有声书 | 化身博士 07
走近有声世界
共听英文原著
今日书目
书名：
The strange Case
of Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hydel
《化身博士》
作者：
Robert Louis Stevenson
往期回听 | 化身博士
The strange Case
of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Part Seven: Henry Jekyll's Statement①
Mr Utterson put down Dr Lanyon's letter. He picked up the paper from Dr Jekyll's laboratory, and began to read. This is what he read:
I, Henry Jekyll, was born in 18 -. I had money, I was intelligent, and I liked to work. My future seemed happy and rich.
When I was young I wanted to be respected ② by my friends. I pretended to be a very serious man. I was not like other young men, who drink together and enjoy themselves. I enjoyed myself, but I kept my pleasures ③ a secret from others. In public I was a good man—privately, I was a bad one.
I studied science, and I became certain that all human beings are like me. Everyone has two parts—a good part, and an evil part. No one can be happy because these two parts of nature fight against each other. In my studies I tried to separate these two parts. I wanted to create two identities. One identity would be for the good part of myself. The other identity would be for the evil part. I thought each identity would be happy: the good part would be completely good, and the evil part would be completely evil.
I worked for many years to find out how to create these new identities ④ . I bought some special powders from a chemist in the city. Then, one night I mixed the powders together. I drank the mixture, and immediately I felt ill. Suddenly I was a different man. I looked at myself in the mirror. I was younger and smaller, and I was completely wicked. Nothing was important to me, except pleasure. I had become Edward Hyde! I drank another glass of the mixture, and Edward Hyde disappeared—instantly I became Dr Jekyll again!
I could now change whenever I wanted. The well-known and respected Dr Jekyll could become Edward Hyde. Edward Hyde could do things that the good doctor was not allowed to do. I began to like the new identity I had created for myself.
At first Edward Hyde was happy just to enjoy himself, but soon he began to do terrible things. Dr Jekyll was often terrified ⑤ by the things that Hyde did. The doctor could do nothing.
Jekyll and Hyde were different people.
Soon I realised that Edward Hyde was dangerous. He might do something that would damage the doctor's reputation ⑥ . I remember the night when Hyde walked over the body of the little girl. When he had to find money to pay the girl's family, he came to the doctor's house. I decided to give Hyde a separate bank account, and to give him his own house. I prepared the will which you disliked so much, Utterson. I thought I was safe.
About two months before the murder of Sir Danvers Carew, a strange thing happened. I took the powders as usual, and became Edward Hyde. I went out into the city, and returned home to sleep. When I woke up, I knew something was wrong.
Then I looked at my hands. Dr Jekyll's hands are large, but the hands I saw were small. Then I understood: they were Edward Hyde's hands! I had gone to bed as Henry Jekyll and had woken up as Hyde! I ran to the laboratory, and took some more of the mixture. In a few minutes I was Dr Jekyll again. Soon I understood that Hyde was stronger than Dr Jekyll. It became difficult to change back from Hyde to Dr Jekyll.
Sometimes the powders did not work. I knew that I must choose between the two identities. I decided to be Dr Jekyll. For two months I followed my choice. I worked, I saw my friends, and I began to be happy again. But every day I thought about Hyde. I missed his life of pleasures—I missed the excitement of being Hyde.
One day I drank the powders again. This time, when Hyde came, he was angry. That was the night that he murdered Sir Danvers Carew. Hyde enjoyed the violence of the murder, but he was afraid of the police. He came back to the laboratory, and drank the powders.
I, Henry Jekyll, remembered what Hyde had done. I was terrified. I swore ⑦ that I would never take the powders again.
Edward Hyde was finished forever!
For a while I lived as Dr Jekyll. I worked, I saw my friends, I thought I was safe from Hyde. One day I went to the park. I sat there, thinking about my life.
'I am a good man,' I told myself. I looked at the people around me. 'I am a better man than most of them,' I thought.
At that instant ⑧ , I suddenly felt ill: then I felt a change in myself. I looked down - I had become Hyde once more!
旺
财
旺
福
Words
① statement：陈述。
② respected：敬重。
③ pleasures：欢乐。
④ identities：身份。
⑤ terrified：吓怕。
⑥ reputation：名声。
⑦ swore：发誓。
⑧ instant：瞬间。
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