A Curious Dream
马克·吐温 / Mark Twain
马克·吐温（Mark Twain，1835—1910），美国幽默大师、小说家、著名演说家，19世纪后期美国现实主义文学的杰出代表。作品风格以幽默与讽刺为主，既富于独特的个人机智与妙语，又不乏深刻的社会洞察与剖析。主要的代表作品有《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》（长篇）、《百万英镑》（短篇）等。
Night before last I had a singular dream. I seemed to be sitting on a doorstep (in no particular city perhaps) ruminating， and the time of night appeared to be about twelve or one o' clock. The weather was balmy and delicious. There was no human sound in the air， not even a footstep. There was no sound of any kind to emphasize the dead stillness， except the occasional hollow barking of a dog in the distance and the fainter answer of a further dog. Presently up the street I heard a bony clack-clacking， and guessed it was the castanets of a serenading party. In a minute more a tall skeleton， hooded， and half clad in a tattered and moldy shroud， whose shreds were flapping about the ribby latticework of its person， swung by me with a stately stride and disappeared in the gray gloom of the starlight. It had a broken and worm-eaten coffin on its shoulder and a bundle of something in its hand. I knew what the clack-clacking was then； it was this party' s joints working together， and his elbows knocking against his sides as he walked. I may say I was surprised. Before I could collect my thoughts and enter upon any speculations as to what this apparition might portend， I heard another one coming for I recognized his clack-clack. He had two-thirds of a coffin on his shoulder， and some foot and head boards under his arm. I mightily wanted， to peer under his hood and speak to him， but when he turned and smiled upon me with his cavernous sockets and his projecting grin as he went by， I thought I would not detain him. He was hardly gone when I heard the clacking again， and another one issued from the shadowy half-light. This one was bending under a heavy gravestone， and dragging a shabby coffin after him by a string. When he got to me he gave me a steady look for a moment or two， and then rounded to and backed up to me， saying：