English-Chinese Translation — Wuthering Heights

Author: (British) Bront?, translated by Chen Chen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: In the rolling northern mountains of England, there stands a nearly isolated "Wuthering Heights." The master, Earnshaw, one day brings home an abandoned child from the street and adopts him, naming him Heathcliff, allowing him to live with his son Hindley and daughter Catherine. Heathcliff and Catherine grew up together, developing a love, but Hindley deeply despised him. After the elder Earnshaw's death, Hindley became the master, not only forbidding Heathcliff from associating with Catherine but also cruelly torturing and humiliating him. This persecution intensified Heathcliff's hatred for Hindley and deepened his love for Catherine. One day, Heathcliff and Catherine secretly went out and met Edgar Linton, the young master of the nearby Thrushcross Grange. This seemingly gentle and refined wealthy young man fell in love with Catherine's beauty and proposed to her. The naive and immature Catherine agreed to marry Linton, hoping to use his family's wealth to help Heathcliff escape his brother's persecution. Upon learning of Catherine's marriage, Heathcliff was heartbroken and left in anger. Several years later, a handsome and dashing guest with an imposing demeanor visited the Linton household. It turned out to be the missing Heathcliff, who had grown wealthy, returned to his hometown. His sole purpose for returning was to take revenge on those who had once persecuted him and stolen his beloved. Hindley was a dissolute and profligate young man, indulging in drink day and night, frequenting gambling houses, and squandering the estate left by the elder Earnshaw. When he saw Heathcliff return wealthy, he even invited him to stay at the Heights, mortgaging the remaining property to him and becoming his servant. Heathcliff became a frequent visitor to Thrushcross Grange, and Isabella, Edgar's sister, saw him as a legendary hero and ran away with him. He confined and tortured her to vent his frustrations. After Catherine married Linton, she saw through her husband's hypocrisy and felt deep regret. Heathcliff's triumphant return threw her into a despairing abyss of grief and shame. In despair, she fell ill and soon passed away, leaving behind a daughter—Kitty—who was born only seven months into her pregnancy. Isabella seized the opportunity of Catherine's death to escape the Heights and settle in the suburbs of London. She soon gave birth to a son, whom she named Linton Heathcliff. Less than six months after Catherine's death, Hindley died in a drunken stupor, leaving his young son Hareton in Heathcliff's hands. Heathcliff planned to further exact revenge on the child, "raising" him to be a savage and subjecting him to the same hardships he had endured in childhood. Twelve years later, Isabella died in a distant land, and Heathcliff returned his son. The boy bore a strong resemblance to his uncle, was elegant in demeanor but selfish and self-centered, which Heathcliff deeply despised. Time passed, and Kitty grew into a graceful young woman. On her 16th birthday, she accidentally encountered her uncle Heathcliff, whom she did not recognize. When Heathcliff realized that the girl before him was the daughter of his beloved Catherine and his enemy Edgar, love and hatred churned within him, forming a new pattern of revenge: to force her to marry his son so that he could legally claim the Linton estate. When Linton was on his deathbed, Heathcliff forced Kitty to hastily marry his son. A few days later, Linton died, and Heathcliff once again became the master of Thrushcross Grange. The young Heathcliff also left the world quietly shortly after his marriage, plunging Kitty into mourning. By then, Hareton was 23 years old, looking exactly like the young Heathcliff of his youth, though deprived of education and lacking warmth, he was kind, loyal, and graceful. Kitty fell in love with him. Heathcliff had hoped to see them hate each other, but to his surprise, they fell in love. He resolved to break them apart. However, when he observed them more closely, images of Catherine and himself as they had loved in the past flashed before his eyes. At that moment, his hatred faded, and love took the upper hand. He could no longer bear to take revenge. He decided to seek Catherine. On a stormy night, he left the world with an empty heart and a heart filled with the bitterness of human suffering, laughing wildly after his act of revenge.