The RockingHorse Winner 全文翻译
劳伦斯《木马赢家》读书笔记
劳伦斯《木马赢家》读书笔记《木马赢家》(The Rocking-Horse Winner)是D.H.劳伦斯较为著名的短篇小说之一，故事以现代寓言的形式，在荒诞的图景之中展露了深刻的现实批判内容，探讨了劳伦斯所关注的人与人之间的关系，从一个侧面反映了西方工业社会中金钱对健康和谐的人际关系的扭曲。
作者简介：D·H·劳伦斯(David Herbert Lawrence,1885-1930)，英国文学家，诗人。
为二十世纪英国最独特和最有争议的作家之一,他笔下有许多脍炙人口的名篇，其中包括《查泰莱夫人的情人》(1928)，《儿子与情人》，《虹》(1915)，《恋爱中的女人》(1921)，以及《误入歧途的女人》等。
《木马赢家》于他的晚年创作而成，在他去世后的1933年才发表。
【原著选段】There were a boy and two little girls. They lived in a pleasant house, with a garden, and they had discreet servants, and felt themselves superior to anyone in the neighborhood.Although they lived in style, they felt always an anxiety in the house. There was never enough money. The mother had a small income, and the father had a small income, but not nearly enough for the social position which they had to keep up. The father went into town to some office. But though he had good prospects, these prospects never materialized. There was always the grinding sense of the shortage of money, though the style was always kept up.【译本】她有一个男孩与两个小女孩，他们住在一幢舒适带花园的房子，他们拥有体贴人的仆人，觉得比街道上的任何人都高人一等。
The-Rocking-Horse-Winner翻译
《木马赢家》戴维·赫伯特·劳伦斯有位美妇人，本来具有各种优势，然而她并不幸运。
她为了爱情而涉足婚姻，但这爱已化为了灰烬.她有几个瘦骨如柴的孩子，然而她觉得这些孩子是强加在她头上的，她无法爱她们.他们冷冷地看着她,好像在找她的岔。
匆然间，她觉得必须掩饰自己的缺点。
然而，要掩饰什么她也不知道。
不过,当孩子们在场的时候，她总是感到了自己的铁石心肠.这给她增添了麻烦，在行为上,她比以前越发温柔，更加挂念她的孩子，好像她非常疼爱她们。
只有她自己明白，她内心深处,是一个体会不到爱的旮旯，不，体会不到对任何人的爱.谈到她时，人人都说?“她是这样一个好母亲，深爱自己的孩子。
”只有她自己，孩子们自己才知道事实并非如此。
他们从对方的眼神中看出了这一点。
她有一个男孩与两个小女孩，他们住在一幢舒适带花园的房子，他们拥有体贴人的仆人，觉得比街道上的任何人都高人一等。
尽管他们生活入时，但总是感到有一种焦虑。
钱总是不够用.母亲有一份微薄的收入，父亲也有一份微薄的收入，但几乎不足以维持他们不得不维持的社会地位。
父亲在城里任职.但尽管他有好的前景，但从未实现。
尽管他们生活入时，但总觉得负担重，少钱用.终于，母亲说：“我想看看我能干点什么.”但她不知从何干起。
他绞尽脑汁，尝试了一件又一件的事情，但没有一件成功。
失败使他脸上长满了皱纹。
孩子在一天天长大，她们得上学.需要更多的钱，更多的钱。
父亲总是出手大方、养成了一些颇费金钱的兴趣。
似乎从来不会做一些值得一做的事。
这位信心满怀的母亲未取得任何成功，并且她的兴趣味也颇费金钱. 于是，这房子萦绕着这句无声的话语：得有更多的钱！更多的钱！尽管没人大声地说出来,但孩子们时时都可以听到。
当圣诞节来了时，昂贵而漂亮的玩具摆满在儿童室,他们听到了这句话。
那匹出众的新木马后面，那漂亮的木偶住的房子后面,传来了一阵阵耳语声：得有更多的钱！得有更多的钱！孩子们会停下来听听这声音。
他们相互面视，看看是否大家都听到了。
rocking horse winner
《木马赢家》是劳伦斯于1926 年写的短篇小说，运用了神话和科学幻想的写法，不同于他早期现实的、自传性的短篇作品，反映了作者创作生涯中的不断探索。
故事中的小男孩保罗为了得到母亲的欢心，苦心竭力地为家里赚钱，以解除家里“ 要更多的钱” 的恐慌。
他求助于自己的舅舅和园丁，一头扎进了赛马赌局的游戏。
几次成功后，保罗颇有成就感，认为自己可以的救母亲出困境，让家庭从此可以过上和谐安宁的生活。
没有想到的是，他赚的钱越多，母亲的贪求就越大，家里“ 要更多的钱” 的声音越不绝于耳。
为了得到金钱，保罗骑在木马摇椅上摇动不已，终获得大笔赌金。
但他自己也因劳累过度、身心疲惫而丢掉性命。
劳伦斯通过该故事揭示金钱对人的腐蚀，表达他对上层社会铺张奢华生活的憎恶，也警示世人：物欲、虚荣只是身外之物，它们压抑和歪曲人的本性，破坏人与人之间和谐自然的关系，最终只会导致人的彻底毁灭。
Paul confronts his mother about the family's lack of wealth, and she responds by telling him that luck is what causes someone to have money and that his father is a very unlucky man. Paul reacts by telling her that he is lucky, and when she rejects this statement, it angers him. Seeking some way to attract luck, Paul begins to ride his woodenrocking-horse at a frenzied pace, his eyes glassed over as he whips at the toy. In this manner, he believes that he can arrive at the place "where there is luck." On repeated occasions, Paul rides the rocking-horse into such a delirium that his sisters are afraid to approach. Later, Uncle Oscar visits the house and discovers that Paul and the gardener, Bassett, have been wagering money on horse racing and that Paul has been able to predict winning horses after his trance-like rides on the rocking-horse. Paul confesses that he started gambling to become lucky and win money for his mother, thereby stopping the house from whispering. Uncle Oscar teams with Bassett and Paul, and they soon make a tidy profit from Paul's predictions.For his mother's birthday, Paul anonymously gives her five thousand pounds. Instead of the money calming the whispers, however, the house begins to scream in an ecstatic voice: "There must be more money!—more than"The Rocking-Horse Winner" Lawrence, D. Hever! More than ever!" Paul's predictions soon become inaccurate, and as the time of the Derby grows near, he becomes increasingly agitated with the fact that he has not had any luck lately. He begins to ride the rocking-horse at a mad and frightening pace. Aftercoming home from a party one night, the mother hears a "strange, heavy, and yet not loud noise" as she stands outside Paul's bedroom. She opens the door and turns on the light to discover Paul thrashing about on the rocking-horse. "It's Malabar!," he screams before crashing to the ground and lapsing into unconsciousness. Paul remains ill with "some brain-fever" for three days. Uncle Oscar and Bassett bet on Malabar in the Derby and make money for themselves and for Paul. At the story's conclusion, Paul briefly regains consciousness and explains to his mother that he is lucky. He dies later that night, and Uncle Oscar proclaims that "he's best gone out of a life where he rides a rocking-horse to find a winner."In depicting a prosperous household that still hungers for money, "The Rocking-Horse Winner" resembles many of Lawrence's other fictional critiques of materialism and modern society. Paul's mother desires wealth and material possessions to the exclusion of more valuable items such as love and self-knowledge. Her desires are never satisfied, however, and they result in disastrous consequences when love and money are confused。
The-Rocking-Horse-Winner-原文+译文学习资料
T h e-R o c k i n g-H o r s e-W i n n e r-原文+译文The Rocking-Horse WinnerThere was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck. She married for love, and the love turned to dust. She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could notlove them. They looked at her coldly, as if they were finding fault with her. And hurriedly she felt she must cover up some fault in herself. Yet what it was that she must cover up she never knew. Nevertheless, when her children were present, she always felt the center of her heart go hard. This troubled her, and in her manner she was all the more gentle and anxious for her children, as if she loved them very much. Only she herself knew that at the center of her heart was a hard little place that could not feel love, no, not for anybody. Everybody else said of her: "She is such a good mother. She adore s her children." Only she herself, and her children themselves, knew it was not so. They read it in each other's eyes. There were a boy and two little girls. They lived in a pleasant house, with a garden, and they had discreet servants, and felt themselves superior to anyone in the neighborhood.Although they lived in style , they felt always an anxiety in the house. There was never enough money. The mother had a small income, and the father had a small income, but not nearly enough for the social position which they had to keep up. The father went in to town to some office. But though he had good prospects, these prospects never materialized. There was always the grinding sense of the shortage of money, though the style was always kept up.At last the mother said: "I will see if I can't make something." But she did not know where to begin. She racked her brains, and tried this thing and the other, but could not find anything successful. The failure made deep lines come into her face. Her children were growing up, they would have to go to school. There must be more money, there must be more money. The father, who was always very handsome and expensive in his tastes, seemed as if he never would be able to do anything worth doing. And the mother, who had a great belief in herself, did not succeed any better, and her tastes were just as expensive.And so the house came to be haunted by the unspoken phrase: There must be more money! There must be more money! The children could hear it all the time, though nobody said it aloud. They heard it at Christmas, when the expensive and splendid toys filled the nursery. Behind the shining modern rocking-horse, behind the smart doll's house, a voice would start whispering: "There must be more money! There must be more money!" And the children would stop playing, to listen for a moment. They would look into each other's eyes, to see if they had all heard. And each one saw in the eyes of the other two that they too had heard. "There must be more money! There must be more money!"It came whispering from the springs of the still-swaying rocking-horse, and even the horse, bending his wooden, champing head, heard it. The big doll, sitting so pink and smirking in her new pram, could hear it quite plainly, and seemed to be smirking all the more self-consciously because of it. The foolish puppy, too, that took the place of the teddy-bear, he was looking so extraordinarily foolish for noother reason but that he heard the secret whisper all over the house: "There must be more money!"Yet nobody ever said it aloud. The whisper was everywhere, and therefore no one spoke it. Just as no one ever says: "We are breathing!" in spite of the fact that breath is coming and going all the time."Mother," said the boy Paul one day, "why don't we keep a car of our own? Why do we always use uncle's, or else a taxi?""Because we're the poor members of the family," said the mother."But why are we, mother?""Well--I suppose," she said slowly and bitterly, "it's because your father has no luck."The boy was silent for some time."Is luck money, mother?" he asked rather timidly."No, Paul. Not quite. It's what causes you to have money.""Oh!" said Paul vaguely. "I thought when Uncle Oscar said filthy lucker, it meant money.""Filthy lucre does mean money," said the mother. "But it's lucre, not luck.""Oh!" said Paul vaguely. "Then what is luck, mother?""It's what causes you to have money. If you're lucky you have money. That's why it's better to be born lucky than rich. If you're rich, you may lose your money. But if you're lucky, you will always get more money.""Oh! Will you? And is father not lucky?""Very unlucky, I should say," she said bitterly.The boy watched her with unsure eyes."Why?" he asked."I don't know. Nobody ever know why one person is lucky and another unlucky." "Don't they? Nobody at all? Does nobody know?""Perhaps God. But He never tells.""He ought to, then. And aren't you lucky either, mother?""I can't be, if I married an unlucky husband.""But by yourself, aren't you?""I used to think I was, before I married. Now I think I am very unlucky indeed." "Why?""Well--never mind! Perhaps I'm not really," she said.The child looked at her, to see if she meant it. But he saw, by the lines of her mouth, that she was only trying to hide something from him."Well, anyhow," he said stoutly, "I'm a lucky person.""Why?" said his mother, with a sudden laugh.He stared at her. He didn't even know why he had said it."God told me," he asserted,brazening it out."I hope He did, dear!" she said, again with a laugh, but rather bitter."He did, mother!""Excellent!" said the mother, using one of her husband's exclamations.The boy saw she did not believe him; or, rather, that she paid no attention to his assertion. This angered him somewhat, and made him want to compel her attention.He went off by himself, vaguely, in a childish way, seeking for the clue to "luck." Absorbed, taking no heed of other people, he went about with a sort of stealth, seeking inwardly for luck. He wanted luck, he wanted it, he wanted it. When the two girls were playing dolls in the nursery, he would sit on his big rocking-horse, charging madly into space, with a frenzy that made the little girls peer at him uneasily. Wildly the horse career ed the waving dark hair of the boy tossed, his eyes had a strange glare in them. The little girls dared not speak to him.When he had ridden to the end of his made little journey, he climbed down and stood in front of his rocking-horse, staring fixedly into its lowered face. Its red mouth was slightly open, its big eye was wide and glassy-bright."Now!" he would silently command the snorting steed. "Now, take me to where there is luck! Now take me!"And he would slash the horse on the neck with the little whip he had asked Uncle Oscar for. He knew the horse could take him to where there was luck, if only he forced it. So he would mount again, and start on his furious ride, hoping at last to get there. He knew he could get there."You'll break your horse, Paul!" said the nurse."He's always riding like that! I wish he'd leave off !" said his elder sister Joan. But he only glared down on them in silence. Nurse gave him up. She could make nothing of him . Anyhow he was growing beyond her.One day his mother and his Uncle Oscar came in when he was on one of his furious rides. He did not speak to them."Hallo, you young jockey ! Riding a winner?" said his uncle."Aren't you growing too big for a rocking-horse? You're not a very little boy any longer, you know," said his mother.But Paul only gave a blue glare from his big, rather close-set eyes. He would speak to nobody when he was in full tilt . His mother watched him with an anxious expression on her face.At last he suddenly stopped forcing his horse into the mechanical gallop, and slid down."Well, I got there!" he announced fiercely, his blue eyes still flaring, and his sturdy long legs straddling apart."Where did you get to?" asked his mother."Where I wanted to go," he flared back at her."That's right, son!" said Uncle Oscar. "Don't you stop till you get there. What's the horse's name?""He doesn't have a name," said the boy."Gets on without all right?" asked the uncle."Well, he has different names. He was called Sansovino last week." "Sansovino, eh? Won the Ascot . How did you know his name?""He always talks about horse-races with Bassett," said Joan.The uncle was delighted to find that his small nephew was posted with all the racing news. Bassett, the young gardener, who had been wounded in the left foot in the war and had got his present job through Oscar Cresswell whose batman he had been was a perfect blade of the "turf". He lived in the racing events, and the small boy lived with him.Oscar Cresswell got it all from Bassett."Master Paul comes and asks me, so I can't do more than tell him, sir," said Bassett, his face terribly serious, as if he were speaking of religious matters. "And does he ever put anything on a horse he fancies?""Well--I don't want to give him away--he's a young sport, a fine sport, sir. Would you mind asking him himself? He sort of takes a pleasure in it, and perhaps he'd feel I was giving him away, sir, if you don't mind."Bassett was serious as a church.The uncle went back to his nephew and took him off for a ride in the car. "Say, Paul, old man, do you ever put anything on a horse ?" the uncle asked.The boy watched the handsome man closely."Why, do you think I oughtn't to?" he parried."Not a bit of it. I thought perhaps you might give me a tip for the Lincoln."The car sped on into the country, going down to Uncle Oscar's place in Hampshire. "Honor bright?" said the nephew."Honor bright, son!" said the uncle."Well, then, Daffodil.""Daffodil! I doubt it, sonny. What about Mirza?""I only know the winner," said the boy. "That's Daffodil.""Daffodil, eh?"There was a pause. Daffodil was an obscure horse comparatively."Uncle!""Yes, son?""You won't let it go any further, will you? I promised Bassett.""Bassett be damned, old man! What's he got to do with it?""We're partners. We've been partners from the first. Uncle, he lent me my first five shillings, which I lost, I promised him, honor bright , it was only between me and him; only you gave me that ten-shilling note I started winning with, so I thought you were lucky. You won't let it go any further, will you?"The boy gazed at his uncle from those big, hot, blue eyes, set rather close together. The uncle stirred and laughed uneasily."Right you are, son! I'll keep your tip private. Daffodil, eh? How much are you putting on him?""All except twenty pounds," said the boy. "I keep that in reserve."The uncle thought it a good joke."You keep twenty pounds in reserve, do you, you young romancer? What are you betting, then?""I'm betting three hundred," said the boy gravely. "But it's between you and me, Uncle Oscar! Honor bright?"The uncle burst into a roar of laughter."It's between you and me all right, you young Nat Gould," he said, laughing. "But where's your three hundred?""Bassett keeps it for me. We're partners.""You are, are you! And what is Bassett putting on Daffodil?""He won't go quite as high as I do, I expect. Perhaps he'll go a hundred and fifty." "What, pennies?" laughed the uncle."Pounds," said the child, with a surprised look at his uncle. "Bassett keeps a bigger reserve than I do."Between wonder and amusement Uncle Oscar was silent. He pursued the matter no further, but he determined to take his nephew with him to the Lincoln races. "Now, son," he said, "I'm putting twenty on Mirza, and I'll put five for you on any horse you fancy. What's your pick?""Daffodil, uncle.""No, not the fiver on Daffodil!""I should if it was my own fiver," said the child."Good! Good! Right you are! A fiver for me and a fiver for you on Daffodil."The child had never been to a race-meeting before, and his eyes were blue fire. He pursed his mouth tight, and watched. A Frenchman just in front had put his money on Lancelot. Wild with excitement, he flayed his arms up and down, yelling, "Lancelot! Lancelot!" in his French accent.Daffodil came in first, Lancelot second, Mirza third. The child flushed and with eyes blazing, was curiously serene. His uncle brought him four five-pound notes, four to one."What am I to do with these?" he cried, waving them before the boy's eyes."I suppose we'll talk to Bassett," said the boy. "I expect I have fifteen hundred now; and twenty in reserve; and this twenty."His uncle studied him for some moments."Look here, son!" he said. "You're not serious about Bassett and that fifteen hundred, are you?""Yes, I am. But it's between you and me, uncle. Honor bright!""Honor bright all bright, son! But I must talk to Bassett.""If you'd like to be a partner, uncle, with Bassett and me, we could all be partners. Only, you'd have to promise, honor bright , uncle, not to let it go beyond us three. Bassett and I are lucky, and you must be lucky, because it was your ten shillings I started winning with…."Uncle Oscar took both Bassett and Paul into Richmond Park for an afternoon, and there they talked."It's like this, you see, sir," Bassett said. "Master Paul would get me talking about racing events,spinning yearns , you know, sir. And he was always keen on knowing if I'd made or if I'd lost. It's about a year since, now, that I put five shillings on Blush of Dawn for him--and we lost. Then the luck turned, with that ten shillings he had from you, that we put on Singhalese. And since that time, it's been pretty steady, all things considering. What do you say, Master Paul?""We're all right when we're sure," said Paul. "It's when we're not quite sure that we go down."Oh, but we're careful then," said Bassett."But when are you sure?" smiled Uncle Oscar."It's Master Paul, sir," said Bassett, in a secret, religious voice. "It's as if he had it from heaven. Like daffodil, now, for the Lincoln. That was as sure as eggs.""Did you put anything on Daffodil?" asked Oscar Cresswell."Yes, sir. I made my bid.""And my nephew?"Bassett was obstinately silent, looking at Paul."I made twelve hundred, didn't I, Bassett? I told uncle I was putting three hundred on Daffodil.""That's right," said Bassett, nodding."But where's the money?" asked the uncle."I keep it safe locked up, sir. Master Paul he can have it any minute he likes toask for it.""What, fifteen hundred pounds?""And twenty! And forty, that is, with the twenty he made on the course.""It's amazing!" said the uncle."If Master Paul offers you to be partners, sir, I would if I were you; if you'll excuse me," said Bassett.Oscar cresswell thought about it."I'll see the money," he said.They drove home again, and sure enough, Bassett came round to the garden-house with fifteen hundred pounds in notes. The