小公主第七章

今日单词

预习完成

pity /weapon /awful /annoy

Sara带着Ermengarde到安静的房间里去“抓”Emily，和她分享自己的奇思妙想。随着时间慢慢过去，两个小女孩成为了无话不谈的好朋友，她们彼此陪伴，一起享受着快乐的时光。

- A Little Princess -

If Sara had been a different kind of

child, the life she led at Miss

Minchin's Select School for the

next few years would have been

bad for her

She was treated more as if she

were a special guest than as if she

were a mere little girl.

If she had been a spoiled child, she

might have become unbearable to

others through being treated so

nicely.

Privately Miss Minchin disliked her.

but she would not do anything

which might make such a

desirable(合意的)pupil wish to leave

her school.

She knew quite well that if Sara

wrote to her papa to tell him she

was unhappy, Captain Crewe

would take her away at once.

Miss Minchin's opinion was that if

a child were continually praised

and always did what she liked, she

would be sure to be fond of the

place where she was treated so.

Accordingly, Sara was praised for

her quickness at her lessons, for

her good manners, and for her

generosity if she gave sixpence(六便士) to a beggat.

If she had not had a clever little

brain, she might have been a very

self-satisfied young person.

But the clever little brain told her a

great many wise things about her

situation.

Now and then she talked these

things over to Ermengarde.

"Things happen to people by

accident," she used to say.

"A lot of nice accidents have

happened to me.

It just happened that I was born

with a father who was nice, and

could give me everything I liked.

If you have everything you want

and everyone is kind to you, how

can you help but be well-mannered?

Perhaps I'm a terrible child, and no

one will ever know, just because I

never have any problems."

"Lavinia has no problems," said

Ermengarde, "and she is terrible

enough."

Lavinia, in fact,was jealous of

Sara.

Until the new pupil's arrival, she

had felt herself the leader in the

school.

She had led because she could

make herself extremely

disagreeable if the others did not

follow her.

She was rather pretty and had

been the best-dressed pupil in the

Select School until Sara appeared.

This, at the beginning, had been

bad enough.

As time went on, however, it

became clear that Sara was a

leader, too,and not because she

could make herself disagreeable,

but because she never did.

“There's one thing about Sara

Crewe," Jessie had once angered

her “best friend” by saying

honestly.

“She's never 'grand' about herself

the least bit, and you know she

might be, Lavvie.

I believe I couldn't help being

grand—just a little—if I had so

many fine things and people paid

such attention to me.

It's sickening, the way Miss

Minchin shows her off when

parents come.

It was quite true that Sara was

never “grand.”

She was a friendly little soul,and

shared her belongings with a free

hand.

She was a motherly young person,

and when people fell down and

hurt their knees, she helped them

up and comforted them.

So the younger children loved

Sara.

Lottie Legh especially looked up to

her.

Lottie had been sent to school by a

rather young papa who could not

imagine what else to do with her.

Her young mother had died, and

the child had always been treated

like a very spoiled pet.

She was a very difficult little girl.

When she wanted anything or did

not want anything she cried and

shouted.

Lottie had found out that a very

small girl who had lost her mother

was a person who ought to be

pitied.

This became her strongest

weapon(武器).

She had probably heard some

grown-up people talking her over

in the early days, after her

mother's death.

So it became her habit to make

great use of this knowledge.

One morning when passing a

sitting room, Sara heard both Miss

Minchin and Miss Amelia trying to

stop Lotrie's angry cries.

“What is she crying for?" Miss

Minchin yelled(ap over her.

“Oh—oh—oh!" Sara heard."I don't

have any mam—ma-a!"

“Oh, Lottie!" screamed Miss

Amelia.

"Do stop, darling! Don't cry! Please

don't!"

“She ought to be whipped(被鞭打），”

Miss Minchin said.

You shall be whipped, you awful

child!”

Lottie cried more loudly than ever.

Miss Amelia began to cry.

Miss Minchin's voice rose until it

almost thundered.

Then suddenly she sprang up from

her chair and left the room, leaving

Miss Amelia to fix the mattet

Sara had paused in the hall,

wondering if she should go into the

room.

She had recently begun to be

friendly with Lottie and might be

able to quiet her.

When Miss Minchin came out and

saw her. she looked rather

annoyed.

She realized that her voice, as

heard from inside the room, could

not have sounded respectable.

“Oh, Sara!" she said, trying to

smile.

“I stopped," explained Sara,

because I knew it was Lottie—and

I thought, perhaps—just perhaps, I

could make her be quiet, May I try

Miss Minchin?"

"If you can, you are a clever child,"

answered Miss Minchin,drawing

in her mouth coldly.

suppose you can manage her Go

in.

And she left her.