出國留學網(wǎng)英語考試網(wǎng)為您整理“中英雙語美文閱讀：長腿叔叔第一章”，歡迎朋友們閱讀長腿叔叔。
Part 1 Blue Wednesday
第一章 藍色的星期三
The first Wednesday in every month was a Perfectly Awful Day--a day to be awaited with dread, endured with courage and forgotten with haste. Every floor must be spotless, every chair dustless, and every bed without a wrinkle. Ninety-seven squirming little orphans must be scrubbed and combed and buttoned into freshly starched ginghams; and all ninety-seven reminded of their manners, and told to say, 'Yes, sir,' 'No, sir,' whenever a Trustee spoke.
每個月的第一個星期三是個糟糕的日子——它是個在憂慮中等待，勇敢地忍耐，然后在忙碌中忘記的日子。這一天，每層樓的地板都必須纖塵不染，每張椅子都要光潔照人，全部床單都不能有半條皺褶。還要把97個四處亂跳的小孤兒梳洗一遍，給他們穿上漿洗過的格子襯衫，囑咐他們要注意禮貌?；卮鹄硎聜兊膯栐挄r要說， “是的，先生。”“不是的，先生。”
It was a distressing time; and poor Jerusha Abbott, being the oldest orphan, had to bear the brunt of it. But this particular first Wednesday, like its predecessors, finally dragged itself to a close. Jerusha escaped from the pantry where she had been making sandwiches for the asylum's guests, and turned upstairs to accomplish her regular work. Her special care was room F, where eleven little tots, from four to seven, occupied eleven little cots set in a row. Jerusha assembled her charges, straightened their rumpled frocks, wiped their noses, and started them in an orderly and willing line towards the dining-room to engage themselves for a blessed half hour with bread and milk and prune pudding.
這個日子真是令人沮喪，可憐的喬若莎·艾伯特，作為孤兒院里年紀最大的孤兒當然更加倒霉。不過，這個特別的星期三，終于到頭了。喬若莎離開了廚房，她剛在這里為來客們做了三明治，現(xiàn)在正跑回樓上完成她每天的例行工作。她負責第6室，那里有11個4歲到7歲的小家伙和11張排成一列的小床。喬若莎好不容易把他們叫過來，幫他們整理好皺巴巴的衣服，擦干凈鼻涕，排成一行，然后帶領他們?nèi)ゲ褪?，在那里他們可以盡情地享受半小時的好時光，喝牛奶，吃面包和梅子布丁。
Then she dropped down on the window seat and leaned throbbing temples against the cool glass. She had been on her feet since five that morning, doing everybody's bidding, scolded and hurried by a nervous matron. Mrs. Lippett, behind the scenes, did not always maintain that calm and pompous dignity with which she faced an audience of Trustees and lady visitors. Jerusha gazed out across a broad stretch of frozen lawn, beyond the tall iron paling that marked the confines of the asylum, down undulating ridges sprinkled with country estates, to the spires of the village rising from the midst of bare trees.
她疲憊地跌坐在窗臺的椅子上，把漲得發(fā)疼的太陽穴貼著冰冷的玻璃。從早晨5點鐘開始，她的手腳就不停地忙碌著，聽從所有人的命令，還不時被神經(jīng)兮兮的女監(jiān)事罵得暈頭轉(zhuǎn)向。私下的李皮太太可不是像她面對理事們和來訪的女士面前表現(xiàn)的那樣冷靜、莊重。喬若莎的眼神掠過孤兒院高高的鐵欄桿外一片上了凍的開闊草地，看到遠處起伏的山峰，山上散落的村舍，光禿禿的樹叢中露出了房屋的尖頂。
The day was ended--quite successfully, so far as she knew. The Trustees and the visiting committee had made their rounds, and read their reports, and drunk their tea, and now were hurrying home to their own cheerful firesides, to forget their bothersome little charges for another month. Jerusha leaned forward watching with curiosity--and a touch of wistfulness--the stream of carriages and automobiles that rolled out of the asylum gates. In imagination she followed first one equipage, then another, to the big houses dotted along the hillside. She pictured herself in a fur coat and a velvet hat trimmed with feathers leaning back in the seat and nonchalantly murmuring 'Home' to the driver. But on the door-sill of her home the picture grew blurred.
