有声名著之简爱Jene Eyer Chapter3

　　PART TWO----THE SCHOOLGIRL
CHAPTER THREE My First Impressions of School
Finally, in the middle of January. I left Gateshead for Lowood School. Bessie helped me to get ready, even though I had to get up very early to leave.
“Will you say good-bye to Mrs. Reed¹, Jane?” Bessie asked.
“No, she doesn’t want to wake up. Anyway, I don’t want to say anything to her, or the Reed children. They’ve always hated me.”
“Oh, Miss Jane, don’t say that!”
“Well, it’s true. Good-bye to Gateshead!” I shouted happily, as we left the house and walked towards the road to wait for the coach. Soon it arrived. It was full of people. The driver took all of my clothes and things, and told me to get in quickly. Bessie kissed me for the last time as I held tightly² to her.
She told the driver, “Make sure you take care of her! Fifty miles is a long way for a young child to travel, when she is alone.”
“I will!” he answered. The door was closed, and the coach rolled off. It felt strange to be leaving Gateshead. Even though I hated life there, it had been my home for as long as I could remember. I was sad to leave Bessie, but I was excited about the new school and the new people I would meet there.
The journey was much too long and not very interesting. I did not have any books to read, so I looked out of the window, thinking about my new life. Then I slept for a short time. When I woke up the coach had stopped. The door opened and a servant called in.
“Is there a little girl called Jane Eyre here?”
“Yes!” I said. The servant helped me out of the coach and took my bags. We went into a large building, and the servant she left me in a sitting room. I was very tired after the long journey, so I sat in one of the comfortable chairs. In a few moments the door opened and a tall lady came into the room. She was pretty, with dark hair and dark eyes. The lady told me that she was Miss Temple, the headmistress³ of Lowood School. She looked at me carefully.
“You are very young to travel alone. Are you tired?” she asked, putting her hand on my shoulder kindly⁴.
“Yes, Miss Temple, I am a little tired,” I said.
“How old are you, and what is your name?”
“I’m Jane Eyre, ma’am, and I’m ten years old.”
“Well, Jane, I hope you will be a good child, and work hard,” she said, touching⁵ my cheek gently with her finger.
Another teacher named Miss Miller⁶ took me to the schoolroom. In this large room there were about eighty girls sat doing their homework. The oldest girls looked about twenty years old. I sat on a bench near the door and watched them quietly.
After the homework was done we each had a small piece of bread for supper. Then we all went upstairs in the long, crowded bedroom, where two children shared every bed. I had to share Miss Miller’s, but I was so tired that I fell asleep immediately.
In the early morning, someone rang a bell to wake us up, although it was still dark outside. I got dressed quickly in the cold room, and washed when I could. There was only one bowl of water for six girls. When the bell rang again, we all went downstairs to the cold, dark schoolroom for prayers⁷. When the bell rang a third time, it was time to begin our lessons. Everyone moved into four groups around four tables, and the teachers came into the room to start the Bible⁸ class. I was in the class for the youngest girls. I was so glad when it was time for breakfast! I had eaten only a little food the day before. But on that morning, the only food we got was burned porridge. It was so awful that we could not eat it, so we left the dining room with empty stomachs. After breakfast came a happy time of day, when the students could play and talk together a little. Everyone agreed that the breakfast was terrible. At nine o’clock, the lessons started again and finished at twelve. After the lessons Miss Temple stood up to speak to the whole school.
“Girls, this morning you had a breakfast which you could not eat. You must be hungry, so I have asked for a lunch of bread and cheese for all of you.” The teachers looked at her in surprise.
“Don’t worry. I’ll take responsibility⁹ for it,” she said to them.
We were very happy, and ran out into the garden to eat our lunch. None of the other girls had spoken to me yet, but I did not mind. I stood alone outside, eating my bread and cheese and trying to forget how cold it was. I thought about my new life. Gayeshead was far away, and I did not yet have friends at school.. what sort of future would I have?
As I thought about these things, I watched a girl near me reading a book. Soon I felt brave enough to speak to her, because I too liked reading.
“Is your book interesting?” I asked.
“Well, I like it,” she said. “would you like to look at it?” the book was too difficult for me to understand, so I gave it back.
“What sort of school is this?” I asked.
“Lowood school is a school for girls shoes parents have died. We are all charity¹⁰ children here.”
“Do we have to pay anything to live here?” I asked.
“Our relatives pay 15 pounds a year for each of us. Some kind ladies and gentlemen in London pay the rest of the money.”
“Who is Mr. Brocklehurst?” I asked her.
“His mother built the school, and he is the manager. He lives in a large house near here.”
I did not see the girl again until the afternoon, when I saw that she was being punished in the schoolroom. I did not know what she had done wrong. The girl did not look upset, though. She was standing¹¹ in the corner of the room, and did not seem to know that everyone was staring at her.
“If that happened to me,” I thought, “I would be so embarrassed¹²!”
After our lessons, we had a small cup of coffee and a piece of brown bread, then half an hour’s play, then homework. Finally, after the evening biscuit and drink of water, we said our prayers and went to bed. My first day at Lowood had ended.

1 reed   

n.芦苇，芦丛，簧舌，簧片

参考例句：

• The river banks were overgrown with reed.河岸长满了芦苇。
• They inhabit reed huts built on stilts above the water.他们住在建于水中木桩之上的芦苇草屋里。

2 tightly   

adv.紧紧地，坚固地，牢固地

参考例句：

• My child holds onto my hand tightly while we cross the street.横穿马路时，孩子紧拉着我的手不放。
• The crowd pressed together so tightly that we could hardly breathe.人群挤在一起，我们几乎喘不过气来。

3 headmistress   

n.女校长

参考例句：

• They voted her their headmistress.他们选她做校长。
• She is the deputy headmistress of the school.她是那所学校的代理校长。

4 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

5 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

6 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

7 prayers   

祈祷( prayer的名词复数 )； 祈祷（习惯）； 祈祷文； 经文

参考例句：

• to say your prayers 祷告
• He says his prayers every night before he goes to bed. 他每晚睡觉前都做晚祷。

8 bible   

n.《圣经》；得到权威支持的典籍

参考例句：

• According to the Bible we are all the seed of Adam.根据《圣经》所说的，我们都是亚当的后裔。
• This dictionary should be your Bible when studying English.学习英语时，这本字典应是你的主要参考书。

9 responsibility   

n.责任，职责

参考例句：

• The safety of the ship is the captain's responsibility.确保船的安全是船长的责任。
• The matter is outside my area of the responsibility.此事超出我的责任范围。

10 charity   

n.慈悲，博爱，慈善团体，施舍

参考例句：

• He founded the charity in memory of his late wife.他兴办那个慈善机构以纪念他已故的妻子。
• He gave a handsome sum of money to charity.他向慈善团体捐了一笔相当可观的钱款。

11 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

12 embarrassed   

adj.尴尬的，不好意思的

参考例句：

• He was very embarrassed to hear people speak so highly of him.他听见别人这样夸他,感到很难为情。
• He is somewhat embarrassed.他稍微有点窘迫。