精华！《美丽英文：那些触动我心扉的故事》让无数读者意犹未尽！(5)

“I expect you’ll find the cash tied up in a big bag in the middle of your bed,” said Herbert, as he bade them goodnight, “and something horrible squatting on top of your wardrobe watching you as you pocket your illgotten gains.”
He sat alone in the darkness, gazing at the dying fire, and seeing faces in it. The last was so horrible and so simian that he gazed at it in amazement. It got so vivid that, with a little uneasy laugh, he felt on the table for a glass containig a little water to throw over it. His hand grasped the monkey’s paw, and with a little shiver he wiped his hand on his coat and went up to bed.
【作者小课堂】
威廉·威马克·雅各布斯（W.W.Jacobs，1863—1943），英国著名小说家，生于伦敦，毕业于伯克拜克大学。他是一个多产的小说家，写过大量的讽刺小说和恐怖小说。这篇著于1901年的《猴爪》是他的主要代表作，曾被多次改编为电影和剧本，斯蒂芬·金的小说《宠物公墓》深受其影响。
“小心许愿，因为你不知道它将如何实现。”
——佚名
屋外，夜晚冰凉而湿润，但金链花别墅小客厅的百叶窗却开着，屋里透出明亮的炉火光。父亲和儿子在屋里下国际象棋；父亲认为这个游戏彻底靠运气，于是把国王置于不必要的险境，就连坐在壁炉边静静织毛衣的白发老妇人都忍不住惊呼起来。
“你听，外面的风声可真大。”怀特先生说。当他发现自己犯了致命错误，已成落地棋时，只好故作和善地希望儿子不要发现。
“我听到了。”儿子说。他面无表情地盯住棋盘，察看片刻，然后伸出一只手。“将！”