Black Beauty (Excerpt)《黑駿馬》(節(jié)選)

Anna Sewell

作者：

《黑駿馬》的作者是安娜·塞維爾（Anna Sewell）。這是一部在19世紀(jì)下半葉轟動(dòng)歐洲文壇的經(jīng)典兒童小說?！逗隍E馬》在歐美常銷不衰，喚醒一代又一代讀者去理解所有不會(huì)說話的動(dòng)物。安娜·塞維爾于1820年出生于英國諾?？说难琶┧梗?878年去世。出于對(duì)人類虐待動(dòng)物的強(qiáng)烈不滿，她寫下了《黑駿馬》，以說服人們對(duì)動(dòng)物仁慈一些。

作品：

本文節(jié)選自安娜·塞維爾的《黑駿馬》，節(jié)選時(shí)有刪改。小說的主人公黑駿馬是一匹漂亮的優(yōu)種黑馬，從小生活在貴族人家，受過良好的訓(xùn)練，性格溫順、善良，而且聰明、機(jī)智，主人非常喜歡他。但是好景不長，主人家里有了變故，黑駿馬不得不被賣掉。他被賣過多次，接觸過各種人：有喝多了酒就拿馬撒氣的醉漢，有動(dòng)輒抽鞭子的出租馬車車夫，有不把動(dòng)物當(dāng)回事的野蠻人，也有把動(dòng)物當(dāng)成朋友的好人家。他嘗盡了人間的甜酸苦辣，最后有了一個(gè)好的歸宿。作品揭示了馬的內(nèi)心世界，也有作為馬冷眼旁觀人類社會(huì)的描寫。

One day inthe autumn， mymaster had to go toa distant town onbusiness. John harnessedme to thecarriage and thethree of us wentoff. There had been a lot of rain， and thewind was very strong. When we came tothe river， the water was so high that itnearly reached the wooden bridge， andmany of the fields were under water. In onelow part of the road， the water was half?wayup to my knees.

We got to the town and the master'sbusiness took a long time. It was late in theafternoon when we started to go backhome. The wind was much stronger， and aswe drove through a wood， I heard my mastersay，“ I've never been out in a storm asbad as this， John.” Indeed， I thought sotoo， hearing the terrible noise of that wildwind in the trees.“ I wish we were out ofthis wood，” said my master. “Yes， sir，”agreed John.“ We don't want one of those?branches coming down on top of us.”

But just as he finished speaking，there was a great noise of wood breaking，and a big tree came crashing down throughthe other smaller trees and fell across theroad right in front of us！ I was very frightenedand I stopped immediately， but Ididn't turn round or try to run away. Johnjumped out and quickly ran to my side.“What can we do now， John？” said mymaster.

“We can't drive over the tree or getround it， sir，” said John.“ We'll have to goback to the crossroads， and take the longerroad round to the wooden bridge. It willmake us late， but the horse isn't tired.” Itwas nearly dark when we got to the woodenbridge. We could see water over the middleof it， but this often happened when theriver was high. But the moment my feettouched the first part of the bridge， I wassure something was wrong， and I stoppedsuddenly.

“Go on， Beauty，” said my master， andhe touched me with the whip. I did notmove， so he hit me sharply， but I would notgo forward. “There's something wrong，”said John， and he jumped from the carriageand began to look round. He tried to leadme forward.“ Come on， Beauty， what's thematter？” Of course， I could not tell him，but I knew the bridge was not safe. Justthen， a man ran out of the house on theother side of the bridge.“ Stop！ Stop！” he?cried. “What's the matter？” shouted mymaster. “The bridge is broken in themiddle，” said the man，“ and part of it wascarried away. If you cross it， you'll fall intothe river！”

“Thank you， Beauty！” John said tome， and turned me gently round to theright?hand road by the riverside. It gotdarker and the wind got quieter as I trottedtowards home by another， much longerroad. The two men were quiet for sometime， but then my master spoke.

“We were very close to drowning inthat river， John，” he said. “Men may beclever enough to think of things for themselves，but animals know things withoutthinking， and that's often saved a man'slife， as it has ours tonight. People don'trealize how wonderful their animals are，nor do they make friends with them as theyshould.”

When we arrived back at BirtwickPark， the mistress ran out to meet us.“ I'vebeen so worried！” she said. “Are you allright？ Did you have an accident？”“We nearly did，” said my master.“But Black Beauty was cleverer than wewere， and saved us all from drowning！”

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