6 Tom Wrestles with His Conscience

CHAPTER 6 Tom Wrestles with His Conscience By lunchtime, news about Dr.Robinson's grisly murder had spread through the whole town. Mr.Dobbins dismissed class for the rest of the day because no one could think about anything else but the gruesome event the night before. Muff Potter's bloody knife had been found close to Robinson's body, and someone had seen Potter washing in the creek at about two o'clock in the morning. The talk was that the town was being turned upside down to find the "murderer."

到吃午饭的时候，罗宾逊医生被谋杀的可怕消息已经传遍了全镇。 杜宾斯先生把这一天剩下的时间都放了课，因为除了前一天晚上的可怕事件，大家什么也不想。 莫夫·波特那把带血的刀在鲁宾逊的尸体附近被发现，有人在凌晨两点钟左右看见波特在小溪里洗澡。 据说，为了寻找“凶手”，整个城镇都被翻了个底朝天。

Slowly, many of the townspeople began drifting to the graveyard, and Tom decided to join the procession. Arriving at the dreadful place, he wormed his way to the front of the crowd. Huckleberry Finn soon pushed his way up to Tom's side. "Poor fellow, poor young fellow!" someone offered. "This ought a be a lesson for grave robbers," another chimed in. Tom looked across the crowd, and his heart nearly stopped when he saw the stony face of Injun Joe. At this moment, a murmur went through the crowd. "There he is!" a voice shouted. "There's Muff Potter!" "Don't let him get away!" Muff Potter just stood there looking confused. When he saw the murdered man, poor Muff started shaking violently.

慢慢地，许多镇上的人开始向墓地走去，汤姆也决定加入队伍。 到了那个可怕的地方，他慢慢地挤到人群前面。 哈克贝利·费恩很快挤到汤姆身边。 “可怜的家伙，可怜的年轻人！”有人说。 “这应该给盗墓贼上一课，”另一个人附和道。 汤姆望着人群，看到印第安·乔那张冷冰冰的脸，他的心都快停止跳动了。 这时，人群中响起了一阵窃窃私语。 “他在那儿！”一个声音喊道。 “莫夫·波特在那儿！”“别让他跑了！”莫夫·波特只是站在那里，一脸困惑。 当他看到那个被谋杀的人时，可怜的马夫开始剧烈地颤抖起来。

"I didn't do it, friends," he sobbed. "I swear on my honor I never done it." "Is that not your knife?" the sheriff asked, shoving the blade in front of Potter's face. Muff would have collapsed just then, but some men close by caught him and eased him to the ground. Muff sat there sobbing until he spotted Injun Joe, and his face lit up. "Tell 'em, Joe, tell'em! It ain't no use holding back now." Tom and Huck stood silent and held their breath as they stared at Injun Joe, waiting for him to speak. Calm as he could be, Joe reeled off a tale full of lies. He told how Potter had struggled with Dr.Robinson and then how he'd killed him. "Why didn't you leave?" someone asked, turning back to Muff. "What did you come back here for?" "I-I couldn't help it," Potter moaned. "I

“不是我干的，朋友们，”他抽泣着说。 “我以我的名誉发誓，我从没做过那件事。” “那不是你的刀吗？”治安官问，把刀刃推到波特面前。 就在这时，马夫快要倒下了，但附近的几个人抓住了他，把他轻轻放到地上。 马夫坐在那儿抽泣着，直到他看见印第安·乔，脸上露出了喜色。 “告诉他们，乔，告诉他们！”现在再隐瞒也没用了。” 汤姆和哈克静静地站着，屏住呼吸，盯着印第安·乔，等着他说话。 尽管乔很镇静，他还是滔滔不绝地讲了一个充满谎言的故事。 他讲述了波特是如何与罗宾逊医生搏斗，然后又如何杀死了他。 “你为什么不离开？”有人回过头来问莫夫。 “你回来干什么？”“我——我没办法。”波特呻吟道。 “我

wanted to run away, but I couldn't come anywhere but here." Muff Potter fell to crying again while Injun Joe repeated his story, this time under oath. The boys were stunned both by Injun Joe's lies and by the fact that they'd gone unpunished. But both Tom and Huck were too afraid to tell the truth for fear of Injun Joe's revenge. To make matters even worse, Becky Thatcher had fallen ill and had stopped coming to school. What if she should die! Tom worried so much that he found that he could no longer take an interest in much of anything, not even in becoming a pirate. Every day, he reached school ahead of time. Rather than playing with his friends, he hung about by the school's front gate, his gaze fixed down the road. A group of girls came into view, and Tom

