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1、【国外英文文学】诱拐1 David meets his uncleIt was early in the month of June，1751，when I shut the door of our house behind me for the last timeAll my life I had lived in the quiet little village of Essendean，in the Lowlands of Scotland，where my father had been the dominie，or schoolteacherBut now that he and m
2、y mother were both dead，I had to leave the houseThe new dominie would soon arrive，and he would teach at the school and live in the dominies houseSo，although I was only seventeen，there was nowhere for me to live，and no reason for me to stay in EssendeanBut my heart was beating with excitement as I wa
3、lked down the road，because in my hand I carried the letter that my father had given me just before he diedDavie，he had said，when I am dead，take this to the house of Shaws，near CramondThats where I came from，and thats where you must goPut this letter into the hands of Ebenezer BalfourBalfour！The same
4、 name as my own！It was the first time I had heard of any of our family outside EssendeanSo I decided to walk to Cramond，hoping that perhaps this Mr Balfour，in his fine big house，would receive me kindly，and help me to become a rich man one dayWith my plaid over my shoulder，I walked fast up the hill a
5、way from the villageWhat an adventure，to leave that sleepy place，where nothing ever happened，and go to a great，busy house，to be with rich and important people of my own name and blood！But when I reached the top of the hill，I turned a little sadly，to take my last look at the dominies house，and Essend
6、ean churchyard，where my father and mother layMy journey northwards took almost two daysBy midday on the second day I could see the smoking chimneys of Edinburgh in front of me，and soon I arrived in CramondNow I began to ask people on the road for the house of ShawsTheir answers worried me a littleSo
7、me people seemed surprised，some afraid，and some angry，when I spoke the name of Ebenezer BalfourI could not understand this，but it was too far to go back to Essendean that day， and I wanted to find the rest of the Balfour family very much So I continued on my way，and when I met a dark，wild-looking wo
8、man coming towards me，I asked her where the house of Shaws was She took me to the top of the next hill，and showed me a large building standing alone in the bottom of the next valleyAlthough the fields around were green，and the farmland was excellent，the house itself looked unfinished and emptyPart o
9、f its roof was missingThere was no road to it，and no smoke coming from any of its chimneys，nor was there any garden That！I criedNo，it cant be！ It is！cried the woman angrilyThat is the house of Shaws！Blood built it，blood stopped the building of if，and blood shall bring it down！Black is the heart of E
10、benezer Balfour！Ye can tell him from me that I hope to see him die，and his house fall down around him！ The woman turned and disappearedI stood where she left me，shaking like a leaf，and looking down at the house for a long timeBut when it began to get dark，I noticed some smoke coming out of the chimn
11、ey，and felt a little more hope fulThere must be a fire，and cooking，and people in the house，I thoughtSo I walked up to the front doorThe house seemed locked up and unwelcoming，but there was fire light shining through the kitchen window，and I could hear someone talking quietly to himselfBravely，I lift
12、ed my hand and knocked loudly on the strong wooden doorThe house was suddenly silent，and there was no replyI knocked and knocked，and shouted as loudly as I couldFinally，the win dow opened，and a man holding a gun put his head outWhat do ye want？he askedIve come here with a letter for Mr Ebenezer Balf
13、our of ShawsIs he here？Who is it from？asked the man with the gunThats none of your business，I replied，getting angryWell，put the letter down by the door，and leaveI will not！I answered sharplyIm going to give it to Mr Balfour himselfThe letter introduces me to himWho are ye then？was the next questionI
14、m not ashamed of my name Its David BalfourThe man almost dropped his gunAfter a long while，he asked in a changed voice，Is your father dead？I was too surprised to answer，but he continued，Aye，he must be dead，and thats why ye have comeWell，man，Ill let ye in，and he disappeared from the windowNow the doo
15、r was unlocked，and a voice from the darkness said，Go into the kitchen and touch nothingI obeyed，while the man locked the heavy door carefully againI found myself in the emptiest kitchen that I had ever seenThere was a fire，but no other lightOn the table was a bowl of porridge and a glass of water，in
16、 front of the only chairAround the walls were several locked chestsThere was no other furnitureThe man who now appeared in the kitchen was small，mean-looking and white-faced，between fifty and sev enty years old，and wearing a dirty old nightshirtThe worst thing about him was that he could neither tak
