Oliver Twist 雾都孤儿 - Chapter 10

For many days, Oliver remained in the Jew's room, picking the marks out of the pocket-handkerchief, (of which a great number were brought home,) and sometimes taking part in the game already described: which the two boys and the Jew played, regularly, every morning. At length, he began to languish ¹ for fresh air, and took many occasions of earnestly entreating ² the old gentleman to allow him to go out to work with his two companions., ,Oliver was rendered the more anxious to be actively ³ employed, by what he had seen of the stern morality of the old gentleman's character. Whenever the Dodger ⁴ or Charley Bates came home at night, empty-handed, he would expatiate ⁵ with great vehemence ⁶ on the misery ⁷ of idle and lazy habits; and would enforce upon them the necessity of an active life, by sending them supperless to bed. On one occasion, indeed, he even went so far as to knock them both down a flight of stairs; but this was carrying out his virtuous ⁸ precepts ⁹ to an unusual extent., ,At length, one morning, Oliver obtained the permission he had so eagerly sought. There had been no handkerchiefs to work upon, for two or three days, and the dinners had been rather meagre. Perhaps these were reasons for the old gentleman's giving his assent ¹⁰; but, whether they were or no, he told Oliver he might go, and placed him under the joint ¹¹ guardianship ¹² of Charley Bates, and his friend the Dodger., , ,The pace at which they went, was such a very lazy, ill-looking saunter, that Oliver soon began to think his companions were going to deceive the old gentleman, by not going to work at all. The Dodger had a vicious propensity ¹³, too, of pulling the caps from the heads of small boys and tossing them down areas; while Charley Bates exhibited some very loose notions concerning the rights of property, by pilfering ¹⁴ divers ¹⁵ apples and onions from the stalls at the kennel ¹⁶ sides, and thrusting them into pockets which were so surprisingly capacious, that they seemed to undermine his whole suit of clothes in every direction. These things looked so bad, that Oliver was on the point of declaring his intention of seeking his way back, in the best way he could; when his thoughts were suddenly directed into another channel, by a very mysterious change of behaviour on the part of the Dodger., ,They were just emerging from a narrow court not far from the open square in Clerkenwell, which is yet called, by some strange perversion ¹⁷ of terms, 'The Green': when the Dodger made a sudden stop; and, laying his finger on his lip, drew his companions back again, with the greatest caution and circumspection ¹⁸., ,New products languish on the drawing board.新产品在计划阶段即告失败 。,We have not bound your feet with our entreating arms. 我们不曾用恳求的手臂来抱住你的双足
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