弗蘭肯斯坦英文版

1、弗蘭肯斯坦英文版.或許以這個悲傷而恐怖的故事拍成的電影要比世界上由任何其他故事拍成的電影都要多。為什么有這么多的人喜歡它？因為當(dāng)我 們第一次讀到它時，它就好像是出自我們夢中的記憶一樣。這是一個古老的故事，也是一個新的故事。說它“古老”是因為它 創(chuàng)作于一百五十多年以前，那時的科學(xué)發(fā)展才剛剛起步；說它“新” 是因為弗蘭肯斯坦的問題也就是我們今天所而臨的問題。科學(xué)給予我 們力量去改造世界，但這種力量也可能與我們作對并毀滅我們。弗蘭 肯斯坦創(chuàng)造了一個新的人，他比任何其他人都要巨大和強壯一一然而 弗蘭肯斯坦控制不了他，這個怪物毀滅了弗蘭肯斯坦所愛的一切。今 天的科學(xué)家正在創(chuàng)造著巨大的機器、電腦和武器，他

2、們聲稱這些東西 對我們有益一一但我們能夠駕馭它們嗎？瑪麗雪萊(17971851)是維多利亞時代的一位重要作家。她的丈夫是英格蘭最著名的詩人之珀西比希雪萊。11 ! Look over there. Something is moving on the ice ! CaptainThe sailor stood at the top of the mast, high above theCaptain- His hand pointed away from the ship, across the miles of ice that covered the sea.The Captain loo

3、ked to the north, where the sailor waspointing. He saw something coming fast towards the ship across theice. He put his telescope to his eye, and through it he could see theshapes of ten dogs pulling a sledge over the ice. He could also see thedriver of the sledgea huge figure, much bigger than a ma

4、n.The sledge came nearer and nearer to the sea. Soon it was only a quarter of a mile from the ship. No one needed a telescope now to see the huge figure of the driver.Suddenly the sledge went behind a mountain of ice and disappeared. At that moment another sledge appeared. It, too, was moving fast,

5、and was clearly chasing the first sledge. This driver was a smaller figure, more like an ordinary man. Faster and faster the dogs ran； then the second sledge also disappeared behind the mountain of ice-Two hours passed. The sledges did not appear again. Nothingmoved on the ice. Soon night cam， and i

6、n the night there was astorm. In the morning, the sailors saw that great pieces of ice wereSuddenly the sailor on the mast shouted floating round the ship again：Captain, I can see a man on the ice-The sailor was pointing to a piece of ice that was floating near the ship. A man was sitting on the ice

7、, and near him was a brokensledge. The man was nearly dead from cold and could notwalk- The sailors carried him carefully onto the ship, and took himto the Captain, who said：Welcome to my ship- I am the Captain and my name is Robert Walton. 1Thank you. Captain Walton, 1 the man said. My name is Fran

8、kenstein, Victor Frankenstein- 1Then he fainted and said no more.Two days passed before the man was strong enough to talk and then the Captain asked him to tell his story.工 am trying to catch someonet 1 said Frankenstein- That is why I have come so far north on the ice. 14We saw you following someon

9、e1 1 the Captain said. 4He washuge, much bigger than a man. We saw his sledge just in front of you on the night before the storm. 1工 am pleased you all saw that huge figure, 1Frankenstein4 Perhaps that will help you to believe my story, saidDuring the days, while the Captain worked on the ship, Fran

10、kenstein wrote down his story, and each evening he read what he had written to theCaptain.Here is Victor Frankenstein1s story.2I was born in Switzerland in the town of Geneva. My parents loved each other very much, and I learnt from the example of theirlove. I learnt that to love and to be patient a

11、re the most important things in the world.My mother hoped to have a daughter after I was born, but forfive years I was the only child. And then my mother found a sisterfor me. She was helping a family in which there were fivechildren. They were very poor, and the children were thin and hungry- One o

