CHAPTER XXXIV
第三十四章
IT WAS near Christmas by the time all was settled: the season of general holiday approached.
一切都办妥的时候已临近圣诞节了,普天下人的假日季节就要到来。
I now closed Morton school, taking care that the parting should not be barren on my side.
于是我关闭了莫尔顿学校,并注意自己不空着手告别。
Good fortune opens the hand as well as the heart wonderfully;
交上好运不但使人心境愉快,而且出手也格外大方了。
and to give somewhat when we have largely received, is but to afford a vent to the unusual ebullition of the sensations.
我们把大宗所得分些给别人,是为自己不平常的激动之情提供一个渲泄的机会。
I had long felt with pleasure that many of my rustic scholars liked me, and when we parted, that consciousness was confirmed:
我早就愉快地感到,我的很多农村学生都喜欢我。离别时,这种感觉得到了证实。
they manifested their affection plainly and strongly.
她们的感情很强烈,也很外露。
Deep was my gratification to find I had really a place in their unsophisticated hearts:
我发现自己确实已在她们纯扑的心灵中占据了一个位置,我深为满意。
I promised them that never a week should pass in future that I did not visit them, and give them an hour's teaching in their school.
我答应以后每周都去看她们,在学校中给她们上一小时课。
Mr. Rivers came up as, having seen the classes, now numbering sixty girls, file out before me, and locked the door,
里弗斯先生来了——看到现在这些班级的六十个学生,在我前面鱼贯而出,看我锁上了门——
I stood with the key in my hand, exchanging a few words of special farewell with some half-dozen of my best scholars:
这时我手拿钥匙站着,跟五六个最好的学生,特意交换几句告别的话。
as decent, respectable, modest, and well-informed young women as could be found in the ranks of the British peasantry.
这些年轻姑娘之正派、可敬、谦逊和有知识,堪与英国农民阶层中的任何人媲美。
And that is saying a great deal; for after all, the British peasantry are the best taught, best mannered, most self-respecting of any in Europe:
这话很有份量,因为英国农民同欧洲的任何农民相比较,毕竟是最有教养、最有礼貌、最为自尊的。
since those days I have seen paysannes and Bäuerinnen; and the best of them seemed to me ignorant, coarse, and besotted, compared with my Morton girls.
打从那时以来,我见过一些paysannes和Bauerinnen,比之莫尔顿的姑娘,就是最出色的也显得无知、粗俗和糊涂。
"Do you consider you have got your reward for a season of exertion?" asked Mr. Rivers, when they were gone.
“你认为自己这一时期的努力已经得到报偿了吗?”她们走掉后里弗斯先生问。
"Does not the consciousness of having done some real good in your day and generation give pleasure?"
“你觉得在自己风华正茂的岁月,做些真正的好事是一种愉快吗?”
"Doubtless."
“毫无疑问。”
"And you have only toiled a few months!
“而你还只辛苦了几个月,
Would not a life devoted to the task of regenerating your race be well spent?"
如果你的一生致力于提高自己的民族岂不是很值得吗?”