LESSON 31 AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL 传统守旧的女儿

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.”

【中文阅读】

路易莎·梅·奥尔科特（1833—1888）出生于美国宾夕法尼亚州杰曼镇的一个具有新英格兰血统的家庭。她的父母后来回到新英格兰地区，而她一生中的大部分时间都在马萨诸塞州康科德市度过。内战期间，路易莎去了华盛顿，并在那里护理伤病员，直到她自己的健康情况恶化。当她还是个孩子的时候，她就经常为小伙伴们写故事逗趣。1857年，路易莎出版了她的第一本书《花的寓言》，她的第一部小说《情绪》于1865年问世，1868年出版的《小妇人》则是她自身家庭生活的写照。1870年出版的《传统的女儿》是她最受欢迎的作品之一，下面这段文章就节选自这本书。

1.波莉希望那个“讨厌的男孩”汤姆不会在场，但他偏偏在，而且还用一种最令人坐立不安的目光盯着她吃完晚餐。

2.萧先生，一位看起来总是很忙碌的绅士，对她说：“你还好吗，我亲爱的？希望你玩得开心。”接着就似乎将她置之脑后了。萧夫人看起来面色苍白而紧张，她和颜悦色地招呼了她的小客人，并再三询问她是否还需要些什么。

3.萧老夫人，一位安静的老太太，戴着一顶颇为夸张的大帽子，一见到波莉便惊叫起来：“上帝呀！简直和她母亲长得一模一样——哦，你母亲可真是个大美人，亲爱的，她还好吗？”老太太坐在萧夫人和汤姆中间，一再从她的老花镜上端盯着这个新来的小客人，可怜的波莉只觉得食物难以下咽。

4.她的表姐范妮像一只喜鹊，叽叽喳喳地说个没完，而旁边的小茉德总是在座位上待不住，于是汤姆建议把她放到那个大号的菜盘罩子下面，没想到，居然让过来掀锅盖的一位年轻女士尖叫着跑开了，那种把戏实在超出了她的心理承受能力。

5.总之，这实在是顿令人不舒服的晚餐。当它终于结束时，波莉如释重负，顿时开心起来。大家都各自散去了，简单招待过波莉后，范妮被叫到裁缝那里去了，只留下波莉一个人在偌大的客厅里独自玩耍。

6.波莉很高兴，终于可以自己一个人待着。她四处看了看身边各种有趣的东西，在那块柔软的绣花地毯上走来走去，不断地哼着歌。夜晚降临了，壁炉里红润的火光照亮了整个客厅。

7.这时，萧老夫人步履迟缓地走进屋子，在她的扶手椅子上坐下，说：“这是一只很老的曲子，真好听。唱给我听吧，亲爱的，我很久没听过这首曲子了。”

8.在生人面前开口唱歌让波莉感到很是别扭。她从未接受过正规的声乐训练，只是从忙碌的母亲那儿学了一些。但是，长辈最应该获得尊重，这个道理她是清楚的。既然没有理由拒绝，她便走到钢琴边，开始弹唱起这首曲子。

9.“这种音乐，听着真让人心情舒畅。亲爱的，请多唱几首。”波莉唱完时，萧老夫人轻声说道。

10.听到老夫人的赞赏，波莉很开心。她清新童稚的声音悠扬婉转，穿透人心，悠悠然荡漾开来。这些甜美的经典老歌原本就是波莉的拿手好戏，她越唱越投入，一曲《祝查理王身体健康》达到高潮，整个房间都回荡着优美的钢琴声与小女孩美妙的嗓音。

11.“这个调子真欢乐！再唱一遍，好吗？”汤姆的声音冷不丁地冒出来。他的红头发突然从高背椅后边露出来，原来他一直藏在那里。

12.波莉吃了一惊。她原本以为，除了壁炉边那位开始犯困的老夫人以外，没有人在听她唱歌。“我不能再唱了，我累了。”她说着，一边向房间那头的老太太走去。波莉的语气里带着一种不容置疑的冷淡，于是，汤姆的红头发像流星般消失了。

13.老太太伸出手，将波莉拉到她的膝盖旁边，慈祥地看着小姑娘的脸。波莉早已忘记了老夫人头上那顶令人讨厌的大帽子，对她展开笑脸。波莉知道她的歌声使老太太感到快乐，想到这里，她觉得很开心。

14.“千万别介意我这样看着你，亲爱的。”老夫人说着，温柔地捏了捏小姑娘粉嫩的脸颊，“我已经很久没见到这样的小姑娘了。这样看着你，我也觉得神清气爽了。”波莉心想，这话可真奇怪。于是她忍不住问：“范妮和茉德不也是小姑娘吗？”

15.“哦，不，亲爱的！她们不是我所说的小姑娘。范妮这两年长大了，已经是一个年轻淑女了，而小茉德还是个被宠坏的孩子。你的母亲真是明晓事理，我的孩子。”

16.“老夫人说的话可真奇怪！”波莉心想，但她仍然尊敬地回答，“是的，夫人。”眼睛却盯着壁炉中的火光。“你不明白我的意思，是吗？”老夫人问道，仍然轻抚着波莉的下巴。“是的，夫人，我不太理解。”

17.“亲爱的，我来告诉你吧。在我们那个年代，十四五岁的女孩们不会穿着时尚的服饰，不会穿得像成人一样去参加聚会，不会过着一种游手好闲、轻浮而不健康的生活，然后在二十岁左右便腻烦这种安逸的日子。十八岁之前，我们都是些小姑娘，像个正常孩子一样每天干活、学习、玩耍、穿衣打扮，尊敬我们的父母长辈。我总觉得，与现在相比，那时的快乐时光舒坦实在得多。”

18.说到后面，老太太似乎已经忘记了波莉的存在。她坐在那里，忘神地轻轻拍着她手里那只丰润的小手，抬头看着一张泛黄的照片。照片中，一位老绅士穿着一件发皱的衬衫，头发系成辫状。“夫人，这是您的父亲吗？”

19.“是的，亲爱的，这就是我始终尊重的父亲。我一直为他整理衣物，直到他离开人世。我第一次挣到的钱，就是他奖励给我的。他说，如果六个女儿中哪个能将他的袜子补得最好，他便奖励她五美元。”

20.“您一定很骄傲！”波莉叫起来。她倚在老太太的膝盖上，饶有兴趣地扬起脸。

21.“那当然。我们所有姐妹都学会了烤面包、做饭，从小就穿着印着图案的棉布长裙，像群小猫咪似的健康活泼。我们每个人都当了祖母，我是最小的一个——明年就七十岁了，孩子，可我的身子骨还结实着呢。我的女儿萧才四十岁，却体弱多病。”

22.“这就是我接受的教育方式。我想，这大概也是为什么范妮总是叫我老古董。多说些您爸爸的事吧，求您了，我喜欢听。”波莉说。

23.“我们从来不叫他‘爸爸’，只称呼他‘父亲’，要是我的兄弟中有人叫他‘老爸’，就像现在男孩们习惯的那样，我想，父亲大概真的会甩给他一先令，然后剥夺他的继承权。”

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【注释】

[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.