12、f the children was a little girl, withgolden hair andblue eyes Her name was Elizabeth- My mother took the little girland Elizabeth became the daughter that my mother,into our familyhad always wanted- As I grew oldermy love for Elizabeth becamestronger all the time-Later my mother had two other sons,

13、 Ernest andWilliam- Ayoung woman called Justine came to live in the house to help mymother with the children- We loved her as much as she loved us-The years passed happily, and we had everything that weneeded. At school I met another very fine person. His name wasHenry Clerval, and he was very cleve

14、r. My family also liked him very much, so he was a welcome visitor to our house.I studied very hard at school- I wanted to know the secrets oflife, and, most of all, I wanted to know how to make livingthings. I read all the books that I could find- One day, some-thinghappened that added a new idea t

15、o the ideas that I al-ready had- Iwas fifteen at the time, and we were on holiday in themountains. There was a wild storm, and with it came the mostfrightening thunder and lightning that I had ever seen in mylife- About twenty metres in front of our house was a greattree. Suddenly a huge fork of lig

16、htning hit the tree. After a fewseconds, there was nothing left of it except a black piece of wood two metres high. The lightning had destroyed it-I began to read all the books I saw how strong electricity wasthat I could find about electricity and its terrible power.維克多的故事開始了3For seventeen years my

17、 life was very happy. Then the first sadthing happened. My mother became very ill, and soon she knew thatshe was dying. Just before she died, she asked Elizabeth and me togo to her room. She held our hands and said：4My children I am very happy because you love each other, and because one day you wil

18、l get married. Everyone in the family loves you, Elizabeth. Will you take my place in the family, my dear? I can die happy if you will look after them when I have gone. !My mother died, and we were very sad, because we loved herdearly Elizabeth was brave and helped us； her sweet smile gave us some h

19、appiness in the unhappy days after my mother 1 s deathThe time came for me to go to university. I did not want to leavemy sad family, but we all knew that I should go- It was hard toleave, too, because the parents of my good friend Henry Clerval would not let him go to university with me. And soI ha

20、d to goalone.On my first day at the university I met my teacher, ProfessorWaldman, who was one of the greatest scientists in the world. He gave a wonderful talk to all the students who were starting at theuniversity- He ended his talk by saying： Some of you will becomethe great scientists of tomorro

21、w. You must study hard and discovereverything that you can. That is why God made you intelligentto help other people. 1After the professorf s talk, I thought very carefully- Iremembered the storm when I was fifteen- I remembered how thelightning had destroyed the tree. I wanted to use electricity to

22、 help people, and I wanted to discover the secrets of life- I decided to workon these two things. I did not know then that my work woulddestroy me and the people that I loved.I started work the next day. I worked very hard and soonProfessor Waldman and I realized that I could learn to be a very good

23、 scientistThe professor helped me very much, and other importantscientists who were his friends helped me, too- I was interested inmy work and I did not take one day1 s holiday during the next twoyears. I did not go home, and my letters to my family were very short.After two years I had discovered m

24、any things and I built ascientific machine that was better than anything in theuniversity- My machine would help me answer the most important question of all- How does life begin? Is it possible to put life intodead things? To answer these questions about life I had to learnfirst about death- I had

25、to watch bodies from the moment when theydied and the warm life left them. In the hospital and in theuniversity, I watched the dying and the dead. Day after day, monthafter month, I followed death. It was a dark and terrible time.Then one day, the answer came to me. Suddenly I was surethat I knew th

26、e secret of life. I knew that I could put life into a body that was not alive.I worked harder and harder now. I slept for only a short timeeach night, and I did not eat much food. I wrote to my family lessoften. But they loved me and did not stop writing to me. They said they understood how busy I w

27、as. They did not want me to stop workThey would wait until I had more to write or to see themtime. They hoped to see me very soon.The professors realized that I was doing very important work, and so they gave me my own laboratory. There was a small flatabove the laboratoryt where I lived, and someti

