英语泛读教程（高等教育出版社）

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Young William Shakespeare

by Jennifer Bassett

    Everyone knows the name of Shakespeare but not much about his personal life. How did this great, probably the greatest playwright and poet live before he went to London? What were his dreams and ambitions? What about his family? What did he do when he first came to London to try his fortune? The following covers this part of Shakespeare's life. It is taken from The Life and Times of William Shakespeare written by Jennifer Bassett, who uses Toby, Shakespeare's countryman and life-long friend, as the narrator of the story.

    It was a sunny day in October 1579 when I first met Will, just outside Stratford, near a big orchard. I saw a boy up in one of the trees. He had red hair and looked about two years older than me.

    "What are you doing up there?" I called.

    "Just getting a few apples," he said, smiling.

    "Those are Farmer Nash's apples," I said, "and he'll send his dogs after you if he sees you."

    "Mr. Nash has gone to the market," the boy said. "Come on! They're good apples."

    The next minute I was up the tree with him. But Will was wrong. Farmer Nash wasn't at the market, and a few minutes later we saw his enraged red face above the wall on the far side of the field.

    Will and I ran like the wind and only stopped when we reached the river. We sat down to eat our apples.

    Will was fifteen, and lived in Henley Street, he told me. His father was John Shakespeare, and he had a sister, Joan, and two younger brothers, Gilbert and Richard. There was another sister who died, I learnt later. And the next year he had another brother, little Edmund―the baby of the family.

    "I go to Mr. Jenkins' school in Church Street," Will said. "Every day, from seven o'clock until five o'clock. Not Sundays, of course."

I was sorry for him. "Isn't it boring?" I asked.

    "Sometimes. Usually it's all right." He lay back and put his hands behind his head. "But we have to read and learn all these Latin writers. I want to read modern writers, and English writers, like Geoffrey Chaucer. Can you read?" he asked.

    "Of course I can read!" I said. "I went to school."

    Will sat up and began to eat another apple. "I want to be a writer," he said. "A poet. I want that more than anything else in the world."

    We were friends from that day, until the day he died. We met nearly every day, and he taught me a lot about books and poetry and writers. He was always diligent in his studies.

  When Will left school, he worked for his father. John Shakespeare was a glove-maker, and he had other business too, like buying and selling sheep. But Will wasn't interested.

    "What are we going to do, Toby?" he said to me one day. "We can't spend all our lives making shoes and gloves!"

    "Well," I said, "we could run away to sea and be sailors. Explore the world, like Francis Drake."

    Drake sailed back to Plymouth in 1581, after his three-year expedition round the world, but we were still in Stratford. We made lots of plans, but nothing ever came of them.

    Will was still reading a lot and he was already writing poems himself. He sometimes showed them to me, and I said they were very good. I didn't really know anything about poetry then, but he was my friend.

    Will was not happy with his writing. "I've got so much to learn, Toby," he said. "So much to learn."

    Will had a lot to learn about women, too. One day in October 1582, he came to my house with a gloomy face.

"I'll never leave Stratford." he said. "I'm going to be married in a few weeks' time. To Anne Hathaway."

    Will married Anne Hathaway in November, and she came to live in Henley Street. Families cost a lot of money, and John Shakespeare was having a lot of money troubles in those days. Times were hard in Henley Street.

     Susanna was born the next May. Will was very pleased with her.

    "Look, Toby, she's got my eyes," he said happily. "She's going to be as beautiful as the Queen of Egypt, and as clever as King Solomon."

    I didn't see much of Will's wife. She came from a very serious, Puritan family. Lots of church-going, and no singing or dancing.

    Soon there was another baby on the way, and one evening in February 1585, I hurried round to Henley Street to hear the news. Will's sister, Joan, opened the door, and then Will came running down the stairs.

"It's two of them!" he said. "Twins! A girl and a boy. Isn't that wonderful?"

    Will had some good friends, Hamnet and Judith Sadler, and he called the twins after them. John Shakespeare was very pleased to have his first grandson, and everyone was happy. For a while.

    Will and I still went around together when we could. He was still reading, and writing, and soon I could see a change in him. He was twenty-three now, and he was not happy with his life.

    "Stratford's too small, Toby," he said. "Too slow. Too quiet. Too monotonous. I've got to get away."

    "Yes, but how?" I asked. "You've got a family―three young children, remember."

  He didn't answer.

    In the summer months companies of players often came to small towns, and in 1587 five different companies came. Will and I always went to see the plays. Will loved to talk to the actors and to listen to all their stories of London.

  The Queen's Men came to Stratford in June, and we went to see the play. Will said it was a stupid play, with not a word of poetry in it.

    One evening a few months later, I walked into the Shakespeares' kitchen, and there was Anne, with a red, angry face, shouting at the top of her voice.

    "How can you do this to me? And what about the children? " Then she saw me and stopped.

    Will was sitting at the table, and looked pleased to see me. "I've told Anne," he said quietly, "that I'm going to live in London. I want to be an actor, and to write plays, if I can."

