🔊 Jurgis talked lightly about work, because he was young. They told him stories about the breaking down of men, there in the stockyards of Chicago, and of what had happened to them afterward--stories to make your flesh creep, but Jurgis would only laugh. He had only been there four months, and he was young, and a giant besides. There was too much health in him. He could not even imagine how it would feel to be beaten. "That is well enough for men like you," he would say, "weak, puny fellows--but my back is broad."

由于年轻,尤吉斯把工作看得很轻松。人们告诉他关于芝加哥牲口场里如何把工人累垮的故事,以及后来发生的事--那些故事令人毛骨悚然,但尤吉斯只是大笑。他来这里才四个月,他年轻,而且是个巨人。他身体里有着太多的活力。他甚至想象不出被累垮是什么感觉。“这对像你们这样的人来说倒是不错,”他会说,“软弱无能的小家伙--可我的背很宽。”

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stockyards /ˈstɑːkjɑːrdz/

n. 牲畜围场,屠宰场附近的牲畜围栏➕

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giant /ˈdʒaɪənt/

n. 巨人；巨物➕

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puny /ˈpjuːni/

adj. 弱小的,微不足道的➕

🔊 Jurgis was like a boy, a boy from the country. He was the sort of man the bosses like to get hold of, the sort they make it a grievance they cannot get hold of. When he was told to go to a certain place, he would go there on the run. When he had nothing to do for the moment, he would stand round fidgeting, dancing, with the overflow of energy that was in him. If he were working in a line of men, the line always moved too slowly for him, and you could pick him out by his impatience and restlessness. That was why he had been picked out on one important occasion; for Jurgis had stood outside of Brown and Company's "Central Time Station" not more than half an hour, the second day of his arrival in Chicago, before he had been beckoned by one of the bosses. Of this he was very proud, and it made him more disposed than ever to laugh at the pessimists. In vain would they all tell him that there were men in that crowd from which he had been chosen who had stood there a month--yes, many months--and not been chosen yet. "Yes," he would say, "but what sort of men? Broken-down tramps and good-for-nothings, fellows who have spent all their money drinking, and want to get more for it. Do you want me to believe that with these arms"--and he would clench his fists and hold them up in the air, so that you might see the rolling muscles--"that with these arms people will ever let me starve?"

尤吉斯像个男孩,一个乡下男孩。他是那种工头们喜欢抓在手里的家伙,是那种他们抱怨抓不到的人。当别人叫他去某个地方时,他会跑着去。当他暂时无事可做时,他会闲不住地站着,躁动不安,跳来跳去,浑身充满过剩的精力。如果他在一排人里干活,那排人的速度对他来说总是不够快,你一眼就能从他的不耐烦和坐立不安中认出他来。这就是为什么有一次在重要场合他被选中了；原来,尤吉斯在布朗公司‘中央时间站’外站了不到半小时,就在他到达芝加哥的第二天,就被一个工头招手叫走了。对此他非常自豪,这让他更加乐于嘲笑那些悲观主义者。他们告诉他,从他当时被选中的那群人里,有些人已经在那里站了一个月--是的,好几个月了--还没被选上,但这一切都是白费口舌。“是啊,”他会说,“可那都是些什么人？落魄的流浪汉和废物,那些把钱都喝光了还想再弄点钱的家伙。你难道想让我相信,凭着这双手臂”--他会攥紧拳头,举在空中,好让人看到滚动的肌肉--“凭着这双手臂,别人会让我饿死？”

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grievance /ˈɡriːvəns/

n. 不满,抱怨,委屈➕

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fidgeting /ˈfɪdʒɪtɪŋ/

v. 坐立不安,烦躁➕

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restlessness /ˈrestləsnəs/

n. 不平静,焦躁不安➕

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impatience /ɪmˈpeɪʃəns/

n. 不耐烦,急躁➕

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beckoned /ˈbekənd/

v. 招手示意,召唤➕

🔊 "It is plain," they would answer to this, "that you have come from the country, and from very far in the country." And this was the fact, for Jurgis had never seen a city, and scarcely even a fair-sized town, until he had set out to make his fortune in the world and earn his right to Ona. His father, and his father's father before him, and as many ancestors back as legend could go, had lived in that part of Lithuania known as Brelovicz, the Imperial Forest. This is a great tract of a hundred thousand acres, which from time immemorial has been a hunting preserve of the nobility. There are a very few peasants settled in it, holding title from ancient times; and one of these was Antanas Rudkus, who had been reared himself, and had reared his children in turn, upon half a dozen acres of cleared land in the midst of a wilderness. There had been one son besides Jurgis, and one sister. The former had been drafted into the army; that had been over ten years ago, but since that day nothing had ever been heard of him. The sister was married, and her husband had bought the place when old Antanas had decided to go with his son. It was nearly a year and a half ago that Jurgis had met Ona, at a horse fair a hundred miles from home. Jurgis had never expected to get married--he had laughed at it as a foolish trap for a man to walk into; but here, without ever having spoken a word to her, with no more than the exchange of half a dozen smiles, he found himself, purple in the face with embarrassment and terror, asking her parents to sell her to him for his wife--and offering his father's two horses he had been sent to the fair to sell. But Ona's father proved as a rock--the girl was yet a child, and he was a rich man, and his daughter was not to be had in that way. So Jurgis went home with a heavy heart, and that spring and summer toiled and tried hard to forget. In the fall, after the harvest was over, he saw that it would not do, and tramped the full fortnight's journey that lay between him and Ona. He found an unexpected state of affairs--for the girl's father had died, and his estate was tied up with creditors; Jurgis' heart leaped as he realized that now the prize was within his reach. There was Elzbieta Lukoszaite, Teta, or Aunt, as they called her, Ona's stepmother, and there were her six children, of all ages. There was also her brother Jonas, a dried-up little man who had worked upon the farm. They were people of great consequence, as it seemed to Jurgis, fresh out of the woods; Ona knew how to read, and knew many other things that he did not know, and now the farm had been sold, and the whole family was adrift--all they owned in the world being about seven hundred rubles which is half as many dollars.

