LESSON 31 AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL 傳統守舊的女兒

Louisa May Alcott (b.1833, d.1888) was born at Germantown, Pa., of New England parentage.Her parents afterwards returned to New England, and most of her life was spent in Concord, Mass.During the Civil War she went to Washington and nursed the wounded and sick until her own health gave way.As a child she used to write stories for the amusement of her playmates, and in 1857 published her f irst book, “Flower Fables.” Her f irst novel, “Moods,”appeared in 1865.“Little Women,” published in 1868, is a picture of her own home life.“An OldFashioned Girl,” from which this extract is adapted, was published in 1870, and is one of her most popular books.

1.Polly hoped the “dreadful boy” (Tom) would not be present; but he was, and stared at her all dinner time in a most trying manner.

2.Mr.Shaw, a busy-looking gentleman, said, “How do you do, my dear? Hope you’ll enjoy yourself;” and then appeared to forget her entirely.Mrs.Shaw, a pale, nervous woman, greeted her little guest kindly, and took care that she wanted for nothing.

3.Madam Shaw, a quiet old lady, with an imposing^[1] cap, exclaimed, on seeing Polly, “Bless my heart! the image of her mother—a sweet woman—how is she, dear?” and kept peering at the newcomer over her glasses till, between Madam and Tom, poor Polly lost her appetite.

4.Her cousin Fanny chatted like a magpie^[2], and little Maud fi dgeted, till Tom proposed to put her under the big dish cover, which produced such an explosion that the young lady was borne screaming away by the much-enduring nurse.

5.It was, altogether, an uncomfortable dinner, and Polly was very glad when it was over.They all went about their own aff airs; and, after doing the honors of the house, Fan was called to the dressmaker, leaving Polly to amuse herself in the great drawing-room.

6.Polly was glad to be alone for a few minutes; and, having examined all the pretty things about her, began to walk up and down over the soft, fl owery carpet, humming to herself, as the daylight faded, and only the ruddy glow of the fire fi lled the room.

7.Presently Madam came slowly in, and sat down in her armchair, saying,

“That’s a fi ne old tune; sing it to me, my dear.I have n’t heard it this many a day.”

8.Polly did n’t like to sing before strangers, for she had no teaching but such as her busy mother could give her; but she had been taught the utmost respect for old people, and, having no reason for refusing, she directly went to the piano and did as she was bid.

9.“That’s the sort of music it’s a pleasure to hear.Sing some more, dear,” said Madam, in her gentle way, when she had done.

10.Pleased with this praise, Polly sang away in a fresh little voice that went straight to the listener’s heart and nestled there.The sweet old tunes that one is never tired of were all Polly’s store.The more she sung, the better she did it; and when she wound up with “A Health to King Charlie,” the room quite rung with the stirring music made by the big piano and the little maid.

11.“That’s a jolly tune! Sing it again, please,” cried Tom’s voice; and there was Tom’s red head bobbing up over the high back of the chair where he had hidden himself.

12.It gave Polly quite a turn, for she thought no one was hearing her but the old lady dozing by the fire.“I can’t sing any more; I’m tired,” she said, and walked away to Madam in the other room.The red head vanished^[3] like a meteor^[4], for Polly’s tone had been decidedly cool.

13.The old lady put out her hand, and, drawing Polly to her knee, looked into her face with such kind eyes that Polly forgot the impressive cap, and smiled at her confi dently^[5]; for she saw that her simple music had pleased her listener, and she felt glad to know it.

14.“You mus’n’t mind my staring, dear,” said Madam, softly pinching her rosy cheek, “I haven’t seen a little girl for so long, it does my old eyes good to look at you.” Polly thought that a very odd speech, and could n’t help saying, “Are n’t Fan and Maud little girls, too?”

15.“Oh, dear, no! not what I call little girls.Fan has been a young lady this two years, and Maud is a spolled baby.Your mother’s a very sensible woman, my child.”

16.“What a queer old lady!” thought Polly; but she said “Yes’m,” respectfully, and looked at the fire.“You don’t understand what I mean, do you?” asked Madam, still holding her by the chin.“No’m; not quite.”

17.“Well, dear, I’ll tell you.In my day, children of fourteen and fi fteen did n’t dress in the height of the fashion; go to parties as nearly like those of grown people as it’s possible to make them; lead idle, giddy, unhealthy lives, and get blase’^[6] at twenty.We were little folks till eighteen or so; worked and studied, dressed and played, like children; honored our parents; and our days were much longer in the land than now, it seems to me.”

