Young Goodman Brown 年轻的布朗大爷

[美]纳撒尼尔·霍桑（Nathaniel Hawthorne）

在这篇小说里，霍桑写了早年的新英格兰，故事主人公去出席在半夜举行的魔鬼聚会，发现在座的不仅有镇上所有德高望重的人，甚至还有他的妻子费思……

Young Goodman Brown came forth at sunset into the street at Salem village;but put his head back, after crossing the thresh old, to exchange a parting kiss with his young wife. And Faith, as the wife was aptly named, thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap while she called to Goodman Brown.

“Dearest heart,”whispered she, softly and rather sadly, when her lips were close to his ear,“prithee put off your journey until sunrise and sleep in your own bed tonight. A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts that she's afeard of herself sometimes.Pray tarry with me this night, dear husband, of all nights in the year.”

“My love and my Faith,”replied young Goodman Brown,“of all nights in the year, this one night must I tarry away from thee. My journey, as thou callest it, forth and back again, must needs be done twixt now and sunrise.What, my sweet, pretty wife, dost thou doubt me already, and we but three months married?”

“Then God bless yo u!”said Faith, with the pink ribbons;“and may you find all well when you come back.”

“Ame n!”cried Goodman Brown,“Say thy prayers, dear Faith, and go to bed at dusk, and no harm will come to thee.”

So they parted;and the young man pursued his way until, being about to turn the corner by the meeting-house, he looked back and saw the head of Faith still peeping after him with a melancholy air, in spite of her pink ribbons.

“Poor little Faith!”thought he, for his heart smote him.“What a wretch am I to leave her on such an erran d!She talks of dreams, too. Me thought as she spoke there was trouble in her face, as if a dream had warned her what work is to be done tonight.But no;no;‘t would kill her to think it.Well, she's a blessed angel on earth;and after this one night I'll cling to her skirts and follow her to heaven.”

With this excellent resolve for the future, Goodman Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose. He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind.It was all as lonely as could be, and there is this peculiarity in such a solitude, that the traveler knows not who may be concealed by the innumerable trunks and the thick boughs overhead, so that with lonely footsteps he may yet be passing through an unseen multitude.

“There may be a devilish Indian behind every tree,”said Goodman Brown to himself;and he glanced fearfully behind him as he added,“What if the devil himself should be at my very elbo w!”

His head being turned back, he passed a crook of the road, and, looking forward again, beheld the figure of a man, in grave and decent attire, seated at the foot of an old tree. He arose at Goodman Brown's approach and walked onward side by side with him.

年轻的布朗大爷在落日时分出现在塞勒姆村的街上，他走出去又返回来，跟年轻的妻子吻别。妻子名叫费思，这时她把自己美丽的头伸过来，在她叫布朗大爷时，任风吹拂着软帽上的粉红色缎带。

“亲爱的心肝儿，”等她的嘴唇凑近他的耳朵时，她温柔地、伤感地小声说，“请你把这次旅程推迟到日出以后，今儿晚上还是在自家的床上安歇吧。一个孤独的女人常受到噩梦和忧虑的烦扰。在一年里所有的夜晚中，亲爱的丈夫，今夜请你留下陪着我吧。”

“我亲爱的费思，”年轻的布朗大爷回答，“在一年里所有的夜晚中，我这一夜必须离开。我的往返旅程，如同你所说的，必须在现在和日出之间结束。怎么，我亲爱又美丽的妻子，你是在怀疑我吗，我们结婚才不过三个月啊？”

“那么，愿上帝降福给你！”扎着粉红色缎带的费思说，“愿你回来时，发觉一切顺遂。”

“阿门！”布朗大爷喊了一声，“你祈祷吧，亲爱的费思，黄昏时分就上床睡觉，不会有事的。”

就这样，他们分别了。年轻人起程上路。后来在那个聚所旁边准备拐弯时，他回头看了一下，看见费思仍然带着一种忧郁的神情在注视着他，根本不顾那条粉红色的缎带。

“可怜的小费思！”他想着，因此他心里十分难受，“我撇下她去办这样一件事，是多么卑鄙啊！她还谈到做梦。我觉得她说的时候，很是不悦，仿佛有一场梦事先已经告诉了她今天这个夜晚将要出什么事。可是，不，不；想着它会送了她的性命的。嘿，她是世上一位幸运的天使。过了这一夜，我就跟她去天堂。”

对于未来做出了这一美好的决定之后，布朗觉得可以心安理得地赶紧去了结眼下这邪恶的勾当了。他走的是一条沉寂的道路，树林里所有最幽暗的树木把这条路遮得一片漆黑。那些树木长得密密匝匝，简直不容这条羊肠小道穿过，而且总在后面立刻就又合拢了起来。四下里一片凄凉，在这样的落寞中，行路人并不知道那些树和粗枝上可能隐藏着些什么人，所以他迈着孤单的步伐，可能还在经过一大群隐而不现的人哩。

“也许每棵树后面都藏着一个凶恶的印第安人。”布朗大爷暗自这么说。他满怀恐惧地朝身后瞥了一眼，又加上一句：“要是魔鬼本人就在我的身旁，那可怎么办！”

他回头张望着，走到了一个拐弯处，然后又朝前望去，看见一个穿着朴实大方的人，坐在一棵老树的脚下。当布朗大爷走近时，他站起身来，和他并排朝前走去。

实战提升

作者介绍

纳撒尼尔·霍桑（1804—1864），美国小说家。霍桑是清教徒的后裔，深受道德洗礼。他的作品包括《我的亲属，莫理斯上校》《罗杰·马尔文的葬礼》《年轻的布朗大爷》和被列入“美国最好小说”的《红字》等。他是一位文学艺术家，也是寓言兼象征主义大师，他被称为“美国最伟大的小说家”。

单词注解

exchange[iks5tFeindV]n./v.交换；调换；兑换

melancholy[5melEnkEli]n.忧思，愁思

excellent[5eksElEnt]adj.出色的；杰出的；优等的

decent[5di:snt]adj.正派的；合乎礼仪的

名句大搜索

一个孤独的女人常受到噩梦和忧虑的烦扰。

他走的是一条沉寂的道路，树林里所有最幽暗的树木把这条路遮得一片漆黑。那些树木长得密密匝匝，简直不容这条羊肠小道穿过，而且总在后面立刻就又合拢了起来。

他回头张望着，走到了一个拐弯处，然后又朝前望去，看见一个穿着朴实大方的人，坐在一棵老树的脚下。