| Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë CHAPTER I 1801— I have just returned from a visit to my landlord—the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with. This is certainly a beautiful country! In all England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so completely removed from the stir of society. A perfect misanthropist’s Heaven—and Mr. Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us. A capital fellow! He little imagined how my heart warmed towards him when I beheld his black eyes withdraw so suspiciously under their brows, as I rode up, and when his fingers sheltered themselves, with a jealous resolution, still further in his waistcoat, as I announced my name. “Mr. Heathcliff?” I said. A nod was the answer. “Mr. Lockwood, your new tenant, sir. I do myself the honour of calling as soon as possible after my arrival, to express the hope that I have not inconvenienced you by my perseverance in soliciting the occupation of Thrushcross Grange: I heard yesterday you had had some thoughts—” “Thrushcross Grange is my own, sir,” he interrupted, wincing. “I should not allow any one to inconvenience me, if I could hinder it—walk in!” The “walk in” was uttered with closed teeth, and expressed the sentiment, “Go to the Deuce!” even the gate over which he leant manifested no sympathising movement to the words; and I think that circumstance determined me to accept the invitation: I felt interested in a man who seemed more exaggeratedly reserved than myself. When he saw my horse’s breast fairly pushing the barrier, he did put out his hand to unchain it, and then sullenly preceded me up the causeway, calling, as we entered the court,—“Joseph, take Mr. Lockwood’s horse; and bring up some wine.” “Here we have the whole establishment of domestics, I suppose,” was the reflection suggested by this compound order. “No wonder the grass grows up between the flags, and cattle are the only hedge-cutters.” Joseph was an elderly, nay, an old man, very old, perhaps, though hale and sinewy. “The Lord help us!” he soliloquised in an undertone of peevish displeasure, while relieving me of my horse: looking, meantime, in my face so sourly that I charitably conjectured he must have need of divine aid to digest his dinner, and his pious ejaculation had no reference to my unexpected advent. Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Heathcliff’s dwelling. “Wuthering” being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times, indeed: one may guess the power of the north wind, blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house; and by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun. Happily, the architect had foresight to build it strong: the narrow windows are deeply set in the wall, and the corners defended with large jutting stones. | 呼嘯山莊 作者：艾米莉•勃朗特 第1章 故事發生在公元一八○一年。 那天我剛剛看望完我的房東回來——他是一位性情孤僻之人，就住在這附近，接下來我少不了要給他添麻煩。這裏的鄉間風景還算得上漂亮！在整個英格蘭境內，真不敢相信我竟能在這麽個地方落腳。此地遠離塵囂，完全與世隔絕，真是個厭世者的完美天堂。黑思克裏夫正好和我組成一對意氣相投的搭檔，共同分擔這裏的寂寥淒涼。他可真是一表人才！我騎著馬來到他跟前，看到他兩顆黑眼珠深陷在眉宇之下，眼神裏流露著猜忌之色。我自報家門時，他的雙手手指往背心口袋裏插了又插，一臉將信將疑的決絕表情。他肯定想不到，第一眼見到他時，我的心頭著實一熱。 “是黑思克裏夫先生嗎？”我問道。 他沒有回答我，隻是點了點頭。 “先生，我叫勞克伍德，是您的新房客。我一到這兒就立刻趕過來拜訪您，希望不要因為我執意要租畫眉田莊，而給您造成什麽不便。昨天我聽說您另有想法——”。 “畫眉田莊由我說了算，先生。”他身體躲閃著，還沒等我說完就打斷我的話說道：“隻要我能製止，就絕不會讓任何人給我帶來不便——進來！” “進來”這兩個字是咬著牙從牙縫裏擠出來的，代表著這樣一種情緒，“見你的鬼去吧！”甚至連他靠著的那扇籬笆門都沒有對這句話表現出任何憐憫之情，杵在那裏紋絲不動；我想既然如此，我也就決定接受這樣的邀請——這個看上去比我自己更加內向的人，已經引起了我的興致。 他眼看著我的馬就要把前胸貼到柵欄上了，於是伸手打開門上的鏈條，然後拉著個臉，領我上了石板路。一進院子，我就聽見他嚷道：“周思福，把勞克伍德先生的馬牽走，順便給我拿些葡萄酒來。” “我想整個房子裏應該就住著一個人吧，”聽到剛才那句讓一個人同時幹兩件事的雙重號令，我心裏這麽想著。“難怪地麵石板縫都長滿了草，這裏恐怕隻能靠牛來修剪樹木花草了吧。” 周思福看上去有一把年紀，不，他應該有大把年紀——雖然身體看起來還很結實硬朗，可是實際歲數可能比他本人看上去還要大。“願上帝保佑我們！”他一臉的不高興，從我手裏接過馬韁繩，壓低聲音，嘴裏不知道在自言自語、嘟嘟囔囔些什麽，同時他不懷好意地盯著我的臉看。我猜想他肯定更需要上帝的幫助，否則他今天的午餐可能消化不了，我心裏這樣想還算是比較厚道。他那句虔誠的大聲祈禱與我這個不速之客的到來簡直就是風馬牛不相及。 呼嘯山莊是黑思克裏夫先生住所的名字。“呼嘯”是本地區一個舉足輕重的詞，用來形容這地方的天空在暴風雨雪天氣中所遭受的翻雲覆霧。沒錯，這裏空氣純淨，氣流通暢，隨時都會令人精神為之一振，房子盡頭幾棵矮小的冷杉過度歪斜，還有一排瘦骨嶙峋的荊棘叢，枝條都朝著同一個方向延伸，好像在等待著陽光的德澤，這樣就不難想象北風呼嘯著吹過莊園邊際的威力了。幸虧建造山莊的設計師遠見卓識，把房子蓋得相當結實，窗戶很窄小，深嵌在牆體中，各個牆角都用突出的巨大石塊予以加固。 |
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