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林肯传|Lincoln

第8章|8

属类： 双语小说 【分类】其他读物 阅读：[34290]
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1
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搜索人员找了一整夜，终于在破晓后不久找到了林肯。当时他正坐在自己的办公室里语无伦次地念念有词。他的朋友们害怕他疯了。玛丽·托德的亲属对外宣称林肯疯了，所以才没在婚礼上出现。

1
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The search continued all through the night, and shortly after daybreak Lincoln was found sitting in his offce, talking incoherently. His friends feared he was losing his mind. Mary Todd’s relatives declared that he was already insane. That was the way they explained his failure to show up at the wedding.

2
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很快，亨利医生来了。林肯总是说想要自杀，因此医生要求斯皮德和巴特勒看着他。他的便刀也被拿走了，就像安·拉特利奇刚去世那会儿一样。

2
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Dr. Henry was called immediately. Lincoln threatened to commit suicide, so the doctor ordered Speed and Butler to watch over himconstantly. His knife was taken from him now and kept from him just as it had been after the death of Ann Rutledge.

3
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亨利医生希望林肯的注意力能转移到其他地方去，于是敦促林肯经常参加州议会的会议。作为辉格党的政党领导人，林肯理应经常出席会议，但记录表明，他在三周内只去了四次，每次都只有一两个小时。一月十九日，约翰·J.哈丁（John J. Hardin）向议会宣布林肯的病情。

3
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Dr. Henry, wanting to keep his mind occupied, urged Lincoln to attend the sessions of the State Legislature. As the floor leader for the Whigs, he ought to have been there constantly. But the records show that he was present but four times in three weeks—and even then only for an hour or two. On January 19 John J. Hardin announced his illness to the House.

4
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逃婚三周后的某一天，林肯给他的法律合伙人写了一封一生中最悲伤的信：

4
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Three weeks after he had fed from his wedding Lincoln wrote to his law partner the saddest letter of his life:

5
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我现在是所有活着的人中最悲惨的那个。如果把我内心的悲伤平分给世上的每个人，那么这世上便不会再有一张笑脸。我也不知道自己能否再好起来，但我预感会很糟——我恐怕不会好起来了。我再也不可能像以前那样了。在我看来，我必须死了才会好。

5
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I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on earth. Whether I shall ever be any better, I cannot tell. I awfully forbode that I shall not. To remain as I am is impossible. I must die or be better, it seems to me.

6
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正如威廉·E.巴顿博士（William E. Barton）后来在他著名的林肯传记中所说，这封信“充分表现出林肯内心焦虑不安……他非常担心自己神智不清”。

6
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As the late Dr. William E. Barton says in his well-known biography of Lincoln, this letter “can mean nothing else than that Abraham Lincoln was mentally distraught... that he had grave fears for his own sanity.”

7
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现在，他经常想到死亡，也渴望死亡，还写了一首关于自杀的诗，发表在《桑加蒙日报》上。

7
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He thought constantly of death, now, and longed for it and wrote a poem on suicide and had it published in the “Sangamo Journal.”

8
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斯皮德担心林肯会寻死，于是把林肯送到了自己母亲那里休养。斯皮德的母亲住在路易维尔市附近，她为林肯准备了一本《圣经》和一间安静的卧室。卧室正对着一条小溪，小溪缓缓地流淌过一片牧场，流入一英里外的森林中。每天早晨都有一位黑奴将咖啡送到他的床边。

8
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Speed feared that he was going to die; so Lincoln was taken to the home of Speed’s mother, near Louisville. Here he was given a Bible and assigned a quiet bedroom looking out over a brook meandering through meadows to the forest a mile away. Each morning a slave brought Lincoln his coffee in bed.

9
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玛丽的姐姐爱德华夫人说，玛丽“为了让自己好受些，也为了缓解林肯先生的精神压力，给林肯先生写了一封长信，信中表明她愿意将林肯从婚约的束缚中解放出来”。

9
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Mrs. Edwards, Mary’s sister, says that Mary, “to set herself right and to free Mr. Lincoln’s mind, wrote a letter to Mr. Lincoln, stating that shewould release him from his engagement.”

10
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不过爱德华夫人也表示，玛丽虽然解除了婚约，但“如果林肯愿意恢复婚约，她也给他这个权利”。但对林肯而言，让他恢复婚约是根本不可能的事。他再也不想见到玛丽，甚至逃婚事件过去一年之后，林肯的好友詹姆斯·马西尼（James Matheny）仍旧“认为林肯会自杀”。

10
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But in releasing him, according to Mr. Edwards, “she left Lincoln the privilege of renewing it if he wished.” But that was the last thing in the world that he wished. He never wanted to see her again. Even a year after Lincoln had fed from his wedding, his good friend James Matheny “thought Lincoln would commit suicide.”

