-
简介
总是希望和周围的朋友攀比，
这是人
类的一大弱点。
如果他们有钱，
我们也
希望有钱。
如果他们很穷，
那么我们也不在乎同样受穷。
我们不会因为自己的愚
蠢而羞愧，我们只会因为比周围的朋友更蠢才感
到羞愧。这就是“人比人”的问
题。
其实这里还有
“往前看”
的问题。
我们无所谓错过什么，
假如从未期待拥有。
我们也不会因为贫穷而失望，既然我们不曾指望富有。
匹普又穷又没受过什么教育，
但好在他的朋友们也都一样。
对他们来说，
这
并没有什么；这就是生活的本来面目
。然而，一旦匹普得知他有“远大前程”
，
他开始不再安分了。
他羞于与自己的伙伴们为伍，他甚至还自惭形秽。他的“前程”显然有摧毁
< br>他的生活的“危险”
。
查尔斯·狄更斯（
1812
—
1870
）是英国
最伟大的小说家之一。尽管出生清贫
（他父亲因负债而入狱）
，
他却在有生之年获得盛名而且富有。
人物介绍
Pip
匹普又名
< br>Handel
汉德尔；教名菲利普
Abel Magwitch
，
a
convict
阿伯尔·马格韦契，一名罪犯
Mrs
Joe Gargery
，
Joe's wife and
Pip's sister
乔·葛吉瑞夫人，乔的妻子，匹普
的
姐姐
Joe Gargery
，
the
village blacksmith
乔·葛吉瑞，乡村铁匠
Compeyson
，
a
convict
康培生，一名罪犯
Mr
Pumblechook
，
Joe's
uncle
潘波趣先生，乔的舅舅
Mr
Wopsle
，
church
clerk
伍甫赛先生，教堂里的办事员
Biddy
，
Mr Wopsle's
young cousin
毕蒂，伍甫赛先生的表妹
Miss Havisham
郝薇香小姐
Estella
，
adopted
by Miss
Havisham
艾丝黛拉，被郝薇香小姐收养
Herbert Pocket
赫伯特·朴凯特
Matthew
Pocket
，
Herbert's
father
马修·朴凯特，赫伯特的父亲
Orlick
奥立克
Mr
Jaggers
，
a London
lawyer
贾格斯先生，一名伦敦律师
Mr
Wemmick
，
Mr Jaggers
’
clerk
文米克先生，贾格斯先生的雇员
Bentley
Drummle
本特利·朱穆尔
Startop
史达多蒲
Miss
Skiffins
，
engaged to
Wemmick
斯基芬小姐，已与文米克先生有婚约
The
aged parent
，
or the
Aged
，
Wemmick's father
年老的父亲，或老年人，文
米克的父亲
1 Pip meets a
stranger
My first name was
Philip
，
but when I was a
small child I could only manage to
say
Pip
．
So Pip was what every-
body called me
．
I lived in a
small village in Essex with
my
sister
，
who was over twenty
years older than me
，
and
married to Joe Gargery
，
the
village
blacksmith
．
My
parents
had
died
when
I
was
a
baby
，
so
I
could
not
remember them at
all
，
but quite often I used
to visit the churchyard
，
abut
a mile
from the
village
，
to look at their
names on their gravestones
．
My
first memory is of sitting on a gravestone in that
church-yard one cold
，
grey
，
December
afternoon
，
looking out at the
dark
，
flat
，
wild marshes divided by the black
line
of
the
River
Thames
，
and
listening
to
the
rushing
sound
of
the
sea
in
the
distance
．
‘
Don't say a
word
！
’
cried a
terrible voice
，
as a man
jumped up from among the
graves and
caught hold of
me
．
‘
If you shout
I'll cut your
throat
！
’
He was a
big man
，
dressed all in
grey
，
with an iron chain on
his leg
．
His clothes were wet
and torn
．
He
looked
exhausted
，
and
hungry
，
and very
fierce
．
I had never been so
frightened in my
whole
life
．
‘
Oh<
/p>
！
Don't cut my throat
，
sir
！
’
I begged in terror
．
‘
Tell me your name
，
boy
！
Quick
！
’
he
said
，
still holding
me
．
‘
And show me
where you
live
！
’
‘
My name's Pip
，
sir
．
And I live in
the village over
there
．
’
He
picked me up and turned me upside-
down
．
Nothing fell out of my
pocket
except a piece of old
bread
．
He ate it in two
bites
，
like a
dog
，
and put me back on the
gravestone
．
‘
So where are your father
and mother
？’
he
asked
．
‘
The
re
，
sir
，
’
I
answered
，
pointing to their
graves
．
‘
Wha
t
！
’
he
cried
，
and
was
about
to
run
，
when
he
saw
where
I
was
pointing
．
‘
Oh
！
’
he
said
．
‘
I see
．
They're dea
d
．
Well
，
who do you live with
，
if I
let you
live
，
which I haven't decided
yet
？’
‘
With my sister
，<
/p>
sir
，
wife of Joe
Gargery
，
the
blacksmith
．
’
Blacksmith
，
you
say
？
And he looked down at
his leg
．
Then he held me by
both
arms and stared fiercely down into
my eyes
．
‘
Now
look here
．
You bring me a
file
．
You know what that
is
？
And you bring me
some food
．
If you
don't
，
or if you tell anyone
about me
，
I'll cut your heart
out
．
’
‘
I
promise I'll do it
，
sir
，
’
I
answered
．
I was badly fright
ened and my whole body
was trembling .
‘
You
see
，
’
he
continued
，
smiling
unpleasantly
，
‘
I
travel with a young man
，
a
friend of mine
，
who roasts
boys
’
hearts and eats
them
．
He'll find
you
，
wherever
you
are
，
and he'll have your
heart
．
So bring the file and
the food to that wooden
shelter over
there
，
early tomorrow
morning
，
if you want to keep
your heart
，
that is
Remember
，
you
promised
！
’
I
watched
him
turn
and
walk
with
difficulty
across
the
marshes
，
the
chain
hanging clumsily
around his leg
．
Then I ran
home as fast as I could
．
My
sister
，
Mrs Joe
Gargery
，
was very proud of
the fact that she had brought me
up
‘
by
hand
’
．
Nobody
explained to me what this
meant
，
and because she had a
hard
and heavy
hand
，
which she used freely
on her husband as well as
me
，
I supposed
that Joe and I were both brought up by
hand
．
She was not a beautiful
woman
，
being
tall
and thin
，
with black hair and
eyes and a very red face
．
She
clearly felt that Joe
and I caused her
a lot of trouble
，
and she
frequently complained about it
．
< br>Joe
，
on the
other hand
，
was a
gentle
，
kind man with fair
hair and weak blue eyes
，
who
quietly
accepted her
scolding
．
Because Joe and
I were in the same position of being scolded by
Mrs Joe
，
we
were
good friends
，
and Joe
protected me from her anger whenever he
could
．
So
when I
ran breathless into the
kitchen
，
he gave me a
friendly
warning
．
‘
She's
out
look-ing for you
，
Pip
！
And she's got the
stick with
her
！
’
This stick
had been used so
often for beating me
that it was now quite
smooth
．
Just then Mrs
Joe rushed in
．
‘
Where have you
been
，
you young
monkey
？
'she
shouted
．
I jumped behind Joe
to avoid being hit with the
stick
．
‘
Only to the
churchyard
，
’
I
whispered
，
starting to
cry
．
‘
Churchyard
！
If I hadn't brought you
up
，
you'd be in the
churchyard with our
parents
．
You'll
send me to the church-yard one
day
！
Now let me get your
supper
ready
，
both
of you
！
’
For
the
rest
of
the
evening
，
I
thought
of
nothing
but
the
stranger
on
the <
/p>
marshes
．
Sometimes<
/p>
，
as the wind blew round the
house
，
I imagined I heard his
voice
outside
，
and
I thought with horror of the young man who ate
boys
’
hearts
．
Just
before
I
went
to
bed
，
we
heard
the
sound
of
a
big
gun
on
the
marshes
．
‘
Was
that a gun
，
Joe
？’<
/p>
I asked
．
‘
Ah
！
'said
Joe
．
‘
Another
convict's escaped
．
One got
away last night
．
They always
fire the gun when one
escapes
．
’
‘
Who fires the
gun
？’
I
asked
．
Joe shook his head to
warn me
．
‘
Too
many questions
，
’
f
rowned my
sister
．
‘
If you
must know it's the men in the
prison-
ships who fire the
gun
．
’
‘
I
wonder who is put into prison-
ships
，
and
why
？’
I
asked
，
in a general
way
，
quietly desperate to
know the answer
．
This was too
much for Mrs Joe
．
‘
Listen
，
my
boy
，
I didn't bring you up by
hand
to
annoy
people
to
death
！
There
are
ships
on
the
river
which
are
used
as
prisons
．
People
who steal and murder are put in the prison-
ships
，
and they stay there
for years
sometimes
．
And they always
begin their life of crime by asking too many
questions
！
Now
，
go to
bed
！
’
I could not
sleep at all that night
．
I
was in terror of the young man who wanted
my heart
，
I was in
terror of the man with the iron
chain
，
I was in terror of my
sister
，
who would soon
discover I had stolen her
food
．
As soon as there was a
lit-tle light in
the sky outside my
window
，
I got up
and went qui-etly down to the
kitchen
．
I stole
some bread
，
cheese
and a big meat pie
，
hoping
that
，
as there was a lot of
food ready
for
Christmas
，
nobody would
notice what was missing
．
I
did not dare take the whole
brandy
bottle
，
so I poured some into
a smaller bottle to take away with
me
．
Then I
filled
up the brandy bottle with what I thought was water
from a big brown bottle
．
I
took a file from Joe's box of
tools
，
and ran out on to the
dark marshes
．
The mist was so
thick that I could not see
anything
．
Al-though I knew my
way to
the shelter very
well
，
I almost got lost this
time
．
I was near it when I
saw a man
sitting on the
ground
，
half
asleep
．
I went up and touched
his shoulder
．
He jumped
up
，
and it was the
wrong man
！
He was dressed in
grey
，
too
，
< br>and had an iron chain
on his
leg
．
He ran away into the
mist
．
‘
It's the young
man
！
’
I
thought
，
feeling a pain in my
heart
．
When I arrived
at the shelter
，
I found the
right man
．
He looked so cold
and
hungry that I felt sorry for
him
．
Trembling violently he
swallowed the brandy and ate
the food
like a hunt-ed
animal
，
looking around him
all the time for danger
．
‘
You're sure you didn't tell
anyone
？
Or bring
anyone
？’
‘
No<
/p>
，
sir
．
I'
m glad you're enjoying the food
，
sir
．
’
‘
Thank
you
，
my
boy
．
You've been good to a
poor man
．
’
‘
But I'm afraid there won't
be any left for
him
．
’
‘
Him
？