    He turned to Anne, " Listen. I'll come home when I can, but I must go to London. I can't do anything in Stratford."

    He looked at me across the room. "Are you coming with me, Toby?"

    "How soon can we start?" I said.

    It's two days' journey to London by horse, and when we rode into London, I began to feel afraid. This was a big, big city, and we were just two insignificant young men from a small town. I'll never forget the noise, and the smells, and the crowds. There were 200,000 people living in the City of London―I never saw so many people before in my life.

    The next day we began to look for work. Those early years were wonderful. We didn't have much money, of course, and we had to work very hard. A new actor only got six shillings a week, and there wasn't work every week. I decided not to be an actor.

    "Why not?" said Will. "It's a great life."

    We were working that month for the Queen's Men at the theatre called The Curtain up in Shoreditch. Will was acting four small parts in two different plays. He played a soldier and a murderer in one play, and in the other play he was a thief, and also an Italian lord in love with the Queen of the Night. And he loved it.

    "I'm not clever like you," I said. "I am going to do costumes," I said. "And properties."

    Will was good at acting. Not the best, but good. An actor had to be versatile. He had to learn his words, of course―perhaps for six different plays at the same time. No theatre put on the same play every day. He had to dance, and sing, and play music. He had to jump, and fall, and fight. And the fights had to look real. The playgoers of London knew a real fight when they saw one.

    Will was busy day and night. I don't know when he slept. He was acting in plays, he was writing his own plays, he was reading books, he was meeting other writers, making friends... He was learning, learning, learning.

    One day we met Burbage, an actor with Lord Strange's Men.

    "You've written four plays now, Will," he said. "They're good, and you're getting better all the time. And I'm getting better as an actor all the time. Come and work with Lord Strange's Men at the Rose theatre on Bankside. You can write for us."

    We worked harder than ever at the Rose. Plays were always in the afternoon, because of the daylight. We had rehearsals in the morning, and by lunch-time people were already coming across the river to get their places for the play. And more and more people came. By 1592 London was hearing the name William Shakespeare again and again.

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课文一

年轻的威廉・莎士比亚

詹尼弗・芭斯特

    莎士比亚的名字人尽皆知，但却没有多少人了解他的个人生活。那么这位伟大的――也许是最伟大的――剧作家兼诗人，在去伦敦之前是怎样生活的？他的家庭情况如何？初闯伦敦时他在那儿都做了些什么？下面这篇文章讲述了莎士比亚这段时期的生活。文章选自詹尼弗・芭斯特著的《莎士比亚的生平和时代》。作者用莎士比亚的同乡和终生朋友托比作为故事的讲述人。

    那是1579年10月一个阳光灿烂的日子，就在斯特拉特福镇外一个很大的果园子附近，我初次遇见威尔。我看见苹果树上坐着个男孩，长着一头红发，看起来比我大两岁左右。

    “你在那上面干吗？”我喊道。     “摘几个苹果，”他笑着答道。     “那是纳什农场主的苹果，”我说：“要是他看见了，会放狗出来追你的。”

    “纳什先生赶集去了，”那个男孩说：“来呀，这苹果很不错的。”

    不一会儿，我就也爬到树上了。可是威尔错了，纳什农场主并没有去赶集。几分钟后，我们就看见那边儿苹果园墙头上露出一张愤怒的、涨得通红的脸。

    我和威尔象一阵风似的飞跑而去，一直跑到河边才停下来。我们坐下来开始啃苹果。

    威尔告诉我，他十五岁，住在亨利街。他的父亲叫约翰・莎士比亚。他有个姐姐叫琼，有两个弟弟――吉尔伯特和理查德。后来我才知道，他其实还有个姐姐，但已经死了。到了第二年，他又添了个弟弟――小埃德蒙，他们家的小宝贝。

    “我在教堂街詹金斯先生的学校上学，”威尔说：“从上午7点到下午5点，天天上课。当然，星期天是不上的。”

    我为他感到难过。“是不是很枯燥无味？”我问道。

    “有时候是。平时还可以。”他躺了下去，用双手垫着后脑勺。“不过我们得学习那些拉丁作家，读他们的作品。我想读当代的、尤其是英国作家的作品。比如杰弗里・乔叟。你识字吗？”他问道。

    “我当然识字了，”我说：“我上过学。”

威尔坐起来，开始啃另一只苹果。“我想当一名作家，”他说：“一名诗人。这是我最最想干的事儿。”

    从那天起我们就成了好朋友，一直到他去世。我们几乎天天见面，他教给了我许多关于书、诗歌和作家的知识。学业上，他总是非常勤奋。

    威尔离开学校后在他父亲那儿做事。约翰・莎士比亚是个手套制造商，兼做贩羊之类的生意。不过威尔对此不感兴趣。

“托比，我们能做什么呢？”一天他对我说。“我们总不能一辈子做鞋和手套吧！”

“嗯，我们可以离家出走，到海上去做水手，像弗朗西斯・德雷克那样探索世界。”

