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CHAPTER XXXI
第三十一章
MY home, then, when I at last find a home, -- is a cottage;
我的家呀——我終干找到了一個家——是一間小屋。
a little room with whitewashed walls and a sanded floor,
小房間里墻壁已粉刷過，地面是用沙鋪成的。
containing four painted chairs and a table, a clock, a cupboard,
房間內有四把漆過的椅子，一張桌子，一個鐘，一個碗櫥。
with two or three plates and dishes, and a set of tea-things in delf.
櫥里有兩三個盤子和碟子，還有一套荷蘭白釉藍彩陶器茶具。
Above, a chamber of the same dimensions as the kitchen, with a deal bedstead and chest of drawers;
樓上有一個面積跟廚房一般大小的房間，里面有一個松木床架和一個衣柜，
small, yet too large to be filled with my scanty wardrobe:
雖然很小，盛放我為數不多的衣物綽綽有余，
though the kindness of my gentle and generous friends has increased that, by a modest stock of such things as are necessary.
盡管我的和藹可親、慷慨大方的朋友，已經為我增添了一些必要的衣服。
It is evening. I have dismissed, with the fee of an orange, the little orphan who serves me as a handmaid.
這會兒正是傍晚時分，我給了當我女仆的小孤女一個桔子，打發她走了。
I am sitting alone on the hearth.
我獨自坐在火爐旁。
This morning, the village school opened.
今天早上，村校開學了。
I had twenty scholars.
我有二十個學生。
But three of the number can read: none write or cipher.
但只有三個能讀，沒有人會寫會算。
Several knit, and a few sew a little.
有幾個能編織，少數幾個會一點縫紉。
They speak with the broadest accent of the district.
她們說起話來地方口音很重。
At present, they and I have a difficulty in understanding each other's language.
眼下我和她們彼此難以聽懂對方的語言。
Some of them are unmannered, rough, intractable, as well as ignorant;
其中有幾個沒有禮貌，十分粗野，難以駕馭，同時又很無知。
but others are docile, have a wish to learn, and evince a disposition that pleases me.
但其余的卻容易管教，愿意學習，顯露出一種令人愉快的氣質。
I must not forget that these coarsely-clad little peasants are of flesh and blood as good as the scions of gentlest genealogy;
我決不能忘記，這些衣衫粗陋的小農民，像最高貴血統的后裔一樣有血有肉的；
and that the germs of native excellence, refinement, intelligence, kind feeling, are as likely to exist in their hearts as in those of the best-born.
跟出身最好的人一樣，天生的美德、雅致，智慧、善良的的情感，都可能在她們的心田里發芽。
