Cathy stayed at Thrushcross Grange five weeks: till Christmas. By that time her ankle was thoroughly cured, and her manners much improved. The mistress visited her often in the interval, and commenced her plan of reform by trying to raise her self-respect with fine clothes and flattery, which she took readily; so that, instead of a wild, hatless little savage jumping into the house, and rushing to squeeze us all breathless, there lighted from a handsome black pony a very dignified person, with brown ringlets falling from the cover of a feathered beaver, and a long cloth habit, which she was obliged to hold up with both hands that she might sail in. Hindley lifted her from her horse, exclaiming delightedly, “Why, Cathy, you are quite a beauty! I should scarcely have known you: you look like a lady now. Isabella Linton is not to be compared with her, is she, Frances?” “Isabella has not her natural advantages,” replied his wife: “but she must mind and not grow wild again here. Ellen, help Miss Catherine off with her things—Stay, dear, you will disarrange your curls—let me untie your hat.”
I removed the habit, and there shone forth beneath a grand plaid silk frock, white trousers, and burnished shoes; and, while her eyes sparkled joyfully when the dogs came bounding up to welcome her, she dared hardly touch them lest they should fawn upon her splendid garments. She kissed me gently: I was all flour making the Christmas cake, and it would not have done to give me a hug; and then she looked round for Heathcliff. Mr. and Mrs. Earnshaw watched anxiously their meeting; thinking it would enable them to judge, in some measure, what grounds they had for hoping to succeed in separating the two friends.
Heathcliff was hard to discover, at first. If he were careless, and uncared for, before Catherine’s absence, he had been ten times more so since. Nobody but I even did him the kindness to call him a dirty boy, and bid him wash himself, once a week; and children of his age seldom have a natural pleasure in soap and water. Therefore, not to mention his clothes, which had seen three months’ service in mire and dust, and his thick uncombed hair, the surface of his face and hands was dismally beclouded. He might well skulk behind the settle, on beholding such a bright, graceful damsel enter the house, instead of a rough-headed counterpart of himself, as he expected. “Is Heathcliff not here?” she demanded, pulling off her gloves, and displaying fingers wonderfully whitened with doing nothing and staying indoors.
“Heathcliff, you may come forward,” cried Mr. Hindley, enjoying his discomfiture, and gratified to see what a forbidding young blackguard he would be compelled to present himself. “You may come and wish Miss Catherine welcome, like the other servants.”
Cathy, catching a glimpse of her friend in his concealment, flew to embrace him; she bestowed seven or eight kisses on his cheek within the second, and then stopped, and drawing back, burst into a laugh, exclaiming, “Why, how very black and cross you look! and how—how funny and grim! But that’s because I’m used to Edgar and Isabella Linton. Well, Heathcliff, have you forgotten me?”
She had some reason to put the question, for shame and pride threw double gloom over his countenance, and kept him immovable.
“Shake hands, Heathcliff,” said Mr. Earnshaw, condescendingly; “once in a way, that is permitted.”
“I shall not,” replied the boy, finding his tongue at last; “I shall not stand to be laughed at. I shall not bear it!”
And he would have broken from the circle, but Miss Cathy seized him again.
“I did not mean to laugh at you,” she said; “I could not hinder myself: Heathcliff, shake hands at least! What are you sulky for? It was only that you looked odd. If you wash your face and brush your hair, it will be all right: but you are so dirty!”
She gazed concernedly at the dusky fingers she held in her own, and also at her dress; which she feared had gained no embellishment from its contact with his.
“You needn’t have touched me!” he answered, following her eye and snatching away his hand. “I shall be as dirty as I please: and I like to be dirty, and I will be dirty.”
With that he dashed headforemost out of the room, amid the merriment of the master and mistress, and to the serious disturbance of Catherine; who could not comprehend how her remarks should have produced such an exhibition of bad temper.
After playing lady’s-maid to the new-comer, and putting my cakes in the oven, and making the house and kitchen cheerful with great fires, befitting Christmas-eve, I prepared to sit down and amuse myself by singing carols, all alone; regardless of Joseph’s affirmations that he considered the merry tunes I chose as next door to songs. He had retired to private prayer in his chamber, and Mr. and Mrs. Earnshaw were engaging Missy’s attention by sundry gay trifles bought for her to present to the little Lintons, as an acknowledgment of their kindness. They had invited them to spend the morrow at Wuthering Heights, and the invitation had been accepted, on one condition: Mrs. Linton begged that her darlings might be kept carefully apart from that “naughty swearing boy.”