Who's that
？’
My
friend stopped in the middle of
eating
．
‘
The
young man who travels with
you
．
’
‘
Oh<
/p>
，
him
！
’<
/p>
he replied
，
smiling
．
‘
He doesn't want
any food
．
’
‘
I thought he looked rather
hungry
，
’
I
answered
．
He stared at me
in great surprise
．
‘
Looked
？
When
？’
‘
Just
now
，
over
there
．
I found him half
asleep and I thought it was
you
．
He was
dressed like you
，
and
—’
I was anxious to
express this politely
‘
-he
had the same
reason for wanting to
borrow a file
．
’
‘
Then I did hear them fire
the gun last night
！
You know<
/p>
，
boy
，
wh
en you're on
the marsh alone at
night
，
you imagine all kinds
of things
，
voices
calling
，
guns
firing
，
soldiers
marching
！
But show me where
this man went
．
I'll find him
and I'll fin-ish with
him
！
I'll smash
his face
！
Give me the file
first
．
’
I
was afraid of him now that he was angry
again
．
‘
I'm
sorry
，
I must go home
now
，
’
I
said
．
He did not seem to
hear
，
so I left him
bending over his leg and filing away at
his iron chain like a
madman
．
Halfway home I
stopped in the mist to
listen
，
and I could still
hear the sound of the file
．
1
匹普与一位陌生人相遇
我的教名叫菲利普，但是在我小时
候，我仅会说匹普。因此，匹普就成了大
家叫我的名字。我与姐姐住在埃森克斯的一个小
村庄，姐姐比我大
20
多岁，她
与村里
的铁匠乔·葛吉瑞结了婚。当我还是一个婴儿时，父母就离开了人间，所
以我记不得他们
的一切情况，
但是，
我常常去离村庄大约
1
英里的教堂墓地，
瞻
仰墓碑上他们
的名字。
我的最初记忆是在十二月份一个寒冷的、
天色阴沉的下午，
正坐在那个教堂
墓地的一块墓石上。看到
的是被那黑色泰晤士河分割成的一片黑压压的沼泽荒
地，听到的是从远处大海刮来的嗖嗖
呼啸声。
“别出声！
”一个凶恶的声音大喊起
来，这时，从墓地里窜出一个人来，一
把抓住我，
“安静点，不
然我割断你的喉咙！
”他身材高大，穿着一身灰色衣服，
腿上拴
着一副脚镣。
他的衣服湿淋淋的并且破烂不堪，
看上去筋疲力尽
、
饥寒交
迫、十分凶残的样子，在我一生中从没有见过如此可怕
的人。
“噢！先生，不要杀我！
”我害怕地乞求着。
< br>
“小子，告诉我你叫什么名字！快点！
”他仍然抓着我说，
‘
’指给我
`
看你
住在哪儿！
”
“先生，我叫匹普，我住在那边的村庄里。
< br>”
他抓起我，
又把我按倒在地。
我的口袋里除了一块剩面包则一无所有，
他狼
吞虎咽地吃下两口，又把我放回墓石上。
“那么，你的爸爸妈妈在哪儿？”他问道。
“先生
，在那儿，
”我指着那里的坟墓回答。
当他看
到我所指的地方时，
“什么！
”他叫起来拔腿就跑。
“噢！
”他说，
“我
明白
了，
他们已经死了。
嘿，
你跟谁一起生
活？但是，
我是否让你活着还没决定。
”
“
和我姐姐在一起，先生，铁匠乔·葛吉瑞的妻子。
”
“你说
，铁匠？”他低下头看看自己的腿，然后抱住我，用凶狠的眼光盯着
我的双眼。
“你看这儿，给我带把锉子来，你知道什么是锉吗？再给我弄点吃的，如果
你
办不到，或者把我的情况告诉别人，我会挖出你的心脏来。
”
“我保
证会做到的，先生。
”我回答说。我非常害怕，整个身体在颤抖。
“
你明白，
”他不高兴地冷笑着继续说，
“同我一起来的还有一个
年轻人，是
我的朋友，
他烤过小孩的心脏并把它们吃掉。
不管你在哪儿，
他都会找到你并吃
掉你的心脏
。所以，明天一大早，把带来的锉和食物送到那边的木制遮蔽体前。
如果你要活命的话，
那么，记住你的诺言！
”
我注视着他转过身去，
脚镣悬挂在笨拙的腿上。
踉踉跄跄地穿过沼泽地，
这
时我拼命地往家跑。
我的姐姐，乔·葛吉瑞夫人。事实
上，她以“亲手”把我带大感到很自豪，
没有人给我解释这意味着什么。因为，她有十分
厉害、粗糙有力的手，随便用在
她的丈夫及我的身上，我想像乔和我都是这样被“亲手抚
养”的。她不是一个漂
亮的女人，长得瘦高条，黑色的头发和眼睛，一副赤红的面孔。她
确实觉得乔和
我给她添了不少麻烦，
常常为这些发牢骚。
相反，
乔是一个和蔼、
心地善良的人。
长有金色的头发和浅蓝色的眼睛，老老实实地听从她的训斥。
因为我
和乔都处于被乔夫人责骂的地位，
我们俩是好朋友，
乔随时都在
保护
我免遭她的怒斥。
所以，
当我上气
不接下气地跑进厨房时，
他给了我一个友好的
忠告：
“她正在外面找你，
匹普！
她还拿了条棍子！
”
这条棍子过去常用来敲打我，
它现在是非
常光滑了。
正在这时，乔夫人闯了进来。
“到哪
里去了，你这个小淘气鬼？”她大叫着，我跳着躲到乔的背后，以避
开她棍子的毒打。<
/p>
“只去了教堂墓地，
”我小声嘟囔着，接着哭了起来。
“教堂墓地！
如果不是我照顾你，
你早就和我们的父母被埋
在教堂墓地里了。
有一天你会把我送到坟墓去！现在，我给你们准备晚餐，你们俩！
”
晚上休息时，我其它的事情都不想，只考虑沼泽地里那个陌生
人。有时，当
风在房屋周围掠过时，
我想自己听到外面他的声音
，
还想起吞吃小孩子心脏的那
个可怕的年轻人。
我刚要睡觉，
我们听到从沼泽地传来的一阵枪声。
“
乔，
那枪声是干什么的？”
我问道。
“噢！
”乔说，
“又有一个囚犯逃走了，昨晚上有一
个囚犯逃跑了。当有囚犯
逃跑时，他们总是要开火”
。
“向谁开的枪？”我问道，乔摇摇头警告我。
“问得
太多了，
”
我的姐姐皱着眉头说，
“你
要是知道关在船上监狱的那些人，
就明白向谁开枪了。
”
“我想知道谁被关在船上监狱里，为什么他们被关在那里？”我追问道，通
常，我非常想知道这类问题的答案。
对于乔夫人来说，这是问得太多了
，
“听着，我的孩子，我不让你跌入绝望
和死亡的深渊！
在那条河里有一些船专门用其当监狱，
小偷和杀人犯被关在那些
船上监狱里，
有时他们在那里要呆上很多年。
而且，
他们通常在他们犯罪开始的
时候总是会提出许多为什么！
喂，睡觉去！
”
那天晚上，
我彻夜未眠，
在想要吃我心脏的那个凶恶的年轻人，
在想带着
脚
镣的那个凶狠的人，
在想我那可怕的姐姐，
< br>马上就会发现我偷了她的食物。
外面
的天空透过窗户刚出
现朦朦的亮，
我就起了床，
悄悄地下了楼进了厨房。
我偷了
一些面包、黄油和一大块肉饼。因为，为过圣诞节准备了许多吃的，
希望没有人
会发现少了东西。我没敢拿整瓶的白兰地酒，而是倒了一些盛在小瓶里带上了
。
然后，
我用自己认为是盛水的大褐色瓶子里的水把白兰地瓶子
倒满。
我从乔的工
具盒里拿了一把锉，随之跑出了家门，直奔黑
压压的沼泽地。
大雾弥漫，
伸手不见五指。
虽然我对去遮蔽体的路了如指掌，
但这次几乎是
迷了路。我接近遮蔽体时，看见一个人坐在地上，几乎睡着了。我走过去，拍拍
他的肩膀
，他一跃而起。他不是我遇见的那个人！他也穿着灰布衣服，腿上也戴
着一副脚镣。他逃
跑到浓雾之中。
“就是那个年轻人！
”我想，心里很
害怕。
当我到达那个遮蔽体时，
找到了第一个囚犯。
< br>他看上去饥寒交迫，
我为他感
到很内疚。他好像恶狼一样
，抖抖嗦嗦地往嘴里填着食物，喝着白兰地。
“你保证你没告诉任何人？没有带任何人来吧？”
“没有
，先生，你吃得这么有滋味，我真高兴，先生。
”
“谢谢
你，我的孩子。你给一个穷苦人办了一件好事。
”
“我很害怕，没有留点吃的给他。
”
“他？谁呀？”我的朋友停下吃了半截的东西问道。
“就是和你一起来的那个小伙子。
”
“噢，
他吗！
”他讥笑着说，
“他是不吃东西的。
”
“我看他的样子很饿，
”我回答说。
他十分
惊讶的盯着我，
“看样子？什么时候？”
“刚才
，在那边儿。我发现他正在打瞌睡，开始我还认为是你呢。他穿的衣
服和您一样，还有…
…”我犹豫了一下，用这种文雅的表达方式，
“……他有一
个同
样的理由，要借一把锉。
”
“而且，我昨晚听到了他们的枪声
！你知道，孩子，当你在晚上独自一人在
沼泽地里，你想想，所有形形色色的东西，尖叫
声，枪击声，士兵们向前挺进！
指给我这个人去的路，我会找到他，结束他的性命！打烂
他的脸！先给我锉。
”
他再一次发怒，我现在很怕他。
“对不起，我现在该回家了，
”我说，他似乎没听到，他头冲着膝盖，像一
个疯子一样，正往下锉
脚镣。因此，我趁机溜走，回家的半路上我在浓雾中停住
了脚步，听听声音，我仍然能听
到锉脚镣的声音。
2 Catching a convict
All that
morning I was frightened that my sister would
discover that I had stolen
from
her
，
but luckily she was so
busy cleaning the house
，
and
roasting the chickens
for our Christmas
lunch that she did not notice that I had been
out
，
or that any food
was missing
．
At
half-past one our two guests
arrived
．
Mr Wopsle had a
large nose and
a
shining
，
bald
forehead
，
and was the church
clerk
．
Mr
Pumblechook
，
who
had a
shop in the nearest
town
，
was a
fat
，
middle-aged man witn a
mouth like a fish
，
and
staring eyes
．
He
was really Joe's uncle but it was Mrs Joe who
called him uncle
．
Every
Christmas
Day
he
arrived
with
two
bottles
of
wine
，
handing
them
proudly
to
my
sister
．
‘
Oh Uncle
Pumblechook
！
This is
kind
！
'she always
replied
．
‘
It's no more than you
deserve
，
’
was the
answer every time
．
Sitting at table with these guests I
would have felt uncomfortable even if I hadn't
robbed my
sister
．
Not only was
Pumblechook's elbow in my
eye
，
but I wasn't allowed
to speak
，
and they
gave me the worst pieces of
meat
．
Even the chickens must
have
been ashamed of those parts of
their bodies when they were
alive
．
And worse than
that
，
the adults
never left me in peace
．
‘
Before we
eat
，
let us thank God for the
food in front of us
，
'said Mr
Wopsle
，
in the deep voice he
used in church
．
‘
Do
you hear that
？’
whispered my
sister to me
．
‘
Be
grateful
！
’
‘
Especially
，
'said Mr
Pumblechook
firmly
，
‘
be gratef
ul
，
boy
，
to those who
brought you up by
hand
．
’
‘
Why are the young never
grateful
？’
wondered Mr Wopsle
sadly
．
‘
Their characters are
naturally
bad
，
’
answered Mr
Pumblechook
，
and all three
looked unpleasantly at
me
．
When there were
guests
，
Joe's position was
even lower than usual
（
if
that was
possible
）
，
but he always tried to help me if he
could
．
Sometimes he comforted
me by
giving me extra
gravy
．
He did that
now
．
‘
Just imagine
，
boy
，
'sai
d Mr
Pumblechook
，
‘
if
your sister hadn't brought you
up
—’
‘
You
listen to this
，
'said my
sister to me crossly
．
‘
If
，
as
I say
，
she hadn't spent her
life looking after you
，
where
would you be
now
？’
Joe offered me
more gravy
．
‘
He
was a lot of trouble to you
，
madam
，
’
Mr Wopsle
said sympathetically to my
sister
．
‘
Trouble
？
'she
cried
．
‘
Troub
le
？’
And
then
she
started
on
a
list
of
all
my
illnesses<
/p>
，
accidents
and
crimes
，
while
everybody
except
Joe
looked
at
me
with
disgust
．
Joe added
more gravy to the meat swimming on my
plate
，
and I wanted to
pull Mr Wopsle's
nose
．
In the end Mrs
Joe stopped for breath
，
and
said to Mr
Pumblechook
，
‘
Have
a
little brandy
，
u
ncle
．
There is a bottle al-
ready open
．
’
It
had happened at last
！
Now she
would discover I had stolen some
brandy
，
and
put
water
in
the
bottle
．
Mr
Pumblechook
held
his
glass
up
to
the
light
，
smiled
importantly at it and drank it
．
When
，
immediate
ly afterwards
，
he jumped up
and
began to rush round the room in a
strange wild dance
，
we all
stared at him in great
surprise
．
Was he
mad
？
I wondered if I had
murdered him
，
but if so
，
how
？
At last
he
threw himself gasping into a
chair
，
crying
‘
Medicine
！
’
Then I understood
．
Instead
of filling up the brandy bottle with
water
，
I had put Mrs Joe's
strongest and most
unpleasant medicine
in by mistake
．
That was what
the big brown bottle
contained
．
‘
But
how
could
my
medicine
get
into
a
brandy
bottle
？
’
asked
my
sister
．
Fortunately
she
had
no
time
to
find
the
answer
，
as
Mr
Pumblechook
was
calling for a hot rum to
remove the taste of the
medicine
．
‘
And
now
，
'she
said
，
when
the fat
man was
calmer
，
‘
you must
all try Uncle Pumblechook's pre-sent to
us
！
A
really
delicious meat
pie
！
’
‘
That's
right
，
Mrs
Joe
！
'said
Mr
Pumblechook
，
looking
more
cheerful
now
．
‘
Bring in the
pie
！
’
‘
You
shall have some
，
Pip
，
'said Joe
kindly
．
I knew what
would happen next
．
I could
not sit there any longer
．
I
jumped down
from the
table
，
and ran out of the
room
．
But at the
front door I ran straight into a group of
soldiers
．
Mrs Joe was saying
as
she came out of the
kitchen
，
‘
The pie-
has-gone
！
’
but