28、mes I stayed insidethe building for a week and did not go out.Above the laboratory I built a very tall mast. It was 150metreshigh, and higher than the tallest building in the city- The mast couldcatch lightning and could send the electricity down to my machine inthe laboratory. I had never forgotten

29、 the lightning that haddestroyed the tree- There had been so much power in the electricityof that lightning- I believed I could use that electricity to give life to things that were dead.I will say no more than that. The secret of my machine must diewith me- I was a very clever scientists but I did

30、not realize then what a terrible mistake I was making.In my laboratory I made a body. I bought or stole all the piecesof human body that I needed, and slowly and carefully, I put them all togetherI did not let anybody enter my laboratory or my flat while I wasdoing this awful work. I was afraid to t

31、ell anybody my terrible secret.I had wanted to make a beautiful man, but the face of thecreature was horrible. Its skin was thin and yellow, and its eyeswere as yellow as its skin. Its long black hair and white teeth werealmost beautiful, but the rest of the face was very ugly.Its legs and arms were

32、 the right shapes but they were huge. I had to use big pieces because it was too difficult to join small piecestogether. My creature was two and a half metres tall-For a year I had worked to make this creature, but now itlooked terrible and frightening. I almost decided to destroy it. But Icould not

33、- I had to know if I could put life into it.I joined the body to the wires from my machine- More wiresjoined the machine to the mast. I was sure that my machine coulduse electricity from lightning to give life to thebody- I watched andwaited. Two days later I saw dark clouds in the sky, and I knew t

34、hata storm was coming. At about one o 1 clock in the morning thelightning came. My mast began to do its work immediately and the electricity from the lightning travelled down the mast to my? Would the machine work machineAt first nothing happened- But after a few minutes I saw thecreature 1 s body b

35、egin to move. Slowly, terribly, the body camealive. His arms and legs began to move, and slowly he sat up.The dead body had been an ugly thing, but alive, he was muchmore horrible- Suddenly I wanted to escape from him- I ran out ofthe laboratory, and locked the door. I was filled with fear at whatI

36、had done.For hours I walked up and down in my flat. At lastI lay downon my bed, and fell asleep- But my sleep was full of terribledreams and I woke up suddenly. The horrible thing that I hadcreated was standing by my bed. His yellow eyes were looking atme； his mouth opened and he made strange sounds

37、 at me. On hisyellow face there was an awful smile. One of his huge hands reached towards mBefore he could touch me, I jumped off the bed and randownstairs into the garden. I stayed there all night, but I could notthink clearly. I was afraid. And when morning came, I went outinto the town and began

38、to walk about.I did not notice where I was walking but soon I came to thestation. A train from Geneva had just arrived, and the passengersOne of them ran towards me when he saw were leaving the stationme. It was my dear friend Henry Clerval.He was very pleased to see me. He took my hand and shook it

39、 warmly.My dear Victor! 1 he said. What a lucky chance that you arehere at the station- Your father, and Elizabeth and the others, arevery worried about you, because you have not visited them for along time. They ask me to make sure that you are well. And I havevery good news. My father has agreed t

40、o let me study at theuniversity, so we shall be able to spend a lot of time together. 1I was very happy to hear this news, and for a moment I for-gotmy fears. I took Henry back to my flat and asked him to wait outsidewhile I went in to look. I was afraid that the creature was stillthere. But he had

41、disappeared. At that time I did not think of otherpeople, and what the creature could do to them- I took Henry intothe flat and cooked a meal for us. But Henry noticed how thin I was, and that I was laughing too much and could not sit still-Suddenly he said： My dear Victor, what is the matter withyo

42、u? Are you ill? Has something awful happened? 14Don 11 ask me that, 1 I cried- I put my hands over my eyes. Ithought I could see the horrible creature there in front of me. ISave He can tell you： and shouted , pointed wildly across the roomme ! Save me 1 I tried to fight the creaturet but there was

43、nothing there. Then I fainted and fell to the floor-Poor Henry! I do not know what he thought. He called a doctor and they put me to bed. I was very ill for two months, andHenry stayed and looked after me. His loving care saved me fromdeath.I wanted to go home and see my family as soon as possible.

