THE LAST EXAMINATION.
最后的口试
Friday, 7th.
周五,七日。
This morning we had our oral examinations.
今天是口答试验。
At eight o'clock we were all in the schoolroom, and at a quarter past they began to call us, four at a time, into the big hall,
我们八点入了教室,从八点十五分起,就分四人一组被呼人讲堂去。
where there was a large table covered with a green cloth;
大大的桌子上铺着绿色的布。
round it were seated the head-master and four other masters, among them our own.
校长和四位先生围坐着,我们的先生也在里面。
I was one of the first called out.
我在第一次被 唤的一组里。
Poor master! how plainly I perceived this morning that you are really fond of us!
啊,先生!先生是怎样爱护我们,我到了今天方才明白:
While they were interrogating the others, he had no eyes for any one but us.
在别的学生口试时, 先生只注视着我们;
He was troubled when we were uncertain in our replies; he grew serene when we gave a fine answer;
我们答语暧昧的时候,先生就面现忧色,答得完全的时候,先生就露出欢喜的样子来。
he heard everything, and made us a thousand signs with his hand and head, to say to us,
他时时倾着耳,用手和头来表示意思,好像在说:
"Good!--no!--pay attention!--slower!--courage!" He would have suggested everything to us, had he been able to talk.
“对呀!不是的!当心罗!慢慢地!仔细!仔细!”如果先生在这时可以说话,必将不论什么都告诉我们了。
If the fathers of all these pupils had been in his place, one after the other, they could not have done more.
即使学生的父母替代了先生坐在这里,恐怕也不能像先生这样亲切吧。
They would have cried "Thanks!" ten times, in the face of them all.
他们会当着所有人的面喊上十次“谢谢!”
And when the other masters said to me, "That is well; you may go," his eyes beamed with pleasure.
一听到别的先生对我说:“好了,回去!”先生的眼里就充满了喜悦之光。
I returned at once to the schoolroom to wait for my father.
我立刻回到教室去等候父亲。
Nearly all were still there. I sat down beside Garrone.
同学们大概都在教室里,我就坐在卡隆旁边,
I was not at all cheerful; I was thinking that it was the last time that we should be near each other for an hour.
一想到这是最后一个小时时的相聚,不觉悲伤起来。
I had not yet told Garrone that I should not go through the fourth grade with him,
我还没有告诉加洛内我不会和他一起上四年级,
that I was to leave Turin with my father. He knew nothing.
我还没把将随父亲离开丘林的事告诉卡隆,卡隆毫不知道,
And he sat there, doubled up together, with his big head reclining on the desk, making ornaments round the photograph of his father,
他正一心地伏在位上,理着头,执笔在他父亲的照片边缘上加装饰。
who was dressed like a machinist, and who is a tall, large man, with a bull neck and a serious, honest look, like himself.
他父亲是机械师装束,身材高长,头也和卡隆一样,有些后缩,神情却很正直。
And as he sat thus bent together, with his blouse a little open in front,
卡隆埋头伏屈向前,敞开胸间的衣服,
I saw on his bare and robust breast the gold cross which Nelli's mother had presented to him, when she learned that he protected her son.
露出悬在胸前的金十字架来,这就是耐利的母亲因自己的儿子受了他的保护送给他的。
But it was necessary to tell him sometime that I was going away.
我想我总要把将离开丘林的事告诉卡隆的。