阿里巴巴和四十大盗的故事

阿里巴巴和四十大盗的故事

很久很久以前，在波斯湾的一个小镇上住着兄弟两人，哥哥叫卡西姆，弟弟叫阿里巴巴。他们的父亲很穷，死后没给他们留下什么财产。后来哥哥娶了一个有钱的富家女做老婆，成了有钱人。弟弟阿里巴巴娶了一个穷女孩，所以他还是穷人。阿里巴巴每天到山上砍柴，将柴卖掉，用换来的钱过日子，日子过得很清苦。

有一天，阿里巴巴在山中砍柴，忽然发现一帮人骑着马向他这边奔来。阿里巴巴连忙躲了起来。只见那四十个人在一块巨石前停了下来。其中一个首领模样的人站了出来，冲着巨石大叫：“芝麻，芝麻，开门吧！”

The Story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

Long, long ago, there were two brothers who lived in a small village in the Persian gulf. The elder brother was called Cassim and the younger brother was called Ali Baba. Their father was very poor and when he died, he left them with no inheritance. Latterly, the elder brother took a woman from a rich family as his wife, becoming very rich himself. His younger brother Ali Baba, however, married a poor girl, so he continued to be poor. Every day, Ali Baba would go into the mountains to cut firewood which he would then sell. He used the money he earned to live a very impoverished life.

One day, Ali Baba was cutting firewood in the mountains when he saw a group of people riding horses, galloping in his direction. Ali Baba hurriedly hid away. He saw the forty men stop in front of a rock. A man, who Ali Baba took to be the captain, stepped forward and shouted at the rock, "Open sesame!"

忽然，巨石竟像门一样打开了。那四十个人一个接一个走进洞里，接着石门又自动关上了。过了好一会儿，石门再次打开了，四十个人又一个个出来了。只听那首领又喊道：“芝麻，芝麻，关门吧！”门便关上了。

等那些人走远后，阿里巴巴来到石门前，他大叫：“芝麻，芝麻，开门吧！”门“轰”的一声开了。阿里巴巴进洞一看，啊！只见里面遍地都是金银珠宝。阿里巴巴小心地装好两袋金币，放进驴背上的筐里，又用柴将金币盖好，走出了山洞。然后，他对着石门大喊：“芝麻，芝麻，关门吧！”石门就关上了。

阿里巴巴一回到家就马上把金币搬到妻子的面前。妻子见了这么多的金币，又惊又喜。阿里巴巴便把自己的这段奇遇跟妻子说了。妻子听了很高兴，开始数起了金币。阿里巴巴笑着说：“这么多的金币，你要数到什么时候啊？不如你去卡西姆家借一个斗来量吧。”

All of a sudden, the rock opened like a door. One after the other, the forty men went into the cave. The door closed automatically behind them. After a while, the door opened up again and the forty men came out. Ali Baba heard the leader shout, "Close, sesame!" and the door closed.

Once the troupe had safely left, Ali Baba stood in front of the rock and shouted, "Open sesame!" The door opened with a rumble. Ali Baba went into the cave. Ah! Jewels set in gold and silver covered the ground. Ali Baba carefully packed two bags of gold coins and put them in the basket on his donkey's back. He covered the gold with firewood and walked out of the cave. Facing the door, he shouted, "Close sesame!" and the door closed.

As soon as Ali Baba returned home, he heaved the gold coins before his wife. On seeing so many gold coins, his wife was both alarmed and happy. Ali Baba told her of his unexpected discovery. His wife was delighted and started to count the gold coins. Laughing, Ali Baba said, "There are so many coins, you'll never finish counting them. Why don't we borrow a set of scales from Cassim so we can weigh them?"

