神秘及幻想故事集英文版Word格式文档下载.docx

1、不要一个人读它们 埃德加?爱伦?坡（18091849）出生于美国波士顿。在短暂而郁郁不得志的一生中，他曾供职于几家报社，并发表了很多短篇小说和诗歌。也许最令他声名远播的是他的短篇小说创作。The Fall of the House of Usher It was a grey autumn day and the sky was full of large black clouds（All day I had ridden through flat and uninteresting countryside，but at last，as it began to grow dark，I saw

2、the end of my journey（ There，in front of me，stood the House of Usher（And at once -I do not know why-a strange feeling of deep gloom came down on me and covered me like a blanket（I looked up at the old house with its high stone walls and narrow windows（I looked around at the thin dry grass and the ol

3、d dying trees，and an icy hand seemed to take hold of my heart（I felt cold and sick，and could not think of one happy thought to chase away my gloom（ Why，I wondered，did the House of Usher make me feel so sad,I could find no answer（ There was a lake next to the house and I rode my horse up to the edge

4、and stopped（Perhaps from here the house would not seem so sad，so full of gloom（I looked down into the mirror of dark，still water，and saw again the empty，eye-like windows of the house and the dying trees all around it（The feeling of gloom was stronger than ever（ It was in this house that I was going

5、to spend the next few weeks（Its owner，Roderick Usher，had been a good friend of mine when I was a boy（I had not seen him for many years， but recently he had sent me a letter-a sad and terrible letter（He wrote that he was ill，ill in body and ill in mind;that he wanted and needed to see me（I was his on

6、ly friend，the only person who could help him in his illness（ Although we had been good friends when we were young，I knew very little about him（He had never spoken much about himself，but I knew that he came from a very old family of which he was the last living man（I also knew that in the Usher famil

7、y there had never been many children and so for hundreds of years the family name，together with the family home，had passed straight from father to son（ As I stood by the lake，my feeling of gloom grew and grew（I knew also that underneath my gloom lay fear，and fear does strange things to the mind（I be

8、gan to imagine that the gloom was not in my mind，but was something real（It was like a mysterious cloud，which seemed to come straight from the dark lake and the dying trees and the old walls of the house（A heavy grey cloud，which carried with it disease and fear（ This was a dream，I told myself，and I l

9、ooked more carefully at the building in front of me（It was，indeed，very old and I noticed that every stone had cracks and holes in it（But there was nothing really wrong with the building（No stones were missing（The only thing that I noticed was a very small crack which started at the top of the buildi

10、ng and continued all the way down into the dark waters of the lake（ I went up to the front of the house（A servant took my horse and I stepped into the large hall（Another servant led me silently upstairs（On the walls there were many strange，dark pictures which made me feel nervous（I remembered these

11、pictures from my earlier visits to the house when I was a child（But the feelings that the pictures gave me on this visit were new to me（ On the stairs we met the family doctor（He had a strange look on his face，a look that I did not like （I hurried on，and finally the servant opened a door and took me

12、 into the study（ The room was large and long，with high narrow windows，which let in only a little light Shadows lay in all the corners of the room and around the dark pieces of furniture（There were-many books and a few guitars，but there was no life，no happiness in the room（Deep gloom filled the air（

13、When Usher saw me，he got up and welcomed me warmly（I thought he was just being polite，but as I looked into his face，I could see that he was pleased to see me（We sat down，but he did not speak at first，and for a few moments I watched him in surprise and fear（He had changed so much since our last meeti

14、ngHe had the same pale thin face，the same eyes，large and clear，and the same thin lips and soft hair（But now his skin was too white，his eyes too large and bright，and he seemed a different man（He frightened me（And his long wild hair looked like a ghostly cloud around his head（ I noticed that my friend

15、 was very nervous and that his feelings changed very quickly（Sometimes he talked a lot，then he suddenly became silent and did not say a word for many hours（At other times he found it difficult to think，and his voice was heavy and slow，like the voice of a man who had drunk too much（ He told me why he

