CHAPTER XXXI
第三十一章
MY home, then, when I at last find a home, -- is a cottage;
我的家呀——我终干找到了一个家——是一间小屋。
a little room with whitewashed walls and a sanded floor,
小房间里墙壁已粉刷过,地面是用沙铺成的。
containing four painted chairs and a table, a clock, a cupboard,
房间内有四把漆过的椅子,一张桌子,一个钟,一个碗橱。
with two or three plates and dishes, and a set of tea-things in delf.
橱里有两三个盘子和碟子,还有一套荷兰白釉蓝彩陶器茶具。
Above, a chamber of the same dimensions as the kitchen, with a deal bedstead and chest of drawers;
楼上有一个面积跟厨房一般大小的房间,里面有一个松木床架和一个衣柜,
small, yet too large to be filled with my scanty wardrobe:
虽然很小,盛放我为数不多的衣物绰绰有余,
though the kindness of my gentle and generous friends has increased that, by a modest stock of such things as are necessary.
尽管我的和蔼可亲、慷慨大方的朋友,已经为我增添了一些必要的衣服。
It is evening. I have dismissed, with the fee of an orange, the little orphan who serves me as a handmaid.
这会儿正是傍晚时分,我给了当我女仆的小孤女一个桔子,打发她走了。
I am sitting alone on the hearth.
我独自坐在火炉旁。
This morning, the village school opened.
今天早上,村校开学了。
I had twenty scholars.
我有二十个学生。
But three of the number can read: none write or cipher.
但只有三个能读,没有人会写会算。
Several knit, and a few sew a little.
有几个能编织,少数几个会一点缝纫。
They speak with the broadest accent of the district.
她们说起话来地方口音很重。
At present, they and I have a difficulty in understanding each other's language.
眼下我和她们彼此难以听懂对方的语言。
Some of them are unmannered, rough, intractable, as well as ignorant;
其中有几个没有礼貌,十分粗野,难以驾驭,同时又很无知。
but others are docile, have a wish to learn, and evince a disposition that pleases me.
但其余的却容易管教,愿意学习,显露出一种令人愉快的气质。
I must not forget that these coarsely-clad little peasants are of flesh and blood as good as the scions of gentlest genealogy;
我决不能忘记,这些衣衫粗陋的小农民,像最高贵血统的后裔一样有血有肉的;
and that the germs of native excellence, refinement, intelligence, kind feeling, are as likely to exist in their hearts as in those of the best-born.
跟出身最好的人一样,天生的美德、雅致,智慧、善良的的情感,都可能在她们的心田里发芽。