On that first morning, when Sara sat at Miss Minchin's side, aware that the whole schoolroom was devoting itself to observing her, she had noticed very soon one little girl, about her own age, who looked at her very hard with a pair of light, rather dull, blue eyes. She was a fat child who did not look as if she were in the least clever, but she had a good-naturedly pouting mouth. Her flaxen hair was braided in a tight pigtail, tied with a ribbon, and she had pulled this pigtail around her neck, and was biting the end of the ribbon, resting her elbows on the desk, as she stared wonderingly at the new pupil. When Monsieur Dufarge began to speak to Sara, she looked a little frightened; and when Sara stepped forward and, looking at him with the innocent, appealing eyes, answered him, without any warning, in French, the fat little girl gave a startled jump, and grew quite red in her awed amazement. Having wept hopeless tears for weeks in her efforts to remember that "la mere" meant "the mother," and "le pere," "the father," -- when one spoke sensible English -- it was almost too much for her suddenly to find herself listening to a child her own age who seemed not only quite familiar with these words, but apparently knew any number of others, and could mix them up with verbs as if they were mere trifles.
就是在那第一天的早晨，萨拉坐在铭钦女士旁边，觉得全教室的人都在专心观察她。她很快就注意到有个和自己年龄相仿的小姑娘，正用一双有些阴暗的浅蓝色眼睛紧盯着她。那是个胖孩子，看上去一点儿也不聪明伶俐，可是吸着的嘴显得性情敦厚。她的淡黄色头发紧紧编成一条发辫，扎着缎带，她将这条辫子挽在脖子上，口中咬着缎带的一端，两肘安放在课桌上，惊奇地凝视着这位新同学。当杜法奇先生开始对萨拉讲话时，她显得有些惊惧，而当萨拉走上前去用纯真恳求的目光看着他、并且自动用法语回答他时，这小胖姑娘吓了一跳，敬畏和惊异得渐渐变得面红耳赤。这个能讲通顺英语的姑娘已经有好几个星期抹着绝望的眼泪，竭力记“le mèr”的意思是母亲“le pèr”的意思是父亲。这时突然发现自己正在聆听一个与自己年龄相当的孩子讲法语，这使她几乎受不了啦。这孩子不仅十分熟悉那些词儿，而且显然认识无数多的其他词儿，还能用动词将它们联结起来，好像一点儿也不费劲似的。
She stared so hard and bit the ribbon on her pigtail so fast that she attracted the attention of Miss Minchin, who, feeling extremely cross at the moment, immediately pounced upon her.
她这样紧紧盯着看，狠狠地咬着自己发辫上的缎带，引起了铭钦女士的注意。此刻正感到极其恼火的铭钦女士立即扑向她。
So she took rather a fancy to fat, slow, little Miss St. John, and kept glancing toward her through the morning. She saw that lessons were no easy matter to her, and that there was no danger of her ever being spoiled by being treated as a show pupil. Her French lesson was a pathetic thing. Her pronunciation made even Monsieur Dufarge smile in spite of himself, and Lavinia and Jessie and the more fortunate girls either giggled or looked at her in wondering disdain. But Sara did not laugh. She tried to look as if she did not hear when Miss St. John called "le bon pain," "lee bong pang." She had a fine, hot little temper of her own, and it made her feel rather savage when she heard the titters and saw the poor, stupid, distressed child's face.
于是她有点儿爱上这个胖乎乎、慢吞吞的小姑娘圣约翰小姐了，一早晨都不住地瞅着她。萨拉明白功课对她来说并非易事，她是没有被当做可供炫耀的学生而被宠坏的危险的。她的法语课是桩伤脑筋的事。她的发音甚至使杜法奇先生不由自主地笑了，而拉维尼娅和杰西以及那些比较幸运的孩子，要么嗤嗤地笑她，要么就用诧异、蔑视的目光看着她。但萨拉不笑。当圣约翰小姐“新鲜面”这个词不读“le bon pai”而读“lee bong pan”时，她努力装作没有听见。她有她自己那种纯真的、火爆的小脾气，当她听到嗤嗤窃笑声，看见那可怜、呆笨、受尽折磨的孩子的脸时，会感到愤愤不平。
Upon which Miss St. John gave another jump, and when Lavinia and Jessie tittered she became redder than ever -- so red, indeed, that she almost looked as if tears were coming into her poor, dull, childish eyes; and Sara saw her and was so sorry for her that she began rather to like her and want to be her friend. It was a way of hers always to want to spring into any fray in which someone was made uncomfortable or unhappy.
