霍比特人

小編喜歡讀這個(gè)童話故事，可不僅僅是因?yàn)樗怯?guó)大文豪托爾金的代表作，還在于它是一位超級(jí)“學(xué)霸”父親“屈尊”為兒子創(chuàng)作的一本小書(shū)……

J·R·R·托爾金（1892—1973）是英國(guó)的天才語(yǔ)言學(xué)家，牛津大學(xué)教授，古英語(yǔ)專家，1919—1920年《牛津英語(yǔ)詞典》的編委成員。1937年，《霍比特人》出版，由于贏得好評(píng)如潮，出版商建議托爾金續(xù)寫(xiě)故事。結(jié)果，托爾金一寫(xiě)就寫(xiě)了十幾年，寫(xiě)出了氣勢(shì)磅礴的史詩(shī)作品——《魔戒》三部曲，奠定了自己文壇巨匠的地位。而《霍比特人》和《魔戒》也成為當(dāng)代奇幻作品的鼻祖。

《霍比特人》記述的是霍比特人比爾博·巴金斯與巫師甘道夫和13個(gè)矮人橫越中土大陸，尋找被惡龍搶占的屬于矮人的珍貴寶藏的探險(xiǎn)故事。作為寫(xiě)給孩子們的童話，整個(gè)故事遣詞用句顯淺詼諧，童趣滿溢——據(jù)說(shuō)書(shū)中關(guān)于勇斗大蜘蛛的情節(jié)，也是因?yàn)橥袪柦鸬膬鹤雍ε轮┲攵匾饧舆M(jìn)去的。不過(guò)，盡管全書(shū)語(yǔ)言簡(jiǎn)潔，但仍然能夠顯露出托爾金在英語(yǔ)造詣上的深厚功力（例如本節(jié)選中的Attercop、Lob和Cob皆出自古英語(yǔ)中對(duì)蜘蛛的稱謂）。對(duì)于學(xué)習(xí)英語(yǔ)，這確實(shí)是一部不可多得的作品。

Chapter 8 Flies and Spiders

There was the usual dim grey light of the forest-day about him when he came to his senses. The spider lay dead beside him， and his sword-blade was stained black. Somehow the killing of the giant spider， all alone by himself in the dark without the help of the wizard or the dwarves or of anyone else， made a great difference to Mr. Baggins. He felt a different person， and much fiercer and bolder in spite of an empty stomach， as he wiped his sword on the grass and put it back into its 1）sheath.

“I will give you a name，” he said to it，“and I shall call you Sting.” After that he set out to explore. The forest was grim and silent， but obviously he had first of all to look for his friends， who were not likely to be very far off， unless they had been made prisoners by the elves （or worse things）.

Bilbo felt that it was unsafe to shout， and he stood a long while wondering in what direction the path lay， and in what direction he should go first to look for the dwarves.

In the end he made as good a guess as he could at the direction from which the cries for help had come in the night—and by luck （he was born with a good share of it） he guessed more or less right， as you will see. Having made up his mind he crept along as cleverly as he could. Hobbits are clever at quietness， especially in the woods， as I’ve already told you； also Bilbo had slipped on his ring before he started. That is why the spiders neither saw nor heard him coming.

He had picked his way 2）stealthily for some distance， when he noticed a place of dense black shadows ahead of him， black even for that forest， like a patch of midnight that had never been cleared away. As he drew nearer， he saw that it was made by spider-webs one behind and over and tangled with another.

Suddenly he saw， too， that there were spiders huge and horrible sitting in the branches above him， and ring or no ring he trembled with fear 3）lest they should discover him. Standing behind a tree he watched a group of them for some time， and then in the silence and stillness of the wood he realised that these loathsome creatures were speaking one to another. Their voices were a sort of thin creaking and hissing， but he could make out many of the words that they said. They were talking about the dwarves！

“It was a sharp struggle， but worth it，” said one. “What nasty thick skins they have to be sure， but I’ll wager there’s good juice inside.” “Why， they’ll make fine eating， when they’ve hung a bit，” said another. “Don’t hang ’em too long，” said a third. “They’re not as fat as they might be. Been feeding none too well of late， I should guess.” “Kill ’em， I say，” hissed a fourth； “kill ’em now and hang ’em dead for a while.”

“They’re dead now， I’ll 4）warrant，” said the first.

“That they are not. I saw one a-struggling just now. Just coming round again， I should say， after a bee-autiful sleep. I’ll show you.”

With that one of the fat spiders ran along a rope， till it came to a dozen bundles hanging in a row from a high branch. Bilbo was horrified， now that he noticed them for the first time dangling in the shadows， to see a dwarvish foot sticking out of the bottoms of some of the bundles， or here and there the tip of a nose， or a bit of beard or of a hood.

To the fattest of these bundles the spider went—“It is poor old Bombur， I’ll bet，” thought Bilbo—and nipped hard at the nose that stuck out. There was a muffled yelp inside， and a toe shot up and kicked the spider straight and hard. There was life in Bombur still. There was a noise like the kicking of a flabby football， and the enraged spider fell off the branch， only catching itself with its own thread just in time.

The others laughed. “You were quite right，” they said， “the meat’s alive and kicking！” “I’ll soon put an end to that，”hissed the angry spider climbing back onto the branch.

