双语美文｜林肯噩梦（节选）

A Nightmare

Apr. 11(1) Lincoln, Mrs. Lincoln, Col. Ward H. Lamon, a lawyer and presidential aide2, and 2 other friends, were spending the evening in conversation, when Lincoln suddenly began to discuss his dreams. “I had one the other night which has haunted3 me ever since,” he said. Mrs. Lincoln pressed him to repeat the dream. With an air of sadness, Lincoln began to recount4 it:

4 月 11 日，林肯、林肯夫人、沃德·H. 拉蒙上校、 一位担任总统助理的律师和另外两个朋友在晚上聊天的时候，林肯突然开始谈到他做过的梦。他说：几天前的一个夜晚我做了一个梦，怎么也忘不掉。” 林肯夫人催他把这个梦再说一遍。林肯神情黯然，开始说梦：

1 指1865年4月11日,即林肯遇刺前三天。

2 presidentialaide前没有冠词a,故 助理和律师是指同一个人。

3 缠住;萦绕。

4 叙述;详述。

“About 10 days ago I retired5 very late. I had been up waiting for important dispatches6 from the front. I could not have been long in bed when I fell into a slumber7, for I was weary. I soon began to dream. There seemed to be a deathlike stillness about me. Then I heard subdued sobs, as if a number of people were weeping. I thought I left my bed and wandered downstairs. There the silence was broken by some pitiful sobbing, but the mourners were invisible. I went from room to room; no living person was in sight, but the same mournful sounds of distress met me as I passed along. It was light in all the rooms; every object was familiar to me; but where were all the people who were grieving as if their hearts would break? I was puzzled and alarmed. What could be the meaning of all this?

“大约十天以前，我很晚才睡，因为我一直在等着从前线来的重要公文。上床不一会儿，我就睡着了，因为我很疲倦。我很快做起梦来。我周围似乎是死一般的寂静。接着我听到压低了的啜泣声，好像有一些人在流泪。我好像下了床，走下楼去。一阵令人怜悯的啜泣声打破了那里的寂静，但是看不见哭泣的人。我从一个房间走到又一个房间，没有见到一个活人，但是我在走过的地方都听到同样的哀伤的声音。所有的房间都是明亮的，每一件东西我都很熟悉，但是所有那些哀伤得好像快要心碎的人在哪里呢？我感到困惑和恐惧。这一切是怎么一回事呢？

5 就寝。

6 急件;公 文急报;快信。

7 入睡。

Determined to find the cause of a state of things so mysterious and shocking8, I kept on until I arrived at the East Room, which I entered. There I met with a sickening9 surprise. Before me was a catafalque, on which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments10. Around it were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards11; and there was a throng of people12, some gazing mournfully upon the corpse, whose face was covered, others weeping pitifully. ‘Who is dead in the White House?’ I demanded of 13 one of the soldiers. ‘The President,’ was his answer; ‘he was killed by an assassin14’! Then came a loud burst of grief from the crowd, which awoke me from my dream. I slept no more that night; and although it was only a dream, I have been strangely annoyed by it ever since.”

我决心弄清造成这种神秘而令人震惊的局面的原因，于是我一直向前走，到了东厅才停了下来，然后走了进去。我在那里出乎意料地遇到了一种令人作呕的景象。一个灵柩台出现在我面前，上面躺着一个裹着葬服的尸体。在灵柩台周围肃立着充当警卫的士兵。旁边站着一群人，有人带着哀伤的眼光凝视面部被覆盖的尸体，有人在伤心地流着眼泪。我向一个士兵问道：“白宫里什么人死了？”他回答说：“总统死了。他是被暗杀死的！”接着人群中爆发出强烈的哭声，把我从梦中惊醒。那天晚上我再也睡不着了。虽然这只是一场梦，但不知为何我这几天一直被这场梦弄得心绪不宁。”

8 过去分词短语,在此处表示原因。

9 使作呕;使生病;使厌恶。

10 外衣;祭衣。

11 为使引文紧凑而使用倒装句。

12 一群人。

13 要求知道;查问。

14 暗杀者; 行刺者(常指政治性的)。

“That is horrid” exclaimed Mrs. Lincoln. “I wish you had not told it15. I’m glad I don’t believe in dreams, or I should be in terror from this time forth16.”

林肯夫人大声说：“真可怕！你不说就好了。幸好我不相信梦，否则我这一辈子都要不得安宁了。”

15 虚拟语气。“但愿你没有说过这样的话”。

16 从现在开始。

“Well, it is only a dream, Mary. Let us say no more about it, and try to forget it.”

林肯说：“哦，这只是一场梦，玛丽。我们不要再提它了，把它忘掉吧。”

Later that night, alone, Colonel Lamon wrote a record of the conversation.

那天晚上晚些时候，拉蒙上校独自记录下这次谈话的内容。

文拓视野 译悦心灵