阿里巴巴的妻子便来到了卡西姆家借斗。卡西姆的妻子把斗借给了阿里巴巴的妻子，但出于好奇，她偷偷地在斗底涂满了胶水。

阿里巴巴和妻子归还斗时，一枚金币粘在了斗底，被卡西姆的妻子发现了，她把这件事告诉了卡西姆。卡西姆马上去问阿里巴巴是怎么回事，老实的阿里巴巴只好跟哥哥说了实话。

第二天，卡西姆就雇了十匹骡子朝山洞走去。卡西姆来到巨石前，大叫：“芝麻，芝麻，开门吧！”门立即打开了，卡西姆走了进去。

面对这么多的珍宝，贪心的卡西姆一个劲儿地猛装。当他将十个袋子全部装满后，却把暗语忘得一干二净了，他对着石门大喊：“小麦，小麦，开门吧！”石门一动不动。他又喊：“豌豆，豌豆，开门吧！”石门还是不开，卡西姆几乎喊遍了所有农作物的名字，但偏偏想不起“芝麻”这两个字来。

Ali Baba's wife went to Cassim's house to borrow a set of scales. Cassim's wife lent the scales to Ali Baba's wife, but, out of curiosity, she secretly painted glue on the bottom of the scales.

When Ali Baba and his wife returned the scales, Cassim's wife found a gold coin stuck to the bottom of the scale and told Cassim. Cassim immediately went to Ali Baba to ask what had happened. Ali Baba was an honest chap, and felt obliged to tell his brother the truth.

The next day, Cassim took ten donkeys into the mountains. When he came to the rock, he shouted,"Open sesame!" The door immediately opened and Cassim went in.

Standing before this much treasure, the greedy Cassim started to pack feverishly. After he had packed the ten bags to the point of bursting, he had forgotten the password completely. He shouted at the door, "Open barley!" The door did not open an inch. He cried, "Open, peas!" The door did not budge. Cassim called the names of nearly all the crops, but he couldn't think of the three syllables: "sesame".

很快就到了黄昏，强盗们回来了。看到门前的十匹骡子，他们感到很奇怪。强盗首领说出了暗语，大门立即打开了。突然，卡西姆从里面冲了出来，与一个强盗撞在了一起。强盗们很生气，上前将卡西姆劈成了两截，并将尸体挂在了洞里面。

天越来越黑了，卡西姆还没有回来。他妻子很担心，跑去问阿里巴巴。阿里巴巴也不知道是怎么回事，只能尽力安慰嫂子。

第二天一早，阿里巴巴便带着毛驴来到了巨石前。门一开，哥哥卡西姆的尸体便出现在阿里巴巴眼前。阿里巴巴急忙将尸体包好，又赶着驴子将尸体运往哥哥家。

开门的是卡西姆家聪明的女仆，名叫摩吉亚娜。阿里巴巴让她小心张罗，为卡西姆办一个体面的丧事。

Before long, the sun had started to set and the thieves arrived. They saw the ten donkeys in front of the door and thought this most peculiar. The captain uttered the password and the door opened. Suddenly, Cassim came rushing out, bumping into the bandits. The bandits were furious. They stepped forward and cut Cassim in two, hanging his corpse inside the cave.

The sky darkened, and Cassim had yet to return. His wife was very worried. She ran to ask Ali Baba, but Ali Baba didn't know what had happened either. He did his best to comfort her.

The next morning, Ali Baba took a donkey to the rock. As soon as the door opened, he saw his brother Cassim's corpse dangling before his eyes. Ali Baba hurriedly wrapped up the corpse and used the donkey to carry it back to his brother's house.

The clever maid in Cassim's house opened the door. Her name was Morgiana. Ali Baba told her to make the appropriate preparations and hold a respectable funeral for Cassim.

