美國語文第五冊 第75期：刻板守舊的姑娘（03）
The old lady put out her hand, and, drawing Polly to her knee,
老太太伸出手，把波莉拉到她的身邊，
looked into her face with such kind eyes that Polly forgot the impressive cap, and smiled at her confidently;
滿眼慈祥地望著她，此刻的波莉早已忘記老人頭上那頂討厭的帽子，看著老太太笑了起來，心里不再感到怯意。
for she saw that her simple music had pleased her listener, and she felt glad to know it.
她很清楚，她的聽眾對自己的歌聲饒有興趣，想到這里，她覺得很開心。
"You mus'n't mind my staring, dear," said Madam, softly pinching her rosy cheek,
“千萬別介意我這樣看著你，親愛的，”老人輕輕捏了捏小姑娘粉紅色的臉頰，
I haven't seen a little girl for so long, it does my old eyes good to look at you.
我很長時(shí)間沒和小姑娘這樣說話了，成天老眼昏花的，看到你，我也神清氣爽了。
Polly thought that a very odd speech, and could n't help saying, "Are n't Fan and Maud little girls, too?"
波莉聽到這些，心里納悶，禁不住問道：“范妮還有穆德，難道不也是小姑娘嗎？”
Oh, dear, no! not what I call little girls.
哦，不，孩子，那可不是我說的小姑娘，
Fan has been a young lady this two years, and Maud is a spoiled baby.
范妮這兩年長大了，變成大姑娘了，穆德實(shí)在是被寵壞了。
Your mother's a very sensible woman, my child.
你媽媽真是明曉事理，我的孩子。
"What a queer old lady!" thought Polly; but she said "Yes'm," respectfully, and looked at the fire.
“老太太夠古怪的！”波莉心想。“是的，夫人，”她嘴上只管附和老太太，眼睛卻盯著爐中火苗。
"You don't understand what I mean, do you?" asked Madam, still holding her by the chin. "No'm; not quite."
“你難道不明白我的意思嗎？”老太太問道，手還輕輕捏了一下波莉下巴。“是的，好像不太明白。”
Well, dear, I'll tell you.
好的，孩子，我來告訴你。
In my day, children of fourteen and fifteen did n't dress in the height of the fashion;
在我們那個(gè)年代，14—15歲的姑娘不會(huì)穿現(xiàn)在的時(shí)尚短裙，
go to parties as nearly like those of grown people as it's possible to make them;
也不會(huì)穿類似成人的服裝去參加各種聚會(huì)，
lead idle, giddy, unhealthy lives, and get blase'at twenty.
如果那樣裝扮，看起來就會(huì)讓人感覺游手好閑，輕佻淺薄，甚至生活不正常。等到二十歲左右，你自己也會(huì)玩膩的。
We were little folks till eighteen or so; worked and studied, dressed and played, like children;
18歲之前，我們不過都是些小毛孩子，整天就是拼命讀書學(xué)習(xí)，穿衣打扮得像正經(jīng)家庭的孩子，
honored our parents; and our days were much longer in the land than now, it seems to me.
這要尊敬父母長輩，與現(xiàn)在相比，那時(shí)日子舒坦實(shí)在得多，至少對我來說是這樣。