twenty pounds reserve was left with Joe Glee in the Turf Commission deposit."You see, it's all right, uncle, when I'm sure! Then we go strong, for all we're worth. Don't we, Bassett?""We do that, Master Paul.""And when are you sure?" said the uncle, laughing."Oh, well, sometimes I'm absolutely sure, like about Daffodil," said the boy; "and sometimes I have an idea; and sometimes I haven't even an idea, have I, Bassett? Then we're careful, because we mostly go down.""You do, do you! And when you're sure, like about Daffodil, what makes you sure, sonny?""Oh, well, I don't know," said the boy uneasily. "I'm sure, you know, uncle; that's all.""It's as if he had it from heaven, sir," Bassett reiterated."I should say so!" said the uncle.But he became a partner. And when he Leger was coming on Paul was "sure" about Lively Spark, which was a quite inconsiderable horse. The boy insisted on putting a thousand on the horse, Bassett went for five hundred, and Oscar Cresswell two hundred. Lively Spark came in first, and the betting had been tento one against him. Paul had made ten thousand."You see," he said, "I was absolutely sure of him."Even Oscar Cresswell had cleared two thousand."Look here, son," he said, "this sort of thing makes me nervous.""It needn't, uncle! Perhaps I shan't be sure again for a long time.""But what are you going to do with your money?" asked the uncle."Of course," said the boy, "I started it for mother. She said she had no luck, because father is unlucky, so I thought if I was lucky, it might stop whispering." "What might stop whispering?""Our house. I hate our house for whispering.""What does it whisper?""Why--why"--the boy fidget ed--"why, I don't know. But it's always short of money, you know, uncle."I know it, son, I know it.""You know people send mother writs, don't you, uncle?""I'm afraid I do," said the uncle."And then the house whispers, like people laughing at you behind your back. It's awful, that is! I thought if I was lucky … ""You might stop it," added the uncle.The boy watched him with big blue eyes, that had an uncanny cold fire in them, and he said never a word."Well, then!" said the uncle. "What are we doing?""I shouldn't like mother to know I was lucky," said the boy."Why not, son?""She'd stop me.""I don't think she would.""Oh!" --and the boy writhed in and odd way--"I don't want her to know, uncle." "All right, son! We'll manage it without her knowing."They managed it very easily. Paul, at the other's suggestion, handed over five thousand pounds to his uncle, who deposited it with the family lawyer, who was then to inform Paul's mother that a relative had put five thousand pounds into his hands, which sum was to be paid out a thousand pounds at a time, on the mother's birthday, for the next five years."So she'll have a birthday present of a thousand pounds for five successive years," said Uncle Oscar. "I hope it won't make it all the harder for her later." Paul's mother had her birthday in November. The house had been "whispering" worse than ever lately, and, even in spite of his luck, Paul could not bear up against it. He was very anxious to see the effect of the birthday letter, telling his mother about the thousand pounds.When there was no visitors, Paul now took his meals with his parents, as he was beyond the nursery control. His mother went into town nearly every day. She had discovered that she had an odd knack of sketching furs and dress materials, so she worked secretly in the studio of a friend who was the chief "artist" for the leading drapers. She drew the figures of ladies in furs and ladies in silk and sequins for the newspaper advertisements. This young woman artist earnedseveral thousand pounds a year, but Paul's mother only made several hundreds, and she was again dissatisfied. She so wanted to be first in something, and she did not succeed, even in making sketches for drapery advertisements.She was down to breakfast on the morning of her birthday. Paul watched her face as she read her letters. He knew the lawyer's letter. As his mother read it, her face hardened and became more expressionless. Then a cold, determined look came on her mouth. She hid the letter under the pile of others, and said not a word about it."Didn't you have anything nice in the post for your birthday, mother?" said Paul. "Quite moderately nice," she said, her voice cold and absent.She went away to town without saying more.But in the afternoon Uncle Oscar appeared. He said Paul's mother had had a long interview with the lawyer, asking if the whole five thousand could not be advanced at once, as she was in debt."What do you think, uncle?" said the boy."I leave it to you, son.""Oh, let her have it, then! We can get some more with the other," said the boy. "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, laddie!" said Uncle Oscar."But I'm sure to know for the Grand National; or the Lincolnshire; or else the Derby. I'm sure to know for one of them," said Paul.So Uncle Oscar signed the agreement, and Paul's mother touched the whole five thousand. Then something very curious happened. The voices in the house suddenly went mad, like a chorus of frogs on a spring evening. There were certain new furnishings, and Paul had a tutor. He was really going to Eton, his father's school, in the following autumn. There were flowers in the winter, and a blossoming of the luxury Paul's mother had been used to. And yet the voices in the house, behind the sprays of mimosa and almond blossom, and from under the piles of iridescent cushions, simply trilled and screamed in a sort of ecstasy: "There must be more money! Oh-h-h; there must be more money. Oh, now,now-w! Now-w-w--there must be more money!--more than ever! More thanever!"It frightened Paul terribly. He studied away at his Latin and Greek with his tutors. But his intense hours were spent with Bassett. The Grand National had bone by: he had not "known", and had lost a hundred pounds. Summer was at hand. He was in agony for the Lincoln. But even for the Lincoln he didn't "know", and he lost fifty pounds. He became wild-eyed and strange, as if something were going to explode in him."Let it alone, son! Don't you bother about it!" urged Uncle Oscar. But it was as if the boy couldn't really hear what his uncle was saying."I've got to know for the Derby! I've got to know for the Derby!" the child reiterated, his big blue eyes blazing with a sort of madness.His mother noticed how overwrought he was."You'd better go to the seaside. Wouldn't you like to go now to the seaside, instead of waiting? I think you'd better," she said, looking down at him anxiously, her heart curiously heavy about him.But the child lifted his uncanny blue eyes."I couldn't possibly go before the derby, mother!" he said. "I couldn't possibly!" "Why not?" she said, her voice becoming heavy when she was opposed. "Why not? You can still go from the seaside to see the Derby with your Uncle Oscar, if that's what you wish. No need for you to wait here. Besides, I think you care too much about these races. It's a bad sign. My family has been a gambling family, and you won't know till you grow up how much damage it has done. But it has done damage. I shall have to send Bassett away, and ask Uncle Oscar not to talkracing to you, unless you promise to be reasonable about it; go away to the seaside and forget it. You're all nerves!""I'll do what you like, mother, so long as you don't send me away till after the Derby," the boy said."Send you away from where? Just from this house?""Yes," he said, gazing at her."Why, you curious child, what makes you care about this house so much, suddenly? I never knew you loved it."He gazed at her without speaking. He had a secret within a secret, something he had not divulge d, even to Bassett or to his Uncle Oscar.But his mother, after standing undecided and a little bit sullen for some moments, said:"Very well, then! Don't go to the seaside till after the Derby, if you don't wish it. But promise me you won't let your nerves to go pieces. Promise you won't thinkso much about horse-racing and events, as you call them!""Oh, no," said the boy casually. "I won't think much about them, mother. You needn't worry. I wouldn't worry, mother, if I were you.""If you were me and I were you," said his mother, "I wonder what we should do!" "But you know you needn't worry, mother, don't you?" the boy repeated."I should be awfully glad to know it," she said wearily."Oh, well, you can, you know. I mean, you ought to know you needn't worry," he insisted."Ought I? Then I'll see about it," she said.Paul's secret of secrets was his wooden horse, that which had no name. Since he was emancipated from a nurse and a nursery-governess, he had had his rocking-horse removed to his own bedroom at the top of the house."Surely, you're too big for a rocking-horse!" his mother had remonstrated. "Well, you see, mother, till I can have a real horse, I like to have some sort of animal about," had been his quaint answer."Do you feel he keeps you company?" she laughed."Oh, yes! He's very good, he always keeps me company, when I'm there," said Paul.So the horse, rather shabby, stood in an arrested prance in the boy's bedroom.The Derby was drawing near, and the boy grew more and more tense. He hardly heard what was spoken to him, he was very frail, and his eyes were really uncanny. His mother had sudden strange seizures of uneasiness about him. Sometimes, for half-an-hour, she would feel a sudden anxiety about him that was almost anguish. She wanted to rush to him at once, and know he was safe.Two nights before the Derby, she was at a big party in town, when one of her rushes of anxiety about her boy, her first-born, gripped her heart till she could hardly speak. She fought with the feeling,might and main , for she believed in common-sense. But it was too strong. She had to leave the dance and go downstairs to telephone to the country. The children's nursery-governess was terribly surprised and startled at being rung up in the night."Are all the children all right, Miss Wilmot?""Oh, yes, they are quite all right.""Master Paul? Is he all right?""He went to bed as right as a trivet . Shall I run up and look at him?""No," said Paul's mother reluctantly. "No! Don't trouble. It's all right. Don't sit up. We shall be home fairly soon." She did not want her son's privacy intruded upon. "Very good," said the governess.It was about one o'clock when Paul's mother and father drove up to their house. All was still. Paul's mother went to her room and slipped off her white fur cloak. She had told her maid not to wait up for her. she heard her husband downstairs, mixing a whisky-and-soda.And then, because of the strange anxiety at her heart, she stole upstairs to her son's room. Noiselessly she went along the upper corridor. Was there a faint noise? What was it?She stood, with arrested muscles, outside his door, listening. There was a strange, heavy, and yet not loud noise. Her heart stood still. It was a soundless noise, yet rushing and powerful. Something huge, in violent, hushed motion. What was it? What in God's name was it? She ought to know. She felt that she knew the noise. She knew what it was.Yet she could not place it. She couldn't say what it was. And on and on it went, like a madness.Softly, frozen with anxiety and fear, she turned the door-handle.The room was dark. Yet in the space near the window, she heard and saw something plunging to and fro. She gazed in fear and amazement.Then suddenly she switched on the light, and saw her son, in his green pajamas, madly surging on the rocking-horse. The blaze of light suddenly lit him up, as he urged the wooden horse, and lit her up, as she stood, blonde, in her dress of pale green and crystal, in the doorway."Paul!" she cried. "Whatever are you doing?""It's Malabar!" he screamed, in a powerful, strange voice. "It's Malabar!"His eyes blazed at her for one strange and senseless second, as he ceased urging his wooden horse. Then he fell with a crash to the ground, and she, all her tormented motherhood flooding upon her, rushed to gather him up.。
the rocking-horse winnerD.H. Laurence
The Rocking_Horse WinnerD.H. LaurenceThere was a wom an who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck. She m arried for love, and the love turned to dust. She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them. They looked at her coldly, as if they were finding fault with her. And hurriedly she felt she must cover up som e fault in herself. Yet what it was that she m ust cover up she never knew. Nevertheless, when her children were present, she always felt the center of her heart go hard. This troubled her, and in her m anner she was all the more gentle and anxious for her children, as if she loved them very much. Only she herself knew that at the center of her heart was a hard little place that could not feel love, no, not for anybody. Everybody else said of her: "She is such a good mother. She adores her children." Only she herself, and her children them selves, knew it was not so. They read it in each other's eyes.There were a boy and two little girls. They lived in a pleasant house, with a garden, and they had discreet servants, and felt them selves superior to anyone in the neighborhood.有位美妇人，本来具有各种优势，然而她运气不好。
The-Rocking-Horse-Winner-原文+译文
The Rocking-Horse WinnerThere was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck. She married for love, and the love turned to dust. She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them. They looked at her coldly, as if they were finding fault with her. And hurriedly she felt she must cover up some fault in herself. Yet what it was that she must cover up she never knew. Nevertheless, when her children were present, she always felt the center of her heart go hard. This troubled her, and in her manner she was all the more gentle and anxious for her children, as if she loved them very much. Only she herself knew that at the center of her heart was a hard little place that could not feel love, no, not for anybody. Everybody else said of her: "She is such a good mother. She adore s her children." Only she herself, and her children themselves, knew it was not so. They read it in each other's eyes.There were a boy and two little girls. They lived in a pleasant house, with a garden, and they had discreet servants, and felt themselves superior to anyone in the neighborhood.Although they lived in style , they felt always an anxiety in the house. There was never enough money. The mother had a small income, and the father had a small income, but not nearly enough for the social position which they had to keep up. The father went in to town to some office. But though he had good prospects, these prospects never materialized. There was always the grinding sense of the shortage of money, though the style was always kept up.At last the mother said: "I will see if I can't make something." But she did not know where to begin. She racked her brains, and tried this thing and the other, but could not find anything successful. The failure made deep lines come into her face. Her children were growing up, they would have to go to school. There must be more money, there must be more money. The father, who was always very handsome and expensive in his tastes, seemed as if he never would be able to do anything worth doing. And the mother, who had a great belief in herself, did not succeed any better, and her tastes were just as expensive.And so the house came to be haunted by the unspoken phrase: There must be more money! There must be more money! The children could hear it all the time, though nobody said it aloud. They heard it at Christmas, when the expensive and splendid toys filled the nursery. Behind the shining modern rocking-horse, behind the smart doll's house, a voice would start whispering: "There must be more money! There must be more money!" And the children would stop playing, to listen for a moment. They would look into each other's eyes, to see if they had all heard. And each one saw in the eyes of the other two that they too had heard. "There must be more money! There must be more money!"It came whispering from the springs of the still-swaying rocking-horse, and even the horse, bending his wooden, champing head, heard it. The big doll, sitting so pink and smirking in her new pram, could hear it quite plainly, and seemed to be smirking all the more self-consciously because of it. The foolish puppy, too, that took the place of the teddy-bear, he was looking so extraordinarily foolish for noother reason but that he heard the secret whisper all over the house: "There must be more money!"Yet nobody ever said it aloud. The whisper was everywhere, and therefore no one spoke it. Just as no one ever says: "We are breathing!" in spite of the fact that breath is coming and going all the time."Mother," said the boy Paul one day, "why don't we keep a car of our own? Why do we always use uncle's, or else a taxi?""Because we're the poor members of the family," said the mother."But why are we, mother?""Well--I suppose," she said slowly and bitterly, "it's because your father has no luck."The boy was silent for some time."Is luck money, mother?" he asked rather timidly."No, Paul. Not quite. It's what causes you to have money.""Oh!" said Paul vaguely. "I thought when Uncle Oscar said filthy lucker, it meant money.""Filthy lucre does mean money," said the mother. "But it's lucre, not luck.""Oh!" said Paul vaguely. "Then what is luck, mother?""It's what causes you to have money. If you're lucky you have money. That's why it's better to be born lucky than rich. If you're rich, you may lose your money. But if you're lucky, you will always get more money.""Oh! Will you? And is father not lucky?""Very unlucky, I should say," she said bitterly.The boy watched her with unsure eyes."Why?" he asked."I don't know. Nobody ever know why one person is lucky and another unlucky." "Don't they? Nobody at all? Does nobody know?""Perhaps God. But He never tells.""He ought to, then. And aren't you lucky either, mother?""I can't be, if I married an unlucky husband.""But by yourself, aren't you?""I used to think I was, before I married. Now I think I am very unlucky indeed." "Why?""Well--never mind! Perhaps I'm not really," she said.The child looked at her, to see if she meant it. But he saw, by the lines of her mouth, that she was only trying to hide something from him."Well, anyhow," he said stoutly, "I'm a lucky person.""Why?" said his mother, with a sudden laugh.He stared at her. He didn't even know why he had said it."God told me," he asserted,brazening it out."I hope He did, dear!" she said, again with a laugh, but rather bitter."He did, mother!""Excellent!" said the mother, using one of her husband's exclamations.The boy saw she did not believe him; or, rather, that she paid no attention to hisassertion. This angered him somewhat, and made him want to compel her attention. He went off by himself, vaguely, in a childish way, seeking for the clue to "luck." Absorbed, taking no heed of other people, he went about with a sort of stealth, seeking inwardly for luck. He wanted luck, he wanted it, he wanted it. When the two girls were playing dolls in the nursery, he would sit on his big rocking-horse, charging madly into space, with a frenzy that made the little girls peer at him uneasily. Wildly the horse career ed the waving dark hair of the boy tossed, his eyes had a strange glare in them. The little girls dared not speak to him.When he had ridden to the end of his made little journey, he climbed down and stood in front of his rocking-horse, staring fixedly into its lowered face. Its red mouth was slightly open, its big eye was wide and