Once he stole the teachers penknife， and， when he was afraid it would be found out and he would get whipped， he slipped it into George Wilsons cap—poor Widow Wilsons son， the moralmoral adj.道德(上)的， 精神的 n.道德 boy， the good little boy of the village， who always obeyed his mother， and never told an untruth， and was fond of his lessons， and infatuated with Sundayschool. And when the knife dropped from the cap， and poor George hung his head and blushed， as if in conscious guilt， and the grieved teacher charged the theft upon him， and was just in the very act of bringing the switchswitch n.开关， 电闸， 转换 vt.转换， 转变 down upon his trembling shoulders， a whitehaired， improbable justice of the peace did not suddenly appear in their midst， and strike an attitude and say， “Spare this noble boy—there stands the cowering culprit！ I was passing the school door at recess， and， unseen myself， I saw the theft committed！ ” And then Jim didnt get whaled， and the venerablevenerable adj.庄严的， 值得尊敬的， 古老的 justicejustice n.正义， 正当， 公平， 正确， 司法， 审判， 欣赏 didnt read the tearful school a homily， and take George by the hand and say such boy deserved to be exalted， and then tell him come and make his home with him， and sweep out the office， and make fires， and run errands， and chop wood， and study law， and help his wife do household labors， and have all the balance of the time to play and get forty cents a month， and be happy. No it would have happened that way in the books， but didnt happen that way to Jim. No meddling old clam of a justice dropped in to make trouble， and so the model boy George got thrashedthrash vt.打(谷)， (用棍、鞭等)痛打， 打败， 使逆行， 胜过，使颠簸， 推敲 vi.打谷， 击， 颠簸， 逆行 n.打谷， 逆风浪行进， and Jim was glad of it， because， you know， Jim hated moral boys. Jim said he was “down on them milksops.” Such was the coarse language of this bad， neglectedneglected adj.被忽视的 boy.
有一次，吉姆偷了老师的铅笔刀，但又害怕老师发现了会受到惩罚，于是便把小刀偷偷地塞进乔治·威尔逊的帽子里——乔治是可怜的威尔逊寡妇的儿子，他的品行端正，被公认为村上的好孩子。乔治对母亲的教诲从不违拗，一向诚实，而且勤敏好学，他对主日学校尤为崇信。可是，后来那把小刀竟从帽子里掉了出来，可怜的乔治耷拉着脑袋，羞得无地自容，好像真的自认有罪。而那位伤心的老师认定小刀是他偷的。当老师举起细软的鞭子，准备抽打他那发抖的双肩时，那位纯属杜撰的白发地方治安官并没有突然出现，更没有神气十足地说道：“饶恕这位品德高尚的孩子吧——罪犯正站在那儿发抖呢！休息时间，我正好从校门口路过。虽然没人看到我，而我却看到了‘偷窃’的人！”因此乔治没有挨打，那位可敬的地方治安官也没有给感激涕零的向师生们布道，然后牵着乔治的手，说他这样的孩子值得称赞，领走乔治跟他同住，让他打扫办公室，生火，跑差，劈柴，学法律，帮他内助料理家务，工余时间尽情玩耍，每月领取四角钱的报酬，自行其乐。不，书上会这样写的，但吉姆遇到的却不是这样。那个老不死的法官没有插进来制造麻烦，结果，模范孩子乔治挨了一顿臭揍，吉姆高兴得手舞足蹈，因为，你知道，吉姆恨透了那些模范孩子。吉姆说，他“最瞧不起这些娘娘腔。”这就是那个没教养的坏孩子吉姆所使用的粗俗语言。
But the strangest thing that ever happened to Jim was the time he went boating on Sunday， and didnt get drowned， and that other time that he got caught out in the storm when he was fishing on Sunday and didnt get struck by lightning. Why， you might look， and look， all through the Sundayschool books from now till next Christmas， and you would never come across anything like this. Oh， no， you would find that all the bad boys who go boating on Sunday invariably get drowned， and all the bad boys who get caught out in storms when they are fishing on Sunday infallibly get struck by lightning. Boats with bad boys in them always upsetupset vt.颠覆， 推翻， 扰乱， 使不适， 使心烦 vi.翻倒，倾覆 n.翻倒， 混乱 on Sunday， and it always storms when bad boys go fishing on the Sabbath. How this Jim ever escaped is a mystery to me.
