Great Expectations

As the night was fast falling,and as the moon,being past the full,would not rise early,we held a little council:a short one,for clearly our course was to lie by at the first lonely tavern we could find.So,they plied their oars once more,and I looked out for anything like a house.Thus we held on,speaking little,for four or five dull miles.It was very cold,and,a collier coming by us,with her gallery-fire smoking and flaring,looked like a comfortable home.The night was as dark by this time as it would be until morning;and what light we had,seemed to come more from the river than the sky,as the oars in their dipping stuck at a few reflected stars.

天黑得很快，偏巧這天又是下弦月，月亮不會很早升起。我們就稍稍商量了一下，可是也用不著多討論，因為情況是明擺著的，再劃下去我們一遇到冷落的酒店就得投宿。于是他們又使勁打起漿來，我則用心尋找岸上是否隱隱約約有什么房屋的模樣。這樣又趕了四五英里路，一路上好不氣悶，大家簡直不說一句話。天氣非常冷，一艘煤船從我們近旁駛過，船上廚房里生著火，炊煙縷縷，火光熒熒，在我們看來簡直就是個安樂家了。這時夜已透黑，看來就要這樣一直黑到天明，我們僅有的一點光亮似乎不是來自天空，而是來自河上，一漿又一漿的，攪動著那寥寥幾顆倒映在水里的寒星。