stopped when she saw the
soldiers
．
‘
Excuse
me
，
ladies and
gentlemen
，
'said the officer
in charge
．
‘
I'm
here in the
King's
name
，
and I want the black-
smith
．
’
‘
And why do you want
him
？
'said my sister
crossly
．
‘
Mad
am
，
’
replied the
officer Politely
，
‘
speaking for myself
，
I'd
like the pleasure
of
meeting
his
fine
wife
．
Speaking
for
the
King
，
I'd
like
him
to
repair
these
hand
cuffs
．
’
‘
Ah
，
very
good
，
very
good
！
’
said Mr
Pumblechook
，
clap-
ping
．
The soldiers
waited in the kitchen while Joe lit the forge fire
and started work
．
I
began to feel better now that everyone
had forgotten the missing
pie
．
‘
How far are we
from the marshes
？’
asked the
officer
．
‘
About a
mile
，
’
replied Mrs
Joe
．
‘
That's good
．
We'll
catch them before it's
dark
．
’
‘
Convicts
，
officer
？’
ask
ed Mr Wopsle
．
‘
Yes
，
two escaped convicts out on
the marshes
．
Has anyone here
seen them
？’
The others all
shook their heads
．
Nobody
asked me
．
When the handcuffs
were
ready
，
Joe
suggested we should go with the
soldiers
，
and as Mrs Joe was
curious to
know what
happened
，
she
agreed
．
So
Joe
，
Mr wopsle and I walked
behind the men
through the village and
out on to the marshes
．
‘
I hope we don't
find those poor men
，
Joe
，
’
I
whispered
．
‘
I hope not either
，
Pip
，
’
he
whispered back
．
It was
cold
，
with an east wind
blowing from the
sea
，
and it was getting
dark
．
Suddenly we all
stopped
．
We heard shouts in
the distance
．
‘
This way
！
Run
！
’
the
officer ordered
，
and we all
rushed in that direction
．
The
shouts became
clearer
．
‘
Murder
！
‘
Escap
ed convict
！
’
‘
Help
！
’
’
At last we discovered
two men
fighting each other
．
One was
my convict
，
and the other was
the man who
had run away when I had
seen him near the
shelter
．
Somehow the soldiers
held the
men apart and put the hand-
cuffs on them
．
‘
Here he
is
，
I'm holding him for
you
！
'shouted my
convict
．
‘
Off
icer
，
he tried to murder
me
！
’
cried the
other man
．
His face was
bleeding
and he was clearly very
frightened
．
‘
Murder him
！
No
，
'said the
first
，
‘
that would be too
easy
．
I want him to suffer
more
，
back on the
prison-ship
．
He's
lying
，
as he did at our
trial
！
You can't trust
Compeyson
！
’
Just then he noticed me for the first
time
．
I shook my head at
him
，
to show that
I had not wanted the soldiers to find
him
．
He stared at
me
，
but I did not know if he
understood or
not
．
The
prisoners
were
taken
to
the
riverside
，
where
a
boat
was
waiting
to
take
them on to the prison-
ship
．
Just as he was about to
leave
，
my convict said
，
‘
Officer
，
after my escape
，
I
stole some food
，
from the
blacksmith's house
．
Bread
，
cheese
，
br
andy and a meat pie
．
I'm
sorry I ate your pie
，
blacksm
ith
．
’
‘
I'm
glad you
did
，
’
replied Joe
kindly
．
‘
We don't know why you're a
convict
，
but we wouldn't want
you to die of
hunger
．
’
The
man rubbed his eyes with the back of his dirty
hand
．
We watched the small
boat carry him out to the middle of the
river
，
where the great black
prison-ship stood
high out of the
water
，
held by its rusty
chains
．
He disappeared into
the ship
，
and I
thought that was the last I had seen of
him
．
2
抓住一名罪犯
一上午，
我一直害怕姐姐会发现我偷了她的东西，
但是，
幸运的是她只顾
忙
于打扫房间，
为我们的圣诞节午饭准备烤鸡，
并没有注意我出过门，
也没发现少
了任何吃的东西。<
/p>
1
点半钟，我们的两位客人到了。伍甫赛先生的鼻子很大，秃
顶的额头闪闪发光，
他是教堂里的办事员。
潘波趣先生，
他在最近的镇上有一个
商店，是一个长得体胖腰圆
的中年人，有一副像鱼的嘴脸，贼溜溜的眼睛，他是
乔的亲舅舅，
可是乔夫人却喊他舅舅。
每年圣诞节，
他都带两瓶葡萄酒来送
给我
姐姐，以显示他的阔气。
“噢，潘波趣舅舅您真是个好心人
！
”她总是这样说。
“这是一点小意思，
”每一次都是这种回答。
和这些客人们围桌而坐，
即使我没偷姐姐的东西，
我的心情也不好受，
不
但
潘波趣和我近在咫尺，
而且不允许我说话，
< br>他们给我的是最不好的一块肉，
甚至
给的鸡块也是它们活
着的时候身体最害臊的那部分。
比这更坏的是大人们总是打
搅我
。
<
/p>
“我们进餐之前，让我们感谢上帝赐给我们面前的食物”
，伍甫赛
先生以他
在教堂常用的低沉语调说。
“你听见了吗？”姐姐耳语对我说
，
“感谢！
”
“特别
是，
”潘波趣先生坚定地说，
“孩子，要感谢那些把你亲手带大
的人。
”
“为什么这个小家伙从来没有感激之情呀？”惊奇的伍甫赛先
生不解地问。
“他们的品行就是天生的坏，
”
潘波趣先生回答说，
三个人不愉快地看着我。
当
有客人的时候，
乔的地位甚至比平时还要低，
但是，
他总是尽最大努力设
法帮助我。有时，他用给我额外添的点肉汁来安慰我。
现在，他就是这样做的。
“正走神呢，孩子，
”潘波趣先生说
，
“如果不是你姐姐亲手把你带大……”
。
“你听着，
”我姐姐不高兴地对我说。
“如果
像我说的，
不是她花费很大的精力照顾你，
你现在还不知在哪儿
呢？”
乔又给我加了一些肉汤。
“他给你添了不少麻烦，夫人，<
/p>
”伍甫赛先生对我姐姐同情地说。
“麻烦？”她喊了起来，
“麻烦？”接着她开始罗列了一堆我的生病、意外
及干的坏事，除了乔，
其他人都用反感的目光瞅着我。乔又添了些肉汤，使那块
肉在我盘子里漂浮着，我真想揪
伍甫赛先生的鼻子。
最后，乔夫人停住了，喘了口气，接着对潘波趣先生说，
“舅舅，喝点白兰
地吧，有一瓶已经打开了。
”
祸事降临了！现在，她会发现我偷了一些白兰地，而把水倒进瓶子里。潘波
趣先生举起杯子在光线中端详，并露出了笑脸，仰起脑袋一饮而尽。接着，他突
然感到很难受，
蹿了起来，
着魔似地开始围着屋子乱舞乱撞，
我们大家很惊奇地
盯着他。他疯了吗？我纳闷是我杀了他。果真
如此，怎么办？最后，他气喘吁吁
地一屁股靠倒在椅子上。接着喊，
“药！
”这时，我明白了，是我搞错了，把乔夫
人配制的，
味道极苦的药当成水倒进了白兰地酒瓶里。
那是盛在褐色大瓶子
里的。
“可是，我的药怎么能进到白兰地酒瓶里呢？”我姐姐问。幸好她顾不上去
找答案。
因为潘波趣先生叫喊着要些热松子酒，
以除
掉药的味道。
“喂喂，
”
她说。
这时，这个肥胖的家伙惊魂渐定，
“你们大家必须尝尝潘波趣舅舅给我
们送的礼
物！味道鲜美的肉饼！
”
“很好
，乔夫人，
”潘波趣先生说，看样子现在稍高兴了点，
“拿肉饼
！
”
“你也会有一份肉饼，匹普，
”乔和
蔼地说。
我料到下一步会发生什么事情，
我不
能在这儿继续坐下去了，
我从椅子上跳
下来，拔腿跑出了屋外。
但是，在前门口，我直奔入一队士兵里。当乔夫人从厨房里出来时，嘴里正
< br>在叨咕，
“肉饼——不翼而飞！
”可是，当她看到士兵们
时，闭上了嘴。
“对不起，
女士们、
先生们，
”
那个负责的军官说，
“我在这里以国王的名义，
要找铁匠。
”
“你们找他干吗？”我姐姐不高兴地问。
“夫人
，
”军官客气地说，
“就我自己而言，我乐意见到他美丽的妻子
，要是
就国王而言，我乐意他修理加固这些手铐。
”
“噢，很好，很好！
”潘波趣先生拍着手说。
士兵们
在厨房等候，而乔生上炉火，开始干活。我渐渐地不害怕了，大家都
把丢肉饼的事抛到脑
后去了。
“我们从这里到沼泽地有多远？”军官问。
“大约
1
英里，
”乔夫人回答。
< br>“那不太远，我们将在天黑前抓到他们。
”
“逃犯，军官？”伍甫赛先生问。
“是的，有两个逃犯还躲在沼泽地
里，有谁见过他们的踪迹吗？”
其他的人都摇摇头，
幸亏没有人问我
。
当手铐准备就绪，
乔提议我们跟着这
些官兵一起去，
乔夫人好奇地想知道发生了什么事情，
所以她同
意了。
因此，
乔、
伍甫赛先生和我走在
队伍的后面，穿过村庄向沼泽地开进。
“我希望我们找不到那些可怜的人
，乔，
”我小声说道。
“我也希望那样，匹普，
”他小声回敬了我一句。从大海刮来东风，天气很
冷，夜幕降临了。
突然，我们大家停止了前进，我们听到远方的嚎叫声。
“这个
方向！追！
”军官命令道。我们迅速向喊声方向奔去。嚎叫声越来越
近，
“谋杀！
”
“逃犯！
”
“救命呀！
”最后我们发现了两个人在互相厮
打着。一个是
我帮助的那个囚犯，
另一个是我在遮蔽体见过的那
个逃窜的小伙子。
不晓得什么
缘故，士兵们把两人分开，并一一
戴上手铐。
“他在这儿，是我为你们抓住的！
”
我的那个囚犯喊着。
“军官，他企图杀害我！
”另一个囚
犯哭喊着，他的脸上流着血，很明显，
他非常惊恐。
“想杀
害他！不，
”第一个逃犯说，
“杀他太容易了，我要让他多受受
折磨，
送回船上监狱。他在说谎，因为他在试探我们！你们不要相信康培生！
”
这时，
他第一次发现了我，
我向他摇了摇头，
表示并不是我让士兵们找到了
他的。他盯着我，我不知道他是否明白我的意思。
逃犯们被带到河边，
那儿有一只小船正等着把他们送到船上监狱。
正在他离
开的时候，我的那个囚犯说：
“军官，我逃跑后，我从铁匠家里偷了些吃的，面
包、黄油、白兰地和一块肉饼，我很抱歉，我吃了你的肉饼，铁匠。
”
“你这样做我很高兴，
”
乔很客气地说，<
/p>
“我们并不知道为什么你是一名罪犯，
可我们总不能让你饿死。<
/p>
”
这个罪犯用他的脏手背揉擦着眼睛，我们望着那只小船，把他
带进河中央。
在那里，
依靠着生锈的铁锚链固定在突出水面的那
艘大黑牢船上。
他被押进船里，
消失得无影无踪。我心想，这是
我见他最后一面了。
3 An opportunity for Pip
I always knew I
would be apprenticed to Joe as soon as I was old
enough
，
and so
I
used to spend most of the day helping him in the f
orge
．
However
，
I also attended
the
village
evening
school
，
which
was
organized
by
an
ancient
relation
of
Mr
Wopsle's
．
Her
teaching mostly consisted of falling asleep while
we children fought
each
other
，
but Mr Wopsle's young
cousin
，
Biddy
，
tried to keep us under control and
teach us to
read
，
write and
count
．
Mr Wopsle
‘<
/p>
examined
’
us every
three months
．
In
fact he did not ask us any questions at
all
，
but read aloud from
Shakespeare
，
waving
his arms dramatically and enjoying the
sound of his own voice
．
One
night
，
about a year after the
escaped convicts had been
caught
，
I was sitting
by the kitchen
fire
，
writing a letter to
Joe
．
I didn't need
to
，
because he was sitting
right next to
me
，
but I wanted to practise
my writing
．
After an hour or
two of hard
work
，
I passed
this letter to him
．
‘
Pip
，
old
boy
！
’
cried
Joe
，
opening his kind blue
eyes very
wide
．
‘
What a lot
you've
learnt
！
Here's a J and an
O
，
that's for
Joe
，
isn't it
，
Pip
？’
I wondered
whether I would have to teach Joe from the
beginning
，
so I
asked
，
‘
How do you
write Gargery
，
Joe
？’
‘
I don't write it at
all
，
'said Joe
．
‘
But
，
you
know
，
I am fond of
reading
．
Give
me a
good book or newspaper
，
a
good fire and I ask no more
．
Well
！
When you come
to a J and an
O
，
how interesting reading
is
！
’
‘
Didn't you ever go to school
，
Joe
，
when you
were young
？’
‘
No<
/p>
，
Pip
．
Yo
u see
，
my father drank a
lot
，
and when he
drank
，
he used to hit
my
mother
，
and
me
too
，
sometimes
．
So
she
and
I
ran
away
from
him
several
times
．
And she
used to say
，
“
Now<
/p>
，
Joe
，
yo
u can go to
school
．
”
But my
father had
such a good heart that he
didn't want to be without
us
．
So he always came to find
us
，
and took us
home
，
and hit
us
．
So you see
，
Pip
，
I never learnt
much
．
’
‘
Poor
Joe
！
’
‘
But
remember
，
Pip
，
my father had a good
heart
．
’
I
wondered about that
，
but said
nothing
．
‘
He
let me become a
blacksmith
，
which was his job
too
，
only he never worked
at it
．
I earned
the money for the
family
，
until he
died
．
And listen to this
，
Pip
，
I
wanted
to put this on his
gravestone
：
Whatever the
fault he had from the start
，
Rem
ember
，
reader
，
he had a good
heart
．
’
‘
Did you invent
that yourself
，
Joe
？’
I
asked
，
surprised .
