夏夜惊魂 (下集)
The work of excavation was not difficult: the earth with which the grave had been loosely filled a few hours before offered little resistance and was soon thrown out. Removal of the casket from its box was less easy, but it was taken out, for it was a perquisite of Jess, who carefully unscrewed the cover and laid it aside, exposing the body in black trousers and white shirt. At that instant the air sprang to flame, a cracking shock of thunder shook the stunned world and Henry Armstrong tranquilly sat up. With inarticulate cries the men fled in terror, each in a different direction. For nothing on earth could two of them have been persuaded to return. But Jess was of another breed.
挖掘工作并不是很费劲：这个坟墓是几个小时以前刚刚填埋好的，土还是很松，因此挖起来并不怎么费劲，一会的工夫就挖完了。把棺材从坟墓中取出来却不是那么容易的事了，但它还是被弄出来了，因为做这项工作的话，杰斯可以领取额外费用，只见他小心翼翼地掀开棺材盖、放到一边，随后那个身穿黑裤子白上衣的尸体就露了出来。也就是在那一刹那，天空突然雷声大震，一个青天霹雳震得山摇地动，而亨利·阿姆斯特朗却不声不响地坐了起来。这些人含糊不清地一阵乱叫，惊恐地朝不同方向夺路而逃。无论怎样，他们两个绝对再也不敢回来了。但杰斯却不为所动。
In the grey of the morning the two students, pallid and haggard from anxiety and with the terror of their adventure still beating tumultuously in their blood, met at the medical college.
在天色泛白的时候，这两个学生在医学院碰了面，惴惴不安的心情反映到了他们苍白憔悴的脸上，而刚刚的骇人经历则仍然使其惊魂未定。
''You saw it?'' cried one. “你看到了吧？”其中一个人问道。
''God! yes - what are we to do?'' “天啊！没错——我们该怎么办啊？”
They went around to the rear of the building, where they saw a horse, attached to a light wagon, hitched to a gatepost near the door of the dissecting-room. Mechanically they entered the room. On a bench in the obscurity sat the negro Jess. He rose, grinning, all eyes and teeth.
他们绕到了大楼的后面，在那里，他们看到在解剖室门口的门柱上拴着一匹马，马的后面拖着一辆小型马车。他们很不自然地走进了解剖室。而那个叫杰斯的黑人就坐在阴暗处的长凳上。他站了起来，咧着嘴在笑，表情十分夸张。
''I''m waiting for my pay,'' he said.
“我在等着拿钱呢。”他说。
Stretched naked on a long table lay the body of Henry Armstrong, the head defiled with blood and clay from a blow with a spade.
在一个长桌上，亨利·阿姆斯特朗的赤裸尸身紧绷绷地躺在那里，而头部沾满了血迹和泥土，那显然是遭铁铲击打所致。
Excellent Sentences: 经典语句
本文中的环境描写尤为出色，在恐怖气氛营造上，起到了非常重要的作用。以下就是文中两句经典的环境描写语句。
1 It was a dark summer night, shot through with infrequent shimmers of lightning silently firing a cloud lying low in the west and portending a storm.
2 At that instant the air sprang to flame, a cracking shock of thunder shook the stunned world and Henry Armstrong tranquilly sat up.
作 者：安布雷斯•比尔斯
