One of the reasons why Tom’s mind had drifted away from its secret troubles was, that it had found a new and weighty matter to interest itself about. —
汤姆的心思远离了他的秘密烦恼的原因之一是，他找到了一个新而重要的事情来引起他的兴趣。 —

Becky Thatcher had stopped coming to school. —
贝基·撒切尔停止来学校了。 —

Tom had struggled with his pride a few days, and tried to “whistle her down the wind,” but failed. —
汤姆曾努力克制自己的骄傲一段时间，并试图置之不理，但失败了。 —

He began to find himself hanging around her father’s house, nights, and feeling very miserable. —
他开始在她父亲家附近晚上徘徊，感到非常不幸。 —

She was ill. What if she should die! There was distraction in the thought. —
她生病了。如果她死了怎么办！这个想法让他分心。 —

He no longer took an interest in war, nor even in piracy. The charm of life was gone; —
他不再对战争感兴趣，甚至对海盗行为也不再感兴趣。生活的魅力消失了； —

there was nothing but dreariness left. He put his hoop away, and his bat; —
除了枯燥之外没有其他了。他把他的陀螺和球棒收起来了； —

there was no joy in them any more. His aunt was concerned. —
他们再也没有快乐了。他的姑姑很担心。 —

She began to try all manner of remedies on him. —
她开始为他尝试各种疗法。 —

She was one of those people who are infatuated with patent medicines and all new-fangled methods of producing health or mending it. —
她是那种对专利药物和各种新奇方法迷恋的人。 —

She was an inveterate experimenter in these things. —
她对这些东西痴迷不已。 —

When something fresh in this line came out she was in a fever, right away, to try it; —
当这一行里的新鲜事物出现时，她立刻兴奋不已，迫不及待地想试试看； —

not on herself, for she was never ailing, but on anybody else that came handy. —
她从来没有生过病，所以她不是针对自己，而是对任何方便的人都抱有这种心态。 —

She was a subscriber for all the “Health” periodicals and phrenological frauds; —
她是所有“健康”期刊和头面相学的订阅者； —

and the solemn ignorance they were inflated with was breath to her nostrils. —
她对它们自鸣得意的无知感到如沐春风。 —

All the “rot” they contained about ventilation, and how to go to bed, and how to get up, and what to eat, and what to drink, and how much exercise to take, and what frame of mind to keep one’s self in, and what sort of clothing to wear, was all gospel to her, and she never observed that her health-journals of the current month customarily upset everything they had recommended the month before. —
这些期刊里关于通风、上床、起床、吃什么、喝什么、锻炼多久、保持什么心态以及穿什么样的衣服的全部内容都是对她来说绝对可靠的，她从未意识到每个月的健康期刊都会颠覆上个月的建议。 —

She was as simple-hearted and honest as the day was long, and so she was an easy victim. —
她心肠纯良，为人诚实，所以成了易受骗的受害者。 —

She gathered together her quack periodicals and her quack medicines, and thus armed with death, went about on her pale horse, metaphorically speaking, with “hell following after. —
她收集了她的庸医期刊和她的庸医药物，带着死亡的力量四处走动，代表着“地狱随后而来”，这只是比喻不是真实的。 —

” But she never suspected that she was not an angel of healing and the balm of Gilead in disguise, to the suffering neighbors.
但她从未怀疑自己并非是一位伪装成医治天使和流行病治愈品的人，只为了帮助那些苦难的邻居。

The water treatment was new, now, and Tom’s low condition was a windfall to her. —
水疗是新事物，汤姆的病态状况对她来说是意外之财。 —

She had him out at daylight every morning, stood him up in the wood-shed and drowned him with a deluge of cold water; —
她每天清晨把他带到木棚里，用冷水把他淋了个透，就像淹死一样； —

then she scrubbed him down with a towel like a file, and so brought him to; —
然后她用毛巾像磨刀石一样给他擦洗，这样他才恢复过来； —

then she rolled him up in a wet sheet and put him away under blankets till she sweated his soul clean and “the yellow stains of it came through his pores”—as Tom said.
之后她把他卷在湿床单里，用毯子盖住他，直到他出了一身汗和“它(汗)的黄斑从毛孔中渗出来”——正如汤姆所说。