glassy-bright."Now!" he would silently command the snorting steed. "Now, take me to where there is luck! Now take me!"And he would slash the horse on the neck with the little whip he had asked Uncle Oscar for. He knew the horse could take him to where there was luck, if only he forced it. So he would mount again, and start on his furious ride, hoping at last to get there. He knew he could get there."You'll break your horse, Paul!" said the nurse."He's always riding like that! I wish he'd leave off !" said his elder sister Joan.But he only glared down on them in silence. Nurse gave him up. She could make nothing of him . Anyhow he was growing beyond her.One day his mother and his Uncle Oscar came in when he was on one of his furious rides. He did not speak to them."Hallo, you young jockey ! Riding a winner?" said his uncle."Aren't you growing too big for a rocking-horse? You're not a very little boy any longer, you know," said his mother.But Paul only gave a blue glare from his big, rather close-set eyes. He would speak to nobody when he was in full tilt . His mother watched him with an anxious expression on her face.At last he suddenly stopped forcing his horse into the mechanical gallop, and slid down."Well, I got there!" he announced fiercely, his blue eyes still flaring, and his sturdy long legs straddling apart."Where did you get to?" asked his mother."Where I wanted to go," he flared back at her."That's right, son!" said Uncle Oscar. "Don't you stop till you get there. What's the horse's name?""He doesn't have a name," said the boy."Gets on without all right?" asked the uncle."Well, he has different names. He was called Sansovino last week." "Sansovino, eh? Won the Ascot . How did you know his name?""He always talks about horse-races with Bassett," said Joan.The uncle was delighted to find that his small nephew was posted with all the racing news. Bassett, the young gardener, who had been wounded in the left foot in thewar and had got his present job through Oscar Cresswell whose batman he had been was a perfect blade of the "turf". He lived in the racing events, and the small boy lived with him.Oscar Cresswell got it all from Bassett."Master Paul comes and asks me, so I can't do more than tell him, sir," said Bassett, his face terribly serious, as if he were speaking of religious matters."And does he ever put anything on a horse he fancies?""Well--I don't want to give him away--he's a young sport, a fine sport, sir. Would you mind asking him himself? He sort of takes a pleasure in it, and perhaps he'd feel I was giving him away, sir, if you don't mind."Bassett was serious as a church.The uncle went back to his nephew and took him off for a ride in the car. "Say, Paul, old man, do you ever put anything on a horse ?" the uncle asked.The boy watched the handsome man closely."Why, do you think I oughtn't to?" he parried."Not a bit of it. I thought perhaps you might give me a tip for the Lincoln."The car sped on into the country, going down to Uncle Oscar's place in Hampshire. "Honor bright?" said the nephew."Honor bright, son!" said the uncle."Well, then, Daffodil.""Daffodil! I doubt it, sonny. What about Mirza?""I only know the winner," said the boy. "That's Daffodil.""Daffodil, eh?"There was a pause. Daffodil was an obscure horse comparatively."Uncle!""Yes, son?""You won't let it go any further, will you? I promised Bassett.""Bassett be damned, old man! What's he got to do with it?""We're partners. We've been partners from the first. Uncle, he lent me my first five shillings, which I lost, I promised him, honor bright , it was only between me and him; only you gave me that ten-shilling note I started winning with, so I thought you were lucky. You won't let it go any further, will you?"The boy gazed at his uncle from those big, hot, blue eyes, set rather close together. The uncle stirred and laughed uneasily."Right you are, son! I'll keep your tip private. Daffodil, eh? How much are you putting on him?""All except twenty pounds," said the boy. "I keep that in reserve."The uncle thought it a good joke."You keep twenty pounds in reserve, do you, you young romancer? What are you betting, then?""I'm betting three hundred," said the boy gravely. "But it's between you and me, Uncle Oscar! Honor bright?"The uncle burst into a roar of laughter."It's between you and me all right, you young Nat Gould," he said, laughing. "Butwhere's your three hundred?""Bassett keeps it for me. We're partners.""You are, are you! And what is Bassett putting on Daffodil?""He won't go quite as high as I do, I expect. Perhaps he'll go a hundred and fifty." "What, pennies?" laughed the uncle."Pounds," said the child, with a surprised look at his uncle. "Bassett keeps a bigger reserve than I do."Between wonder and amusement Uncle Oscar was silent. He pursued the matter no further, but he determined to take his nephew with him to the Lincoln races. "Now, son," he said, "I'm putting twenty on Mirza, and I'll put five for you on any horse you fancy. What's your pick?""Daffodil, uncle.""No, not the fiver on Daffodil!""I should if it was my own fiver," said the child."Good! Good! Right you are! A fiver for me and a fiver for you on Daffodil."The child had never been to a race-meeting before, and his eyes were blue fire. He pursed his mouth tight, and watched. A Frenchman just in front had put his money on Lancelot. Wild with excitement, he flayed his arms up and down, yelling, "Lancelot! Lancelot!" in his French accent.Daffodil came in first, Lancelot second, Mirza third. The child flushed and with eyes blazing, was curiously serene. His uncle brought him four five-pound notes, four to one."What am I to do with these?" he cried, waving them before the boy's eyes."I suppose we'll talk to Bassett," said the boy. "I expect I have fifteen hundred now; and twenty in reserve; and this twenty."His uncle studied him for some moments."Look here, son!" he said. "You're not serious about Bassett and that fifteen hundred, are you?""Yes, I am. But it's between you and me, uncle. Honor bright!""Honor bright all bright, son! But I must talk to Bassett.""If you'd like to be a partner, uncle, with Bassett and me, we could all be partners. Only, you'd have to promise, honor bright , uncle, not to let it go beyond us three. Bassett and I are lucky, and you must be lucky, because it was your ten shillings I started winning with…."Uncle Oscar took both Bassett and Paul into Richmond Park for an afternoon, and there they talked."It's like this, you see, sir," Bassett said. "Master Paul would get me talking about racing events,spinning yearns , you know, sir. And he was always keen on knowing if I'd made or if I'd lost. It's about a year since, now, that I put five shillings on Blush of Dawn for him--and we lost. Then the luck turned, with that ten shillings he had from you, that we put on Singhalese. And since that time, it's been pretty steady, all things considering. What do you say, Master Paul?""We're all right when we're sure," said Paul. "It's when we're not quite sure that we go down."Oh, but we're careful then," said Bassett."But when are you sure?" smiled Uncle Oscar."It's Master Paul, sir," said Bassett, in a secret, religious voice. "It's as if he had it from heaven. Like daffodil, now, for the Lincoln. That was as sure as eggs.""Did you put anything on Daffodil?" asked Oscar Cresswell."Yes, sir. I made my bid.""And my nephew?"Bassett was obstinately silent, looking at Paul."I made twelve hundred, didn't I, Bassett? I told uncle I was putting three hundred on Daffodil.""That's right," said Bassett, nodding."But where's the money?" asked the uncle."I keep it safe locked up, sir. Master Paul he can have it any minute he likes to ask for it.""What, fifteen hundred pounds?""And twenty! And forty, that is, with the twenty he made on the course.""It's amazing!" said the uncle."If Master Paul offers you to be partners, sir, I would if I were you; if you'll excuse me," said Bassett.Oscar cresswell thought about it."I'll see the money," he said.They drove home again, and sure enough, Bassett came round to the garden-house with fifteen hundred pounds in notes. The twenty pounds reserve was left with Joe Glee in the Turf Commission deposit."You see, it's all right, uncle, when I'm sure! Then we go strong, for all we're worth. Don't we, Bassett?""We do that, Master Paul.""And when are you sure?" said the uncle, laughing."Oh, well, sometimes I'm absolutely sure, like about Daffodil," said the boy; "and sometimes I have an idea; and sometimes I haven't even an idea, have I, Bassett? Then we're careful, because we mostly go down.""You do, do you! And when you're sure, like about Daffodil, what makes you sure, sonny?""Oh, well, I don't know," said the boy uneasily. "I'm sure, you know, uncle; that's all.""It's as if he had it from heaven, sir," Bassett reiterated."I should say so!" said the uncle.But he became a partner. And when he Leger was coming on Paul was "sure" about Lively Spark, which was a quite inconsiderable horse. The boy insisted on putting a thousand on the horse, Bassett went for five hundred, and Oscar Cresswell two hundred. Lively Spark came in first, and the betting had been ten to one against him. Paul had made ten thousand."You see," he said, "I was absolutely sure of him."Even Oscar Cresswell had cleared two thousand."Look here, son," he said, "this sort of thing makes me nervous.""It needn't, uncle! Perhaps I shan't be sure again for a long time.""But what are you going to do with your money?" asked the uncle."Of course," said the boy, "I started it for mother. She said she had no luck, because father is unlucky, so I thought if I was lucky, it might stop whispering.""What might stop whispering?""Our house. I hate our house for whispering.""What does it whisper?""Why--why"--the boy fidget ed--"why, I don't know. But it's always short of money, you know, uncle."I know it, son, I know it.""You know people send mother writs, don't you, uncle?""I'm afraid I do," said the uncle."And then the house whispers, like people laughing at you behind your back. It's awful, that is! I thought if I was lucky … ""You might stop it," added the uncle.The boy watched him with big blue eyes, that had an uncanny cold fire in them, and he said never a word."Well, then!" said the uncle. "What are we doing?""I shouldn't like mother to know I was lucky," said the boy."Why not, son?""She'd stop me.""I don't think she would.""Oh!" --and the boy writhed in and odd way--"I don't want her to know, uncle." "All right, son! We'll manage it without her knowing."They managed it very easily. Paul, at the other's suggestion, handed over five thousand pounds to his uncle, who deposited it with the family lawyer, who was then to inform Paul's mother that a relative had put five thousand pounds into his hands, which sum was to be paid out a thousand pounds at a time, on the mother's birthday, for the next five years."So she'll have a birthday present of a thousand pounds for five successive years," said Uncle Oscar. "I hope it won't make it all the harder for her later."Paul's mother had her birthday in November. The house had been "whispering" worse than ever lately, and, even in spite of his luck, Paul could not bear up against it. He was very anxious to see the effect of the birthday letter, telling his mother about the thousand pounds.When there was no visitors, Paul now took his meals with his parents, as he was beyond the nursery control. His mother went into town nearly every day. She had discovered that she had an odd knack of sketching furs and dress materials, so she worked secretly in the studio of a friend who was the chief "artist" for the leading drapers. She drew the figures of ladies in furs and ladies in silk and sequins for the newspaper advertisements. This young woman artist earned several thousand pounds a year, but Paul's mother only made several hundreds, and she was again dissatisfied. She so wanted to be first in something, and she did not succeed, evenin making sketches for drapery advertisements.She was down to breakfast on the morning of her birthday. Paul watched her face as she read her letters. He knew the lawyer's letter. As his mother read it, her face hardened and became more expressionless. Then a cold, determined look came on her mouth. She hid the letter under the pile of others, and said not a word about it. "Didn't you have anything nice in the post for your birthday, mother?" said Paul. "Quite moderately nice," she said, her voice cold and absent.She went away to town without saying more.But in the afternoon Uncle Oscar appeared. He said Paul's mother had had a long interview with the lawyer, asking if the whole five thousand could not be advanced at once, as she was in debt."What do you think, uncle?" said the boy."I leave it to you, son.""Oh, let her have it, then! We can get some more with the other," said the boy. "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, laddie!" said Uncle Oscar."But I'm sure to know for the Grand National; or the Lincolnshire; or else the Derby. I'm sure to know for one of them," said Paul.So Uncle Oscar signed the agreement, and Paul's mother touched the whole five thousand. Then something very curious happened. The voices in the house suddenly went mad, like a chorus of frogs on a spring evening. There were certain new furnishings, and Paul had a tutor. He was really going to Eton, his father's school, in the following autumn. There were flowers in the winter, and a blossoming of the luxury Paul's mother had been used to. And yet the voices in the house, behind the sprays of mimosa and almond blossom, and from under the piles of iridescent cushions, simply trilled and screamed in a sort of ecstasy: "There must be more money! Oh-h-h; there must be more money. Oh, now, now-w!Now-w-w--there must be more money!--more than ever! More than ever!"It frightened Paul terribly. He studied away at his Latin and Greek with his tutors. But his intense hours were spent with Bassett. The Grand National had bone by: he had not "known", and had lost a hundred pounds. Summer was at hand. He was in agony for the Lincoln. But even for the Lincoln he didn't "know", and he lost fifty pounds. He became wild-eyed and strange, as if something were going to explode in him."Let it alone, son! Don't you bother about it!" urged Uncle Oscar. But it was as if the boy couldn't really hear what his uncle was saying."I've got to know for the Derby! I've got to know for the Derby!" the child reiterated, his big blue eyes blazing with a sort of madness.His mother noticed how overwrought he was."You'd better go to the seaside. Wouldn't you like to go now to the seaside, instead of waiting? I think you'd better," she said, looking down at him anxiously, her heart curiously heavy about him.But the child lifted his uncanny blue eyes."I couldn't possibly go before the derby, mother!" he said. "I couldn't possibly!" "Why not?" she said, her voice becoming heavy when she was opposed. "Why not?You can still go from the seaside to see the Derby with your Uncle Oscar, if that's what you wish. No need for you to wait here. Besides, I think you care too much about these races. It's a bad sign. My family has been a gambling family, and you won't know till you grow up how much damage it has done. But it has done damage.I shall have to send Bassett away, and ask Uncle Oscar not to talk racing to you, unless you promise to be reasonable about it; go away to the seaside and forget it. You're all nerves!""I'll do what you like, mother, so long as you don't send me away till after the Derby," the boy said."Send you away from where? Just from this house?""Yes," he said, gazing at her."Why, you curious child, what makes you care about this house so much, suddenly?I never knew you loved it."He gazed at her without speaking. He had a secret within a secret, something he had not divulge d, even to Bassett or to his Uncle Oscar.But his mother, after standing undecided and a little bit sullen for some moments, said:"Very well, then! Don't go to the seaside till after the Derby, if you don't wish it. But promise me you won't let your nerves to go pieces. Promise you won't think so much about horse-racing and events, as you call them!""Oh, no," said the boy casually. "I won't think much about them, mother. You needn't worry. I wouldn't worry, mother, if I were you.""If you were me and I were you," said his mother, "I wonder what we should do!" "But you know you needn't worry, mother, don't you?" the boy repeated."I should be awfully glad to know it," she said wearily."Oh, well, you can, you know. I mean, you ought to know you needn't worry," he insisted."Ought I? Then I'll see about it," she said.Paul's secret of secrets was his wooden horse, that which had no name. Since he was emancipated from a nurse and a nursery-governess, he had had hisrocking-horse removed to his own bedroom at the top of the house."Surely, you're too big for a rocking-horse!" his mother had remonstrated. "Well, you see, mother, till I can have a real horse, I like to have some sort of animal about," had been his quaint answer."Do you feel he keeps you company?" she laughed."Oh, yes! He's very good, he always keeps me company, when I'm there," said Paul. So the horse, rather shabby, stood in an arrested prance in the boy's bedroom. The Derby was drawing near, and the boy grew more and more tense. He hardly heard what was spoken to him, he was very frail, and his eyes were really uncanny. His mother had sudden strange seizures of uneasiness about him. Sometimes, for half-an-hour, she would feel a sudden anxiety about him that was almost anguish. She wanted to rush to him at once, and know he was safe.Two nights before the Derby, she was at a big party in town, when one of her rushes of anxiety about her boy, her first-born, gripped her heart till she could hardly speak.She fought with the feeling,might and main , for she believed in common-sense. But it was too strong. She had to leave the dance and go downstairs to telephone to the country. The children's nursery-governess was terribly surprised and startled at being rung up in the night."Are all the children all right, Miss Wilmot?""Oh, yes, they are quite all right.""Master Paul? Is he all right?""He went to bed as right as a trivet . Shall I run up and look at him?" "No," said Paul's mother reluctantly. "No! Don't trouble. It's all right. Don't sit up. We shall be home fairly soon." She did not want her son's privacy intruded upon. "Very good," said the governess.It was about one o'clock when Paul's mother and father drove up to their house. All was still. Paul's mother went to her room and slipped off her white fur cloak. She had told her maid not to wait up for her. she heard her husband downstairs, mixing a whisky-and-soda.And then, because of the strange anxiety at her heart, she stole upstairs to her son's room. Noiselessly she went along the upper corridor. Was there a faint noise? What was it?She stood, with arrested muscles, outside his door, listening. There was a strange, heavy, and yet not loud noise. Her heart stood still. It was a soundless noise, yet rushing and powerful. Something huge, in violent, hushed motion. What was it? What in God's name was it? She ought to know. She felt that she knew the noise. She knew what it was.Yet she could not place it. She couldn't say what it was. And on and on it went, like a madness.Softly, frozen with anxiety and fear, she turned the door-handle.The room was dark. Yet in the space near the window, she heard and saw something plunging to and fro. She gazed in fear and amazement.Then suddenly she switched on the light, and saw her son, in his green pajamas, madly surging on the rocking-horse. The blaze of light suddenly lit him up, as he urged the wooden horse, and lit her up, as she stood, blonde, in her dress of pale green and crystal, in the doorway."Paul!" she cried. "Whatever are you doing?""It's Malabar!" he screamed, in a powerful, strange voice. "It's Malabar!"His eyes blazed at her for one strange and senseless second, as he ceased urging his wooden horse. Then he fell with a crash to the ground, and she, all her tormented motherhood flooding upon her, rushed to gather him up.But he was unconscious, and unconscious he remained, with some brain-fever. He talked and tossed, and his mother sat stonily by his side."Malabar! It's Malabar! Bassett, Bassett, I know! It's Malabar!"So the child cried, trying to get up and urge the rocking-horse that gave him his inspiration."What does he mean by Malabar?" asked the heart-frozen mother."I don't know," said the father stonily.。
