VOA慢速英语:'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' by Ambrose Bierce

A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below.  The man's hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord.  A rope closely encircled his neck.  It was attached to a stout cross-timber above his head and the slack feel to the level of his knees.  Some loose boards laid upon the ties supporting the rails of the railway supplied a footing for him and his executioners -- two private soldiers of the Federal army, directed by a sergeant who in civil life may
have been a deputy sheriff.  At a short remove upon the same temporary platform was an officer in the uniform of his rank, armed.  He was a captain.  A sentinel at each end of the bridge stood with his rifle in the position known as "support," that is to say, vertical in front of the left shoulder, the hammer resting on the forearm thrown straight across the chest -- a formal and unnatural position, enforcing an erect carriage of the body.  It did not appear to be the duty of these two men to know what was occurring at the center of the bridge; they merely blockaded the two ends of the foot planking that traversed it.

一个汉子站在北部亚拉巴马的一道铁路桥上，俯视离桥二十英尺的湍急流水。他双手反扣，手腕上绑着绳子，一根绳索半套住脖子，另一端捆在他头顶结实的横木上，绳头下垂及膝。支撑铁轨的枕木上铺着几块松动的木板，供他和行刑人立足。行刑人是联邦军的两个列兵，由一位内战前可能一度任过副警长的士官指挥着。隔着不远，这临时搭就的平台上还有一位身着军阶制服的军官，全副武装。他是一个上尉。桥的两端各一个列兵，呈持枪姿势站立着，也就是说，枪竖立左肩前，枪机抵住平举胸前的前臂。这是一个迫使身体挺直的正规而别扭的姿势。看来他们无须了解桥中心正在发生的事；只要封锁脚踏板两头就行了。
Beyond one of the sentinels nobody was in sight; the railroad ran straight away into a forest for a hundred yards, then,curving, was lost to view.  Doubtless there was an outpost farther along.  The other bank of the stream was open ground-- a gentle slope topped with a stockade of vertical tree trunks, loopholed for rifles, with a single embrasure through which protruded the muzzle of a brass cannon commanding the bridge.  Midway up the slope between the bridge and fort were the spectators -- a single company of infantry in line, at "parade rest," the butts of their rifles on the ground, the barrels inclining slightly backward against the right shoulder, the hands crossed upon the stock. A lieutenant stood at the right of the line, the point of his sword upon the ground, his left hand resting upon his right.  Excepting the group of four at the center of the bridge, not a man moved.  The company faced the bridge, staring stonily, motionless.  The sentinels, facing the banks of the stream, might have been statues to adorn the bridge.  The captain stood with folded arms, silent, observing the work of his subordinates, but making no sign.  Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him.  In the code of military etiquette silence and fixity are forms of deference.

在列兵的一侧四外无人；铁路直通森林百码深处，之后拐了个弯，消失于视线。很可能更远处有一座前哨。河对岸是一片迹地——一片平缓的斜坡，斜坡顶有一道木桩直立的排栅，排栅上开着枪眼，从唯一的一个炮眼上一架黄铜大炮探出炮口，君临着铁路桥。处于桥与要塞之间的这片斜坡中间有一群旁观者，一连列队的步兵，呈“分列式稍息”姿势，枪托抵地，枪管稍微向后倾斜倚在右肩上，双手交叉抱住枪身。一名中尉站在队列的右侧，军刀曳地，左手搭在右手上。除了桥中间的四人没有人走动。连队面桥而立，石头般凝视着，一动不动。面向河岸的两个哨兵，更有如装饰桥头的雕像。上尉盘臂而立，不动声色地观察着下属做事。死神是位显要，当他宣告莅临时，即便是与其熟络的人，也理应毕恭毕敬地加以隆重接待。而依照军规，静默肃立正是表示尊重的仪式。
The man who was engaged in being hanged was apparently about thirty-five years of age.  He was a civilian, if one might judge from his habit, which was that of a planter.  His features were good -- a straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead, from which his long, dark hair was combed straight back, falling behind his ears to the collar of his well fitting frock coat.  He wore a moustache and pointed beard, but no whiskers; his eyes were large and dark gray, and had a kindly expression which one would hardly have expected in one whose neck was in the hemp.  Evidently this was no vulgar assassin.  The liberal military code makes provision for hanging many kinds of persons, and gentlemen are not excluded.
被处绞刑的男子看起来三十五岁上下，从种植园主的装束判断，他是平民。他五官端正，鼻梁笔直，嘴巴紧抿，宽阔的前额上黑色长发直梳向后，从耳背垂到十分合身的长礼服衣领上。他长着唇髭和山羊须，但没有络腮胡；深灰色的大眼睛里有一股亲切的神气，这在将被绞死的人身上实在不可思议。显然他并非寻常的刺客。军法条文机动规定可以绞死很多类人，包括绅士在内。