这一喝，圣约翰小姐又吓了一跳，看到拉维尼娅和杰西在嗤嗤窃笑，她的脸更红了——的确是太红了，好像眼泪也涌现在她那可怜相的阴暗的带着孩子气的眼睛中。萨拉看在眼里，为她难过，竟觉得开始有点儿喜欢她了，想和她交朋友。当有人被弄得不快或不幸时，萨拉总是有点儿想打抱不平的气概。
"Miss St. John!" she exclaimed severely. "What do you mean by such conduct? Remove your elbows! Take your ribbon out of your mouth! Sit up at once!"
“圣约翰小姐”她严厉地喝道“你这种行为算什么？把你的胳膊肘拿下去！不准用嘴咬缎带！快点坐端正”
"If Sara had been a boy and lived a few centuries ago," her father used to say, "she would have gone about the country with her sword drawn, rescuing and defending everyone in distress. She always wants to fight when she sees people in trouble."
“如果萨拉是个男孩子，而且生活在几个世纪以前”她父亲常说“她就会刀剑出鞘，行侠四方，去营救、保护每个遇难的人。看到人们有难，她总要去斗一斗”
When lessons were over and the pupils gathered together in groups to talk, Sara looked for Miss St. John, and finding her bundled rather disconsolately in a window-seat, she walked over to her and spoke. She only said the kind of thing little girls always say to each other by way of beginning an acquaintance, but there was something friendly about Sara, and people always felt it.
下课后，学生们三五成群聚集在一起谈话，萨拉寻找着圣约翰小姐，发现她忧郁地坐在窗槛座上，把身子抱成一团，便走上前去同她说话。她说的只不过是小姑娘们开始交往时彼此常说的那些话，但是她带着的亲切友好的态度，别人总是可以感觉到的。
"It isn't funny, really," she said between her teeth, as she bent over her book. "They ought not to laugh."
“实在没有什么可笑的”她伏案看着书本，在齿间低声说“她们不应当笑”
To explain Miss St. John's amazement one must recall that a new pupil is, for a short time, a somewhat uncertain thing; and of this new pupil the entire school had talked the night before until it fell asleep quite exhausted by excitement and contradictory stories. A new pupil with a carriage and a pony and a maid, and a voyage from India to discuss, was not an ordinary acquaintance.
为了解释圣约翰小姐的吃惊，你必须明白一个新学生在短期内是一种不安定因素；关于萨拉这个新学生，整个学校从前一天晚上就议论开了。谈论那些令人兴奋而互相矛盾的传闻，直讲到精疲力竭睡着为止。一个拥有一辆四轮马车、一匹矮种马和一名女仆的新学生，而且还是从印度远航而来，大可谈论，要结识这样一位新学生，可不是件寻常事啊。
"What is your name?" she said.
“你叫什么名字”萨拉说。
"My name's Ermengarde St. John," she answered.
“我名叫埃芒加德·圣约翰”她回答。
"Mine is Sara Crewe," said Sara. "Yours is very pretty. It sounds like a story book."
“我叫萨拉·克鲁”萨拉说“你的名字很美。听上去像一本故事书的名字”
If her Aunt Eliza had been slow to learn and quick to forget a thing entirely when she had learned it, Ermengarde was strikingly like her. She was the monumental dunce of the school, and it could not be denied.
如果说她姑姑伊莱扎学习迟钝并很快就彻底忘个干净，那么埃芒加德正是非常像她。不容否认，她是学校里大名鼎鼎的低能儿。
"Good heavens!" he had said more than once, as he stared at her, "there are times when I think she is as stupid as her Aunt Eliza!"
