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No longer seeking nor caring that my name shouldbe blazoned abroad on title-pages~, I smiled to think that ithad now another kind of vogue. The Custom House marker imprinted it,with a stencil and black paint, on pepper-bags, and baskets of anattoe,and cigar-boxes, and bales of all kinds of dutiable merchandise, intestimony that these commodities had paid the impost, and gone regularlythrough the office. Borne on such queer vehicle of fame, a knowledge ofmy existence, so far as a name conveys it, was carried where it had neverbeen before, and, I hope, will never go again.But the past was not dead. Once in a great while, the thoughts, thathad seemed so vital and so active, yet had been put to rest so quietly,revived again. One of the most remarkable occasions,when the habit of bygone days awoke in me, was thatwhich brings it within the law of literary propriety tooffer the public the sketch which I am now writing.In the second story of the Custom House, there is a large room, inwhich the brick-work and naked rafters have never beencovered with panelling and plaster~. The edifice —— originallyprojected on a scale adapted to the old commercial enterprise of the port,and with an idea of subsequent prosperity destined never to be realized ——contains far more space than its occupants know what to do with. Thisairy hall, therefore, over the Collector's apartments, remains unfinished tothis day, and, in spite of the aged cobwebs that festoon its dusky beams,appears still to await the labour of the carpenter and mason. At one endof the room, in a recess, were a number of barrels, piled one uponanother, containing bundles of official documents. Large quantifies ofsimilar rubbish lay lumbering the floor.

作者简介

作者：（美国）霍桑（Nathaniel Hawthorne） 注译：贺广贤 纳撒尼尔?霍桑（Nathaniel Hawthorne），美国著名小说家，1804年7月4日出生于美国东部的新英格兰地区萨莱姆镇。1864年5月19日在新罕普郡的普利茅斯逝世。 霍桑家族是当地移民望族的后裔。祖父威廉?霍桑是当地的地方官员，在反对贵格派迫害的活动中极为活跃：父亲约翰?霍桑是位船长，曾是萨莱姆巫术事件审判中的法官。他出生仅仅四年父亲就因黄热病去世。从此母亲带着三个孩子，在较为殷实的母系家族的资助下过着孤独的生活。少年的霍桑广泛阅读了大量名家的作品，尤其是莎士比亚、斯宾塞等的著作，这为他日后成为文学大师奠定了坚实的基础。成年后他就读于缅因州波多因学院，和他一起就读的有后来成为著名诗人的朗费罗和美国第14任总统富兰克林?皮尔斯。霍桑大学毕业后回到家乡隐居。1828年匿名发表小说《范肖》。1836年到海关任职，六年后，同索菲娅?皮博迪缔结良缘，婚后生有三子。同年发表了**篇短篇小说《重讲一遍的故事》。1837年在度假期间认识了爱默生和默尔维尔，不久与他们结为挚友。他受前者先验主义理论的影响极深，并与其建立了深厚的友谊。在以后的岁月里，这些影响对他的文学生涯起了不可估量的作用。成名后他还担任过美国驻英国和意大利的领事。