18.The old lady appeared to forget Polly, at the end of her speech; for she sat patting the plump little hand that lay in her own, and looking up at a faded picture of an old gentleman with a ruffl ed shirt and a queue.“Was he your father, Madam?”

19.“Yes, my dear; my honored father.I did up his frills to the day of his death;

and the fi rst money I ever earned, was fi ve dollars which he off ered as a prize to whichever of his six girls would lay the handsomest darn in his silk stockings.”

20.“How proud you must have been!” cried Polly, leaning on the old lady’s knee with an interested face.

21.“Yes; and we all learned to make bread, and cook, and wore little chintz gowns, and were as gay and hearty as kittens.All lived to be grandmothers; and I’m the last—seventy next birthday, my dear, and not worn out yet; though daughter Shaw is an invalid^[7] at forty.”

22.“That’s the way I was brought up, and that’s why Fan calls me oldfashioned, I suppose.Tell more about your papa, please; I like it,” said Polly.

23.“Say,‘father.’ We never called him papa; and if one of my brothers had addressed him as‘governor,’ as boys now do, I really think he’d have him cut off with a shilling.”

【中文閱讀】

路易莎·梅·奧爾科特（1833—1888）出生于美國賓夕法尼亞州杰曼鎮的一個具有新英格蘭血統的家庭。她的父母后來回到新英格蘭地區，而她一生中的大部分時間都在馬薩諸塞州康科德市度過。內戰期間，路易莎去了華盛頓，并在那里護理傷病員，直到她自己的健康情況惡化。當她還是個孩子的時候，她就經常為小伙伴們寫故事逗趣。1857年，路易莎出版了她的第一本書《花的寓言》，她的第一部小說《情緒》于1865年問世，1868年出版的《小婦人》則是她自身家庭生活的寫照。1870年出版的《傳統的女兒》是她最受歡迎的作品之一，下面這段文章就節選自這本書。

1.波莉希望那個“討厭的男孩”湯姆不會在場，但他偏偏在，而且還用一種最令人坐立不安的目光盯著她吃完晚餐。

2.蕭先生，一位看起來總是很忙碌的紳士，對她說：“你還好嗎，我親愛的？希望你玩得開心。”接著就似乎將她置之腦后了。蕭夫人看起來面色蒼白而緊張，她和顏悅色地招呼了她的小客人，并再三詢問她是否還需要些什么。

3.蕭老夫人，一位安靜的老太太，戴著一頂頗為夸張的大帽子，一見到波莉便驚叫起來：“上帝呀！簡直和她母親長得一模一樣——哦，你母親可真是個大美人，親愛的，她還好嗎？”老太太坐在蕭夫人和湯姆中間，一再從她的老花鏡上端盯著這個新來的小客人，可憐的波莉只覺得食物難以下咽。

4.她的表姐范妮像一只喜鵲，嘰嘰喳喳地說個沒完，而旁邊的小茉德總是在座位上待不住，于是湯姆建議把她放到那個大號的菜盤罩子下面，沒想到，居然讓過來掀鍋蓋的一位年輕女士尖叫著跑開了，那種把戲實在超出了她的心理承受能力。

5.總之，這實在是頓令人不舒服的晚餐。當它終于結束時，波莉如釋重負，頓時開心起來。大家都各自散去了，簡單招待過波莉后，范妮被叫到裁縫那里去了，只留下波莉一個人在偌大的客廳里獨自玩耍。

6.波莉很高興，終于可以自己一個人待著。她四處看了看身邊各種有趣的東西，在那塊柔軟的繡花地毯上走來走去，不斷地哼著歌。夜晚降臨了，壁爐里紅潤的火光照亮了整個客廳。

7.這時，蕭老夫人步履遲緩地走進屋子，在她的扶手椅子上坐下，說：“這是一只很老的曲子，真好聽。唱給我聽吧，親愛的，我很久沒聽過這首曲子了。”

8.在生人面前開口唱歌讓波莉感到很是別扭。她從未接受過正規的聲樂訓練，只是從忙碌的母親那兒學了一些。但是，長輩最應該獲得尊重，這個道理她是清楚的。既然沒有理由拒絕，她便走到鋼琴邊，開始彈唱起這首曲子。

