The death of a ghost
原文
Lesson 30
The death of a ghost
Why did the two brothers keep the secret?
For years, villagers believed that Endley farm was haunted.
The farm was owned by two brothers, Joe and Bob Cox.
They employed a few farmhands, but no one was willing to work there long.
Every time a worker gave up his job, he told the same story.
Farm labourers said that they always woke up to find that work had been done overnight.
Hay had been cut and cowsheds had been cleaned.
A farm worker, who stayed up all night, claimed to have seen a figure cutting corn in the moonlight.
In time, it became an accepted fact that the Cox brothers employed a conscientious ghost that did most of their work for them.
No one suspected that there might be someone else on the farm who had never been seen.
This was indeed the case.
A short time ago, villagers were astonished to learn that the ghost of Endley had died.
Everyone went to the funeral, for the 'ghost' was none other than Eric Cox,
a third brother who was supposed to have died as a young man.
After the funeral, Joe and Bob revealed a secret which they had kept for over fifty years.
Eric had been the eldest son of the family, very much older than his two brothers.
He had been obliged to join the army during the Second World War.
As he hated army life, he decided to desert his regiment.
When he learnt that he would be sent abroad,
he returned to the farm and his father hid him until the end of the war.
Fearing the authorities, Eric remained in hiding after the war as well.
His father told everybody that Eric had been killed in action.
The only other people who knew the secret were Joe and Bob.
They did not even tell their wives.
When their father died they thought it their duty to keep Eric in hiding.
All these years, Eric had lived as a recluse.
He used to sleep during the day and work at night,
quite unaware of the fact that he had become the ghost of Endley.
When he died, however, his brothers found it impossible to keep the secret any longer.
译文
第30课
一个“幽灵”的死亡
为什么这两兄弟要保守这个秘密呢？
多年来，村民们一直相信恩德利农场有鬼魂出没。
这个农场归两兄弟乔·考克斯和鲍勃·考克斯所有。
他们雇了一些农场工人，但没有人愿意在那里长期工作。
每次有工人辞职时，他都会讲述同一个故事。
农场工人们说，他们早上醒来时总会发现，头天晚上的活儿都干完了。
干草已经被割下，牛棚也已经被清理干净了。
一位熬夜的农场工人声称，他曾在月光下看见一个人影在收割庄稼。
久而久之，大家就都相信考克斯兄弟雇了个勤快的鬼，帮他们干了大部分的活儿。
谁也没想到农场里还藏着个谁也没见过的人。
事实确实如此。
不久前，村民们听说恩德利的鬼魂死了，都大吃一惊。
大家都参加了葬礼，因为那个“鬼魂”其实就是埃里克·考克斯。
是他们的三弟，人们原以为他年轻时就死了。
葬礼结束后，乔和鲍勃透露了一个他们保守了五十多年的秘密。
埃里克是家中的老大，比两个弟弟年长很多。
在第二次世界大战期间，他被迫加入了军队。
因为他特别讨厌军队生活，就决定当逃兵。
当他得知自己将被派往国外时，
他回到了农场，他的父亲把他藏了起来，直到战争结束。
因为怕被政府发现，埃里克战后也一直躲着。
他的父亲告诉所有人，埃里克在战斗中牺牲了。
除了乔和鲍勃，再没有别人知道这个秘密了。
他们甚至都没有告诉自己的妻子。
父亲去世后，他们觉得继续把埃里克藏起来是自己的责任。
这些年来，埃里克一直过着隐居的生活。
他过去常常在白天睡觉，晚上工作。
他压根儿不知道自己已经成了恩德利的鬼。
然而，当他去世后，他的兄弟们发现再也无法保守这个秘密了。