17、e his eyes away from me，nor look straight into my faceIf yere hungry，he said，ye can eat that porridgeIts grand food，porridge！Let me see the letter！Its for Mr Balfour，not you，I repliedAnd who do ye think I am？Give me Alexanders letter！Ye may not like me or my house or my porridge，but Im your born unc
18、le，Davie，my man！This was the end of all my hopesI was too tired and miser able to speak，so I silently gave him the letter，and sat down to eat the porridgeYour fathers been dead a long time？he asked，giving me a quick look from his sharp eyesThree weeks，sir，I saidHe was a secretive man，Alexander wasPe
19、rhaps he didnt talk much about me？ Or about the house of Shaws？I never knew he had a brother，sir，or ever heard the name of ShawsTo think of that！he repliedA strange man！But he seemed very pleased，and began to look at me with more inter estSoon he jumped up and said，Were going to get on well，Davie！Wh
20、ats mine is yours，man，and whats yours is mineBloods thicker than water，and theres only ye and me of the name of Balfour Now Ill show ye to your bedHe took me up some dark stairs and showed me into a roomI could not see anything Can I have a light，sir？I asked No，ye cantNo lights in this house！Im afra
21、id of fires，ye seeGood night to ye，Davie，my manAnd before I had time to reply，he pulled the door shut and locked it from the outsideThe room was very cold，but luckily I had my plaid with me，so I covered myself with it like a blanket，and soon fell asleepThe next day my uncle and I had a small bowl of
22、 porridge and a glass of water for breakfast，lunch and supperHe did not speak much to me，but was clearly thinking hardI often noticed him looking at me，while pretending to do something different， and he never left me alone in the kitchen with the locked chests，in which，I supposed，he kept his moneyI
23、did not like the way he looked at me，and began to wonder if he was a little crazy，and perhaps dangerousAfter supper he said suddenly，Davie，Ive been thinkingI promised your father a bit of money for ye before ye were bornA promise is a promiseand so Im going to give yeforty pounds！ These last words s
24、eemed very painful to himHe added，in a kind of scream，Scots！A Scottish pound was the same as an English shillingI could see that his story was a lie，so I laughed at him，saying，Oh，think again，sir！English pounds，surely！Thats what I said，replied my uncle quicklyGo outside for a moment，and Ill get the m
25、oney for yeI was smiling as I went out，sure that he would give me nothing at allIt was a dark night，and I could hear wind in the hillsThere may be thunder later，I thought，not knowing how important the weather would be to me that nightBut when my uncle called me in again，he counted thirty eight Engli
26、sh pounds in gold into my handsIt clearly hurt him to do it，and he kept back the last two pounds，but I did not mind thatSurprised and pleased，I thanked him warmlyNow，he said，looking cleverly at me，ye can give me something，DavieIm getting old now，and I need helpOf course，sir，I answeredWhat can I do？W
27、ell，go outside and climb the stairs at the other end of the house，where the building isnt finished yetGo up to the room at the top，and bring down the chest that yell find thereIts got valuable papers in itCan I have a light，sir？I askedNo，he said sharplyNo lights in my house！ Very well，sirAre the sta
28、irs good？Theyre grand， said heThe stairs are grandOut I went into the nightAs I was feeling my way along the outside wall，there was a sudden flash of lightning，then darkness againI found the stairs and started climbingI was about fifteen metres above the ground，when there was another flash of lightn
29、ingThat was lucky for me，because it showed me that the steps were uneven， and that I could easily fall to my deathThese are the grand stairs！I thoughtPerhaps my uncle wants me to die！Now I was very careful，and I felt each step with my hands before I put my foot on itA few steps later my hand felt co
30、ld stone，and then nothing moreThe stairs ended there，twenty metres above the groundI felt cold with fear，when I thought of the danger that I had been inSending a stranger up those stairs in the dark was sending him straight to his deathAngrily，I turned and felt my way downThere was a crash of thunde
31、r，and suddenly the rain came downAt the bottom of the stairs I looked towards the kitchen，and could see，in the next flash of lightning，a figure standing still in the doorway，listening When the thunder sounded again，louder than before，he ran back inside，and I followed as softly as I couldI found him
32、sitting in the kitchen，drinking whisky straight from the bottle，and shaking with fearQuietly I came up behind him，and，putting my hands sud denly on his shoulders，cried，Ah！My uncle gave a kind of broken cry，and fell to the floor like a dead manHis face was a strange blue colour，and I began to think t
