红与黑|The Red and the Black经典英文绘本

红与黑|The Red and the Black

13分钟 ·
播放数38
·
评论数0

每天五分钟听经典英文故事,读绘本,磨耳朵。一个木匠之子在贵族社会中挣扎向上,用野心追逐世界,却在失去一切后才看清真爱。

In the sawmill noise of Verrieres, Julien Sorel never seemed to fit in

His father and two brothers lived by strength, thick arms, loud voices

Julien was thin, quiet, often hiding in a corner to read

He did not read books meant for a carpenter's son

He kept Napoleon in his heart, treating battlefields, medals, promotions, and glory as another way to live

But his time had already changed

The sword no longer lifted the poor to high places, the church and nobility had closed their doors again

So he learned to recite the Latin Bible, learned to bow his head, learned to hide his true thoughts beneath his face

Father Chelan saw his intelligence, and also saw his danger, yet still recommended him to Mayor de Renal

The mayor needed a tutor who knew Latin, it would make his household seem respectable

Julien needed a chance to leave the sawmill

He wanted to stand straight before those who looked down on him, no longer covered in sawdust

When he walked into the de Renal home, Madame de Renal had expected a rough, coarse man who would frighten the children

But standing before her was a pale young man, shabby clothes, stubborn eyes

He was not like a servant, nor like a gentleman

He was like a blade just pulled from the shadows, not yet knowing where to point

At first, Julien treated this house as a battlefield

He had to prove he was not the beaten son of a carpenter

He locked every cold look in his heart, saw every politeness as a test

He approached Madame de Renal with a young man's pride and vengeance

As if winning her tenderness could reclaim some dignity from this noble house

But things did not go according to his plan

Madame de Renal was not skilled at calculation

She lived within her husband's power and the town's rules, gentle, devout, and lonely

Her pity for the young teacher slowly turned into a love she could not admit

Julien thought he was conquering

Only later did he realize that in her eyes, for the first time, he was not just a tool, not just ambition

Summer nights, gardens, window shadows, the quiet of sleeping children, pushed them into a relationship that could not see the light

Julien found softness from her, and also found fear

The more Madame de Renal loved him, the more guilt tormented her

She feared her husband, feared God, feared that her children would be punished because of her

Julien was afraid too

He feared scandal would ruin his future, and even more, he feared that his own cold heart would be held back by this genuine feeling

After the anonymous letter appeared, the town's air turned sharp

Mayor de Renal suspected, raged, yet cared about his reputation

Everyone calculated face, everyone covered the cracks

To calm things down, Julien left Verrieres and was sent to the Besancon Seminary

There were no gardens there, and no gentle eyes

The seminary corridors were cold, the young men watched each other, informed on each other

Piety was often just a posture, silence was like a weapon

Julien was smart, but he could not naturally belong there

He was too proud, too clear-headed, knowing he had not come for faith

He wanted to climb up, only the ladder left for the poor in this age happened to be draped in a black robe

Father Pirard saw his talent, and also saw that he would be swallowed up among these men

So Julien was taken to Paris again, entering the Marquis de La Mole's mansion as a secretary

Paris had higher doors, brighter lights, sharper cold stares

The nobles laughed and talked as if everything had always been theirs

Julien stood carefully among them, remembering every letter, every order, every chance to rise

His talent earned the Marquis's approval, his silence made people uneasy

The closer he got to power, the clearer he saw that he was only allowed near, not truly accepted

Mathilde saw him in this mansion

She was tired of the safe noble youths, tired of arranged love and marriage

Julien's humble birth, his pride, his danger, fascinated her instead

She imagined him as a rebel from old stories, turning her own love into a proud adventure

Julien loved her, but was also wounded by her changeability

They attracted each other, tested each other, like two people who would not admit they had already fallen into each other's hands

After Mathilde became pregnant, everything suddenly became real

The Marquis was furious, but could not ignore his daughter's honor

He began to arrange a title, property, and a military commission for Julien

The carpenter's son was almost going to wear a uniform, hold a title, walk into the highest place he had ever dreamed of

Just then, a letter reached the Marquis's hand

The letter was from Madame de Renal

Driven by the priest's pressure and her own pain, she wrote that Julien was a man who seduced women to advance his career

Those words were like a knife, cutting off everything Julien had just gained

The Marquis called off the wedding, the future collapsed

Julien did not argue, did not investigate slowly

He carried a cold despair back to Verrieres

In the church, Madame de Renal was praying

When the gunshot rang out, the woman who once held him close fell

She did not die

But Julien seemed to have already sentenced himself

He was arrested, thrown into prison, and the power, the engagement, the title, the commission, all slipped away from him

In prison, Mathilde rushed about trying to save him, as if guarding a grand legend

Madame de Renal also came to his side

Her wound was not yet healed, but she did not hate him

Facing her, Julien finally let go of all his tense postures

He understood that he had once treated love as a ladder and dignity as a battle honor

But at this moment, what truly calmed him was not the name given by the Marquis, nor the shine of the uniform

It was this woman he had hurt, who still loved him

When the trial came, Julien did not pretend to be a repentant pitiful man

He knew that people were not only punishing him for shooting

But also because a poor man dared to cross his station, dared to love a noble lady

Dared to approach their world with talent and ambition

He stood in the courtroom, spoke this truth, and sealed his own way out

The death sentence fell

The days before execution became unusually clear

Madame de Renal's visits, the light on the prison wall, the blood quietly cooling inside his body

All of it pushed Julien further from the boy who once looked up to Napoleon

He no longer dreamed of being recognized by the world, no longer begged the world for forgiveness

He simply walked to the end that his choices and the world's forces had pushed him to together

After Julien was executed, Mathilde took his head and buried him in the ancient, proud way she believed in

She wanted this love to take the shape of a legend

Madame de Renal did not do this

She returned to her children, guarding a quieter, deeper love

Three days later, she too died

The sawmill noise of Verrieres would continue

The lights of Paris would still shine

But the young man who once wanted to climb from the bottom to the top ended at the most contradictory place of his life

He chased the world with ambition, only to see what he truly loved after losing everything