星期六的早晨到了，夏天的世界，陽光明媚，空氣新鮮，充滿了生機。每個人的心中都蕩漾着一首歌，有些年輕人情不自禁地唱出了這首歌。每個人臉上都洋溢着歡樂，每個人的腳步都是那麼輕盈。洋槐樹正開着花，空氣裡瀰漫著芬芳的花香。村莊外面高高的卡第夫山上覆蓋着綠色的植被，這山離村子不遠不近，就像一塊“樂土”，寧靜安詳，充滿夢幻，令人嚮往。
SATURDAY morning was come, and all the summer world was bright and fresh, and brimming with life. There was a song in every heart; and if the heart was young the music issued at the lips. There was cheer in every face and a spring in every step. The locust-trees were in bloom and the fragrance of the blossoms filled the air. Cardiff Hill, beyond the village and above it, was green with vegetation and it lay just far enough away to seem a Delectable Land, dreamy, reposeful, and inviting.
湯姆出現在人行道上，一隻手拎着一桶灰漿，另一隻手拿着一把長柄刷子。他環顧柵欄，所有的快樂，立刻煙消雲散，心中充滿了惆悵。柵欄可是三十碼長，九英呎高啊。生活對他來說太乏味空洞了，活着僅是一種負擔。他嘆了一口氣，用刷子蘸上灰漿，沿著最頂上一層木板刷起來。接着又刷了一下，二下。看看剛刷過的不起眼的那塊，再和那遠不着邊際的柵欄相比，湯姆灰心喪氣地在一塊木箱子上坐下來。這時，吉姆手裡提着一個錫皮桶，嘴中唱着“布法羅的女娃們”蹦蹦跳跳地從大門口跑出來。在湯姆眼中，到鎮上從抽水機裡拎水，一向是件令人厭煩的差事，現在他可不這樣看了。他記得在那裡有很多伴兒。有白人孩子，黑人孩子，還有混血孩子，男男女女都在那排隊等着提水。大家在那兒休息，交換各自玩的東西，吵吵閙閙，爭鬥嬉戲。而且他還記得儘管他們家離拎水處只有一百五十碼左右，可是吉姆從沒有在一個小時裡拎回一桶水來——有時甚至還得別人去催才行。湯姆說：
Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden. Sighing, he dipped his brush and passed it along the topmost plank; repeated the operation; did it again; compared the insignificant whitewashed streak with the far-reaching continent of unwhitewashed fence, and sat down on a tree-box discouraged. Jim came skipping out at the gate with a tin pail, and singing Buffalo Gals. Bringing water from the town pump had always been hateful work in Tom's eyes, before, but now it did not strike him so. He remembered that there was company at the pump. White, mulatto, and negro boys and girls were always there waiting their turns, resting, trading playthings, quarrelling, fighting, skylarking. And he remembered that although the pump was only a hundred and fifty yards off, Jim never got back with a bucket of water under an hour--and even then somebody generally had to go after him. Tom said:
“喂，吉姆，如果你來刷點牆，我就去提水。”
"Say, Jim, I'll fetch the water if you'll whitewash some."
吉姆搖搖頭，說：
Jim shook his head and said:
“不行，湯姆少爺。老太太，她叫我去提水，不准在路上停下來和人家玩。她說她猜到湯姆少爺你會讓我刷牆，所以她吩咐我只管幹自己的活，莫管他人閒事——她說她要親自來看看你刷牆。”
"Can't, Mars Tom. Ole missis, she tole me I got to go an' git dis water an' not stop foolin' roun' wid anybody. She say she spec' Mars Tom gwine to ax me to whitewash, an' so she tole me go 'long an' 'tend to my own business--she 'lowed she'd 'tend to de whitewashin'."
“咳，吉姆，你別管她對你說的那一套。她總是這樣說的。 把水桶給我——我很快就回來。她不會知道的。”
"Oh, never you mind what she said, Jim. That's the way she always talks. Gimme the bucket--I won't be gone only a a minute. She won't ever know."
“哦，不，我可不敢，湯姆少爺。老太太她會把我的頭給擰下來的，她真的會的！”
"Oh, I dasn't, Mars Tom. Ole missis she'd take an' tar de head off'n me. 'Deed she would."
