hangman is waiting. We shall proceed." 5."Well, quick march, then. The prisoners can't get their breakfast till this job's over."6.We set out for the gallows. Two warders marched on either side of the prisoner, with their rifles at the slope; two other

8、s marched close against him, gripping him by arm and shoulder, as though at once pushing and supporting 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

9、with his bound arms, but quite steadily. At each step his muscles slid neatly into place, the lock 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 th

10、e path.8.It is curious, but till that moment I had never realized what it means to destroy a healthy, 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 al

11、ive just as we are alive. All the organs of his body were working - bowels digesting food, skin renewing 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 seco

12、nd to live. His eyes saw the yellow gravel and the gray walls, and his brain still remembered, foresaw, 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 wo

13、uld be gone - one mind less, one world less.9.The gallows stood in a small yard. The hangman, a gray-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 mor

14、e closely than ever, half led half pushed him to the gallows and helped him clumsily up the ladder. Then the hangman climbed up and fixed the rope around the prisoner's neck.10.We stood waiting, five yards away. The warders had formed a rough circle round the gallows. And then, when the noose wa

15、s fixed, the prisoner began crying out to his god. It was a high, reiterated cry of "Ram! Ram! Ram! Ram!" 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. Minute

16、s seemed to pass. The steady crying from the prisoner went on and on, "Ram! Ram! Ram!" never faltering for an instant. 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, pe

17、rhaps, or a hundred. Everyone had changed color. The Indians had gone gray like bad coffee, and one or two of the bayonets were 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

18、 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 inspect the prisoner's body. He was dangling with his toes pointing straight downward. Very slowly revolving, as dead as a stone.14.The superintendent reache

19、d out with his stick and poked the bare brown body; it oscillated slightly. "He's all right," said the superintendent. He backed out from under the 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 mi

20、nutes past eight. Well, that's all for this morning, thank God." 15. The warders unfixed bayonets and marched away. We walked out of the gallows yard, past the condemned cells with their waiting prisoners, into the big central yard of the prison. The convicts were already receiving their br

21、eakfast. 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 the 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

22、, 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 friend (he meant the dead man) when he heard his appeal had been dismissed, he pissed on the floor of his cell. From fri

23、ght. 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 walking by the superintendent, talking garrulously, "Well, sir, all has passed off with the utmost satisfa

24、ctoriness. 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 prisoner's legs to ensure decease. Most disagreeable."19."Wriggling about, eh? That's bad," said the superint

25、endent.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 pulling at each leg."21.I found that I was laughing quite loudly. Ever

26、yone was laughing. Even the superintendent grinned in a tolerant way. "You'd better all come and have a drink," he said quite genially. "I've got a bottle of whiskey in the car. We could do with it."22.We went through the big double gates of the prison into the road. &quo

27、t;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 was a hundred ya

28、rds away. 1.那是发生在缅甸的事情。在一个很潮湿的雨季清晨，我们都在死囚牢房外面等着，一排小屋的门上加了双根铁条，就像小动物的笼子。每间牢房大约10英寸见方，里面只有一张木板床和一个盛饮水的罐儿。有几间里，棕色皮肤的人默默无声地蹲在里面一间的铁条后面，身上披着毯子。这些都是死囚，在一两周以内将被处以绞刑。2.有个囚犯从他的牢房里被带了出来。他是个印度教徒，身材瘦小，弱不禁风，头顶剃得光光的，双眼水汪汪的，浑浊无神。六个高大的印度狱卒看着他，准备送他上绞刑架。其中两个手持上了刺刀的长枪，站在旁边，其余几个给他戴上手铐，从手铐中穿上一根链条系在他们的皮带上，再把他的手臂紧紧地捆在他身体的

29、两侧。狱卒们团团站在他周围，手都小心地紧握住他，似乎在抚摸他，时刻确信人就在那儿。然而，囚犯毫无反抗地站着，双臂耷拉地让绳子捆着，似乎他并没有注意将要发生的事情。3.八点钟的钟声响起，从远处的军营传来一阵军号声。监狱长站在我们的外围，闷闷不乐地用手杖戳了戳沙砾地面，随着传来的声响抬起头来。“天哪，快点儿，法朗西斯，”他焦躁地说道。“这家伙此刻早该死啦。你还没有准备好吗？”4.法朗西斯是狱卒小队长，一个胖胖的达罗毗荼人，身穿白色的斜纹布制服，还戴副金丝边眼镜，挥了挥黑色的手。“好了，好了，监狱长，”他反反复复地说道。“万事俱备。绞刑手等着呢。我们马上动手。”5.“行，听好了，齐步走。等这活儿干完

30、，囚犯们才可以吃早饭。”6.我们向绞刑架走去。各有两名狱卒走在死囚左右两边，掮着长枪；另外两名紧靠着他，死死地抓住他的手臂和肩膀，似推似扶着他。我们其余的人，像执法官一类的，跟在后面。7.在离绞刑架大约40码的地方，我眼望着那死囚光着膀子的棕颜色脊背，走在我的前面。他双臂被捆着，走起路来虽不灵活，但稳稳的。身上的肌肉与迈出的步伐很协调，脑袋上的那簇头发上下跳跃，双脚在潮湿的沙砾地面上留下脚印。有一次，尽管两个肩膀被人紧握着，他稍稍地向一旁迈出一小步，为了避开小道上的水坑。8.真奇怪，在那一刻之前，我从来没有意识到把一个活生生的、身体健康的人置于死地是怎么回事。等看到那死囚为了避开水坑向旁边侧一

31、步的时候，我发现了将一个正当壮年的生命戛然结束的神秘，那是一种无以言表的错误。那个人不是生命垂危，他活着，像我们一样活着。他身体里的所有器官还在运作肠子在消化食品、皮肤在自我更新、指甲在生长、细胞组织在形成全在一本正经地、愚蠢地忙碌着。他站在那块活动踏板上的时候，指甲还在长；当他从空中落下来的时候，他还有十分之一秒的时间活着。他的双眼将看见黄颜色的沙砾地面和灰颜色的墙壁，他的头脑仍然会记忆、预见和思考甚至会思考那个水坑。他和我们是一起向前走的一群人，看见、听见、感觉、理解同一个世界。然而，两分钟后，突然咔嗒一声，我们当中有一个将死去少了一个头脑，少了一个世界。9.绞刑架竖立在一个小院子里。绞刑

32、手是个满头花白头发的囚犯，身穿监狱里白颜色的囚服，在那台机器旁等候着。我们走进去时，他奴颜婢膝地向我们躬身致意。随着法朗西斯的一句话，两名狱卒靠得更近地抓住死囚，半拉半推地把他带到绞刑架，笨手笨脚地帮他爬上扶梯。然后，绞刑手也爬上去，将绞索套在死囚的脖子上。10.我们在五码开外的地方等着。狱卒们围着绞刑架一圈站开。接着，等绞索套好后，死囚开始向他的神喊叫起来。声音很高，反复地喊着“罗摩！罗摩！罗摩！罗摩！”，不像焦急恐惧求救的祈祷或喊叫，倒是一声接一声，很有节奏感，像击钟的声音。11.绞刑手爬了下来，站立着手握杠杆，准备就绪。好像又过了几分钟。死囚发出的那一声接一声呼喊还在继续。“罗摩！罗摩！罗摩！”一刻儿都不停顿。监狱长的脑袋低垂在胸前，慢慢地用手杖戳