Most Americ ans rememb er Mark Twainas the father of Huck Finn's idylli c cruise throug h eterna l boyhoo d and Tom Sawyer's endles s summer of freedo m and advent ure. In-deed, this nation's best-lovedauthor was everybit as ad-ventur ous, patrio tic, romant ic, and humoro us as anyone has ever imagin ed. I found another Twain as well – one who grew cynical, bitter, saddened by the profound personal tragedies life dealt him, a man who became obsessed with the frailties of the human race, who saw clearly ahead a black wall of night. 在大多数美国人的心目中，马克•吐温是位伟大作家，他描写了哈克•费恩永恒的童年时代中充满诗情画意的旅程和汤姆•索亚在漫长的夏日里自由自在历险探奇的故事。的确，这位美国最受人喜爱的作家的探索精神、爱国热情、浪漫气质及幽默笔调都达到了登峰造极的程度。但我发现还有另一个不同的马克•吐温——一个由于深受人生悲剧的打击而变得愤世嫉俗、尖酸刻薄的马克•吐温，一个为人类品质上的弱点而忧心忡忡、明显地看到前途是一片黑暗的人。
Trampprinte r, riverpilot, Confed erate guerri lla, prospe ctor, starry-eyed optimi st, acid-tongue d cynic: The man who became Mark Twainwas born Samuel Langho rne Clemen s and he ranged across the nation for more than a thirdof his life, digest ing the new Americ an experi encebefore sharin g it with the worldas writer and lectur er. He adopte d his pen name from the cry heardin his steamb oat days, signal ing two fathom s (12 feet) of water-- a naviga ble depth. His popula rityis attest ed by the fact that more than a score of his books remain in print, and translations are still read around the world. 印
刷工、、邦联游击队员、淘金者、耽于幻想的乐天派、语言尖刻的讽刺家：马克•吐温原名塞缪尔•朗赫恩•克莱门斯，他一生之中有超过三分之一的时间浪迹美国
各地，体验着美国的新生活，尔后便以作家和演说家的身分将他所感受到的这一切介绍给全世界。他的笔名取自他在蒸汽船上做工时听到的报告水深为两口寻(12 英尺)——意即可以通航的信号语。他的作品中有二十几部至今仍在印行，其外文译本仍在世界各地拥有读者，由此可见他的享誉程度。
The geographic core, in Twain's early years, was the great valley of the Mississippi River, main artery of transportation in the young nation's heart. Keelboats ， flatboats , and large rafts carried the first majorcommerce. Lumber, corn, tobacco, wheat, and furs moved downstream to the delta country; sugar, molasses , cotton, and whiskey traveled north. In the 1850's, before the climax of westward expansion, the vast basin drain ed three-quarters of the settled United States. 在马克•吐温青年时代，美国的地理中心是密西西比河流域，而密西西比河是这个年轻国家中部的交通大动脉。龙骨船、平底船和大木筏载运着最重要的商品。木材、玉米、烟草、小麦和皮货通过这些运载工具顺流而下，运送到河口三角洲地区，而砂糖、糖浆、
棉花和威士忌酒等货物则被运送到北方。在 19 世纪 50 年代，西部领土开发高潮到来之前，辽阔的密西西比河流域占美国已开发领土的四分之三。
YoungMark Twainentere d that worldin 1857 as a cub piloton a steamb oat. The cast of charac tersset before him in his new profes sionwas rich and varied a cosmos . He partic ipate d abunda ntlyin this life, listen ing to piloth ousetalk of feuds, piraci es, lynchings ,medicine shows, and savage waterside slums. All would resurface in his books, together with the colorful language that he soaked up with a memory that seemed phonographic. 1857 年，少年马克•吐温作为蒸汽船上的一名小踏人了这片天地。在这个新的工作岗位上，他接触到的是各式各样的人物，看到的是一个多姿多彩的大干世界。他完全地投身到这种生活之中，经常在操舵室里听着人们谈论民间争斗、海盗抢劫、私刑案件、游医卖药以及河边的一些化外民居的故事。所有这一切，连同他那像留声机般准确可靠的记忆所吸收的丰富多彩的语言，后来都有机会在他的作品中得以再现。
