Abstract:

The Gold-bug is one of the short stories of the American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The story is set on the Sue Island in the South Carolina. The main character of the novel is named William Legrand. In this story, William was bitten by a gold bug before long, and just after that, William lost himself in seeking treasures. His servant Cupid, an old African black man, was very worried and scared that his master would sometime get mad because William’s behaviour was unusual and he had just lost all his wealth. So the servant went to Legrand’s friend, a nameless narrator, for help. The narrator then agreed to go and see his old friend. Legrand was happy to meet him, and the three went together to a mountain on the island for the treasure. There, they found a mysterious and tall tree. The servant Cupid was asked to go up the tree with the gold bug tied to a rope. Near the top of the tree, Cupid found a skull. William was excited and told his servant to put down the gold bug through the skull’ left eye. At first, they found nothing due to the fact that Cupid had mistaken the wrong eye. They tried again and this time, they found a big heavy box buried underground. It was a surprise for them. After they removed the huge wealth, Legrand would like to tell them how he discovered the mysterious treasure.
     This story is the early form of detective fiction, which is often used by readers to compare it with Poe’s reasoning novels. In the 1940s, when the Cryptography was very popular, Edgar Allan Poe wrote “The gold-bug”. Meanwhile. With his Dialectical and humorous words, Poe soon made his story a successful one.

Keywords: Edgar Allan Poe；The Gold-bug；detective story

摘  要：

金甲虫》是美国作家爱伦•坡其中一部的短篇小说。故事被设置在南卡罗来纳州的苏里文岛，主人公为威廉•勒格朗，他在不久前被一只金色的虫子咬了,从此便迷上了寻找财宝。他的仆人是一个非裔黑人，名叫丘比特，他非常害怕他的主会发疯，因为威廉•勒格朗不久前刚刚破产了。于是老仆人找到了勒格朗的朋友，一位不知名的叙述者，他同意了去看望他的老朋友。于是三个人来到了岛上的一处大山里。在那里，他们找到了一个与众不同的大树。勒格朗命令他的仆人爬上这棵树。仆人带着金甲虫缓缓地往树上爬去。在树的顶端处，他发现了一只被钉住的头骨。勒格朗让丘比特把虫子从头骨的左眼里放下来。一开始，丘比特搞错了位置，他们一无所获。第二次，他们终于找到了埋藏在地下的宝藏。事后，勒格朗向他们解释了他是如何通过自己的推理找到宝藏的准确位置的。叙述者和仆人都惊叹不已。
这个故事作为侦探小说的早期形式，通常会被拿来与爱伦•坡的“推理故事”作比较。在19世纪10年代，爱伦•坡趁着密码学的流行之风，写下了《金甲虫》，爱伦坡的小说言词一般是以方言写的，而且对白滑稽幽默，也是他获得成功的重要因素之一。

关键词：爱伦坡；金甲虫；解密