11
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“灾难性的一月一日”过去近两年后，林肯已彻底不在意玛丽·托德，他只希望玛丽能够忘记他，祈祷着她能够再看上其他男人。但玛丽可没忘记林肯，她的骄傲和强烈的自尊不允许她放下。她已下定决心，向自己以及那些嘲讽、可怜过她的人证明，她能够并且一定会嫁给亚伯拉罕·林肯。

11
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For almost two years after the “fatal frst of January,” 1841, Lincoln ignored Mary Todd completely, hoping that she would forget him, praying that she would interest herself in some other man. But she did not, for her pride was at stake, her precious self-respect. She was determined to prove to herself and to those who had scorned and pitied her that she could and would marry Abraham Lincoln.

12
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而林肯也下定决心，绝不会娶她为妻。

12
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And he was equally determined not to marry her.

13
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事实上，林肯的决心非常坚定，逃婚后不到一年，他就向另外一个女孩求了婚。当时林肯已经三十二岁，那女孩只有十六岁。女孩名叫萨拉·理查德（Sarah Rickard），是巴特勒太太的小妹妹。林肯曾在巴特勒家寄宿了四年。

13
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In fact, he was so determined that he proposed within a year to another girl. He was thirty-two at the time, the girl he proposed to was half that age. She was Sarah Rickard, the little sister of Mrs. Butler, at whose house Lincoln had been boarding for four years.

14
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林肯是这样为这段感情正名的：他的名字是亚伯拉罕，而她的名字是萨拉，很明显，他们注定是一对。(8)

14
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Lincoln pleaded his case with her, arguing that since his name was Abraham and hers Sarah it was evident that they were meant for one another.

15
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但是那姑娘拒绝了林肯。后来她在写给朋友的一封信中这样解释道：

15
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But she refused him, because, as she later confessed in writing to a friend:

16
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我只有十六岁，还很年轻，对于婚姻，还没想太多……我只是把林肯当作朋友，你也知道，他那奇怪的举止和仪态对于一个渴望融入社会的女孩来说，是没什么吸引力的……他就好像我姐姐家的一位兄长。

16
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I was young, only sixteen years old and I had not thought much about matrimony.... I airway liked him as a friend but you Know his peculiar manner and his General deportment would not be likely to fascinate a Young Girl just entering into the society world.... He seemed allmost like an older Brother being as it were one of my sister’s family.

17
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林肯经常给当地的辉格党党报《春田市日报》写社评。他和报纸编辑西米恩·弗朗西斯（Simeon Francis）是挚友。不幸的是，弗朗西斯的太太实在是太爱管闲事了。她已年过四十，膝下无子，是春田市最能自作主张的媒婆。

17
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Lincoln frequently wrote editorials for the local Whig paper, “The Springfield Journal;” and the editor, Simeon Francis, was one of his closest friends. Francis’s wife, unfortunately, had never learned the fne art of minding her own business. Childless, over forty, she was the self-appointed match-maker of Springfeld.

18
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一八四二年十月初的一天，她写信给林肯，让他第二天下午去一趟她家。这是一个非常奇怪的邀请，虽然不知道弗朗西斯太太有何用意，但林肯还是去了。他一到弗朗西斯家，便被引入了客厅。进入客厅后，他大吃了一惊——坐在他面前的，竟然是玛丽·托德。

18
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Early in October, 1842, she wrote Lincoln, asking him to call at her home the following afternoon. That was a strange request, and he went, wondering what it could mean. When he arrived, he was ushered into the parlor; and there, to his astonishment, he saw Mary Todd sitting before him.

19
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我们不知道林肯和玛丽·托德以何种方式说了什么，又或者做了什么，但可以肯定的是，这个可怜的软心肠的家伙，这次没能逃脱。如果玛丽哭了——她肯定会哭——按照林肯的脾气，他很可能会立刻缴械投降，悲惨地为自己曾经的逃离向她道歉。

19
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What Lincoln and Mary Todd said, and how they said it, and what they did, that is not recorded. But of course the poor, tender-hearted fellow hadn’t a chance to escape. If she cried—and of course she did—he probably delivered himself into her hands at once, and abjectly apologized for having gotten out of her hands.

20
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自那以后，他们经常在弗朗西斯家见面，但都是秘密地躲在房门紧闭的屋子里。

20
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They met often after that, but always secretly and behind closed doors in the Francis home.

21
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一开始，她和林肯重修旧好的事，玛丽连自己的姐姐都没有告知。

21
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At frst Mary didn’t let even her sister know that Lincoln was seeing her again.

22
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终于，她的姐姐发现了，她问玛丽：“你为什么弄得那么神秘？”

22
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Finally, when her sister did fnd out, she asked Mary “why she was so secretive.”