“天哪”他不止一次地瞪着她说“有时候，我觉得她和她姑姑伊莱扎一样蠢”
Miss St. John's chief trouble in life was that she had a clever father. Sometimes this seemed to her a dreadful calamity. If you have a father who knows everything, who speaks seven or eight languages, and has thousands of volumes which he has apparently learned by heart, he frequently expects you to be familiar with the contents of your lesson books at least; and it is not improbable that he will feel you ought to be able to remember a few incidents of history and to write a French exercise. Ermengarde was a severe trial to Mr. St. John. He could not understand how a child of his could be a notably and unmistakably dull creature who never shone in anything.
圣约翰小姐生活中的主要烦恼就在于有个聪明的父亲。有时这对她来说似乎是个可怕的灾难。如果你有个无所不知的父亲，会讲七、八种外语，记得住成千册书的内容，他便会要求你至少熟悉课本的内容，也可能认为你应该记住一些历史事件，能做法语练习。对于圣约翰先生来说，埃芒加德是个十分令人头痛的问题。他弄不明白他的孩子怎么会是个明确无误的笨蛋，无论什么方面都不出色。
"Do you like it?" fluttered Ermengarde. "I -- I like yours."
“你喜欢它吗”埃芒加德声音发抖地说“我——我也喜欢你的名字”
"Oh, no, I couldn't," said Ermengarde. "I NEVER could speak it!"
“啊，不，不可能”埃芒加德说“我永远不会说法语”
She paused a moment, and then added with a touch of awe in her voice, "You are CLEVER, aren't you?"
她停了一下，补充说，话音里带着点儿敬畏“你很聪明，可不是吗”
Sara got on to the window-seat, which was a big, deep one, and, tucking up her feet, sat with her hands clasped round her knees.
萨拉也坐到那宽大的窗槛台上，蜷缩起双脚，双手抱膝。
"Why?" inquired Sara, curiously.
“为什么”萨拉吃惊地问。
"You heard me just now," she said. "I'm always like that. I can't SAY the words. They're so queer."
“你刚才听到过我说了”她说“我总是那个样子。不会念那些词儿。它们太怪了“
Sara looked out of the window into the dingy square, where the sparrows were hopping and twittering on the wet, iron railings and the sooty branches of the trees. She reflected a few moments. She had heard it said very often that she was "clever," and she wondered if she was -- and IF she was, how it had happened.
萨拉望着窗外晦暗的场院，那里有麻雀在潮湿的铁栏杆上和乌黑的树枝上蹦跳着、凋啾着。她沉思了一会儿。她常常听人家说“聪”，她怀疑自己是否聪明——如果真的聪明，那又是怎么一回事呢。
"I can speak it because I have heard it all my life," she answered. "You could speak it if you had always heard it."
“我能说是因为生来就听惯了法语”萨拉回答“如果你以前常听法语，那你就也能说的”
"She must be MADE to learn," her father said to Miss Minchin.
“必须强迫她学习”她父亲对铭钦女士说过。
"You can speak French, can't you?" she said respectfully.
“你能说法语，是吗”她恭敬地说。
Consequently Ermengarde spent the greater part of her life in disgrace or in tears. She learned things and forgot them; or, if she remembered them, she did not understand them. So it was natural that, having made Sara's acquaintance, she should sit and stare at her with profound admiration.
结果呢，埃芒加德生活中的大部分时间在羞辱和眼泪中度过。她学了又忘；换句话说，即使她记住了，却不知道是什么意思。于是很自然地，同萨拉结识后，就会坐在那里用深深钦佩的目光凝视着她。
Ermengarde shook her head so that the pigtail wobbled.
埃芒加德摇摇头，发辫摆动着。
"Is it true," Ermengarde whispered, as they went through the hall -- "is it true that you have a playroom all to yourself?"
“这事可是真的”穿过大厅时，埃芒加德悄声说—“你真的有一间完全属于自己的游戏室”
"Would you like to see Emily?" she inquired.