“很明显,”他们对此会回答说,“你是从乡下来的,而且还是从很远的乡下。”事实正是如此,因为尤吉斯从未见过城市,甚至几乎没见过像样的大镇,直到他决定去闯世界挣钱,赢得奥娜的权利。他的父亲、父亲的父亲,以及传说中能追溯到的众多祖先,都生活在立陶宛被称为布雷洛维茨的地方,即帝国森林。那是一片十万英亩的辽阔土地,自古以来就是贵族的狩猎保护区。那里居住着少数农民,拥有自古以来的产权；其中一个是安塔纳斯·鲁德库斯,他本人就出生在那里,并在荒野之中清理出的半打英亩土地上养育了自己的孩子。除了尤吉斯,还有一个儿子和一个女儿。儿子在十多年前被征召入伍,但自那以后就杳无音讯。女儿结了婚,当老安塔纳斯决定跟儿子走时,她的丈夫买下了那块地。大约一年半前,尤吉斯在离家一百英里外的一个马市上遇到了奥娜。尤吉斯从未想过要结婚--他曾嘲笑婚姻是男人踏进去的愚蠢陷阱；但在这里,他连一句话都没跟她说过,仅仅交换了半打微笑,就发现自己面红耳赤、又窘又怕地请求她的父母把她卖给他做妻子--并且把他父亲派他去卖的两匹马作为聘礼。但奥娜的父亲像岩石一样强硬--那女孩还是个孩子,而他是个有钱人,他的女儿不是这样就能得到的。于是尤吉斯心情沉重地回了家,在那个春夏拼命干活,试图忘记。秋天收获之后,他看出这样不行,于是徒步走了整整两周的路程,来到了奥娜所在的地方。他发现情况出乎意料--女孩的父亲去世了,遗产被债权人纠缠；尤吉斯的心怦怦直跳,因为他意识到奖品已近在咫尺。那里有埃尔兹别塔·卢科萨伊特--他们叫她泰塔,或阿姨--奥娜的继母,还有她的六个孩子,年龄各不相同。还有她的兄弟约纳斯,一个在农场干活的干瘪小个子。在尤吉斯看来,他们都是很有身份的人,刚从林子里出来；奥娜会读书识字,还知道许多他不知道的事情,现在农场已经卖掉,全家漂泊无定--他们在这个世界上所有的财产大约只有七百卢布,相当于三百五十美元。

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ancestors /ˈænsestərz/

n. 祖先➕

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wilderness /ˈwɪldərnəs/

n. 荒野,未开垦的地区➕

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tract /trækt/

n. 大片土地；区域➕

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nobility /noʊˈbɪləti/

n. 贵族（阶级）➕

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creditors /ˈkredɪtərz/

n. 债权人,债主➕

🔊 They would have had three times that, but it had gone to court, and the judge had decided against them, and it had cost the balance to get him to change his decision. Ona might have married and left them, but she would not, for she loved Teta Elzbieta. It was Jonas who suggested that they all go to America, where a friend of his had gotten rich. He would work, for his part, and the women would work, and some of the children, doubtless--they would live somehow. Jurgis, too, had heard of America. That was a country where, they said, a man might earn three rubles a day; and Jurgis figured what three rubles a day would mean, with prices as they were where he lived, and decided forthwith that he would go to America and marry, and be a rich man in the bargain. In that country, rich or poor, a man was free, it was said; he did not have to go into the army, he did not have to pay out his money to rascally officials--he might do as he pleased, and count himself as good as any other man. So America was a place of which lovers and young people dreamed. If one could only manage to get the price of a passage, he could count his troubles at an end.

他们本应有三倍于此的钱,但钱都花在了打官司上,法官判他们败诉,最后又花了剩下的钱才让他改变判决。奥娜本可以结婚然后离开他们,但她不肯,因为她爱泰塔·埃尔兹别塔。是约纳斯建议他们全都去美国,他有个朋友在那里发了财。他愿意干活,女人们也干活,还有几个孩子,毫无疑问--他们总能活下去。尤吉斯也听说过美国。人们说那是一个男人一天能挣三卢布的国家；尤吉斯盘算着按他家乡的物价,一天三卢布意味着什么,于是当即决定要去美国,结婚,顺便发财。据说在那个国家,无论贫富,人都是自由的；他不必去参军,不必把钱交给无耻的官员--他可以随心所欲,把自己当成和其他人一样好。因此,美国是恋人和年轻人梦想的地方。只要有人能弄到路费,他的麻烦就算到头了。