Steamb oat decksteemed not only with the main curren t of pionee ringhumani ty, but its flotsa m of hustle rs, gamble rs, and thugsas well. From them all Mark Twaingained a keen percep tionof the humanrace, of the differ encebetwee n what people claimto be and what they really are. His four and a half year s in the steamb oat trademarked the real beginn ing of his educat ion, and the most lastin g part of it. In laterlife Twainacknow ledge d that the riverhad acquai ntedhim with everypossib le type of humannature. Those acquaintanceships strengthened all his writing, but he never wrote better than when he wrote of the people a-long the great stream. 蒸汽船的甲板上不仅挤满了富有开
拓精神的人们，而且也载着一些娼妓、赌棍和歹徒等社会渣滓。从所有这些形形的人身上，马克•吐温敏锐地认识了人类，认识了人们的言与行之间的差距。他在蒸汽船上工作的四年半时间是他真正接受教育的开端，而且也是最具有深远意义的教育。到了晚年，马克•吐温还声言是密西西比河使他了解了各种各样的人的本性。这种生活体验对他的全部创作都起了促进作用，然而他描写得最为成功的还是那些密西西比河上的人物。企业博客
When railro ads begandrying up the demand for steam-boat pilots and the CivilWar halted commer ce, Mark Twainleft the rivercountr y. He triedsoldie ringfor two weekswith a motley band of Confed erate guerri llaswho dilige ntlyavoide d contac t with the enemy. Twain quit after deciding, "... I knew more about retreatingthan the man that invented retreating. "随着铁路运输的发展，社会上对汽船的需求日渐减少，而内战的爆发又阻碍了商业贸易的发展。这时，马克•吐温便离开了密西西比河流域。他在南方邦联游击队的一支杂牌队伍
里当了两个星期的兵。那支队伍想方设法避免与敌军交战。在确信―我比发明撤退的人更精通撤退‖之后，马克•吐温离开了那支队伍。
He went west by stagec oachand succum bed to the epidem ic of gold and silver feverin Nevada's Washoe region. For eightmonths he flirte d with the coloss al wealth availa ble to the luckyand the pe
rsis tent, and was rebuff ed . Brokeand discou raged, he accept ed a job as reporter with the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, to literature's enduring gratitude. 他乘驿站马车来到西部，在内华达州的华苏地区受到当时正流行的淘金热的诱惑。同那只有既幸运而又锲而不舍的追求者才能取得的巨大财富三心二意地打了八个月交道之后，他遭到了失败。在破产和灰心之余，他接受了为弗吉尼亚市《领土开发报》当记者的工作，这一行动将获得文学界永久的感激。图坦卡蒙
From the discou ragem ent of his mining failur es, Mark Twainbegandiggin g his way to region al fame as a newspa per report er and humori st. The instan t riches of a mining strike wouldnot be his in the report ing trade, but for making money, his pen wouldprovemightier than his pickax. In the spring of 1864, less than two years after joining the Territorial Enterprise, he boarded the stagecoach for San Francisco, then and now a hotbed of hopeful young writers. 自从他因淘金失败而感到心灰意冷之后，马克•吐温便开始努力博取作为一名报社记者和幽默作家的地区性声望。从事新闻报道工作当然不能使他像淘金成功者一样立成巨富，但在挣钱方面他的笔杆却比他的锄镐要有效得多。1864 年春季，在他加盟《领土开发报》还不足两年之时，他又乘驿站马车前往旧金山，那儿在当时和现在都是有前途的年轻作家成长的摇篮。
