红酋长的赎金 英文原文
Written by O. Henry
Now, the VOA Special English program, AMERICAN STORIES.
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We present the short story "The Ransom of Red Chief" by O. Henry. Here is Shep O'Neal with the story.
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STORYTELLER:
It looked like a good thing. But wait till I tell you. We were down south, in Alabama – Bill Driscoll and myself – when this kidnapping idea struck us. There was a town down there, as flat as a pancake, and called Summit. Bill and I had about six hundred dollars. We needed just two thousand dollars more for an illegal land deal in Illinois.
We chose for our victim -- the only child of an influential citizen named Ebenezer Dorset. He was a boy of ten, with red hair. Bill and I thought that Ebenezer would pay a ransom of two thousand dollars to get his boy back. But wait till I tell you.
About two miles from Summit was a little mountain, covered with cedar trees. There was an opening on the back of the mountain. We stored our supplies in that cave.
One night, we drove a horse and carriage past old Dorset's house. The boy was in the street, throwing rocks at a cat on the opposite fence.
"Hey little boy!" says Bill, "would you like to have a bag of candy and a nice ride?"
The boy hits Bill directly in the eye with a piece of rock.
That boy put up a fight like a wild animal. But, at last, we got him down in the bottom of the carriage and drove away.
We took him up to the cave. The boy had two large bird feathers stuck in his hair. He points a stick at me and says:
"Ha! Paleface, do you dare to enter the camp of Red Chief, the terror of the plains?"
"He's all right now," says Bill, rolling up his pants and examining wounds on his legs. "We're playing Indian. I'm Old Hank, the trapper, Red Chief's captive. I'm going to be scalped at daybreak. By Geronimo! That kid can kick hard."
"Red Chief," says I to the boy, "would you like to go home?"
"Aw, what for?" says he. "I don't have any fun at home. I hate to go to school. I like to camp out. You won't take me back home again, will you?"
"Not right away," says I. "We'll stay here in the cave a while."
"All right!" says he. "That'll be fine. I never had such fun in all my life."
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We went to bed about eleven o'clock. Just at daybreak, I was awakened by a series of terrible screams from Bill. Red Chief was sitting on Bill's chest, with one hand holding his hair. In the other, he had a sharp knife. He was attempting to cut off the top of Bill's head, based on what he had declared the night before.
I got the knife away from the boy. But, after that event, Bill's spirit was broken. He lay down, but he never closed an eye again in sleep as long as that boy was with us.
"Do you think anybody will pay out money to get a little imp like that back home?" Bill asked.
"Sure," I said. "A boy like that is just the kind that parents love. Now, you and the Chief get up and make something to eat, while I go up on the top of this mountain and look around."
I climbed to the top of the mountain. Over toward Summit, I expected to see the men of the village searching the countryside. But all was peaceful.
"Perhaps," says I to myself, "it has not yet been discovered that the wolves have taken the lamb from the fold." I went back down the mountain.
When I got to the cave, I found Bill backed up against the side of it. He was breathing hard, with the boy threatening to strike him with a rock.
"He put a red-hot potato down my back," explained Bill, "and then crushed it with his foot. I hit his ears. Have you got a gun with you, Sam?"
I took the rock away from the boy and ended the argument.
"I'll fix you," says the boy to Bill. "No man ever yet struck the Red Chief but what he got paid for it. You better be careful!"
After eating, the boy takes a leather object with strings tied around it from his clothes and goes outside the cave unwinding it. Then we heard a kind of shout. It was Red Chief holding a sling in one hand. He moved it faster and faster around his head.
Just then I heard a heavy sound and a deep breath from Bill. A rock the size of an egg had hit him just behind his left ear. Bill fell in the fire across the frying pan of hot water for washing the dishes. I pulled him out and poured cold water on his head for half an hour.
Then I went out and caught that boy and shook him.
"If your behavior doesn't improve," says I, "I'll take you straight home. Now, are you going to be good, or not?"
"I was only funning," says he. "I didn't mean to hurt Old Hank. But what did he hit me for? I'll behave if you don't send me home."
I thought it best to send a letter to old man Dorset that day, demanding the ransom and telling how it should be paid. The letter said:
"We have your boy hidden in a place far from Summit. We demand fifteen hundred dollars for his return; the money to be left at midnight tonight at the same place and in the same box as your answer.