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forthwith /ˌfɔːrθˈwɪθ/

adv. 立即,马上➕

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rascally /ˈræskəli/

adj. 无赖的,卑鄙的➕

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passage /ˈpæsɪdʒ/

n. （旅途的）行程；通道；段落➕

🔊 It was arranged that they should leave the following spring, and meantime Jurgis sold himself to a contractor for a certain time, and tramped nearly four hundred miles from home with a gang of men to work upon a railroad in Smolensk. This was a fearful experience, with filth and bad food and cruelty and overwork; but Jurgis stood it and came out in fine trim, and with eighty rubles sewed up in his coat. He did not drink or fight, because he was thinking all the time of Ona; and for the rest, he was a quiet, steady man, who did what he was told to, did not lose his temper often, and when he did lose it made the offender anxious that he should not lose it again. When they paid him off he dodged the company gamblers and dramshops, and so they tried to kill him; but he escaped, and tramped it home, working at odd jobs, and sleeping always with one eye open. So in the summer time they had all set out for America. At the last moment there joined them Marija Berczynskas, who was a cousin of Ona's. Marija was an orphan, and had worked since childhood for a rich farmer of Vilna, who beat her regularly. It was only at the age of twenty that it had occurred to Marija to try her strength, when she had risen up and nearly murdered the man, and then come away. There were twelve in all in the party, five adults and six children--and Ona, who was a little of both. They had a hard time on the passage; there was an agent who helped them, but he proved a scoundrel, and got them into a trap with some officials, and cost them a good deal of their precious money, which they clung to with such horrible fear. This happened to them again in New York--for, of course, they knew nothing about the country, and had no one to tell them, and it was easy for a man in a blue uniform to lead them away, and to take them to a hotel and keep them there, and make them pay enormous charges to get away. The law says that the rate card shall be on the door of a hotel, but it does not say that it shall be in Lithuanian. It was in the stockyards that Jonas' friend had gotten rich, and so to Chicago the party was bound. They knew that one word, Chicago--and that was all they needed to know, at least, until they reached the city. Then, tumbled out of the cars without ceremony, they were no better off than before; they stood staring down the vista of Dearborn Street, with its big black buildings towering in the distance, unable to realize that they had arrived, and why, when they said "Chicago," people no longer pointed in some direction, but instead looked perplexed, or laughed, or went on without paying any attention.

他们安排次年春天出发,与此同时,尤吉斯把自己卖给了一个承包商一段时间,带着一伙人离家近四百英里,到斯摩棱斯克去修铁路。那是一次可怕的经历,肮脏、食物恶劣、残酷和过度劳累；但尤吉斯挺了过来,身体结实,外套里缝着八十卢布。他不喝酒不打架,因为他一直想着奥娜；至于其他方面,他是个安静稳重的人,叫干什么就干什么,很少发脾气,一旦发脾气,就会让惹他的人担心他再也不会发第二次。当他们给他发工钱时,他躲开了公司里的赌徒和酒馆,于是他们想弄死他；但他逃脱了,徒步回家,一路打零工,睡觉时总睁着一只眼。于是在夏天,他们全都出发前往美国。最后时刻,奥娜的表姐玛丽亚·贝尔钦斯卡斯也加入了他们。玛丽亚是个孤儿,从小就在维尔纳的一个富裕农民家干活,那人经常打她。直到二十岁,玛丽亚才想到试试自己的力气,她站起来差点杀了那个男人,然后逃走了。队伍中共有十二人,五个大人和六个孩子--还有奥娜,她介于两者之间。他们在旅途中很艰难；有个代理人帮了他们,但他是个恶棍,和一些官员设陷阱害他们,让他们花掉了大量宝贵的钱,而这些钱他们怀着极其恐惧的心情紧紧攥着。这种事在纽约又发生了一次--当然,他们对这个国家一无所知,没人告诉他们,穿蓝色制服的人很容易就能把他们带走,带到旅馆关起来,让他们付高价才能离开。法律规定房价表必须挂在旅馆门上,但没规定必须用立陶宛语。在牲口场里约纳斯的朋友发了财,所以他们这支队伍的目的地是芝加哥。他们只认识一个词--芝加哥--至少在他们到达这座城市之前,这就是他们需要知道的一切。然后,他们被不加礼貌地赶下火车,处境和之前一样糟糕；他们站在那儿,凝视着迪尔伯恩街的远景,远处高耸着巨大的黑色建筑,无法意识到他们已经到达,也不明白为什么当他们说“芝加哥”时,人们不再指向某个方向,反而显得困惑、大笑,或者根本不加理会。

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contractor /ˈkɑːntræktər/

n. 承包商,承包人➕

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filth /fɪlθ/

n. 肮脏,污物➕

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scoundrel /ˈskaʊndrəl/

n. 恶棍,无赖➕

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rate card /reɪt kɑːrd/

n. 价格表,费率卡➕

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perplexed /pərˈplekst/

adj. 困惑的,茫然不解的➕

🔊 They were pitiable in their helplessness; above all things they stood in deadly terror of any sort of person in official uniform, and so whenever they saw a policeman they would cross the street and hurry by. For the whole of the first day they wandered about in the midst of deafening confusion, utterly lost; and it was only at night that, cowering in the doorway of a house, they were finally discovered and taken by a policeman to the station. In the morning an interpreter was found, and they were taken and put upon a car, and taught a new word--"stockyards." Their delight at discovering that they were to get out of this adventure without losing another share of their possessions it would not be possible to describe.

他们的无助令人怜悯；尤其是他们对任何穿制服的人怀着极度的恐惧,所以一看到警察,他们就穿过街道匆匆避开。整个第一天,他们在震耳欲聋的混乱中四处游荡,彻底迷失；直到夜里,蜷缩在一幢房子的门口,他们终于被一名警察发现,带到了派出所。早上找到了一个翻译,他们被带上了一辆电车,并学会了一个新词--“牲口场”。他们发现这次冒险没有让他们再损失一份财产后的喜悦,简直无法形容。

