《金银岛》

杨伟

《金银岛》由罗伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森（1850～1894）著作，它对后世的影响非常大，在好莱坞已经被数次改拍成电影电视，依旧十分受欢迎。可以这么说：如果说中国的孩子是看着《西游记》长大的，那么美国的孩子就是看着《金银岛》长大的。《金银岛》可算是有史以来最好看的海盗小说。《金银岛》中有波涛汹涌的大海、机智勇敢的少年、凶恶狡诈的海盗以及一份神秘的藏宝图。围绕着这份藏宝图，少年吉姆一行人同海盗之间展开了一场惊心动魄的搏斗…… 故事情节惊险曲折，人物形象鲜明生动。这就是《金银岛》历经百余年后，魅力经久不衰的原因。至今，它仍以其独特的风姿，吸引着世界各国的少年儿童。

The story is told in the first person by Jim， whose mother kept the “Admiral Benbow Inn”. One day an old sea man with a scar on his face came to the inn. He lets Jim call him “Captain Bill” and often tells pirate1 adventure stories to Jim.

故事是以吉姆为第一人称叙述的。他的妈妈经营着一家名叫“本宝将军”的旅店。一天，一个脸上有疤的老船员来到旅馆，他让吉姆叫他“比尔船长”，并且经常给吉姆讲海盗冒险故事。

“Captain Bill” tells Jim that his former shipmates covet the contents of his sea chest， and he pays Jim a few pennies to keep a lookout for a man with one leg， who is very vicious2.

“比尔船长”告诉吉姆，他以前的同船船员垂涎着他的水手箱里面的东西。他付给吉姆几便士，让吉姆帮他留意提防一个独腿的水手，这个人非常恶毒。

One day he receives a “black spot” which says that he will die if he doesnt hand out treasure map the next morning. Finally Bill has a stroke3 and dies in fear. Jim and his mother open the sea chest， finding some money and a map. The map is of an island where the pirate Flint buried treasure. “Captain Bill” actually used to be a pirate on Flints ship. Then Jim， Doctor Livesey， and Squire Trelawney determine to look for the treasure together. They fit out a ship， hire hands and set out on their adventure.

一天，“比尔船长”收到了“黑券（最后通牒）”，要他第二天一早交出藏宝地图，不然就必死无疑。后来“比尔船长”中风了，并在恐惧中死去。吉姆和他的母亲打开了“比尔船长”的水手箱，发现了一些钱和一张地图。地图上显示的是海盗弗林特在一个小岛上埋藏宝藏的地方。“比尔船长”其实曾经是弗林特手下的一名海盗。后来吉姆、利弗西医生和乡绅特里劳尼决定一起去找宝藏。他们装备了一艘船，雇了一些帮手便开始了冒险旅程。

Unluckily， several weeks later， Trelawney hires a cook with one leg called “Long John Silver”. When they are about to reach to Treasure Island， Jim overhears4 Silver talking with two other crewmen and realizes that he and most of the others are pirates and have planned a mutiny5.

不幸的是，几个星期后，特里劳尼雇了一个独腿厨子“朗·约翰·西尔弗”，当他们快要抵达金银岛时，吉姆偷听到西尔弗同其他两个水手的谈话，发现原来他们这些人都是海盗并且计划了一场叛变。

Jim tells the captain， Trelawney， and Livesey about it， and they think that they will be seven to nineteen against the mutineers and must pretend6 not to suspect anything until the treasure is found. But after the ship is anchored， Silver and some of the others go ashore7， and two men who refuse to join the mutiny are killed—one with so loud a scream that everyone realizes they can not pretend any more.

吉姆把这件事告诉了船长、特里劳尼和利弗西，他们认为自己和反叛者们的人数7比19寡不敌众，所以在找到宝藏之前必须假装什么都不知道。但是当船靠岸停泊以后，西尔弗他们上了岸，并杀了两个拒绝和他们一起反叛的人——其中一个人的大声喊叫使吉姆他们意识到不能再假装下去了。

The battle between the pirates and Jims party is an exciting and bloody one. Jim escapes from the ship， and encounters8 Ben Gunn， another ex-crewman of Flints who has been marooned9 three years on the island. Ben Gunn treats Jim kindly and only wants a chance of getting back to civilization10. Actually he has already found and hidden the treasure， and finally the victors get aboard the ship with the treasure.

海盗和吉姆一行人之间的斗争既精彩又血腥。吉姆从船上偷跑出来，发现了一个被困在岛上三年的水手本·葛恩，他也曾经是海盗弗林特船上的船员。本·葛恩对吉姆很友好，他只希望自己有机会能重新回到文明社会里。实际上本·葛恩已经发现了宝藏并把它们藏了起来，最终这些胜利者们带着宝藏上船回去了。

[1] pirate n. 海盗 [2] vicious adj. 恶毒的

[3] stroke n. 中风 [4] overhear vt. 无意中听到；偷听

[5] mutiny n. 叛乱；暴动 [6] pretend vi. 假装，伪装，佯装

[7] ashore adv. 在岸上；向岸 [8] encounter vt. 遭遇，邂逅；遇到

[9] maroon v. 使孤立；放逐到无人岛上 [10] civilization n. 文明；文化