有声名著之简爱Jene Eyer Chapter5

　　CHAPTER FIVE Mr. Brocklehurst’s Visit
It was hard to get used to the rules at Lowood, and to the extremely¹ cold, hard winter. In January, February and March there was deep snow, but we still had to go outside for one hour every day. We had no warm boots or gloves, and my hands and feet hurt badly from the cold. We were growing children, and needed more food than we got. Sometimes the meaner big girls made us little ones give them our teatime bread or evening biscuit.
One afternoon, when I had been at Lowood for three weeks, a visitor came to see us. As the man entered the schoolroom all the teachers and pupils stood up . when I saw the visitor I felt afraid. It was Mr. Brocklehurst, the man who had talked to Mrs. Reed³ and I at Gateshead. I had been afraid he would come. I remembered that Mrs. Reed had told him I was a terrible child. He had promised her to tell all the teachers about me. If he spoke⁴ to the teachers, they would think of me as a bad child forever!
At first Mr. brocklehurst spoke very quietly to Miss Temple. I could hear him, because I was in the front of the class.
“Miss Temple,” he said, “I am told that you gave a lunch of bread and cheese to the girls recently. Why did you do that? It is not in the rules!”
“Well, sir,” said Miss Temple, “the breakfast was so badly cooked that the girls couldn’t possibly eat it, and they were hungry.”
“Miss Temple, listen to me. You know that these girls must become strong, patient and unselfish… If they do not have some little thing, do not give to them. Tell them to be brave and suffer, like Christ⁵ Himself. Remember what the Bible⁶ says. Man does not live by bread alone, but by the word of God! When you put bread into these children’s mouths, you feed their bodies but you starve their souls!”
Miss Temple said nothing. Her face was as cold and hard as marble⁷. Mr. Brocklehurst was looking at us, and almost jumped in surprise.
“Who is that girl with red curly⁸ hair, Miss Temple?”
“That is Julia Severn,” said Miss Temple quietly. “Her hair curls⁹ naturally, you see.”
“Yes, Miss Temple, but it is God we obey, not nature! Miss Temple, that girl’s hair must be cut off. I have said again and again that the girls’ hair must be plain. I see other girls here with long hair. Yes, I shall send someone tomorrow to cut all the girls’ hair.”
“Mr. Brocklehurst…” began Miss Temple.
“To please God these girls must have short, straight hair and plain, simple clothes---“
Just then the door opened and three ladies came in. these ladies must not have known¹⁰ Mr. Brocklehurst’s thoughts about clothes and hair. They all wore expensive dresses and had long, beautiful curly hair. I heard Miss Temple greet them as the wife and daughters of Mr. Brocklehurst.
While Mr. Brocklehurst was talking, I hid my face behind my writing slate¹¹ so that he would not see me. But suddenly the slate fell from my hand and broke in two on the hard floor! I knew what would happen next.
Mr. Brocklehurst looked at me coldly.
“Come here, child.”
I was too frightened to move, but two big girls pushed me towards him. Miss Temple whispered¹² to me, “don’t be afraid, Jane. I saw it was an accident.” Her kindness made me feel better, but I knew that soon she would hear the lies about me, and then she would dislike me too.
“Put the child on that chair,” said Mr. Brocklehurst. Someone lifted me up on to a high chair, so that I was close to his nose. Frightened, I felt everyone’ s eyes on me.
“You see this girl?” said Mr. Brocklehust. “She is young; she looks like an ordinary child. But she is not. She is very wicked¹³! Children, don’t talk to her, stay away from her. Teachers, watch her carefully. You must punish her body to save her soul--- if she has a soul. This child… I can hardly say it … this child is a liar¹⁴!”
“How terrible!” said the two Brocklehurst daughters.
“I learned¹⁵ this,” continued the man, “from Mrs. Reed , the kind lady who cared for her. In the end, Mrs. Reed was so afraid of this child’s bad ways that she had to send her here. So, teachers, watch her carefully!”
The Brocklehurst family stood up and moved slowly out of the schoolroom. At the door, the man turned and said,
“She must stand half an hour longer on that chair, and nobody may speak to her for the rest of the day.”
So there I was standing¹⁶ on the chair. Feelings of shame and anger burned inside me, but just when I thought I would cry, Helen Burns walked past me and lifted her eyes to mine. Her look calmed me. What a smile she had! It was an intelligent, brave smile, lighting¹⁷ up her thin face and her tired eyes.
At five o’clock all the girls left the schoolroom. When I was sure no one could hear me, I climbed down from the chair and sat on the floor. I no longer felt strong or calm, and I began to cry bitterly¹⁸. I had wanted so much to make friends and be happy at Lowood. Now nobody would believe me or perhaps even speak to me. Could I ever start a new life after this?
“Never!” I cried to myself. “I wish I were dead!” Just then Helen arrived, bringing my coffee and bread. I was too upset to eat or drink, but she sat with me and talked gently to me. She helped me to stop crying, and feel a little better. When Miss Temple came to look for me, she found us sitting quietly together.
“Come up to my room, both of you,” she said.
We went to her warm, comfortable room upstairs.
:Now tell me the truth, Jane,” she said. “You have been accused¹⁹, and you must have the chance to defend yourself.”
And so I told her the whole story of my lonely childhood with the Reed family and of the terrible night in the red room.
“I know Dr². Lloyd, who saw you when you were ill,” she said. “I’ll write to him and see if he agrees with what you say. If he does, I shall tell everyone in the school you are not a liar. I believe you, Jane.” And she kissed me. Then she turned to Helen..
“How are you tonight, Helen? Have you coughed a lot today?”
“Not very much, ma’am.”
“And the pain in your chest²⁰?”
“It’s a little better, I think.”
Miss Temple examined Helen carefully, and sighed a little. Then she gave us some tea and toast. For a while I felt I was in heaven, eating and drinking in the warm, pretty room, with kind Miss Temple and Helen.
But when we reached our bedroom, Miss Scatcherd was checking the drawers.
“Burns!” she said. “Yours is far too untidy²¹! Tomorrow, all day, you will wear a sign on your forehead saying UNTIDY!”
Helen said Miss Scatcherd was quite right, and wore the sign all the next day. But I was very angry, and at the end of the afternoon, I took it off her head and threw it in the fire.
A few days later, Miss Temple received a letter from Dr Lloyd. He wrote to her that what I had said was true, and she told the whole school that I was not a liar. Then I truly felt better. From then on I studied as hard as I could, and tried to make friends.