If you agree to these terms, send the answer in writing by a messenger tonight at half past eight o'clock. After crossing Owl Creek, on the road to Poplar Cove, there are three large trees. At the bottom of the fence, opposite the third tree, will be a small box. The messenger will place the answer in this box and return immediately to Summit. If you fail to agree to our demand, you will never see your boy again. If you pay the money as demanded, he will be returned to you safe and well within three hours."
I took the letter and walked over to Poplar Cove. I then sat around the post office and store. An old man there says he hears Summit is all worried because of Ebenezer Dorset's boy having been lost or stolen. That was all I wanted to know. I mailed my letter and left. The postmaster said the mail carrier would come by in an hour to take the mail on to Summit.
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At half past eight, I was up in the third tree, waiting for the messenger to arrive. Exactly on time, a half-grown boy rides up the road on a bicycle. He finds the box at the foot of the fence. He puts a folded piece of paper into it and leaves, turning back toward Summit.
I slid down the tree, got the note and was back at the cave in a half hour. I opened the note and read it to Bill. This is what it said:
"Gentlemen: I received your letter about the ransom you ask for the return of my son. I think you are a little high in your demands. I hereby make you a counter-proposal, which I believe you will accept. You bring Johnny home and pay me two hundred and fifty dollars, and I agree to take him off your hands. You had better come at night because the neighbors believe he is lost. And, I could not be responsible for what they would do to anybody they saw bringing him back. Very respectfully, Ebenezer Dorset."
"Great pirates of Penzance!" says I, "of all the nerve..." But I looked at Bill and stopped. He had the most appealing look in his eyes I ever saw on the face of a dumb or talking animal.
"Sam," says he, "what's two hundred and fifty dollars, after all? We've got the money. One more night of this boy will drive me crazy. I think Mister Dorset is making us a good offer. You aren't going to let the chance go, are you?"
"Tell you the truth, Bill," says I, "this little lamb has got on my nerves, too. We'll take him home, pay the ransom and make our get-away."
We took him home that night. We got him to go by telling him that his father had bought him a gun and we were going to hunt bears the next day.
It was twelve o'clock when we knocked on Ebenezer's front door. Bill counted out two hundred and fifty dollars into Dorset's hand.
When the boy learned we were planning to leave him at home, he started to cry loudly and held himself as tight as he could to Bill's leg. His father pulled him away slowly.
"How long can you hold him?" asks Bill.
"I'm not as strong as I used to be," says old Dorset, "but I think I can promise you ten minutes."
"Enough," says Bill. "In ten minutes, I shall cross the Central, Southern and Middle Western states, and be running for the Canadian border."
And, as dark as it was, and as fat as Bill was, and as good a runner as I am, he was a good mile and a half out of Summit before I could catch up with him.
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ANNOUNCER:
You have heard the American Story "The Ransom of Red Chief" by O. Henry. Your storyteller was Shep O'Neal. This story was adapted into Special English by Shelley Gollust. It was produced by Lawan Davis. Listen again next week for another American Story in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus.