摩吉亚娜来到药铺，要了一服药，这服药是给那些重病病人服用的。摩吉亚娜买药时，故意装出愁眉苦脸的样子，说她主人的病可能好不了了。果然，没多久，卡西姆家便传来了哭声。

第二天，摩吉亚娜戴着面纱来找裁缝。她给了裁缝很多钱，才使裁缝同意用手帕蒙着双眼去干活儿的地方。来到卡西姆家，摩吉亚娜将裁缝带进一个小黑屋子，才允许他解去手帕。裁缝很快就将卡西姆的尸体缝在了一起。摩吉亚娜把蒙着眼睛的裁缝送回家。做完这一切，摩吉亚娜才去报丧。阿里巴巴帮她们料理丧事。办完丧事，阿里巴巴便搬进了卡西姆家，照顾嫂子和侄子的生活。

Morgiana went to the chemist and asked for some medicine. This medicine was for patients who were gravely ill. When Morgiana bought the medicine, she purposefully wore a sad expression on her face, saying that her master was ill to the point of no return. Indeed, before long, the sound of weeping came from Cassim's house.

The next day, Morgiana went to the tailor's wearing a veil. After she had given the tailor a lot of money, he agreed to have his eyes bound by a handkerchief and to be led to the place of work. They arrived at Cassim's house. Morgiana led the tailor to a small, dark shack, and allowed him to take off the handkerchief. The tailor soon sewed Kassim's corpse back together. Morgiana then covered the tailor's eyes and sent him home. After all this was done, Morgiana went to pay her respects at the funeral. Ali Baba helped them to arrange the funeral. Once the funeral was over, Ali Baba moved into Cassim's house to look after the widow and his nephew.

再说那些强盗。有一天，他们又抢了一批宝贝，照例送到山洞里。他们一进洞就发现尸体不见了。强盗首领说：“看来，我们要查个清楚了。有人知道了我们的秘密。”

强盗们决定派一个人去调查。于是，一个精明的探子进了城。经过一番查访，他终于从老裁缝那里得到了消息。他还花了一些钱，让老裁缝蒙着眼睛带他找到了阿里巴巴的新家，并在门上用白粉笔画了一个记号。

探子离开后，摩吉亚娜正好有事要出去。她出门时发现了门上的记号。想了一会儿，她拿起粉笔在所有邻居的家门上都画了相同的记号。

当晚，探子领着众强盗下山了。可到了城里，他们傻眼了，原来每个门上都有记号。由于消息有误，强盗们白跑了一趟。强盗首领将那个探子杀了，又派了一个探子。那个盗匪用了同第一个探子一样的办法。他也让裁缝领路，在阿里巴巴的门上用红粉笔画了个记号。

Now, back to those thieves. One day, they stole some treasure and came to the cave as usual. They entered the cave to find that the corpse had disappeared. The captain said, "We must get to the bottom of this. Someone knows our secret."

The thieves decided to send a man to investigate. And so, a clever scout went into town. After asking around, he finally gained some information from the old tailor. He even spent some money to make the old tailor wear a blindfold and take him to Ali Baba's new house, where he painted a white mark on the door.

After the scout left, Morgiana was just setting out about her business for the day. As she came out of the house, she saw the mark on the door. After thinking the matter over, she took up a brush and painted a similar mark on the door of all the neighbours.

That evening, the scout led the thieves down from the mountain and into the town. They couldn't believe their eyes; every house had a mark on it. As a result of this fiasco, they had come all the way for nothing. The captain killed the scout and appointed another. This thief used the same method as the first scout. He made the tailor lead the way to Ali Baba's door where he painted a mark.

摩吉亚娜又一次发现了记号，于是她又在邻居们的门上画了相同的记号。结果可想而知了，强盗们又白跑了一趟。

最后，强盗首领决定亲自出马。他通过裁缝，找到了阿里巴巴的家。这一次，他没有在门上做记号，而是很用心地把周围的环境记了下来。接着强盗首领回到洞中，对众强盗说：“我已经找到那个地方了。你们立即去给我买十九匹骡子、一大坛油和三十七个同样的大坛子。你们分别给我呆在三十七个坛子里。我们今晚就去那户人家过夜。晚上大家见机行事，杀光那家人，夺回金子。”

一切都准备好之后，强盗首领出发了。他赶着骡子来到阿里巴巴家门口。正巧碰上阿里巴巴要出去散步。强盗首领向阿里巴巴打招呼，说：“我是个油商，从一个小山村进城来卖油。可现在天黑了，希望能在你家过一夜。”阿里巴巴没有认出强盗首领，很客气地请他进屋。

Morgiana found the mark again, so she painted a similar mark on all the neighbours' doors. As you might expect, the thieves again made the trip in vain.