這一天就算過去了——就她所知應該是圓滿落幕，因為沒有出現(xiàn)任何差錯。理事們和來訪團已經(jīng)巡視過一遍，聽取了匯報，也喝了茶，現(xiàn)在正忙著趕回自家溫暖的爐火邊，起碼要再過一個月才會想起這些需要他們照管的磨人的小家伙。喬若莎倚著窗臺，好奇地看著一連串的馬車、汽車穿過孤兒院的大門。她不禁產(chǎn)生了幻想。她想象自己跟著一輛又一輛車，來到坐落在山腳下的密密麻麻的大房子前。她看見自己穿著一件貂皮大衣，帶著天鵝絨裝飾的絲織帽子靠在車座上，漫不經(jīng)心地對司機說“回家!”不過，當她回到家門口，整個想象就變得模糊不清了。
Jerusha had an imagination--an imagination, Mrs. Lippett told her, that would get her into trouble if she didn't take care--but keen as it was, it could not carry her beyond the front porch of the houses she would enter. Poor, eager, adventurous little Jerusha, in all her seventeen years, had never stepped inside an ordinary house; she could not picture the daily routine of those other human beings who carried on their lives undiscommoded by orphans.
喬若莎喜歡幻想——李皮太太說，如果不小心，幻想就會讓她惹上麻煩。但是，不管她的想象力多么豐富，都無法帶領她走進那些渴望進入的大門，她只能待在門廊上?？蓱z的充滿冒險精神的小喬若莎，在她17年的歲月里，從未進入任何一個家庭。她完全無法想象，其他沒有孤兒干擾的人們會有怎樣的日常生活。
Je-ru-sha Ab-bott
You are wan-ted
In the of-fice,
And I think you'd
Better hurry up!
“喬……若……莎……艾……伯……特
有人找……你
去辦公室，
而我想啊，
你最好動作快一點!”
Tommy Dillon, who had joined the choir, came singing up the stairs and down the corridor, his chant growing louder as he approached room F. Jerusha wrenched herself from the window and refaced the troubles of life.
湯米·狄倫剛加入了唱詩班，他唱著歌經(jīng)過樓梯和走廊，當他走向第6室時，聲音越來越響。喬若莎將思緒從窗外收回來，再次面對生活中的麻煩。
'Who wants me?' she cut into Tommy's chant with a note of sharp anxiety.
“誰在叫我?”她打斷湯米的哼唱，急切地問道。
Mrs. Lippett in the office,
And I think she's mad.
Ah-a-men!
“辦公室的李皮太太，
我覺得她的火氣很大，
阿……門!”
Tommy piously intoned, but his accent was not entirely malicious. Even the most hardened little orphan felt sympathy for an erring sister who was summoned to the office to face an annoyed matron; and Tommy liked Jerusha even if she did sometimes jerk him by the arm and nearly scrub his nose off.
湯米依然拉長腔調(diào)，他的語氣并沒有幸災樂禍的意思。即便是心腸最硬的小孤兒也會同情這個做了錯事的姐姐，因為她將要去見那個討厭的院長。更何況，湯米還挺喜歡喬若莎，雖然她偶爾會使勁地扯他的胳膊，給他洗臉時幾乎擦掉他的鼻子!
Jerusha went without comment, but with two parallel lines on her brow. What could have gone wrong, she wondered. Were the sandwiches not thin enough? Were there shells in the nut cakes? Had a lady visitor seen the hole in Susie Hawthorn's stocking? Had--O horrors!-- one of the cherubic little babes in her own room F 'sauced' a Trustee?
喬若莎默默地走開了，她的額頭上出現(xiàn)了兩道皺紋。她想知道差錯在哪里，三明治切得不夠薄?還是杏仁蛋糕里有殼?或者哪位來訪的女士看到了蘇西·華生襪子上的破洞?還是……哎呀，糟糕!是不是第6室的頑皮的小寶貝們把調(diào)味醬弄在理事身上了?
The long lower hall had not been lighted, and as she came downstairs, a last Trustee stood, on the point of departure, in the open door that led to the porte-cochere. Jerusha caught only a fleeting impression of the man--and the impression consisted entirely of tallness. He was waving his arm towards an automobile waiting in the curved drive. As it sprang into motion and approached, head on for an instant, the glaring headlights threw his shadow sharply against the wall inside. The shadow pictured grotesquely elongated legs and arms that ran along the floor and up the wall of the corridor. It looked, for all the world, like a huge, wavering daddy-long-legs.