“她嗎？她從來沒揍過任何人——她不過是用頂針在頭上敲敲罷了——誰還在乎這個，我倒是想問問你。她不過是嘴上說得凶，可是說說又傷害不了你——只要她不大叫大嚷就沒事。吉姆，我給你一個好玩意，給你一個白石頭子兒！”
"She! She never licks anybody--whacks 'em over the head with her thimble--and who cares for that, I'd like to know. She talks awful, but talk don't hurt--anyways it don't if she don't cry. Jim, I'll give you a marvel. I'll give you a white alley!"
吉姆開始動搖了。
Jim began to waver.
“白石頭子，吉姆！這可是真正好玩的石頭子啊。”
"White alley, Jim! And it's a bully taw."
“嘿，老實說，那是個挺不錯的好玩意。可是湯姆少爺，我害怕老太太……”
"My! Dat's a mighty gay marvel, I tell you! But Mars Tom I's powerful 'fraid ole missis--"
“還有，吉姆，只要你答應了的話，我還給你看我那只腳趾頭，那只腫痛的腳趾頭。”
"And besides, if you will I'll show you my sore toe."
吉姆到底是個凡人，不是神仙——這誘惑對他太大了。他放下水桶，接過白石頭子兒，還饒有興趣地彎着腰看湯姆解開纏在腳上的布帶子，看那只腫痛的腳趾。可是，一會兒之後，吉姆的屁股直痛，拎着水桶飛快地沿著街道跑掉了；湯姆繼續用勁地刷牆，因為波莉姨媽此時從田地幹活回來了。她手裡提着一隻拖鞋，眼裡流露出滿意的神色。
Jim was only human--this attraction was too much for him. He put down his pail, took the white alley, and bent over the toe with absorbing interest while the bandage was being unwound. In another moment he was flying down the street with his pail and a tingling rear, Tom was whitewashing with vigor, and Aunt Polly was retiring from the field with a slipper in her hand and triumph in her eye.
不過，湯姆這股勁沒持續多久。他開始想起原先為這個休息日所作的一些玩耍的安排，心裡越想越不是滋味。再過一會兒，那些自由自在的孩子們就會蹦跳着跑過來，做各種各樣開心好玩的遊戲，他們看到他不得不刷牆幹活，會大肆嘲笑挖苦他的——一想到這，湯姆心裡就像火燒似的難受。他拿出他全部的家當寶貝，仔細地看了一陣——有殘缺不全的玩具、一些石頭子、還有一些沒有什麼用處的東西。這些玩意足夠用來換取別的孩子為自己幹活，不過，要想換來半個小時的絶對自由，也許還差得遠呢。於是他又把這幾件可憐的寶貝玩意裝進口袋，打消了用這些來收買那些男孩子的念頭。正在這灰心絶望的時刻，他忽然靈機一動，計上心來。這主意實在是聰明絶倫，妙不可言。
But Tom's energy did not last. He began to think of the fun he had planned for this day, and his sorrows multiplied. Soon the free boys would come tripping along on all sorts of delicious expeditions, and they would make a world of fun of him for having to work--the very thought of it burnt him like fire. He got out his worldly wealth and examined it--bits of toys, marbles, and trash; enough to buy an exchange of work, maybe, but not half enough to buy so much as half an hour of pure freedom. So he returned his straitened means to his pocket, and gave up the idea of trying to buy the boys. At this dark and hopeless moment an inspiration burst upon him! Nothing less than a great, magnificent inspiration.
