Mark Twain

馬克·吐温于1835年出生于佛罗里达州，于1910年去世，他的原名是萨缪尔·兰亨·克莱门。他是一位报纸撰稿人和作家，代表作有《汤姆·索亚历险记》和《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》。

“我从来没有一个家，”哈克写道，“我睡在街上或林子里，只要我想做，我就能做我想做的事情。这真是一种美好的生活。”所以，当哈克和道格拉斯住在一起时（道格拉斯决定收他为义子），他根本不喜欢那样的生活。他不得不保持干净、整洁，始终都要听话，还得去上学。然后，哈克的爸爸来了，把他带走并住在了林子里。起初，哈克还挺高兴，但他爸爸总是打他，所以哈克决定逃走。他遇到了吉姆，一个逃跑的奴隶，于是他们决定结伴乘木筏沿密西西比河顺流而下。当然，他们遇到了各种各样的麻烦和危险，但哈克感到很愉快……

下文节选自《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》的第二章节。

Mostly it was a lazy， comfortable kind of life， but after about two months， Pop began to hit me too much with his stick. He often went away into town too， and then he always locked me in the hut. Once he was away for three days and I thought I was never going to get out again.

When he came back that time， he was drunk and angry. He wanted my money， but Judge Thatcher wouldnt give it to him. The judge wanted to send me to live with Douglas again， Pop told me. I wasnt very pleased with that. I didnt want to go back there.

So I decided to escape and go down the river and live in the woods somewhere. When Pop was out， I began to cut a hole in the wooden wall of the hut. In a few days， when the hole was bigger， I could take the wood cut， escape through the hole， and put the wood back.

One morning， Pop sent me down to the river to catch some fish for breakfast. To my surprise， there was a canoe （独木舟） in the water and there was no one in it. Immediately， I jumped into the river and brought the canoe to the side. It was lucky that Pop didnt see me， and I decided to hide the canoe under some trees and use it when I escaped.

That afternoon， Pop locked me in and went off to town. “He wont be back tonight，” I thought， so I began to work hard at my hole. Soon I could get out through it， and I carried food and drink and Pops gun down to the canoe. Then I put back the wood to hide the hole， took the gun and went into the woods. There I shot a wild pig and took it back to the hut with me. Next， I broke down the door with an axe. I carried the pig into the hut and put some of its blood on the ground. Then I put some big stones in a sack and pulled it along behind me to the river. Last of all， I put some blood and some of my hair on the axe. I left the axe in a corner of the hut and I took the pig down to the river.

“They wont know its only a pig in the river，” I said to myself. “Theyll think its me.”

Then I took the canoe and went down the river to Jacksons Island. By then it was nearly dark， so I hid the canoe under some trees and went to sleep.

It was after eight oclock when I woke up the next day and the sun was high in the sky. I was warm and comfortable and I didnt want to get up. Suddenly， I heard a noise up the river. Carefully， I looked through the trees， and I saw a boat full of people. There was Pop， Judge Thatcher， Tom Sawyer and his aunt Polly and his brother Sid， and lots of others. They were looking for my body in the river. I watched them， but they didnt see me， and in the end they went away. I knew that nobody was going to come and look for me again. I found a good place under the trees to sleep and to put my things. Then I caught a fish and cooked it over a fire.

I lived like that for three days， and then I decided to have a look round the island. So I went into the woods. “This is my island，” I thought. “Im the only person on it.”

Suddenly， just in front of me， I saw a fire， and it was still smoking. There was somebody on my island！ I didnt wait. I turned and went straight back. But I couldnt sleep. After a time， I said to myself， “I cant live like this. I must find out who it is.”

Silently， I moved along the river in my canoe， under the darkness of the trees. And then I stopped. Through the trees I could see the light of a fire. Afraid， I left my canoe and went nearer. There was a man lying by the fire. Suddenly， he sat up and I saw that it was Jim， Miss Watsons slave！ I was really happy to see him！ “Hello， Jim，” I cried， and I jumped out from behind the tree.

Jim fell to his knees. “Please dont hurt me！” he cried. “Ive always been good to dead people！”

“Its all right， Jim. Im not dead，” I said. “But why are you here on the island？” I asked.

“Well， Huck，” he began. “Old Miss Watson wanted to sell me. A man came into town and told Miss Watson that hed buy me for eight hundred dollars. She couldnt say no， so I ran away. I ran down to the river to hide， but everybody in the town was there. They said you were dead，Huck. I had to wait all day to get away. When it was dark， I got on a big boat and hid. When we came near this island， I jumped into the water and swam here.”

Jim finished his story and then we both carried all our things into a cave and hid the canoe under some trees. We were just in time because then the rains came. It rained for days， and the river got higher and higher. All kinds of things came down the river and one night there was a little wooden house， lying half on its side. We got the canoe out and went to take a look. Through the window we could see a bed， two old chairs and some old clothes. There was something lying in the corner and we thought it looked like a man. Jim went in to see， but he said， “Hes dead. Someone shot him in the back. Dont look at his face， Huck. Its terrible！”

I didnt want to see the dead mans face， so I didnt look. We just took the old clothes and a few other things， and went back to our cave on the island.

Another night， when we were out looking for things on the river， we found a raft. It was made of good， strong wood， and was about four metres by five metres. “This could be useful，” I said to Jim， so we pulled it back to the island behind the canoe， and tied it up under the trees.

1. How did Huck escape from the hut？

2. Who was Jim？ How did Jim feel when he saw Huck？