The preparations being complete, the two private soldiers stepped aside and each drew away the plank upon which he had been standing.  The sergeant turned to the captain, saluted and placed himself immediately behind that officer, who in turn moved apart one pace.  These movements left the condemned man and the sergeant standing on the two ends of the same plank, which spanned three of the cross-ties of the bridge.  The end upon which the civilian stood almost, but not quite, reached a fourth.  This plank had been held in place by the weight of the captain; it was now held by that of the sergeant.  At a signal from the former the latter would step aside, the plank would tilt and the condemned man go down between two ties.  The arrangement commended itself to his judgement as simple and effective.  His face had not been covered nor his eyes bandaged.  He looked a moment at his "unsteadfast footing," then let his gaze wander to the swirling water of the stream racing madly beneath his feet.  A piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention and his eyes followed it down the current.  How slowly it appeared to move!  What a sluggish stream!
准备就绪，两个列兵站到一旁，把各自的脚踏板抽走。中士转身向上尉敬礼后站到长官背后，上尉接着移开一步。于是剩下犯人和中士站在横跨三根枕木的同一块木板两端。平民站着的一头几乎够着第四根。先是由上尉站着压住的木板现在由中士站着保持平衡。只要上尉示意，中士往旁一站，木板一倾犯人就会从枕木之间坠下去。犯人不由得觉得这一处置方法简单有效。他未曾被蒙头遮眼,对着“不安稳的地位”看了片刻，视线游移到脚下涡旋而去的激流上。一根浮沉不定的漂木引起了他的注意，他的目光随着它顺流而去。它漂得多慢啊!真是慢腾腾的一条河！

He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children.  The water, touched to gold by the early sun, the brooding mists under the banks at some distance down the stream, the fort, the soldiers, the piece of drift -- all had distracted him.  And now he became conscious of a new disturbance.  Striking through the thought of his dear ones was sound which he could neither ignore nor understand, a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a blacksmith's hammer upon the anvil; it had the same ringing quality.  He wondered what it was, and whether immeasurably distant or near by -- it seemed both.  Its recurrence was regular, but as slow as the tolling of a death knell.  He awaited each new stroke with impatience and -- he knew not why -- apprehension.  The intervals of silence grew progressively longer; the delays became maddening.  With their greater infrequency the sounds increased in strength and sharpness.  They hurt his ear like the trust of a knife; he feared he would shriek.  What he heard was the ticking of his watch.
他闭上双眼以使临死前的心思专注于老婆和孩子。被早晨的太阳点染成金的河水，远处岸边水面上氤氲的雾气，要塞，士兵，漂木，这一切扰乱了他的思绪。现在他又意识到一种新的干扰。一个既不能充耳不闻，又难以道其所以的敲击声，在他思念亲人的当口，响彻耳际。这敲击声尖锐、清晰、铿锵作响，有如铁匠敲砧打铁发出的响声，音色同样清脆高亢。他弄不清这是什么声音，是远在天边还是近在眼前（似乎既近又远）。声音重复很均匀，徐缓得有如丧钟敲响。他等着每一次敲击声，烦躁而恐惧，自己也不知道为什么。寂静的间歇逐渐变长；声音的迟延变得难以忍受。随着频次变少，声音变得越来越大，越来越尖锐，像刀子一样刺痛他的耳朵；他怕自己就要失声尖叫了。他听见的是手表的滴答声。

He unclosed his eyes and saw again the water below him.  "If I could free my hands," he thought, "I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream.  By diving I could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods and get away home.  My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader's farthest advance."
他睁开眼睛，重又望着脚下的河水，心想，“要是我能松开双手，就可以挣开绞索跳进河里，潜入水中，避开子弹，使劲游到岸上，跑进树林然后逃回家。上帝保佑，我家还没有卷入战线，我妻子孩子还在侵略者推进地区之外。”

As these thoughts, which have here to be set down in words, were flashed into the doomed man's brain rather than evolved from it the captain nodded to the sergeant.  The sergeant stepped aside.
正当这些只得形诸笔墨的思绪与其说是在垂死男子的脑海中逐步自然显现，不如说是从外界一闪而进时，上尉对中士点了点头，中士往旁跨了一步。