1 extremely   

adv.极其，非常，极度

参考例句：

• The film is extremely good,I just cannot miss it.这部电影太精彩了，我非看不可。
• The old man was extremely difficult to get along with.这个老人极难相与。

2 Dr   

n.医生，大夫；博士(缩)（= Doctor）

参考例句：

• Dr.Williams instructs us in botany.威廉博士教我们植物学。
• The ward of the hospital is in the charge of Dr.Green.医院的这间病房由格林医生负责。

3 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。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 Christ   

n.基督，救世主，耶稣

参考例句：

• I regarded him as the Christ.我把他当作救世主。
• Christ preached that we should love each other.基督在布道中说人们应该互爱。

6 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。

7 marble   

n.大理石，石弹，雕刻品；adj.大理石的，冷酷无情的，坚硬的

参考例句：

• Marble is a precious stone.大理石是一种珍贵的石料。
• The statue was carved out of marble.这尊像是大理石雕成的。

8 curly   

adj.卷曲的，卷缩的

参考例句：

• The little boy has curly hair.这小男孩长着一头卷发。
• She is tall and dark with curly hair.她高高的个子，黑皮肤，卷头发。

9 curls   

n.一绺鬈发( curl的名词复数 )；卷曲物；螺旋状物；（指头发）拳曲v.（使）弯曲( curl的第三人称单数 )；（使）卷曲；盘旋；缠绕

参考例句：

• His hair curls naturally. 他的头发天生鬈曲。
• Her hair fell over her shoulders in a cascade of curls. 她的卷发像瀑布一样垂在肩上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 known   

adj.大家知道的；知名的，已知的

参考例句：

• He is a known artist.他是一个知名的艺术家。
• He is known both as a painter and as a statesman.他是知名的画家及政治家。

11 slate   

n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订

参考例句：

• The nominating committee laid its slate before the board.提名委员会把候选人名单提交全体委员会讨论。
• What kind of job uses stained wood and slate? 什么工作会接触木头污浊和石板呢？

12 whispered   

adj.耳语的，低语的v.低声说( whisper的过去式和过去分词 )；私语；小声说；私下说

参考例句：

• She sidled up to me and whispered something in my ear. 她悄悄走上前来，对我耳语了几句。
• His ill luck has been whispered about the neighborhood. 他的不幸遭遇已在邻居中传开。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 wicked   

adj.邪恶的，恶劣的，缺德的；淘气的

参考例句：

• Let everyone know all the wicked things she has done.把她干的坏事给大家抖搂抖搂。
• The wicked must be wiped out.恶人必须除掉。

14 liar   

n.说谎的人

参考例句：

• I know you for a thief and a liar!我算认识你了，一个又偷又骗的家伙！
• She was wrongly labelled a liar.她被错误地扣上说谎者的帽子。

15 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

16 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。

17 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

18 bitterly   

adv.苦涩地；痛苦地；不痛快地；残酷地

参考例句：

• The development was bitterly opposed by the local community. 这一开发项目遭到了当地社区的愤怒抵制。
• They were bitterly disappointed at the result of the game. 他们对比赛结果极为失望。

19 accused   

n.被告v.指责(accuse的过去式和过去分词)；控告adj.被控告的

参考例句：

• The accused was found innocent. 被告被判定无罪。
• He was accused of committing adultery . 他被控通奸。

20 chest   

n.胸，大箱子，金库，资金，一箱，密封室，衣橱

参考例句：

• The bear's chest is hairy.那只熊的胸部毛茸茸的。
• Mother has a pain in her chest.母亲胸口疼.。

21 untidy   

adj.不整齐的，懒散的，懒惰的

参考例句：

• This is an untidy plan.这是一个杂乱无章的计划。
• I must apologize for the untidy state of the room.屋子这么不整洁，实在抱歉。