23
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玛丽回答道：“发生了之前的事后，这段恋情最好还是不要急着公布于众。这世上的男男女女都靠不住，存在很多变数，如果厄运再次降临在我们的婚约上，那还是不要让大家知道的好。”

23
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And Mary replied “evasively that after all that had occurred, it was best to keep the courtship from all eyes and ears. Men and women of the world were uncertain and slippery, Mary continued, and if misfortune befell the engagement, all knowledge of it would be hidden from the world.”

24
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说白了，经过了上次的事后，玛丽这次学乖了。她决定在自己十分确定林肯会和她结婚前，不对外公布她和林肯的事。

24
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In other words, to put it bluntly, having learned a little lesson, she resolved to keep even the courtship secret, this time, until she was positive that Lincoln would marry her.

25
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这一次，托德小姐又用了什么伎俩呢？

25
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What technique did Miss Todd now employ?

26
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詹姆斯·马西尼表示，林肯经常告诉他“自己是被迫结婚的，因为玛丽·托德小姐说，从道义上讲，他必须娶她”。

26
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James Matheny declared that Lincoln often told him “that he was driven into the marriage, and that Miss Todd told him he was in honor bound to marry her.”

27
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赫恩登应该比任何人都了解内情。他说：

27
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Herndon ought to have known if anybody did, and he said:

28
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在我看来，事实再清楚不过了，林肯先生与玛丽·托德结婚，完全是出于道义。但这样一来，他牺牲了自己内心的宁静。他曾深刻地自我剖析过，得出的结论是自己并不爱她，但自己已经答应和她结婚。这种隐藏的想法像噩梦般浮现在他的脑海中……最终，他不得不直面道义和内心的宁静之间的冲突。他选择了前者，代价便是数年的自我折磨和牺牲的痛苦，以及永远失去了一个幸福的家庭。

28
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To me it has always seemed plain that Mr. Lincoln married Mary Todd to save his honor, and in doing that he sacrificed his domestic peace. He had searched himself subjectively, introspectively, thoroughly: he knew he did not love her, but he had promised to marry her. The hideous thought came up like a nightmare.... At last he stood face to face with the great conflict between honor and domestic peace. He chose the former, and with it years of self-torture, sacrificial pangs, and the loss forever of a happy home.

29
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在他跨出最后那一步之前，他写信给已回到肯塔基州的斯皮德，问他是否在婚姻中找到了幸福。

29
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Before he was willing to proceed, he wrote Speed, who had gone back to Kentucky, asking him if he had found happiness in his marriage.

30
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“请快些回信，”林肯恳求道，“我急切地想知道。”

30
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“Please answer quickly,” Lincoln urged, “as I am impatient to know.”

31
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斯皮德回复说自己的婚姻生活比预期的还要幸福。

31
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Speed replied that he was far happier than he had ever expected to be.

32
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于是第二天下午，也就是一八四二年十一月四日，星期五，林肯带着心痛不情不愿地向玛丽·托德求了婚。

32
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So the next afternoon, Friday, November 4, 1842, Lincoln, reluctantly and with an aching heart, asked Mary Todd to be his wife.

33
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她恨不得当晚就举行婚礼。林肯没想到事情进展得这么快，对此，他犹豫了，又有些害怕。他深知玛丽很迷信，于是托词十一月四日是周五，不吉利。经过了之前的退婚事件后，玛丽现在最怕的便是拖延，她甚至连二十四小时也不愿等。更何况，当天是她二十四岁生日，于是他们赶到了查特顿的珠宝店，买了一枚婚戒，内圈刻着一行字：爱是永恒。

33
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She wanted to have the ceremony performed that very night. He hesitated, surprised, and a little frightened at the celerity with which events were moving. Knowing she was superstitious, he pointed out that the day was Friday. But, remembering what had happened before, she feared nothing now so much as delay. She was unwilling to wait even twenty-four hours. Besides, it was her birthday, her twenty-fourth birthday, so they hurried to Chatterton’s jewelry store, bought a wedding-ring, and had these words engraved inside it: “Love is eternal.”

34
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那天傍晚，林肯邀请詹姆斯·马西尼做他的伴郎。他说：“吉姆，我不得不和那个女孩结婚。”

34
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Late that afternoon Lincoln asked James Matheny to be his best man, saying, “Jim, I shall have to marry that girl.”

35
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那天晚上，在巴特勒家，林肯穿上了他最好的衣服，还给靴子擦了黑色鞋油。巴特勒的小儿子跑了过来，问他准备去哪里。

35
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While Lincoln was putting on his best clothes that evening at Butler’s house, and blacking his boots, Butler’s little boy rushed in and asked him where he was going.

36
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林肯说：“去地狱吧，我想。”

36
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Lincoln replied: “To hell, I suppose.”

