LESSON 53 The heroic daughter
第五十三課 英勇的女兒
I.
(一)
A captain in the Russian army, who had been sent as an exile for life to a small village in the north of Siberia, had a daughter named Catherine. She saw how unhappy her father and mother were, and she resolved to go to St. Petersburg herself, and ask the Czar to pardon her father.
俄軍一名上尉被流放到西伯利亞北部的一個小村莊,他有一個女兒,叫凱瑟琳。父親和母親的不開心被女兒看在眼里,所以她決心一個人到圣彼德斯堡去請求沙皇饒過父親。
When she told her father her plan, he only laughed at her; and her mother said that she ought to mind her work instead of talking nonsense.
當她和父親談起這個計劃,他的父親只是笑話她;她的母親則說她應該把心思放在工作上,不要胡說八道。
"Here, my dear," said she; "dust the table for dinner, and then you may set off for St. Petersburg at your ease."
“來,親愛的,”她說;“擦好桌子,準備吃晚飯,吃飽了你才能輕松上路,去圣彼得堡。”
But neither her father's laughter nor her mother's sneers turned Catherine from her purpose; and after waiting patiently for three years she at length got her father to agree to let her go.
但是爸爸的冷笑和媽媽的嘲諷都沒有讓她改變主意;耐心地等了三年,她終于說服了父親讓她去圣彼得堡。
It was a terrible journey for a girl of eighteen to undertake alone. She had to travel on foot for hundreds of miles, through vast forests and across dreary snow-covered plains. She had no clothes with her except the faded ones which she wore; all that she had in her pocket was a single silver rouble; but she had a brave heart, and unbounded trust in God.
對一個十八歲的女孩來說,一個人的旅途充滿艱險。她得徒步走上數百英里,穿過大片樹林和白雪皚皚的大平原。除了身上穿的已經褪色的衣服,她沒有別的衣服;她口袋里僅有一枚盧布硬幣;但是她有一顆勇敢的心和對上帝的無限信任。
She met with the greatest hardships and dangers on her travels. Once she was caught in a furious storm, at the end of a long day's journey, and had to take refuge from the wind and rain in a thicket by the way. This gave her shelter for a time; but long before morning she was drenched to the skin.
一路上,她遇到了極大的困難和危險。有一次,走了一天路的她遇到了一場狂風暴雨,只能在路邊的灌木叢里遮風避雨。這個地方只能藏身一時;但是還沒等到天亮,她就渾身濕透。
At another time, she feared that the wretches with whom she lodged were going to murder her, for the sake of the money which they thought she had. It was only when they found that she had but a few coppers in her purse, that they let her go unharmed.
還有一次,她擔心和她一起借宿的人想要謀殺她,奪取她的錢財。發(fā)現(xiàn)她錢袋里只有幾個銅板后,他們沒有傷害她,因此她毫發(fā)未損地離開了。
She was often driven from the doors of the rich as a beggar and a cheat. She was spurned by matrons who should have known better, jeered at by thoughtless boys and even attacked by dogs.
她常常會在富人門前被驅趕,因為他們以為她是乞丐和騙子。本來保姆應該更理解她,卻對她冷眼相看,她還被無知的小孩嘲笑,甚至被狗攻擊。
QUESTIONS
問題
What was Catherine's father? Where did he live? What did she resolve to do? What did her father say to this? and her mother? How long had she to wait before her father let her go? What did she take with her for her journey? What did she do when caught in a storm?
凱瑟琳父親的職業(yè)是什么?他住在哪里?凱瑟琳決心做什么?她爸爸對此怎么說?她的媽媽呢?她等了多久她的爸爸才讓她走的?在路上她帶了什么東西?遇到暴風雨的時候她是怎么做的?