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pitiable /ˈpɪtiəbl/

adj. 可怜的,令人同情的➕

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helplessness /ˈhelpləsnəs/

n. 无助,无力➕

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deafening /ˈdefənɪŋ/

adj. 震耳欲聋的➕

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cowering /ˈkaʊərɪŋ/

v. 畏缩,蜷缩➕

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interpreter /ɪnˈtɜːrprɪtər/

n. 口译员,解释者➕

🔊 They sat and stared out of the window. They were on a street which seemed to run on forever, mile after mile--thirty-four of them, if they had known it--and each side of it one uninterrupted row of wretched little two-story frame buildings. Down every side street they could see, it was the same--never a hill and never a hollow, but always the same endless vista of ugly and dirty little wooden buildings. Here and there would be a bridge crossing a filthy creek, with hard-baked mud shores and dingy sheds and docks along it; here and there would be a railroad crossing, with a tangle of switches, and locomotives puffing, and rattling freight cars filing by; here and there would be a great factory, a dingy building with innumerable windows in it, and immense volumes of smoke pouring from the chimneys, darkening the air above and making filthy the earth beneath. But after each of these interruptions, the desolate procession would begin again--the procession of dreary little buildings. A full hour before the party reached the city they had begun to note the perplexing changes in the atmosphere. It grew darker all the time, and upon the earth the grass seemed to grow less green. Every minute, as the train sped on, the colors of things became dingier; the fields were grown parched and yellow, the landscape hideous and bare. And along with the thickening smoke they began to notice another circumstance, a strange, pungent odor. They were not sure that it was unpleasant, this odor; some might have called it sickening, but their taste in odors was not developed, and they were only sure that it was curious. Now, sitting in the trolley car, they realized that they were on their way to the home of it--that they had traveled all the way from Lithuania to it. It was now no longer something far off and faint, that you caught in whiffs; you could literally taste it, as well as smell it--you could take hold of it, almost, and examine it at your leisure. They were divided in their opinions about it. It was an elemental odor, raw and crude; it was rich, almost rancid, sensual, and strong. There were some who drank it in as if it were an intoxicant; there were others who put their handkerchiefs to their faces. The new emigrants were still tasting it, lost in wonder, when suddenly the car came to a halt, and the door was flung open, and a voice shouted--"Stockyards!"

他们坐着,凝视窗外。他们行驶在一条似乎永远延伸下去的街道上,一英里又一英里--如果知道的话,一共三十四英里--街道两旁是连绵不断的破旧两层木屋。从每一条侧街望去,都是一样的景象--没有山丘,没有洼地,永远是一望无际丑陋肮脏的小木屋。偶尔会有一座桥跨过一条污浊的小溪,溪岸是硬结的泥地,岸边是肮脏的棚屋和码头；偶尔会有铁路交叉口,一片道岔交错,机车喷着气,哐当作响的货车鱼贯而过；偶尔会有个大工厂,一座灰蒙蒙的建筑,上面有无数的窗户,巨大的烟囱喷出滚滚浓烟,使上方的天空变暗,使下方的大地变脏。但每次经过这些之后,那凄凉的景象又会重新开始--连绵不断的凄凉小建筑。早在队伍到达城市前整整一个小时,他们就开始注意到空气中令人困惑的变化。天色越来越暗,地上的草似乎也变得越来越不绿。随着火车飞驰,每过一分钟,万物的颜色就变得更加灰暗；田野变得干枯焦黄,景色丑陋而荒芜。随着烟雾变浓,他们开始注意到另一种情况,一种奇怪刺鼻的气味。他们不确定这种气味是否令人不快；有些人可能会觉得恶心,但他们对气味的品味尚未发展,只确定它很奇特。现在,坐在电车里,他们意识到自己正在前往这种气味的老巢--他们一路从立陶宛来到这里。现在它不再是远处隐约飘过的气味,让你偶一闻到；你可以实实在在地品尝它,也能闻到它--你几乎可以抓住它,悠闲地审视它。他们对它的看法不一。这是一种原始的气味,生而生涩；浓郁,几乎有点腐臭,感官刺激,强烈。有些人像喝醉一样贪婪地吸着它；另一些人则把手帕捂在脸上。这些新移民还在品尝着,惊奇不已,突然电车停下,门被猛地拉开,一个声音喊道:“牲口场！”

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wretched /ˈretʃɪd/

adj. 可怜的,破旧的,恶劣的➕

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tangle /ˈtæŋɡl/

n. 混乱的一团,纠结➕

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locomotives /ˌloʊkəˈmoʊtɪvz/

n. 火车头,机车➕

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pungent /ˈpʌndʒənt/

adj. 刺鼻的,辛辣的➕

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emigrants /ˈemɪɡrənts/

n. 移居国外者,移民➕

🔊 They were left standing upon the corner, staring; down a side street there were two rows of brick houses, and between them a vista: half a dozen chimneys, tall as the tallest of buildings, touching the very sky--and leaping from them half a dozen columns of smoke, thick, oily, and black as night. It might have come from the center of the world, this smoke, where the fires of the ages still smolder. It came as if self-impelled, driving all before it, a perpetual explosion. It was inexhaustible; one stared, waiting to see it stop, but still the great streams rolled out. They spread in vast clouds overhead, writhing, curling; then, uniting in one giant river, they streamed away down the sky, stretching a black pall as far as the eye could reach. Then the party became aware of another strange thing. This, too, like the color, was a thing elemental; it was a sound, a sound made up of ten thousand little sounds. You scarcely noticed it at first--it sunk into your consciousness, a vague disturbance, a trouble. It was like the murmuring of the bees in the spring, the whisperings of the forest; it suggested endless activity, the rumblings of a world in motion. It was only by an effort that one could realize that it was made by animals, that it was the distant lowing of ten thousand cattle, the distant grunting of ten thousand swine. They would have liked to follow it up, but, alas, they had no time for adventures just then. The policeman on the corner was beginning to watch them; and so, as usual, they started up the street. Scarcely had they gone a block, however, before Jonas was heard to give a cry, and began pointing excitedly across the street. Before they could gather the meaning of his breathless ejaculations he had bounded away, and they saw him enter a shop, over which was a sign: "J. Szedvilas, Delicatessen." When he came out again it was in company with a very stout gentleman in shirt sleeves and an apron, clasping Jonas by both hands and laughing hilariously. Then Teta Elzbieta recollected suddenly that Szedvilas had been the name of the mythical friend who had made his fortune in America. To find that he had been making it in the delicatessen business was an extraordinary piece of good fortune at this juncture; though it was well on in the morning, they had not breakfasted, and the children were beginning to whimper. Thus was the happy ending to a woeful voyage. The two families literally fell upon each other's necks--for it had been years since Jokubas Szedvilas had met a man from his part of Lithuania. Before half the day they were lifelong friends.