Finally, the captain decided to take this matter into his own hands. Through the tailor, he found Ali Baba's house. This time, he did not make a mark on the door, but carefully took note of the surroundings. He then returned to the cave and announced to the thieves, "I have found the place. Immediately prepare nineteen donkeys, a large barrel of oil and thirty seven similar empty barrels. You are to hide in the barrels. This evening, we are going to spend the night in that house. In the evening, when the time is ripe, we will kill the whole family and take back the gold."

After everything was ready, the captain set off. He drove the donkeys to Ali Baba's house, and bumped into Ali Baba as he was coming out on a walk. The head bandit greeted Ali Baba, saying, "I am an oil merchant. I have come into town from a small mountain village to sell oil, but now the sky is already dark. I was hoping that I could spend the night in your house." Ali Baba didn't recognise the thief, and politely invited him into the house.

吃完饭，强盗首领去睡觉了。摩吉亚娜为他送去了一盏灯，接着又去干活儿。刚干了一半，家里的灯突然灭了，原来是油烧光了。摩吉亚娜就拿着油罐来到后院，准备舀一些油来用。

这时，坛中的强盗听到脚步声，以为是强盗首领来了，便小声地问是不是可以动手了。摩吉亚娜吓了一跳，但她还是很镇静地压低了嗓子说：“还不到时候。”接着，她小心地检查了每个坛子，发现只有一个坛子装满了油，其余全都是强盗。聪明的摩吉亚娜将油倒入锅中，把油烧沸了。然后，她一声不响地将滚油倒进那些坛子里。就这样，强盗们都被烫死了。

两个小时之后，强盗首领从床上爬了起来，发了信号，但后院没有动静。强盗首领很奇怪，这才发现自己的手下已经全被烫死了。他很害怕，连忙跳墙逃走了。

After eating dinner, the captain went to sleep. Morgiana gave him a lamp and then continued working. Once she was half way through the work at hand, the lamps all went out. It seemed that they were out of oil. Morgiana took the oil-can out to the backyard to collect some oil.

At this point, one of the thieves in the barrels heard the sound of footsteps and thought it was the captain. In a hushed voice, he asked whether they could attack. Morgiana had a big fright. However,she kept calm and lowered her voice, saying, "It's not time yet." She then carefully inspected each barrel and found that only one barrel had oil in it. The rest were full of thieves. Clever Morgiana poured the oil into a pot, and heated it until it was boiling. She silently poured the oil into each of the barrels. And so, the thieves were burned to death.

After two hours, the captain crept down from his bed. He gave the signal, but there was not a sound from the backyard. The captain thought this very strange. He discovered that all of his men had been burned to death and was scared out of his wits. He hurriedly leapt over the wall and fled.

第二天，阿里巴巴见到油坛子还在，感到很奇怪。摩吉亚娜将昨晚发生的事跟阿里巴巴说了。听了摩吉亚娜的话，阿里巴巴又怕又喜，然后他便动手将三十七具尸体埋了。

强盗首领回去后越想越气。他一心要杀了阿里巴巴报仇。他从山洞中拿了很多珠宝，在城里开了一个铺子，很快就与周围店铺的人混熟了。一次，强盗首领偶然结识了阿里巴巴的侄子。从此以后，强盗首领便极力巴结他，对他照顾得很细心。阿里巴巴很感谢强盗首领，于是就邀请他来家中做客。

强盗首领带上匕首来到阿里巴巴家。吃饭时，强盗首领说他最近身体不太好，要吃不放盐的菜。

机灵的摩吉亚娜听客人这么说，不禁警觉起来。因为依照当地的风俗，吃放盐的菜就表示客人不会对主人做坏事。经过仔细的观察，她发现，这个人就是不久前从她家逃脱的那个强盗。而且她还发现，在他袖口里藏着一把匕首。

The next day, Ali Baba was surprised to see that the oil barrels were still there. Morgiana told Ali Baba what had happened the previous night. On hearing this, Ali Baba was both alarmed and happy. He then set about burying the thirty seven corpses.