‘
I
did
，
'said Joe
proudly
．
‘
It came
to me in a moment
．
From my
own head
．
But
，
Pip
，
sad to
say
，
there wasn't enough
money for the gravestone
．
My
poor mother
needed
it
．
In bad
health
，
she
was
．
She died soon
after
．
Found peace at
last
．
’
Joe's
blue eyes were
watery
．
‘
I was
lonely then
，
and I met your s
ister
．
Now
，
Pip
，
’
Joe
looked firmly at
me
，
because he knew I was not
going to agree with
him
，
‘
your sister
is a fine
woman
！
’
I
could think of nothing better to say
than
‘
I'm glad you think so
，
Joe
．
’
‘
So am
I
，
'said
Joe
．
‘
I'm glad I
think so
．
Very kind of
her
，
bringing you up by
hand
．
Such a tiny
baby you were
！
So when I
offered to marry your
sister
，
I
said
，
“
And
bring the poor little child to live
with us
．
There's room for him
at the forge
！
”
’
I put my arms round Joe's neck and
cried into his shirt
．
‘
Don't
cry
，
old
boy
！
’
he
said
．
‘
Always the
best of friends
，
you and
me
！
’
As
I dried my
tears
，
he
continued
，
‘
So
here we are
，
Pip
！<
/p>
Now if you teach me a
bit
（
and I warn you now that
I'm very stupid
）
Mrs Joe must
never know
．
And
why
？
Because she likes to be-
in charge-you know-giving the
orders
．
’
‘
Joe
，
’
I
asked
，
‘
why don't
you ever rebel
？’
‘
Wel
l
，
'said
Joe
，
‘
to start
with
，
your sister's
clever
．
And I'm
not
．
And another
thing
，
and this is
serious
，
old
boy
，
when I think of my poor
mother's hard life
，
I'm
afraid of not behaving right to a
woman
．
So I'd much rather
seem a bit weak with
Mrs Joe than shout
at her
，
or hurt
her
，
or hit
her
．
I'm just sorry she
scolds you as
well
，
Pip
，
and hits you with the
stick
．
I wish I could take
all the scolding myself
．
But
there it is
，
Pip
．
’
Just
then
we
heard
the
sound
of
a
horse
on
the
road
．
Mrs
Joe
and
Uncle
Pumblechook were returning from
market
．
The carriage
arrived
，
and in a rush of
cold
air
，
they
were in the kitchen
．
‘
Now
，
'said Mrs
Joe
，
excitedly throwing off
her cloak
，
‘
if
this boy isn't grateful
tonight
，
he never
will be
！
’
‘
She's offering the boy a
great opportunity
，
’
agreed Pumblechook
．
Trying
to
look
grateful
，
I looked at
Joe
，
making the word
‘
She
？’
with my
lips
．
He clearly did
not know either
．
‘
You were speaking of a
she
？’
he said Politely to
them
．
‘
She
is
a
she
，
I
suppose
，
’
Mrs
Joe
replied
cross
ly
．
‘
Unless
you
call
Miss
Havisham a he
．
And
even you wouldn't do
that
．
’
‘
The rich Miss Havisham who
lives all alone in the big house in
town
？’
asked
Joe
．
‘
There aren't any other Miss
Havishams that I know of
！
She
wants a boy to go
and
play
there
．
She
asked
Uncle
Pumblechook
if
he
knew
of
anyone
．
And
Uncle
Pumblechook
，
thinking
of
us
as
he
always
does
，
suggested
this
boy
．
And
what's
more
，
Uncle
Pumblechook
，
realizing that
this boy's fortune may be made by going to
Miss
Havisham's
，
has of-fered to
take him into town tonight in his
carriage
，
and let
him sleep in his own
house
，
and deliver him
tomorrow to Miss
Havisham's
．
And just
look
！
'she
cried
，
catching hold of
me
．
‘
Look at the
dirt on this by
！
’
I
was washed from top to toe in Mrs Joe's usual
violent manner
，
and handed
over
，
in my
tightest Sunday clothes
，
to
Mr Pumblechook
．
In the
carriage taking me
into
town
，
I cried a
little
．
I had never been away
from Joe before
，
and I had no
idea
what was going to happen to me at
Miss Havisham's
．
Mr Pumblechook
seemed to agree with my sister that I should be
punished as
much as
possible
，
even when
eating
，
and so for breakfast
next morning he gave me
a large piece
of bread with very little
butter
，
and a cup of warm
water with very little
milk
，
and insisted
on checking my learning
．
‘
What's
seven
and
thirteen
，
boy
？’
He
continued
testing
me
all
through
breakfast
．
‘
< br>And nine
？
And
eleven
？’
So I was glad
to arrive at Miss Havisham's house at about ten o<
/p>
’
clock
．
It was a
large
house
，
made of old
stone
，
and with iron bars on
the windows
．
We rang the
bell
，
and waited
at the gate
．
Even then Mr
Pumblechook
said
，
‘
And
fourteen
？’
but I pretended
not to hear him
．
Then a young
lady came to open the
gate
，
and let
me
in
．
Mr Pumblechook was
following me when she stopped
him
．
‘
Do you wish to
see Miss Havisham
？
'she
asked
．
‘
If
Miss
Havisham
wishes
to
see
me
，
’
answe
red
Mr
Pumblechook
，
a
little
confused
．
‘
Ah
！
'said the
girl
，
‘
but you
see
，
she
doesn't
．
’
Mr
Pumblechook dared not protest but he whispered
angrily to me before he
turned away
，
‘
Boy
！
Behave well here and re-member those who
brought you up by
hand
！
’
I thought he would come back and
call through the
gate
，
‘
And
sixteen
？’
but he did
not
．
The young lady took me
through the untidy garden to the
house
．
Although she
called me
‘
boy
，
'she was the same age as
me
，
but she seemed much older
than
me
．
She
was
beautiful
，
and
as
proud
as
a
queen
．
We
went
through
many
dark
passages until we
reached a door
，
where she
left me
，
taking her candle
with her
．
I knocked at
the door and was told to
enter
．
I found myself in a
large room
，
where the
curtains were closed to allow no daylight
in
，
and the candles were
lit
．
In
the centre
of the room
，
sitting at a
table
，
was the strangest lady
I have ever seen
，
or shall
ever see
．
She was wearing a
wedding dress made of rich
material
．
She had a
bride's
flowers
in
her
hair
，
but
her
hair
was
white
．
There
were
suitcases
full
of
dresses
and Jewels around her
，
ready
for a journey
．
She only had
one white shoe
on
．
‘
Then I realized that over the years
the white wedding dress had become
yellow
，
and
the
flowers
in
her
hair
had
died
，
and
the
bride
inside
the
dress
had
grown
old
．
Everything in
the room was ancient and
dying
．
The only brightness in
the room
was in her dark old
eyes
，
that stared at
me
．
‘
Who are
you
？
'said the lady at the
table
．
‘
Pip
，
madam
．
Mr Pumblechook's boy
．
Come-
to play
．
’
‘
Come
close
．
Let me look at
you
．
’
As I stood
in front of
＊
her
，
I
noticed that
her watch and a clock in
the room had both stopped at twenty minutes to
nine
．
‘
You
aren't
afraid
of
a
woman
who
has
never
seen
the
sun
since
you
were
born
？’
asked Miss
Havisham
．
I am sorry to
say I told a huge lie by saying
，
‘
No
．
’
< br>
‘
Do you know what ths
is
？
'she
asked
，
putting her hand on
her left side
．
‘
Yes
，
madam
．
’
It made me think of my convict's
travel-ling
companion
．
‘
Your <
/p>
heart
，
madam
，
’
I
added
．
‘
My
heart
！
Broken
！
'she cried almost
proudly
，
with a strange
smile
．
Then she
sa
id
，
‘
I am
tired
．
I want to see some-
thing different
．
Play
< br>．
’
No order could
be more difficult to obey in that house and that
room
．
I was
desperate
enough
to
consider
rushing
round
the
table
pretending
to
be
Pumblechook's
carriage
，
but
I
could
not
make
myself
do
it
，
and
just
stood
there
helplessly
．
‘
I'm very sorry
，<
/p>
madam
，
’
I said
，
‘
my sister
will be very angry with me if you
complain
，
but I
can't play just
now
．
Everything is so
strange
，
and
new
，
and
sad
…’
I
stopped
，
afraid to say
more
．
Miss Havisham looked
down at her dress
，
and then
at
her face in the mirror on the
table
．
‘
So
strange to him
，
so well-known
to me
，
'she
whispered
．
‘
So
new to him
，
so old to
me
．
And so sad to us
both
！
Call Es-
tella
！
’
When
Estella
finally
came
，
with
her
candle
，
along
the
dark
passage
，
Miss
Havisham picked up a jewel from her
table and put it in Estella's
hair
．
‘
Very
pretty
，
my
dear
．
It will be yours one
day
．
Now let me see you play
cards with this
boy
．
’
‘
With this
boy
！
But he's a common
working boy
！
’
I
thought I heard Miss Havisham whisper
，<
/p>
‘
Well
！
Y
ou can break his heart
！
'she
sat
，
like a dead
body ready for the
grave
，
watching us play cards
in the candle-light
．
I
almost wondered if she was afraid that
daylight would turn her into
dust
．
‘
What
coarse
hands
this
boy
has
！
And
what
thick
boots<
/p>
！
’
cried
Estella
in
disgust
，
before we
had finished our first
game
．
I was suddenly aware
that what she
said was
true
．
‘
What do you think of
her
？’
Whispered
Miss Havisham to me
．
‘
I think she's very
proud
，
’
I
whispered back
．
‘
Anything
else
？’
‘
I
think she's very
pretty
．
’
‘
Anything
else
？’
‘
I
think she's very rude
．
And-
and I'd like to go
home
．
’
‘
And never see her
again
，
although she's so
pretty
？’
‘
I
don't know
．
I'd-I'd like to
go home now
．
’
Miss Havisham
smiled
．
‘
You can
go home
．
Come again in six da
ys'time
．
Estella
，<
/p>
give him some food
．
GO
，
Pip
．
’
And
so
I
found
myself
back
in
the
overgrown
garden
in
the
bright
daylight
．
Estella
put some bread and meat down on the ground for
me
，
like a
dog
．
I
was so
offended by her behaviour towards me that tears
came to my eyes
．
As soon as
she saw this
，
She
gave a delighted laugh
，
and
pushed me out of the gate
．
I
walked the
four miles home to the
forge
，
thinking about all I
had seen
．
As I looked sadly
at my
hands and
boots
，
I remembered that I
was only a common working
boy
，
and wished
I
could be different
．
My
sister was curious to know all the details of my
visit
，
and kept asking me
question after
question
．
Somehow I felt I
could not
，
or did not want
to
，
explain about
Miss Havisham and her strange
house
．
I knew my sister would
not understand
．
And
the
worst
of
it
was
，
that
old
fool
Pumblechook
arrived
at
tea-
time
，
to
ask
more
questions
．
Just
looking at his fishy staring eyes and open mouth
made me want to
keep
silent
．
‘
Leave
this
boy
to
me
< br>，
madam
，
’
he
told
Mrs
Joe
．
‘
I'll
make
him
concentr
ate
．
Now
，
boy
，
what's forty-three and
seventy-two
？’
‘
I
don't know
，
’
I
said
．
I didn't care
，
either
．
‘
Is it eighty-
five
，
for
example
？’
he
joked
．
‘
Yes
！
’
I
answered
，
although I knew it
wasn't
．
My sister hit me hard
on the head
．
‘
Boy
！
’
he continued
．
‘
Describe Miss
Havisham
．
’
‘
Very tall and
dark
，
’
I said
，
lying
．
‘
Is she
，
uncle
？’
asked my sister
eagerly
．
‘
Oh
yes
，
’
answered Mr
Pumblechook
．
So I knew
immediately that he had never
seen
her
．
‘
This is the
way to get information from this
boy
，
’
he added
quietly to Mrs
Joe
．
‘
How
well you make him obey you
，
u
ncle
！
'said Mrs
Joe
．
‘
Now
，
boy
！
W
hat was she doing when you
arrived
？’
‘
She
was sitting in a black
carriage
，
’
I
replied
．
Mr Pumblechook
and Mrs Joe stared at each
other
．
‘
In a black
carriage
？’
they
repeated
．
‘
Yes
，
’
I
said
，
becoming more
confident
．
‘
And
Miss Estella
，
her
niece
，
I
think
，
handed in gold plates
with cake and wine through the
windows
．
‘
Was
anybody else there
？’
asked Mr
Pumblechook
．
‘
Four
dogs
，
huge
ones
．
They ate meat out of a
silver basket
．
’
‘
Where was this carriage
，
boy
？’
‘
In her
room
．
But there weren't any
horses
．
’
‘
Can this be possible
，
uncle
？’
asked
Mrs Joe
．
‘
She's a strange woman
，
madam
．
It's
quite possible
．
What did you
play at
，
boy
？’
We played with
flags
，
’
I
answered
．
What lies I was
telling
！
‘
Estella
waved a blue
one
，
and I had a
red one
，
and Miss Havisham
waved one with little gold stars
on
，
out of the carriage
window
．
’
Fortunately
they
asked
no
more
questions
，
and
were
still
discussing
the
wonderful things I had
seen
，
when Joe came in from
the forge
．
When I saw his
blue
eyes open wide in
surprise
，
I felt very sorry I
had lied
，
and that
evening
，
as soon as
I found Joe alone for a
moment
，
I confessed to him
that I had lied about my visit to
Miss
Havisham
．
‘
Is
none of it true
，
Pip
？’
he asked
，
shoc
ked
．
‘
No black
carriage ? But at least
there were
dogs
，
weren't the
re
，
Pip
？
No
？
Not even one
dog
？’
‘
No<
/p>
，
Joe
，
I'
m sorry
．
’
‘
Pip
，
old
boy
！
’
His kind
face looked very
unhappy
．
‘
If you
tell lies
，
where do
you think you'll go when you
die
？’
‘
I k
now
，
Joe
，
it's terrible
．
I don't know
what happened
．
Oh I wish I
didn't have
such thick boots and such
coarse hands
！
I'm so miserabl
e
，
Joe
．
That beautiful young
lady at Miss
Havisham's said I was
common
．
And I know I
am
！
Somehow that made
me tell
lies
．
’
‘
One thing to remember
，
Pip
，
’
said
Joe
，
lighting his pipe
slowly
，
‘
is that
lies are always wrong
．
You
can't stop being common by telling
lies
．
That's
not
the way to do it
．
And you're
learning all the time
，
Pip
！
Look at that letter you
wrote me last
night
！
Even the King had to
start learning at the beginning, didn't
he
？
That reminds
me
，
any flags at Miss Havisha
m's
？
No
？
That's a pity
．
Look here
，
Pip
，
this
is a true friend speaking to
you
．
Take my
advice
．
No more
lies
，
live well, and die
happy.
