160603 经典文学《简·爱》第88期

160603 经典文学《简·爱》第88期

2016-06-03    02'58''

主播: Fred英语笔记

17777 491

介绍:
With earliest day, I was up. 第二天我一大早就起来了。 I had my advertisement written, enclosed, and directed before the bell rang to rouse the school. 没等起床铃把全校吵醒就写好了广告,封入信封,写上了地址。 It ran thus: "A young lady accustomed to tuition" (had I not been a teacher two years? ) 信上说:“现有一位年轻女士,熟悉教学(我不是做了两年的教师吗?)。 Is desirous of meeting with a situation in a private family where the children are under fourteen. 愿谋一家庭教师职位,儿童年龄须幼于十四岁。 I thought that as I was barely eighteen, it would not do to undertake the guidance of pupils nearer my own age. 我想自己才十八岁,要指导一个跟我年龄相仿的人是断然不行的。 She is qualified to teach the usual branches of a good English education, together with French, Drawing, and Music, 该女士能胜任良好的英国教育所含的普通课科,以及法文、绘画和音乐的教学, in those days, reader, this now narrow catalogue of accomplishments, would have been held tolerably comprehensive. 读者呀,现在这张狭窄的技能表,在那个时代还算是比较广博的。 Address, J.E. , Post-office, Lowton. 回信请寄××郡洛顿邮局,J.E.。 经典文学《简·爱》 This document remained locked in my drawer all day. 这份文件在我抽屉里整整锁了一天。 After tea, I asked leave of the new superintendent to go to Lowton, 用完茶点以后,我向新来的校长请假去洛顿, in order to perform some small commissions for myself and one or two of my fellow-teachers. 为自己也为一两位共事的老师办些小事。 Permission was readily granted. I went. 她欣然允诺,于是我便去了。 It was a walk of two miles, and the evening was wet, but the days were still long. 一共有两英里步行路程,傍晚还下着雨,好在白昼依然很长。 I visited a shop or two, slipped the letter into the post-office, 我逛了一两家商店,把信塞进邮局, and came back through heavy rain, with streaming garments, but with a relieved heart. 冒着大雨回来,外衣都淌着水,但心里如释重负。 The succeeding week seemed long. 接着的那个星期似乎很长。 It came to an end at last, however, like all sublunary things, 然而,它像世间的万物一样,终于到了尽头。 and once more, towards the close of a pleasant autumn day, I found myself afoot on the road to Lowton. 一个秋高气爽的傍晚,我再次踏上了去洛顿的路途。 A picturesque track it was, by the way, lying along the side of the beck and through the sweetest curves of the dale: 顺便提一句,小路风景如画,沿着小溪向前延伸,穿过弯弯曲曲秀色诱人的山谷。 But that day I thought more of the letters, 不过那天我想得更多的是那封可能在, that might or might not be awaiting me at the little burgh whither I was bound, than of the charms of lea and water. 可能不在小城等着我的信,而不是草地和溪水的魅力。 My ostensible errand on this occasion was to get measured for a pair of shoes. 这时我冠冕堂皇的差使是度量脚码做一双鞋。 So I discharged that business first, and when it was done, 所以我先去干这件事。了却以后, I stepped across the clean and quiet little street from the shoemaker's to the post-office. 从鞋匠那儿出来,穿过洁净安宁的小街,来到邮局。 It was kept by an old dame, who wore horn spectacles on her nose, and black mittens on her hands. 管理员是位老妇人,鼻梁上架着角质眼镜,手上戴着黑色露指手套。 "Are there any letters for J.E. ?" I asked. “有写给J.E的信吗?”我问。 She peered at me over her spectacles, and then she opened a drawer and fumbled among its contents for a long time, 她从眼镜上方盯着我,随后打开一个抽屉,在里面放着的东西中间翻了好久好久。 so long that my hopes began to falter. 时间那么长,我简直开始有些泄气了。 At last, having held a document before her glasses for nearly five minutes, 最后,她终于把一份文件放到眼镜底上,过了将近五分钟, she presented it across the counter, accompanying the act by another inquisitive and mistrustful glance — it was for J.E. 才越过柜台,递给我,同时投过来刨根究底,疑虑重重的一瞥,这封信是写给J.E.的。 "Is there only one?" I demanded. “就只有这么一封?”我问。 "There are no more," said she. “没有了,”她说。 And I put it in my pocket and turned my face homeward. 我把信放进口袋,回头就走。 I could not open it then. 当时我不能拆开。 Rules obliged me to be back by eight, and it was already half-past seven. 按照规定我得八点前返回,而这时已经七点半了。 Various duties awaited me on my arrival. 一到家便有种种事务等着我去做。 I had to sit with the girls during their hour of study. 姑娘们做功课时我得陪坐着。 Then it was my turn to read prayers; to see them to bed. 随后是轮到我读祷告,照应她们上床。 Afterwards I supped with the other teachers. 在此之后,我与其他教师吃了晚饭。