“你愿意见一下埃米莉吗”她探问道。
Sara looked at her in simple surprise.
萨拉看着她，简直有点吃惊。
"Why, anyone can make up things," she said. "Have you never tried?"
“是呀，任何人都能编造的”萨拉说“你从来没有试过吗”
"Yes," Sara answered. "Papa asked Miss Minchin to let me have one, because -- well, it was because when I play I make up stories and tell them to myself, and I don't like people to hear me. It spoils it if I think people listen."
“是的”萨拉回答“爸爸要求铭钦女士让我有一间，因为― 哦，那是因为我玩儿的时候，常编故事讲给自己听，我不喜欢别人听见。如果我知道别人在听，那就讲不成了”
"Come up to my room and see," said Sara, holding out her hand.
“到我屋里去看吧”萨拉说着伸出自己的手。
They jumped down from the window-seat together, and went upstairs.
她俩从窗槛台上一齐跳下来，走上楼去。
They had reached the passage leading to Sara's room by this time, and Ermengarde stopped short, staring, and quite losing her breath.
此时她俩已走上通向萨拉房间的过道，埃芒加德忽然站住了，瞪大眼睛，屏住呼吸“你编故事”她气喘l 甲吁地说。
"You make up stories!" she gasped. "Can you do that -- as well as speak French? CAN you?"
“你编故事能像你说法语一样好吗？你能吗”
"Who is Emily?" Ermengarde asked, just as Miss Minchin had done.
“谁是埃米莉”埃芒加德问，就像铭钦女士当初那样。
"I don't know," she said. "I can't tell." Then, seeing a mournful look on the round, chubby face, she gave a little laugh and changed the subject.
“我不知道”她说“我没法讲”她看到埃芒加德胖乎乎的圆脸儿上的伤心表情，于是微微一笑，改换了话题。
She was half laughing, but there was a touch of mysterious hope in her eyes which fascinated Ermengarde, though she had not the remotest idea what it meant, or whom it was she wanted to "catch," or why she wanted to catch her. Whatsoever she meant, Ermengarde was sure it was something delightfully exciting. So, quite thrilled with expectation, she followed her on tiptoe along the passage. They made not the least noise until they reached the door. Then Sara suddenly turned the handle, and threw it wide open. Its opening revealed the room quite neat and quiet, a fire gently burning in the grate, and a wonderful doll sitting in a chair by it, apparently reading a book.
她微微一笑，但是眼睛里露出一点神秘的希望之光，这迷住了埃芒加德，虽然她压根儿不知道那是什么意思，萨拉“捉”谁，为什么要捉住她。无论萨拉是什么意思，埃芒加德深信那一定是什么令人快乐兴奋的事，于是满怀着期望，战战兢兢地踮起脚尖跟着萨拉沿过道走去。她俩悄然无声地来到门口。然后萨拉突然转动门把手，猛地将门打开。门敞开了，显露出室内十分整洁宁静，壁炉中的火徐徐燃烧着，旁边的椅子里坐着个出色非凡的洋娃娃，显然在看一本书。
"Let us go very quietly to the door," she whispered, "and then I will open it quite suddenly; perhaps we may catch her."
“让我们悄悄地往门口走”她低声说“然后我猛不防地打开门；或许我们能捉住她”
She put her hand warningly on Ermengarde's.
她警觉地把自己的手放到埃芒加德手上。
Ermengarde looked from her to the doll and back again.
埃芒加德看看萨拉又转眼看看洋娃娃，然后目光又落到萨拉身上。
"Oh, she got back to her seat before we could see her!" Sara explained. "Of course they always do. They are as quick as lightning."
“呀！不等我们看到她，她已回到座位上去了”萨拉惊呼道“当然，她们总是这样的。动作快得像闪电”
"No," said Ermengarde. "Never. I -- tell me about it."
“没有”埃芒加德说“从来没有，我——告诉我那是怎么回事吧”
"Can she -- walk?" she asked breathlessly.
