霍比特人
地道英文
作者：by J.R.R. Tolkien
小編喜歡讀這個童話故事，可不僅僅是因為它是英國大文豪托爾金的代表作，還在於它是一位超級“學霸”父親“屈尊”為兒子創作的一本小書……
J·R·R·托爾金（1892—1973）是英國的天才語言學家，牛津大學教授，古英語專家，1919—1920年《牛津英語詞典》的編委成員。1937年，《霍比特人》出版，由於贏得好評如潮，出版商建議托爾金續寫故事。結果，托爾金一寫就寫了十幾年，寫出了氣勢磅礴的史詩作品——《魔戒》三部曲，奠定了自己文壇巨匠的地位。而《霍比特人》和《魔戒》也成為當代奇幻作品的鼻祖。
《霍比特人》記述的是霍比特人比爾博·巴金斯與巫師甘道夫和13個矮人橫越中土大陸，尋找被惡龍搶占的屬於矮人的珍貴寶藏的探險故事。作為寫給孩子們的童話，整個故事遣詞用句顯淺詼諧，童趣滿溢——據說書中關於勇鬥大蜘蛛的情節，也是因為托爾金的兒子害怕蜘蛛而特意加進去的。不過，盡管全書語言簡潔，但仍然能夠顯露出托爾金在英語造詣上的深厚功力（例如本節選中的Attercop、Lob和Cob皆出自古英語中對蜘蛛的稱謂）。對於學習英語，這確實是一部不可多得的作品。
Chapter 8 Flies and Spiders
There was the usual dim grey light of the forest-day about him when he came to his senses. The spider lay dead beside him， and his sword-blade was stained black. Somehow the killing of the giant spider， all alone by himself in the dark without the help of the wizard or the dwarves or of anyone else， made a great difference to Mr. Baggins. He felt a different person， and much fiercer and bolder in spite of an empty stomach， as he wiped his sword on the grass and put it back into its 1）sheath.
“I will give you a name，” he said to it，“and I shall call you Sting.” After that he set out to explore. The forest was grim and silent， but obviously he had first of all to look for his friends， who were not likely to be very far off， unless they had been made prisoners by the elves （or worse things）.
Bilbo felt that it was unsafe to shout， and he stood a long while wondering in what direction the path lay， and in what direction he should go first to look for the dwarves.
In the end he made as good a guess as he could at the direction from which the cries for help had come in the night—and by luck （he was born with a good share of it） he guessed more or less right， as you will see. Having made up his mind he crept along as cleverly as he could. Hobbits are clever at quietness， especially in the woods， as I’ve already told you； also Bilbo had slipped on his ring before he started. That is why the spiders neither saw nor heard him coming.
He had picked his way 2）stealthily for some distance， when he noticed a place of dense black shadows ahead of him， black even for that forest， like a patch of midnight that had never been cleared away. As he drew nearer， he saw that it was made by spider-webs one behind and over and tangled with another.
Suddenly he saw， too， that there were spiders huge and horrible sitting in the branches above him， and ring or no ring he trembled with fear 3）lest they should discover him. Standing behind a tree he watched a group of them for some time， and then in the silence and stillness of the wood he realised that these loathsome creatures were speaking one to another. Their voices were a sort of thin creaking and hissing， but he could make out many of the words that they said. They were talking about the dwarves！
“It was a sharp struggle， but worth it，” said one. “What nasty thick skins they have to be sure， but I’ll wager there’s good juice inside.” “Why， they’ll make fine eating， when they’ve hung a bit，” said another. “Don’t hang ’em too long，” said a third. “They’re not as fat as they might be. Been feeding none too well of late， I should guess.” “Kill ’em， I say，” hissed a fourth； “kill ’em now and hang ’em dead for a while.”
“They’re dead now， I’ll 4）warrant，” said the first.
“That they are not. I saw one a-struggling just now. Just coming round again， I should say， after a bee-autiful sleep. I’ll show you.”
With that one of the fat spiders ran along a rope， till it came to a dozen bundles hanging in a row from a high branch. Bilbo was horrified， now that he noticed them for the first time dangling in the shadows， to see a dwarvish foot sticking out of the bottoms of some of the bundles， or here and there the tip of a nose， or a bit of beard or of a hood.
To the fattest of these bundles the spider went—“It is poor old Bombur， I’ll bet，” thought Bilbo—and nipped hard at the nose that stuck out. There was a muffled yelp inside， and a toe shot up and kicked the spider straight and hard. There was life in Bombur still. There was a noise like the kicking of a flabby football， and the enraged spider fell off the branch， only catching itself with its own thread just in time.
The others laughed. “You were quite right，” they said， “the meat’s alive and kicking！” “I’ll soon put an end to that，”hissed the angry spider climbing back onto the branch.