《长腿叔叔》第三章（上）

Dear Daddy-Long-Legs,

亲爱的长腿叔叔：

Is it snowing where you are? All the world that I see from my tower is draped in white and the flakes are coming down as big as pop-corns. It's late afternoon--the sun is just setting (a cold yellow colour) behind some colder violet hills, and I am up in my window seat using the last light to write to you.

您那里下雪了吗？从我的小阁楼望去，大地茫茫的一片雪白，雪花如爆米花般纷纷扬扬飘落下来。此刻正是傍晚时分，太阳刚落到寒冷的紫色山头后面，我坐在高高的窗台上，在最后一点余辉中，写信给您。

Your five gold pieces were a surprise! I'm not used to receiving Christmas presents. You have already given me such lots of things--everything I have, you know--that I don't quite feel that I deserve extras. But I like them just the same. Do you want to know what I bought with my money?

意外地收到您寄来的5个金币！我还没有养成收圣诞礼物的习惯。您已经给我这么多东西了——我所拥有的一切，您知道的——我觉得自己已经拥有太多了。但是我还是很高兴。您想知道我用钱买了什么吗？

I. A silver watch in a leather case to wear on my wrist and get me to recitations in time.

一、一只皮表带的银手表，使我能够准时复习功课。

II. Matthew Arnold's poems.

二、马修•阿诺德的诗集。

III. A hot water bottle.

三、一个热水壶。

IV. A steamer rug. (My tower is cold.)

四、一条轮船上用的小毯子（我的小阁楼很冷）。

V. Five hundred sheets of yellow manuscript paper. (I'm going to commence being an author pretty soon.)

五、500张黄色稿纸（我很快就要开始写作了）。

VI. A dictionary of synonyms. (To enlarge the author's vocabulary.)

六、—本同义词字典（可以增加作家的词汇量）。

VII. (I don't much like to confess this last item, but I will.) A pair of silk stockings.

七、（我不太想告诉您最后一件，不过还是告诉您吧）一双丝袜。

And now, Daddy, never say I don't tell all!

瞧，长腿叔叔，我对您没有任何保留。

It was a very low motive, if you must know it, that prompted the silk stockings. Julia Pendleton comes into my room to do geometry, and she sits cross-legged on the couch and wears silk stockings every night. But just wait--as soon as she gets back from vacation I shall go in and sit on her couch in my silk stockings. You see, Daddy, the miserable creature that I am but at least I'm honest; and you knew already, from my asylum record, that I wasn't perfect, didn't you?

如果您一定要知道的话，是个很浅薄的动机促使我去买丝袜的。茱利亚•平莱顿每晚到我的房间里来做几何题练习，她穿着丝袜，盘腿坐在我床上。不过等着好了，等她一放假回来，我就要走进去，穿着丝袜坐在她的床上。您瞧，叔叔，我真是坏坯子，不过，至少我很诚实，您早就从约翰•格利尔孤儿院的记录里知道我不是完美的了，不是吗？

To recapitulate (that's the way the English instructor begins every other sentence), I am very much obliged for my seven presents. I'm pretending to myself that they came in a box from my family in California. The watch is from father, the rug from mother, the hot water bottle from grandmother who is always worrying for fear I shall catch cold in this climate--and the yellow paper from my little brother Harry. My sister Isabel gave me the silk stockings, and Aunt Susan the Matthew Arnold poems; Uncle Harry (little Harry is named after him) gave me the dictionary. He wanted to send chocolates, but I insisted on synonyms.

总而言之（英语教师每句话都会带上这个词），我对您送的这7件礼物都心存感激。我假装它们是装在一个大箱子里，从加州的家里寄来的。爸爸送表，妈妈送毯子，祖母送热水袋——她老怕我在这种季节着凉——稿纸是弟弟哈里送的，妹妹伊莎贝尔送我长统袜，苏珊姨妈送诗集，哈里舅舅（小哈里与他同名）送词典。他本想送巧克力，可我坚持要同义词词典。

You don't object, do you, to playing the part of a composite family?

您不会反对扮演所有这些家庭成员吧？

And now, shall I tell you about my vacation, or are you only interested in my education as such? I hope you appreciate the delicate shade of meaning in 'as such'. It is the latest addition to my vocabulary.

现在我该跟您谈谈我的假期了，或许您更关心的是我的学业本身。希望您能体会“本身”这一词的微妙含义，这是我掌握的最新词汇。

The girl from Texas is named Leonora Fenton. (Almost as funny as Jerusha, isn't it?) I like her, but not so much as Sallie McBride; I shall never like any one so much as Sallie--except you. I must always like you the best of all, because you're my whole family rolled into one. Leonora and I and two Sophomores have walked 'cross country every pleasant day and explored the whole neighbourhood, dressed in short skirts and knit jackets and caps, and carrying shiny sticks to whack things with. Once we walked into town--four miles-- and stopped at a restaurant where the college girls go for dinner. Broiled lobster (35 cents), and for dessert, buckwheat cakes and maple syrup (15 cents). Nourishing and cheap.