Under these circumstances I remained solitary. I smelt the rich scent of the heating spices; and admired the shining kitchen utensils, the polished clock, decked in holly, the silver mugs ranged on a tray ready to be filled with mulled ale for supper; and above all, the speckless purity of my particular care—the scoured and well-swept floor. I gave due inward applause to every object, and then I remembered how old Earnshaw used to come in when all was tidied, and call me a cant lass, and slip a shilling into my hand as a Christmas-box; and from that I went on to think of his fondness for Heathcliff, and his dread lest he should suffer neglect after death had removed him: and that naturally led me to consider the poor lad’s situation now, and from singing I changed my mind to crying. It struck me soon, however, there would be more sense in endeavouring to repair some of his wrongs than shedding tears over them: I got up and walked into the court to seek him. He was not far; I found him smoothing the glossy coat of the new pony in the stable, and feeding the other beasts, according to custom.
CHAPTER VII
Cathy stayed at Thrushcross Grange five weeks: till Christmas. By that time her ankle was thoroughly cured, and her manners much improved. The mistress visited her often in the interval, and commenced her plan of reform by trying to raise her self-respect with fine clothes and flattery, which she took readily; so that, instead of a wild, hatless little savage jumping into the house, and rushing to squeeze us all breathless, there lighted from a handsome black pony a very dignified person, with brown ringlets falling from the cover of a feathered beaver, and a long cloth habit, which she was obliged to hold up with both hands that she might sail in. Hindley lifted her from her horse, exclaiming delightedly, “Why, Cathy, you are quite a beauty! I should scarcely have known you: you look like a lady now. Isabella Linton is not to be compared with her, is she, Frances?” “Isabella has not her natural advantages,” replied his wife: “but she must mind and not grow wild again here. Ellen, help Miss Catherine off with her things—Stay, dear, you will disarrange your curls—let me untie your hat.”
I removed the habit, and there shone forth beneath a grand plaid silk frock, white trousers, and burnished shoes; and, while her eyes sparkled joyfully when the dogs came bounding up to welcome her, she dared hardly touch them lest they should fawn upon her splendid garments. She kissed me gently: I was all flour making the Christmas cake, and it would not have done to give me a hug; and then she looked round for Heathcliff. Mr. and Mrs. Earnshaw watched anxiously their meeting; thinking it would enable them to judge, in some measure, what grounds they had for hoping to succeed in separating the two friends.
Heathcliff was hard to discover, at first. If he were careless, and uncared for, before Catherine’s absence, he had been ten times more so since. Nobody but I even did him the kindness to call him a dirty boy, and bid him wash himself, once a week; and children of his age seldom have a natural pleasure in soap and water. Therefore, not to mention his clothes, which had seen three months’ service in mire and dust, and his thick uncombed hair, the surface of his face and hands was dismally beclouded. He might well skulk behind the settle, on beholding such a bright, graceful damsel enter the house, instead of a rough-headed counterpart of himself, as he expected. “Is Heathcliff not here?” she demanded, pulling off her gloves, and displaying fingers wonderfully whitened with doing nothing and staying indoors.