木马赢家 中英讲解
Lawrence and The Rocking-Horse WinnerDavid Herbert Lawrence，1885～1930Significancel English novelist, story writer, critic, poet and painterl one of the greatest figures in 20th-century English literaturel the greatest novelist form a working familyl one of the primary shapers of 20th-century fictionLife ExperienceHe graduated from the teacher-training course at University College, Nottingham, in 1905 and became a schoolmaster in a London suburb. In 1909 some of his poems were published in the English Review, edited by Ford Madox, who was also instrumental in the publication of Lawrence’s first novel, The White Peacock (1911). Lawrence eloped to the Continent in 1912 with Frieda von Richthofen Weekley, a German noblewoman who was the wife of a Nottingham professor; they were married in 1914. During World War I the couple was forced to remain in England; Lawrence’s outspoken opposition to the war and Frieda’s German birth aroused suspicion that they were spies. In 1919 they left England, returning only for brief visits. Their nomadic existence was spent variously in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Australia, the United States (New Mexico), and Mexico. Lawrence died at the age of 45 of tuberculosis, a disease with which he had struggled for years.Literary ViewsLawrence believed that industrialized Western culture was dehumanizing because it emphasized intellectual attributes to the exclusion of natural or physical instincts. He thought, however, that this culture was in decline and that humanity would soon evolve into a new awareness of itself as being a part of nature. One aspect of this “blood consciousness” would be an acceptance of the need for sexual fulfillment.Representative WorksHis three great novelsSons and Lovers (1913), The Rainbow (1915), and Women in Love (1921), concern the consequences of trying to deny humanity’s union with nature. After World War I, Lawrence began to believe that society needed to be reorganized under one superhuman leader. The novels containing this theme—Aaron’s Rod (1922), Kangaroo (1923), and The Plumed Serpent (1926)—are all considered failures.Lawrence’s most controversial novel is Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928), the story of an English noblewoman who finds love and sexual fulfillment with her husband’s gamekeeper.Because their lovemaking is described in intimate detail (for the 1920s), the novel caused a sensation and was banned in England and the United States until 1959.Writing StyleAll of Lawrence’s novels are written in a lyrical, sensuous, often rhapsodic prose style. He had an extraordinary ability to convey a sense of specific time and place, and his writings often reflected his complex personality. Lawrence’s works include volumes of stories, poems, and essays. He also wrote a number of plays, travel books such as Etruscan Places (1932), and volumes of literary criticism, notably Studies in Classic American Literature (1916).Rocking Horse WinnerIntroduction"The Rocking-Horse Winner" is a short story by D. H. Lawrence. It was first published in July 1926 in Harper's Bazaar and subsequently appeared in the first volume of Lawrence's collected short stories. It was made into a film under the same title in 1950, directed by Anthony Pelissier and starring John Mills and Valerie Hobson.SummaryIn "The Rocking-Horse Winner," a young boy, Paul, perceives that there is never enough money in his family, he sets out to find a way to get money through luck. He discovers that if he rides his rocking-horse fast enough, he will somehow "know" the name of the winning horse in the next race. He begins to make money and secretly funnel this money to his mother, but the desire for more money only grows more intense instead of going away. He finally rides his rocking horse so furiously in order to discover the winner of the Derby that he falls into illness and dies.Full SummaryThe story describes a young middle-class Englishwoman who "had no luck". Though outwardly successful, she is haunted by a sense of failure; the family's lifestyle exceeds its income, and unspoken anxiety about money permeate the household. Her children, a son Paul and two younger sisters, sense this anxiety.The rocking-horse magically gives Paul advance knowledge of the winners of important races such as Ascot. Paul's uncle, Oscar Cresswell, and Bassett, the gardener and Cresswell's former batman, both place large bets on the horses Paul names. After further winning, Paul and Oscar arrange to give the mother a gift of five thousand pounds, but the gift only lets her spend more. Disappointed, Paul tries harder than ever to be lucky, and we learn that his secret is to ride his rocking-horse until he "knows". As the Derby approaches, Paul is determined to learn the winner.Paul faints and remains ill through the day of the Derby. Informed by Cresswell, Bassett has placed Paul's bet on Malabar, at fourteen to one. When he is informed by Bassett that he now has 80,000 pounds (equivalent to 2006's 3 million pounds or 6 million U.S. dollars), Paul says to his mother:"I never told you, mother, that if I can ride my horse, and get there, then I'm absolutely sure – oh absolutely! Mother, did I ever tell you?I am lucky!""No, you never did," said his mother.But the boy died in the night.AnalysisSettingThe setting is post industrial revolution England, and the story takes place during a period the Americans call ‘the roaring 20’s’, a time characterized by greed and a grasping materialism. The home of the family is a posh suburban English dwelling, maybe it is a rural part of England within reach of London. Lawrence keeps the actual geography anonymous, probably to drive the point that the disease of materialism knows no particular geography, though he does mention Lincolnshire as the site of the Derby race.Stylel The opening paragraph s of “The Rocking-Horse Winner” are written in a style similar to that of a fairy tale. Instead of “once upon a time,” though, Lawrence begins with “There was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck.” This is a conscious attempt on the part of the author to use the traditional oral storytelling technique.l This story also combines the supernatural elements of a fable, mainly Paul’s ability to “know” the winners just by riding his rocking horse, with the serious themes of an unhappy marriage and an unhealthy desire for wealth at all costs. The story begins with fable-like simplicity but ends with a serious message about wasted lives.Charactersthe mother -- a cold, unfeeling, grasping, materialistic woman disguised in the cover of a loving mother and wife;the husband -- more or less a non-entity, who has an office ‘somewhere’, and who went to Eton.Young Paul -- innocent, sensitive, intelligent, being prepared to go to Eton as well, an upper class preparatory school in England. This is a family which is upwardly grasping, will never become members of the aristocracy, but Paul is being groomed to climb the next rung of the social ladder.English gardener -- he is passive, loyal, a little bit afraid of his superiors, and somewhat greedy to the extent he participates in Paul’s winnings at the track.Uncle Oscar -- a bit of what the British call a ‘bounder’, an unscrupulous man who takes ad vantage of his nephew’s supernatural talents to his own advantage, without considering for a moment the pressures such activity may place upon the young boy.BassettBassett is the family gardener who helps Paul place bets on horses. He used to work around horses and racing and he talks about racing all the time, so it seems reasonable that Paul would seek his advice. He takes the boy seriously and follows all the boy’s instructions in placing the bets. He also keeps Paul’s money safely hidden away, at lea st until Uncle Oscar gets involved. He is the only adult who treats Paul with a seriousrespect. It is Bassett’s seriousness that convinces Uncle Oscar that Paul’s gift for picking winners is real. He is trustworthy and kind, but he is also a servant, so once Uncle Oscar takes over, he respectfully withdraws from the action.Oscar CresswellOscar Cresswell is Paul’s uncle and Hester’s brother. He is in a better financial position than Hester, since he owns his own car and a place in Hampshire. This is because he inherited the entire family fortune, leaving Hester to depend on her husband for support. It is Uncle Oscar who stumbles upon Paul’s secret of earning money through gambling, but he does not at first believe in Paul’s gift. He thinks that Paul is no t serious and treats the boy as if he were merely playing a game. After Oscar realizes that Paul’s tips are dependable, he encourages the gambling. Oscar arranges for a lawyer to funnel money to Hester. He also bets his own money, using Paul’s tips for his own profit.Although Uncle Oscar seems harmless at first, the reader becomes aware that he is using Paul for his own benefit. He makes no effort to teach Paul about being careful with money or the dangers of gambling. Oscar does nothing to help Hester and her family, neither by giving money nor by helping Hester budget what money she does have. Because Oscar only uses Paul for his own financial gain, he is revealed to be shallow and selfish.HesterHester is Paul’s mother, who is incapable of loving othe rs. She is not only obsessed with money, but she is also irresponsible with the money she does get. When Paul arranges through his attorney to give her a thousand pounds a month from his winnings, she immediately begs the attorney for the entire amount. However, instead of paying her debts, she spends the money on new things for the house. This results in an even greater need for more money. She also does not express any thanks for this sudden windfall, depriving Paul of the joy of providing the much-needed income for his family.Although at the end of the story Hester becomes increasingly concerned about Paul’s deteriorating health, she still does not love him, even when he dies. At the beginning of the story, it is stated that “at the center of her heart was a hard little place that could not feel love, no, not for anybody.” This image is repeated at the end of the story, when Hester sits by her son’s bedside “feeling her heart had gone, turned actually into a stone.” Before he dies Paul asks “Mother, did I ever tell you? I’m lucky,” she responds, “No, you never did.” However, the reader remembers that Paul did, indeed, tell her that he was lucky earlier inthe story. Since she pays little attention to him, she does not remember this.When Hester finally receives the financial fortune she has always wanted but loses her son in the process, the reader realizes that Hester will probably not feel the loss of her son and will probably waste all that money in record time. All of these details show Hester to be cold, unfeeling, wasteful, and shallow.PaulPaul is the young boy in the story who tries desperately to find a way to have “luck,” meaning money, for his mother. He begins to ride his rocking horse furiously, even though he has outgrown it, because when he does so, he somehow is given the name of the horse that will win the next race. He makes an astounding amount of money this way with the help of the gardener Bassett (who places his bets for him), and later with the help also of his Uncle Oscar. For the final big race, the Derby, he rides himself into a feverish delirium, but he is sure of the winner. His uncle places a large bet for him. Just as his uncle arrives to tell him of the fortune he has made, he dies from the fever. Paul dies for the sake of making money for the family, particularly his mother, even though her “heart was a stone.”Paul seems completely unaware that he has overtaken responsibilities that are rightly his parents’. He seems only concerned with relieving the anxiety he perceives in the house caused by a lack of money. He tries to understand why there is not enough money by asking his mother, but she only says that his father “has no luck.” He directly associates luck with money, so the gambling seems like a natural solution to the problem. He is so innocent in his enthusiasm for the game he begins playing with Bassett that even when his uncle discovers that he has been gambling, he does not stop Paul from gambling further. Even though Paul is still a child, all of the adults, Bassett, Uncle Oscar, and Paul’s mother, seem to treat him like an adult. No one anticipates that Paul will pay a huge price for playing this game. No one even questions Paul’s ability to pick the winners of the horse races, or wonders how in the world Paul is able to pick winners so accurately.Throughout the story Paul remains innocent, as well as desperate, to help his mother, who seems oblivious to Paul’s concerns. Although it is clear to the reader that Paul is very intelligent and sensitive, no one in the s tory seems to notice or appreciate Paul’s gifts until it is too late.ThemesThe theme of the story is that materialism can lead to spiritual death, and that when we gamble or game for gold, we only are going to win a hollow soul.Evident in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" is Lawrence's distain for conspicuous consumption, crass materialism, and an emotionally distant style of parenting popularly thought to exist in England during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.ResponsibilityThe obsession with wealth and material items is pitted against the responsibilities of parenting in “The Rocking-Horse Winner.” It is the responsibility of the parents to provide for the children in a family. It is also the responsibility of the parents to spend money wisely and budget carefully, so that the bills are paid and no one goes without food, clothing, or shelter. However, in this story, Lawrence turns this on its ear, making the parents complete failures at financial dealings and their son Paul incredibly gifted at making money, albeit by gambling.The parents in the story drift from one thing to another, never really finding anything they can do to provide for the family. The mother “tried this thing and the other, but could not find anything successful.” The father, whose main talents are having expensive tastes and being handsome, “seemed as if he would never be able to do anything worth doing.” When Paul gives his mother 5,000 pounds from his winnings, rather than paying off debts and saving for the future, she spends all of it on material things, causing an even more urgent need for more money.Generosity and GreedThe disparity between Paul’s generosity and his mother’s greed is another theme of “The Rocking-Horse Winner.” Paul generously offers all his winnings to the family, in order to relieve the family’s dire need for money. He seems to have no needs of his own and is motivated solely by the desire to help his mother. Paul’s unselfish generosity is contrasted starkly with the mother’s greed and selfishness. When the mother first receives the news from the lawyer that she has “inherited” 5,000 pounds from a long-lost relative which will be paid out to her in yearly increments of 1,000 pounds (a scheme dreamed up by Paul), she does not inform the family of their good fortune. Instead, she goes immediately to the lawyer and asks to receive the entire amount right away. Paul agrees, and the money is spent foolishly on more material things for the house.Instead of relieving the family’s need for money, Paul’s plan backfires and thus there is a need for even more money.Paul and his mother are complete opposites. Paul, in his childish innocence, gives and gives to the family, without any desire for thanks and without any desire to keep any of the money for himself. He ultimately gives the most precious gift of all: his life. Hester, Paul’s mother, has no idea where all this money is coming from and does not seem to care. Hester has become so obsessed with wealth that her heart turns completely to stone; she cannot even feel sad when her son dies.Oedipus ComplexPaul’s desire to earn money for the family can be said to be an unconscious desire to take his father’s place, a concept that psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud termed the “Oedipus complex.” This is a reference to the story from ancient Greece in which Oedipus, who was raised away from his parents, accidently kills his father and marries his mother. Freud suggested that all boys go through a stage where they want to take their father’s place. Paul’s desire to take care of the family’s needs is Oedipal. Since the main way of earning this money — the rocking horse — is also bound up in sexual imagery, it seems clear that Lawrence intentionally characterizes Paul this way.劳伦斯，（David Herbert Lawrence，1885～1930）英国诗人、小说家、散文家。
the rocking house winner赏析
the rocking house winner赏析The social background of "The Rocking Horse Winner" was that period of western industrial civilization. At that time, materialism was extremely prevalent and money was a symbol of status. Paul's family was a middle-class who lacked money. Although they had no money, his parents still maintained a high quality of life, which meant that they used materials to maintain the social hierarchy. With the prevalence of money worship and opportunism, the traditional morality of society had been severely challenged. Bassett, the gardener of Paul's family, shows great respect, loyalty, and trust to Paul. After Paul predicted that he had successfully won the horse race, he was more religious as a pious follower. He just only obeyed the little master and assisted him with blind loyalty. The distinct relationship between him and Paul was obedience and lead. Paul's uncle Oscar whose the desire for money was more intense than the protection of his own nephew. It seemed to him that no matter how adult or child to obtain material benefits was justified and reasonable. More seriously, excessive materialism split the love between people, mainly in the relationship between Paul and his mother, Hester. Although Hester did not love her children, she had to show the image of a good wife and mother in front of the children and the people because of her belief in the principle of perfect, limited by her own conscience and social ethics. Hester thought that she had no luck leading to a lack of money and failure of marriage, which made her feel anxious. In order to satisfy his mother's desire for money, Paul vigorously searched for the clue of "lucky" in a child's way, resulting in a wrong outlook on life, value, and ethics. He was willing to sacrifice himself as a child's happiness or even his life to realize adult’s desire. Additionally, different cultures rouse different expectations for men and women. Paul had the Oedipus complex because of his lack of love since childhood, in order to win his mother’s love, he tried to make money through betting horse racing and be a man whom his father did not make to make up for his mother's loss. He unconsciously competed with his father for his mother because he wanted to shift his mother's attention to himself. All in all, this short story strongly reflects the alienation of people's hearts by money and criticizes money worship and the degenerated humanity which is in order to calls for the loss of love betweenpeople.。