格列佛游记概括Mark Twainhonedand experi mente d with his new writin g muscle s, but he had to leavethe city for a whilebecaus e of some scathi ng column s he wrote. Attack s on the city govern ment, concer ningsu
ch issues as mistre atmen t of Chines e, so angere d offici als that he fled to the goldfi eldsin the Sacram entoValley. His descri ption s of the rough-countr y settle rs therering famili arlyin modern worldaccust omedto trendsettin g on the West Coast. "It was a splend id popula tion– for all the slow, sleepy, sluggi sh-braine d sloths stayed It was that popula tionthat gave to
Califo rniaa name for gettin g up astoun dingenterp rises and rushin g them throug h with a magnif icent dash and daring and a reckle ssnes s of cost or conseq uence s, whichshe bearsunto this day – and when she projects a new surprise, the grave world smiles as usual, and says 'Well, that is California all over. 马克•吐温磨炼并试验了他的新笔力，但他却因写了一些尖锐的评论文章而被迫暂时离开这座城市。他围绕着虐待华人等一类问题对市政府提出的尖锐批评惹得一些官员大为恼火，因之他只好逃到萨克拉门托山谷的金矿区暂避风头。他对那儿的拓荒者们的描写使西海岸地区富有创新精神的现代人倍感亲切。―这儿的人们真是了不起——因为那些笨手笨脚、无精打彩、呆头呆脑的懒汉都呆在家里……正是那些人们为加利福尼亚赢得了这样的声誉：当他们着手进行一项宏伟的事业时，他们会不计代价或风险而以一种豪迈的气概和闯劲勇往直前，一千到底。加利福尼亚人至今仍保持着这样的声誉，因而，每当他们发起一项新
的惊天动地的壮举时，那些素来稳重的人便会像往常一样微笑着说：‗看吧，这完全是加利福尼亚的风格‘。‖
'" In the dreary winter of 1864-65 in Angels Camp, he kept a notebo ok. Scatte red amongnotati ons aboutthe weathe r and the tediou s mining-camp mealslies an entrynoting a storyhe had heardthat day – an entrythat woulddeterm ine his course foreve r: "Colema n with his jumpin g frog – bet strang er $50 – strang er had no frog, and C. got him one – in the meanti me strang er filled C. 's frog full of shot and he couldn't jump. The strang er's frog won."
1864 年与 1865 年之交的那个冬天，马克•吐温是在安吉尔斯矿区度过的。在这段沉闷的日子里，他记了一本笔记。在杂乱无章的有关天气情况和乏味无趣的有关矿区饭食情况的记录条目中夹着一条叙述当天听到的一则故事的记录——这条记录决定了他一生事业的发展方向：―科尔曼用他的跳蛙——与陌生人赌
50 美元——陌生人没有跳蛙，科尔曼去给他弄来一只——陌生人利用这段时间将科的跳蛙肚子塞满，这样，科的跳蛙跳不起来，陌生人的跳蛙便得以获胜。‖
短篇文章Retold with his descri ptive genius, the storywas printe d in newspa persacross the United States and became knownas "The Celebr atedJumpin g Frog of Calave ras County." Mark Twain's nation al reputa tionwas now well establ ished as "the wild humori st of the Pacifi c slope." 经过马克•吐温的生花妙笔改写之后，这个故事登在美国各地的报纸上，成了家喻户晓的―卡拉韦拉斯县有名的跳蛙‖。至此，马克•吐温作为―太平洋海岸狂放的幽默大师‖的声望已在全国范围内牢固地确立起来了。
Two yearslaterthe opport unity came for him to take a distin ctlyAmeric an look at the Old World. In New York City the steams hip Quaker City prepar ed to sail on a pleasu re cruise to Europe and the Holy Land. For the firsttime, a sizabl egrou p of United States citizens planned to journey as tourists -- a milestone , of sorts, in a country's development. Twain was assigned to accompany them, as correspondent 工 for a California newspaper. If readers expected the usual glowing travelogue , they were sorely surprised. 两年之后，他得到了一个以美国人特有的眼光去观察欧洲旧大陆的机会。在纽约市，―费城号‖蒸汽船准备进行一次到欧洲和圣地的观光航行。这是美国人第一次组织较大规模的