第7章
阚思在画眉田庄住了五个礼拜，一直住到了圣诞节。那时候她的脚腕已彻底痊愈，言谈举止也大有改进。在这期间，俄韶太太常常去看阚思，并开始实施对阚思的改造计划。她先试着用漂亮衣服和奉承言语来抬高阚思的自尊心，这些阚思毫不犹豫就接受了。因此，她不再是那个帽子也不戴就跳到屋里，冲过来把我们脖子搂得都喘不过气来的小野丫头，而是一个高贵端庄的人儿，她从一匹漂亮的小黑马身上下来，身穿一件长长的骑马服，头戴一顶海狸皮帽，帽子上方插着一支羽毛，棕色的卷发从帽子里面垂下来。她必须用双手高高提着衣裙，才能仪态万方地走进来。亨得利把她从马背上举起，愉快地惊叫着：“阚思，看不出来你还是个美人胚子！我都快认不出你了——这样才像个淑女嘛。伊飒拜菈•林腾可比不上她，是吧，芙然希思？”“伊飒拜菈没她这么天生丽质，”他媳妇答道，“可是她得记着，在这儿可不要再野了。爱蕾，快帮阚思睿小姐脱掉外套。别动，宝贝，看你把卷发都搞乱了——让我把帽子帮你解开。”
我帮她脱掉骑马服，里面露出一件宽大的方格子真丝长袍和白色裤子，鞋子擦得油光铮亮。那几条狗也跳上来欢迎她，她眼睛里闪烁着快乐的光芒，她不敢上前去摸它们，生怕狗会为了讨她欢心而扑到她漂亮的衣服上去。她温柔地亲我——我正在做圣诞节蛋糕，身上尽是面粉，要抱我可不行。然后她就四下张望着想找黑思克里夫。俄韶夫妇很焦急地看他俩怎么会面，心想着这下可以使他俩自己掂量掂量，再看看有多少希望把这两个朋友彻底分开。
刚开始很难找到黑思克里夫。如果说阚思睿不在家这段时间之前，他就是随随便便、无人照管的话，那么后来他比之前要更糟上十倍。除了我以外，甚至没有人连叫他一声脏孩子都不肯叫，也没有人叫他一礼拜去洗一次澡；像他这样大的孩子一般天生不喜欢肥皂和清水。因此，先甭提他那身衣服，已经穿了三个月，满是泥巴和尘土，还有从不梳理的一头浓发，就是他的脸和手上也是皵着一层灰黑。当他看到走进屋里的是这么个光鲜亮丽、举止文雅的年轻少女，而不是如他所期望的，跟他旗鼓相当，头发乱糟糟之人，就只好乖乖躲在高背椅子后面。“黑思克里夫不在这儿吗？”她问道，一边脱下手套，露出了她的手指，因为一直呆在屋里不做任何事情，她的手指已经变得特别白了。
“Heathcliff, you may come forward,” cried Mr. Hindley, enjoying his discomfiture, and gratified to see what a forbidding young blackguard he would be compelled to present himself. “You may come and wish Miss Catherine welcome, like the other servants.”
Cathy, catching a glimpse of her friend in his concealment, flew to embrace him; she bestowed seven or eight kisses on his cheek within the second, and then stopped, and drawing back, burst into a laugh, exclaiming, “Why, how very black and cross you look! and how—how funny and grim! But that’s because I’m used to Edgar and Isabella Linton. Well, Heathcliff, have you forgotten me?”
She had some reason to put the question, for shame and pride threw double gloom over his countenance, and kept him immovable.
“Shake hands, Heathcliff,” said Mr. Earnshaw, condescendingly; “once in a way, that is permitted.”
“I shall not,” replied the boy, finding his tongue at last; “I shall not stand to be laughed at. I shall not bear it!”
And he would have broken from the circle, but Miss Cathy seized him again.
“I did not mean to laugh at you,” she said; “I could not hinder myself: Heathcliff, shake hands at least! What are you sulky for? It was only that you looked odd. If you wash your face and brush your hair, it will be all right: but you are so dirty!”
She gazed concernedly at the dusky fingers she held in her own, and also at her dress; which she feared had gained no embellishment from its contact with his.
“You needn’t have touched me!” he answered, following her eye and snatching away his hand. “I shall be as dirty as I please: and I like to be dirty, and I will be dirty.”
With that he dashed headforemost out of the room, amid the merriment of the master and mistress, and to the serious disturbance of Catherine; who could not comprehend how her remarks should have produced such an exhibition of bad temper.