Yet notwithstanding all this, the boy grew more and more melancholy and pale and dejected. —
然而尽管如此，这个孩子越来越忧郁、苍白和沮丧。 —

She added hot baths, sitz baths, shower baths, and plunges. —
她还给他加了热水浴、坐浴、淋浴和泡澡。 —

The boy remained as dismal as a hearse. —
但这个孩子依然阴郁如同一辆灵车。 —

She began to assist the water with a slim oatmeal diet and blister-plasters. —
她开始通过节食燕麦片和水疱贴来帮助水。 —

She calculated his capacity as she would a jug’s, and filled him up every day with quack cure-alls.
她计算了他的能力，就像计算一个水壶一样，每天都给他灌满了具有疗效的药物。

Tom had become indifferent to persecution by this time. —
汤姆此时已对迫害变得漠不关心。 —

This phase filled the old lady’s heart with consternation. —
这个阶段让老太太心中充满了惊恐。 —

This indifference must be broken up at any cost. —
这种漠不关心必须不惜一切代价来打破。 —

Now she heard of Pain-killer for the first time. —
现在她第一次听说疼痛止痛药。 —

She ordered a lot at once. She tasted it and was filled with gratitude. —
她立即订购了很多。她尝了一点，并感激不尽。 —

It was simply fire in a liquid form. She dropped the water treatment and everything else, and pinned her faith to Pain-killer. —
这简直是液体形式的火。她放弃了水疗和其他一切，对疼痛止痛药充满信心。 —

She gave Tom a teaspoonful and watched with the deepest anxiety for the result. —
她给汤姆一小勺，并以最深的焦虑注视着结果。 —

Her troubles were instantly at rest, her soul at peace again; —
她的烦恼立即得到了解决，她的灵魂再次平静下来； —

for the “indifference” was broken up. —
因为“漠不关心”被打破了。 —

The boy could not have shown a wilder, heartier interest, if she had built a fire under him.
如果她在他下面生了火，这个男孩也不会表现得更加狂野、热切了。

Tom felt that it was time to wake up; this sort of life might be romantic enough, in his blighted condition, but it was getting to have too little sentiment and too much distracting variety about it. —
汤姆感到是时候醒来了；在他这种悲惨的状态下，这种生活可能足够浪漫，但是却越来越缺乏感情，变得分散太多。 —

So he thought over various plans for relief, and finally hit upon that of professing to be fond of Pain-killer. —
因此，他考虑了各种减轻痛苦的计划，最后想到了假装喜欢止痛药。 —

He asked for it so often that he became a nuisance, and his aunt ended by telling him to help himself and quit bothering her. —
他经常要求这种药，搞得他阿姨讨厌他，最后不得不告诉他自己拿去，别再打扰她了。 —

If it had been Sid, she would have had no misgivings to alloy her delight; —
如果是希德，她对此毫无顾虑，只会开心不已； —

but since it was Tom, she watched the bottle clandestinely. —
但是因为是汤姆，她偷偷看着瓶子。 —

She found that the medicine did really diminish, but it did not occur to her that the boy was mending the health of a crack in the sitting-room floor with it.
她发现药物确实减少了，但她没有想到这个男孩是在用它修补起居室地板上的裂缝。

One day Tom was in the act of dosing the crack when his aunt’s yellow cat came along, purring, eyeing the teaspoon avariciously, and begging for a taste. Tom said:
有一天，汤姆正在给裂缝加药时，他阿姨家的黄猫走过来，发出呼噜声，贪婪地盯着茶匙，并请求尝一口。汤姆说：

“Don’t ask for it unless you want it, Peter.”
“除非你想要，否则就别要，彼得。”

But Peter signified that he did want it.
但是彼得表示他真的想要它。

“You better make sure.”
“你最好保证。”

Peter was sure.
彼得确信无疑。

“Now you’ve asked for it, and I’ll give it to you, because there ain’t anything mean about me; —
“现在你请求了，我会给你的，因为我并不卑劣； —

but if you find you don’t like it, you mustn’t blame anybody but your own self.”
但是如果你发现你不喜欢，你不能怪任何人，只能怪你自己。”

Peter was agreeable. So Tom pried his mouth open and poured down the Pain-killer. —
彼得表示同意。于是汤姆用力张开他的嘴，倒下止痛药。 —

