英文名著分集阅读 维克多·雨果《悲惨世界》part2

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

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1.Monsieur 先生 2.Inspector 探长

原文

Chapter 2: Fantine

Now we meet Fantine. She is young and beautiful and in love with a man in Paris, but she has no family and no money. For Fantine, this is the love of her life. For the man in Paris, it is just a summer of love. Men are not kind to women, they have their fun and then they walk away. The man in Paris goes home to his rich family and leaves poor Fantine, and with a child, a little girl called Cosette. Fantine must find work, but how? Fantine has a child but no husband, and a woman without a husband is nothing, worse than nothing. People are not kind to a woman with a child but no husband. They turn their faces away, they close their doors, they say there's no work here for a woman like you. Fantine loves her daughter dearly, but what can she do? So in 1818, in a village near Paris, she leaves her little daughter with Monsieur and Madame Thenardier. They ask for 7 francs a month. Fantine pays the money, holds her daughter in her arms for the last time, and leaves. She takes the road for her home town of Montroy,and tears are running down her face. There is misery in her heart. Poor Fantine, poor Cosette. In Montroy, Fantinefinds work in a factory. This is the factory of Monsieur Madeleine, an important man in the town and very rich. Everybody likes him, because he is a good man. He is kind to his workers, he helps people,and his factory gives many jobs to the townspeople. But who is he, this Monsieur Madeleine?Where did he come from? He arrived in Montroy at the end of 1815,but nobody knows his family or anything about him. Fantine sent money every month to the Thenardiers. They were not good people, and they used the money for their own daughters. Poor little Cosette was a hungry, dirty,unloved child. She worked all day, she cleaned the house,she carried water, she washed the clothes. But Fantine knew nothing of this, and she worked long hours to make money for Cosette. The next year, the Thenardiers asked for 12 francs a month. The year after that, they wanted 15 francs. Then Fantine lost her job at the factory because the women did not like her. “She has achild in a village somewhere near Paris.” “Yes, and where's her husband.” “She doesn't have one.” “We don't want that kind of woman here. She must go.” Fantine found work making shirts. It was hard work for little money. She was often ill with a small dry cough. The Thenardiers wrote again, “Your daughter needs a warm dress for winter, send 10 francs at once.” Fantine did not have 10 francs. She thought long and hard, and went to the barber in the town. She took off her hat, and her golden hair fell down her back. “That's beautiful hair,” said the barber. “What can you give me for it?” “10 francs.” “Then cut it off.” She sent the money to the Thenardiers. “My daughter's not cold now,” she thought, “She'swearing my hair.” Soon, another letter came from the Thenardiers,“Send 100 francs, or Cosette must leave our house.” 100 francs? How can a poor woman get that kind of money? There was only one way. One cold winter evening, outside a restaurant in the center of Montroy, a woman walked up and down. There was snow on the ground, but the woman wore an evening dress with flowers in her hair. Some young men came out of the restaurant,saw her, and began to call her bad names. They laughed and shouted, but the woman did not look at them. Then one young then took some snow and put it down the back of the woman's dress. The woman was Fantine. She gave a cry, turned, and hit the young man's face with her hands. People came to watch, laughing. A tall policeman arrived, took the woman by the arm and pulled her away. “Come with me,” he said. This policeman was Inspector Javert. He was new to Montroy, and he was a hard man. To him, the law was the only important thing in life. He hated criminals. The law in France at that time was not kind to women like Fantine. Javert took Fantine to the office of pol