(完整word版)TheRocking-horsewinner
The Rocking-Horse WinnerSummary1.We are introduced to a woman who is beautiful and began life with wonderful advantages and then married for love. This, apparently, was her mistake for things did not go the way they were supposed to. She resented her children although she pretended that this tiny spot in her heart did not harden when they came into the room. Although neighbors and friends lauded her motherhood, the mother and her children knew she was a sham.The mother, the father, the two girls and the boy lived together in a very nice neighborhood with a kind of style that floated somewhat above their actual means. The father had a job, but it depended on sales and his sales never materialized. Therefore, their social position like their assets floated above their ability to pay for them and.....2. The story describes a young middle-class Englishwoman who "had no luck." Though outwardly successful, she is haunted by a sense of failure; the family's lifestyle exceeds its income, and unspoken anxiety about money permeates the household. Her children, a son Paul and his two sisters, sense this anxiety.The rocking horse magically gives Paul advance knowledge of the winners of important races such as Ascot. Paul's uncle, Oscar Cresswell, and Bassett, the gardener, both place large bets on the horses Paul names.After further winning, Paul and Oscar arrange to give the mother a gift of five thousand pounds, but the gift only lets her spend more. Disappointed, Paul tries harder than ever to be lucky, and we learn that his secret is to ride his rocking-horse until he "knows." As the Derby approaches, Paul is determined to learn the winner.Paul faints and remains ill through the day of the Derby. Informed by Cresswell, Bassett has placed Paul's bet on Malabar, at fourteen to one. When he is informed by Bassett that he now has 80,000 pounds, Paul says to his mother:"I never told you, mother, that if I can ride my horse, and get there, then I'm absolutely sure – oh absolutely! Mother, did I ever tell you? I am lucky!""No, you never did," said his mother.But the boy died in the night and his mother hears her brother say, “My God, Hester, you’re eighty-odd thousand to the good, and a poor devil of a son to the bad. But, poor devil, poor devil, he’s best gone out of a life where he rides his rocking horse to find a winner”CharactersBassettBassett is the family gardener who helps Paul place bets on horses. He used to work around horses and racing and he talks about racing all the time, so it seems reasonable that Paul would seek his advice. He takes the boy seriously and follows all the boy's instructions in placing the bets. He also keeps Paul's money safely hidden away, at least until Uncle Oscar gets involved. He is the only adult who treats Paul with a serious respect. It is Bassett's seriousness that convinces Uncle Oscar that Paul's gift for picking winners is real. He is trustworthy and kind, but he is also a servant, so once Uncle Oscar takes over, he respectfully withdraws from the action.ThemesIn "The Rocking-Horse Winner," a young boy, Paul, perceives that there is never enough money in his family, he sets out to find a way to get money through luck. He discovers that if he rides his rocking-horse fast enough, he will somehow "know" the name of the winning horse in the next race. He begins to make money and secretly funnel this money to his mother, but the desire formore money only grows more intense instead of going away. He finally rides his rocking-horse so furiously in order to discover the winner of the Derby that he falls into illness and dies, just as the winning horse earns his family an enormous fortune.Plot of The Rocking-Horse Winner“The Rocking-H orse Winner” is the story of a boy’ s gift for picking the winners in horse races. An omniscient narrator relates the tale of a boy whose family is always short of money. His mother is incapable of showing love and is obsessed with the status that material wealth can provide. Her son is acutely aware of his mother’s desire for money, and he is motivated to take action. He wants to help her, but he also wants to silence the voice that haunts him, the voice of the house itself whispering, “There must be more money! There must be more money!”Paul questions his mother about the family’s circumstances. When he asks her why they do not have a car and why they are the “poor members of the family,” she responds “it’s because your father has no luck.” Dissatisfied w ith her answer, the boy presses her for an explanation of what makes one person lucky and another unlucky. Finally, he declares that he knows himself to be lucky because God told him so. With the help of Basset the gardener and his mother’s brother Oscar, Paul sets out to prove his brazen assertion true by picking the winners in horse races. While riding on his rocking horse, Paul envisions the winners.Paul proves to be unnaturally talented at picking the winners of the races, and before too long he has saved a considerable sum of money. When his uncle asks him what he plans to do with the money he reveals that he wants to give it to his mother. He hopes that his contribution will make her happy and make the house stop whispering. Because Paul wants to keep his success at betting a secret, Paul arranges through his uncle to give his mother a anonymous gift of a thousandpounds each year for five years. His gift does not have the intended effect, however. Instead of being delighted when she opens the envelope on her birthday, Paul’s mother is indifferent, “her voice cold and absent.” Desperate to please her, the boy agrees to let his mother have the whole five thousand at once.Instead of quieting the voices in house, Paul’s generous gift causes the voices to go “mad, like a chorus of frogs on a spring evening.” Although his mother finally can afford some of the fine things she has been craving, like fresh flowers and private school for Paul, the voices just “trilled and screamed in a sort of ecstasy.” The more Paul gives, the more his mother and the voices in the house demand. Though his uncle tries to calm him, Paul becomes obsessed with picking the winner of the upcoming Derby, “his blue eyes blazing with a sort of madness” as he rides his rocking horse. The mother feels uncharacteristically sympathetic toward her son and urges him to join the family at seaside, but Paul insists on staying until after the Derby.The reason that Paul needs to stay in the house until the Derby is his secret, his childhood rocking horse. The secret that he has never revealed to Basset or Uncle Oscar is that he is able to ride the rocking horse, which he has long since outgrown, until the wooden horse reveals to him the name of the winner in the next race. With so much riding on the Derby and the house whispering more insistently than ever, Paul knows he must be prepared for the ride of his young life. In fact, Paul is so anxious that even his mother feels the tension and suffers “sudden strange seizures of anxiety about him.” Never theless, she decides to attend a big party two nights before the Derby, leaving Paul at home.Throughout the evening the mother is distracted by worry about her son's well-being. When she and her husband come home around one o'clock, she rushes immediately to Paul's room. Standing outside his door, the mother is frozen in her tracks by a “strange, heavy, and yet not loud noise”coming from inside the room. When she finally gathers the courage to enter the room she sees her son "in his green pajamas, madly urging on the rocking-horse." She has arrived just in time to here him cry out '"It’s Malabar!’ . . . in a powerful, strange voice." Then, "his eyes blazed at her for one strange and senseless second" and he crashes to the floor unconscious.Neither the mother nor the father understand the significance of the word, but Uncle Oscar knows that it is one of the horses racing in the Derby. Oscar, “in spite of himself,” places a bet on Malabar and passes on the tip to Basset. By the third day, the day of the Derby, the boy has still not regained consciousness and his condition appears to be worsening. Desperate for anything that might help her son, the mother allows Basset a short visit with Paul. Paul does regain consciousness, but just long enough to learn that Malabar had been the winner and that he has made over 80 thousand pounds (equivalent to 3 million pounds or 6 million U.S. dollars now) for his mother. He said to his mother:"I never told you, mother, that if I can ride my horse, and get there, then I'm absolutely sure – oh absolutely! Mother, did I ever tell you? I am lucky!""No, you never did," said his mother.But the boy died in the night.His mother still does not acknowledge that her son had been lucky or that she truly loves him. At the moment of P aul’s death, Oscar chides his sister: “My God, Hester, you’re eighty-odd thousand pounds the to good, and a poor devil of a son to the bad.”Charactersthe mother -- a cold, unfeeling, grasping, materialistic woman disguised in the cover of a loving mother and wife;the husband -- more or less a non-entity, who has an office ‘somewhere’, and who went to Eton.Young Paul -- innocent, sensitive, intelligent, being prepared to go to Eton as well, an upper class preparatory school in England. This is a family which is upwardly grasping, will never become members of the aristocracy, but Paul is being groomed to climb the next rung of the social ladder. English gardener -- he is passive, loyal, a little bit afraid of his superiors, and somewhat greedy to the ex tent he participates in Paul’s winnings at the track.Uncle Oscar -- a bit of what the British call a ‘bounder’, an unscrupulous man who takes advantage of his nephew’s supernatural talents to his own advantage, without considering for a moment the pressures such activity may place upon the young boy.BassettBassett is the family gardener who helps Paul place bets on horses. He used to work around horses and racing and he talks about racing all the time, so it seems reasonable that Paul would seek his adv ice. He takes the boy seriously and follows all the boy’s instructions in placing the bets. He also keeps Paul’s money safely hidden away, at least until Uncle Oscar gets involved. He is the only adult who treats Paul with a serious respect. It is Bassett’s seriousness that convinces Uncle Oscar that Paul’s gift for picking winners is real. He is trustworthy and kind, but he is also a servant, so once Uncle Oscar takes over, he respectfully withdraws from the action.Oscar CresswellOscar Cresswell is Paul’s uncle and Hester’s brother. He is in a better financial position than Hester, since he owns his own car and a place in Hampshire. This is because he inherited the entire family fortune, leaving Hester to depend on her husband for support. It is Uncle Oscar who stumbles upon Paul’s secret of earning money through gambling, but he does not at first believein Paul’s gift. He thinks that Paul is not serious and treats the boy as if he were merely playing a game. After Oscar realizes that Paul’s tips are depe ndable, he encourages the gambling. Oscar arranges for a lawyer to funnel money to Hester. He also bets his own money, using Paul’s tips for his own profit.Although Uncle Oscar seems harmless at first, the reader becomes aware that he is using Paul for his own benefit. He makes no effort to teach Paul about being careful with money or the dangers of gambling. Oscar does nothing to help Hester and her family, neither by giving money nor by helping Hester budget what money she does have. Because Oscar only uses Paul for his own financial gain, he is revealed to be shallow and selfish.HesterHester is Paul’s mother, who is incapable of loving others. She is not only obsessed with money, but she is also irresponsible with the money she does get. When Paul arranges through his attorney to give her a thousand pounds a month from his winnings, she immediately begs the attorney for the entire amount. However, instead of paying her debts, she spends the money on new things for the house. This results in an even greater need for more money. She also does not express any thanks for this sudden windfall, depriving Paul of the joy of providing themuch-needed income for his family.Although at the end of the story Hester becomes increasingly concerned about Paul’s deteriorating health, she still does not love him, even when he dies. At the beginning of the story, it is stated that “at the center of her heart was a hard little place that could not feel love, no, not for anybody.” This image is repeated at the end of the story, when Hester sits by her son’s bedside “feeling her heart had gone, turned actually into a stone.” Before he dies Paul asks “Mother, didI ever tell you? I’m lucky,” she responds, “No, you never did.” However, the reader remembers that Paul did, indeed, tell her that he was lucky earlier in the story. Since she pays little attention to him, she does not remember this.When Hester finally receives the financial fortune she has always wanted but loses her son in the process, the reader realizes that Hester will probably not feel the loss of her son and will probably waste all that money in record time. All of these details show Hester to be cold, unfeeling, wasteful, and shallow.PaulPaul is the young boy in the story who tries desperately to find a way t o have “luck,” meaning money, for his mother. He begins to ride his rocking horse furiously, even though he has outgrown it, because when he does so, he somehow is given the name of the horse that will win the next race. He makes an astounding amount of money this way with the help of the gardener Bassett (who places his bets for him), and later with the help also of his Uncle Oscar. For the final big race, the Derby, he rides himself into a feverish delirium, but he is sure of the winner. His uncle places a large bet for him. Just as his uncle arrives to tell him of the fortune he has made, he dies from the fever. Paul dies for the sake of making money for the family, particularly his mother, even though her “heart was a stone.”Paul seems completely unawar e that he has overtaken responsibilities that are rightly his parents’. He seems only concerned with relieving the anxiety he perceives in the house caused by a lack of money. He tries to understand why there is not enough money by asking his mother, but she only says that his father “has no luck.” He directly associates luck with money, so the gambling seems like a natural solution to the problem. He is so innocent in his enthusiasm for the game he beginsplaying with Bassett that even when his uncle discovers that he has been gambling, he does not stop Paul from gambling further. Even though Paul is still a child, all of the adults, Bassett, Uncle Oscar, and Paul’s mother, seem to treat him like an adult. No one anticipates that Paul will pay a huge price for playing this game. No one even questions Paul’s ability to pick the winners of the horse races, or wonders how in the world Paul is able to pick winners so accurately. Throughout the story Paul remains innocent, as well as desperate, to help his mother, who seems oblivious to Paul’s concerns. Although it is clear to the reader that Paul is very intelligent and sensitive, no one in the story seems to notice or appreciate Paul’s gifts until it is too late. ThemesThe theme of the story is that materialism can lead to spiritual death, and that when we gamble or game for gold, we only are going to win a hollow soul.Evident in "The Rocking-Horse Winner" is Lawrence's distain for conspicuous consumption, crass materialism, and an emotionally distant style of parenting popularly thought to exist in England during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.ResponsibilityThe obsession with wealth and material items is pitted against the responsibilities of parenting in “The Rocking-Horse Winner.” It i s the responsibility of the parents to provide for the children in a family. It is also the responsibility of the parents to spend money wisely and budget carefully, so that the bills are paid and no one goes without food, clothing, or shelter. However, in this story, Lawrence turns this on its ear, making the parents complete failures at financial dealings and their son Paul incredibly gifted at making money, albeit by gambling.The parents in the story drift from one thing to another, never really finding anything they can do to provide for the family. The mother “tried this thing and the other, but could not find anything successful.” The father, whose main talents are having expensive tastes and being handsome, “seemed as if he would never be able to do anything worth doing.” When Paul gives his mother 5,000 pounds from his winnings, rather than paying off debts and saving for the future, she spends all of it on material things, causing an even more urgent need for more money.Generosity and GreedThe dis parity between Paul’s generosity and his mother’s greed is another theme of “The Rocking-Horse Winner.” Paul generously offers all his winnings to the family, in order to relieve the family’s dire need for money. He seems to have no needs of his own and is motivated solely by the desire to help his mother. Paul’s unselfish generosity is contrasted starkly with the mother’s greed and selfishness. When the mother first receives the news from the lawyer that she has “inherited” 5,000 pounds from a long-lost relative which will be paid out to her in yearly increments of 1,000 pounds (a scheme dreamed up by Paul), she does not inform the family of their good fortune. Instead, she goes immediately to the lawyer and asks to receive the entire amount right away. Paul agrees, and the money is spent foolishly on more material things for the house. Instead of relieving the family’s need for money, Paul’s plan backfires and thus there is a need for even more money.Paul and his mother are complete opposites. Paul, in his childish innocence, gives and gives to the family, without any desire for thanks and without any desire to keep any of the money for himself. He ultimately gives the most precious gift of all: his life. Hester, Paul’s mother, has no idea where(完整word版)TheRocking-horsewinner all this money is coming from and does not seem to care. Hester has become so obsessed with wealth that her heart turns completely to stone; she cannot even feel sad when her son dies. Oedipus ComplexPaul’s desire to earn money for the family can be said to be an un conscious desire to take his father’s place, a concept that psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud termed the “Oedipus complex.” This is a reference to the story from ancient Greece in which Oedipus, who was raised away from his parents, accidently kills his father and marries his mother. Freud suggested that all boys go through a stage where they want to take their father’s place. Paul’s desire to take care of the family’s needs is Oedipal. Since the main way of earning this money — the rocking horse — is also bound up in sexual imagery, it seems clear that Lawrence intentionally characterizes Paul this way.11。
The_Rocking-Horse_Winner
Characters
Young
Paul --- innocent,
sensitive and intelligent.