9.“這種音樂，聽著真讓人心情舒暢。親愛的，請多唱幾首。”波莉唱完時，蕭老夫人輕聲說道。

10.聽到老夫人的贊賞，波莉很開心。她清新童稚的聲音悠揚婉轉，穿透人心，悠悠然蕩漾開來。這些甜美的經典老歌原本就是波莉的拿手好戲，她越唱越投入，一曲《祝查理王身體健康》達到高潮，整個房間都回蕩著優美的鋼琴聲與小女孩美妙的嗓音。

11.“這個調子真歡樂！再唱一遍，好嗎？”湯姆的聲音冷不丁地冒出來。他的紅頭發突然從高背椅后邊露出來，原來他一直藏在那里。

12.波莉吃了一驚。她原本以為，除了壁爐邊那位開始犯困的老夫人以外，沒有人在聽她唱歌。“我不能再唱了，我累了。”她說著，一邊向房間那頭的老太太走去。波莉的語氣里帶著一種不容置疑的冷淡，于是，湯姆的紅頭發像流星般消失了。

13.老太太伸出手，將波莉拉到她的膝蓋旁邊，慈祥地看著小姑娘的臉。波莉早已忘記了老夫人頭上那頂令人討厭的大帽子，對她展開笑臉。波莉知道她的歌聲使老太太感到快樂，想到這里，她覺得很開心。

14.“千萬別介意我這樣看著你，親愛的。”老夫人說著，溫柔地捏了捏小姑娘粉嫩的臉頰，“我已經很久沒見到這樣的小姑娘了。這樣看著你，我也覺得神清氣爽了。”波莉心想，這話可真奇怪。于是她忍不住問：“范妮和茉德不也是小姑娘嗎？”

15.“哦，不，親愛的！她們不是我所說的小姑娘。范妮這兩年長大了，已經是一個年輕淑女了，而小茉德還是個被寵壞的孩子。你的母親真是明曉事理，我的孩子。”

16.“老夫人說的話可真奇怪！”波莉心想，但她仍然尊敬地回答，“是的，夫人。”眼睛卻盯著壁爐中的火光。“你不明白我的意思，是嗎？”老夫人問道，仍然輕撫著波莉的下巴。“是的，夫人，我不太理解。”

17.“親愛的，我來告訴你吧。在我們那個年代，十四五歲的女孩們不會穿著時尚的服飾，不會穿得像成人一樣去參加聚會，不會過著一種游手好閑、輕浮而不健康的生活，然后在二十歲左右便膩煩這種安逸的日子。十八歲之前，我們都是些小姑娘，像個正常孩子一樣每天干活、學習、玩耍、穿衣打扮，尊敬我們的父母長輩。我總覺得，與現在相比，那時的快樂時光舒坦實在得多。”

18.說到后面，老太太似乎已經忘記了波莉的存在。她坐在那里，忘神地輕輕拍著她手里那只豐潤的小手，抬頭看著一張泛黃的照片。照片中，一位老紳士穿著一件發皺的襯衫，頭發系成辮狀。“夫人，這是您的父親嗎？”

19.“是的，親愛的，這就是我始終尊重的父親。我一直為他整理衣物，直到他離開人世。我第一次掙到的錢，就是他獎勵給我的。他說，如果六個女兒中哪個能將他的襪子補得最好，他便獎勵她五美元。”

20.“您一定很驕傲！”波莉叫起來。她倚在老太太的膝蓋上，饒有興趣地揚起臉。

21.“那當然。我們所有姐妹都學會了烤面包、做飯，從小就穿著印著圖案的棉布長裙，像群小貓咪似的健康活潑。我們每個人都當了祖母，我是最小的一個——明年就七十歲了，孩子，可我的身子骨還結實著呢。我的女兒蕭才四十歲，卻體弱多病。”

22.“這就是我接受的教育方式。我想，這大概也是為什么范妮總是叫我老古董。多說些您爸爸的事吧，求您了，我喜歡聽。”波莉說。

23.“我們從來不叫他‘爸爸’，只稱呼他‘父親’，要是我的兄弟中有人叫他‘老爸’，就像現在男孩們習慣的那樣，我想，父親大概真的會甩給他一先令，然后剝奪他的繼承權。”

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【注釋】

[1] Imposing, having the power of exciting attention and feeling, impressive.

[2] Magpie, a noisy, mischievous bird, common in Europe and America.

[3] Vanished, disappeared.

[4] Meteor, a shooting star.

[5] Conf idently, with trust.

[6] Blase, a French word meaning surfeited, rendered incapable of further enjoyment.

[7] Invalid, a person who is sickly.