William Shakespeare by Jennifer Bassett

单词提示

1.wicked 邪恶的，有害的

原文

Chapter 3: The actors come to town

Will married Anne Hathaway in November, and she came to live in Henley Street.

John Shakespeare was pleased that his oldest son was married, but I don't think Will's mother wanted him to marry so young.

Families cost a lot of money, and John Shakespeare was having a lot of money troubles in those days.

Times were hard in Henley Street.

Susanna was born the next May.

All babies looked the same to me, but Will was very pleased with her look.

“Toby,she's got my eyes,” he said happily. “She's going to be as beautiful as the Queen of Egypt and as clever as King Solomon.”

“Oh yes.” I said.

All parents talk like that about their children, I don't believe a word of it.

I didn't see much of Will's wife, I knew she didn't like me.

To her, I was one of Will's wild friends who got him into trouble.

She came from a very serious Puritan family, lots of church going, and no singing or dancing.

Soon,there was another baby on the way.

And one evening in February 1585, I hurried round to Henley Street to hear the news.

Will's sister Joan open the door, and then Will came running down the stairs.

“It's two of them.” he said, “Twins, a girl and a boy. Isn't that wonderful?”

Will had some good friends Hamnet and Judith Sadler, and he called the twins after them.

John Shakespeare was very pleased to have his first grandson, and everyone was happy for a while.

Will and I still went around together when we could.

He was still reading and writing, and soon I could see a change in him.

He was 23 now, and he was not happy with his life.

“Stratford's too small, Toby.” he said, “Too slow, too quiet, too boring. I've got to getaway.”

“Yes,but how?” I asked, “You've got a family, three young children, remember?”

He didn't answer.

In the summer months, companies of players often came to small towns.

And in 1587, five different companies came.

Will and I always went to see the plays, Will love to talk to the actors and to listen to all their stories of London.

The Queen's men came to Stratford in June, and we went to see the play.

I don't remember what it was.

I know that I laughed a lot and that Will said it was a stupid play with not a word of poetry in it.

“Why don't you write a play yourself?” I told him.

“Write a play?” he laughed and would never speak to me again.

I didn't say anything, and Will looked at me and laughed again.

It happened a few months later.

I walked into the Shakespeare's kitchen one evening.

And there was Anne, with a red, angry face, shouting at the top of her voice.

“How can you do this to me? And what about the children?”

Then she saw me and stopped.

Will was sitting at the table and looked pleased to see me.

“I've told Anne,” he said quietly, “that I'm going to live in London. I want to be an actor and to write plays if I can.”

“Please…”screamed Anne, “Acting actors are dirty, wicked people. They're all thieves and criminals, they drink all day, and they never go to church.”

“Don't be stupid, Anne. You know that's not true. Listen, I'll come home when I can,but I must go to London. I can't do anything in Stratford.”

He looked at me across the room.

“Are you coming with me, Toby?”

“How soon can we start?” I said.

翻译

第三章：剧团来到镇上

威尔在11月娶了安妮·海瑟薇，随后她便搬到亨利街住了下来。
威尔的父亲很高兴大儿子成了家，但我猜威尔的母亲并不希望他这么早就结婚。
养活一大家子开销很大，而约翰·莎士比亚那阵子正深陷财务危机。
亨利街的日子过得很艰难。

第二年5月，苏珊娜出生了。
在我看来，所有婴儿长得都差不多，但威尔却对女儿的模样满意极了。
“托比，她的眼睛长得和我一模一样，”他高兴地说，“她将来一定会像埃及艳后那样美丽，像所罗门王那样聪明。”
“哦，是啊。”我应和道。
天底下的父母都会这么夸自己的孩子，我可一个字都不信。

我和威尔的妻子碰面的次数不多，我知道她并不喜欢我。
在她眼里，我就是那种会把威尔带坏、给他惹麻烦的“狐朋狗友”。
她出身于一个极其严肃的清教徒家庭，家里除了去教堂做礼拜，绝不允许唱歌跳舞。

没过多久，安妮肚子里又怀上了。
1585年2月的一天傍晚，我急匆匆地赶到亨利街去听消息。
威尔的姐姐琼开了门，接着威尔便跑下了楼梯。
“是双胞胎！”他说，“一男一女，这难道不是天大的喜事吗？”
威尔有对好朋友叫哈姆内特和朱迪思·萨德勒，他便用他们的名字来给双胞胎命名。
约翰·莎士比亚喜得长孙，乐得合不拢嘴，大家也都跟着高兴了一阵子。

只要有机会，威尔和我还是经常形影不离。
他依旧不停地读书、写作，很快我就察觉到他身上发生了一些变化。
他那时23岁，对自己的生活感到十分不满。
“斯特拉特福太小了，托比，”他说，“太慢、太安静、太无聊了。我必须离开这里。”
“是啊，可怎么离开呢？”我问，“你可是有家室的人，别忘了你还有三个年幼的孩子。”
他没有回答。

每年夏天，总会有戏班子来到小镇上巡演。
1587年，先后来了五个不同的剧团。
威尔和我总是去看戏，威尔特别喜欢和演员们搭话，听他们讲那些关于伦敦的奇闻轶事。

6月，“女王剧团”来到了斯特拉特福，我们也去看了他们的演出。
我不记得演的是什么戏了。
只记得我笑得前仰后合，而威尔却说那是出烂戏，连一句诗意的台词都没有。
“你干嘛不自己写一出戏呢？”我对他说。
“自己写戏？”他大笑起来，仿佛我说了什么天方夜谭。
我没再吭声，威尔看着我，又笑了起来。

几个月后，事情真的发生了。
一天晚上，我走进莎士比亚家的厨房。
只见安妮满脸通红，正扯着嗓子大发雷霆。
“你怎么能这么对我？你考虑过孩子们吗？”
接着她看见了我，这才停了下来。
威尔正坐在桌旁，看见我进来，似乎还挺高兴。
“我已经告诉安妮了，”他平静地说，“我要去伦敦生活。我想当个演员，如果可能的话，还要写剧本。”
“求你了……”安妮尖叫道，“演员都是些肮脏、邪恶的人。他们全都是小偷和罪犯，整天喝酒，从来不去教堂！”
“别犯傻了，安妮。你知道那不是真的。听着，只要有机会我就会回家，但我必须去伦敦。在斯特拉特福，我什么都做不成。”
他隔着房间看向我。
“你要和我一起去吗，托比？”
“我们什么时候能出发？”我说。