歐洲亨利短篇小說《麥琪的禮物》相關(guān)介紹

[內(nèi)容介紹]

《麥琪的禮物》講述的是圣誕節(jié)時(shí)發(fā)生在社會(huì)下層的小家庭里的故事。

男主人公吉姆是一位薪金僅夠維持生活的小職員，女主人公德拉是一位賢惠善良的主婦。他們的生活貧窮，但吉姆和德拉各自擁有一樣極珍貴的寶物。吉姆有祖?zhèn)鞯囊粔K金表，德拉有一頭美麗的瀑布般的秀發(fā)。為了能在圣誕節(jié)送給對(duì)方一件禮物，吉姆賣掉了他的金表為德拉買了一套“純玳瑁做的，邊上鑲著珠寶”的梳子；德拉賣掉了自己的長發(fā)為吉姆買了一條白金表鏈。他們都為對(duì)方舍棄了自己最寶貴的東西，而換來的禮物卻因此變得毫無作用了。

Gifts of the Magi

【人物介紹】

德拉

德拉對(duì)她的一頭秀發(fā)是珍愛有加、引以自豪的。她天性愛美，再窮也要把自己打扮得干凈漂亮，在丈夫面前展示自己的美麗。但為了給丈夫買一件“精致、珍奇而真正有價(jià)值”的圣誕禮物，她忍痛割愛，以愛換錢，為丈夫買了珍貴的白金表鏈。

吉姆

吉姆全身心地投入工作，薪水卻極菲薄，且在不斷縮減。只能住在貧民窟一般的公寓里，每周的入除房租、伙食費(fèi)之外，幾近于無。但他非常喜愛妻子這頭美麗的褐發(fā)，深知愛妻為了裝扮頭發(fā)對(duì)百老匯路上一家商店櫥窗里陳列的王代猖發(fā)梳渴望已久，為了在圣誕前夕給愛妻贈(zèng)送禮物，忍痛賣掉了三代祖?zhèn)鞯慕鸨怼?/p>

Jim's Gold Watch

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英文小說正文：

Gifts of the Magi

By O. Henry

Gifts of the Magi

This story was written at the time when men did not wear their watches on their arms as they do now, but in their pockets, with a chain. Women had long hair of which they were very proud, and they put combs at the sides and back.

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. Della counted it three times. One dollar and eighty-seven cents, and the next day would be Christmas. She sat down and cried. Della was Mrs. James Dillingham-Young. She and her husband lived in two rooms at the top of a building in a poor part of New York. Once Jim Della’s husband, had work which paid him thirty dollars a week; but now he got only twenty. Jim and Della loved each other very much.

Della stopped crying. She stood by the window and looked out. Tomorrow would be Christmas day and she had only one dollar eighty-seven cents with which buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, and this is all she had got. She had spent many happy hours planning something nice for him, something fine and beautiful which was really worth for Jim.

Suddenly she turned quickly round and stood in front of the looking-glass. Her eyes were shining brightly, but her face had lost its color. She quickly pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length.

There were two possessions of Mr. and Mrs. Young in which they took great pride. One was Jim’s gold watch. That watch had belonged to his father and before that to his grandfather. The other proud possession was Della’s hair: it was beautiful hair: it flowed down her back like a golden river.

She quickly did up her hair again. She put on her old coat and the old brown hat, ran down the stairs and out into the street. She stopped at a shop: “Madame Sofrone, Hair-goods of all kinds”. She ran up the stairs.

“Will you buy my hair?” said Della.

“I buy hair,” said Madame. “Take off your hat and let me see it.”

Down flowed the river of gold.

Madame lifted the hair in her hand. “Twenty dollars.” she said.

“Give me quickly,” said Della.

For the next two hours Della was searching the shops for Jim’s present. She found the present at last. It had certainly been made for Jim and for no one else. It was good enough to go with his watch. In the past Jim sometimes did not like to take out his watch because it had no chain; but, with that chain on his watch, Jim might look at the time in any company.

When Della reached home she set to work to do something to her hair, and her head was covered with little curls which made her look like a schoolboy.

At seven o’clock the evening meal was ready.

Jim was never late. She held the watch-chain in her hand and sat on a corner of the table near the door though which he always came in. Then she heard his step on the stairs. She said a little prayer: “Please, God, make Jim think I am still pretty.” The door opened and Jim came in. He looked very thin and serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two. He needed a new coat.

Jim stopped inside the door and stood there. His eyes were fixed on Della. There was a strange look in them. It was not anger, nor surprise. Della could not understand that strange look. He simply stood there looking at her----looking.

Della got off the table and went to him.

“Jim dear,” she said, “don’t look at me in that way. I ---- I had my hair cut off and I sold it, because I couldn’t have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. My hair will grow again. You don’t mind, do you? I had to do it. My hair grows very fast. Say ‘Happy Christmas’, Jim, and let’s be happy. You don’t know what a beautiful present I’ve got for you.”

“You’ve cut off your hair?” said Jim, as he hadn’t quite understood the fact yet.