the
mother --- a cold, unfeeling,
grasping(greedy), materialistic woman disguised in the cover of a loving mother and wife;
The father: whose main talents are having
V.S
responsibilities of parenting
expensive tastes and being handsome
the responsibility of the parents to provide for the children in a family the responsibility of the parents to spend money wisely and budget carefully
Generosity and Greed
Paul‟s unselfish generosity--- Paul generously offers all his winnings to the family, in order to relieve the family and make his mother happy.
木马赢家剧照
木马赢家剧照
Setting
The setting is post industrial revolution England, and the story takes place during a period the Americans call „the roaring 20s, a time characterized by greed and a grasping materialism. The home of the family is a posh suburban English dwelling, maybe it is a rural part of England within reach of London.
The Rocking-Horse Winner
恋爱中的女人
《恋爱中的女人》
• 《恋爱中的女人》代表了劳伦斯小说创作的最 高成就。它以非凡的热情与深度探索了有关恋爱 的心理问题。 • 小说以两姐妹为主人公，描述了她们不同的 情感经历和恋爱体会。姐姐欧秀拉是一个温柔美 丽的中学教师；妹妹古迪兰则是一个小有名气、 恃才傲物的艺术家。古迪兰遇上了矿主的独生子 杰拉德，原始的欲望点燃了爱的激情，然而在狂 暴的激情过后，失望而痛苦的她与另一位艺术家 又陷入了爱的狂欢。欧秀拉与本区督学伯基相爱 了，她一心要让对方成为爱情的囚鸟，而对方却 希望在灵与肉的交融中保持彼此心灵上的距 离……
• 小说主人公保罗的父母莫瑞尔夫妇。他们两人是在一次舞 会上一见钟情，婚后也过了一段甜蜜、幸福的日子。但是， 两人由于出身不同，性格不合，精神追求迥异，在短暂的 激情过后，之间便产生了无休止的唇枪舌剑，丈夫甚至动 手。母亲出身于中产阶级，受过教育，对嫁给一个平凡的 矿工耿耿于怀，直到对丈夫完全绝望。于是，她把时间、 精力和全部精神希冀转移、倾注到儿子威廉和保罗身上。
Uint 11 The Rocking-Horse Winner
c4g2
Firstly，about the author
• 作者:(英)劳伦斯(Lawrence D.H.) • David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an important and controversial English writer of the 20th century, with his output spanning novels, short stories, poems, plays, essays, travel books, paintings, translations, literary criticism and personal letters. These works, taken together, represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation. In them, Lawrence confronts issues relating to emotional health and vitality, spontaneity, sexuality, and instinctive behaviour.
The_Rocking-Horse_Winner_中英译文
The Rocking-Horse WinnerThere was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yetshe had no luck．She married for love, and the love turned to dust. She had bonnychildren, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her1, and she could not love them.They looked at her coldly, as if they were finding fault with her. And hurriedly shefelt she must cover up some fault in herself. Yet what it was that she must cover upshe never knew. Nevertheless, when her children were present, she always felt thecentre of her heart go hard. This troubled her, and in her manner she was all the moregentle and anxious for her children2, as if she loved them very much. Only she herselfknew that at the centre of her heart was a hard little place that could not feel love, no,not for anybody. Everybody else said of her: “She is such a good mother. She adores3her children.” Only she herself, and her children themselves, knew it was not so. Theyread it in each other’s eyes.There were a boy and two little girls. They lived in a pleasant house, with agarden, and they had discreet servants, and felt themselves superior to anyone in the neighbourhood.Although they lived in style4, they felt always an anxiety in the house. There wasnever enough money. The mother had a small income, and the father had a smallincome, but not nearly enough for the social position which they had to keep up. Thefather went into town to some office. But though he had good prospects, theseprospects never materialized5. There was always the grinding sense of the shortage ofmoney, though the style was always kept up.At last the mother said: “I will see if I can’t make something.” But she did notknow where to begin. She racked her brains, and tried this thing and the other, butcould not find anything successful. The failure made deep lines come into her face.Her children were growing up; they would have to go to school. There must be moremoney, there must be more money. The father, who was always very handsome andexpensive in his tastes, seemed as if he never would be able to do anything worthdoing. And the mother, who had a great belief in herself, did not succeed any better,and her tastes were just as expensive.And so the house came to be haunted by the unspoken phrase:There must bemore money! There must be more money!The children could hear it all the time,though nobody said it aloud. They heard it at Christmas, when the expensive andsplendid toys filled the nursery. Behind the shining modern rocking-horse, behind thesmar t doll’s house, a voice would start whispering: “There must be more money!There must be more money!” And the children would stop playing to listen for a1they had been thrust upon her：他们（孩子们）是硬塞给她的。
《木马赢家》中人物介绍文档
1. IntroductionDavid Herbert Richards Lawrence was one of the greatest novelists of the 20th century. In his short life, he wrote many novels which enjoyed great popularity. The Rocking-Horse Winner is one of the most famous short stories written by DH Lawrence.In The Rocking-Horse Winner, a young boy, Paul, perceives that there is never enough money in his family, he sets out to find a way to get money through luck. He discovers that if he rides his rocking-horse fast enough, he will somehow "know" the name of the winning horse in the next race. He begins to make money and secretly funnel this money to his mother, but the desire for more money only grows more intense instead of going away. He finally rides his rocking-horse so furiously in order to discover the winner of the Derby that he falls into illness and dies.This story shows the materialized relationship between people and the distorted character in capitalism society following the English industrial revolution which destroyed and distorted humanity. This article aims at analyzing the characters of this work.2.The characters2.1 PaulPaul is the young boy in the story who tries desperately to find a way to have “luck”meaning money, for his mother. He begins to ride his rocking horse furiously, even though he has outgrown it, because when he does so, he somehow is given the name of the horse that will win the next race. He makes an astounding amount of money this way with the help of the gardener Bassett (who places his bets for him), and later with the help also of his Uncle Oscar. For the final big race, the Derby, he rides himself into a feverish delirium, but he is sure of the winner. His uncle places a large bet for him. Just as his uncle arrives to tell him of the fortune he has made, he dies from the fever. Paul dies for the sake of making money for the family, particularly his mother, even though her “heart was a stone”.Paul seems completely unaware that he has overtaken responsibilities that arerightly his parents’.He seems only concerned with relieving the anxiety he perceivesin the house caused by a lack of money. He tries to understand why there is not enough money by asking his mother, but she only says that his father“has no luck.”He directly associates luck with money, so the gambling seems like a natural solution to the problem. He is so innocent in his enthusiasm for the game he begins playing with Bassett that even when his uncle discovers that he has been gambling, he does not stop Paul from gambling further. Even though Paul is still a child, all of the adults, Bassett, Uncle Oscar, and Paul’s mother, seem to treat him like an adult. No one anticipates that Paul will pay a huge price for playing this game. No one even questions Paul’s ability to pick the winners of the horse races, or wonders how in the world Paul is able to pick winners so accurately.Throughout the story Paul remains innocent, as well as desperate, to help his mother, who seems oblivious to Paul’s concerns. Although it is clear to the readerthat Paul is very intelligent and sensitive, no one in the story seems to notice or appreciate Paul’sgifts until it is too late.2.2 HesterHester is Paul’s mother, who is incapable of loving others. She is not only obsessed with money, but she is also irresponsible with the money she does get. When Paul arranges through his attorney to give her a thousand pounds a month from his winnings, she immediately begs the attorney for the entire amount. However, instead of paying her debts, she spends the money on new things for the house. This results in an even greater need for more money. She also does not express any thanks for this sudden windfall, depriving Paul of the joy of providing the much-needed income for his family.Although at the end of the story Hester becomes increasingly concerned about Paul’s deteriorating health, she still does not love him, even when he dies. At the beginning of the story, it is stated that “at the center of her heart was a hard littleplace that could not feel love, no, not for anybody”. This image is repeated at the end of the story, when Hester sits by her son’s bedside “feeling her heart had gone,turned actually into a stone”. Before he dies Paul asks“Mother, did I ever tell you? I’m lucky,” she responds,“No, you never did.” However, the reader remembers that Paul did, indeed, tell her that he was lucky earlier in the story. Since she pays little attention to him, she does not remember this.When Hester finally receives the financial fortune she has always wanted but loses her son in the process, the reader realizes that Hester will probably not feel the loss of her son and will probably waste all that money in record time. All of these details show Hester to be cold, unfeeling, wasteful, and shallow.2.3 BassettBassett is the family gardener who helps Paul place bets on horses. He used to work around horses and racing and he talks about racing all the time, so it seems reasonable that Paul would seek his advice. He takes the boy seriously and follows all the boy’s instructions in placing the bets. He also keeps Paul’s money safely hidden away, at least until Uncle Oscar gets involved. He is the only adult who treats Paul with a serious respect. It is Bassett’ s seriousnessthat convinces Uncle Oscar that Paul’s gift for picking winners is real. He is trustworthy and kind, but he is also a servant, so once Uncle Oscar takes over, he respectfully withdraws from the action. So he is passive, loyal, a little bit afraid of his superiors, and somewhat greedy to the extent he participates in Paul’s winnings at the track.2.4 Oscar CresswellOscar Cresswell is Paul’s uncle and Hester’s brother. He is in a better financial position than Hester, since he owns his own car and a place in Hampshire. This is because he inherited the entire family fortune, leaving Hester to depend on her husband for support. It is Uncle Oscar who stumbles upon Paul’s secret of earning money through gambling, but he does not at first believe in Paul’s gift. He thinks that Paul is not serious and treats the boy as if he were merely playing a game. After Oscar realizes that Paul’s tips are dependable, he encourages the gambling. Oscar arranges for a lawyer to funnel money to Hester. He also bets his own money, using Paul’s tips for his own profit.Although Uncle Oscar seems harmless at first, the reader becomes aware that heis using Paul for his own benefit. He makes no effort to teach Paul about being careful with money or the dangers of gambling. Oscar does nothing to help Hester and her family, neither by giving money nor by helping Hester budget what money she does have. Because Oscar only uses Paul for his own financial gain, he is revealed to be shallow and selfish.3. ConclusionThis novel is short in length, and there are only four main characters. However, the author uses very skillful describe techniques which perfectly creates the vivid characters of this novel. D.H Lawrence criticized the stupid and ignorant situation of modern society and the degenerated humanity in his later works by his talented writing and “The Rocking-Horse Winner”is a typical one.Reference王军 . 英国短篇小说赏析 . 新华第一版社， 2007 年 1 月.秦立慧 . 浅析《木马赢家》中渎职的父亲母亲，吉林省教育学院学报,2012 年 7 月.魏平玲 . 《木马赢家》中保罗的自卑情绪探析，安徽工业大学学报：社会科学版，2011 年第 6 期。
The-Rocking-Horse-Winner-原文+译文
The Rocking-Horse WinnerThere was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck. She married for love, and the love turned to dust. She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them. They looked at her coldly, as if they were finding fault with her. And hurriedly she felt she must cover up some fault in herself. Yet what it was that she must cover up she never knew. Nevertheless, when her children were present, she always felt the center of her heart go hard. This troubled her, and in her manner she was all the more gentle and anxious for her children, as if she loved them very much. Only she herself knew that at the center of her heart was a hard little place that could not feel love, no, not for anybody. Everybody else said of her: "She is such a good mother. She adore s her children." Only she herself, and her children themselves, knew it was not so. They read it in each other's eyes.There were a boy and two little girls. They lived in a pleasant house, with a garden, and they had discreet servants, and felt themselves superior to anyone in the neighborhood.Although they lived in style , they felt always an anxiety in the house. There was never enough money. The mother had a small income, and the father had a small income, but not nearly enough for the social position which they had to keep up. The father went in to town to some office. But though he had good prospects, these prospects never materialized. There was always the grinding sense of the shortage of money, though the style was always kept up.At last the mother said: "I will see if I can't make something." But she did not know where to begin. She racked her brains, and tried this thing and the other, but could not find anything successful. The failure made deep lines come into her face. Her children were growing up, they would have to go to school. There must be more money, there must be more money. The father, who was always very handsome and expensive in his tastes, seemed as if he never would be able to do anything worth doing. And the mother, who had a great belief in herself, did not succeed any better, and her tastes were just as expensive.And so the house came to be haunted by the unspoken phrase: There must be more money! There must be more money! The children could hear it all the time, though nobody said it aloud. They heardit at Christmas, when the expensive and splendid toys filled the nursery. Behind the shining modern rocking-horse, behind the smart doll's house, a voice would start whispering: "There must be more money! There must be more money!" And the children would stop playing, to listen for a moment. They would look into each other's eyes, to see if they had all heard. And each one saw in the eyes of the other two that they too had heard. "There must be more money! There must be more money!"It came whispering from the springs of the still-swaying rocking-horse, and even the horse, bending his wooden, champing head, heard it. The big doll, sitting so pink and smirking in her new pram, could hear it quite plainly, and seemed to be smirking all the more self-consciously because of it. The foolish puppy, too, that took the place of the teddy-bear, he was looking so extraordinarily foolish for no other reason but that he heard the secret whisper all over the house: "There must be more money!" Yet nobody ever said it aloud. The whisper was everywhere, and therefore no one spoke it. Just as no one ever says: "We are breathing!" in spite of the fact that breath is coming and going all the time. "Mother," said the boy Paul one day, "why don't we keep a car of our own Why do we always use uncle's, or else a taxi""Because we're the poor members of the family," said the mother."But why are we, mother""Well--I suppose," she said slowly and bitterly, "it's because your father has no luck."The boy was silent for some time."Is luck money, mother" he asked rather timidly."No, Paul. Not quite. It's what causes you to have money.""Oh!" said Paul vaguely. "I thought when Uncle Oscar said filthy lucker, it meant money.""Filthy lucre does mean money," said the mother. "But it's lucre, not luck.""Oh!" said Paul vaguely. "Then what is luck, mother""It's what causes you to have money. If you're lucky you have money. That's why it's better to be born lucky than rich. If you're rich, you may lose your money. But if you're lucky, you will always get more money.""Oh! Will you And is father not lucky""Very unlucky, I should say," she said bitterly.The boy watched her with unsure eyes."Why" he asked."I don't know. Nobody ever know why one person is lucky and another unlucky.""Don't they Nobody at all Does nobody know""Perhaps God. But He never tells.""He ought to, then. And aren't you lucky either, mother""I can't be, if I married an unlucky husband.""But by yourself, aren't you""I used to think I was, before I married. Now I think I am very unlucky indeed.""Why""Well--never mind! Perhaps I'm not really," she said.The child looked at her, to see if she meant it. But he saw, by the lines of her mouth, that she was only trying to hide something from him."Well, anyhow," he said stoutly, "I'm a lucky person.""Why" said his mother, with a sudden laugh.He stared at her. He didn't even know why he had said it."God told me," he asserted,brazening it out."I hope He did, dear!" she said, again with a laugh, but rather bitter."He did, mother!""Excellent!" said the mother, using one of her husband's exclamations.The boy saw she did not believe him; or, rather, that she paid no attention to his assertion. This angered him somewhat, and made him want to compel her attention.He went off by himself, vaguely, in a childish way, seeking for the clue to "luck." Absorbed, taking no heed of other people, he went about with a sort of stealth, seeking inwardly for luck. He wanted luck, he wanted it, he wanted it. When the two girls were playing dolls in the nursery, he would sit on his big rocking-horse, charging madly into space, with a frenzy that made the little girls peer at himuneasily. Wildly the horse career ed the waving dark hair of the boy tossed, his eyes had a strange glare in them. The little girls dared not speak to him.When he had ridden to the end of his made little journey, he climbed down and stood in front of his rocking-horse, staring fixedly into its lowered face. Its red mouth was slightly open, its big eye was wide and glassy-bright."Now!" he would silently command the snorting steed. "Now, take me to where there is luck! Now take me!"And he would slash the horse on the neck with the little whip he had asked Uncle Oscar for. He knew the horse could take him to where there was