低矮的長廊上已經(jīng)滅了燈，當她下樓時，最后一個理事站在那兒正打算離開。他站在通往院外的大門前，喬若莎看了一眼這個人，只有一個感覺——高。他正朝院外一輛等待的汽車招手，汽車發(fā)動時，耀眼的燈光把他的影子投射在屋子的墻上，怪模怪樣的影子把手腳都拉長了，滑稽的樣子從地板一直延伸到走廊的墻壁上?；钕袢藗兯追Q的“長腿叔叔”——一只晃來晃去的大蜘蛛。
Jerusha's anxious frown gave place to quick laughter. She was by nature a sunny soul, and had always snatched the tiniest excuse to be amused. If one could derive any sort of entertainment out of the oppressive fact of a Trustee, it was something unexpected to the good. She advanced to the office quite cheered by the tiny episode, and presented a smiling face to Mrs. Lippett. To her surprise the matron was also, if not exactly smiling, at least appreciably affable; she wore an expression almost as pleasant as the one she donned for visitors.
喬若莎頓時展開緊鎖的眉頭，歡快地笑起來。她是個天性樂觀的姑娘，一點小事都能讓她開懷大笑。能夠從一個使人壓抑的理事身上發(fā)現(xiàn)笑料，確實讓人感到意外。這段小插曲讓她很高興，以至她進入辦公室見到李皮太太時，臉上還帶著笑容。出乎意料的是，院長也在對她笑，就算不是真的笑容，但表情還算和藹。她幾乎像對來訪的客人一樣充滿善意。
'Sit down, Jerusha, I have something to say to you.'
“喬若莎，坐下，我有些話要對你說。”
Jerusha dropped into the nearest chair and waited with a touch of breathlessness. An automobile flashed past the window; Mrs. Lippett glanced after it. 'Did you notice the gentleman who has just gone?'
喬若莎坐在最近的椅子上，屏息等待。一輛汽車從窗前駛過，光芒掠過窗戶。李皮太太注視著遠去的車子問：“你是否注意到了剛走的那位先生?”
'I saw his back.'
“我看見了他的背影。”
'He is one of our most affluential Trustees, and has given large sums of money towards the asylum's support. I am not at liberty to mention his name; he expressly stipulated that he was to remain unknown.'
“他是理事中最富有的人之一，曾給孤兒院捐了大筆的錢。我不能告訴你他的姓名，因為他特意要求不要透露他的姓名。”
Jerusha's eyes widened slightly; she was not accustomed to being summoned to the office to discuss the eccentricities of Trustees with the matron.
喬若莎微微張大了雙眼。她不太習慣被院長叫到辦公室一起討論理事們的怪癖。
'This gentleman has taken an interest in several of our boys. You remember Charles Benton and Henry Freize? They were both sent through college by Mr.--er--this Trustee, and both have repaid with hard work and success the money that was so generously expended. Other payment the gentleman does not wish. Heretofore his philanthropies have been directed solely towards the boys; I have never been able to interest him in the slightest degree in any of the girls in the institution, no matter how deserving. He does not, I may tell you, care for girls.'
“這位先生非常關照孤兒院的幾個男孩子。你記得查理·班頓和亨利·弗理茲吧?他們都是被這位先生……哦，這位理事送去上大學的。兩人都很用功，用良好的成績回報了他慷慨的資助。這位先生并不要求別的回報。到目前為止，他的仁慈僅限于男孩子，我從來都無法做到讓他對女孩們留心，哪怕她們多么出色。我可以告訴你，他對女孩子沒有什么興趣。”
'No, ma'am,' Jerusha murmured, since some reply seemed to be expected at this point.
“是的，太太。”喬若莎喃喃地開口，因為此刻這個問題似乎需要她的回答。
'To-day at the regular meeting, the question of your future was brought up.'
“在今天的例會上，有人提到你的去向問題。”
Mrs. Lippett allowed a moment of silence to fall, then resumed in a slow, placid manner extremely trying to her hearer's suddenly tightened nerves.
李皮太太略微停頓了一下，然后才慢條斯理地往下說。這讓她的聽眾突然繃緊了神經(jīng)，非常痛苦。
'Usually, as you know, the children are not kept after they are sixteen, but an exception was made in your case. You had finished our school at fourteen, and having done so well in your studies--not always, I must say, in your conduct--it was determined to let you go on in the village high school. Now you are finishing that, and of course the asylum cannot be responsible any longer for your support. As it is, you have had two years more than most.'
