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With earliest day, I was up.
第二天我一大早就起來了。
I had my advertisement written, enclosed, and directed before the bell rang to rouse the school.
沒等起床鈴把全校吵醒就寫好了廣告，封入信封，寫上了地址。
It ran thus: "A young lady accustomed to tuition" (had I not been a teacher two years? )
信上說：“現(xiàn)有一位年輕女士，熟悉教學（我不是做了兩年的教師嗎？）。
Is desirous of meeting with a situation in a private family where the children are under fourteen.
愿謀一家庭教師職位，兒童年齡須幼于十四歲。
I thought that as I was barely eighteen, it would not do to undertake the guidance of pupils nearer my own age.
我想自己才十八歲，要指導一個跟我年齡相仿的人是斷然不行的。
She is qualified to teach the usual branches of a good English education, together with French, Drawing, and Music,
該女士能勝任良好的英國教育所含的普通課科，以及法文、繪畫和音樂的教學，
in those days, reader, this now narrow catalogue of accomplishments, would have been held tolerably comprehensive.
讀者呀，現(xiàn)在這張狹窄的技能表，在那個時代還算是比較廣博的。
Address, J.E. , Post-office, Lowton.
回信請寄××郡洛頓郵局，J.E.。
This document remained locked in my drawer all day.
這份文件在我抽屜里整整鎖了一天。
After tea, I asked leave of the new superintendent to go to Lowton,
用完茶點以后，我向新來的校長請假去洛頓，
in order to perform some small commissions for myself and one or two of my fellow-teachers.
為自己也為一兩位共事的老師辦些小事。
Permission was readily granted. I went.
她欣然允諾，于是我便去了。
It was a walk of two miles, and the evening was wet, but the days were still long.
一共有兩英里步行路程，傍晚還下著雨，好在白晝依然很長。
I visited a shop or two, slipped the letter into the post-office,
我逛了一兩家商店，把信塞進郵局，
and came back through heavy rain, with streaming garments, but with a relieved heart.
冒著大雨回來，外衣都淌著水，但心里如釋重負。
The succeeding week seemed long.
接著的那個星期似乎很長。
It came to an end at last, however, like all sublunary things,
然而，它像世間的萬物一樣，終于到了盡頭。
and once more, towards the close of a pleasant autumn day, I found myself afoot on the road to Lowton.
一個秋高氣爽的傍晚，我再次踏上了去洛頓的路途。
A picturesque track it was, by the way, lying along the side of the beck and through the sweetest curves of the dale:
順便提一句，小路風景如畫，沿著小溪向前延伸，穿過彎彎曲曲秀色誘人的山谷。
But that day I thought more of the letters,
不過那天我想得更多的是那封可能在，
that might or might not be awaiting me at the little burgh whither I was bound, than of the charms of lea and water.
可能不在小城等著我的信，而不是草地和溪水的魅力。
My ostensible errand on this occasion was to get measured for a pair of shoes.
這時我冠冕堂皇的差使是度量腳碼做一雙鞋。
So I discharged that business first, and when it was done,
所以我先去干這件事。了卻以后，
I stepped across the clean and quiet little street from the shoemaker's to the post-office.
從鞋匠那兒出來，穿過潔凈安寧的小街，來到郵局。
It was kept by an old dame, who wore horn spectacles on her nose, and black mittens on her hands.
管理員是位老婦人，鼻梁上架著角質眼鏡，手上戴著黑色露指手套。
"Are there any letters for J.E. ?" I asked.
“有寫給J.E的信嗎？”我問。
She peered at me over her spectacles, and then she opened a drawer and fumbled among its contents for a long time,
她從眼鏡上方盯著我，隨后打開一個抽屜，在里面放著的東西中間翻了好久好久。
so long that my hopes began to falter.
時間那么長，我簡直開始有些泄氣了。
At last, having held a document before her glasses for nearly five minutes,
最后，她終于把一份文件放到眼鏡底上，過了將近五分鐘，
she presented it across the counter, accompanying the act by another inquisitive and mistrustful glance — it was for J.E.
才越過柜臺，遞給我，同時投過來刨根究底，疑慮重重的一瞥，這封信是寫給J.E.的。
"Is there only one?" I demanded.
“就只有這么一封？”我問。
"There are no more," said she.
“沒有了，”她說。
And I put it in my pocket and turned my face homeward.
我把信放進口袋，回頭就走。
I could not open it then.
當時我不能拆開。
Rules obliged me to be back by eight, and it was already half-past seven.
按照規(guī)定我得八點前返回，而這時已經七點半了。
Various duties awaited me on my arrival.
一到家便有種種事務等著我去做。
I had to sit with the girls during their hour of study.
姑娘們做功課時我得陪坐著。
Then it was my turn to read prayers; to see them to bed.
隨后是輪到我讀禱告，照應她們上床。
Afterwards I supped with the other teachers.
在此之后，我與其他教師吃了晚飯。
