After Twenty
Years
O·Henry
和朋友有过20年之约吗?
本篇小说讲述了这样一个故事:有两个情同手足的好朋友,在纽约一起长大。其中一个要去西部闯荡,于是在出发前晚,两人相聚一个小餐馆,约定20年后的同一日期、同一时间,来到这里再次相会。
文坛大师欧亨利素有意想不到的故事结尾,快来看看小说中的这对朋友怎样相会吧!
The policeman on the beat moved
up the avenue impressively. The impressiveness was habitual and not
for show, for spectators were few. The time was barely 10 o'clock
at night, but chilly gusts of wind with a taste of rain in them had
well nigh[1] depeopled the
streets.
(nigh: / naɪ/ (arch
古) near (to)
接近(於))
Trying doors as he went, twirling[2] his club[3] with many intricate and
artful movements, turning now and then to cast his watchful eye
adown the pacific thoroughfare[4], the officer, with his stalwart[5] form and slight swagger[6], made a fine picture of a guardian of the
peace. The vicinity[7] was one that
kept early hours. Now and then you might see the lights of a cigar
store or of an all-night lunch counter; but the majority of the
doors belonged to business places that had long since been
closed.
(twirl: /twɜːl/ 转动)
(club: 警棍)
(thoroughfare: 大道)
(stalwart: /ˈstɔːlwət/ 坚定的 )
(swagger: 昂首阔步)
(vicinity: /vɪˈsɪnətɪ/
附近)
When about midway of a certain block the policeman suddenly slowed
his walk. In the doorway of a darkened hardware store a man leaned,
with an unlighted cigar in his mouth. As the policeman walked up to
him the man spoke up quickly.
"It's all
right, officer," he said, reassuringly. "I'm just waiting for a
friend. It's an appointment made twenty years ago. Sounds a little
funny to you, doesn't it? Well, I'll explain if you'd like to make
certain it's all straight[8]. About
that long ago there used to be a restaurant where this store
stands--'Big Joe' Brady's restaurant."
(straight:
诚实的)
"Until five years ago," said the policeman. "It was torn down
then."
The man in
the doorway struck a match and lit his cigar. The light showed a
pale, square-jawed face with keen eyes, and a little white scar
near his right eyebrow. His scarfpin was a large diamond, oddly
set.
"Twenty
years ago to-night," said the man, "I dined here at 'Big Joe'
Brady's with Jimmy Wells, my best chum[9], and the finest chap in the world. He and I
were raised here in New York, just like two brothers, together. I
was eighteen and Jimmy was twenty. The next morning I was to start
for the West to make my fortune. You couldn't have dragged Jimmy
out of New York; he thought it was the only place on earth. Well,
we agreed that night that we would meet here again exactly twenty
years from that date and time, no matter what our conditions might
be or from what distance we might have to come. We figured that in
twenty years each of us ought to have our destiny worked out and
our fortunes made, whatever they were going to be."
(chum:
<俗>(特指男孩子之间)密友)
"It sounds pretty interesting," said the policeman. "Rather a long
time between meets, though, it seems to me. Haven't you heard from
your friend since you left?"
"Well, yes,
for a time we corresponded," said the other. "But after a year or
two we lost track of each other. You see, the West is a pretty big
proposition, and I kept hustling around over it pretty lively. But
I know Jimmy will meet me here if he's alive, for he always was the
truest, stanchest[10] old chap in the world. He'll
never forget. I came a thousand miles to stand in this door
to-night, and it's worth it if my old partner turns up."
(stanch:/stɑːntʃ/
忠实的)
The waiting man pulled out a handsome watch, the lids of it set
with small diamonds.
"Three minutes to ten," he announced. "It was exactly ten o'clock
when we parted here at the restaurant door."
"Did pretty
well out West, didn't you?" asked the policeman.
"You bet! I
hope Jimmy has done half as well. He was a kind of
plodder[11], though, good fellow as he
was. I've had to compete with some of the sharpest wits going to
get my pile. A man gets in a groove[12] in New York. It takes the
West to put a razor-edge on him."
(plodder: 辛勤工作的人)
(gets in a groove: 养成某种生活习惯)
The policeman twirled his club and took a step or two.
"I'll be on
my way. Hope your friend comes around all right. Going to call time
on him sharp?"
"I should
say not!" said the other. "I'll give him half an hour at least. If
Jimmy is alive on earth he'll be here by that time. So long,
officer."
"Good-night,
sir," said the policeman, passing on along his beat, trying doors
as he went.
There was
now a fine, cold drizzle falling, and the wind had risen from its
uncertain puffs into a steady blow. The few foot passengers
astir[13] in that quarter hurried
dismally and silently along with coat collars turned high and
pocketed hands. And in the door of the hardware store the man who
had come a thousand miles to fill an appointment, uncertain almost
to absurdity[14], with the friend of
his youth, smoked his cigar and waited.
About twenty minutes he waited, and then a tall man in a long
overcoat, with collar turned up to his ears, hurried across from
the opposite side of the street. He went directly to the waiting
man.
(astir: 活动的)
(absurdity:
荒谬)
"Is that you, Bob?" he asked, doubtfully.
"Is that
you, Jimmy Wells?" cried the man in the door.
"Bless my
heart!" exclaimed the new arrival, grasping both the other's hands
with his own. "It's Bob, sure as fate. I was certain I'd find you
here if you were still in existence. Well, well, well! --twenty
years is a long time. The old gone, Bob; I wish it had lasted, so
we could have had another dinner there. How has the West treated
you, old man?"
"Bully; it
has given me everything I asked it for. You've changed lots, Jimmy.
I never thought you were so tall by two or three inches."
"Oh, I grew
a bit after I was twenty."
"Doing well
in New York, Jimmy?"
"Moderately.
I have a position in one of the city departments. Come on, Bob;
we'll go around to a place I know of, and have a good long talk
about old times."
The two men
started up the street, arm in arm. The man from the West, his
egotism[15] enlarged by success, was
beginning to outline the history of his career. The other,
submerged in his overcoat, listened with interest.
(egotism /ˈegəutɪzəm/:
自负)
At the corner stood a drug store, brilliant with electric lights.
When they came into this glare each of them turned simultaneously
to gaze upon the other's face.
The man from
the West stopped suddenly and released his arm.
"You're not
Jimmy Wells," he snapped. "Twenty years is a long time, but not
long enough to change a man's nose from a Roman to a
pug[16]."
(pug:哈巴狗)
"It sometimes changes a good man into a bad one, said the tall man.
"You've been under arrest for ten minutes, 'Silky' Bob. Chicago
thinks you may have dropped over our way and wires[17] us she wants to have a chat
with you. Going quietly, are you? That's sensible. Now, before we
go on to the station here's a note I was asked to hand you. You may
read it here at the window. It's from Patrolman
Wells."
(wires:
打电报)
The man from the West unfolded the little piece of paper handed
him. His hand was steady when he began to read, but it trembled a
little by the time he had finished. The note was rather
short.
"Bob: I was
at the appointed place on time. When you struck the match to light
your cigar I saw it was the face of the man wanted in Chicago.
Somehow I couldn't do it myself, so I went around and got a plain
clothes man to do the job. JIMMY."
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