luck, if only he forced it. So he would mount again, and start on his furious ride, hoping at last to get there. He knew he could get there."You'll break your horse, Paul!" said the nurse."He's always riding like that! I wish he'd leave off !" said his elder sister Joan.But he only glared down on them in silence. Nurse gave him up. She could make nothing of him . Anyhow he was growing beyond her.One day his mother and his Uncle Oscar came in when he was on one of his furious rides. He did not speak to them."Hallo, you young jockey ! Riding a winner" said his uncle."Aren't you growing too big for a rocking-horse You're not a very little boy any longer, you know," said his mother.But Paul only gave a blue glare from his big, rather close-set eyes. He would speak to nobody when he was in full tilt . His mother watched him with an anxious expression on her face.At last he suddenly stopped forcing his horse into the mechanical gallop, and slid down."Well, I got there!" he announced fiercely, his blue eyes still flaring, and his sturdy long legs straddling apart."Where did you get to" asked his mother."Where I wanted to go," he flared back at her."That's right, son!" said Uncle Oscar. "Don't you stop till you get there. What's the horse's name""He doesn't have a name," said the boy."Gets on without all right" asked the uncle."Well, he has different names. He was called Sansovino last week.""Sansovino, eh Won the Ascot . How did you know his name""He always talks about horse-races with Bassett," said Joan.The uncle was delighted to find that his small nephew was posted with all the racing news. Bassett, the young gardener, who had been wounded in the left foot in the war and had got his present job through Oscar Cresswell whose batman he had been was a perfect blade of the "turf". He lived in the racing events, and the small boy lived with him.Oscar Cresswell got it all from Bassett."Master Paul comes and asks me, so I can't do more than tell him, sir," said Bassett, his face terribly serious, as if he were speaking of religious matters."And does he ever put anything on a horse he fancies""Well--I don't want to give him away--he's a young sport, a fine sport, sir. Would you mind asking him himself He sort of takes a pleasure in it, and perhaps he'd feel I was giving him away, sir, if you don't mind."Bassett was serious as a church.The uncle went back to his nephew and took him off for a ride in the car."Say, Paul, old man, do you ever put anything on a horse " the uncle asked.The boy watched the handsome man closely."Why, do you think I oughtn't to" he parried."Not a bit of it. I thought perhaps you might give me a tip for the Lincoln."The car sped on into the country, going down to Uncle Oscar's place in Hampshire."Honor bright" said the nephew."Honor bright, son!" said the uncle."Well, then, Daffodil.""Daffodil! I doubt it, sonny. What about Mirza""I only know the winner," said the boy. "That's Daffodil.""Daffodil, eh"There was a pause. Daffodil was an obscure horse comparatively."Uncle!""Yes, son""You won't let it go any further, will you I promised Bassett.""Bassett be damned, old man! What's he got to do with it""We're partners. We've been partners from the first. Uncle, he lent me my first five shillings, which I lost, I promised him, honor bright , it was only between me and him; only you gave me thatten-shilling note I started winning with, so I thought you were lucky. You won't let it go any further, will you"The boy gazed at his uncle from those big, hot, blue eyes, set rather close together. The uncle stirred and laughed uneasily."Right you are, son! I'll keep your tip private. Daffodil, eh How much are you putting on him""All except twenty pounds," said the boy. "I keep that in reserve."The uncle thought it a good joke."You keep twenty pounds in reserve, do you, you young romancer What are you betting, then""I'm betting three hundred," said the boy gravely. "But it's between you and me, Uncle Oscar! Honor bright"The uncle burst into a roar of laughter."It's between you and me all right, you young Nat Gould," he said, laughing. "But where's your three hundred""Bassett keeps it for me. We're partners.""You are, are you! And what is Bassett putting on Daffodil""He won't go quite as high as I do, I expect. Perhaps he'll go a hundred and fifty.""What, pennies" laughed the uncle."Pounds," said the child, with a surprised look at his uncle. "Bassett keeps a bigger reserve than I do."Between wonder and amusement Uncle Oscar was silent. He pursued the matter no further, but he determined to take his nephew with him to the Lincoln races."Now, son," he said, "I'm putting twenty on Mirza, and I'll put five for you on any horse you fancy. What's your pick""Daffodil, uncle.""No, not the fiver on Daffodil!""I should if it was my own fiver," said the child."Good! Good! Right you are! A fiver for me and a fiver for you on Daffodil."The child had never been to a race-meeting before, and his eyes were blue fire. He pursed his mouth tight, and watched. A Frenchman just in front had put his money on Lancelot. Wild with excitement, he flayed his arms up and down, yelling, "Lancelot! Lancelot!" in his French accent.Daffodil came in first, Lancelot second, Mirza third. The child flushed and with eyes blazing, was curiously serene. His uncle brought him four five-pound notes, four to one."What am I to do with these" he cried, waving them before the boy's eyes."I suppose we'll talk to Bassett," said the boy. "I expect I have fifteen hundred now; and twenty in reserve; and this twenty."His uncle studied him for some moments."Look here, son!" he said. "You're not serious about Bassett and that fifteen hundred, are you" "Yes, I am. But it's between you and me, uncle. Honor bright!""Honor bright all bright, son! But I must talk to Bassett.""If you'd like to be a partner, uncle, with Bassett and me, we could all be partners. Only, you'd have to promise, honor bright , uncle, not to let it go beyond us three. Bassett and I are lucky, and you must be lucky, because it was your ten shillings I started winning with…."Uncle Oscar took both Bassett and Paul into Richmond Park for an afternoon, and there they talked. "It's like this, you see, sir," Bassett said. "Master Paul would get me talking about racingevents,spinning yearns , you know, sir. And he was always keen on knowing if I'd made or if I'd lost.It's about a year since, now, that I put five shillings on Blush of Dawn for him--and we lost. Then theluck turned, with that ten shillings he had from you, that we put on Singhalese. And since that time, it's been pretty steady, all things considering. What do you say, Master Paul""We're all right when we're sure," said Paul. "It's when we're not quite sure that we go down. "Oh, but we're careful then," said Bassett."But when are you sure" smiled Uncle Oscar."It's Master Paul, sir," said Bassett, in a secret, religious voice. "It's as if he had it from heaven. Like daffodil, now, for the Lincoln. That was as sure as eggs.""Did you put anything on Daffodil" asked Oscar Cresswell."Yes, sir. I made my bid.""And my nephew"Bassett was obstinately silent, looking at Paul."I made twelve hundred, didn't I, Bassett I told uncle I was putting three hundred on Daffodil." "That's right," said Bassett, nodding."But where's the money" asked the uncle."I keep it safe locked up, sir. Master Paul he can have it any minute he likes to ask for it.""What, fifteen hundred pounds""And twenty! And forty, that is, with the twenty he made on the course.""It's amazing!" said the uncle."If Master Paul offers you to be partners, sir, I would if I were you; if you'll excuse me," said Bassett. Oscar cresswell thought about it."I'll see the money," he said.They drove home again, and sure enough, Bassett came round to the garden-house with fifteen hundred pounds in notes. The twenty pounds reserve was left with Joe Glee in the Turf Commission deposit."You see, it's all right, uncle, when I'm sure! Then we go strong, for all we're worth. Don't we, Bassett" "We do that, Master Paul.""And when are you sure" said the uncle, laughing."Oh, well, sometimes I'm absolutely sure, like about Daffodil," said the boy; "and sometimes I have an idea; and sometimes I haven't even an idea, have I, Bassett Then we're careful, because we mostly go down.""You do, do you! And when you're sure, like about Daffodil, what makes you sure, sonny""Oh, well, I don't know," said the boy uneasily. "I'm sure, you know, uncle; that's all.""It's as if he had it from heaven, sir," Bassett reiterated."I should say so!" said the uncle.But he became a partner. And when he Leger was coming on Paul was "sure" about Lively Spark, which was a quite inconsiderable horse. The boy insisted on putting a thousand on the horse, Bassett went for five hundred, and Oscar Cresswell two hundred. Lively Spark came in first, and the betting had been ten to one against him. Paul had made ten thousand."You see," he said, "I was absolutely sure of him."Even Oscar Cresswell had cleared two thousand."Look here, son," he said, "this sort of thing makes me nervous.""It needn't, uncle! Perhaps I shan't be sure again for a long time.""But what are you going to do with your money" asked the uncle."Of course," said the boy, "I started it for mother. She said she had no luck, because father is unlucky, so I thought if I was lucky, it might stop whispering.""What might stop whispering""Our house. I hate our house for whispering.""What does it whisper""Why--why"--the boy fidget ed--"why, I don't know. But it's always short of money, you know, uncle."I know it, son, I know it.""You know people send mother writs, don't you, uncle""I'm afraid I do," said the uncle."And then the house whispers, like people laughing at you behind your back. It's awful, that is! Ithought if I was lucky … ""You might stop it," added the uncle.The boy watched him with big blue eyes, that had an uncanny cold fire in them, and he said never a word."Well, then!" said the uncle. "What are we doing""I shouldn't like mother to know I was lucky," said the boy."Why not, son""She'd stop me.""I don't think she would.""Oh!" --and the boy writhed in and odd way--"I don't want her to know, uncle.""All right, son! We'll manage it without her knowing."They managed it very easily. Paul, at the other's suggestion, handed over five thousand pounds to his uncle, who deposited it with the family lawyer, who was then to inform Paul's mother that a relative had put five thousand pounds into his hands, which sum was to be paid out a thousand pounds at a time, on the mother's birthday, for the next five years."So she'll have a birthday present of a thousand pounds for five successive years," said Uncle Oscar. "I hope it won't make it all the harder for her later."Paul's mother had her birthday in November. The house had been "whispering" worse than ever lately, and, even in spite of his luck, Paul could not bear up against it. He was very anxious to see the effect of the birthday letter, telling his mother about the thousand pounds.When there was no visitors, Paul now took his meals with his parents, as he was beyond the nursery control. His mother went into town nearly every day. She had discovered that she had an odd knackof sketching furs and dress materials, so she worked secretly in the studio of a friend who was the chief "artist" for the leading drapers. She drew the figures of ladies in furs and ladies in silk and sequins for the newspaper advertisements. This young woman artist earned several thousand pounds a year, but Paul's mother only made several hundreds, and she was again dissatisfied. She so wanted to be first in something, and she did not succeed, even in making sketches for drapery advertisements.She was down to breakfast on the morning of her birthday. Paul watched her face as she read her letters. He knew the lawyer's letter. As his mother read it, her face hardened and became more expressionless. Then a cold, determined look came on her mouth. She hid the letter under the pile of others, and said not a word about it."Didn't you have anything nice in the post for your birthday, mother" said Paul."Quite moderately nice," she said, her voice cold and absent.She went away to town without saying more.But in the afternoon Uncle Oscar appeared. He said Paul's mother had had a long interview with the lawyer, asking if the whole five thousand could not be advanced at once, as she was in debt. "What do you think, uncle" said the boy."I leave it to you, son.""Oh, let her have it, then! We can get some more with the other," said the boy."A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, laddie!" said Uncle Oscar."But I'm sure to know for the Grand National; or the Lincolnshire; or else the Derby. I'm sure to know for one of them," said Paul.So Uncle Oscar signed the agreement, and Paul's mother touched the whole five thousand. Then something very curious happened. The voices in the house suddenly went mad, like a chorus of frogs on a spring evening. There were certain new furnishings, and Paul had a tutor. He was really going to Eton, his father's school, in the following autumn. There were flowers in the winter, and a blossoming of the luxury Paul's mother had been used to. And yet the voices in the house, behind the sprays of mimosa and almond blossom, and from under the piles of iridescent cushions, simply trilled and screamed in a sort of ecstasy: "There must be more money! Oh-h-h; there must be more money. Oh, now, now-w! Now-w-w--there must be more money!--more than ever! More than ever!"It frightened Paul terribly. He studied away at his Latin and Greek with his tutors. But his intense hours were spent with Bassett. The Grand National had bone by: he had not "known", and had lost a hundred pounds. Summer was at hand. He was in agony for the Lincoln. But even for the Lincoln he didn't "know", and he lost fifty pounds. He became wild-eyed and strange, as if something were goingto explode in him."Let it alone, son! Don't you bother about it!" urged Uncle Oscar. But it was as if the boy couldn't really hear what his uncle was saying."I've got to know for the Derby! I've got to know for the Derby!" the child reiterated, his big blue eyes blazing with a sort of madness.His mother noticed how overwrought he was."You'd better go to the seaside. Wouldn't you like to go now to the seaside, instead of waiting I think you'd better," she said, looking down at him anxiously, her heart curiously heavy about him.But the child lifted his uncanny blue eyes."I couldn't possibly go before the derby, mother!" he said. "I couldn't possibly!""Why not" she said, her voice becoming heavy when she was opposed. "Why not You can still go from the seaside to see the Derby with your Uncle Oscar, if that's what you wish. No need for you to wait here. Besides, I think you care too much about these races. It's a bad sign. My family has been a gambling family, and you won't know till you grow up how much damage it has done. But it has done damage. I shall have to send Bassett away, and ask Uncle Oscar not to talk racing to you, unless you promise to be reasonable about it; go away to the seaside and forget it. You're all nerves!""I'll do what you like, mother, so long as you don't send me away till after the Derby," the boy said. "Send you away from where Just from this house""Yes," he said, gazing at her."Why, you curious child, what makes you care about this house so much, suddenly I never knew you loved it."He gazed at her without speaking. He had a secret within a secret, something he had not divulge d, even to Bassett or to his Uncle Oscar.But his mother, after standing undecided and a little bit sullen for some moments, said:"Very well, then! Don't go to the seaside till after the Derby, if you don't wish it. But promise me you won't let your nerves to go pieces. Promise you won't think so much about horse-racing and events, as you call them!""Oh, no," said the boy casually. "I won't think much about them, mother. You needn't worry. I wouldn't worry, mother, if I were you.""If you were me and I were you," said his mother, "I wonder what we should do!""But you know you needn't worry, mother, don't you" the boy repeated."I should be awfully glad to know it," she said wearily."Oh, well, you can, you know. I mean, you ought to know you needn't worry," he insisted."Ought I Then I'll see about it," she said.Paul's secret of secrets was his wooden horse, that which had no name. Since he was emancipated from a nurse and a nursery-governess, he had had his rocking-horse removed to his own bedroom at the top of the house."Surely, you're too big for a rocking-horse!" his mother had remonstrated."Well, you see, mother, till I can have a real horse, I like to have some sort of animal about," had been his quaint answer."Do you feel he keeps you company" she laughed."Oh, yes! He's very good, he always keeps me company, when I'm there," said Paul.So the horse, rather shabby, stood in an arrested prance in the boy's bedroom.The Derby was drawing near, and the boy grew more and more tense. He hardly heard what was spoken to him, he was very frail, and his eyes were really uncanny. His mother had sudden strange seizures of uneasiness about him. Sometimes, for half-an-hour, she would feel a sudden anxiety about him that was almost anguish. She wanted to rush to him at once, and know he was safe.Two nights before the Derby, she was at a big party in town, when one of her rushes of anxiety about her boy, her first-born, gripped her heart till she could hardly speak. She fought with the feeling,might and main , for she believed in common-sense. But it was too strong. She had to leave the dance and go downstairs to telephone to the country. The children's nursery-governess was terribly surprised and startled at being rung up in the night."Are all the children all right, Miss Wilmot""Oh, yes, they are quite all right."。
英语作文西方故事带翻译
《玛吉的礼物》是一个感人的故事，讲述了一对年轻夫妇吉姆和戴拉，由于经济困难，他们苦于买不起彼此的圣诞礼物。 在一次无私的爱的行为中，他们都做出了牺牲，为彼此获取礼物，只是意识到他们的礼物现在已经毫无意义。 O·亨利的故事很好地诠释了真正的给予精神以及Байду номын сангаас和牺牲的深度。
Conclusion
Translation:
《抽签》是著名作家雪莉·杰克逊所写的一部著名短篇小说。 故事发生在一个小村庄，在那里居民每年都参加一次抽签活动。 然而，抽签的真实本质却远比最初想象的更加黑暗和令人震惊。 通过这个故事，杰克逊探讨了传统、牺牲以及盲目遵循习俗的危险。
2. "The Rocking-Horse Winner" by D.H. Lawrence
"The Gift of the Magi" is a heartwarming story about a young couple, Jim and Della, who are struggling to afford Christmas presents for each other due to their financial difficulties. In a selfless act of love, they both make sacrifices to obtain gifts for one another, only to realize that their gifts are now useless. O. Henry's story beautifully illustrates the true spirit of giving and the depth of love and sacrifice.