44、When I was well enough, I packed my clothes and books- Allmy luggage was ready and I was feeling very happy when thepostman arrived with some letters. One of the letters ended my short time of happiness-5The letter was from my father in Geneva, and this is what hewrote：My dear Victor,I want you to k

45、now before you arrive home that anawful thingHe is dead, William, Your dear youngest brother, has happenedwas murdered. It happened last Thursday evening when Elizabethand I and your two brothers Ernest and William, went for a walkoutside the city. William and Ernest were playing. William hadhidden

46、from Ernest, and Ernest asked Elizabeth and me to help findWilliam- We all began to search for him, but we couldnt findhim. We searched all night. At five in the morning I foundhim. He was lying on the grass, white and still. I could see themarks of fingers on his neckthe murderer had strangled him.

47、Elizabeth had let him wear a gold chain of hers round hisneck- On the chain was a very small picture of your mother. We allthink that someone murdered William to steal the gold chain. PoorElizabeth is terribly unhappy at William1 s death. She thinks he diedbecause she let him wear the chain. Hurry h

48、ome, my dearVictor. You are the only one who can help Elizabeth, and we all need you.With all our love,Your FatherHenry helped me to catch the train- The journey seemed verylong, and it was late at night before the train reached Geneva. Idecided to spend the night in a village outside the town and g

49、o homeI wanted to see the place where William had early in the morning died.As I started my walk, a storm broke and lightning lit thesky. The police had put posts round the place where the murderer had strangled William, so I found it easily. I cried sadly as I stood there. My poor brother had been

50、a kind and happy boy, and wehad all loved him-Again the lightning lit the sky, and I saw a huge figure standingin the rain. When I saw it, I knew at once what it was. It was thecreature that I had made.What was he doing there? But although I asked myself thequestion, I knew the answer. He had murder

51、ed my brother. I was sure that I was right.I decided to try and catch him- But as I moved, he ran to-wards the mountains. He ran much faster than any man- He climbed the mountain easily reached the top, and disappeared.I stood there in the dark and the rain, and knew that I had created a monster. An

52、d he had murdered my brother-At first I decided to tell the police my story. Butwould theybelieve me? I had been very ill. When the police learnt about my illness they would think the monster was just one of my bad dreams. I decided that I could not tell anybody.I went home to my family and they wer

53、e very pleased to seeme. Then they told me that the police had found the murderer. Perhaps you will think that this was good news, but I have not told you who the police had arrested.As I went into the houses I noticed that one person did not cometo meet me- It was Justine, the young woman who looke

54、d after theAnd it was Justine that the children and who was like a sister to us police had arrested.A few days after the murder, the police had searched the houseand had found the gold chain in Justine1s coat pocket- Everyone in the family knew that Justine had not murderedWilliam. I knewwho the mur

55、derer was, but I could not tell anyone- We were surethat Justine would be free after the trial, because nobody couldbelieve that she was a murderer. But we were wrong-The trial did not go well for Justine- There were a number of strange facts that were difficult to explain, and the judge decidedthat

56、 she was the murderer. The punishment for murder wasdeath. We argued and cried. We said she could not murderanyone- But nothing could change the judge 1 s order.So I got up early and went to the judge 1 s house and told himabout the monster. He did not believe me. He thought I was lyingin order to s

57、ave Justine1s life.In the prison Justine waited quietly for death. We spent many hours with her, and she spoke calmly and kindly to us. She was happy because we believed that she had not killed William- And shewas almost looking forward to death, be -cause then she would be with William and our dear mother in a place of peace-I knew Her love and gentleness added to my great unhappiness she was going to die because of me. I knew my brother had diedbecause of me. I had brought nothing b