5.Anne's History安妮的身世-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《绿山墙的安妮Anne of Green Gables》上

Chapter V Anne's History “Do you know,”said Anne confidentially,“T've made up my mind to enjoy this drive.It's been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.Oh, look,there's one little early wild rose out!Isn't it lovely?Don't you think it must be glad to be a rose?And isn't pink the most bewitching? color in the world?I love it,but I can't wear it.Redheaded people can't wear pink,not even in imagination.Did you ever know of anybody whose hair was red when she was young,but got to be another color when she grew up?" “No,Idon't know as I ever did,”said Marilla mercilessly,“andI shouldn't think it likely to happen in your case either." Anne sighed. "Well,that is another hope gone.'My life is a perfect graveyard of buried hopes.'That's a sentence I read in a book once,and I say it over to comfort myself whenever I'm disappointed in anything." "I don't see where the comforting comes in myself,"said Marilla. "Why,because it sounds so nice and romantic,just as if I were a heroine in a book,you know.I am so fond of romantic things,and a ·052· 第五章 安妮的身世 ①confidentially “您知道吗，”安妮坦诚地说，“我已经想好 /konf'denfol/ad秘密地， 悄悄地 了要好好享受这次旅行。如果你一定要让什么事 变成乐事，你差不多就总能做到，这是我的经 验。啊，看那儿，那儿有一朵小小的早开的野玫 ②bewitching/bi'witJi/a.迷 瑰！多可爱呀！不是吗？您不觉得它为自己是一 人的，使人着迷的 朵玫瑰而感到高兴吗？难道粉红色不是世界上最 迷人的颜色吗？我喜欢粉红色，但是我不能穿粉 红色衣服。红头发的人不能穿粉红色衣服，想都不 能想。您知道有什么人小时候头发是红的，可是长 大以后变成别的颜色了？” “没有，我从没听说过”玛丽拉冷冰冰地说. “而且我认为这种事也不可能发生在你身上。” 安妮叹了口气。 “唉，又一个希望破灭了。‘我的一生就是埋 葬希望的墓地。’这句话是我在一本书里看到的， 每次我失望的时候就说上几遍来安慰自己。” “我看不出这安慰有什么用。”玛丽拉说。 “啊，因为这句话听起来很美很浪漫，好像 ·053· Anne of Green Gables graveyard full of buried hopes is about as romantic a thing as one can imagine,isn't it?I'm rather glad I have one.Are we going across the Lake of Shining Waters today?" "We're not going over Barry's pond,if that's what you mean by your Lake of Shining Waters.We're going by the shore road." “Shore road sounds nice,”said Anne dreamily..“How far is it to White Sands?” "It's five miles;and as you're evidently bent on talking you might as well talk to some purpose by telling me what you know about yourself..” "Oh,what I KNOW about myself isn't really worth telling,"said Anne eagerly."If you'll only let me tell you what I IMAGINE about myself you'll think it ever so much more interesting." "No,I don't want any of your imaginings.Just you stick to bald facts.Begin at the beginning.Where were you born and how old are you?” "I was eleven last March,"said Anne,resigning herself to bald facts with a little sigh."And I was born in Bolingbroke,Nova Scotia. My father's name was Walter Shirley,and he was a teacher in the Bolingbroke High School.My mother's name was Bertha Shirley.Well, she was a teacher in the High school,too,but when she married father she gave up teaching,of course.A husband was enough responsibility. Mrs.Thomas said that they were a pair of babies and as poor as church mice They went to live in a weeny-teeny little yellow house in Bolingbroke.I've never seen that house,but I've imagined it thousands of times.I think it must have had honeysuckle5 over the parlor window and lilacs in the front yard and lilies of the valley just inside the gate.I was born in that house.Mrs.Thomas said I was the homeliest baby she ever saw,I was so scrawny and tiny and nothing but eyes,but that ·054· 绿山墙的安妮 我就是书中的女主人公，您知道。