百万英镑
When I was twentyseven years old， I was a miningbrokers clerkclerk n.职员， 办事员， <美> 店员 in San Francisco， and an expert in all the details of stock traffic. I was alone in the world， and had nothing to depend upon but my wits and a clean reputationreputation n.名誉， 名声， but these were setting my feet in the road to eventual fortunefortune n.财富， 运气， 大量财产， 好运， 命运 vt.<古>偶然发生 vt.给……以大宗财富， and I was content with the prospect.
二十七岁那年，我正给旧金山的一个矿业经济人打工，把证券交易所的门槛摸得清清楚楚。我是只身混世界，除了自己的聪明才智和一身清白，就再也没什么可依靠的了；不过，这反倒让我脚踏实地，不做那没影儿的发财梦，死心塌地奔自己的前程。
My time was my own after the afternoon board， Saturdays， and I was accustomed to put it in on a little sailboat on the bay. One day I venturedventure n.冒险， 投机， 风险 v.冒险， 冒昧， 斗胆， 胆敢（谦语） too far， and was carried out to sea. Just at nightfall， when hope was about gone， I was picked up by a small brig which was bound for London. It was a long and stormystormy adj.暴风雨的， 多风暴的， 激烈的， 暴怒的， 有暴风雨的 voyagevoyage n.航程， 航空， 航海记， 旅行记 vi.航海， 航行vt.渡过， 飞过， and they made me work my passage without pay， as a common sailor. When I stepped ashore in London my clothes were ragged and shabbyshabby adj.破旧的， 褴褛的， 低劣的， 卑鄙的， 不公平的， and I had only a dollar in my pocket. This money fed and sheltered me twentyfour hours. During the next twentyfour I went without food and shelter.
每到星期六下午股市收了盘，时间就全都是我自己的了，我喜欢弄条小船到海湾里去消磨这些时光。有一天我驶得远了点儿，漂到了茫茫大海上。正当夜幕降临，眼看就要没了盼头的时候，一艘开往伦敦的双桅帆船搭救了我。漫漫的旅途风狂雨暴，他们让我以工代票，干普通水手的活儿。到伦敦上岸的时候，我鹑衣百结，兜里只剩了一块钱。连吃带住，我用这一块钱顶了二十四个小时。再往后的二十四个小时里，我就饥肠辘辘，无处栖身了。
About ten oclock on the following morning， seedyseedy adj.多种子的， 结籽的， 破旧的， 褴褛的， 不适的 and hungry， I was dragging myself along Portland Place， when a child that was passing， towed by a nursemaid， tossed a luscious big pearminus one biteinto the gutter. I stopped， of course， and fastenedfasten vt.扎牢， 扣住， 闩住， 拴紧， 使固定， 系， 集中于，强加于 vi.扣紧， 抓住 my desiring eye on that muddy treasure. My mouth watered for it， my stomach craved it， my whole being begged for it. But every time I made a move to get it some passing eye detecteddetect vt.察觉， 发觉， 侦查， 探测v.发现 my purpose， and of course I straightened up then， and looked indifferent， and pretended that I hadnt been thinking about the pear at all. This same thing kept happening and happening， and I couldnt get the pear. I was just getting desperatedesperate adj.不顾一切的， 拼死的， 令人绝望的 enough to brave all the shame， and to seize it， when a window behind me was raised， and a gentleman spoke out of it， saying： “Step in here， please.”
第二天上午大约十点钟光景，我破衣烂衫，饿着肚子正沿波特兰大道往前蹭。这时候，一个保姆领着孩子路过，那孩子把手上刚咬了一口的大个儿甜梨扔进了下水道。不用说，我停了下来，满含欲望的眼光罩住了那个脏兮兮的宝物儿。我口水直淌，肚子里都伸出手来，全心全意地乞求这个宝贝儿。可是，只要我刚一动弹，想去拣梨，总有一双过路的火眼金睛明察秋毫。我自然又站得直直的，没事人一样，好像从来就没在那个烂梨身上打过主意。这出戏演了一回又一回，我就是得不着那个梨。我受尽煎熬，正打算放开胆量、撕破脸皮去抓梨的时候，我身后的一扇窗子打开了，一位先生从里面发话：“请到这儿来。”
I was admitted by a gorgeousgorgeous adj.华丽的， 灿烂的 flunkeyflunkey n.穿制服的仆役， 谄媚者， and shown into a sumptuous room where a couple of elderly gentlemen were sitting. They sent away the servant， and made me sit down. They had just finished their breakfast， and the sight of the remains of it almost overpoweredoverpower vt.制服， 压倒， 供给……过强的力量 me. I could hardly keep my wits together in the presence of that food， but as I was not asked to sample it， I had to bear my trouble as best I could.