他们被留在街角,站着凝视；一条侧街上两排砖房,中间是一条通道:五六座烟囱,和最高的建筑一样高,直触天际--从烟囱里喷出五六股烟雾,浓稠油腻,黑如黑夜。这烟雾可能来自世界的中心,那里时代的火焰仍闷烧。它像是自我驱动而来,驱散前方的一切,一场永不停歇的爆炸。它无穷无尽；人们盯着,等着看它停止,但巨大的烟流仍在涌出。它们在头顶上方扩散成巨大的云团,扭曲、翻卷；然后汇成一条巨河,沿着天空流下,一道黑色的帷幕延伸至目力所能及之处。然后这群人又注意到另一件奇怪的事情。这也像颜色一样,是一种原始的东西；它是一种声音,由一万种细微声音组成的声音。起初你几乎注意不到它--它潜入你的意识,一种模糊的扰乱,一种烦恼。它像春天的蜜蜂嗡嗡声,森林的飒飒声；它暗示着无尽的活动,一个运转世界的隆隆声。只有努力才能意识到这是由动物发出的,是远处一万头牛的哞叫声,一万头猪的哼哼声。他们本想循着声音去找,但可惜那时他们没时间冒险。街角的警察开始注意他们；于是,像往常一样,他们沿街走去。然而还没走一个街区,就听到约纳斯叫了一声,开始兴奋地对街那边指指点点。他们还没明白他气喘吁吁地喊着什么,他已经冲了过去,他们看见他进了一家店铺,店门上挂着一块招牌:“J. Szedvilas,熟食店。”他出来时,身边跟着一个非常肥胖的先生,穿着衬衫袖子,系着围裙,紧握着约纳斯的双手,哈哈大笑。这时泰塔·埃尔兹别塔突然想起来,Szedvilas正是那个在美国发了财的神话般的朋友的名字。发现他发家致富是在熟食店生意上,在此时刻真是一种非同寻常的好运；尽管已是上午,他们还没吃早饭,孩子们开始哼唧。就这样,一段悲惨的旅途有了一个幸福的结局。这两家人简直是拥抱在一起--因为约库巴斯·什泽德维拉斯已经好多年没遇到过来自立陶宛故乡的人了。半天之内,他们就成了一生的朋友。

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perpetual /pərˈpetʃuəl/

adj. 永久的,持续的➕

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inexhaustible /ˌɪnɪɡˈzɔːstəbl/

adj. 用不完的,无穷无尽的➕

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consciousness /ˈkɑːnʃəsnəs/

n. 意识,知觉➕

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disturbance /dɪˈstɜːrbəns/

n. 干扰,骚乱➕

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extraordinary /ɪkˈstrɔːrdəneri/

adj. 非凡的,特别的➕

🔊 Jokubas understood all the pitfalls of this new world, and could explain all of its mysteries; he could tell them the things they ought to have done in the different emergencies--and what was still more to the point, he could tell them what to do now. He would take them to poni Aniele, who kept a boardinghouse the other side of the yards; old Mrs. Jukniene, he explained, had not what one would call choice accommodations, but they might do for the moment. To this Teta Elzbieta hastened to respond that nothing could be too cheap to suit them just then; for they were quite terrified over the sums they had had to expend. A very few days of practical experience in this land of high wages had been sufficient to make clear to them the cruel fact that it was also a land of high prices, and that in it the poor man was almost as poor as in any other corner of the earth; and so there vanished in a night all the wonderful dreams of wealth that had been haunting Jurgis. What had made the discovery all the more painful was that they were spending, at American prices, money which they had earned at home rates of wages--and so were really being cheated by the world! The last two days they had all but starved themselves--it made them quite sick to pay the prices that the railroad people asked them for food.

约库巴斯了解这个新世界的一切陷阱,能解释它所有的奥秘；他能告诉他们那些在不同紧急情况下本该做的事--而更关键的是,他能告诉他们现在该做什么。他要带他们去找阿涅莱婶婶,她在牲口场的另一边开着一家供膳寄宿处；他解释说,老尤克尼涅太太算不上有什么高级的住处,但眼下他们可以凑合。对此,泰塔·埃尔兹别塔连忙回应说,眼下再便宜的东西对他们都合适；因为他们已经被迫花掉的那些钱吓坏了。在这个高工资的土地上,仅仅几天的实际经验就足以让他们明白一个残酷的事实:这里也是高物价的土地,穷人在这里几乎和世界上任何其他角落一样穷；于是,一夜之间,所有曾萦绕在尤吉斯心头的美好发财梦都消失了。让这个发现更加痛苦的是,他们正在用按国内工资率挣来的钱,按美国的价格花费--所以实际上是被这个世界欺骗了！最后两天他们几乎是在饿肚子--要付给铁路公司那些食物的价钱,让他们心疼不已。