Bilbo saw that the moment had come when he must do something. He could not get up at the 5）brutes and he had nothing to shoot with； but looking about he saw that in this place there were many stones lying in what appeared to be a now dry little watercourse. Bilbo was a pretty fair shot with a stone， and it didn’t take him long to find a nice smooth egg-shaped one that fitted his hand cosily.

As a boy he used to practise throwing stones at things， until rabbits and squirrels， and even birds， got out of his way as quick as lightning if they saw him stoop； and even grownup he had still spent a deal of his time at 6）quoits， dart-throwing， shooting at the wand， bowls， ninepins and other quiet games of the aiming and throwing sort. Indeed he could do lots of things， besides blowing smoke-rings， asking riddles and cooking， that I haven’t had a time to tell you about. There is no time now. While he was picking up stones， the spider had reached Bombur， and soon he would have been dead. At that moment Bilbo threw. The stone struck the spider plunk on the head， and it dropped senseless off the tree， flop to the ground， with all its legs curled up.

The next stone went whizzing through a big web， snapping its cords， and taking off the spider sitting in the middle of it， whack， dead. After that there was a deal of 7）commotion in the spider-colony， and they forgot the dwarves for a bit， I can tell you. They couldn’t see Bilbo， but they could make a good guess at the direction from which the stones were coming. As quick as lightning they came running and swinging towards the hobbit， flinging out their long threads in all directions， till the air seemed full of waving 8）snares. Bilbo， however， soon slipped away to a different place. The idea came to him to lead the furious spiders further and further away from the dwarves， if he could； to make them curious， excited and angry all at once. When about fifty had gone off to the place where he had stood before， he threw some more stones at these， and at others that had stopped behind； then dancing among the trees he began to sing a song to 9）infuriate them and bring them all after him， and also to let the dwarves hear his voice.

This is what he sang：

“Old fat spider spinning in a tree！

Old fat spider can’t see me！

Attercop！ Attercop！

Won’t you stop，

Stop your spinning and look at me！

Old 10）Tomnoddy， all big body，

Old Tomnoddy can’t spy me！

Attercop！ Attercop！

Down you drop！

You’ll never catch me up your tree！”

Not very good perhaps， but then you must remember that he had to make it up himself， on the spur of a very awkward moment. It did what he wanted anyway. As he sang he threw some more stones and stamped. Practically all the spiders in the place came after him： some dropped to the ground， others raced along the branches， swung from tree to tree， or cast new ropes across the dark spaces. They made for his noise far quicker than he had expected. They were frightfully angry. Quite apart from the stones no spider has ever liked being called Attercop， and Tomnoddy of course is insulting to anybody.

Off Bilbo scuttled to a fresh place， but several of the spiders had run now to different points in the 11）glade where they lived， and were busy spinning webs across all the spaces between the tree-stems. Very soon the hobbit would be caught in a thick fence of them all round him—that at least was the spiders’ idea. Standing now in the middle of the hunting and spinning insects Bilbo plucked up his courage and began a new song：

“Lazy Lob and crazy Cob

are weaving webs to wind me.

I am far more sweet than other meat，

but still they cannot find me！

Here am I， naughty little fly；

you are fat and lazy.

You cannot trap me， though you try，

in your cobwebs crazy.”

With that he turned and found that the last space between two tall trees had been closed with a web—but luckily not a proper web， only great strands of double-thick spider-rope run hastily backwards and forwards from trunk to trunk. Out came his little sword. He slashed the threads to pieces and went off singing.

The spiders saw the sword， though I don’t suppose they knew what it was， and at once the whole lot of them came hurrying after the hobbit along the ground and the branches， hairy legs waving， nippers and spinners snapping， eyes popping， full of froth and rage. They followed him into the forest until Bilbo had gone as far as he dared.

Then quieter than a mouse he stole back. He had precious little time， he knew， before the spiders were disgusted and came back to their trees where the dwarves were hung. In the meanwhile he had to rescue them. The worst part of the job was getting up on to the branch where the bundles were dangling.

I don’t suppose he would have managed it， if a spider had not luckily left a rope hanging down； with its help， though it stuck to his hand and hurt him， he scrambled up—only to meet an old slow wicked fat-bodied spider who had remained behind to guard the prisoners， and had been busy pinching them to see which was the juiciest to eat. It had thought of starting the feast while the others were away， but Mr. Baggins was in a hurry， and before the spider knew what was happening it felt his sting and rolled off the branch dead.

第八章 蒼蠅與蜘蛛

當(dāng)他醒來(lái)的時(shí)候，臉上已映著森林里通常顯現(xiàn)的那種黯淡灰光。死蜘蛛就躺在他身邊，他寶劍的刀刃上沾染了黑血。不靠巫師、矮人或是其他什么人的幫助，單憑一己之力在黑暗中殺死了巨蜘蛛，這對(duì)巴金斯先生來(lái)說(shuō)，感覺(jué)大不相同。當(dāng)他在草地上擦拭寶劍而后插回劍鞘時(shí)，他覺(jué)得自己已然脫胎換骨，變得更兇猛、更勇敢了——即使肚子還是空空如也。