Peter sprang a couple of yards in the air, and then delivered a war-whoop and set off round and round the room, banging against furniture, upsetting flower-pots, and making general havoc. —
彼得突然跳了起来，然后发出一声战斗呐喊，围着房间里转来转去，撞到家具，打翻花盆，制造混乱。 —

Next he rose on his hind feet and pranced around, in a frenzy of enjoyment, with his head over his shoulder and his voice proclaiming his unappeasable happiness. —
接着，他后腿直立，兴奋地四处蹦跳，头朝着肩膀，声音宣告着他无法满足的幸福。 —

Then he went tearing around the house again spreading chaos and destruction in his path. —
然后他再次围着房子疯狂地狂奔，路径上造成混乱和破坏。 —

Aunt Polly entered in time to see him throw a few double summersets, deliver a final mighty hurrah, and sail through the open window, carrying the rest of the flower-pots with him. —
波利阿姨及时进来，看到他做了一些双重翻筋斗，发出最后的强大欢呼，穿过敞开的窗户飞了出去，连同其他花盆一起带走。 —

The old lady stood petrified with astonishment, peering over her glasses; —
老太太惊讶得目瞪口呆，通过眼镜凝视着。 —

Tom lay on the floor expiring with laughter.
汤姆躺在地板上笑得要死。

“Tom, what on earth ails that cat?”
“汤姆，那只猫到底怎么了？”

“I don’t know, aunt,” gasped the boy.
“我不知道，阿姨，”男孩喘着气说。

“Why, I never see anything like it. What did make him act so?”
“哎呀，我从来没见过这样的情况。它为什么会这么行动？”

“Deed I don’t know, Aunt Polly; cats always act so when they’re having a good time.”
“真的，阿姨，我不知道；猫在玩得开心的时候总是这样的。”

“They do, do they?” There was something in the tone that made Tom apprehensive.
“是吗？你确定？”阿姨的语气让汤姆感到不安。

“Yes’m. That is, I believe they do.”
“是的，阿姨。至少我认为是这样。”

“You do?”
“你认为是吗？”

“Yes’m.”
“是的。”

The old lady was bending down, Tom watching, with interest emphasized by anxiety. —
老太太弯下身子，而汤姆则焦虑地盯着她。 —

Too late he divined her “drift.” The handle of the telltale tea-spoon was visible under the bed-valance. —
太晚了，汤姆才察觉到她的用意。透过床上的帷幕可以看到告密的茶匙手柄。 —

Aunt Polly took it, held it up. Tom winced, and dropped his eyes. —
阿姨拿起来并举了起来。汤姆皱了皱眉，低下了眼睛。 —

Aunt Polly raised him by the usual handle—his ear—and cracked his head soundly with her thimble.
阿姨用惯常手柄——他的耳朵，狠狠地敲了一下他的头。

“Now, sir, what did you want to treat that poor dumb beast so, for?”
“现在，先生，你为什么要这样虐待那只可怜的哑巴动物？”

“I done it out of pity for him—because he hadn’t any aunt.”
“我是出于对他的怜悯，才这样做的——因为他没有姑姑。”

“Hadn’t any aunt!—you numskull. What has that got to do with it?”
“没有姑姑！你这个笨蛋。那和这事有什么关系？”

“Heaps. Because if he’d had one she’d a burnt him out herself! —
“很有关系。因为如果他有一个姑姑，她一定会自己把他给烧死！ —

She’d a roasted his bowels out of him ’thout any more feeling than if he was a human!”
“她会把他的脏腑烤焦，就像对待一个人一样没任何感觉！”

Aunt Polly felt a sudden pang of remorse. This was putting the thing in a new light; —
Polly姑姑突然感到了悔意。这下事情又有了新的看法； —

what was cruelty to a cat might be cruelty to a boy, too. She began to soften; she felt sorry. —
对猫的残忍行为也可能是对一个男孩的残忍。她开始软化；她感到内疚。 —

Her eyes watered a little, and she put her hand on Tom’s head and said gently:
她的眼睛微微湿润了一下，她把手放在汤姆的头上，温柔地说：

“I was meaning for the best, Tom. And, Tom, it did do you good.”
“我是为了你好，汤姆。而且，汤姆，这样确实对你有好处。”