“一般情況下，你知道，孩子們過了16歲就不能繼續(xù)留在這里了，不過你是特例。你14歲就讀完了孤兒院的課程，成績良好——但我不得不說，你的操行并非一直表現(xiàn)優(yōu)良——因此我們讓你繼續(xù)讀村里的高中。現(xiàn)在你即將畢業(yè)，我們不能再繼續(xù)負擔你的生活費。即便如此，你也比其他人多享受了兩年教育。”
Mrs. Lippett overlooked the fact that Jerusha had worked hard for her board during those two years, that the convenience of the asylum had come first and her education second; that on days like the present she was kept at home to scrub.
李皮太太完全不提喬若莎在兩年中為了自己的食宿，工作得極度賣力。孤兒院的工作永遠排在第一位，功課排在第二位。只要是像今天這種日子，她就得留下來打掃衛(wèi)生。
'As I say, the question of your future was brought up and your record was discussed--thoroughly discussed.'
“我剛才說過，有人提出你的去向問題，討論了你的表現(xiàn)——徹徹底底地討論了一番。”
Mrs. Lippett brought accusing eyes to bear upon the prisoner in the dock, and the prisoner looked guilty because it seemed to be expected-- not because she could remember any strikingly black pages in her record.
李皮太太用責備的眼光盯著她的犯人，囚犯也表現(xiàn)出有罪的樣子，倒不是因為她真的做過什么壞事，而是覺得李皮太太需要她這樣。
'Of course the usual disposition of one in your place would be to put you in a position where you could begin to work, but you have done well in school in certain branches; it seems that your work in English has even been brilliant. Miss Pritchard, who is on our visiting committee, is also on the school board; she has been talking with your rhetoric teacher, and made a speech in your favour. She also read aloud an essay that you had written entitled, "Blue Wednesday".'
“當然啦，對于你，我們隨便安排一個工作就行了，不過你在學校的時候某些科目表現(xiàn)突出，英文寫作甚至算得上非常出色。普麗查小姐正好在參訪團里，她也是理事會的成員，她和你的作文老師談過，為你說了很大一番好話，因為她讀了你的一篇名為《藍色的星期三》的作文。”
Jerusha's guilty expression this time was not assumed.
這下喬若莎真的認罪了。
'It seemed to me that you showed little gratitude in holding up to ridicule the institution that has done so much for you. Had you not managed to be funny I doubt if you would have been forgiven. But fortunately for you, Mr.--, that is, the gentleman who has just gone--appears to have an immoderate sense of humour. On the strength of that impertinent paper, he has offered to send you to college.'
“我覺得你在嘲笑這個為你做了這么多的孤兒院方面很有天賦，沒有表示一點感激。如果你不是那么逗樂的話，我懷疑幾乎沒有人愿意原諒你。不過幸虧那位先生，就是剛走的那位理事先生，表現(xiàn)出了很強的幽默感。那篇不禮貌的文章使他愿意讓你去念大學。”
'To college?' Jerusha's eyes grew big. Mrs. Lippett nodded.
“念大學?”喬若莎不可置信地睜大了眼睛。李皮太太點了點頭。
'He waited to discuss the terms with me. They are unusual. The gentleman, I may say, is erratic. He believes that you have originality, and he is planning to educate you to become a writer.'
“他留下來和我討論了條件。條件很不尋常。我覺得，這位先生真有點古怪。他覺得你對寫作有些天分，想把你培養(yǎng)成一個作家。”
'A writer?' Jerusha's mind was numbed. She could only repeat Mrs. Lippett's words.
“作家?”喬若莎的腦子麻木起來，只能重復李皮太太說的話。
'That is his wish. Whether anything will come of it, the future will show. He is giving you a very liberal allowance, almost, for a girl who has never had any experience in taking care of money, too liberal. But he planned the matter in detail, and I did not feel free to make any suggestions. You are to remain here through the summer, and Miss Pritchard has kindly offered to superintend your outfit. Your board and tuition will be paid directly to the college, and you will receive in addition during the four years you are there, an allowance of thirty-five dollars a month. This will enable you to enter on the same standing as the other students. The money will be sent to you by the gentleman's private secretary once a month, and in return, you will write a letter of acknowledgment once a month. That is--you are not to thank him for the money; he doesn't care to have that mentioned, but you are to write a letter telling of the progress in your studies and the details of your daily life. Just such a letter as you would write to your parents if they were living.