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木摇马上的赢家——D.H.劳伦斯她是一个美丽的女人，身来有着一切有利于她的优势，但她很不幸。
她为了爱情而结婚，可爱情毫不领情。
她有几个漂亮健康的孩子，可她至今觉得那是上帝硬塞给她的，她并不爱他们。
孩子们看她时的冷淡的眼神就像在她身上寻找错误一样。
她也会马上意识到那些眼光，好像她真的犯了什么错误必须及时掩盖掉。
可究竟要掩盖什么，她却不知道。
然而当她儿女在场时，她却总觉得自己心变得硬起来。
这使她很烦恼，在举止上她全身心的表现出温和和关切，就像她很爱他们一样。
只有她自己知道她内心深处是一块狭窄冰冷的地方,无法感觉到爱，不，甚至是任何人的爱。
每个人都说她是个好母亲，她很喜爱她的孩子们。
但她和孩子们知道事实并不是这样。
他们早已从彼此的目光中读出来啦！她有一个男孩两个女孩，有一幢舒适带有花园的房子，还有几个谨慎的仆人。
这些使得他们一家比任何邻里都显得富裕。
虽然他们生活奢华，但总在这房子里感到焦虑。
因为钱从来没有够用过。
母亲有一小笔收入，父亲也有一小笔收入，可对他们不得不保持的社会地位来说这些钱根本不够。
父亲在市政府工作，似乎前程似锦，但他的前程似乎又永远不会到来。
虽然他们的生活保持着一贯的风格，可缺钱的感觉从来没有停止折磨他们过。
后来母亲说：“我来想想办法吧！”可她无从着手。
她绞尽脑汁，左思右想，却几乎没有想到一个可行的办法。
挫折在她脸上刻下了深深的皱痕。
她的孩子渐渐长大了，他们要跨入学校。
一定要有更多的钱！一定要有更多的钱！然而，父亲，一个外表时髦开支庞大的人，似乎始终没有能力做一些值得可做的事；至于母亲，她很自信，可也好不到哪儿去，她也有着很大的开销。
因此，一句从未有人说起过的话如鬼魂在屋里回荡：一定要有更多的钱！一定要有更多的钱！即使没有人发出声，孩子们也可以听到这句话。
在圣诞夜，当昂贵精致的玩具挂满他们房间的时候，他们听到了。
在铮亮摩登的木摇马后面，在有漂亮玩具的房间后面，一个声音开始小声对他们说：一定要有更多的钱！一定要有更多的钱！这时，孩子们会停下来，静静听一会。
他们彼此看着对方的眼睛，看看其他人的反应。
每个人都从另外两个的眼中看出，他们也听到了。
“一定要有更多的钱！一定要有更多的钱！”这声音还从不断摇晃的木摇马的弹簧中传出来，就连那低着咬着嚼子的木头脑袋的木摇马也听见了。
坐在新婴儿车里脸蛋粉红在傻笑的大洋娃娃也清楚得听到了，好像还因为听到这句话，笑得更不好意思起来。
那只取代泰迪熊的傻乎乎的小狗也是这样，看上去还变得额外傻了一些，就是那句神秘的轻轻的在整个屋子里回荡的话：“一定要有更多的钱！一定要有更多的钱！”当然，没有人说过这句话。
正因为这句话随处响起，才没有人说出有谁听到了它。
就像我们没有人会讲：“我正在呼吸。
”尽管事实上我们时时刻刻都在呼进呼出。
“妈妈，”有一天保罗说，“咱们干吗不买一辆自己的车啊？为什么我们老用舅舅的车要么就是出租车呢？”“因为我们家里穷。
”“为什么我们家里穷呢？”“恩——我想，”她缓慢而凄苦地说，“可能是你爸爸运气不好吧！”男孩沉默了一会。
“运气就是钱吗，妈妈？”他小心翼翼的问。
“不，保罗，不全对。
它可以使你有钱。
”“噢，”保罗含糊地说，“我以为奥斯卡舅舅说的臭运气是指钱哩！”“臭钱就是指钱，”母亲说，“他说的是钱，不是运气！”“噢，”男孩又问，“那运气是什么呢，妈妈？”“就是可以使你变得有钱的东西。
假如你运气好你就会很有钱，这就是为什么生来运气好的人胜过生来很有钱的人。
假如你有钱，你可能还会失去。
但假如你运气好，你总会不断地得到钱。
”“哦，是吗？爸爸的运气好吗？”“老实说他的运气很不好！”她的声音有点悲凉。
男孩捉摸不定的眼神看着他的母亲。
“为什么呢？”他问。
“我不知道。
没有人知道为什么偏偏这个人运气好而那个人运气就不好。
”“真的？真的没人知道？谁都不知道？”“也许上帝知道吧，但他从不会说的。
”“他应该说的。
您的运气也不好吗，妈妈？”“如果我嫁给了一个运气不好的人，那我的运气也不会好的。
”“可您自己的运气也不好吗？”“在结婚以前我以为自己运气还不错，可我现在觉得实在是糟透了。
”“为什么？”“恩——不管它了，也许我并不真的那样。
”她说。
孩子看着她，瞧瞧她是否真的有这个意思。
但从她嘴边露出的皱纹看来，她只是想把一些东西隐瞒起来。
“唔——不管怎样，”他坚定有力地说，“我是一个运气好的人。
”“为什么？”母亲被他的突然之举笑出声来。
他盯着她。
他甚至不知道自己为什么要说这句话。
“上帝告诉我的。
”他铁青着脸皮宣称。
“我希望他是这么说了，宝贝！”她又一次笑出声来，声音却更凄苦了。
“他是这样说了，妈！”“很好啊！”母亲用了他丈夫的口头禅。
男孩看得出他妈妈并不相信他，不，她甚至没有注意到他坚决的语气。
这使得他生气了，他非要他母亲注意到他的正确不可。
带着这个模糊的念头，孩子气地独自走开，去寻找有关“运气”的线索了。
他如此专心致志，一点也不在意别人，带几分秘密地走来走去，从内心深处寻找他所要的运气。
他要运气，他要运气，他要运气。
当两个女孩在育儿室玩洋娃娃的时候，他就坐在他的大木摇马上，发狂地冲进无人知道的空间里。
那股狂热劲儿使得小女孩们不安地注视着他。
木摇马疯狂地奔驰着，男孩黑色的头发舞动起来，眼睛里闪着一种诡异的光芒。
小女孩们都不敢和他说话了。
当他骑到他的疯狂而短暂的旅程终点时，他爬下来，站在木摇马前面，集中眼神盯着把头低下的木摇马的脸。
它的红嘴微微张开，大眼睛睁得很大，像玻璃一般明亮。
“现在！”他默默地命令那只还在喘着鼻息的马，“快，快带我到有好运气的地放去！快带我去！”他拿着向奥斯卡舅舅要来的鞭子抽打着它的脖子。
他知道只有强迫那匹马它才会带你到有好运的地方。
然后他再次骑上马，开始他的狂暴的旅程，希望最终能够到达那儿。
“你会把它骑坏的，保罗！”保姆说。
“他总是那样骑它！但愿他能下来！”姐姐琼说。
可他只是沉默地瞪了他们一眼。
保姆放弃了。
她拿他没有办法了。
毕竟他已经到了不受她管束的年龄。
一天母亲和奥斯卡舅舅走进来，正好看到他其中一次疯狂的旅程。
他没有对他们说话。
“你好，我的小赛马师！骑着一匹优胜的马吗？”他的舅舅说。
“你的年龄骑木马是不是太大了？你不是个小孩子了，你应该懂的！”他的母亲说。
但保罗只是睁大他的绿眼睛瞪了她一眼。
在他旅途过程中从不和人讲话。
母亲望着他，脸上露出担忧的面容。
终于，他突然停止强迫他的马做机械地飞驰了，滑下了马。
“好的，我到那儿了！”他尖声宣布，他的绿眼睛仍然在闪烁，他的结实的长腿叉开着。
“你到哪了？”他的母亲问。
“到我想要去的地方，”他不耐烦地说。
“这就对了，孩子！”奥斯卡舅舅说。
“在到达终点前绝不停下！这匹马叫什么？”“它没有名字，”男孩说。
“就这样没有名字下去吗？”舅舅问。
“恩——它有几个不同的名字呢。
上个星期叫桑那维诺。
”“桑那维诺，恩？在阿科斯特跑第一的。
你怎么知道的？”“他老是跟巴塞特谈论赛马，”琼说。
舅舅发现小外甥对赛马十分熟悉，感到非常欣奇。
巴塞特曾经是个勤务兵，在战争中伤了左脚，通过奥斯卡.克雷斯韦尔找到了现在的工作，他是个赛马老手。
这个简直生活在赛马里的家伙。
小男孩就和这样的人在一起。
奥斯卡.克雷斯韦尔从巴塞特那儿知道到了一切。
“保罗少爷来问，我只好告诉他，老爷，”巴塞特一本正经地说，就像在谈宗教上的事情。
“他在他喜欢的马上下过注吗？”“唔，我不想泄露这些事的，他是一个小赛马赌手，而且是个出色的赌手，老爷。
你可以自己去问他吗？也许他会觉得是我出卖他的，他可是喜欢上赛马了，老爷，如果你不介意的话。
”巴塞特严肃得像座教堂一样。
舅舅回到他的外甥那，开车带他去兜兜风。
“我说，保罗，伙计，你在赛马上下过注？”孩子凑近了看着这个俊朗的男人。
“为什么那样说？你认为我不该这样吗？”男孩回避了问题。
“一点也不！我想你也许可以给我一点建议，关于林肯郡赛马的。
”汽车飞快地开进乡村，朝奥斯卡舅舅住的汉普郡驶去。
“以名誉担保？”外甥说。
“名誉但保，孩子！”舅舅说。
“好的，那么是‘黄水仙’。
”“‘黄水仙’！我不信，可爱的孩子。
‘米尔扎’怎么样？”“我只知道优胜的马，”男孩说，“那就是‘黄水仙’。
”“‘黄水仙’，唔？”两个人沉默了一会。
黄水仙是匹不太引人注意的马。
“舅舅！”“什么，孩子？”“您别告诉其他人，好吗？我答应过巴塞特的。
”“该死的巴塞特，这跟他有什么关系？”“我们是拍挡。
我们一开始就是合伙人。
舅舅，他先借给我五先令，可我输了。
我答应过他，以名誉担保。
这件事只有我们两个知道；直到你给了我十先令以后，我才开始赢了，所以我认为你是个幸运的人。
你会保守秘密的，对吗？”男孩的那双炽热的又大又绿的眼睛靠得紧紧的，凝视着舅舅。
舅舅哆嗦了一下，不自然地笑起来，“你说得对，孩子！我会保守秘密的，‘黄水仙’，恩？你在它身上下了多少？”“所有的钱，只剩下二十英镑，”男孩说，“我留着作储备金。
”舅舅认为这是个玩笑。
“你留下二十镑作储备金是吗，小幻想家？那你下了多少注呢？”“三百镑，”男孩郑重其事地说，“但这只有你和我知道，奥斯卡舅舅，名誉担保？”舅舅终于忍不住哈哈大笑起来。
“对，就你和我知道，你真是年轻时的纳特.古尔德啊，”他笑着说，“但你那三百镑在哪儿呢？”“巴塞特替我保管着呢。
我们是拍挡。
”“你们是吗？那么巴塞特在黄水仙身上下了多少注呢？”“我猜他不会下得像我那样多的，也许一百五吧。
”“什么，便士吗？”舅舅笑着问。
“英镑，”孩子不解地看着他的舅舅，说“但他留了更多的钱作储备金。
”舅舅在好奇和惊讶中冷静下来，他没再刨根问底下去，但他决定带着他的外甥去林肯赛马场。
“孩子，”他说，“现在我下五镑在‘米尔扎’身上，我还愿意帮你下五镑在你喜欢的马上。
你挑哪一匹？”“‘黄水仙’，舅舅。
”“不。
我们不下‘黄水仙’。
”“如果那五镑是我的我就下‘黄水仙’。
”“好吧！好吧！你说得对！这五镑我来下，这五镑下‘黄水仙’。
”孩子从来没有看过一场真正的赛马，他的眼睛都冒出了绿色的火。
他的嘴唇紧紧抿着，痴迷地看着比赛。
前面一个法国人下了“兰斯洛特”，因为过度激动，他上下挥舞着双手，带着法国口音大喊，“‘兰斯洛特’！‘兰斯洛特’！”结果‘黄水仙’第一，‘兰斯洛特’第二，‘米尔扎’第三。
在孩子发烫的脸上，那双眼睛炯炯有神，出奇的平静。
他的舅舅帮他领回了四张五镑的钞票，一镑赔四镑。
“我拿这些钱干什么呢？”他在孩子面前晃了晃钞票，高声说道，“我想我们该去和巴塞特谈谈了。
”男孩说，“我现在有一千五百镑了。
二十镑储备金，还有这二十镑。
”他的舅舅认真地看了他一会。
“看着我，孩子！”他说，“你说的巴塞特和一千五百镑的事是闹着玩的，对吧？”“不，是真的。
不过就我俩知道，以名誉担保。
”“是的，名誉担保。
但是我一定得和巴塞特谈谈。
”“要是你也想入伙，舅舅，还有巴塞特和我，那我们就都是拍挡了。