来自德州的女孩名叫蓝依拉•芬顿（这名字几乎和乔若莎一样可笑，不是吗？）。我喜欢她，不过比不上喜欢莎莉•麦克白，我可能不会喜欢其他人像我喜欢莎莉一样——除了您。我应该永远把您放在首位，因为您是我一大家子的化身。每当天气晴朗的日子，蓝侬拉跟我还有两个二年级的女孩子就散步到乡间，穿着短裙和针织外衣，戴上线缝的帽子，拿上光滑的棍子四下里敲敲打打。我们的足迹遍布四周。有一回我们走到4英里外的镇上，停在一家大学女孩子都在那里用餐的餐馆。要了红焖龙虾（3角5分），吃完后再吃煎饼和枫糖浆（1角5分）。老天啊，有营养，又便宜！

It was such a lark! Especially for me, because it was so awfully different from the asylum--I feel like an escaped convict every time I leave the campus. Before I thought, I started to tell the others what an experience I was having. The cat was almost out of the bag when I grabbed it by its tail and pulled it back. It's awfully hard for me not to tell everything I know. I'm a very confiding soul by nature; if I didn't have you to tell things to, I'd burst.

这可真有趣！尤其对我而言，因为这跟孤儿院太不一样了——每回我离开学校，总觉得好像逃狱的犯人。我不假思索就谈起我的感受，几乎说破了自己的秘密。我赶紧收住话题，守口如瓶真非易事。我天性诚实坦率，要不是有您来倾诉一番，我非憋死不可。

We had a molasses candy pull last Friday evening, given by the house matron of Fergussen to the left-behinds in the other halls. There were twenty-two of us altogether, Freshmen and Sophomores and juniors and Seniors all united in amicable accord. The kitchen is huge, with copper pots and kettles hanging in rows on the stone wall-- the littlest casserole among them about the size of a wash boiler. Four hundred girls live in Fergussen. The chef, in a white cap and apron, fetched out twenty-two other white caps and aprons-- I can't imagine where he got so many--and we all turned ourselves into cooks.

上星期五晚上我们吃麦芽糖，是由我们大楼的管理员提供的。还邀请了其他宿舍楼没有回家的同学参加。22名不同年级的同学友好地聚集在一起。厨房很宽敞，石头墙壁上挂着一排排铜锅铜壶，最小的双耳壶也和煮衣服的锅一般大小。费高森楼住了400名女生呢。头顶白帽，围着围裙的厨师又找出22套白围裙和白帽子——想不出来他从哪里弄来的——于是我们全把自己装扮成厨师。

It was great fun, though I have seen better candy. When it was finally finished, and ourselves and the kitchen and the door-knobs all thoroughly sticky, we organized a procession and still in our caps and aprons, each carrying a big fork or spoon or frying pan, we marched through the empty corridors to the officers' parlour, where half-a-dozen professors and instructors were passing a tranquil evening. We serenaded them with college songs and offered refreshments. They accepted politely but dubiously. We left them sucking chunks of molasses candy, sticky and speechless.

真的很有趣，虽然我吃过更好吃的麦芽糖。当一切终于结束时，我们每个人、整个厨房连同门板全都粘嗒嗒的，我们依然顶着白帽，围着围裙，每个人都带着一把大汤匙或平底锅，列队穿过空荡荡的大厅到了教师休息室，那里有半打的教授和讲师正在打发宁静的夜晚。我们为他们唱校歌，然后送上麦芽糖。他们彬彬有礼却又犹犹豫豫地接了下来。我们离开了，留下他们吃着大片的麦芽糖，粘嗒嗒而且好吃得说不出话来。

So you see, Daddy, my education progresses!

所以您瞧瞧，叔叔，这就是我的求学过程！

Don't you really think that I ought to be an artist instead of an author?

您真的不认为我应该当个艺术家，而不是作家？

Vacation will be over in two days and I shall be glad to see the girls again. My tower is just a trifle lonely; when nine people occupy a house that was built for four hundred, they do rattle around a bit.

再过两天假期就要结束，我又可以高兴地见到同学们了。我已经感到有些寂寞不安了。9个人住着400人的房子，确实有些坐立不安。

Eleven pages--poor Daddy, you must be tired! I meant this to be just a short little thank-you note--but when I get started I seem to have a ready pen.

可怜的叔叔，您一定累了！我本来打算要写封简短的感谢函——不过我一提起笔，就写了11页了。

Goodbye, and thank you for thinking of me--I should be perfectly happy except for one little threatening cloud on the horizon. Examinations come in February.

晚安，谢谢您会惦记着我——我本应该是无比快乐的，可惜心头有一小朵乌云笼罩着----2月份要考试了。

Yours with love, Judy

您充满爱的茱蒂

PS. Maybe it isn't proper to send love? If it isn't, please excuse. But I must love somebody and there's only you and Mrs. Lippett to choose between, so you see--you'll HAVE to put up with it, Daddy dear, because I can't love her.

又及：致上对您的爱意可能不太适当吧！如果这样，请您原谅。我总得爱个什么人吧，而可以选择的只有您和李皮太太，所以您瞧，您得忍耐—下，亲爱的叔叔，我实在无法爱她呀！