2.Matthew Cuthbert Is Surprised马修·卡斯伯特大吃一惊-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《绿山墙的安妮Anne of Green Gables》上

Chapter II Matthew Cuthbert Is Surprised Matthew Cuthbert and the sorrel mare jogged comfortably over the eight miles to Bright River.The air was sweet with the breath of many apple orchards and the meadows sloped away in the distance to horizon mists of pearl and purple. Matthew enjoyed the drive after his own fashion2,except during the moments when he met women and had to nod to them. When he reached Bright River there was no sign of any train.The long platform was almost deserted 3;the only living creature in sight being a girl who was sitting on a pile of shingles 4 at the extreme end. Matthew,barely noting that it WAS a girl,sidled 5 past her as quickly as possible without looking at her. Matthew encountered the stationmaster locking up the ticket office preparatory to going home for supper,and asked him if the five-thirty train would soon be along. "The five-thirty train has been in and gone half an hour ago," answered that brisk official."But there was a passenger dropped off for you-a little girl.She's sitting out there on the shingles.I asked her to go into the ladies'waiting room,but she informed me gravely that she ·010· 第二章 马修·卡斯伯特大吃一惊 马修·卡斯伯特赶着那匹栗色母马，不紧不 慢，悠闲自在地走在通往布莱特河的路上。空气 ①mist/m1st/i.雾 里弥漫着苹果园飘来的甜香，草地缓缓地斜铺向 远方，地平线上飘浮着灰紫色的雾霭。 ②after one's own fashion按 马修喜欢这样由着自己的性子驾车赶路，不 照自己的方式 过他可不喜欢向路上的女人们点头致意。 等他到了布莱特河站，根本就没有火车的影 3 deserted/d'z3:tda.废弃 子。长长的月台上空荡荡的，只能看到一个小女 的，荒芜的 ④shingle /fingl/n,木瓦 孩儿在月台尽头的一堆木瓦板上坐着。马修几乎 5 sidle /said/.(偷偷地)侧 没有注意那是个女孩儿，就侧着身子匆匆地从她 身而行，侧身挨近 面前走过去，连看都没看她一眼。 6 encounter /in'kaonta/v. 马修遇到了站长，他正在锁售票处的门准备 到，偶然碰到 回家吃晚饭，马修问他五点半的火车是不是快到 ⑦stationmaster 站了。 'stcj3n,ma:stal m.站长 “五点半的火车半个钟头前就开走了，”站长很 8 preparatory /pri'paeratori/ a.预备的 快地答道，“不过给你留下一位乘客，就是那个小 ⑨brisk /brisk/a.活泼的 女孩儿。她正在那边的木瓦板上坐着呢。刚才我让 0 gravely /grervl/ad.严肃 她到女士候车室里等，可她一本正经地告诉我，说 地，庄重地 她喜欢待在外面，还说‘这里更有想象空间’。可 ·011· Anne of Green Gables preferred to stay outside.'There was more scope for imagination,she said.She's a case,I should say." “T'm not expecting a girl,.”said Matthew blankly2.“It's a boy've come for.He should be here.Mrs.Alexander Spencer was to bring him over from Nova Scotia for me." The stationmaster whistled. “Guess there's some mistake,”he said.“Mrs.Spencer came off the train with that girl and gave her into my charge.Said you and your sister were adopting her from an orphan asylum and that you would be along for her presently.That's all I know about it." "I don't understand,"said Matthew helplessly,wishing that Marilla was at hand to cope with the situation. "Well,you'd better question the girl,"said the stationmaster carelessly. He walked jauntily away,being hungry,and the unfortunate Matthew was left to do that which was harder for him than bearding a lion in its den④一walk up to a girl-a strange girl一an orphan girl一 and demand of her why she wasn't a boy.Matthew groaned in spirit as he turned about and shuffled gently down the platform towards her. She had been