“那只是他的希望。結(jié)果到底怎樣，以后自然會知道。他會給你足夠的零用錢，對一個從沒處理過錢財?shù)呐⒆觼碚f，實在是太大方了。但是他把這些瑣事安排得很周全，我?guī)缀醪荒芴岢鍪裁串愖h。這個夏天你繼續(xù)留在這里，好心的普麗查小姐答應幫你添置新衣服，你的食宿與學費都由那位先生直接付給學校，在上學的4年期間，你每個月還有35美元的零用錢，足以使你跟其他學生平起平坐。每個月，這位先生的私人秘書會將這筆錢寄給你，你則每個月要給他寫一封信。并不是需要你向他道謝，他對此毫不在意，你要寫信告訴他人你學習的內(nèi)容和日常生活的細節(jié)，就像寫給你的父母一樣，如果他們還在世的話。”
'These letters will be addressed to Mr. John Smith and will be sent in care of the secretary. The gentleman's name is not John Smith, but he prefers to remain unknown. To you he will never be anything but John Smith. His reason in requiring the letters is that he thinks nothing so fosters facility in literary expression as letter-writing. Since you have no family with whom to correspond, he desires you to write in this way; also, he wishes to keep track of your progress. He will never answer your letters, nor in the slightest particular take any notice of them. He detests letter-writing and does not wish you to become a burden. If any point should ever arise where an answer would seem to be imperative--such as in the event of your being expelled, which I trust will not occur--you may correspond with Mr. Griggs, his secretary. These monthly letters are absolutely obligatory on your part; they are the only payment that Mr. Smith requires, so you must be as punctilious in sending them as though it were a bill that you were paying. I hope that they will always be respectful in tone and will reflect credit on your training. You must remember that you are writing to a Trustee of the John Grier Home.'
“這些信寄給約翰·史密斯先生，由他的秘書轉(zhuǎn)交。這位先生的真名當然不是約翰·史密斯，因為他希望當個無名氏。對你而言，他永遠是約翰·史密斯先生。他要求你寫信的原因在于，他認為沒有什么比寫信更能培養(yǎng)人的寫作能力了。既然你沒有可以聯(lián)絡的親人，他就希望你能這么做，另外，他也想隨時知道你的學習情況。他不會給你回信，也不會對你的信吹毛求疵。他討厭寫信，但也不希望寫信成為你的負擔。如果出現(xiàn)緊急的情況需要他回復——比如你被學校開除，我想應該不會發(fā)生這種情況——你可以聯(lián)系他的秘書格里茲先生。對你來說，每月寫一封信是絕對要遵守的義務，這也是史密斯先生惟一的要求。所以你一定要一絲不茍，按時交付，就像付賬單一樣。我希望你能始終保持一種尊敬的語氣，而且好好地發(fā)揮出寫作技巧。你一定要記住，你的信是寫給約翰·戈利爾孤兒院的理事。”
Jerusha's eyes longingly sought the door. Her head was in a whirl of excitement, and she wished only to escape from Mrs. Lippett's platitudes and think. She rose and took a tentative step backwards. Mrs. Lippett detained her with a gesture; it was an oratorical opportunity not to be slighted.
喬若莎心急地尋找著大門，她已經(jīng)興奮得有些暈頭轉(zhuǎn)向了，現(xiàn)在只想快點從李皮太太的老生常談中逃跑，好好地思考一下。她站起身，試探著退了一步。李皮太太舉手示意她留下來，這么好的教育機會怎么能隨便放過呢?
'I trust that you are properly grateful for this very rare good fortune that has befallen you? Not many girls in your position ever have such an opportunity to rise in the world. You must always remember--'
“我相信你一定會感謝這個從天而降的好運吧?世上很少有像你這樣出身的女孩子能遇上這種好運氣。你一定要牢記……”
'I--yes, ma'am, thank you. I think, if that's all, I must go and sew a patch on Freddie Perkins's trousers.'
“我會的，太太，萬分感謝您。我想，如果沒有其他事，我得去縫補弗萊迪·柏金褲子上的補丁了。”
The door closed behind her, and Mrs. Lippett watched it with dropped jaw, her peroration in mid-air.
她帶上房門走了，李皮太太不得不咽下被打斷的滿腹長篇大論，目瞪口呆地望著門——她的演說才剛剛開始呢。
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