“她能——走路吗”她上气不接下气地问道。
"Yes," answered Sara. "At least I believe she can. At least I PRETEND I believe she can. And that makes it seem as if it were true. Have you never pretended things?"
“能”萨拉回答“至少我相信她能，至少我假装相信她能。这样就使它像是真的一样了。你从没假装相信一些事情吗”
She was so bewitched by this odd, new companion that she actually stared at Sara instead of at Emily -- notwithstanding that Emily was the most attractive doll person she had ever seen.
她被这个奇怪的新伙伴弄糊涂了，实际上她盯着看的不是埃米莉倒是萨拉——尽管埃米莉是她见过的最招人喜爱的玩偶。
"Let us sit down," said Sara, "and I will tell you. It's so easy that when you begin you can't stop. You just go on and on doing it always. And it's beautiful. Emily, you must listen. This is Ermengarde St. John, Emily. Ermengarde, this is Emily. Would you like to hold her?"
“我们坐下吧”萨拉说“我会告诉你的。那是很容易的事，只要一开始，你就止不住了。你只顾假装又假装，一直假装下去就行了。这种事儿是很美妙的。埃米莉，你好好听着。这位是埃芒加德·圣约翰，埃米莉。埃芒加德，这位是埃米莉。你乐意抱抱她吗”
Never in her dull, short life had Miss St. John dreamed of such an hour as the one she spent with the queer new pupil before they heard the lunch-bell ring and were obliged to go downstairs.
同这个奇特的新学生邂逅的这一个钟头，也就是她们听到了午餐铃声而不得不下楼去之前的这一个钟头，在圣约翰小姐短短的黯淡生活历程中是做梦也想不到的。
"Oh, may I?" said Ermengarde. "May I, really? She is beautiful!" And Emily was put into her arms.
“噢，我可以吗”埃芒加德说“我真的可以吗？她多美啊”于是埃米莉被放到她的双臂中。
Sara sat upon the hearth-rug and told her strange things. She sat rather huddled up, and her green eyes shone and her cheeks flushed. She told stories of the voyage, and stories of India; but what fascinated Ermengarde the most was her fancy about the dolls who walked and talked, and who could do anything they chose when the human beings were out of the room, but who must keep their powers a secret and so flew back to their places "like lightning" when people returned to the room.
萨拉坐在炉边地毯上给她讲一些奇事。她身子蜷缩着，绿色的眸子闪闪发亮，双颊泛红。她讲述着那次航海的经历和在印度时的一些故事，但最使埃芒加德着迷的是她关于洋娃娃的那些幼想：当人离开房间后，她们便行走，说话，能做她们要做的任何事情，但是她们必须对自己的这种能力严守秘密，所以当人们回房时，她们就像闪电一样飞速回到自己的老位置上。
"WE couldn't do it," said Sara, seriously. "You see, it's a kind of magic."
“这我们可做不到”萨拉一本正经地说“你明白吗，那是一种魔法”
Once, when she was relating the story of the search for Emily, Ermengarde saw her face suddenly change. A cloud seemed to pass over it and put out the light in her shining eyes. She drew her breath in so sharply that it made a funny, sad little sound, and then she shut her lips and held them tightly closed, as if she was determined either to do or NOT to do something. Ermengarde had an idea that if she had been like any other little girl, she might have suddenly burst out sobbing and crying. But she did not.
有一次，当她讲述寻觅埃米莉的经过时，埃芒加德看到她面色突变。似乎有一片阴云掠过她的脸，扑灭了明眸中的光芒。她急剧地抽了口气，发出一点儿稀奇的伤感声音，接着紧闭双唇，一直紧抿着，像在下决心要做或者不做什么事情似的。埃芒加德心中闪过一个念头，如果萨拉像其他任何小姑娘一样，可能早就突然一阵呜咽一阵啼泣了，但是萨拉没有这样做。
"Have you a -- a pain?" Ermengarde ventured.
“你有点儿什么——什么痛苦吗”埃芒加德冒昧地问道。
Ermengarde's mouth fell open a little. She knew that it would be far from behaving like a respectable child at a select seminary to say that it had never occurred to you that you COULD love your father, that you would do anything desperate to avoid being left alone in his society for ten minutes. She was, indeed, greatly embarrassed.