watching him ever since he had passed her and she had her eyes on him now.Matthew was not looking at her and would not have seen what she was really like if he had been,but an ordinary observer would have seen this:A child of about eleven,garbed in a very short,very tight,very ugly dress of yellowish-gray wincey.She wore a faded brown sailor hat and beneath the hat,extending down her back,were two braids of very thick,decidedly red hair.Her face was small,white and thin,also much freckled;her mouth was large and so were her eyes,which looked green in some lights and moods and gray in others. ·012· 绿山墙的安妮 ①scope/skop/n机会，余地 真是个怪里怪气的小人儿啊。” “可我要接的不是女孩儿啊，”马修木然地说 2 blankly /blaenkli/ad.茫然 道，“我来接一个男孩儿，他应该在这儿的。说 地，没有表情地 好了是亚历山大·斯潘塞夫人从新斯科舍给我带 来的。” 站长吹了声口哨。 “我猜也许是出了什么岔子吧，”他说，“斯 潘塞夫人和那个女孩儿一块儿下了火车，就把她 交给我了。她说你和你妹妹把她从孤儿院接出 来，打算收养她，还说你过一会儿就来接她。我 就知道这么多。” “这就怪了，”马修无奈地说，心想这会儿要是 玛丽拉在跟前就好了，她会知道该怎么办的。 “嗨，你还是问问那个孩子吧。”站长漫不经 心地说了一句。 3 jauntily /d3ntl/ad.快活 这时站长觉得饿了，就快步走开了。可是不 地，活泼地 幸的马修却得走到一个女孩一一个陌生的女 ④beard a lion in its den太岁 孩一一个孤女跟前，还得问她为什么不是个 头上动土 5 shuffle"∫aflg拖若脚走， 男孩儿，这可比去虎口拔牙还让他为难。马修 慢吞吞地走 转过身子，缓缓地向那女孩儿走去，心里暗暗 叫苦。 自从马修从她跟前走过，那女孩儿就一直望 着他，这时候她还盯着他。马修没朝她看，即便 6garb/gab/g打扮，穿衣 看了也未必会看清楚她的长相，可旁人会看到这 ⑦wincey/winsl/m.棉毛绒布 样的情景：孩子约莫十一岁，身穿一件黄褐色的 8 extend /iks'tend/v.延伸，伸 棉绒裙子，又短又小，十分难看。戴顶褪色的棕 展 色平顶小草帽，背后垂着两条粗粗的火红的发 freckled /frekld/a.有雀斑 辫。苍白而瘦削的小脸上长满了雀斑，嘴巴和眼 的 睛很大，一对眸子随着光线和心情而变化，有时 是绿色的，有时又变成灰色。 ·013· Anne of Green Gables Matthew,however,was spared the ordeal of speaking first,for as soon as she concluded that he was coming to her she stood up,grasping with one thin brown hand the handle of a shabby,old-fashioned carpet- bag;the other she held out to him. "I suppose you are Mr.Matthew Cuthbert of Green Gables?"she said in a peculiarly clear,sweet voice."I'm very glad to see you.I was beginning to be afraid you weren't coming for me and I was imagining all the things that might have happened to prevent you.I had made up my mind that if you didn't come for me tonight I'd go down the track to that big wild cherry-tree at the bend,and climb up into it to stay all night.” Matthew had taken the scrawny little hand awkwardly in his;then and there he decided what to do.He could not tell this child with the glowing eyes that there had been a mistake;he would take her home and let Marilla do that.She couldn't be left at Bright River anyhow,no matter what mistake had been made,so all questions and explanations might as well be deferred until he was safely back at Green Gables. “T'm sorry I was late,”he said shyly.“Come along..The horse is over in the yard.Give me your bag." “Oh,I can carry it,”the child responded cheerfully.“It isn't heavy.. I've got all my worldly goods in it,but it isn't heavy.Oh,I'm very glad you've come,even if it would have been nice to sleep in a wild cherry-tree.We've got to drive a long piece,haven't we?Mrs.Spencer said it was eight miles.I'm glad because I love driving.Oh,it seems so wonderful that I'm going to live with you and belong to you.I've never belonged to anybody-not really.But the asylum was the worst.I've only been in it four months,but that was enough.They were good,you know-the asylum people.But there is so little scope for the imagination in an asylum-only just in the other orphans.It was pretty interesting to ·014· 绿山墙的安妮 马修倒是不必劳神先开口，这孩子一看他 是朝她走过来的，就立刻站起身，一只又黑又 瘦的小手握住一只毛毡包的提手，这只包破破 烂烂，样式陈旧，另一只手朝他伸了过来。 “您应该就是绿山墙的马修·卡斯伯特先生 peculiarly /pi'kju:ljol/ad. 吧？”她问道，嗓音格外清晰甜美。“很高兴见 古怪地，特有地 到您。刚才我都开始担心您不来接我了，我正想 是什么事把您耽搁了。我都打算好了，要是您今 晚不来接我，我就顺着这条路，走到拐弯的地 方，爬到那棵野樱桃树上待一夜。” 马修笨拙地握着那只骨瘦如柴的小手，刹那 间他知道自己该怎么办了。他不能对这个满眼期 待的孩子说有人把事情弄错了，这话还是等带她 回家后让玛丽拉去说吧。不管怎么阴错阳差，他 总不能把这孩子一个人丢在布莱特河不管，询问 也好，解释也罢，不妨等他安全返回绿山墙再说。 “抱歉我来晚了，”他腼腆地说，“走吧。马车 在那边。把你的包给我吧。” “啊，我拿得动，”孩子愉快地说，“这包不 2 worldly"w3ldl/a.世上的 沉，我所有财产都在里面了，可是并不沉。噢， 虽然在野樱桃树上睡一觉也不错，可您来了我还 是很高兴。我们要赶很长的路吗？斯潘塞夫人说 有八英里远。我真高兴，我喜欢坐马车。噢，能 和你们住在一起，成为您家的一员，真太棒了。 我还从来没有真正做过哪家的成员呢！孤儿院里 糟透了，我只在那儿待了四个月就够够的了。要 知道，他们，那些孤儿院的人，还是不错的。但 那儿就是没什么想象空间，只能从那些孤儿身上 ·015· Anne of Green Gables imagine things about them -to imagine that perhaps the girl who sat next to you was really the daughter of a belted earl,who had been stolen away from her parents in her infancy by a cruel nurse who died before she could confess?." With this Matthew's companion3 stopped talking,partly because she was out of breath and partly because they had reached the buggy 5. Not another word did she say until they had left the village and were driving down a steep little hill,the road part of which had been cut so deeply into the soft soil,that the banks,fringed with blooming wild cherry-trees and slim white birches,were several feet above their heads. The child put out her hand and broke off a branch of wild plum that brushed against the side of the buggy. "Isn't that beautiful?What did that tree,leaning out from the bank,all white and lacy,make you think of?"she asked. “Well now,I dunno,”said Matthew. "Why,a bride,of course-a bride all in white with a lovely misty veil.I've never seen one,but I can imagine what she would look like.I don't ever expect to be a bride myself.I'm so homely nobody will ever want to marry me-unless it might be a foreign missionary.I suppose a foreign missionary mightn't be very particular.But I do hope that some day I shall have a white dress.That is my highest ideal of earthly bliss.I just love pretty clothes.And I've never had a pretty dress in my life that I can remember-but of course it's all the more to look forward to,isn't it?And then I can imagine that I'm dressed gorgeously 15.I wasn't a bit sick coming over in the boat.Neither was Mrs.Spencer although she generally is.When we got into the train at Charlottetown and the red roads began to flash past I asked Mrs.Spencer what made them red and she said she didn't know and for pity's sake not ·016· 绿山墙的安妮 想象出些东西来。想象他们的事情是很有意思 ①earl/3:l/n伯爵 的。你可以想象坐在你身边的小女孩儿其实是名 门闺秀，还是婴儿的时候就被残忍的保姆从她父 2 confess /k3n'fes/g告白，忏 母身边偷走了，可保姆没来得及在临死前说出真 悔 33 companion /kom'paenjon/n. 相。” 同伴 说到这里她停了下来，这会儿他们已经走到 ④out of breath上气不接下气 5 buggy /'bAgi/n.轻型马车 马车跟前，她也讲得气喘吁吁了。她没有再说 6 fringe /frind3:/以某物傲 话，马车驶出村子，顺着陡峭的小山坡奔驰而 边界(be fringed with) 下，路面深深地开入松软的土地，两边的陡坡高 birch/b3tj/i.