The Death of a Great President
By Samuel Lover
Abraham Lincoln was born in the State of Kentucky in 1809. He won an elected seat on the Illinois state legislature in 1834 at the early age of twenty-five.
亚伯拉罕·林肯 1809 年诞生于肯塔基州。1834 年他只有 25 岁时就在伊利诺伊州的议会选举中获胜。
He joined the Republican Party in 1856, after having served for two years as a Representative in Congress. In 1860 he was elected sixteenth President of the United States.
他任国会的众议员两年后，于 1856 年加入共和党。1860 年，他当选为美国第 16 任总统。
Lincoln was re-elected President in 1864, but did not serve the full second term, as he was assassinated in 1865.
1864 年林肯连任总统，但第二任任期未满，即于 1865 年遇刺身亡。
One evening President Lincoln and a small party of his friends went to the theatre. When the president’s party entered the theatre, and was making its way behind the seats of the dress circle, the orchestra played “Hail to the Chief .” The people, rising in their seats and waving hats and hankerchiefs, cheered and cheered. And the actors on the stage stood silent. The party passed through the narrow entrance into the box, bowed and smiled to the crowd below. Mr Lincoln sat in a large armchair at the left, Mrs Lincoln next to him, Miss Harris next, and to the very right, a little behind Miss Harris, Major Rathbone; and then the play began.
一天晚上，林肯总统和他的几个朋友去剧场看戏。总统一行步入剧场，经过二层楼座座位后面时，乐队演奏《向领袖欢呼》的乐曲。观众都站了起来挥动帽子和手帕，不停地欢呼。演员们肃静地站在舞台上。总统一行通过狭窄的入口走进包厢，朝下面的人群鞠躬，微笑致意。林肯坐在左边一个大安乐椅上，他旁边坐着林肯夫人和海莉斯小姐。最后边靠海莉斯小姐稍后些的是拉思伯恩少校。坐定后，表演开始。
The party in the box was very pleased, it seemed, especially the Presi- dent, who laughed at the jokes and talked happily between the acts. He moved from his seat only once, rising then to put on his overcoat, for the theatre was cold. The other people there were also quite happy, though a few kept an eye on the box entrance, still expecting General Grant. The few whose eyes were on the box noticed, in the middle of the third act, that a man was passing behind the seats of the dress circle and approaching the entrance to the box. Those who did not know him noticed that he was quite handsome, though very pale; that was all. They did not look again. It was not General Grant.
包厢里的人似乎都很高兴，特别是总统。他在看到有趣的地方就笑起来，并在幕间谈笑风生。总统只有一次离开过座位。那是因为剧场里冷，他站起来穿上大衣。剧场里其他的人也很高兴，只是有几个人注视着包厢的入口，盼着格兰特将军的到来。当戏演到第三幕中间的时候，那几个盯着包厢的人看到一个男人从二层楼座后面穿过,走向包厢的入口。那些不认识他的人注意到他长得很英俊，但脸色苍白，仅此而已。他们没有再注意看。反正那个人不是格兰特将军。
No－one questioned his movements. He was a person in the theatre with free entrance to every corner. He had been there during the day; he had passed out and in once or twice during the evening.
没有人查问这个人的行动。他是剧院里的人，哪里都可以去。那天，他白天就去过剧院，傍晚曾出入剧院一两次。
The man seemed to know his way about and he soon slipped silently out of sight through the door leading into the passage behind the President’s box. He closed the door behind him, waited for a moment, then did a curious thing for a visitor to a theatre party. He picked up a piece of wood which he seemed to know was there. He slipped one end into a hole in the wall close to the door. The piece of wood went across the door, making a rough but strong bar. Turning to the door which led from the passage to the boxes, he may have looked through a small hole which had been made there. If he did, he saw a quiet party watching the play, the President just then smiling at something funny.
这个人看来熟门熟路，很快就悄悄地溜进通往总统包厢后面通道的门里不见了。他关上身后边的门，稍等了一会儿，然后干了一件作为一个和友人一起到剧院观剧的人来说是十分离奇的事。他捡起一根好像他事先就知道在那里的木 棍，把木棍的一端插进门旁的一个墙洞里，木棍横在门前，成为一根粗糙但结实的门闩。然后他转向包厢的门。他可能从门上原有的一个小孔往包厢里看了一下。如果他看了的话，他就会看见那里边的人都在静静地看戏,总统看到有趣的地方正在微笑。
Opening the door so quietly that no-one heard him, the man entered the box. Then if any eye in the theatre had looked, if one head in the box had been turned, it would have been seen that the man held a gun in his right hand, and that he raised it and aimed it steadily at the head of the smiling President.
他轻轻地打开了门，轻得没有人听到他的动静。他走进包厢。如果那时剧场里有人朝那里看,如果包厢里有人回一下头,就会看见这个人手里拿着一支枪,并看见他举起枪来，不偏不倚地瞄准了正在微笑的总统的头部。
No eye saw him, but a second later every ear heard a gunshot. Many people in the theatre thought it a part of the play. Those who knew the play, “Our American Cousin”, looked around in surprise to see where the sound came from. Only three people in the whole theatre knew just where it was—three of the four in the box knew it was there by their side. The fourth saw nothing, heard nothing, thought nothing. His head had fallen quietly on his breast, his arms had fallen too, and the smile was still on his lips.
没有人看见他。可是,，一秒钟以后每个人都听到一声枪响。很多人以为这是演出的一部分。但是知道这出叫作《我们的美国表兄弟》的戏的剧情的人，惊讶地向四周张望，想知道枪声来自何方。剧场里只有三个人——包厢里四个人中 的三个——知道事情就发生在他们的身边。那第四个人已经不能看，不能听，不能思考了。他的脑袋安详地耷拉在胸前，双臂下垂，嘴唇上笑容犹在。
文拓视野 译悦心灵