他拿起刷子，一聲不響地幹了起來。不一會兒，本·羅傑斯出現了——在所有的孩子們當中，正是這個男孩叫湯姆最害怕。湯姆最怕他的譏諷。本走路好像是做三級跳——這證明他此時的心情輕鬆愉快，而且還打算幹點痛快高興的事。他正在吃蘋果，不時地發出長長的、好聽的“嗚——”的叫聲，隔會兒還“叮噹當、叮噹當”地學鈴聲響，他這是在扮演一隻蒸汽輪船。他越來越近，於是他減慢速度，走到街中心，身體傾向右舷，吃力、做作地轉了船頭使船逆風停下——他在扮演“大密蘇里號”，好像已吃水九英呎深。他既當船，又當船長還要當輪機鈴。因此他就想象着自己站在輪船的頂層甲板上發着命令，同時還執行着這些命令。
He took up his brush and went tranquilly to work. Ben Rogers hove in sight presently--the very boy, of all boys, whose ridicule he had been dreading. Ben's gait was the hop-skip-and-jump--proof enough that his heart was light and his anticipations high. He was eating an apple, and giving a long, melodious whoop, at intervals, followed by a deep-toned ding-dong-dong, ding-dong-dong, for he was personating a steamboat. As he drew near, he slackened speed, took the middle of the street, leaned far over to starboard and rounded to ponderously and with laborious pomp and circumstance--for he was personating the Big Missouri, and considered himself to be drawing nine feet of water. He was boat and captain and engine-bells combined, so he had to imagine himself standing on his own hurricane-deck giving the orders and executing them:
“停船，夥計！叮——啊鈴！”船几乎停穩了，然後他又慢慢地向人行道靠過來。
"Stop her, sir! Ting-a-ling-ling!" The headway ran almost out, and he drew up slowly toward the sidewalk.
“調轉船頭！叮——啊鈴——鈴！”他兩臂伸直，用力往兩邊垂着。
"Ship up to back! Ting-a-ling-ling!" His arms straightened and stiffened down his sides.
“右舷後退，叮——啊鈴——鈴！嚓嗚——嚓——嚓嗚！嚓嗚！” 他一邊喊着，一邊用手比划著畫個大圈——這代表着一個四十英呎大轉輪。
"Set her back on the stabboard! Ting-a-ling-ling! Chow! ch-chow-wow! Chow!" His right hand, mean-time, describing stately circles--for it was representing a forty-foot wheel.
“左舷後退！叮——啊鈴——鈴！嚓嗚——嚓——嚓嗚——嚓嗚！”左手開始畫圈。
"Let her go back on the labboard! Ting-a-ling-ling! Chow-ch-chow-chow!" The left hand began to describe circles.
“右舷停！叮——啊鈴——鈴！左舷停！右舷前進！停！外面慢慢轉過來！叮——啊鈴——鈴！嚓——嗚——嗚！把船頭的繩索拿過來！快點！喂——再把船邊的繩索遞過來——你在發什麼獃！把繩頭靠船樁繞住好，就這麼拉緊——放手吧！發動機停住，夥計！叮——啊鈴——鈴！希特——希特——希特！”（摹仿着汽門排氣的聲音。）
"Stop the stabboard! Ting-a-ling-ling! Stop the labboard! Come ahead on the stabboard! Stop her! Let your outside turn over slow! Ting-a-ling-ling! Chow-ow-ow! Get out that head-line! lively now! Come--out with your spring-line--what're you about there! Take a turn round that stump with the bight of it! Stand by that stage, now--let her go! Done with the engines, sir! Ting-a-ling-ling! SH'T! S'H'T! SH'T!" (trying the gauge-cocks).
湯姆繼續刷柵欄，——不去理睬那只蒸汽輪船，本瞪着眼睛看了一會兒，說： “哎呀，你日子好過了，是不是？”
Tom went on whitewashing--paid no attention to the steamboat. Ben stared a moment and then said: "Hi-Yi! You're up a stump, ain't you!"
湯姆沒有回答。只是用藝術家的眼光審視他最後刷的那一塊，接着輕輕地刷了一下。又像剛纔那樣打量着柵欄。本走過來站在他身旁。看見那蘋果，湯姆饞得直流口水，可是他還是繼續刷他的牆。本說：
No answer. Tom surveyed his last touch with the eye of an artist, then he gave his brush another gentle sweep and surveyed the result, as before. Ben ranged up alongside of him. Tom's mouth watered for the apple, but he stuck to his work. Ben said:
“嘿，老夥計，你還得幹活呀，咦？”
"Hello, old chap, you got to work, hey?"
湯姆猛然地轉過身來說道：
Tom wheeled suddenly and said:
“咳！是你呀，本。我還沒注意到你呢。”
"Why, it's you, Ben! I warn't noticing."