16、 had wanted to see me，and how he hoped to feel better now that I was with him（He had，he explained，a strange illness which had been in his family for a long time（It was a nervous illness which made him feel everything much more strongly than other people（He could only eat food that was almost tastele

17、ss（He had to choose his clothes very carefully because most of them hurt his skin（He could not have flowers in his room because their smell was too strong for him（Light hurt his eyes，and most sounds hurt his ears except the soft sound of guitars（ Worst of all，he was a prisoner of his own fear（I shal

18、l die，he used to say，because of this fear，Im not afraid of danger（What frightens me is fear itself（At the moment I am fighting against fear，but sooner or later I wont be able to fight any more（ During long conversations with Usher I learnt more about his strange illness（He was sure that it came from

19、 the House of Usher itself（He had not left the house for many years and he had become，he thought，as sad as the house itself（The gloom of its grey walls and its dark silent lake had become his own（ He also believed that much of his sadness was because his dear sister was seriously ill（He had one sist

20、er，Madeleine，the only other person in but each day she seemed a little nearer to his family who was still living，death（ Her death，Usher said blackly，will leave me alone in the world，the last of all the Ushers（ While he was speaking，Madeleine passed slowly through the back of the long room and，withou

21、t noticing me，disappeared（As I looked at her，my eyes felt heavy with（sleep，and I had a strange feeling of fear（I looked across at Usher（He had covered his face with his hands，but I could see that he had become even paler，and that he was crying silently（ Lady Madeleines illness was a mysterious one w

22、hich no doctor could understand（Every day she became weaker and thinner，and sometimes went into a sleep which was more like death than sleep（For years she had fought bravely against her illness，but on the night of my arrival she went to bed and did not get up from it again（You will probably not see

23、her again alive，Usher said to me，shaking his head sadly（ During the next few days Usher and I never spoke about his sister（We spent a lot of time painting and reading together，and sometimes he played on his guitar（I tried very hard to help my friend，but I realized that his sadness was too deep（It wa

24、s a black gloom that covered everything that belonged to his world;sometimes，indeed，he seemed close to the edge of madness（ He painted strange pictures，and sang mysterious songs with wild words（His ideas，too，were strange，and he had one idea thst seemed more important to him than all the others（He wa

25、s quite sure that all things，plants，trees，even stones，were able to feel（ The House of Usher itself，he told me，is like a living thing（When the walls were first built，life went into the stones themselves and year Even the air around the walls and above after year it has grown stronger（the lake has its

26、 own life，and belongs to the house（Dont you see，he cried，how the stones and the air have shaped the lives of the Usher family, These ideas were too fantastic for me，and I could not answer him（ One evening I was reading quietly when my friend told me，in very few words，that the Lady Madeleine had died

27、（He had decided，he said，to keep her body for a fortnight in one of the vaults under the house，before it went to its last resting-place（This was because his sisters illness had been a mysterious one，and her doctors wanted to learn more about it（He asked me to help him and I agreed（ Together we carrie

28、d the body in its coffin down to the vaults under the house（The vault that he had chosen was a long way down，but was under the part of the house where I slept（It had once been a prison，and was small，dark，and airless，with a heavy metal door（ We put the coffin down and then gently lifted up the cover

29、to look at the dead woman for the last time（As I looked down at her face，I realized how much Ushers sister looked like him（My friend then said a few quiet words and I learnt that he and his sister had been born on the same day（Each had known the others mind without the need for words（ We could not l

30、ook at her for long（Her strange illness had left her with a soft pink colour on her face，and that unchanging half,smile on her lips which is so terrible in death（We put back the cover of the coffin，fixed it down well，and after locking the heavy door of the vault，went back upstairs into the gloomy ho

31、use（ After some days of deep unhappiness，I saw that my friends illness of the mind was growing worse（He did not paint or read any more（He moved slowly from room to room，never knowing what to do（His face became paler，the light disappeared from his eyes，and his voice often shook with fear when he spoke（Sometimes I thought he was trying to tell me some terrible secret（At other times I thought he was going mad（He