’
Encouraged
by
Joe's
honest
words
I
went
to
bed
，
but
I
couldn't
stop
myself
thinking that Estella
would consider Joe's boots too thick and his hands
too coarse
，
and our whole
family common
．
That was a day
I shall never forget
．
3
给匹普的一次机会
我总是想，一到学徒的年龄，我就
做乔的徒弟。因此，我常常在锻炉前，白
天花费大部分时间帮助乔干活。
但是，
我也参加村办夜校，
这所学校是由伍甫赛
先生的一位远房亲戚创办的。她的教学主要是由睡觉、孩子们相互打闹而组成。
但是，伍甫赛先生的表妹，毕蒂，设法把我们控制住，教我们读、写和算术。伍
甫赛先生每三个月就“考”我们一次。事实上，他什么问题也不问我们，只是挥
动着双臂
，
用他那特有的激动人心、
兴高采烈的声调，
< br>大声朗读莎士比亚的作品。
一天晚上，
这大约是两个逃犯被捕的
一年以后，
我正在厨房火炉旁坐着，
给
乔写封信，我并不需要这样做，因为他就紧靠在我旁边坐着。但是，我是想锻炼
我的写作
。经过一两小时的努力后，我把这封信递给他：
“亲爱的乔，我希望你很好，马上
我就能把我所学的东西教给你，多么可爱
的乔，爱你的匹普”
“匹普
，好小子！
”乔喊着，睁大他那仁慈的蓝眼睛，
“你学了这么多
了！这
儿是一个
J
和
< br>O
，这是乔字，对吗，匹普？”
我不知
道是否必须从头教乔，
所以，
我问道，
“你写出葛吉瑞。
乔，
怎么样？”
“我一
点也不会写，
”乔说，
“但是，你知道，我爱好读，给我一本好
书或者
报纸，一盆炉火，不要更多。喂！当你写出一个
J
和
O
，读它多么有趣呀！
”
“乔，你小时候未曾上过学？”
“没有，匹普，你知道，我爸爸酗
酒，当他酗酒时，常打我妈妈，有时候也
打我。
因此，
她和我几次逃离他，
她过去对我说，
‘唉，
乔，
你能上学了。
’
可是，
我爸爸有如此的好心，他不能没有我们。因此，他总是来找我们，并把我们带回
家，继续揍我们。这样你就明白了，匹普，我一点也没学习过。
”
“可怜的乔！
”
“但是
记住，匹普，我爸爸有一副好心肠。
”
这话让我惊奇，但是没说什么。
“他让我当了一名铁匠，铁匠也是
他的工作，只是他从来不干这活。直到他
死，都是我为家里挣钱。听着这一点，匹普，在
他的墓碑上我要这样写：
无论怎样的过失，他是创家立业的。
记住，读者，他有一颗好心。
”
“乔，你自己想出来的吗？”我惊讶地问道。
“就是
我，
”
乔自豪地说，
“从我自己头脑里
不加思索地出来了。
但是，
匹普，
悲哀
地说，我没有足够的钱去立这块墓碑。我可怜的妈妈需要钱，她身体不好。
不久，她就离
开了人间，最后找到了安宁。
”乔的蓝眼睛湿润了。
“我从此孤
独一
人。后来，我认识了你姐姐，匹普，
”乔紧紧地盯着我。因
为他知道我不会赞成
他的，
“你姐姐是个好女人！
”
我想不出比这更好的语言“我很高兴你这样想，乔。
”
“彼此，彼此，
”乔说，
“我很高兴这样想，她太仁慈了，亲手把你带大，你
是这么小小的婴儿！当
时，我向你姐提出结婚，我说，
‘带着这个可怜的小孩子
和我们
一起生活吧，在锻工车间里有间屋子给他！
’
”
我搂着乔的脖子，啼哭着，泪水湿透他的衬衫。
“不要
哭，老伙计！
”他说，
“你和我永远是最好的朋友！
”当我擦干眼泪，
他继续说，
“我们就在这儿，<
/p>
匹普！
现在你如果教我一点儿
（我提醒你
，
我很笨）
，
决不能让乔夫人知道。<
/p>
为什么呢？因为她喜欢——下命令——你知道——就是发
号施令。
”
“乔，
”我问道，
< br>“你为什么不反抗呢？”
“唉，
”
乔
说，
“首先，
你姐姐聪明，
而我不行。
另一方面，
这一点是重要的，
老伙计，
每当想起我可怜的妈妈苦难的生活，
我害怕对女人采取不良的行
为。
因
为，我必须对乔太太软弱一点儿，不能高声呼喊她、伤害
她和打她。我很抱歉，
她也责骂你，匹普，用棍子打你，我希望全部的责骂由我一人承担
。可是，不现
实，匹普。
”
正在这
时，
我们听到路上的马蹄声，
乔夫人和潘波趣舅舅赶集回来了。
马车
一到，冲进一股冷风，他们进了厨房。
“嘿，
”乔夫人说，激动地脱掉她的斗篷，
“如果这孩子今晚不
感恩的话，那
他就是一个忘恩负义的家伙！
”
< br>
“她给这孩子提供了一个很好的机会，
”潘波趣应和着说。我尽力表现出一
副感恩的样子看着乔，随口吐出个字“她？”
，他也不明白什么意思。
“你们正在谈论她？”他有礼貌地对他们说。
“我想
像的，她就是她呗，
”乔夫人不高兴地回答，
“你总不能把郝薇
香小姐
叫他吧，即使你也不会这样叫吧。
”
“在镇上，独住一幢大宅里腰缠万贯的郝薇香小姐吗？”乔问道。
“我所
知道的没有第二个郝薇香小姐！
她想要一个孩子到她那儿去玩玩。
她
问起潘波趣舅舅是否有认识的小孩子，
潘波趣舅舅总是先想
到我们，
提到了这个
孩子。还有，潘波趣舅舅认识到郝薇香小姐
可以给这个孩子带来好运。所以，今
天晚上，
用他的马车带他到
镇上，
让他睡在潘波趣舅舅家里，
明天把他送到郝薇
香小姐家里。瞧！
”她抓着我喊了起来，
“看看这
个脏孩子！
”
乔夫人以常用的粗暴手法给我从头
到脚洗了洗澡，
给我穿上最好的衣服，
把
我交给潘波趣先生。我小声哭着，上了马车到了镇上。以前我从来没有离开乔，
对我来
讲，在郝薇香小姐家将会发生什么，我不敢想。
潘波趣先生似乎赞成我姐姐想尽一
切办法要惩罚的做法，
甚至在吃饭时也不
放过。所以，第二天吃
早饭，他给我一大块面包，夹了一点点黄油，一杯温水加
很少一点牛奶，并坚持检查我的
学习。
“
7
加
13<
/p>
得几，孩子？”整个早餐中，他不断地考我，
“加
9
？加
11
？”
大约
10
点时分，到达郝薇香小姐家，我很高兴。那是一座宽大的住宅，用
旧石所砌，窗户架有铁栏杆。我们按了门铃后，在门口耐心等候，潘波趣先生连
这时也
不放过，说：
“加
14
？”不过，我假
装没听见他说的什么。接着，一位年
轻的小姐过来打开了门，让我进去。潘波趣先生想跟
着我进来，却被她阻止了。
“你想见郝薇香小姐吗？”她问道。
“如果
郝薇香小姐想见我，
”潘波趣先生有点慌乱地说。
“噢！
”那女孩说，
“可是，你明白，她不想见你。
< br>”
潘波趣先生不敢坚持主张，
但是，<
/p>
他在返回之前，
恶狠狠地小声对我讲：
“
孩
子！在这儿要规矩点，记住是谁亲手把你养大！
”我想他会回
来，通过门缝喊，
“加
16
？”但是，
他没有这样做。
那个年轻的小姐领着我穿过一座不整洁的花园来到这所房子。
尽管她叫我
“孩子，
”她的年纪和我一样大，可是，看上去她比
我还大点。她长得很漂亮，
却像王后一样傲慢。
我们穿过了几条
漆黑的过道，
才来到了一个房间门口，
在这
儿她带蜡烛离开了我。
我敲了敲门，
里面叫我进去。
我发现自己在一个大房间里，
这里的窗帘关得
紧紧的，不让一缕日光透进来，但点着很多蜡烛。在屋子的中央，桌子旁坐着的
是一位我
从没有见过而且将不会再见到的，
特别奇怪的夫人。
她穿着一身
由高级
材料做的结婚礼服，
头上戴着新娘花朵，
但她已是满头银发了。
她周围有些衣箱
及珠宝，像似准
备旅行。她只穿着一只白鞋，这时我才辨认出来，这么多年来白
色的结婚礼服已经变黄了
，
头上戴的花朵已经干瘪了，
新娘已经老了。
< br>屋里的一
切都显得既古老又死气沉沉的。
在屋子里仅有一
光点是她那双黑色的老眼，
瞪着
我。
“你是谁？”夫人在桌子旁问。
“匹普，夫人，潘波趣先生的孩子
，来这儿玩的。
”
“过来，靠近点儿，让我瞧瞧你。
”当我站在她的面前时，我发现她的手表
和屋子里的钟表都停止
在
8
点
40
分
。
<
/p>
“你害怕一个自你出世以来就没有见过阳光的女人吗？”郝薇香小姐问道。
“不怕。
”很抱歉我说的不是实话。
“你知道这是什么地方吗？”她的手放在左边胸口问道。
“知道
，夫人。
”这使我想起我的那个囚犯的同伙，
“您的心脏，夫人
，
”我
补充说。
“我的
心脏！
心碎啦！
”
她似乎很得意，
讥笑着喊叫。
然后，
她说：
“我累了，
想看点新花样，玩。
”
在这座住宅和这间房屋里，
没有比服从这命令更困难的事情，
我
挖空心思去
琢磨，扮演潘波趣的马车冲着桌子转。可是，我自己不能做这个游戏，我正没
有
办法地站在那儿。
“很抱歉，夫人。
”我说，
“如果您向我姐姐告状，她会对我发怒的。但是，
现在我不能玩。初来乍到的，这里的一切很陌生，很新鲜，也太凄凉了……”
。
我住口了，害怕说得太多。郝薇香小姐对着桌子上的镜子俯视她的衣服，然后，
照了照自己的脸。
“对他来说，如此陌生，对我来讲习以为常，
”她自言自语道，
“对他新鲜，
对我陈旧，而对我们俩
是太凄凉了！叫艾丝黛拉！
”
最终，
艾
丝黛拉拿着蜡烛沿着漆黑的过道来了，
郝薇香小姐从桌子上拿起一
块宝石放在艾丝黛拉头上。
“天哪，真漂亮，它将归你一天，让我看看你和这孩
子玩牌。
”
“和这个孩子！他是一个普通人家
的孩子。
”
我想我听到郝薇香小姐小声说：<
/p>
“喂！你能够打碎他的心！
”她坐下，像一具
要入墓的尸体，在烛光下看着我们玩牌。
我几乎在想，如果她惧怕阳光，就把她送进尘埃里。
“这个
孩子的双手多么粗糙！靴子多么的笨重！
”我们打完第一局之前，艾
丝黛拉厌恶地喊着。我忽然意识到，她是对的。
“你认为她怎么样？”郝薇香小姐耳语对我说。
“我认
为她很傲慢，
”我小声回敬了一句。
“还有呢？”
“我认为她很美。
”
“还有呢？”
“我认为她不友好，还有——还有
我想回家了。
”
“不想再见到她了，尽管她很漂亮？”
“我不知道。现在，我想回家了。
”
郝薇香
小姐笑着说：
“你会很快回家的，
6
天
以后再来。艾丝黛拉，给他些
吃的。去吧，匹普。
”
我发现自己在强烈的阳光下回到了那个长满藤蔓的花园里。
艾丝黛拉给我拿
了些面包和肉食，放在地上，像喂狗一样。我被她的行为触怒了，我的眼泪夺眶
而出。一看到这一切，她得意地一笑，就把我推出了门外。我走了
4
英里的路回
到铁匠铺，想起我所看到的一切。当我伤心地看着我的双手和
靴子，我记住了，
我只是一个普通家庭的孩子，我希望我能改变这一切。
我姐姐好奇地想知道我出访的细节，
一个问题接着一个问题地问我。
不晓得
什么缘故，
我感到不可能，
确实不能解释郝薇香小姐和她那奇怪的住宅，
我知道
我姐姐
不会明白的。更糟糕的是老傻瓜潘波趣在喝茶的时间倒会来问更多的问
题。看着他瞪着那
鱼眼，张着嘴巴，这使我保持了沉默。
“把这孩子交给我，
夫人，
”
他告诉乔夫人，
“
我会让他聚精会神。
喂，
孩子，
43<
/p>
加
72
等于几？”
“不知道，
”我说，我什么也不在乎。
“举个
例子，是
85
吗？”他开玩笑说。
“是！
”我回答，尽管我知道不是那个数。我姐姐狠狠地打了我的头。
“孩子
！
”他继续说，
“描述一下郝薇香小姐。
”
“又黑又高”
，我撒谎地说。
“她是
这样的吗，舅舅！
”我姐姐关切地问道。
“噢，
是的。
”潘波趣先生回答。因此，我马上明白了，他从来没有见过她。
< br>“这是从这个孩子那里得到消息的方法”
，他对乔夫人温和地补充说。
“怎样让他更好地顺从你，舅舅！
”乔夫人说。
“喂，孩子！当你到达时她正在干什么？”
“她正
坐在一个黑马车上，
”我回答说。
潘波趣先生和乔夫人互相瞅了瞅，
“在黑马车上？”他们重复着说。
“是的，
”我变得更自信地说，
“我想还有她的侄女艾丝黛拉小姐，通过窗户
递进来盛有蛋糕和葡萄酒的金盘子。
”
“那里还有其它人吗？”潘波趣先生问。
“有<
/p>
4
只巨大的狗，它们从银笼子里探出头吃肉。
”
“这个马车在哪儿？孩子。
”
“在她的房间。但是，没有马。
”
“这可能吗？舅舅。
”乔夫人问道。
“她是个怪女人，夫人，那是很可能的。你玩什么啦，孩子？”
“我们
玩旗子，
”我回答说，我撒的弥天大谎
!
“艾丝黛拉挥舞着蓝色的一
面旗，
我有红色的一面旗，
郝薇香小姐在马车窗户外面挥动着一面旗，
上面镶着
小金星。
”
幸运的是他们再没有问题，
仍然在讨论我所见到漂亮的东西，
这时乔从锻工
车间进来了。
当我看到他吃惊地瞪着蓝色的大眼睛时，
我对自
己编造的谎言很内
疚。
我一发现乔独自呆一会儿时，
就向他供认了关于我去拜访郝花香小姐所编造
的谎话。
“那全不是真的？匹普！
”
他摇着头问，
“没有黑的马车？但是，
至少有狗吧，
对吗？匹普，没有？一
条狗也没有？”
“没有，乔，很抱歉。
”
“匹普
，
老伙计！
”
他慈祥的脸上看上去很不
高兴，
“如果你说谎，
当你死了，
想想
你会去哪儿？”
“我知道，乔，那是可怕的，我不知道发生什么事情，我希望
我没有如此笨
重的靴子和粗糙的双手！
我是如此悲惨，
乔。
在郝薇香小姐家那个漂亮的年轻小
姐说我是
普通人家。我知道我是！莫名其妙地让我说谎。
”
“有一
件事情要记住，匹普，
”乔点上烟斗说，
“说谎总是错误的，你
不能通
过说谎来改变普通人家的身份，那样做是没有出路的。你所有的时间都在学习，<
/p>
匹普！
看看你昨天晚上给我写的那封信！
即使是国王开始也要从头做起，
不是吗？
这倒提醒我，郝薇香小
姐家有旗子吗？没有？实在可怜。看这儿，匹普，这是一
个真正的朋友对你说的话，
记住我的劝告，
不再说谎，
才能活得自在，
死得痛快。
”
我被乔
诚实的话语鼓励着去睡觉了。但是，自己静不下心，一直在想，艾丝
黛拉认为乔的靴子太
笨重，
他的双手太粗糙和我们的普通世家。
那是我难忘的一
天。
4 A present from a stranger
I desperately
wanted to be accepted by
Estella
．
I realized I could
never become
well-educated
just
by
attending
old
Mrs
Wopsle's
evening
school
，
so
I
asked
Mr
Wopsle's cousin Biddy to teach me
everything she knew
．
She
helped me as much as
she
could
，
but I knew it would
take a long time to reach Estella's
level
．
One
evening
I
went
to
fetch
Joe
from
the
village
pub,
where
my
sister
sometimes allowed him
to smoke his pipe and have a
beer
．
Mr Wopsle and Joe were
sitting
with
a
stranger
，
a
man
I'd
never
seen
before
．
One
of
his
eyes
was
half
closed,and he wore a big hat which
covered most of his head
．
He
suddenly looked
interested when I
arrived
，
and rubbed his leg
in a rather strange way
．
He
had just
ordered hot rum for the three
of them
．
‘
It'
s lonely country round here
，
gentlemen
，
’
he sai
d
．
‘
Yes
，
'said
Joe
，
‘
just
marshes down to the
river
．
’
Do
people ever spend the night on the
marshes
？’
‘
No<
/p>
，
’
‘
repl
ied Joe
，
‘
except
an escaped prisoner
sometimes
．
Difficult to
find
，
they
are
．
Went
out
to
look
for
one
once
，
me
，
and
Mr
Wopsle
，
and
young
Pip
here
．
Didn't we
，
Pip
？’
‘
Yes
，
Joe.
’
The stranger looked at me with his good
eye
．
‘
What's his name
？
Pip
？
Y
our son
，
is
he
？’
‘
The boy is the
blacksmith's wife's brother
，
’
explained Mr Wopsle in his official
church clerk's
voice
．
When the drinks
arrived
，
the stranger did
something that he wanted nobody to
see
except me. He mixed his hot rum and
water
，
not with a
spoon
，
but with a
file
，
which he put back in
his pocket when he had
finished
．
As soon as I saw
the file
，
I
knew
it was the one I had stolen from
Joe
，
and I knew that this man
knew my convict.
