17 Saving Jim

CHAPTER 17 Saving Jim The next day, Tom told me that he'd seen one of the slaves bringing some food to a little hut some distance away from the house. I had seen him, too, and Tom said Jim might be in there. Tom said the slave had unlocked the door to the hut with a key that Uncle Silas carried. Well right away I thought we should steal the key that night and set Jim free. But Tom had other ideas. "That would certainly work," he said. "But it's

第十七章拯救吉姆第二天，汤姆告诉我，他看到一个奴隶把一些食物带到离房子不远的一间小屋里。 我也看见他了，汤姆说吉姆可能在里面。 汤姆说奴隶用塞拉斯叔叔带着的一把钥匙打开了小屋的门。 好吧，我马上想到那天晚上我们应该偷钥匙，把吉姆放了。 但是汤姆有别的想法。“这肯定会起作用，”他说。 “但这是

too darn simple. There's nothing to it." I knew Tom would have his own plans. I also knew that they would be difficult and dangerous, and he would probably change them ten times a minute. And that's what he did. He wanted to set Jim free, but he had to do it his own way. We went to the hut that night. There was a hole on one side that I thought Jim could climb through if we could tear off one of the boards. "I should hope we can find a way that's a little more complicated that that," Tom said. "Something mysterious and troublesome and good." We found some tools, which delighted Tom. "We'll dig him out," he said. "It'll take about a week! It's perfect." The next day we followed the slave who was bringing food out to the hut. After a lot of talking, we convinced him to let us see inside. It was dark, but Jim was there. He was sitting on a flimsy bed, leaning up against the wall; he

太简单了。这没什么大不了的。” 我知道汤姆有他自己的计划。 我也知道这些鞋子既困难又危险，他可能一分钟要换十次。 他就是这么做的。他想释放吉姆，但他得按自己的方式去做。 那天晚上我们去了小屋。 一边有一个洞，我想如果我们能把一块木板扯下来，吉姆就能爬过去。 “我希望我们能找到一种更复杂的方法，”汤姆说。 “某种神秘、麻烦而又美好的东西。” 我们发现了一些工具，这使汤姆很高兴。 “我们会把他挖出来的，”他说。 “大概要一个星期！”它是完美的。” 第二天，我们跟着那个给小屋送食物的奴隶。 经过一番讨论，我们说服他让我们进去看看。 天很黑，但吉姆在那里。 他坐在一张单薄的床上，靠在墙上。他

looked sad. "Why, Huck! My goodness, is that Tom Sawyer?" Jim said. We said we were going to set him free and that he shouldn't worry if he heard any digging at night. It was just us. Jim only had time to hold each of us by the hand and thank us. Then we had to leave before the slave who had brought the food came looking for us. It didn't take long for Tom to start changing his plan. He decided it was just too easy to dig Jim out of the hut. Jim needed a rope ladder, and he had to write letters about how lonely he felt. Tom had many ideas like these, which he had picked up from all the adventure stories he read. We started digging under the hut that night after everyone went to sleep. At first Tom wanted us to dig with our hands, but that was taking too long. Finally he said it would probably be all right for us to use the picks and shovels we had borrowed. We dug until we were too tired to

看起来很伤心。“为什么,哈克!天哪，那是汤姆·索亚吗？”吉姆说。 我们说我们要放了它，如果它在夜里听到挖洞的声音也不用担心。 只有我们。吉姆只来得及握着我们每个人的手，向我们表示感谢。 然后我们不得不在送食物的奴隶来找我们之前离开。 没过多久汤姆就开始改变他的计划。 他觉得把吉姆从茅屋里挖出来太容易了。 吉姆需要一架绳梯，他不得不写信诉说他感到多么孤独。 汤姆有很多这样的想法，这些想法都是从他读过的所有冒险故事中得来的。 那天晚上，大家都睡着了，我们就开始在小屋下面挖洞。 起先汤姆想让我们用手挖，但那太花时间了。 最后他说，也许我们可以用借来的镐头和铲子了。 我们一直挖到太累了

continue. The hole was just deep enough to crawl under the wall of the hut and get inside. The next day we borrowed a sheet for Jim to write on. We also brought Jim some spoons and a candlestick that he could use to make a pen. We took some candles and plates, and other things that Tom thought would be useful. That night we crawled into the hut and woke Jim. He was so happy to see us that he almost cried. He wanted to leave with us right away, but Tom explained how that wasn't the right way to do things. He said we had to save Jim according to all the adventure stories. Well Tom was the expert on that, so Jim and I went along with him. Tom explained how Jim should write on the sheet and the plates, and told him how to make the rope ladder. It was all very confusing, but Jim said he would try to do it all. Tom was in high spirits. He said it was the best fun he ever had in his life.

继续下去。这个洞的深度刚好可以从小屋的墙下爬进去。 第二天我们借了一张纸让吉姆在上面写字。 我们还给吉姆带来了一些勺子和一个烛台，他可以用它来做一支笔。 我们带了一些蜡烛和盘子，还有一些汤姆认为有用的东西。 那天晚上，我们爬进小屋叫醒了吉姆。 他见到我们高兴得几乎要哭了。 他想马上和我们一起离开，但汤姆解释说那不是正确的做法。 他说我们必须根据所有的冒险故事去救吉姆。 汤姆是这方面的专家，所以吉姆和我跟着他走。 汤姆向吉姆解释如何在床单和盘子上写字，并告诉他如何制作绳梯。 这一切都很令人困惑，但吉姆说他会努力做到这一切。 汤姆情绪高涨。他说这是他一生中最开心的事。