团体观光旅行——也可以看作是一个国家发展史上的某种里程碑。马克•吐温作为加利福尼亚一家报纸的记者被委派随同观光团采访。如果读者们期望能读到有关这次旅行见闻的神采飞扬的描写的话，那他们是要倍感意外的。Unimpressed by the Sultan of Turkey, for example, he reported, ―... one could set a trap anywhere and catch a dozen abler men in a night.‖ Casually he debunked revered artists and art treasures, and took unholy verba
lshots at the Holy Land. Back home, more newspapers began printing his
articles. America laughed with him. Upon his return to the States the book version of his travels, The
Innocents Abroad, became an instant best-seller. 举例来说，他对于那没有给他留下什么好印象的土耳其君主苏丹是这样报道的，―人们可以任意选择一个地方设一个陷阱，一夜之间准可捕捉到十几个更有能耐的人。‖他信口开河地对一些受人景仰的艺术家和艺术珍品加以鄙薄，甚
至对宗教圣地也敢于以亵渎性的言辞加以侮蔑。回国以后，越来越多的报纸开始刊登他的文章，整个美国都同他一齐欢笑。他一回到美国，他的旅行杂记《傻子出国旅行记》立即成为畅销书。
At the age of 36 Twain settled in Hartford, Connecticut. His best books were published while he lived there. 三十六岁时，马克•吐温开始定居于康涅狄
格州哈特福德镇，他的最优秀的作品全是在那段时间里问世的。
As earlyas 1870 Twainhad experi mente d with a storyaboutthe boyhoo d
advent uresof a lad he namedBillyRogers. Two yearslater, he change d the name to Tom, and beganshapin g his advent uresinto a stageplay. Not until1874 did the storybegindevelo pingin ear nest. Afterpublic ation in 1876, Tom Sawyer quickl y became a classi c tale of Americ an boyhoo d. Tom's mischi evous daring, ingenu ity , and the sweetinnoce nce of his affect ion for BeckyThatch er are almost as sure to be studie d in Americ an school s to-day as is the Declaration of Independence.
早在1870 年，马克•吐温就试着写了一篇关于一个他名之为比利•罗杰斯的男孩子的童年历险
故事。两年后，他又将主人公的名字改为汤姆，并着手将故事改编成剧本。直到1874 年他才开始认真地扩展故事情节。《汤姆•索亚》于 1876 年出版后，很快成为美国儿童故事的经典之作。这部描写汤姆的顽皮、勇敢、机智以及他对贝琪•莎切尔的天真纯洁的感情的故事几乎像《独立宣言》一样成了今天美国学校里的必读书本。
他生个锤子Mark Twain's own declar ation of indepe ndenc e came from anothe r charac ter. Six chapte rs into Tom Sawyer, he dragsin "the juveni le pariah of the villag e,
Huckle berry Finn, son of the town drunka rd." Fleein g a respec table life with the
purita nical WidowDougla s, Huck protes ts to his friend, Tom Sawyer: "I've triedit, and it don't work; it don't work, Tom. It ain't for me ... The widder eats by a bell;
she goes to bed by a bell; she gits up by a bell – everything's so awful reg'lar a body can't standit." 马克•吐温本人的独立宣言却是由另一个人物表达出来的。在《汤姆•索亚》第六章里，他引出了―村里的流浪少年，镇上酒鬼的儿子哈克贝利•费恩‖。哈克不愿在清教徒道格拉斯寡妇家过上等人的体面生活，从那里逃
出来后对他的朋友汤姆•索亚发牢骚说：―我试过了，还是不行；不行啊，汤姆。童稚
那不是我过的日子……那寡妇家吃饭要听钟声，睡觉要听钟声，起床也要听钟声，什么事情都得规规矩矩，简直叫人受不了。‖
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