Black Beauty (Excerpt)《黑骏马》(节选)

Anna Sewell

作者：

《黑骏马》的作者是安娜·塞维尔（Anna Sewell）。这是一部在19世纪下半叶轰动欧洲文坛的经典儿童小说。《黑骏马》在欧美常销不衰，唤醒一代又一代读者去理解所有不会说话的动物。安娜·塞维尔于1820年出生于英國诺福克的雅茅斯，于1878年去世。出于对人类虐待动物的强烈不满，她写下了《黑骏马》，以说服人们对动物仁慈一些。

作品：

本文节选自安娜·塞维尔的《黑骏马》，节选时有删改。小说的主人公黑骏马是一匹漂亮的优种黑马，从小生活在贵族人家，受过良好的训练，性格温顺、善良，而且聪明、机智，主人非常喜欢他。但是好景不长，主人家里有了变故，黑骏马不得不被卖掉。他被卖过多次，接触过各种人：有喝多了酒就拿马撒气的醉汉，有动辄抽鞭子的出租马车车夫，有不把动物当回事的野蛮人，也有把动物当成朋友的好人家。他尝尽了人间的甜酸苦辣，最后有了一个好的归宿。作品揭示了马的内心世界，也有作为马冷眼旁观人类社会的描写。

One day inthe autumn， mymaster had to go toa distant town onbusiness. John harnessedme to thecarriage and thethree of us wentoff. There had been a lot of rain， and thewind was very strong. When we came tothe river， the water was so high that itnearly reached the wooden bridge， andmany of the fields were under water. In onelow part of the road， the water was half?wayup to my knees.

We got to the town and the master'sbusiness took a long time. It was late in theafternoon when we started to go backhome. The wind was much stronger， and aswe drove through a wood， I heard my mastersay，“ I've never been out in a storm asbad as this， John.” Indeed， I thought sotoo， hearing the terrible noise of that wildwind in the trees.“ I wish we were out ofthis wood，” said my master. “Yes， sir，”agreed John.“ We don't want one of those branches coming down on top of us.”

But just as he finished speaking，there was a great noise of wood breaking，and a big tree came crashing down throughthe other smaller trees and fell across theroad right in front of us！ I was very frightenedand I stopped immediately， but Ididn't turn round or try to run away. Johnjumped out and quickly ran to my side.“What can we do now， John？” said mymaster.

“We can't drive over the tree or getround it， sir，” said John.“ We'll have to goback to the crossroads， and take the longerroad round to the wooden bridge. It willmake us late， but the horse isn't tired.” Itwas nearly dark when we got to the woodenbridge. We could see water over the middleof it， but this often happened when theriver was high. But the moment my feettouched the first part of the bridge， I wassure something was wrong， and I stoppedsuddenly.

“Go on， Beauty，” said my master， andhe touched me with the whip. I did notmove， so he hit me sharply， but I would notgo forward. “There's something wrong，”said John， and he jumped from the carriageand began to look round. He tried to leadme forward.“ Come on， Beauty， what's thematter？” Of course， I could not tell him，but I knew the bridge was not safe. Justthen， a man ran out of the house on theother side of the bridge.“ Stop！ Stop！” he cried. “What's the matter？” shouted mymaster. “The bridge is broken in themiddle，” said the man，“ and part of it wascarried away. If you cross it， you'll fall intothe river！”

“Thank you， Beauty！” John said tome， and turned me gently round to theright?hand road by the riverside. It gotdarker and the wind got quieter as I trottedtowards home by another， much longerroad. The two men were quiet for sometime， but then my master spoke.

“We were very close to drowning inthat river， John，” he said. “Men may beclever enough to think of things for themselves，but animals know things withoutthinking， and that's often saved a man'slife， as it has ours tonight. People don'trealize how wonderful their animals are，nor do they make friends with them as theyshould.”

When we arrived back at BirtwickPark， the mistress ran out to meet us.“ I'vebeen so worried！” she said. “Are you allright？ Did you have an accident？”“We nearly did，” said my master.“But Black Beauty was cleverer than wewere， and saved us all from drowning！”

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