“哈，告訴你吧，我可是要去游泳了。難道你不想去嗎？當然啦，你寧願在這幹活，對不對？當然你情願！”
"Say--I'm going in a-swimming, I am. Don't you wish you could? But of course you'd druther work--wouldn't you? Course you would!"
湯姆打量了一下那男孩，說：
Tom contemplated the boy a bit, and said:
“你說什麼？這叫幹活？”
"What do you call work?"
“這還不叫幹活，叫幹什麼？”
"Why, ain't that work?"
湯姆重新又開始刷牆，漫不經心地說：
Tom resumed his whitewashing, and answered carelessly:
“這也許是幹活，也許不是。我只知道這對湯姆·索亞來說倒是很得勁。”
"Well, maybe it is, and maybe it ain't. All I know, is, it suits Tom Sawyer."
“哦，得了吧！難道你的意思是說你喜歡幹這事？”
"Oh come, now, you don't mean to let on that you like it?"
刷子還在不停地刷着。
The brush continued to move.
“喜歡干？哎，我真搞不懂為什麼我要不喜歡干，哪個男孩子能天天有機會刷牆？”
"Like it? Well, I don't see why I oughtn't to like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?"
這倒是件新鮮事。於是，本停止了啃蘋果。湯姆靈巧地用刷子來回刷着——不時地停下來退後幾步看看效果——在這補一刷，在那補一刷——然後再打量一下效果——本仔細地觀看著湯姆的一舉一動，越看越有興趣，越看越被吸引住了。後來他說：
That put the thing in a new light. Ben stopped nibbling his apple. Tom swept his brush daintily back and forth--stepped back to note the effect--added a touch here and there--criticised the effect again--Ben watching every move and getting more and more interested, more and more absorbed. Presently he said:
“喂，湯姆，讓我來刷點兒看看。”
"Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little."
湯姆想了一下，正打算答應他；可是他立刻又改變了主意：
Tom considered, was about to consent; but he altered his mind:
“不——不行，本——我想這恐怕不行。要知道，波莉姨媽對這面牆是很講究的——這可是當街的一面呀——不過要是後面的，你刷刷倒也無妨，姨媽也不會在乎的。是呀，她對這道牆是非常講究的。刷這牆一定得非常精心。我想在一千，也許在兩千個孩子裡，也找不出一個能按波莉姨媽的要求刷好這道牆的。”
"No--no--I reckon it wouldn't hardly do, Ben. You see, Aunt Polly's awful particular about this fence--right here on the street, you know--but if it was the back fence I wouldn't mind and she wouldn't. Yes, she's awful particular about this fence; it's got to be done very careful; I reckon there ain't one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand, that can do it the way it's got to be done."
“哦，是嗎？哎，就讓我試一試吧。我只刷一點兒——湯姆，如果我是你的話，我會讓你試試的。”
"No--is that so? Oh come, now--lemme just try. Only just a little--I'd let you, if you was me, Tom."
“本，我倒是願意，說真的。可是，波莉姨媽——唉，吉姆想刷，可她不叫他刷，希德也想幹，她也不讓希德干。現在，你知道我該有多麼為難？要是你來擺弄這牆，萬一出了什麼毛病……”
"Ben, I'd like to, honest injun; but Aunt Polly--well, Jim wanted to do it, but she wouldn't let him; Sid wanted to do it, and she wouldn't let Sid. Now don't you see how I'm fixed? If you was to tackle this fence and anything was to happen to it--"
“啊，沒事，我會小心仔細的。還是讓我來試試吧。嘿——我把蘋果核給你。”
"Oh, shucks, I'll be just as careful. Now lemme try. Say--I'll give you the core of my apple."
“唉，那就……不行，本，算了吧。我就怕……。”
"Well, here--No, Ben, now don't. I'm afeard--"
“我把這蘋果全給你！”
"I'll give you all of it!"