一个衣着华丽的仆人把我接了进去，领到一个豪华房间，里头坐着两位上了岁数的绅士。他们打发走仆人，让我坐下。他们刚刚吃了早餐，看着那些残羹剩饭，我简直透不过气来。有这些吃的东西在场，我无论如何也集中不了精力，可是人家没请我品尝，我也只好尽力忍着。
Now， something had been happening there a little before， which I did not know anything about until a good many days afterwards， but I will tell you about it now. Those two old brothers had been having a pretty hot argument a couple of days before， and had ended by agreeing to decide it by a bet， which is the English way of settling everything.
这里刚刚发生过的事，我是过了好多天以后才明白的，不过现在我就马上说给你听。这对老兄弟为一件事已经有两天争得不可开交了，最后他们同意打个赌来分出高低——无论什么事英国人靠打赌都能一了百了。
You will remember that the Bank of England once issued two notes of a million pounds each， to be used for a special purpose connected with some public transactiontransaction n.办理， 处理， 会报， 学报， 交易， 事务， 处理事务 with a foreign country. For some reason or other only one of these had been used and canceled， the other still lay in the vaults of the Bank. Well， the brothers， chatting along， happened to get to wondering what might be the fate of a perfectly honest and intelligent stranger who should be turned adriftadrift adv.漂浮着， 随波逐流地 adj.漂泊的 in London without a friend， and with no money but that millionpound banknote， and no way to account for his being in possessionpossession n.拥有， 占有， 所有， 着迷， 领土， 领地， 财产（常用复数）， 自制 of it. Brother A said he would starve to death， Brother B said he wouldnt. Brother A said he couldnt offer it at a bank or anywhere else， because he would be arrestedarrest vt.逮捕， 拘留， 吸引 n.逮捕， 拘留 on the spot. So they went on disputing till Brother B said he would bet twenty thousand pounds that the man would live thirty days， anyway， on that million， and keep out of jail， too. Brother A took him up. Brother B went down to the Bank and bought that note. Just like an Englishman， you see， pluck to the backbonebackbone n.脊椎， 中枢， 骨干， 支柱， 意志力， 勇气， 毅力， 决心。 Then he dictated a letter， which one of his clerks wrote out in a beautiful round hand， and then the two brothers sat at the window a whole day watching for the right man to give it to.
你也许记得，英格兰银行曾经发行过两张一百万英镑的大钞，用于和某国公对公交易之类的特殊目的。不知怎么搞的，这两张大钞只有一张用过后注销了；另一张则一直躺在英格兰银行的金库里睡大觉。且说这两兄弟聊着聊着，忽发奇想：假如一位有头脑、特诚实的外地人落难伦敦，他举目无亲，除了一张百万英镑的大钞以外一无所有，而且他还没法证明这张大钞就是他的——这样的一个人会有怎样的命运呢？大哥说这人会饿死；弟弟说饿不死。大哥说，别说去银行了，无论去哪儿这人也花不掉那张大钞，因为他会当场被抓住。兄弟两个就这样争执不下，后来弟弟说他愿出两万镑打赌，这人靠百万英镑大钞无论如何也能活三十天，而且进不了监狱。大哥同意打赌，弟弟就到英格兰银行把大钞买了回来。你看，英国男子汉就是这样，魄力十足。然后，他口述一信，叫一个文书用漂亮的楷体字誊清；然后，两兄弟在窗前坐了整整一天，巴望来一个能消受大钞的合适人选。