美国语文第五册 第282期:微小的胜利(6)

 　　and, as the old fable¹ tells us, the clock that has to tick so many millions of times, has exactly the same number of seconds to do it in. 有句俗话说得好，时钟需要滴答百万上亿次，确切地说，走过无外乎相同数字的分秒。

　　So will you find that you can move about on each separate occasion, as you wish, 所以，你应该不难发现，如同你所希望的，

　　and practice will enable you to do it without any trouble or thought. 你可依据不同的场合处人行事，一旦形成习惯，也就觉察不到任何烦扰或者纠结。

　　“But this is not all, nor half what I mean,” said Hugh. “这不是最糟糕的，离我要面对的实在差得还远。”休说。

　　No, my dear, nor half what you will have to bear. 是的，亲爱的，谈论这些，即使远不及你需要承受的，

　　You resolved to bear it all patiently, I remember. But what is it you dread² the most? 你也要学会耐心地面对，我记得。你最害怕的是什么？

　　Oh! all manner of things. I can never do like other people. “Some things,” replied his mother. 哎呀！再不能像别人那样，我所有的行为方式全部改变了。“并非所有事情，”妈妈说道，

　　You can never play cricket, as every Crofton boy would like to do. You can never dance at your sister’s Christmas parties. 当然，你再不能像每个克罗夫顿男孩那样去打板球，你也不能在你姐姐的圣诞聚会上跳舞。

　　“O mamma!” cried Agnes, with tears in her eyes, and with the thought in her mind that it was cruel to talk so. “哦，妈妈！” 艾格尼丝叫了起来，眼里满是泪水，心里想这样谈话对弟弟来说，实在太残忍。

　　“Go on! Go on!” cried Hugh, brightening. “接着说！说呀！”休叫着，眼里闪着焦灼的光，

　　You know what I feel, mother; and you don’t keep telling me, as others do, and even sister Agnes, sometimes, 妈妈，你知道我的感受；你不要不停地告诉我，像别人那样做，甚至像姐姐艾格尼丝那样做，有时，

　　that it will not signify much, and that I shall not care, and all that; 这些并不意味多么重要，我也不会在意，所有这些说明，

　　making out that it is no misfortune, hardly, when I know what it is, and they don’t. Now, then, go on, mother! What else? 我绝不是那么不幸，或者几乎不幸，当我明白这些，什么痛苦看来都是浮云。好了，接着说，妈妈！还有什么教诲？

　　There will be little checks and mortifications continually, 当你看见那些男孩子们蹦蹦跳跳，

　　when you see little boys leaping over this, and climbing that, and playing at the other, while you must stand out, and can only look on. 攀上爬下，与其他孩子一起玩耍，你总想站出来，最后却只能袖手旁观，

1 fable   

n.寓言；童话；神话

参考例句：

• The fable is given on the next page. 这篇寓言登在下一页上。
• He had some motive in telling this fable. 他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

2 dread   

vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧

参考例句：

• We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes.我们都不敢去想一旦公司关门我们该怎么办。
• Her heart was relieved of its blankest dread.她极度恐惧的心理消除了。