37
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当初玛丽由于绝望将第一次婚礼的礼服全扔了，因此现在她只能穿上一条简单的白色薄纱长裙出席仪式。一切都很仓促。

37
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In despair, Mary Todd had given away the trousseau that she had had made for the frst wedding date, so that now she had to be married in a simple white muslin dress. All arrangements were carried through with nervous haste.

38
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爱德华夫人说，婚礼前两个小时，她才得到消息，以至于她烤制的结婚蛋糕端上来时，上面的糖霜还是热的，根本没法切。

38
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Mrs. Edwards says she had only two hours’ notice of the marriage and that the frosting on the wedding-cake which she hurriedly baked for the occasion was too warm to cut well when it was served.

39
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查尔斯·德莱赛（Charles Dresser）牧师身着牧师礼服，读着令人印象深刻的圣公会赞美诗，但林肯似乎一点儿也不激动、一点儿也不快乐。他的伴郎后来证实：“他的神情和行为，就像马上要被屠宰一样。”

39
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As the Rev. Charles Dresser, clad in his clerical vestments, read the impressive Episcopal service, Lincoln seemed far from cheerful and happy. His best man testifed that he “looked and acted as if he were going to the slaughter.”

40
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对于自己的婚姻，林肯只做过一次书面评论。在婚礼结束一周后，他给塞缪尔·马歇尔（Samuel Marshall）写了一封业务信，他在信的附笔中提到了自己的婚姻。这封信如今保存在芝加哥历史社团。

40
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The only comment that Lincoln ever made in writing about his marriage was a postscript to a business letter that he wrote to Samuel Marshall about a week after the event. This letter is now in the possession of the Chicago Historical Society.

41
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“这里没什么新鲜事，”林肯写道，“唯一的新鲜事是我结婚了。对我来说，结婚是一件非常奇怪的事。”

41
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“Nothing new here,” writes Lincoln, “except my marriage which to me is a matter of profound wonder.”

序号 英文/音标 中文解释 更多操作

incoherent

[ˌɪnkəʊ’hɪərənt]

adj.不连贯的;语无伦次的

Butler

[’bʌtlə(r)]

n.男管家;仆役长

miserable

[’mɪzrəbl]

adj.痛苦的;悲惨的;贫乏的;狼狈的

Abraham

[’eɪbrəˌhæm]

n.亚伯拉罕(男子名)

renew

[rɪ’njuː]

v.重新开始;更新

stake

[steɪk]

n.桩;赌注;利害关系

scorn

[skɔːn]

n.轻蔑;奚落;笑柄

deportment

[dɪ’pɔːtmənt]

n.风度;举止

editorial

[ˌedɪ’tɔːriəl]

n.社论

usher

[’ʌʃə(r)]

n.带位员;招待员

abject

[’æbdʒekt]

adj.卑贱的;不幸的;可怜的

secretive

[’siːkrətɪv]

adj.秘密的;偷偷摸摸的

evasive

[ɪ’veɪsɪv]

adj.逃避的;难以捉摸的;闪烁其词的

slippery

[’slɪpəri]

adj.滑的;狡猾的;不可靠的

misfortune

[ˌmɪs’fɔːtʃuːn]

n.不幸;灾祸

befall

[bɪ’fɔːl]

v.发生;降临

blunt

[blʌnt]

adj.钝的;迟钝的;直率的

thorough

[’θʌrə]

adj.彻底的;完全的;详尽的;细致深入的

hideous

[’hɪdiəs]

adj.丑陋的;可怕的;可憎的;令人惊骇的

sacrificial

[ˌsækrɪ’fɪʃl]

adj.献祭的;牺牲的;具有牺牲性的;抛售的

pang

[pæŋ]

n.(肉体上的)剧痛;(精神上的)悲痛;苦闷

Kentucky

[ken’tʌki]

n.肯塔基州(美国中东部一州)

impatient

[ɪm’peɪʃnt]

adj.不耐烦的;急躁的

unwilling

[ʌn’wɪlɪŋ]

adj.不愿意的

engraving

[ɪn’ɡreɪvɪŋ]

n.雕刻的画;镌版术;雕版,

eternal

[ɪ’tɜːnl]

adj.永久的;永恒的

despair

[dɪ’speə(r)]

n.绝望;失望

frosting

[’frɒstɪŋ]

n.糖霜;无光泽面,

Dresser

[’dresə(r)]

n.化妆台;带镜衣柜;碗柜，装饰橱窗的人;着衣者，服装师;好打扮的人

clerical

[’klerɪkl]

adj.书记的;事务上的;抄写员的

vestment

[’vestmənt]

n.(尤指牧师的)法衣;官服;礼服

slaughter

[’slɔːtə(r)]

n.残杀;屠杀;大量杀戮

Samuel

[ˈsæmjuːəl]

n.塞缪尔(男子名)

Chicago

[ʃɪ’kɑːgəʊ,-’kɔː-]

n.芝加哥

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