    德雷克经过三年的环球远航，于1581年返回普利茅斯港。可我们还呆在斯特拉特福。我们有过很多打算，但都一无所成。

威尔仍在大量阅读，而且已经开始自己做诗了。有时他把做好的诗拿给我看，我就说诗做得非常好。事实上，我那时对诗一窍不通，不过他是我的朋友嘛。

    威尔对他的作品并不满意。“托比，我要学的东西还太多、太多，”他说。

    关于女人，威尔也还要多多学习呢。1582年10月的一天，他满脸忧郁地来到我家。

“我再也不能离开斯特拉特福了，”他说，“再过几周我就要结婚了，她叫安妮・哈撒薇。”

11月，威尔和安妮・哈撒薇结婚了，她搬到亨利街来住。成家立业了，每月开销会很大。那一段时间，约翰・莎士比亚在钱方面可谓麻烦不断。在亨利街的那段日子可真不好过。

    次年5月，苏珊娜出生了。威尔非常喜欢她。

“瞧，托比，她的眼睛像我呢，”他兴奋地说，“她会长得像埃及的皇后一样漂亮，像所罗门国王一样聪明。”

我没怎么见过威尔的妻子。她来自一个非常严肃的清教家庭。常去教堂，从不唱歌，也不跳舞。

很快又一个婴儿要出生了。1585年2月的一个傍晚，我急匆匆地赶到亨利街去探望。威尔的姐姐琼开了门，接着威尔从楼上跑下来。

“两个！”他说：“双胞胎，一男一女。真是太棒了！”

威尔有一对好朋友――哈姆尼特和朱迪丝・赛得拉――他就以他们来为这对孪生子命名。约翰・莎士比亚非常高兴自己有了孙子，人人都很高兴。不过好景不长。

    我和威尔有空时仍一块转转。他仍在读书，也在写。不久，我就看出他有了变化。他现在23岁了，对他的生活很不满意。

“托比，斯特拉特福太小了，”他说，“节奏太慢，太安静，太单调了。我得离开这儿。”

“是呀，可是怎么走呢？”我问道，“别忘了你有一个家，家里还有三个小孩子呢。”     他没有回答。

每年夏天的那几个月里，经常有剧团到小镇上来。1587年间，就有5个不同的剧团来过。我和威尔经常去看演出。威尔喜欢和演员交谈，听他们讲有关伦敦的种种故事。

6月，女王剧团来到了斯特拉特福。我们去看演出。威尔说那个剧本非常拙劣，没有一点儿诗意。

几个月后的一天晚上，我来到莎士比亚的厨房。安妮在那儿，满脸通红，恼怒万分。她尖声喊着：

“你怎么能这样待我？孩子们怎么办？”她看见了我，就不再说话。

    威尔坐在桌旁。看见我，他很高兴。“我告诉安妮，”他平静地说，“我要到伦敦去生活。我想当一名演员。要是可能的话，我还想写剧本。”

   他转向安妮，说道，“听着，有空的时候我会回来的。不过我必须去伦敦。在斯特拉特福我什么也做不成。”他从屋子那边望着我，问道，“托比，你要和我一块儿去吗？”

“什么时候动身？”我问他。

    第二天，我们开始找工作。开头儿那几年可真不错。当然，我们没有多少钱，得拼命地做事。新演员每周只能拿到六先令，而且又不是每周都有活儿干。我决定不做演员了。

“为什么不？”威尔说，“演员的生活多好。”

当时我们在肖瑞迪斯一个名叫“帷幕”的剧场里为女王剧团当差。威尔在两个不同的剧里扮演了四个小角色。他在一个剧里扮演士兵和谋杀犯，在另一个剧里扮演一个小偷，和一个爱上了“夜之女王”的意大利贵族。他喜欢演戏。

“我没你聪明，”我说，“我去管服装和道具吧。”

威尔擅长表演。说不上最好，但也相当不错。一名演员必须多才多艺。他当然得记住台词――有时，要同时背六个剧本的台词。剧院每天上演的剧都不一样。他得会跳舞、唱歌，还要会演奏音乐。他得蹦跳、扑卧、搏斗。那些搏斗场面要看起来惟妙惟肖才行。伦敦那些戏迷一看到这种搏斗场面，就知道演得像不像。 

威尔不分白天黑夜地忙碌着。我现在也不记得他什么时候睡过觉。他在剧里扮演角色，他写自己的剧本，读书，与其他作家会面、交友……他不停地学呀，学呀，学呀。

    一天，我们碰见了勃贝奇，这是斯顿基伯爵剧团的一个演员。

“威尔，你已经写了四个剧本了，”他说，“都不错。你在不断地进步啊。作为演员，我也在不断提高。到河畔街的玫瑰剧场来为斯顿基伯爵剧团工作吧。你可以为我们写剧本。”

    在玫瑰剧场，我们比以往任何时候都更卖劲儿地工作。因为光线的原因，剧一般都在下午演出。我们上午排练。到吃午饭的时侯，已经有人从河那边过来，找好位置等着看剧了。观众越来越多。到了1592年，威廉・莎士比亚的名字已传遍了伦敦。

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