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pitfalls /ˈpɪtfɔːlz/

n. 陷阱,隐患➕

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mysteries /ˈmɪstəriz/

n. 神秘事物,奥秘➕

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boardinghouse /ˈbɔːrdɪŋ haʊs/

n. 寄宿宿舍,提供食宿的房子➕

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sufficient /səˈfɪʃənt/

adj. 足够的,充分的➕

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haunting /ˈhɔːntɪŋ/

v. 萦绕于心,使担忧➕

🔊 Yet, when they saw the home of the Widow Jukniene they could not but recoil, even so, in all their journey they had seen nothing so bad as this. Poni Aniele had a four-room flat in one of that wilderness of two-story frame tenements that lie "back of the yards." There were four such flats in each building, and each of the four was a "boardinghouse" for the occupancy of foreigners--Lithuanians, Poles, Slovaks, or Bohemians. Some of these places were kept by private persons, some were cooperative. There would be an average of half a dozen boarders to each room--sometimes there were thirteen or fourteen to one room, fifty or sixty to a flat. Each one of the occupants furnished his own accommodations--that is, a mattress and some bedding. The mattresses would be spread upon the floor in rows--and there would be nothing else in the place except a stove. It was by no means unusual for two men to own the same mattress in common, one working by day and using it by night, and the other working at night and using it in the daytime. Very frequently a lodging house keeper would rent the same beds to double shifts of men. Mrs. Jukniene was a wizened-up little woman, with a wrinkled face. Her home was unthinkably filthy; you could not enter by the front door at all, owing to the mattresses, and when you tried to go up the backstairs you found that she had walled up most of the porch with old boards to make a place to keep her chickens. It was a standing jest of the boarders that Aniele cleaned house by letting the chickens loose in the rooms. Undoubtedly this did keep down the vermin, but it seemed probable, in view of all the circumstances, that the old lady regarded it rather as feeding the chickens than as cleaning the rooms. The truth was that she had definitely given up the idea of cleaning anything, under pressure of an attack of rheumatism, which had kept her doubled up in one corner of her room for over a week; during which time eleven of her boarders, heavily in her debt, had concluded to try their chances of employment in Kansas City. This was July, and the fields were green. One never saw the fields, nor any green thing whatever, in Packingtown; but one could go out on the road and "hobo it," as the men phrased it, and see the country, and have a long rest, and an easy time riding on the freight cars.

然而,当他们看到寡妇尤克尼涅的家时,即使如此,他们还是不免退缩。在他们整个旅程中,还从未见过这么糟糕的地方。阿涅莱婶婶有一套四室的公寓,位于“牲口场背后”那片无尽的破旧两层木屋之中。每幢楼有四个这样的单元,每个单元都是一间“供膳寄宿处”,住着外国人--立陶宛人、波兰人、斯洛伐克人或波希米亚人。有些是私人经营,有些是合作性质。平均每间房住着半打寄宿者--有时一间房住十三四个人,一个单元住五六十人。每个住客自带住宿用品--即一张床垫和一些铺盖。床垫一排排铺在地板上--房间里除了一个炉子之外什么都没有。两个人合用一个床垫的情况绝不罕见,一个白天工作、晚上用,另一个晚上工作、白天用。非常常见的是,寄宿处老板会把同一张床租给两班倒的人。尤克尼涅太太是个干瘪的小个子女人,满脸皱纹。她的家脏得难以想象；你根本无法从正门进入,因为堆满了床垫,而当你试图从后楼梯上去时,会发现她用旧木板把大部分门廊封起来,做了一个养鸡的地方。寄宿者们常开玩笑说,阿涅莱打扫房间的方式是把鸡放进屋里乱跑。这无疑的确能减少害虫,但考虑到所有情况,似乎老妇人更可能是把这看作喂鸡而不是打扫房间。事实是,她早已彻底放弃了打扫任何东西的念头,因为风湿病发作,她已经在房间角落里蜷缩了一个多星期；在这期间,有十一位欠她很多钱的寄宿者决定去堪萨斯城试试找工作的运气。那时是七月,田野一片青绿。在包装镇从来见不到田野,也见不到任何绿色的东西；但人们可以走到公路上“打游”（用男人们的话说）,看看乡村,好好休息一下,坐着货车轻松旅行。

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recoil /rɪˈkɔɪl/

v. 退缩,畏缩➕

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tenements /ˈtenəmənts/

n. 廉租公寓,住宅大楼➕

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occupancy /ˈɑːkjəpənsi/

n. 占用,居住➕

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boarders /ˈbɔːrdərz/

n. 寄宿者,搭伙者➕

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vermin /ˈvɜːrmɪn/

n. 害虫,有害动物➕

🔊 Such was the home to which the new arrivals were welcomed. There was nothing better to be had--they might not do so well by looking further, for Mrs. Jukniene had at least kept one room for herself and her three little children, and now offered to share this with the women and the girls of the party. They could get bedding at a secondhand store, she explained; and they would not need any, while the weather was so hot--doubtless they would all sleep on the sidewalk such nights as this, as did nearly all of her guests. "Tomorrow," Jurgis said, when they were left alone, "tomorrow I will get a job, and perhaps Jonas will get one also; and then we can get a place of our own."

