小公主第五章

Day 70

本章讲义

今日单词

开始预习

phrase /strict /pair /bite /nervous /tight

Sara和Miss Minchin的相处并不和谐：武断的Miss Minchin不顾Sara的意愿，强行为她安排了法语课。不善于争辩的Sara根本无法说服固执己见的 Miss Minchin，只希望法文老师Monsieur Dufarge能够理解她的想法...

- A Little Princess -

Monsieur Dufarge arrived very

soon after.

He was a very nice, middle-aged

Frenchman.

“Is this a new pupil for me,

madame(【法】夫人)?”he said to

Miss Minchin,when he saw Sara.

“Her papa—Captain Crewe—wants

her to begin the language.

But I am afraid she does not seem

to wish to learn," said Miss

Minchin.

“I am sorry of that,

mademoiselle( 【法】小姐)，”he said

kindly to Sara.

“Perhaps,when we begin to study

together I may show you that it is

a wonderful language.”

Little Sara rose in her seat.

She knew that he would

understand as soon as she spoke.

She began to explain in fluent(流利

的)French.

She had not learned French exactly

—not out of books—but her papa

had always spoken it to her.

She had read it and written it as

she had read and written English.

Her dear mamma, who had died

when she was born, had been

French.

She would be glad to learn

anything monsieur(【法】先生) would

teach her, but what she had tried

to explain was that she already

knew the words in this book.

She knew that he would

understan as soon as she spoke.

She began to explain in fluent(流利

的)French.

She had not learned French exactly

—not out of books—but her papa

had always spoken it to her.

She had read it and written it as

she had read and written English.

Her dear mamma, who had died

when she was born, had been

French.

She would be glad to learn

anything monsieur(【法】先生) would

teach her, but what she had tried

to explain was that she already

knew the words in this book.

She held out the little book of

phrases.

When she began to speak, Miss

Minchin started quite suddenly and

sat staring at her over her

eyeglasses until she had finished.

Monsieur Dufarge began to smile.

To hear this pretty childish voice

speaking his own language made

him feel almost as if he were in his

own country.

When she had finished, he spoke to

Miss Minchin.

“Ah, madame," he said, “there is

not much I can teach her.

She has not learned French; she is

French. Her accent is perfect.”

“You ought to have told me,"cried

out Miss Minchin, much ashamed,

turning to Sara.

“T—I tried,” said Sara.“I—I

suppose I did not begin right."

Miss Minchin knew she had tried,

and that it had not been her fault

that she was not allowed to

explain. And when she saw that

the pupils had been listening and

that Lavinia and Jessie were

laughing she felt very angry.

“Silence, young ladies!" she said

strictly:“Silence at once!”

And from that minute she began to

feel rather a dislike for her show

pupil.

On that first morning,when Sara

sat at Miss Minchin's side, Sara

noticed one little girl, about her

own age, who looked at her very

hard with a pair of light blue eyes.

She was a fat child who did not

look as if she were in the least

clever.

Her yellow hair hung down in a

tight braid(发辨), tied with a

ribbon(最带).

She had pulled this braid around

her neck, and was biting the end of

the ribbon, as she looked

wonderingly at the new pupil.

When Sara stepped forward and

answered Monsieur Dufarge in

French, the little girl grew quite

red in surprise.

She had cried hopeless tears for

weeks in her efforts to remember

that “la mere” meant “the mother,”

and “le père” meant “the father,”

It was almost too much for her to

listen to a child of her own age

who was not only familiar with

these words, but knew many

others.

She looked so hard and bit the

ribbon on her braid so fast that she

attracted the attention of Miss

Minchin.

The woman, who was feeling

extremely cross at the moment,

immediately set upon her.

“Miss St.John!" she cried out.

“What do you mean by such

conduct? Take your ribbon out of

your mouth! Sit up at once!"

Lavinia and Jessie laughed quietly,

and Ermengarde became redder

than ever.

She was so red, indeed, that she

almost looked as if tears were

coming into her eyes.

Sara saw her and was so sorry for

her that she began to like her and

want to be her friend.It was Sara's

way to always want to help

someone who was made

uncomfortable or unhappy.

So she took rather a liking to little

Miss St. John.

She saw that lessons were no easy

matter to her.

Her French lesson was a hopeless

thing.

Her accent made even Monsieur

Dufarge smile even though he did

not want to.

Lavinia and Jessie and the more

fortunate girls laughed at her. But

Sara did not laugh.

When lessons were over, Sara

looked for Miss St. John.

Finding her in a window seat, she

walked over to her and spoke.

“What is your name?”she said.

“My name's Ermengarde St.John,"

she answered.

“Mine is Sara Crewe," said Sara.

“Yours is very pretty. It sounds like

a story book.”

“Do you like it?" said Ermengarde

nervously. “I—I like yours."

Miss St. John's chief trouble in life

was that she had a clever father.

Her father could speak seven or

eight languages, and had

thousands of books which he had

almost learned by heart,

As a result, he often expected his

daughter to be familiar with the

contents of her lesson books at

least.

Ermengarde was a difficult

problem for Mr. St.John.

He could not understand how a

child of his could be a notably

dull(迟钝的) girl who never shone in

anything.

Consequently, Ermengarde spent

the greater part of her life in

trouble or in tears.

She learned things and forgot

them, or, if she remembered them,

she did not understand them.

So it was natural that, having met

Sara, she should sit and stare at

her with great admiration.