I stared at him in
horror.
The
men
continued
their
conversation
in
a
friendly
way
until
Joe
stood
up
to
leave
，
and took my
hand
．
‘
Wait a
moment
，
'I said the
stranger
．
‘
I'd
like to give the boy
something
，
'and
wrapping a coin in some old paper from
his pocket
，
handed it to me.
‘
That' s
yours
！
he told
me
，
giving me a look full of
meaning .
‘
Thank you
，
sir
，
'I
said
，
still staring at
him
．
Together Joe and I
walked home
，
Joe with his
mouth open all the way so that my sister would not
notice the smell of
rum on his breath .
But
when we arrived home
，
we
found the stranger had giv-en me two Pound
notes as well as the
coin
．
My sister thought it
must have been a mistake
，
and
kept
the pound notes in case he came
back for them
．
But I knew
they came from my con
－
vict
，
and I felt that having
criminal friends made me more common than ever.
The
next time I went to Miss
Havisham's
，
I was shown
in
－
to a different room to
wait. Several ladies and
gentlemen
，
relations of
hers
，
were there. They all
turned and
looked at me in disgust when
I was the first to be called by
Estella
．
As Estella was
leading me along the dark
passages
，
she stopped
suddenly and
put her face close to
mine
．
‘
Look at me
，
boy
！
Am I
pretty
？
'
‘
Yes
，
I
think you're very pretty
．
'
‘
Am I rude to
you
？
'
‘
Not as much as last
time
．
'
She hit my face
as hard as she could.
‘
Now
，
you coarse little
boy
，
what do you think of
me
？’
‘
I won't tell
you
．
’
‘
Why
don't you cry again
，
you
fool
？
'
‘
Because I'll never cry for
you again
，
'I
said
，
which was a very false
promise
，
because I was crying
inside at the time
，
and only
I know how much I cried for her
later
．
On
our way upstairs we met a gentleman coming down in
the dark
．
He was a
large
，
heavy
man
，
with a very dark
skin
，
sharp
eyes
，
and a huge
head
，
almost bald
on
the
top
．
His
hands
smelt
strongly
of
perfumed
soap
．
I
didn't
know
then
how
important he would ha
later on in my life.
‘
Who's
this
？’
he asked
Estella
，
stopping
to look at me.
‘
A
local boy. Miss Havisham sent for
him
，
'she
replied
．
‘
Well
，
in
my
experience most boys are
bad
，
'he said to
me.
‘
Behave
yourself
！
'He bit the side
of his large finger as he frowned at
me
，
and then continued
downstairs.
This time Miss Havisham was in another
room
，
which I had not seen
before
．
All
the
furniture was covered in
dust
．
In the
candle
－
light I could see a
long table
，
in the
middle of which was a large yellow
shape
，
with hundreds of
insects feeding off it
．
‘
This
，
's
aid Miss Havisham
，
pointing
to the table
，
‘
is
where they will put me
when I'm
dead
．
I'll lie on
the table
，
and my relations
can come and look at me
．
'
She
put a bony hand on my
shoulder
，
but I didn't want
her to touch me
．
I was afraid
she
would die there and
then
．
‘
And
that
，
'she
added
，
pointing to the yellow
shape
，
‘
that
was my wedding cake
．
< br>Mine
！
'she looked all
round the room angrily
．
‘
Come
！
'she
said
suddenly
．
‘
Help me
walk round the room
．
And call
Estella
！
’
I
held
her
arm
to
support
her
as
she
walked
．
We
were
still
going
slowly
and
painfully round the room when Estella
brought in the relations who had been waiting
downstairs
．
They
stood watching us at the
door
．
I thought they blamed
me for Miss
Havisham's cold manner
towards them
．
‘
Dear Miss
Havisham
！
'said one of the
ladies
lovingly
．
‘
How
well you look
！
’
‘
I do
not
，
’
replied Miss
Havisham
sharply
．
‘
I am
yellow skin and bone
．
'
‘
How could Miss Havisham
look well
，
after all her suff
er
－
ing
？
'said a second
lady
quickly
．
‘
Impossible
！
What a
silly idea
！
’
‘
And how are
you
？’
Miss Havisham asked
this lady
．
As we were close
to her
then
，
I
would have stopped
，
but Miss
Havisham insisted on walking past .It seemed
rather rude
．
‘
Not well at
all
，
'said this lady
sadly.
‘
I don't want to talk
too much about my
feelings
，<
/p>
but
－
well
－
I often lie awake at night thinking
of you
，
dear Miss
Havisham
！
'
‘
Well
，
don't
！
'said Miss Havisham crossly as we
hurried past the little group
again.
‘
I'm afraid I can't stop
myself
．
I often wish I were
less sensitive and loving . But
that's
my character and I have to live with
it
！
'And she started crying
softly
．
‘
Look at
Matthew now
！
'she
added
，
through her
tears.
‘
Matthew never comes
to see dear
Miss Havisham .But
I-
’
When she heard Matthew's
name
，
Miss Havisham stopped
walking and stood
looking at the
speaker
，
who suddenly became
silent.
‘
Matthew will come
in the
end
，
'said
Miss Havisham
firmly
，
‘
when I
die and am laid on that table. You will stand
around and look at
me
，
you
here
，
you
there
，
you next to
her
，
you two there Now
you know where to
stand
．
And now
go
！
'
The ladies and gentlemen
went slowly out of the
room
，
some protesting quietly
that they had not seen enough of their
dear relation. When they had all
gone
，
Miss
Havisham said to
me
，
‘
This is my birt
hday
，
Pip
．
< br>I don't allow anyone to speak of it
．
My relations always
come on this day once a
year
．
This
day
，
long before you were
born
，
was my wedding
day .Pehaps I shall die on this day
too
．
And when they lay me in
my wedding dress on
that
table
，
I'll have my revenge
on him
！
’
In
the heavy air of that
dark
，
dusty
room
，
she was a ghostly
figure in her yellow
－
white
dress
．
There was a long
silence
．
As usual I left
the house and walked towards the
gate
，
but this
time something
strange
happened
．
In the garden I met
a pale young gentleman with fair
hair
．
‘
Hel
lo
！
’
he
said
．
‘
Come and
fight
！
This
way
！
’
I was so
surprised that I followed him without a
word
．
‘
Wait a
minute
，
’
he
said
，
turning round
quickly
．
‘
I must
give you a reason for
fighting
．
There it
is
！
’
And he pulled
my hair
，
then pushed his head
hard into my
stomach
．
I
was
ready
to
fight
him
after
this
，
but
he
danced
abut
so
much
that
I
couldn't get close to
bim
．
‘
Follow
the
laws
of
the
game
！
< br>’
he
said
，
eagerly
preparing
himself
for
our
fight
．
He seemed
to know so much about fighting that I was very
surprised when I
knocked him down with
my first hit
，
and then again
with my second
．
He always got
up immediately and seemed very glad to
be fighting in the correct
manner
．
I admired
him greatly for his bravery and his
cheerfulness
．
Finally he had
to agree I had won
，
and we
said goodbye
．
When I reached the
gate
，
I found Estella waiting
for me
．
She
seemed
very
pleased
about
something
．
I
wondered
if
she
had
been
watching
our
fight
．
Before I
went out
，
she
said
，
‘
Her
e
！
you can kiss me if you
like
．
’
I
kissed her cheek
．
It was true
I wanted to kiss her very
much
，
but I felt that kiss
was almost like a coin thrown to a poor
common boy
，
and not worth
anything
．
I didn't see
the pale young gentleman there
again
．
I continued my visits
to Miss
Havisham
for
almost
a
year
．
She
took
great
pleasure
in
watching
my
growing
admiration for
Estella
，
and my unhappiness
when Estella laughed at me
．
‘
Go
on
，
my
love
，
she used to whisper in
Estella's
ear
，
‘
break men's
hearts and
have no
mercy
！
I want my
revenge
！
'
Meanwhile my
sister and that fool Pumblechook never stopped
discussing Miss
Havisham and her
considerable wealth
．
They
were sure I could expect a large present
from her
，
either
before or after her
death
．
But one day Miss
Havisham decided it was
time to
apprentice me to Joe
，
and
told me to bring him to her
house
．
My sister was
very angry because she was not invited
as well
．
Dear
old
Joe
simply
could
not
believe
his
eyes
when
he
and
I
entered
Miss
Havisham s room the next
day
．
The
darkness
，
the
candles
，
the
dust
，
the ancient
furniture
，
the old
lady in her bride's dress
－
it
was almost too much for Joe's limited
intelligence
．
That
may be why he refused to speak to Miss Havisham
directly
，
but
spoke only to me during the
conversation
．
I was ashamed
of him
，
especially as I could
see Estella laughing at me over Miss
Havisham's shoulder
．
‘
So
，
’
bega
n Miss Havisham
，
‘
you
，
Joe Gargery
，<
/p>
black
－
smith
，
are ready to
take Pip
as an apprentice
？
'
‘
You know
，
Pip
，
’
replied
Joe
，
‘
how we've
both been looking forward to working
together
．
Haven't
we
，
Pip
？
'
‘
You
don't
expect
any
payment
when
he
becomes
your
ap
－
prentice
？
'she
continued
．
‘
Now
，
Pip
，
'said Joe
，
rather
offended
，
‘
that
question doesn't need an answer.
Between you and me. Does it
，
Pip
？’
Miss
Havisham
looked
kindly
at
Joe.
I
think
she
understood
more
of
his
character
than Estella did
．
She picked
up a little bag from the
table
．
‘
Pip has
earned
something
here
．
There are twenty-five
pounds in this bag .Give it to your
master
，
Pip
．
'
The strange
situation seemed to have made Joe go
now
，
he insisted
on speaking to
me
．
This is very generous of yo
u
，
Pip
．
Very generous
．
Now
，
old boy
，
we must
try
to do our duty to each other
Mustn't we
，
Pip
？’<
/p>
‘
Goodbye
，
Pip
！
'said Miss
Havisham
．
‘
Take
them out
，
Estella
！
’
‘
Shall I come
again
？
I
asked
．
‘
No<
/p>
，
Gargery is your master now.
Gargery
！
Remember
，
I'm giving you this
money
because he has been a good
boy
．
Don't expect anything
more
！
’
Somehow
I
managed
to
get
Joe
out
of
the
house
，
and
in
the
daylight
he
gradually became normal
again
．
In fact I think his
intelligence was improved by the
interview
，
because
as we walked home he invented a surprisingly
clever plan
．
‘
Wel
l
，
'cried my
sister
，
as we
arrived
，
‘
so
you've finished visiting your fine
ladies
，
have
you
？
I'm
surprised you bother to come home at
all
！
’
‘
Miss Havisham asked me to
send
，
'said
Joe
，
as if trying to remember
the exact
words
，
‘
her-best
wishes
，
was it
，
Pip
？
to Mrs J
< br>．
Gargery
…
'
‘
Best
wishes
，
'I
agreed
．
‘
And
apologized for not being well
enough
，
what was it
，
Pip
？’
‘
To have the
pleasure
，
'I
said
．
‘
To
have the pleasure of a lady 's
company
，
’
he
nodded
，
giving the impression
of a man glad to pass on a message
ocr
－
rectly .