33、hat he really was deadAt last his eyes opened，and he looked up and saw meOh man，are ye alive or a ghost？he cried Get me my medicine，Davieits for my heartI found the medicine bottle and gave him someHe soon began to look a little better Why did you lie to me？I asked angrilyWhy did you give me money？
34、And why did you try to kill me？ Answer me！Ill tell ye tomorrow，Davie，I promiseHelp me to bed now，will ye？He still looked very ill，so I could not refuseBut this time I locked his bedroom door，and went to sleep in front of the kitchen fireWhen I woke up in the morning，I felt very pleased with myselfHe
35、 thinks hes cleverer than me，but he isnt！I thoughtWhen I let my uncle out of his room，I asked him again for an explanation After a while，he said，Davie，I have some business with a ships captain at QueensferryNow，we could walk over there，and when Ive done my business，we could visit the lawyer，Mr Ranke
36、illorHell answer all your questionsHes an honest man，and he knew your fatherWhat do ye say to that？I thought for a momentI had never seen the sea，but had always wanted to！Its a grand idea，I saidIt was a mornings walk to Queensferry，Which was west of Edinburgh，but we did not say a word to each other
37、on the waySuddenly，at the top of a hill，we could see the Firth of Forth below us，blue and calm，with white sails on itYe see that public house？asked my uncleCaptain Hoseasons there，to do business with meTheres the ships boat on the beach，waiting to take him to the shipAnd theres the ship itself！A gra
38、nd ship！I had to agree with himThe sailors were getting the ship ready for sailing，and I thought what an exciting adventure that would beto sail away to a foreign countryWe walked down the hill to the public house and met the captain thereHe was a tall，dark，serious-looking man，who shook hands polite
39、ly with meStupidly，I left these two men to their business，and ran down to the beach，to talk to the sailors and look at the boatsIt was all new and very interest ing to meAs I was coming back，I met the owner of the public houseGood morning，he saidDid ye come with Ebenezer？I did，I repliedHe isnt well
40、liked，I understandThats true，he answeredNobody speaks well of himIt all started with that story about Mr Alexander，his brotherWhat story？I askedOh，just that Ebenezer had killed himDid ye never hear that？And why would he kill my f，I mean，Alexander？To get the house，of course，the house of ShawsAye，man？
41、Was mywas Alexander older than Ebenezer？Indeed he was！No other reason for killing him！This was a great surprise to me！I had thought that my fa ther was the younger brother，and I now understood why my uncle had lied to me，and wanted to kill meThe house of Shaws had belonged to my father，not my uncle，
42、and now I had inherited itThe poor country boy who had walked from Essendean was the owner of a fine house and farmland！My head was full of the wonderful things that I could do in my life，as I looked，unseeing，at the seaJust then my uncle and the captain came out of the public houseThe captain smiled
43、 in a friendly way as he spoke to meSir，he said，Mr Balfour has told me a lot about yeIm only sorry I havent time to get to know ye betterBut Id like ye to come on to my ship for half an hour，before we sail，and have a drink with meNow，more than anything in the world，I wanted to see the inside of a sh
44、ip，but I remembered that I had to be carefulMy uncle and I have to see the lawyer，sir，I replied，so Im afraid we may not have enough timeAye，aye，he answered，I know，but ye see，the ships boat can put ye both down near Rankeillors house，after yeve seen the ship，so ye wont lose any time Suddenly he said
45、quietly in my ear，Watch out for the old manhe wants to hurt yeCome and talk about itPutting his arm in mine，he said loudly，What can I bring ye back from my travels？ A friend of Mr Balfours is a friend of mine！By this time we were on the beach， and he was helping my uncle and me into the boatI though
46、t that I had found a good friend and helper，and I was very excited as we came closer to the great ship，full of busy，noisy sailorsThe captain and I were the first to climb up the ships side，and at the top the captain immediately put his arm through mine and began to talk about the shipBut where is my
47、 uncle？I asked suddenlyI pulled myself away from the captains arm，and ran to the side of the shipSure enough，there was the boat returning to Queensferry，with my uncle sitting in itI screamed，Help， help！Murder！and my uncle slowly turned to look at meI did not see any moreAlready strong hands were pulling me awayThen something hit my head；I saw a great flash of fire，and fell to the ground 2 Kidnapped！ When I woke up in darkness，my head was hurting badly，and I was unable to move my hands