The Scared Ghost幽靈也害怕？

《坎特維爾的幽靈》是愛爾蘭作家奧斯卡·王爾德創(chuàng)作的一部幽默風(fēng)趣的短篇小說(shuō)，講述了奧蒂斯一家搬入了英國(guó)古老的坎特維爾莊園，而莊園里住著的古怪幽靈西蒙·坎特維爾爵士想盡辦法要把他們嚇跑。可是，出乎意料的是……

小說(shuō)創(chuàng)作于1887年，此時(shí)英國(guó)正處于第二次工業(yè)革命后期，社會(huì)迅速變化。故事中的奧蒂斯一家代表了實(shí)用主義和物質(zhì)主義，而坎特維爾的幽靈則象征著英國(guó)古老的貴族傳統(tǒng)與精神文化，這些差異在小說(shuō)中發(fā)生了有趣的碰撞。

It’s stormy at night. The Canterville ghost is painting a blood stain（血漬） on the floor to scare（嚇） the Otis family.

Heh， heh， it must work！ By tomorrow morning， they will run away！

Next morning， when the Otis family comes downstairs for breakfast， they see the blood stain on the floor. But they aren’t scared at all. Their oldest son， Washington， just cleans it up.

Stain remover（去污劑） can clean anything！ See， it works！

That evening， the Otis family goes for a nice drive. They don’t even think about the ghost. They come home at nine o’clock. By eleven o’clock， they go to sleep， and by half-past all the lights are out.

Suddenly， Mr Otis hears a loud noise. He gets up and opens the door to see what is happening. A ghost with chains（鐵鏈） is standing at the door！

Mr Otis isn’t scared at all！ He gives the ghost a bottle of oil.

It’s too noisy. You should oil your chains， sir. I hope it helps. Good night.

The ghost is very angry！ He throws the bottle away and runs down the the corridor（走廊）.

When he gets to the top of the stairs， a door suddenly opens. The Otis twins appear and throw a big pillow over the ghost’s head！ The ghost is scared and goes right through a wall！

I’m so upset！ I （can） scare the Otis family！ Washington （clean） up the blood stain on the floor. Mr Otis （be） scared by my look. He even （give） me a bottle of oil！ The naughty Otis twins （throw） a pillow at me！ How dare they （play） tricks on a ghost！