埃芒加德的嘴不禁张开了些。她知道在这所高级女童培育院里，你如果说出从来没有想到要爱父亲，并且为了避免陪伴父亲待十分钟，竟会做出任何不顾死活的事情，那你的表现就远不像是个富有教养的孩子了。的确，她感到很窘。
"Yes," Sara answered, after a moment's silence. "But it is not in my body." Then she added something in a low voice which she tried to keep quite steady, and it was this: "Do you love your father more than anything else in all the whole world?"
“是的”萨拉沉默片刻后回答“但是，那可不是在我的身子里”然后她又低声说了点儿什么，极力保持话音镇定，她说的是“比起世界上的任何东西，你更爱你的父亲吗”
"She's going to cry out loud," thought Ermengarde, fearfully.
“她快要放声大哭了”埃芒加德担心地思忖。
"I love mine more than all the world ten times over," Sara said. "That is what my pain is. He has gone away."
“我爱我父亲超过整个世界十倍以上”萨拉说“我的痛苦就在于此。他已经走了”
She put her head quietly down on her little, huddled-up knees, and sat very still for a few minutes.
她默默把头俯在蜷缩起来的双膝上，呆呆地坐了几分钟。
Ermengarde could only gaze at her, but she felt that she was beginning to adore her. She was so wonderful and different from anyone else.
埃芒加德只能眼睁睁地看着她，但是觉得自己开始崇敬她。她是那样了不起，那样与众不同。
"I -- I scarcely ever see him," she stammered. "He is always in the library -- reading things."
“我——我简直不大见到他”她结结巴巴地说“他总是在书房里——读着什么书”
But she did not. Her short, black locks tumbled about her ears, and she sat still. Then she spoke without lifting her head.
但是萨拉没有哭。一绺绺黑色鬈发散落在耳边，她静静地坐着，过了会儿才开口说话，并没有抬起头来。
Presently, she lifted her face and shook back her black locks, with a queer little smile.
不一会儿，萨拉扬起脸，把黑色鬈发甩到脑后，怪谲地微微一笑。
"If I go on talking and talking," she said, "and telling you things about pretending, I shall bear it better. You don't forget, but you bear it better."
“如果我继续讲啊又讲”她说“跟你讲假装的事，我就能更好地忍耐下去。虽然忘不掉，但总能更好地忍耐下去”
"I promised him I would bear it," she said. "And I will. You have to bear things. Think what soldiers bear! Papa is a soldier. If there was a war he would have to bear marching and thirstiness and, perhaps, deep wounds. And he would never say a word -- not one word."
“我答应过他要忍耐下去”她说“我会的。人们必须忍受一些事情。想想士兵们所忍受的吧！爸爸是个军人。如果发生了战争，他就不得不长途行军并忍受饥渴，或许还会负重伤。而他永远不会说什么——一个字也不说”
Ermengarde did not know why a lump came into her throat and her eyes felt as if tears were in them.
埃芒加德不知怎么好像喉咙里梗着块东西，她觉得眼中啥着泪水。
"I'm glad of that," said Sara. "It makes you thankful when you are liked. Yes. We will be friends. And I'll tell you what" -- a sudden gleam lighting her face -- "I can help you with your French lessons."
“这使我很高兴”萨拉说“当你被别人喜欢的时候，你会十分感激的。是啊。我们会成为好朋友的。并且我要告诉你”——忽然间她双颊生辉—“我能帮你学好法语”
"Lavinia and Jessie are `best friends,'" she said rather huskily. "I wish we could be `best friends.' Would you have me for yours? You're clever, and I'm the stupidest child in the school, but I -- oh, I do so like you!"
“拉维尼娅和杰西是最要好的朋友”她说，语音有点儿沙哑“我希望我们也能成为最要好的朋友。你让我做你最要好的朋友吗？你是聪明的，而我是学校里最笨的孩子，但是我——哦，我多么喜欢你啊”