我是多么喜欢 浪漫的事情啊，一个埋葬着许多希望的墓地简直 太浪漫了，想象不出比这更浪漫的事了，是不 是？我很高兴我也有件浪漫的事情。今天我们过 不过波光湖？” “要是你所谓的波光湖是指巴里家的池塘， 我们不往那边去，我们顺海岸小道走。” ①bent on决心，决定做某事 “海岸小道听起来很美，”安妮充满幻想地 说，“我们离白沙滩有多远？” “五英里，既然你一定要说个不停，还不如 说点儿有用的，讲讲你知道的关于自己的情况 吧。” “噢，我知道的关于自己的情况其实不值得 一提，”安妮热切地说，“要是您让我讲讲我对 ②bald /b3:ld/a明显的，不加 掩饰的 自己的想象，您会觉得有意思得多。” “不，我可不想听什么你的想象，就实话实说 吧，从头开始说。你在哪儿出生，多大了？” “我今年三月就已经满十一岁了。”安妮说， 她轻叹一声，只好实话实说了。“我出生在新斯 科舍的博灵布鲁克。我父亲叫瓦尔特·雪利，是 博灵布鲁克高中的教师。我母亲叫伯莎·雪利。 她也是高中老师，当然，她和父亲结婚以后就辞 职了。照顾好丈夫这个责任就足够重大了。托玛 3 as poor as church mice一贫 如洗 斯太太说他们简直是一对小孩儿，而且穷得叮当 weeny-teeny /wi:ni'ti:n/a. 响。他们住在博灵布鲁克一所小小的黄色房子 很小的，微小的 里。我从没见过那所房子，可是我已经想象过成 5 honeysuckle /hAni'sAkl/n. 千上万次了。客厅窗外垂吊着金银花，前庭里栽 忍冬，金银花 着紫丁香，一进院门就看见山谷百合，我想一定 ⑥scrawny /skro:n/a瘦的， 是这样的。我就是在那所房子里出生的。托玛斯 骨瘦如柴的 太太说我是她见过的最难看的婴儿，我非常瘦 ·055· Anne of Green Gables mother thought I was perfectly beautiful.I'm glad she was satisfied with me anyhow,I would feel so sad if I thought I was a disappointment to her-because she didn't live very long after that,you see.She died of fever when I was just three months old.I do wish she'd lived long enough for me to remember calling her mother.I think it would be so sweet to say 'mother,'don't you?And father died four days afterwards from fever too.That left me an orphan and folks were at their wits'end, so Mrs.Thomas said,what to do with me.You see,nobody wanted me even then.It seems to be my fate.Father and mother had both come from places far away and it was well known they hadn't any relatives living.Finally Mrs.Thomas said she'd take me,though she was poor and had a drunken husband. "Mr.and Mrs.Thomas moved away from Bolingbroke to Marysville,and I lived with them until I was eight years old.I helped look after the Thomas children-there were four of them younger than me -and I can tell you they took a lot of looking after.Then Mr. Thomas was killed falling under a train and his mother offered to take Mrs.Thomas and the children,but she didn't want me.Mrs.Thomas was at HER wits'end,so she said,what to do with me.Then Mrs. Hammond from up the river came down and said she'd take me,seeing I was handy2 with children,and I went up the river to live with her in a little clearing among the stumps.It was a very lonesome place.I'm sure I could never have lived there if I hadn't had an imagination. "I lived up river with Mrs.Hammond over two years,and then Mr. Hammond died and Mrs.Hammond broke up housekeeping.She divided her children among her relatives and went to the States.I had to go to the asylum at Hopeton,because nobody would take me.They didn't want me at the asylum,either;they said they were over-crowded as it was.But they had to take me and I was there four months until Mrs. ·056· 绿山墙的安妮 小，除了眼睛简直没人样，可我妈妈认为我完美 无缺。我很高兴她对我还算满意，要是我让她失 望了，我会很伤心的—因为没多久她就过世 了，您知道。我才三个月大她就得热病死了。我 真希望她能活到我能记得起叫她‘妈妈’的时候。 我觉得叫‘妈妈’真是非常甜蜜，是不是？四天 ①aone's wits'cnd智穷计 后爸爸也得热病死了。我成了孤儿，邻居们也不 尽，无计可施 知道该拿我怎么办，托玛斯太太这么说的。您瞧， 那时候就没人想要我，我好像命该如此。爸爸妈 妈都是从很远的地方来的，而且谁都知道他们世 上没什么亲戚。最后托玛斯太太说她愿意收留我， 虽然她很穷，还有一个酒鬼丈夫。 “托玛斯夫妇从博灵布鲁克搬到了马丽斯维 尔，八岁以前我一直和他们住在一起。我帮他们 看孩子一有四个比我小—我跟您说，他们可 不是好带的。后来托玛斯先生被火车轧死了，他 母亲愿意让托玛斯太太和孩子们和她一起过，可 是她不要我。托玛斯太太说她也不知道拿我怎么 办了。后来住在河上游的哈蒙德太太来说她愿意 收留我，因为我会带孩子，我就跟她到河上游住 2 handy /hand/a.灵巧的 在树桩子围起来的一小块垦地上。那是个很偏僻 3 lonesome /'launsam/a.