“Yes, I’ve cut it off and sold it,” said Della. “Don’t you like just as well without my hair? I’m just the same girl without my hair, aren’t I?”

Jim looked about the room. “You say your hair is gone?” he said.

“You don’t need to look for it,” said Della. “I tell you it’s sold. It’s sold; it’s gone. And this is the evening before Christmas, Jim. I sold it for you. It may be that ‘ the hairs of my head are numbered’, but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I get the meal ready, Jim?”

Jim took Della in his arms and kissed her. Then he took a packet out of his coat pocket and put it on the table.

“Don’t make any mistake, Della,” he said. “I don’t think there is anything that you could do to your hair which would make me love my girl any less. But, if you will undo the packet, you will see why I was rather surprised at first.”

Della undid the packet and gave a cry of joy. Then she began to cry. For there lay the combs! The set of combs, side and back, which she had looked at so long in the window of a shop. They were beautiful combs with jewels in them, just the right color for her hair. She had looked at them and wanted them, yet never hope to possess them. Now they were hers; but the hair for which she had wanted them was gone.

She looked up at Jim with tear-filled eyes. Then, with a smile, she said, “My hair grows so fast, Jim.”

She jumped up and cried, “Oh! Oh! Oh!”

Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to him in her open hand. The bright gold shone.

“Isn’t it beautiful, Jim? I hunted all over the town to find it. You’ll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch, I want to see how it looks on it.”

Jim did not obey. He sat down, and put his hands behind his head and smiled.

“Della,” he said, “l(fā)et’s put our Christmas present away and keep them for a time. They’re too nice to use just at present… I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. Now shall we have our evening meal?”

The Magi brought presents to Jesus Christ on the first Christmas of all Christmases. They first had the idea of giving Christmas presents. They were wise. Here I have told you this story of two foolish children in a poor set of rooms who gave up for each other his or her greatest treasure. They chose their presents unwisely; but those gifts which are the sign of real love are the best gifts of all.

They are the Magi.

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作者簡介

作者：（美國）歐·亨利（O.Henry.）

歐·亨利（O.Henry.）

歐·亨利原名威廉·西德尼·波特(William Sydney Porter)，是美國最著名的短篇小說家之一，曾被評(píng)論界譽(yù)為曼哈頓桂冠散文作家和美國現(xiàn)代短篇小說之父。他出身于美國北卡羅來納州格林斯波羅鎮(zhèn)一個(gè)醫(yī)師家庭。

他的一生富于傳奇性，當(dāng)過藥房學(xué)徒、牧牛人、會(huì)計(jì)員、土地局辦事員、新聞?dòng)浾摺y行出納員。當(dāng)銀行出納員時(shí)，因銀行短缺了一筆現(xiàn)金，為避免審訊，離家流亡中美的洪都拉斯。后因回家探視病危的妻子被捕入獄，并在監(jiān)獄醫(yī)務(wù)室任藥劑師。他創(chuàng)作第一部作品的起因是為了給女兒買圣誕禮物，但基于犯人的身份不敢使用真名，乃用一部法國藥典的編者的名字作為筆名。1901年提前獲釋后，遷居紐約，專門從事寫作。

歐·亨利善于描寫美國社會(huì)尤其是紐約百姓的生活。他的作品構(gòu)思新穎，語言詼諧，結(jié)局常常出人意外；又因描寫了眾多的人物，富于生活情趣，被譽(yù)為“美國生活的幽默百科全書”。代表作有小說集《白菜與國王》、《四百萬》、《命運(yùn)之路》等。其中一些名篇如《愛的犧牲》、《警察與贊美詩》、《帶家具出租的房間》、《麥琪的禮物》、《最后一片藤葉》等使他獲得了世界聲譽(yù)。

名句：“這時(shí)一種精神上的感慨油然而生，認(rèn)為人生是由啜泣、抽噎和微笑組成的，而抽噎占了其中絕大部分。”（《歐·亨利短篇小說選》）

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《歐·亨利短篇小說選》作品目錄

The gift of the magi

A cosmopolite in a cafe

Between rounds

The skylight room

A service of love

The cop and the anthem

The love-philtre of lkey schoenstein

Mammon and the archer

Springtime ala carte

An unfinished story

Sisters of the golden circle

The romance of a busy broker

The furnished room

Telemachus,friend

The handbook of hymen

The pendulum

The buyer from cactus city

Vanity and some sables

The social triangle

The lost blend

A harlem Tragedy

The last leaf

The count and the wedding guest

Jeff peters as a personal magnet

The exact science of matrimony

Conscience in art

The man higher up

A ramble in aphasia

Proof of the pudding

Past one at rooney's

‘The rose of Dixie’

The third ingredient

Buried treasure

The moment of victory

The sleuths

Witches'loaves

At arms with morpheus

Jimmy hayes and muriel

The duplicity of hargreaves

Law and order

‘Next to reading matter’

A double-dyed deceiver

The passing of black eagle

A lickpenny lover

‘Little speck in garnered fruit’

While the auto waits

The shocks of doom

A technical error

Ruler of men

The atavism of john tom little bear

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The End

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2018年3月10日

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