“黑思克里夫，你可以过来，”亨得利少爷喊着，欣赏着黑思克里夫的狼狈样，看着他被迫以一个令人讨厌的小流氓形象出场，亨得利少爷感到心满意足。“你可以过来，像其他仆人一样欢迎阚思睿小姐。”
阚思一瞅见她朋友的藏身所在，便飞奔过去拥抱他。眨眼间她在他脸上连亲了七八下，然后停住身子往后一退，放声大笑，嚷道：“怎么啦，你满脸的不高兴！而且多么——多么可笑又可怕呀！可那是因为我习惯了和爱德嘉、伊飒拜菈•林腾他们在一起啦。好呀，黑思克里夫，你把我给忘了吗？”
她有理由这样问，羞耻和自尊在他脸上投下了双重阴郁的神情，使他动弹不得。
“握下手吧，黑思克里夫。”俄韶少爷居高临下，说道，“你可以偶尔握一下她的手。”
“我不，”这男孩终于开口了，“我可受不了让人这样笑话。我受够了！”他要从人群里走开，但是阚思小姐又把他拽住了。
“我并非故意要笑话你呀，”她说，“刚才是我没忍住。黑思克里夫，至少握个手吧！你干吗不高兴呢？你只不过看着有点怪。要是你把脸洗一洗，把头发整理一下，一切就都会好的，可你现在这么脏！”
她关切地盯着自己手里握着的乌黑手指，又盯着自己的衣服，怕自己的衣服因为接触到他的衣服而会变得不漂亮。
“你用不着碰我！”他回答，看到她的眼色，就把手抽了回去。“我高兴怎么脏，就怎么脏。我喜欢脏，我就是要脏。”
他说完，就一头冲出屋外，这使得少爷少太太都很开心，而阚思睿则十分不安；她不能理解她的话怎么会引得黑思克里夫大发脾气。
After playing lady’s-maid to the new-comer, and putting my cakes in the oven, and making the house and kitchen cheerful with great fires, befitting Christmas-eve, I prepared to sit down and amuse myself by singing carols, all alone; regardless of Joseph’s affirmations that he considered the merry tunes I chose as next door to songs. He had retired to private prayer in his chamber, and Mr. and Mrs. Earnshaw were engaging Missy’s attention by sundry gay trifles bought for her to present to the little Lintons, as an acknowledgment of their kindness. They had invited them to spend the morrow at Wuthering Heights, and the invitation had been accepted, on one condition: Mrs. Linton begged that her darlings might be kept carefully apart from that “naughty swearing boy.”
Under these circumstances I remained solitary. I smelt the rich scent of the heating spices; and admired the shining kitchen utensils, the polished clock, decked in holly, the silver mugs ranged on a tray ready to be filled with mulled ale for supper; and above all, the speckless purity of my particular care—the scoured and well-swept floor. I gave due inward applause to every object, and then I remembered how old Earnshaw used to come in when all was tidied, and call me a cant lass, and slip a shilling into my hand as a Christmas-box; and from that I went on to think of his fondness for Heathcliff, and his dread lest he should suffer neglect after death had removed him: and that naturally led me to consider the poor lad’s situation now, and from singing I changed my mind to crying. It struck me soon, however, there would be more sense in endeavouring to repair some of his wrongs than shedding tears over them: I got up and walked into the court to seek him. He was not far; I found him smoothing the glossy coat of the new pony in the stable, and feeding the other beasts, according to custom.
作为这位新近归来之人的女仆，我把蛋糕放在烘炉里，把正屋与厨房的火都拨旺，一切都完全符合圣诞节的气氛。办完这些事情后，我准备坐下来，唱几支圣诞歌自己开开心，也不理会周思福妄下的断言，说我所选的圣诞歌顶多算是民间小调。他已经回到卧房独自祷告去了，俄韶夫妇正在用各色各样漂亮的小玩意吸引阚思的注意力，这些东西是他们夫妇俩替她买来，然后送给林腾兄妹，用来答谢他们照顾阚思的一番好意。他们已经邀请林腾兄妹第二天来呼啸山庄了，也收到对方接受邀请的回执，不过有个条件——林腾夫人请求把她的宝贝孩子们和那个“淘气、爱骂人的男孩子”小心隔离开。
在这种情况下，我独自一人在屋子里。我闻到香料加热散发出的浓郁香味，欣赏着那些闪亮的厨具，擦得铮亮的钟表装饰着冬青叶子，托盘上一字排开的银杯，随时准备着用来在晚餐时倒入香料麦芽啤酒。在我的特别照管之下，地板经过彻底清扫并洗刷干净，变得一尘不染，这是我最欣赏的地方。我暗自对每样东西都适当赞美一番，于是我就记起从前在把一切收拾干净，俄韶老爷每次走进屋子时的样子，他说我是个假装斯文的姑娘，而且把一个先令塞到我手里，作为给我的圣诞礼物。这时我又想起他对黑思克里夫的宠爱，他生怕死后黑思克里夫会没人照管，为此而感到恐惧，于是我很自然地接着想到现在这可怜孩子目前的状况。我唱着唱着，转而哭了起来。但是很快我猛然想到，尽力弥补他受的一些委屈，总比为此掉眼泪要更有意义。于是我起身来到院子中找他。他就在不远的地方，我发现他在马号里，正抚摸着新进买回来的一匹小马的油光皮毛。与平时一样，他也正在喂其他牲口。
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周末快乐，吉祥！！