但是，发生在吉姆身上奇而又奇的一桩事是：他在一个礼拜天去划船，并没有被淹死指星期日应该去教堂做礼拜。。又一个礼拜天他去钓鱼，虽然遇上了暴风雨，却没有遭雷击，嗨，您不妨翻查主日学校的全部图书，从头至尾，反复阅读，直至下一个圣诞节，您也绝不会发现这种事情。啊，绝对不会，相反，您会发现，所有在礼拜天划船的坏孩子没有一个不淹死的，所有在礼拜天钓鱼又遇上暴风雨的坏孩子都遭雷击。礼拜天载有坏孩子的船只总是翻底，安息日坏孩子去钓鱼定有暴风雨。吉姆为什么总是能避开这些灾难，我也说不清个中的缘由。
This Jim bore a charmed lifecharmed life n.毫无灾祸的生活—that must have been the way of it. Nothing could hurt him. He even gave the elephant in the menageriemenagerie n.动物园， 动物展览 a plug of tobacco， and the elephant didnt knock the top of his head off with his trunk. He browsed around the cupboard after essence—of peppermintpeppermint n.胡椒薄荷， 薄荷油， and didnt make a mistake and drink aqua fortis. He stole his fathers gun and went hunting on the Sabbath， and didnt shoot three or four of his fingers off. He struck his little sister on the temple with his fist when he was angry， and she didnt linger in pain through long summer days， and die with sweet words of forgiveness upon her lips that redoubledredouble n.再加倍 v.加倍， 加强 the anguish of his breaking heart. No， she got over it. He ran off and went to sea at last， and didnt come back and find himself sad and alone in the world， his loved ones sleeping in the quiet churchyard， and the vineembowered home of his boyhood tumbled down and gone to decaydecay vi.腐朽， 腐烂， 衰减， 衰退 n.腐朽， 腐烂， 衰减，衰退 v.衰落. Ah， no， he came home as drunk as a piper， and got into the stationhouse the first thing.
吉姆的活动有符咒庇佑——准是有符咒庇佑。任何事儿都伤害不着他。他游动物园时甚至把一捆烟叶塞给大象，那大象也没有甩开长鼻敲碎他的脑壳。他翻遍食厨，却从来没有把硝酸错当成薄荷饮料喝进肚里。在安息日，他偷了父亲的枪出去打猎，也没有崩掉三四个指头。他一时气急，揍在小妹的太阳穴上，小妹也没有头痛不止，过夏就死，临终留下宽恕温柔的话语，令他破碎的心灵倍感痛苦。不，她居然复原了。最后，吉姆终于离家出走，浪迹海洋。但是，当他回来的时候并没有感到景况凄凉、孤苦无助，也没见他亲人长眠于安静的教堂墓地，那座他童年时期墙上爬满青藤的房屋也没有倒塌。啊，不，他跟个流浪汉似的，喝得酩酊大醉，没进家门就进了警察局。
And he grew up and married， and raised a large family， and brained them all with an ax one night， and got wealthy by all manner of cheating and rascality； and now he is the infernalest wickedest scoundrel in his native village， and is universally respected， and belongs to the legislature.
吉姆成年之后结婚成家，后来又有了许多儿女。一天晚上，他突然抡起板斧砸碎了全家人的脑袋。吉姆采用各种流氓手段，欺诈坑骗而发了大财；现在他横行乡里，成了心毒手狠的坏蛋，然而却受人敬重，选入议会。
So you see there never was a bad James in the Sundayschool books that had such a streak of luck as this sinfulsinful adj.有罪的， 罪孽深重的 Jim with the charmed life.
诸位请看，主日学校的课本中可从来没有哪一个坏詹姆斯，能像这位有符咒庇佑、无法无天的吉姆这样走运，这样称心如意的。