Sara was sitting quietly in her seat, waiting to be told what to do. She had been placed near Miss Minchin's desk.
萨拉安静地坐在她的座位上,等待着别人吩咐她做什么。她被安排在铭钦女士的讲桌近旁。
She was not abashed at all by the many pairs of eyes watching her.
在众目睽睽之下,她却并不感到局促不安。
She was interested and looked back quietly at the children who looked at her.
她饶有兴致地默默回视着那些注目于她的儿童,
She wondered what they were thinking of, and if they liked Miss Minchin, and if they cared for their lessons,
她在想她们正在想什么,她们是否喜欢铭钦女士,是否操心她们的功课,
and if any of them had a papa at all like her own. She had had a long talk with Emily about her papa that morning.
以及她们中是否有人有个像她那样的爸爸。那天早晨她和埃米莉曾关于她爸爸长谈了一次。
"He is on the sea now, Emily," she had said. "We must be very great friends to each other and tell each other things.
“他现在正在海上呢,埃米莉,”她当时那样说。“我们俩一定要做非常好的朋友,彼此讲悄悄话。
Emily, look at me. You have the nicest eyes I ever saw—but I wish you could speak."
埃米莉,看着我。你的眼睛是我所看到过的最漂亮的——但我真希望你会讲话。”
She was a child full of imaginings and whimsical thoughts,
她是个富于想象力的儿童,充满了奇思怪想,
and one of her fancies was that there would be a great deal of comfort in even pretending that Emily was alive and really heard and understood.
她的幻想之一就是埃米莉是活的,并且真的能听懂她的话,她想即使如此,也能从中得到莫大的安慰。
After Mariette had dressed her in her dark-blue schoolroom frock and tied her hair with a dark-blue ribbon,
等马里耶特帮她穿好了上课时穿的深蓝色连衣裙、用深蓝色的缎带束起了她的头发,
she went to Emily, who sat in a chair of her own, and gave her a book. "You can read that while I am downstairs," she said;
她走到埃米莉自己的座椅前,交给她一本书。“我在楼下的时候,你可以读书,”她说。
and, seeing Mariette looking at her curiously, she spoke to her with a serious little face.
看到马里耶特正诧异地看着她,她一本正经地绷着小脸对马里耶特讲话了。
"What I believe about dolls," she said, "is that they can do things they will not let us know about.
“关于洋娃娃,我相信的是,”她说,“她们能够做不愿让我们知道的事情。
Perhaps, really, Emily can read and talk and walk, but she will only do it when people are out of the room.
也许埃米莉真的能够读书、讲话、走路,但是她只在人们离开房间以后才这样做。
That is her secret. You see, if people knew that dolls could do things, they would make them work.
那是她的秘密。你想,如果人们知道洋娃娃们能做事情,就会让她们干活。
So, perhaps, they have promised each other to keep it a secret. If you stay in the room, Emily will just sit there and stare;
也许她们曾经互相约定要严守秘密。如果你呆在室内,埃米莉就只顾静坐呆望,
but if you go out, she will begin to read, perhaps, or go and look out of the window.
但是,如果你走出去了,她就会开始读书,或许走到窗前眺望。
Then if she heard either of us coming, she would just run back and jump into her chair and pretend she had been there all the time."
那时候如果她听到我们中有谁来了,她就会跑回去,跳进椅子,假装是一直坐在那儿的。”