Then in a tone that was suddenly joyous, "I want to give you a surprise, my dear Signor Bottini."
说到这里,先生突然带着快乐的调子说:“是的!吓了你一跳吧!勃谛尼君!”
He rose, and approaching his desk, he opened a long casket which contained numerous little parcels, all tied up with a slender cord, and on each was written a date in four figures.
说着走到书桌旁把那长抽屉打开。其中有许多纸束,都用细细的绳缚着。上面一一记着年月。
After a little search, he opened one, turned over several papers, drew forth a yellowed sheet, and handed it to my father. It was some of his school work of forty years before.
翻寻了好一会儿,取了一束打开,翻出一张黄色的纸来,递给父亲。这是四十年前父亲的成绩。
At the top was written, _Alberto Bottini, Dictation, April 3, 1838_. My father instantly recognized his own large, schoolboy hand, and began to read it with a smile. But all at once his eyes grew moist. I rose and inquired the cause.
纸的顶上,记着“听写,一八三八年四月三叉,亚尔培脱·勃谛尼”等字样。父亲带笑读着这写着小孩笔迹的纸片,眼中浮出泪来。我立起来问是什么。
He threw one arm around my body, and pressing me to his side, he said: "Look at this sheet of paper. Do you see? These are the corrections made by my poor mother. She always strengthened my _l_'s and my _t_'s. And the last lines are entirely hers. She had learned to imitate my characters; and when I was tired and sleepy, she finished my work for me. My sainted mother!"
父亲一手抱住了我说:“你看这纸!这是母亲给我修改过的。母亲常替我这样修改,最后一行全是母亲给我写的。我疲劳了睡着在那里的时候,母亲仿了我向笔迹替我写的。”
And he kissed the page. "See here," said the teacher, showing him the other packages; "these are my reminiscences. Each year I laid aside one piece of work of each of my pupils; and they are all here, dated and arranged in order. Every time that I open them thus, and read a line here and there, a thousand things recur to my mind, and I seem to be living once more in the days that are past. How many of them have passed, my dear sir! I close my eyes, and I see behind me face after face, class after class, hundreds and hundreds of boys, and who knows how many of them are already dead! Many of them I remember well. I recall distinctly the best and the worst: those who gave me the greatest pleasure, and those who caused me to pass sorrowful moments; for I have had serpents, too, among that vast number! But now, you understand, it is as though I were already in the other world, and I love them all equally."
父亲说了在纸上接吻。先生又拿出另一束纸来。“你看!这是我的纪念品。每学年,我把每个学生的成绩各取一纸这样留着。其中记有月日,是依了顺序排列的。打开来一一翻阅,就追忆起许多的事情来,好像我回复到那时的光景了。啊!已有许多年了,把眼睛一闭拢,就像有许多的孩子,许多的班级在面前。那些孩子,有的已经死去了吧,许多孩子的事情,我都记得,像最好的和最坏的,记得格外明白,使我快乐的孩子,使我伤心的孩子,尤其不会忘记。许多孩子之中,很有坏的哩!但是,我好像在别一世界,无论坏的好的,我都同样地爱他们。”