‘
Well
！
'said my siste
r
，
pleased
．
‘
She could have sent that message
earlier
，
but better late than
never
．
And what did she give
the boy
？’
‘
Not
hing
，
'said
Joe
firmly
，
stopping
Mrs
Joe
from
speaking
by
raising
his
hand<
/p>
．
‘
What she
gave
，
she gave to his
sister
，
Mrs J
．
Gargery
．
That' s what
she
said
．
Didn't s
he
，
Pip
？’
‘
And
how
much
did
she
give
？
asked
my
sister
，
laughing
．
She
was
actually
laughing
！
‘
What would you say to ten
pounds
？’
asked
Joe
．
‘
Not
bad
，
'said my
sister
．
‘
It's more than
that
．
What would you say to
twenty pounds
？’
‘
That's
good
！
'said my
sister
，
‘
< br>Well
，
here you
are
，
it s twenty-five
pounds
！
'said Joe de
－
lightedly
，
hand
ing the bag to my sister
．
4
一份从陌生人那里来的礼品
我不顾死活地想被艾丝黛拉所接受
。
我认识到，
只参加陈旧的伍甫赛夫人的
夜校，不可能成为有良好教养的人。因此，我要求伍甫赛先生的表妹毕蒂，把她
所有的
知识都教给我，她尽全力帮助我。但是，我知道要达到艾丝黛拉的水平，
需要花费很长的
时间。
一天晚上，
我想去镇上的小酒店接乔。
有时，
我姐姐允许他在这儿抽烟斗和
喝点啤酒。
伍甫赛先生和乔正在同一个陌生人坐着，
这个人我以前从没见过。
他
的一只眼半闭着，
戴着一顶大帽子几乎把他的头都
盖住。
当我到来时，
他突然感
兴趣地看
着，并用一种奇特的方式，磨蹭着腿。他刚为他们三人要了热朗姆酒。
“这里
周围是一个孤独的农村吗？先生们。
”他说。
“是的
，
”乔说，
“过了沼泽地就是河。
”<
/p>
“人们总是要天黑才到沼泽地里吗？”
“不是
，
”乔回答说，
“有时除了逃犯，他们很难去发现。我和伍甫赛
先生，
还有这儿的小匹普出去寻找过一次，是吗？匹普。
”
“是的，乔。
”
陌生人用他的好眼睛看着我。
“他的名字叫什么？匹普？你的儿子，是吗？”
“这个
孩子是铁匠妻子的弟弟，
”伍甫赛先生用他那正式的教堂职员腔调解
释说。
当酒上来时，
那个陌生人要的东西除
了我没有人看见。
搅拌着他的热朗姆酒
和水，不是用勺子，而是
用一把锉。搅拌好后，他把锉放进口袋。我一看到这把
锉，
就知
道是我从乔那儿偷的那一把；
就知道这个人了解我那个囚犯，
我
用恐慌
的目光盯着他。
直到乔站起来，拉着我的手要离开，他们才终止友好的谈话。
“等一
会儿，
”陌生人说，
“我想给这孩子点东西，
< br>”并从他的口袋里拿出一
枚用旧报纸裹着的硬币递给我，
“这是你的！
”
他告诉我，
并使了个意
味深长的眼
神。
“谢谢你，先生，
”我说，仍然盯着他。我和乔一起往家走，乔一路上张着
嘴，以便我姐姐不会在
他呼吸时发现朗姆酒味。
当我到达家里时，
我发现那个陌生人
给我的相当两镑钞票的硬币。
我姐姐认
为，那一定是搞错了，用
盒子保存起来，万一他回来要。可是，我知道它们来自
我那个囚犯，这使我感觉到有犯罪
的朋友比以前更低贱。
第二次我拜访郝薇香小姐的家，
我被
领进另一间屋子等候。
有几个太太和先
生在那儿，都是她的亲戚
。当艾丝黛拉第一次喊我的时候，他们都转过身，用一
种厌恶的目光看着我。
当艾丝黛拉带我沿着那个黑过道走时，
她突然停住脚步，
她的脸紧靠近我的
脸。
“看着我，孩子！我漂亮吗？”
“是的，我认为你很漂亮。
”
“我对你不友好吗？”
“比上次好一些。
”
她拼命地揙我一个耳光。
“喂，你这个粗俗的小孩子，你现在觉得我怎么样？”
“我不告诉你。
”
“你为
什么不再哭鼻子呢？你这个傻瓜。
”
“因为，我永远不会再为你哭鼻子
，
”我说，但是，这话是自欺欺人的。因
为，这次在内心里还是
哭了，只有我知道，我不记恨她。
在我们上楼的路上，遇见一位先生正在摸黑下楼。他是个身材
魁梧的家伙，
皮肤很黑、小眼睛、大脑袋，几乎是秃了顶，他的双手有一股扑鼻的香肥皂
味。
我并不知道他在我以后的生活中起多大作用。
“这是谁呀？”他停止脚步，望着我问艾丝黛拉。
“一个
当地的孩子，郝薇香小姐让他来的。
”他回答说。
“噢，
以我的了解看，大部分孩子都很坏，
”他对我说。
“要规矩点！
”他向
我皱着眉头，用粗大的手指弹我一下。然后，继续下楼。
这一次，
郝薇香小姐是在一间我以前没有见过的房间里，
所有的陈设布满尘
土，
在影影绰绰的烛光下，
我能看见一张长桌，
桌子中间有一大块黄色的圆东西，
上面有成千上万只虫子在叮食。
“这，
”
郝蔽香小姐指着那张桌子说，
“是我的葬身之地，我将躺在桌子上，
亲戚们能来看看我。
”她把瘦瘦的手放在我肩上。但是，我不让她来碰我。我害
怕她随时会死去的。
“那个，
”她指着那个
黄色的圆形东西补充说，
“是我的结婚
蛋糕，我的！
”她忿怒地满屋环视了一下，
“过来！
”她突然说
，
“扶着我在屋里转
转，叫艾丝黛拉！
”
<
/p>
我扶着她的手臂支撑着她走走。
当艾丝黛拉带着那些在楼下等候的
亲戚到来
时，我们仍然在慢慢地、艰难地围着屋子兜圈圈。他们站在门口看着我们，我觉
得这些来客把郝薇香小姐对他们的不礼貌行为推到我身上。
“亲爱
的郝薇香小姐！
”其中一位太太讨好地说，
“你看上去多么健康
呀！
”
“我不好，
”郝薇香小姐吹毛求疵地
回答，
“脸色蜡黄皮包骨头”
。
“郝薇
香小姐身体怎么能好呢，毕竟她患了场大病？”第二个太太赶紧说，
“那不可能，多么愚
蠢的想法！
”
“你怎么样？”郝薇香小姐问这位
太太。当我们靠近她时，我已经停止了脚
步。可是，郝薇香小姐坚持走下去，看上去相当
粗暴。
“身体一点也不好，
”这位太太伤心地说，
“我不想讲太多的感受。但是——
唉——我常常醒着躺在床上整夜地想你，亲爱的郝
薇香小姐！
”
“嗯，不可能！
< br>”当我们已快速通过一群人时，郝薇香小姐不高兴地说。
“我害
怕不能控制自己，我常希望自己少一点感情少一点爱，可是，那是我
的秉性改不了，我必
须那样生活！
”她低声地喊着，
“看看马修！
< br>”她流着泪接着
说，
“马修从不来探望亲爱的郝薇香小姐
。可我
--
”
郝薇香
小姐一听到马修的名子，
便停住了脚步，
站在那里望着说话的人
，
说
话的人突然变沉默了。
“马修
最终会来的，
”郝薇香小姐坚定地说，
“当我死了躺在那张桌子
上，你
们会围站在这看着我的。你在这儿，你在那儿，你下一个就是她，你俩在那儿。<
/p>
现在你们就知道在这儿站着，都滚。
”
这些太
太和先生们小心翼翼地出了房间，
一些暗中抗议者，
还没有见过
他们
亲爱的亲戚发这么大的火。
当他们都走了，
郝薇香小姐对我说，
“这是我的生日，
匹普，我不允许
任何人来祝贺，我的亲戚每年总是这一天来这里一次。这一天，
也就是你生下来的不久，
是我结婚的日子，
或许我也会在这一天死去，
< br>当他们把
穿着结婚礼服的我放在那张桌子上时，我将向他们报一箭之仇！
”
在那阴暗、布满灰尘的房间、沉闷的空气里，她穿着褪了色的
衣服，活像一
个幽灵的化身。沉默了很长一段时间。
我照例
离开了这所房屋向大门口走去。
但是，
这一次有一件奇怪的事情
发生
了。在花园里，遇见了一位留着漂亮发式的白面少年绅士。
“喂！
”他说，
“过来打一架！下决心吧！
”
我很吃惊，以致我无话可说地跟着他。
“等一
会儿，
”
他迅速地转过身来说，
“我必
须给你一个打架的理由，
就这个！
”
他
揪着我的头发，用头狠狠地撞我肚子。接着，我准备揍他，但是，他蹦跳地躲
着以致我接
近不了他。
“注意比赛的规则！
”他说，渴望准
备自己打
4
局，当我第一拳接着再来第
二拳把他打倒在地时，
他好像知道打如此多的局会使我感到很惊讶。
他总是立即
爬起来，似乎对这种合适的手法击打很高兴，我很钦佩他的勇敢和爽快。
最后，
他不得不同意是我取胜，于是我们互相告别。
当我到
了大门口，
发现艾丝黛拉正在等着我，
她好像对发生的事情感到
很高
兴，我不晓得她是否已经看到了我们的打斗。我出门之前，她说：
< br>
“喂！如果你喜欢可以吻我”
。
我吻了
她的面颊，真的，我想不停地吻她。可是，我感到吻几乎像一枚硬币
抛向一个可怜粗俗的
孩子，一文不值。
我再也没有见过那个白脸少年绅士。
几乎是过了一年，
我继续去拜访郝蔽香
小姐，
< br>看到我的成长，
赞美艾丝黛拉她很高兴。
当艾丝黛拉嘲笑
我时，
我不高兴。
“继续，宝贝，
< br>”她在艾丝黛拉耳边用习惯的耳语说，
“打碎男人的心，决不
仁慈手软！我要报仇雪恨！
”
其间，我姐姐和傻瓜潘彼趣从来没
有停止过讨论郝蔽香小姐和她可观的财
富。他们确信我能期望从她那儿，或死前或死后得
到大量的赠品。可是，一天郝
获香小姐决定是我做乔的徒弟的时候了，
< br>还告诉我把他带到她家来。
我姐姐很愤
怒，因为也没有邀
请她。
第二天，
当我和他进入郝证香小姐的房间时，
< br>亲爱的老乔却不敢相信自己的
眼睛，黑暗、蜡烛、尘土、陈旧的家具、穿着新娘衣
着的老夫人——乔的有限智
力几乎应接不暇。
那可能是他为什么
拒绝与郝薇香小姐直接说话，
而在整个谈话
中，
他只冲着我讲话。
尤其是当我越过郝花香小姐的肩膀看到艾丝黛拉在嘲笑我
的时候，我真为他感到羞耻。
“哦！
”
郝薇香小姐开始说，
“你，
乔·
葛吉瑞，
铁匠，
准备收匹普当徒弟？”
“你知道，
匹普，
”
乔回
答说，
“我们俩多么盼望能在一起干活，
是吧？匹普。
”
“他当你的徒弟，你不想收费吗？”她接着说。
“喂，
匹普”
，乔特别伤感的说，
“这个问题不需要回答，你我之间还
谈钱的
事儿吗？匹普？”
郝薇香小姐友好地看着乔，
我想她比艾丝黛拉更了解他的性格。
她从桌子上
拿起一个小袋子，
“匹普在这里挣的工钱，这个袋子里有
25
英镑，匹普，把钱给
你的师傅。
”
这突如其来的情形似乎让乔发疯。甚至现在他还坚持对我说。
“你们
十分大方，匹普，
慷慨大方。
喂，老伙计，
我们必须努力尽职，
是吧，
匹普？”
“
再见，匹普！
”郝薇香小姐说，
“带他们出去吧，艾丝黛拉！<
/p>
”
“我还能来吗？”我问道。
“不用
了，现在葛吉瑞是你的师傅了。葛吉瑞！记住，我给你这笔钱是因为
他在这里是个好孩子
，别期望再要更多的钱！
”
我想办法让乔出了这间房屋。
在明媚的阳光下，
他慢慢地又恢复了正常。
事
实上，我认为通过这次拜访，他的智商得到了提高，因为当我们走到家的时候，
他想出了一个惊奇的聪明的计划。
“喂，
”
我们到家，我姐姐叫喊着，
“你们已经结束了对你们的好小姐们的拜
访，不是吗？你们都缠着回家我很惊奇！
”
“郝薇
香小姐让我捎给她，
”
乔说着好像努力地去记住这句准确的话，
“她最
好的祝福，不是吗？匹普。对乔·葛吉瑞夫人说……。<
/p>
”
“最美好的祝福，
”我顺从着说。
“并对
做的不是太完美表示道歉，那是什么？匹普。
”
“敬请，
”我说。
“敬请
一位夫人出席，
”他点点头，通过一句合适的祝词，给了一个男人高
兴的印象。
“喂！
”我姐姐高兴地说，
“她可以早一点送这个祝福，不过，晚送总比不送
好。她给这个孩子什么
了？”
“什么也没给，
”乔马上说，他举起手阻止乔夫人说话。
“她给了什么，她给
他姐姐的，乔·葛吉瑞夫人，那是她说的，是吗？
匹普。
”
“她给了多少？”我姐姐大笑起来问道，她确确实实在大笑！
“你说
给了
10
镑怎么样？”乔问道。
“不错，
”我姐姐说。
“那比
这更多呢，你说给
20
镑怎么样？”
“那太好了！
”我姐姐说。
“喂，
你听好，这是
25
镑！
”乔高兴地说，
把钱袋递给我姐姐。
5 Pip's sister is attacked
I n a single
year everything had
changed
．
Before I went to
Miss Havisham 's and
met
Estella
，
I had always wanted
to be apprenticed to Joe
，
and
I had always been
happy at
home
，
in spite of my sister'
s scolding
．
Now I was ashamed
of my home and
my
work
．
I was very
miserable
．
Because of Joe
，
however
，
I
stayed at the forge and
did my best to
work hard .I'm glad that I never told him how
unhappy I was then. I
tried to follow
his example and become an honest
，
happy
，
hardworking
man
．
But all
the
time I thought of Estella
．
My
worst fear was that one day she would come to the
forge and see me working as a common
blacksmith
，
with black face
and hands
．
She
would certainly turn away in
disgust
．
In
the
evenings
I
studied
as
hard
as
I
could
，
educating
my-self
for
Estella
．
Whatever
I learnt
，
I shared with Joe
，
not
，
I'm
afraid
，
so that he would be
more educated
，
but
so that I would be less ashamed of him in front of
Estella
．
One
Sunday Joe and I went out on the
marshes
，
as
usual
，
to study
together
．
I don't think
he ever remembered anything from one
week to the next
，
but he
smoked his pipe
comfortably
，
looking
as
intelli
－
gent
as
he
could .
I
had
a
question
I
had
been
intending to ask
him
．
‘
Joe,do you
think I should visit Miss Havisham
again
？’
‘
Wel
l
，
Pip
，
'said Joe
，
‘
will
she think you expect her to give you
something
？
She
told me she wouldn't give you
any
－
thing
else
．
'
‘
But
，
Joe
，
I've been apprenticed
nearly a year now
，
and I've
never thanked
her
！
’
‘
That's true
，
Pip
，
'said Joe
slowly
．
‘
Could you give me a half
day's holiday tomorrow
，
Joe
？
I would like to
visit
Miss Est-
Havisham
．
'
‘
Her name isn't
Estavisham
，
as far as I know<
/p>
，
Pip
，
's
aid Joe very seriously
．
‘
I know
，
Joe
！
Please
，
Joe
！
’
‘
All right
，
Pip
，
but if she isn't
happy to see you
，
better not go again .'
Joe had another
blacksmith working for him at the
forge
．
His name was
Orlick
，
and he had no friends
or family in the was a big
，
strong
，
lazy
man
，
who
moved
about in a strangely unhurried
way
，
his shoulders bent and
his eyes on the
ground .For some reason
he never liked me
，
even when
I was a child
，
and when I
became Joe's
apprentice
，
he seemed to hate
me
．
When he heard about my
half-day
holiday
，
he threw
down his hammer angrily .
‘
Come now
，
master
！
'he said to Joe.
‘
If young Pip 's
having a holiday
，
give
me one too
！
'
‘
Well
，
’<
/p>
nodded Joe after thinking for a
moment
，
‘
I
will
．
'
Just then my
sister
，
who had secretly been
listening outside the
forge
，
called to
Joe through one of the
windows
，
‘
You
fool
！
You think you' re a
rich man
，
giving a
holiday to a lazy man like that
Orlick
！
I wish I were his
master
！
I'd soon show
him
！
’
‘
You want to be everybody's
master
！
' Orlick told her
angrily
．
‘
And
what's more
，
you're a wicked,
ugly
，
old
woman
！
'
‘
What did you
say
？
' cried my
sister
，
beginning to scream.<
/p>
‘
Oh
！
Oh<
/p>
！
What did
you
call
me
？
Hold
me
，
someone
！
’
Little
by
little
she
was
deliberately
making
herself
angry
．
Joe and I had seen
this happen many times
before
．
‘
Hold
you
！
'said Orlick in
disgust
．
‘
If you
were my wife
，
I'd hold you
tight round
the neck until you couldn't
breathe
！
'
‘
Oh
！
'screamed my sis
ter
．
‘
Me
，
a married
woman
！
Being spoken to like
this
！
In my own
house
！
And my husband
standing nearby
！
Oh
！
Oh
！
’
And like a mad woman
she pulled her
hair loose
，
and rushed at the
forge door
，
which I had
，
luckily
，
loc
ked.