桦树 出他们头部几英尺，上面点缀着花儿盛开的野樱 桃树和亭亭玉立的白桦树。 孩子伸出手，折下一枝擦着车身的野梅。 “真太美了！您看从陡坡上斜伸出来的那棵树， 镶了白边的那棵，您看它像什么？”她问道。 “这个，我想不出来。”马修说。 ⑧dunno/'dAna片（口（我）不 “嗨，当然是新娘子了一一个穿着洁白的 知道(=Idon't know】 9 misty /'mist/a.模糊的 礼服，戴着薄薄的面纱的新娘子。虽然我还没见 veil/veli.面纱 过新娘子，可我能想出她的模样。我就不指望自 年homely /hauml/a.平凡的， 己做新娘了。我长得这么难看，没人愿意娶我 相貌平庸的 missionary /'mifonorv/n. 的—除非是个外国传教士。我想外国传教士应 教士 该不会太挑剔他的新娘吧。可我真的希望自己有 3 particular /pa'tikjola/a. 殊的，特别的 一天也会有一件白裙子。这是我的最大愿望。我 bliss /bl1s/.福佑，天踢的 就是喜欢漂亮衣服，可我这辈子还没有过呢一 福 这就更让人想有一件，对吗？那样的话我就会想 5 gorgeously /'go:d3asl/ad 丽地，漂亮地 象自己穿戴得很华丽了。坐船的时候我一点儿都 不晕。斯潘塞夫人也没晕船，要在平时她可不 行。在夏洛特敦上车后，车窗外就开始掠过红颜 色的路。我问斯潘塞夫人它们怎么会变红的，她 ·017· Anne of Green Gables to ask her any more questions.She said I must have asked her a thousand already.I suppose I had,too,but how you going to find out about things if you don't ask questions?And what DOES make the roads red?" "Well now,I dunno,"said Matthew. "Well,that is one of the things to find out sometime.Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about?It just makes me feel glad to be alive-it's such an interesting world.It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything,would it?There'd be no scope for imagination then,would there?But am I talking too much?People are always telling me I do.Would you rather I didn't talk?If you say so I'll stop.I can STOP when I make up my mind to it,although it's difficult." Matthew,much to his own surprise,was enjoying himself.Like most quiet folks he liked talkative people when they were willing to do the talking themselves and did not expect him to keep up his end of it. But he had never expected to enjoy the society2 of a little girl.So he said as shyly as usual: "Oh,you can talk as much as you like.I don't mind." "Oh,I'm so glad.I know you and I are going to get along together fine.Mrs.Spencer said your place was named Green Gables.I asked her all about it.And she said there were trees all around it.I was gladder than ever.I just love trees.Is there a brook anywhere near Green Gables？I forgot to ask Mrs.Spencer that..” "Well now,yes,there's one right below the house." "Fancy.It's always been one of my dreams to live near a brook.I never expected I would,though.Dreams don't often come true,do they?Wouldn't it be nice if they did?But just now I feel pretty nearly perfectly happy.I can't feel exactly perfectly happy because-well, ·018· 绿山墙的安妮 说她不知道，还说让我可怜可怜她，别再问她问 题了。她说我已经问了差不多一千个啦！可能是 吧，可是不提问题怎么能把事情弄明白呢？到底 是什么把小路变成红色的呢？” “这个嘛，我不知道。”马修说。 ①splendid /'splendid/a.极好 “呃，以后会弄明白的。想各种各样将来才会 的 弄明白的事不是很好吗？光是活着就很开心 这世界太有趣了！如果我们什么事都懂，世界就 不会这么有意思了，是吗？那样就没什么想象空间 了，对吗？我是不是说得太多了？大家总嫌我话 多。是不是我不讲话才好？您让我不说，我就不 说。我下了决心就一定能做到，虽然这挺难的。” 马修正听得津津有味，这倒是大大出乎他自 己的意料。和大多数寡言少语的人一样，马修喜 欢和健谈的人待在一起，他们滔滔不绝地讲话， 而不指望马修费力说什么。可他从没想到白己会 ②society /s3'sarat/i交往， 喜欢跟一个小姑娘待在一起。于是他像平时那样 相处 腼腆地说： “呃，你高兴说就说吧，没关系。” “噢，太好了！我就知道咱俩会合得来的。 斯潘塞夫人说您住的地方叫绿山墙，我仔细向她 打听了。她说那房子周围全是树。这就更好了， 我就是喜欢树。绿山墙附近有小溪吗？我忘了问 3 brook /brok/n.小河，溪 斯潘塞夫人了。” “有啊，有，房子边上就有一条。” “太巧了！住在小溪边一直是我的一个梦想， 但我从没想到这会变成真的。梦想不是总能变成 现实，对吗？可是梦想成真有多好阿！我已经差 不多非常快活了，可实际上我还有烦心的事，因 为—您看，这是什么颜色？” ·019·