tiger 做为英文名字 除了“老虎”之外 有何出处、含义
tiger作为男孩的名字。自然名称。由年轻高尔夫球明星老虎伍兹，其名称最初是Eldrick（见埃尔德里奇）着名。从大条纹猫的名字，派生（通过古法语和拉丁语）从希腊语τιγρις（底格里斯河），最终来自伊朗起源。着名的持有者是美国高尔夫球手伍德（Tiger Woods）（1975-）。名字含义：强大的。扩展资料：使用tiger英文名的名人：1、泰格·德鲁-哈尼(Tyger Drew-Honey)，演员，主要作品《Sunday Brunch》、《女婿乱入》、《捣蛋鬼亨利》；2、德国演员蒂尔（Schweiger），在2002年命名他的女儿艾玛老虎（Emma Tiger ）；3、艾德瑞克·泰格·伍兹（Eldrick Tiger Woods），生于1975年12月30日，美国著名高尔夫球手，在2009年前高尔夫世界排名首位，被公认为是史上最成功的高尔夫球手之一。他的绰号“Tiger”的中文意思是“虎”，所以中文经常被称为老虎伍兹。参考资料：百度百科-tiger （英语单词）
求欧 亨利 的《红毛酋长的赎金 》 读后感
读《红酋长的赎金》有感 今天我读了美国著名作家欧·亨利写的文章《红酋长的赎金》。文章的大意是：我和朋友比尔来到一个地方，因为缺钱，所以想起了绑架的勾当。我们看上了一个有地位的人。我们把他的独生子绑架在一个山洞里，哪知道那孩子却喜欢这儿，而且把比尔整得不像样。一会儿要把比尔的头发给割掉，一会儿把比尔当马骑，一会儿给比尔吃沙子。他爸爸还要我们给他250元钱。比尔受不了，求我答应条件，我们只好这样。把他送回去，又付了钱，然后逃跑到很远很远的地方。 我特别喜欢文中这几句话：“天刚亮，比尔的一连串可怕的尖叫惊醒了我。那声音不像是男人发声器官里发出来的叫、嚷、呼、喊或者狂嗥，而是像女人见到鬼或者毛毛虫时发出的粗鄙、可怕而丢脸的尖叫。天蒙蒙亮的时候，听到一个粗壮结实的不法之徒在山洞里这样没命地叫个不停，真是件倒胃口的事。”还有“我跳起来看看究竟出了什么事，只见红酋长骑在比尔的胸口上,一手揪住比尔的头发,一手握住我们切熏肉的快刀。快乐地根据昨天晚上对比尔宣布的决定，起劲而认真地想剥比尔的头皮。……” 读了这篇文章之后，我觉得一个小孩子把两个绑架者玩得团团转，不但没有认为自已被绑架而害怕，反而觉得自已在一个快乐的天地里，还让“我们”给了他爸爸250元钱。这就是好有好报，恶有恶报的结局。我劝一些人千万不要干坏事，不然就像书中的两个人一样，没有好下场 。
欧·亨利的作品《警察与赞美诗》揭示了怎样的社会现象？
《警察与赞美诗》是欧·亨利的优秀短篇小说之一。小说以辛辣的笔调，通过流浪汉苏比命运啼笑皆非的无奈与悲惨，深刻地揭露了资本主义社会的丑恶，并对这一社会的虚伪发出了尖锐而又含泪的嘲笑。因此苏比的悲惨结局正好说明在资本主义社会里，正义无非谎言，幸福不过是空话，罪恶的监狱成了让人向往的仙境，悲惨的地狱却成了天堂！在这个社会里，恶行被放纵，而善良却被惩罚。该小说的故事短小精悍，情节结构简单，但人物性格却鲜明突出，心理活动的刻画非常成功。细小的内容中包含了深远的意味，渎来让人久久不能平静。
欧亨利的警察与赞美诗 ‘赞美诗’的含义是什么？为何是与赞美诗？
因为赞美诗是作为一种平和的理性信仰而存在，是一种美好。苏比在警察的眼中的是一个不良的人，而他居然也安详地听起赞美诗了，警察心里觉得这是不可思议的，觉得苏比是没资格听的。然而赞美诗是不带感情的，它本身就是让人心平静。警察与赞美诗，是一种讽刺。警察象征的是那个冷酷虚伪的社会，赞美诗象征了苏贝的美好愿望，作者用“警察与赞美诗”做题目，是为了形成对比反差。扩展资料《警察与赞美诗》讲述的是一个穷困潦倒、无家可归的流浪汉索丕，寒冬想去监狱熬过，因此费劲脑汁故意犯罪，比如去饭店吃霸王餐，扰乱治安，偷他人的伞，调戏妇女等，然而这些都没有让他如愿进监狱；最后，当他在教堂里被赞美诗所感动，想要从新开始、改邪归正的时候，警察却将他送进了监狱。这篇小说发表之际正逢新工业革命如火如荼之时。美国资本主义在工业化进程中取得极大的物质文明时，美国的生活方式也随之发生巨大的变化，贫富两极分化日益明显。通过这则短篇小说，欧亨利试图向读者展示了美国社会的真实一面。主人公索丕是当时社会现象的一个缩影。小说以喜剧的形式体现了美国下层社会小人物的悲剧命运。