Poor Joe had no
choice
．
He had to
challenge Orlick to
fight
．
But Joe was the
strongest man in the
village
，
and very soon
Orlick
，
like the pale young
gentleman
，
was lying on the
ground .Then Joe unlocked the door and picked up
my sister, who
had dropped unconscious
to the ground
，
but only after
watching the fight through
the
window
．
She
stayed in the kitchen for the rest of the
day
，
and Joe and Orlick
shared a glass of beer peacefully
together in the forge
．
That afternoon when I arrived at Miss
Havisham's house
，
it wasn't
Estella who
opened the
gate
，
but a cousin of the old
lady's
．
Miss Havisham looked
just the same
as
before
．
‘
Wel
l
？
'she
said
，
‘
I hope you
don't expect me to give you
anything
．
’
‘
No
，
indeed
，
Miss
Havisham
．
I only want you to
know that I'm very grateful to you for
helping
me become
Joe's
apprentice.
‘
Good
．
Come
and
see
me
again
，
on
your
birthday
．
Ah
！
'she cried
suddenly
，
‘
you're
looking for Estella
，
aren't y
ou
？
Answer
！
’
‘
Ye-
yes
，
’
I
admitted
．
‘
I hope
Miss Estella is well
？’
‘
She's abroad,
receiving a
lady's
education
．
She's more
beautiful than ever
，
and
admired by all who see her .Do
you feel
you've lost her
？
' She gave
such an unpleasant laugh with these last words
that I didn't know what to
say
，
and as I left the house
I felt even more miserable
．
On
my way through town I met Mr
Wopsle
，
and together we
started the long
walk home to the
village
．
It was a
dark
，
wet
，
< br>misty night
，
and we could
only just
see someone ahead of
us
．
‘
Hello
！
’
we
called.
‘
Is that
Orlick
？’
‘
Yes
！
’
he
answered
．
‘
I'll
walk home with you
．
Been in
town all afternoon
，
I
have
．
Did
you
hear
the
big
gun
firing
，
from
the
prison-
ships
？
Must
be
some
prisoners who' ve
escaped
．
'That made me think
of my convict
．
We didn't talk
any
more
，
but
walked along in silence
．
We
heard the gun firing several times.
It was late by
the time we got to the
village
，
and we were
surprised to see lights
on at the
pub
，
and people running in
and out . Mr Wopsle went in to discover what
was happening
，
and
after a few minutes rushed out
，
< br>calling
，
‘
Somet
hing wrong up
at the forge
，<
/p>
Pip
！
Run
！
They say perhaps it was an escaped
convict who got into the
house while
Joe was out
．
Someone's been
attacked
！
’
We
didn't stop running until we reached the
forge
．
In Mrs Joe's kitchen
there
was a
doctor
，
and
Joe
，
and a group of Women .
And on the floor in the middle of
them
all was my sister
，
lying
unconscious
．
She would never
scold us again
．
Joe had been at
the pub that evening
，
and
when he arrived home just before
ten
，
he found her
on the floor
．
Nothing had
been stolen .She had been hit violently
on the back of the head with a heavy
weapon
．
On the floor beside
her was a convict's
iron
chain
．
It did not belong to
the prisoners who had escaped that
day
．
The
police
spent
the
next
week
investigating
the
attack
，
but
did
not
arrest
anybody. I felt sure the iron chain
belonged to my convict
，
but I
did not think he had
attacked my
sister. The attacker could have been either
Orlick
，
or the stranger who
had
shown
me
the
file
.
But
several
witnesses
had
seen
Or
－
lick
in
town
all
evening
．
My only
reason for suspecting him was his quarrel with my
sister
，
but she
had quarrelled with everyone in the
village ten thousand
times
．
And if the stranger
had come to ask for his two pounds
back
，
my sister would gladly
have given it to
him
．
So I could
not imagine who her attacker
was
．
She lay ill in bed for a
long time
．
She could not
speak or understand much
，
and
her character was greatly
changed
．
She had become quiet
，
patient
，
< br>and grateful for
all our
care
．
She used to write a
word or draw a picture when she wanted some
－
thing
，
and we
tried to discover what she
meant
．
She needed someone to
take care of
her all the
time
，
and luckily old Mrs
Wopsle had just died
，
so
Biddy came to live with
us. She
understood my sister perfectly and looked after us
all very well.
One day my sister drew a
T
，
and seemed to want it very
much
．
I brought her
toast
，
and
tea
，
but Biddy knew
immediately.
‘
It's not a
T
，
it's Orlick's
hammer
！
'she
cried
．
‘
She's
forgotten his name but she
wants to see
Orlick
！
’
I
must
say
l
expected
to
see
my
sister
accuse
Orlick
of
at
－
tacking
her
，
but
instead
she
seemed
very
pleased
to
see
him.
She
often
used
to
ask
for
him
after
that
，
and nobody
knew why.
One Sunday I asked Biddy to come for a
walk on the marshes
．
‘
Biddy
，
’
I
said seriously
，
‘
p
romise to keep this a
secret
．
I'm going to tell you
something
．
I want
to be a gentleman.'
‘
Don't you think you're
happier as you are
？
'she
replied
．
I had often
wondered this myself
，
but I
didn't want to hear it from her.
‘
It's a
pity
，
I
know
，
’
I
said
．
‘
It would
have been much better if I could have been happy
working at the
forge
．
Perhaps you and I
would have spent more time
together
．
I
would
have been good enough for
you
，
wouldn't I
，
Biddy
？’
‘
Oh
yes
，
'she said
sadly
．
‘
But I
don't ask for very much
．
'
‘
The point
is
，
'I continued
crossly
，
‘
if
nobody had told me I was coarse and
common
，
I wouldn't
have thought abut
it
！
’
Biddy looked at
me
，
interested
．
‘
That wasn't a true or polite
thing to say. Who
said
it
？’
‘
It was the
beautiful young lady at Miss
Havisham's
，
and I admire her
greatly
，
and
I
want
to
be
a
gentleman
for
her
！
'The
words
rushed
out
before
I
could
stop
them
．
Biddy said
gently
，
‘
She may
not be worth the trouble
，
Pip
.
’
‘
That may be
true
，
but I can't stop myself
admiring her.'
Biddy
was
the
most
sensible
of
girls
，
and
did
not
try
to
persuade
me
any
more
．
As we walked
home
，
I felt rested and
comforted
．
‘
Pip
，
what a fool you
are
！
'I said to
myself
．
I realized how much
happier I would
always be with Biddy
than with Estella
．
‘
Biddy
，
I wish I
could make myself fall in love with
you
！
’
I said
suddenly
．
‘
You
don't mind my speaking so
openly
，
as you're such an old
friend
？’
‘
No
，
of
course not
．
But you never
will fall in love with
me
，
you
see
，
'she
answered
，
a little
sadly .
I wondered if I should continue working
with Joe in a plain
，
honest
way of life
，
and perhaps
marry Biddy. Or dare I hope that Miss Havisham
would make my fortune
and marry me to
Estella
？
5
匹普的姐姐被袭击
在仅有
的一年中，
每一件事情都发生了变化。
我去郝薇香小姐家，
遇见艾丝
黛拉之前，
我总是想做乔的徒弟，
不管我姐姐的训斥，
在家里总是很愉快。
现在，
我对我的家和工作感到苦恼，我很悲伤。然而，为了乔，我呆在铁匠铺并拼命地
工作。
使我欣慰的是没有把这些烦恼告诉他，
< br>我尽可能地以他为榜样，
成为一个
诚实的、幸福的实干家
。但是，我每时每刻忘不了艾丝黛拉，我最怕的是有一天
她会来到铁匠铺，
看一个黑脸黑手粗俗的铁匠在干活，
她自然会厌恶地当场离去。
< br>晚上，
我拼命地学习，
为艾丝黛拉而自修。
无论怎样，
我学到的要与乔分享。
不，我是担心，以
便他受到更多的教育，好让我在艾丝黛拉面前少为他丢丑。一
个星期天，
乔和我出门到了沼泽地，
照常一起学习。
我相信他不会
把这周学到的
东西记到下一周。不过，他舒适地吸着烟斗，看上去倒挺自信，我有一个问
题打
算问他。
“乔，你想我应该再去拜访郝薇香小姐了吧？”
“喂，
匹普，
”乔说，
“她会认为你又期望她给你东西吗？她告诉过我
，她不
会再给你任何东西。
”
“可是
，乔，现在我当徒弟快一年了，我还从没有感谢她！
”
“这的确
是，匹
普，
”乔慢慢地说。
“明天
你能给我半天假吗，乔？我想去看望艾丝黛拉——郝薇香小姐。
”
“
就我所知，她的名字不是艾丝黛薇香，匹普。
”乔十分严肃地说。
“我知道，乔！求你啦，乔！
”
“好，
好，匹普，不过，如果她见到你不高兴，最好别再去。
”
在铁匠
铺里，
乔还有另一名铁匠帮他干活，
他的名字叫奥立克，
他在村里既
没有家也没有朋友。他个头很大、很强壮，是一个懒惰的家
伙，他走起路来躬着
腰、瞅着地，吊儿郎当的样子。不知什么原因，他从来不喜欢我，甚
至我还是一
个小孩子时，他就当了乔的徒弟，那时他好像就恨我。当听说我要请半天假时
，
他生气地扔下手头的锤子。
“喂，师傅！
”他对乔说，
“如果给小匹普放假的话，你也必须给我放假！
”
“好，
”乔想了一会儿点点头说，
“我
同意。
”
正在那时，
我姐姐在铁匠铺外面隐藏
着，
所说的话她都听到了。
她从一个窗
户口对乔喊道，
“你这个傻瓜！你认为你是富翁，给像奥立克这样的懒蛋放假！
我希望我是他的师傅！我会马上给他个眼色瞧瞧！
”
“你想当所有人的师傅！
”奥立克愤怒地告诉她，
“还有，你是
一个恶劣的、
丑陋的老女人！
”
“你说
什么？”我姐姐喊着，开始尖叫起来，
“哎哟！哎哟！你骂我什么？
有人掐我！
”
她渐渐地使自己故作忿怒起来。
这种现象，
乔和我以前见过许多次。
“掐你
！
”奥立克厌恶地说，
“如果你是我老婆，我会紧紧地掐住你的
脖子直
到你咽气！
”
“哎哟
！
”我姐姐尖叫着，
“我一个结了婚的女人！遭到这般污辱！在
我自己
家里！我的丈夫就站在旁边！哎哟！哎哟！
”像一个发了
疯的女人，她抓乱头发，
往铁匠铺门上撞，幸运的是我阻止了她。
可
怜的乔别无选择，
他不得不向奥立克做出打的挑战。
不过，
乔在村里是最
强壮的人，马上，奥立克就像那个白面少年绅士一样，
被打倒在地。然后，乔没
有关门，抱起我姐姐，她已经跌倒在地上失去了知觉，不过，这
只是她通过窗户
看到了这场打斗以后发生的事情。
这一天，
她呆在厨房里休息，
而乔和奥立克在
铁匠铺
里一起和好地分享一瓶啤酒。
那天下午，
我到达郝薇香小姐家时，
开大门的不是艾丝黛拉，
而是那个老夫
人的表妹。郝薇香小姐看上去仍和以前一样。
“哦？”她说，
< br>“我希望你不是来要东西的。
”
“不是
，确实不是，郝薇香小姐，我只想让你知道，我十分感激你帮助我当
了乔的徒弟。
”
“很好，过来我再看看你，在你的生日，啊！
”她突然喊起来，
“你是来看艾
丝黛拉的，是吗？回答
我！
”
“是——是的，
”我承认地说，
“我希望艾丝黛拉身体很好？”
“她出国啦，接受上层教育，她比
以前更漂亮了，见过她的人都赞不绝口。
你感到失去她了吗？”
她带着讥笑说最后一句话，
让我不知该说什么好。
离开这
座房子时，我感到特别的悲伤失望。
在经过镇上的路上，
我遇到伍甫赛先生，
我们一起长途跋涉往村庄走去。
那
是一个天色漆黑、潮湿雾大的夜晚，我们刚刚能看到前面有一个人。
< br>
“喂！
”我们喊道，
“那是奥立克吗？”
“是！
”他回答，
“我跟你们一起回家，我一下午都在镇上，你
们听到从船上
监狱传来激烈的枪声吗？想必是有些犯人越狱了。
”这使我想起我那个囚犯，我
们再也没有说话，而是静悄悄地走着，我们听到了几次枪击
声。
我们到了村里，
时间已经晚了，
我们吃
惊地看到小酒店里有灯光亮着，
里面
的人往外跑。伍甫赛先生走
了进去，看看发生了什么事情，他转眼跑了出来，喊
了起来，
“
铁匠铺出事了，匹普！快跑！他们说不准，可能是乔不在家时，逃犯
闯进你们家，有人被
击伤了！
”
我们马不停蹄地跑到铁匠铺。
在乔夫人的厨房里有一位医生、
乔和一群妇女，
他们的中间是我姐姐——不省人事地躺在地板上，她永远不会再训斥我们了。
那天傍
晚，乔是在小酒店里，他
10
点之前刚到家，就发现她躺在地板
上，
东西没有被偷，
她的后脑勺儿被重器严重击伤。
她的旁边，
在地板上是一个罪犯
的铁链，这个铁链
不是那天那个逃犯的。
警察用了一周的时间调查这起暴力事件。
可是，
没有逮住任何人。
我确信铁
链是属于我那个囚犯的，
但是，
我认为不是他袭击了我姐姐。<
/p>
那个袭击者可能是
奥立克或者是让我看到那把挫的陌生人。
我怀疑他仅有的原因是他和我姐姐吵过
架，
可
是，
她和村上的每一个人吵了千万次架。
如果是那个陌生人来索
要回他的
两镑钱，我姐姐会愉快地给他。因此，我推断不出是谁袭击了她。
< br>她伤得卧床不起很长时间，
她不能说话，
理解力下降，<
/p>
她的性格产生了巨大
变化。她变得安静、有耐性了，并对我们大家
的照料很感激。要什么东西时，她
用笔写下来或画一张图来，
我
们设法搞清她的意思。
她随时需要有人来侍候，
幸
亏老伍甫赛夫人刚去世。所以，毕蒂和我们住在一起，她完全理解我姐姐，也能