湯姆把刷子讓給本，臉上顯示出不情願，可心裡卻美滋滋的。 當剛纔那只“大密蘇里號”在陽光下幹活，累得大汗淋漓的時候，這位離了職的藝術家卻在附近的陰涼下，坐在一隻木桶上，蹺着二郎腿，一邊大口大口地吃着蘋果，一邊暗暗盤算如何再宰更多的傻瓜。這樣的小傻瓜會有許多。每過一會兒，就有些男孩子從這經過；起先他們都想來開開玩笑，可是結果都被留下來刷牆。在本累得精疲力盡時，湯姆早已經和比利·費施做好了交易。比利用一個修得很好的風箏換來接替本的機會。等到比利也玩得差不多的時候，詹尼·米勒用一隻死老鼠和拴着它的小繩子購買了這個特權——一個又一個的傻小子受騙上了當，接連幾個鐘頭都沒有間斷。下午快過了一半的時候，湯姆早上還是個貧困潦倒的窮小子，現在一下子就變成了腰包鼓鼓的闊佬了。除了以上提到的那些玩意以外，還有十二顆石頭子；一隻破口琴；一塊可以透視的藍玻璃片；一門綫軸做的大炮；一把什麼鎖也不開的鑰匙；一截粉筆；一個大酒瓶塞子；一個錫皮做的小兵；一對蝌蚪；六個鞭炮；一隻獨眼小貓；一個門上的銅把手；一根拴狗的頸圈——卻沒有狗——一個刀把；四片桔子皮；還有一個破舊的窗框。
Tom gave up the brush with reluctance in his face, but alacrity in his heart. And while the late steamer Big Missouri worked and sweated in the sun, the retired artist sat on a barrel in the shade close by, dangled his legs, munched his apple, and planned the slaughter of more innocents. There was no lack of material; boys happened along every little while; they came to jeer, but remained to whitewash. By the time Ben was fagged out, Tom had traded the next chance to Billy Fisher for a kite, in good repair; and when he played out, Johnny Miller bought in for a dead rat and a string to swing it with--and so on, and so on, hour after hour. And when the middle of the afternoon came, from being a poor poverty-stricken boy in the morning, Tom was literally rolling in wealth. He had besides the things before mentioned, twelve marbles, part of a jews-harp, a piece of blue bottle-glass to look through, a spool cannon, a key that wouldn't unlock anything, a fragment of chalk, a glass stopper of a decanter, a tin soldier, a couple of tadpoles, six fire-crackers, a kitten with only one eye, a brass door-knob, a dog-collar--but no dog--the handle of a knife, four pieces of orange-peel, and a dilapidated old window sash.
他一直過得舒舒服服，悠閒自在——同伴很多——而且牆整整被刷了三遍。要不是他的灰漿用光了的話，他會讓村裡的每個孩子都掏空腰包破產的。
He had had a nice, good, idle time all the while--plenty of company--and the fence had three coats of whitewash on it! If he hadn't run out of whitewash he would have bankrupted every boy in the village.
湯姆自言自語道，這世界原來並不是那麼空洞乏味啊。他已經不知不覺地發現了人類行為的一大法則——那就是為了讓一個大人或一個小孩渴望幹什麼事，只需設法將這事變得難以到手就行了。如果他是位偉大而明智的哲學家，就像這本書的作者，他就會懂得所謂“工作”就是一個人被迫要干的事情，至于“玩”就是一個人沒有義務要干的事。這個道理使他明白了為什麼做假花和蹬車輪就算是工作，而玩十柱戲和爬勃朗峰就算是娛樂。英國有錢的紳士在夏季每天駕着四輪馬拉客車沿著同樣的路線走上二三十里，他們為這種特權竟花了很多錢。可是如果因此付錢給他們的話，那就把這樁事情變成了工作，他們就會撒手不幹了。
Tom said to himself that it was not such a hollow world, after all. He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it--namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain. If he had been a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended that Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. And this would help him to understand why constructing artificial flowers or performing on a tread-mill is work, while rolling ten-pins or climbing Mont Blanc is only amusement. There are wealthy gentlemen in England who drive four-horse passenger-coaches twenty or thirty miles on a daily line, in the summer, because the privilege costs them considerable money; but if they were offered wages for the service, that would turn it into work and then they would resign.
湯姆思考了一會那天發生在他身邊的實質性變化，然後就到司令部報告去了。
The boy mused awhile over the substantial change which had taken place in his worldly circumstances, and then wended toward headquarters to report.