YESTERDAY afternoon set in misty and cold. I had half a mind to spend it by my study fire, instead of wading through heath and mud to Wuthering Heights. On coming up from dinner, however, (N.B. - I dine between twelve and one o'clock; the housekeeper, a matronly lady, taken as a fixture along with the house, could not, or would not, comprehend my request that I might be served at five) - on mounting the stairs with this lazy intention, and stepping into the room, I saw a servant-girl on her knees surrounded by brushes and coal-scuttles, and raising an infernal dust as she extinguished the flames with heaps of cinders. This spectacle drove me back immediately; I took my hat, and, after a four-miles' walk, arrived at Heathcliff's garden-gate just in time to escape the first feathery flakes of a snow-shower.
昨天下午又湿又冷。我有点想就在火炉旁看看书什么的,而不是踩着泥泞,穿过石楠树丛去呼啸山庄。当吃过晚饭上来,(注意:我的吃饭时间是在一点钟和两点钟之间;房东是个管家太太,把这个时间视作这个房子所固有的习惯,她不能,也不愿意去理解我可以在五点钟吃饭的要求),我无所事事的爬上楼梯,走进房间,恰巧看见一个女佣正跪在地上,周围堆着刷子和煤斗,当她用大量的煤渣来灭火的时候,灰尘如恶魔般的灰尘。一见这情形,我赶紧退了出来。我拿了我的帽子,走了四英里的路,刚刚到希斯克利夫先生家的花园门口,天上也飘起了雪花。
On that bleak hill-top the earth was hard with a black frost, and the air made me shiver through every limb. Being unable to remove the chain, I jumped over, and, running up the flagged causeway bordered with straggling gooseberry-bushes, knocked vainly for admittance, till my knuckles tingled and the dogs howled.
在这个荒凉的山头,土上都结了黑漆漆的霜,变得特别硬。风一吹,我的手脚都在哆嗦。由于打不开链子,我跳了过去,跑向插着旗、两侧都是稀落的醋栗树丛的堤道,敲到我的关节都疼了,狗不停的嚎叫,也没有人开门。
'Wretched inmates!' I ejaculated, mentally, 'you deserve perpetual isolation from your species for your churlish inhospitality. At least, I would not keep my doors barred in the day-time. I don't care - I will get in!' So resolved, I grasped the latch and shook it vehemently. Vinegar-faced Joseph projected his head from a round window of the barn.
“卑鄙的家伙,”我突然在心里骂道,“就冲你的无礼和冷漠,你就应该同你的同类永远隔绝。至少,我是不会在白天把我的门锁起来的。管不了啦,我要进去。”于是,我抓住门上的插销猛烈的晃动。一脸不高兴的约瑟夫从谷仓上的一个圆形窗户上探出头来。
'What are ye for?' he shouted. 'T' maister's down i' t' fowld. Go round by th' end o' t' laith, if ye went to spake to him.'
“你要干什么?”他喊道,“主人不在羊栏那边,绕过谷仓去找他,如果你有事找他的话。
'Is there nobody inside to open the door?' I hallooed, responsively.
“里面没有人可以开门吗?”我大声回喊道。
'There's nobbut t' missis; and shoo'll not oppen 't an ye mak' yer flaysome dins till neeght.'
“没有人,只有太太在家,就算你吵到晚上,她也不会开门的。”
'Why? Cannot you tell her whom I am, eh, Joseph?'
“为什么?你就不能告诉她我是谁吗?啊,约瑟夫?”
'Nor-ne me! I'll hae no hend wi't,' muttered the head, vanishing.
“我不会,这事和我没有关系。”他缩回头,不见了。