寂寞 的地方，要不是我想象力丰富，我敢说我根本不 的，偏僻的，孤单的 可能在那儿住下去。 “我在河上游和哈蒙德太太住了两年多。后 来哈蒙德先生死了，哈蒙德太太支撑不了这个 家。她把孩子分送给亲戚，自己去了美国。我只 好去了霍普顿的孤儿院，因为没人愿意收留我。 孤儿院也不想要我，他们说那儿已经够挤的了。 可他们不得不收留我，斯潘塞太太来的时候我已 ·057· Anne of Green Gables Spencer came.” Anne finished up with another sigh,of relief this time.Evidently she did not like talking about her experiences in a world that had not wanted her. "Did you ever go to school?"demanded Marilla,turning the sorrel mare down the shore road. "Not a great deal.I went a little the last year I stayed with Mrs. Thomas.But of course I went while I was at the asylum.I can read pretty well and I know ever so many pieces of poetry off by heart- 'The Battle of Hohenlinden'and 'Edinburgh after Flodden,'and 'Bingen of the Rhine,and most of the 'Lady of the Lake'and most of 'The Seasons'by James Thompson.Don't you just love poetry that gives you a crinkly2 feeling up and down your back?" "Were those women-Mrs.Thomas and Mrs.Hammond-good to you?"asked Marilla,looking at Anne out of the corner of her eye. “O-o-o-h,”faltered③Anne.Her sensitive little face suddenly flushed scarlet and embarrassment sat on her brow."Oh,they MEANT to be-I know they meant to be just as good and kind as possible.And when people mean to be good to you,you don't mind very much when they're not quite-always.They had a good deal to worry them,you know.” Marilla asked no more questions.Anne gave herself up to a silent rapture over the shore road and Marilla guided the sorrel abstractedly while she pondered5 deeply.Pity was suddenly stirring in her heart for the child.No wonder she had been so delighted at the prospect of a real home.What if she,Marilla,should indulge Matthew's unaccountable whim and let her stay? “She's got too much to say,”thought Marilla,“but she might be trained out of that.And there's nothing rude or slangy in what she does ·058· 绿山墙的安妮 经在那儿待了四个月了。” 安妮说完又叹了口气，这次是如释重负。显 然她不愿谈论她在一个不想要她的世界里的经历。 “你上过学吗？”玛丽拉问道，一边赶着栗色 母马拐到了海岸小道上。 “没怎么上过。我住在托玛斯太太家的最后 一年上过一阵儿。当然，我在孤儿院上过学。我 书读得不错，我还会背很多诗— 《霍恩林登之 ①poetry/p3Itr/n.诗歌 役》、《佛洛登之后的爱丁堡》、《莱茵河上的宾 根》、大段大段的《湖上仙女》，还有詹姆斯·汤 姆森的《四季》中的大部分。您喜不喜欢能带给 ②crinkly /krigklu/a.起绉的， 你一种震撼的诗？” 绉褶多的 “那些女人一托玛斯太太和哈蒙德太 太一对你好吗？”玛丽拉问，从眼角瞥着安妮。 “嗯一”安妮支吾着，她敏感的小脸突然 ③falter/fo:lta/,支吾地说 涨得通红，眉梢上显出尴尬。“嗯，她们是打 ④ush/A/某发红 算一我知道她们是打算对我尽可能地善良亲 切。要是人家本意是对你好，你不会很在意她们 不是总对你那么好。她们自己也有一大堆烦心 事，您知道。” 玛丽拉没再问什么。安妮出神地望着海岸小 道，沉默起来，玛丽拉陷入沉思，心不在焉地赶 ponder/'ppnd/.沉思，考 着栗色马。她心中突然升起了对这个孩子的怜 虑 ⑥sir/st3:/活动，搅拌，激动 悯。怪不得有个真正的家的希望使她如此兴高采 烈，要是她一玛丽拉，听任了马修的怪想法而 让她留下来，那会怎么样呢？ slangy /slant/a.俚语的， 俗话多的 “她的话太多，”玛丽拉想，“不过可以教她 改掉这个毛病，而且她也不说粗话，挺文明的， ·059· Anne of Green Gables say.She's ladylike.It's likely her people were nice folks." “Isn't the sea wonderful?”said Anne,rousing②from a long, wide-eyed silence."What big house is that just ahead,please?" "That's the White Sands Hotel.Mr.Kirke runs it,but the season hasn't begun yet.There are heaps of Americans come there for the summer.They think this shore is just about right." "I was afraid it might be Mrs.Spencer's place,"said Anne mournfully."I don't want to get there.Somehow,it will seem like the end of everything." ·060· 绿山墙的安妮 ①ladylike /leidilaik/a.期淑 很可能她父母都很有教养。” 的，如淑女的 “大海是多么奇妙啊！”安妮说，她从长久的 2 rouse /rauz/.醒来 沉默中醒来，双目圆睁，“请问前面那幢大房子 是什么地方？” “那是白沙滩旅馆，柯克先生经营的。不过 旺季还没到，夏天总有很多美国人去那儿，他们 认为这片海岸不错。” “我就怕是斯潘塞太太家，”安妮悲哀地说， “我不想去那儿。不管怎么说，到了那儿就好像 一切都完了。” ·061·