Tom looked up in her face with just a perceptible twinkle peeping through his gravity.
汤姆抬起头，眼中透出一丝微笑。

“I know you was meaning for the best, aunty, and so was I with Peter. It done him good, too. —
“我知道你是为了我好，姑姑，就像我对彼得也是一样。它对他也有好处。 —

I never see him get around so since—”
自从那之后，我从没见过他这么活跃过——”

“Oh, go ’long with you, Tom, before you aggravate me again. —
“哦，你赶快走开，汤姆，别再惹我生气了。 —

And you try and see if you can’t be a good boy, for once, and you needn’t take any more medicine.”
你试一试，看看能否做个乖孩子，这样就不用再吃药了。

Tom reached school ahead of time. It was noticed that this strange thing had been occurring every day latterly. —
汤姆提前到达学校，这种奇怪的事情最近天天发生。 —

And now, as usual of late, he hung about the gate of the schoolyard instead of playing with his comrades. —
而现在，像往常一样，他站在学校大门口，而不是和同伴们一起玩耍。 —

He was sick, he said, and he looked it. He tried to seem to be looking everywhere but whither he really was looking—down the road. —
他说他生病了，看上去也是如此。他努力表现得好像是到处看，但实际上他是在盯着大路望。 —

Presently Jeff Thatcher hove in sight, and Tom’s face lighted; —
不久汤姆瞧见杰夫·撒切尔走来，他的脸变得亮堂了起来。 —

he gazed a moment, and then turned sorrowfully away. When Jeff arrived, Tom accosted him; —
他看了一会儿，然后悲伤地转身离开。杰夫走到汤姆面前，汤姆攀谈起来。 —

and “led up” warily to opportunities for remark about Becky, but the giddy lad never could see the bait. —
并巧妙地找机会谈论贝基，但这个轻浮的小伙子从来没有看出暗示。 —

Tom watched and watched, hoping whenever a frisking frock came in sight, and hating the owner of it as soon as he saw she was not the right one. —
汤姆手忙脚乱地观察着，希望看到一个轻快的连衣裙，当他看到不是贝基时，就会恨不得这个连衣裙的主人。 —

At last frocks ceased to appear, and he dropped hopelessly into the dumps; —
最后，连衣裙不再出现，他沮丧地放弃了希望。 —

he entered the empty schoolhouse and sat down to suffer. —
他走进了空荡荡的学堂，坐下来痛苦地等待着。 —

Then one more frock passed in at the gate, and Tom’s heart gave a great bound. —
然后又有一个穿着裙子的人从大门进来，汤姆的心猛地一跳。 —

The next instant he was out, and “going on” like an Indian; —
下一刻，他跑了出去，像印地安人一样“继续前进”。 —

yelling, laughing, chasing boys, jumping over the fence at risk of life and limb, throwing handsprings, standing on his head—doing all the heroic things he could conceive of, and keeping a furtive eye out, all the while, to see if Becky Thatcher was noticing. —
大喊大叫，笑个不停，追逐着男孩们，冒着生命和肢体受伤的风险跳过栅栏，做手翻，头立起来——做他能想到的所有英勇事情，同时偷偷地看着贝基·撒切尔有没有注意到他。 —

But she seemed to be unconscious of it all; she never looked. —
但她似乎对此毫不在意；她从未看过来。 —

Could it be possible that she was not aware that he was there? —
难道她真的不知道他在那里吗？ —

He carried his exploits to her immediate vicinity; —
他把自己的壮举带到她的附近； —

came war-whooping around, snatched a boy’s cap, hurled it to the roof of the schoolhouse, broke through a group of boys, tumbling them in every direction, and fell sprawling, himself, under Becky’s nose, almost upsetting her—and she turned, with her nose in the air, and he heard her say: —
战斗呐喊着绕着转过来，抓了一个男孩的帽子，将它投向学堂的屋顶，穿过一群男孩，将他们东倒西歪地撞开，自己也摔倒在贝基的鼻子下面，差点把她撞倒——她转过身来，鼻子朝天，他听到她说： —

“Mf! some people think they’re mighty smart—always showing off!”
“额呸！有些人以为他们是聪明的——总是炫耀！”

Tom’s cheeks burned. He gathered himself up and sneaked off, crushed and crestfallen.
汤姆的脸颊发烫。他整理了一下自己，黯然离去。