这就是新来者欢迎他们的家。没有更好的地方可找了--再找下去可能还不如这里,因为尤克尼涅太太至少给自己和她三个年幼的孩子留了一间房,现在她愿意把这间房和队伍里的妇女和女孩们共用。她解释说,他们可以在二手店买到铺盖；而天气这么热,他们暂时不需要--在这样的夜晚,他们大家很可能都睡在人行道上,就像她的几乎所有客人一样。“明天,”当他们单独留下时,尤吉斯说,“明天我会找到工作,也许约纳斯也能找到；然后我们就可以有自己的地方了。”

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arrivals /əˈraɪvlz/

n. 到达者,新来的人➕

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secondhand /ˈsekəndhænd/

adj. 二手的,用过的➕

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sidewalk /ˈsaɪdwɔːk/

n. 人行道➕

🔊 Later that afternoon he and Ona went out to take a walk and look about them, to see more of this district which was to be their home. In back of the yards the dreary two-story frame houses were scattered farther apart, and there were great spaces bare--that seemingly had been overlooked by the great sore of a city as it spread itself over the surface of the prairie. These bare places were grown up with dingy, yellow weeds, hiding innumerable tomato cans; innumerable children played upon them, chasing one another here and there, screaming and fighting. The most uncanny thing about this neighborhood was the number of the children; you thought there must be a school just out, and it was only after long acquaintance that you were able to realize that there was no school, but that these were the children of the neighborhood--that there were so many children to the block in Packingtown that nowhere on its streets could a horse and buggy move faster than a walk! It could not move faster anyhow, on account of the state of the streets. Those through which Jurgis and Ona were walking resembled streets less than they did a miniature topographical map. The roadway was commonly several feet lower than the level of the houses, which were sometimes joined by high board walks; there were no pavements--there were mountains and valleys and rivers, gullies and ditches, and great hollows full of stinking green water. In these pools the children played, and rolled about in the mud of the streets; here and there one noticed them digging in it, after trophies which they had stumbled on. One wondered about this, as also about the swarms of flies which hung about the scene, literally blackening the air, and the strange, fetid odor which assailed one's nostrils, a ghastly odor, of all the dead things of the universe. It impelled the visitor to questions and then the residents would explain, quietly, that all this was "made" land, and that it had been "made" by using it as a dumping ground for the city garbage. After a few years the unpleasant effect of this would pass away, it was said; but meantime, in hot weather--and especially when it rained--the flies were apt to be annoying. Was it not unhealthful? the stranger would ask, and the residents would answer, "Perhaps; but there is no telling." A little way farther on, and Jurgis and Ona, staring open-eyed and wondering, came to the place where this "made" ground was in process of making. Here was a great hole, perhaps two city blocks square, and with long files of garbage wagons creeping into it. The place had an odor for which there are no polite words; and it was sprinkled over with children, who raked in it from dawn till dark.

那天下午晚些时候,他和奥娜出去散散步,四处看看,更多地了解这个将成为他们家的区域。在牲口场背后,那些凄凉的两层木屋分布得更稀疏,有许多大片空地--似乎是被这个城市的大脓疮在覆盖大草原表面的过程中忽略了。这些空地上长满了肮脏的黄色杂草,隐藏着无数番茄罐头；无数孩子在上面玩耍,四处追逐,尖叫打闹。这个街区最怪异的事情是孩子的数量；你会觉得一定是刚放学,只有长期相处之后,你才能意识到根本没有学校,而是这些就是街区的孩子--包装镇的街区里有那么多的孩子,以致任何马车在街上都无法走得更快,只能步行！而且无论如何也无法更快,因为路况太差。尤吉斯和奥娜走的那些街道与其说是街道,不如说更像一张微型地形图。路面通常比房屋的地面低几英尺,房屋之间有时由高架木板路连接；没有人行道--这里有山有谷有河,有沟渠和壕沟,还有充满发臭绿水的大坑。孩子们在这些水坑里玩耍,在街道的泥地里打滚；到处可以看到他们在泥里挖东西,寻找偶然发现的宝物。人们对此感到好奇,同样也对密密麻麻的苍蝇感到好奇,这些苍蝇几乎遮蔽了空气,还有一股奇怪的、恶臭的气味扑面而来,一种可怕的恶臭,仿佛世间一切死物的味道。这气味迫使来访者发问,然后居民们会平静地解释说,所有这些地都是“填”出来的,是用城市的垃圾倾倒在这里“填”出来的。据说,几年后这种令人不快的影响就会消失；但在热天--尤其是下雨的时候--苍蝇往往很烦人。那是否不卫生呢？陌生人会问,居民们会回答:“也许吧,但谁知道呢。”再往前走一点,尤吉斯和奥娜睁大眼睛,惊讶地来到正在“填”这块地的地方。这里有一个大坑,大概有两个城市街区见方,长长的垃圾车队列缓缓驶入其中。这个地方的气味无法用礼貌的语言形容；而坑里撒满了孩子,从黎明到黄昏一直在里面扒拉。

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prairie /ˈpreri/

n. 大草原➕

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uncanny /ʌnˈkæni/

adj. 离奇的,不可思议的➕

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miniature /ˈmɪniətʃər/

adj. 微型的,小型的➕

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fetid /ˈfetɪd/

adj. 恶臭的,发臭的➕

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garbage /ˈɡɑːrbɪdʒ/

n. 垃圾,废物➕

🔊 Sometimes visitors from the packing houses would wander out to see this "dump," and they would stand by and debate as to whether the children were eating the food they got, or merely collecting it for the chickens at home. Apparently none of them ever went down to find out.

有时包装厂的游客会溜达到这里来看这个“垃圾场”,他们会站在旁边议论,那些孩子是吃掉他们扒到的食物,还是仅仅收集起来拿回家喂鸡。显然,没有人下去看过。

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visitors /ˈvɪzɪtərz/

n. 访客,参观者➕

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debate /dɪˈbeɪt/

v. 辩论,讨论➕

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dump /dʌmp/

n. 垃圾场,堆放处➕

🔊 Beyond this dump there stood a great brickyard, with smoking chimneys. First they took out the soil to make bricks, and then they filled it up again with garbage, which seemed to Jurgis and Ona a felicitous arrangement, characteristic of an enterprising country like America.