我想逃走，但除了这儿我哪儿也去不了。” 莫夫·波特又哭了起来，印第安·乔又重复了一遍他的故事，这次他发了誓。 孩子们被印第安·乔的谎言和他们没有受到惩罚的事实惊呆了。 但汤姆和哈克都不敢说出真相，害怕印第安·乔报复。 更糟糕的是，贝基·撒切尔病了，不再来上学了。 要是她死了怎么办！汤姆太担心了，他发现自己对任何事情都失去了兴趣，甚至对成为一名海盗也失去了兴趣。 每天，他都提前到达学校。 他没有和朋友们一起玩，而是在学校的正门附近徘徊，眼睛盯着马路。 一群女孩映入眼帘，汤姆

hated each and every one of them for being the wrong one. Giving up hope, he turned to go into the dreary schoolhouse. Just then, another girl appeared in the distance. The next instant Tom was yelling, laughing, and chasing the other boys around. He jumped over the fence—at risk of life and limb— threw handsprings, and stood on his head. Tom did these heroic things all the while keeping a close eye on Becky. Next, he started war whooping, snatched a boy's cap and threw it onto the roof of the schoolhouse, and broke through a group of boys, tumbling them to the ground before he sprawled out directly in front of Becky— nearly knocking her over. "Hmm!" Becky turned with her nose up in the air. "Some people think they're smart— always showing off!" Tom's cheeks burned. He picked himself

恨他们每一个人都错了。 他放弃了希望，转身走进了沉闷的校舍。 就在这时，另一个女孩出现在远处。 接着，汤姆又喊又笑，还追着其他男孩到处跑。 他冒着失去生命和肢体的危险跳过栅栏，抛出手弹簧，头朝下倒立。 汤姆一直在做这些英雄般的事情，同时密切关注着贝基。 接着，他开始大喊大叫，抓起一顶男孩的帽子扔到校舍的屋顶上，冲进一群男孩中间，把他们摔倒在地，然后趴在贝基面前，差点把她撞倒。 “嗯!”贝基昂着头转过身来。 “有些人认为他们很聪明——总是在炫耀！”汤姆的脸颊发烫。 他选择了自己

up and sneaked off, feeling crushed. At lunch that day, Tom ignored Becky completely. He pretended not to see her tripping happily back and forth, her face flushed, playing with the other classmates and obviously trying to get his attention. He even went so far as to strike up a conversation with Amy Lawrence. At recess, Tom continued to flirt with Amy, doing everything he could to make sure that Becky saw him. But when he finally found her, Becky was sitting cozily on a little bench behind the schoolhouse, looking at a picture book with Alfred Temple. So absorbed were they, so close together were their little heads over the book, that they didn't seem aware of anything else in the whole world, least of all Tom and Amy. Jealousy now ran red-hot through Tom's veins. Unable to bear the sight of Becky and

爬起来，蹑手蹑脚地走了，感觉很崩溃。 那天吃午饭时，汤姆完全不理贝基。 他假装没看见她愉快地来回走动，满脸通红，和其他同学一起玩耍，显然是想引起他的注意。 他甚至还和艾米·劳伦斯攀谈起来。 课间休息时，汤姆继续和艾米调情，想尽一切办法让贝基看见他。 当他终于找到她时，贝基正舒舒服服地坐在校舍后面的小板凳上，和阿尔弗雷德·邓波儿一起看一本图画书。 他们全神贯注地读着书，他们的小脑袋靠得很近，似乎没有注意到世界上的其他任何事情，尤其是汤姆和艾美。 汤姆的血管里顿时充满了妒火。 看不下去贝基和