After leaving, the captain became angrier and angrier. He wanted to kill Ali Baba in revenge. He took some treasure from the cave and opened a stall in town. He soon became friends with the surrounding store owners. One day, the captain happened to make the acquaintance of Ali Baba's nephew. From this time on, the captain did his best to curry favour with the nephew, treating him with the utmost care. Ali Baba was very grateful to the captain, and invited him to his house as a guest.

The captain brought a dagger to Ali Baba's house. When they were eating dinner, he said that, of late, his health had suffered and that he wanted to eat dishes without salt.

On hearing the guest say this, clever little Morgiana was put on the alert. This was because, according to the local customs, eating salty dishes showed that the guest would not harm the host. After close observation, she discovered that this man was the thief who had escaped not long before. She also saw that he was hiding a dagger in his sleeve.

摩吉亚娜一直留意着强盗首领。吃饭的时候，她把自己打扮成一个舞娘来到客厅，请求为客人表演舞蹈。阿里巴巴高兴地答应了。舞蹈结束后，摩吉亚娜一手拿着匕首，一手拿着铃鼓，向观赏者讨钱。摩吉亚娜先来到主人的面前，阿里巴巴给了她一个金币。

接下来，阿里巴巴的侄子也给了摩吉亚娜一个金币。然后，摩吉亚娜向强盗首领走去。就在强盗首领低头掏钱包时，摩吉亚娜猛地将匕首刺向了他。强盗首领就这样一命呜呼了。

阿里巴巴此时还蒙在鼓里，他生气地质问摩吉亚娜。摩吉亚娜便把事情向他述说了一遍，阿里巴巴连忙撩开强盗首领的衣服，里面果然有一把匕首。

Morgiana paid close attention to the thief. While they were eating, she dressed herself up as a dancer and came to the drawing room to perform a dance. Ali Baba happily acquiesced. Once she had finished dancing, Morgiana took a dagger and a tambourine and asked for money from the audience. Morgiana first came before her master. Ali Baba gave her one gold coin.

Next, Ali Baba's nephew gave Morgiana one gold coin. Then, Morgiana walked towards the captain. Just as the thief was lowering his head to pull money from his purse, Morgiana stabbed him fiercely with the dagger. And so, the captain came to a nasty end.

Ali Baba was still in the dark about this. He furiously interrogated Morgiana. Morgiana recounted what had happened. Ali Baba hurriedly lifted up the thief's clothes, and, as Morgiana had told him, found a dagger hidden inside.

阿里巴巴很感激摩吉亚娜，决定免除摩吉亚娜的奴隶身份，并做主让侄子娶摩吉亚娜为妻。他侄子本来就很喜欢摩吉亚娜，就高兴地答应了。阿里巴巴为他们举行了一个盛大的婚礼。

从此以后，他们一家人生活得很幸福。后来，阿里巴巴把山洞的秘密告诉了儿子，儿子又告诉了孙子。于是，阿里巴巴的子子孙孙都过上了富裕的生活。

Ali Baba was very grateful of Morgiana. He decided to free her from slavery and marry her to his nephew. The nephew had liked Morgiana all along, and happily agreed. Ali Baba held a grand wedding for the two of them.

From this time on, the whole family lived together happily. Ali Baba told the secret of the cave to his sons, who in turn told their sons. And so, from generation to generation, the Ali Babas have enjoyed prosperous lives.

stabbed vt.刺伤（stab的过去时）

interrogated v.质问（interrogate的过去时）