这个垃圾场再往前有一个大砖厂,烟囱冒着烟。他们先挖土制砖,然后再用垃圾填满,在尤吉斯和奥娜看来,这真是一种巧妙的安排,体现了像美国这样有进取心的国家的特点。

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brickyard /ˈbrɪkjɑːrd/

n. 砖厂,砖窑➕

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felicitous /fəˈlɪsɪtəs/

adj. 恰当的,合适的➕

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enterprising /ˈentərpraɪzɪŋ/

adj. 有进取心的,有事业心的➕

🔊 A little way beyond was another great hole, which they had emptied and not yet filled up. This held water, and all summer it stood there, with the near-by soil draining into it, festering and stewing in the sun; and then, when winter came, somebody cut the ice on it, and sold it to the people of the city. This, too, seemed to the newcomers an economical arrangement; for they did not read the newspapers, and their heads were not full of troublesome thoughts about "germs."

再往前一点是另一个大坑,已经清空但还没填满。里面积了水,整个夏天都留在那里,附近土壤的水分渗入其中,在阳光下腐烂、蒸煮；然后冬天来了,有人凿了冰,卖给城里的人。这对新来者来说似乎也是一种经济的安排；因为他们不看报纸,脑子里没有那些关于“细菌”的烦人念头。

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festering /ˈfestərɪŋ/

v. 化脓,恶化➕

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economical /ˌiːkəˈnɑːmɪkl/

adj. 节约的,经济的➕

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troublesome /ˈtrʌblsəm/

adj. 麻烦的,令人烦恼的➕

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germs /dʒɜːrmz/

n. 病菌,细菌➕

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newcomers /ˈnjuːkʌmərz/

n. 新来者,新手➕

🔊 They stood there while the sun went down upon this scene, and the sky in the west turned blood-red, and the tops of the houses shone like fire. Jurgis and Ona were not thinking of the sunset, however--their backs were turned to it, and all their thoughts were of Packingtown, which they could see so plainly in the distance. The line of the buildings stood clear-cut and black against the sky; here and there out of the mass rose the great chimneys, with the river of smoke streaming away to the end of the world. It was a study in colors now, this smoke; in the sunset light it was black and brown and gray and purple. All the sordid suggestions of the place were gone--in the twilight it was a vision of power. To the two who stood watching while the darkness swallowed it up, it seemed a dream of wonder, with its tale of human energy, of things being done, of employment for thousands upon thousands of men, of opportunity and freedom, of life and love and joy. When they came away, arm in arm, Jurgis was saying, "Tomorrow I shall go there and get a job!"

他们站在那里,看着太阳在这片景象上落下,西边的天空变成血红色,屋顶像火一样闪耀。然而尤吉斯和奥娜并没有在想着日落--他们背对着它,所有的心思都在远处的包装镇上,他们可以清楚地看到。建筑的轮廓清晰地映在天边,黑色如剪影；其间不时耸立着巨大的烟囱,河流般的烟雾飘向世界的尽头。在此时的光线下,这烟雾成了一种色彩的研究；在落日的余晖中,它是黑色、棕色、灰色和紫色。这个地方一切肮脏的暗示都已消失--在暮色中,它是一幅力量的幻景。对于站着观看、看着黑暗将其吞没的两个人来说,它似乎是一个奇妙的梦,诉说着人类的能量、正在完成的事业、成千上万人的就业机会、机遇和自由、生命和爱情以及喜悦。当他们挽着手离开时,尤吉斯说:“明天我要去那里,找一份工作！”

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scene /siːn/

n. 场景；景象➕

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blood-red /ˈblʌd rɛd/

adj. 血红色的➕

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sunset /ˈsʌnˌsɛt/

n. 日落；傍晚➕

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however /haʊˈɛvər/

adv. 然而；不过➕

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plainly /ˈpleɪnli/

adv. 清楚地；明显地➕

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distance /ˈdɪstəns/

n. 距离；远处➕

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buildings /ˈbɪldɪŋz/

n. 建筑物（复数）➕

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clear-cut /ˈklɪr ˈkʌt/

adj. 清晰的；明确的➕

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mass /mæs/

n. 大量；团块➕

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chimneys /ˈtʃɪmniːz/

n. 烟囱（复数）➕

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streaming /ˈstriːmɪŋ/

v. (现在分词). 流动；不断移动➕

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sordid /ˈsɔːrdɪd/

adj. 肮脏的；卑鄙的➕

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suggestions /səˈdʒɛstʃənz/

n. 建议；暗示（复数）➕

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twilight /ˈtwaɪˌlaɪt/

n. 暮光；黄昏➕

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vision /ˈvɪʒən/

n. 景象；愿景；视力➕

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darkness /ˈdɑːrknɪs/

n. 黑暗➕

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swallowed /ˈswɑːloʊd/

v. (过去式). 吞下；吞噬➕

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wonder /ˈwʌndər/

n. 奇迹；惊奇➕

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tale /teɪl/

n. 故事；叙述➕

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human /ˈhjuːmən/

adj. 人类的；人性的➕

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energy /ˈɛnərdʒi/

n. 能量；精力➕

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employment /ɪmˈplɔɪmənt/

n. 就业；雇佣➕

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opportunity /ˌɑːpərˈtuːnɪti/

n. 机会；机遇➕

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freedom /ˈfriːdəm/

n. 自由➕

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joy /dʒɔɪ/

n. 快乐；喜悦➕

Chapter two (第二章)

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