If Sara had been a different kind of child, the life she led at Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for the next few years would not have been at all good for her. She was treated more as if she were a distinguished guest at the establishment than as if she were a mere little girl. If she had been a self-opinionated, domineering child, she might have become disagreeable enough to be unbearable through being so much indulged and flattered. If she had been an indolent child, she would have learned nothing. Privately Miss Minchin disliked her, but she was far too worldly a woman to do or say anything which might make such a desirable pupil wish to leave her school. She knew quite well that if Sara wrote to her papa to tell him she was uncomfortable or unhappy, Captain Crewe would remove her at once. Miss Minchin's opinion was that if a child were continually praised and never forbidden to do what she liked, she would be sure to be fond of the place where she was so treated. Accordingly, Sara was praised for her quickness at her lessons, for her good manners, for her amiability to her fellow pupils, for her generosity if she gave sixpence to a beggar out of her full little purse; the simplest thing she did was treated as if it were a virtue, and if she had not had a disposition and a clever little brain, she might have been a very self-satisfied young person. But the clever little brain told her a great many sensible and true things about herself and her circumstances, and now and then she talked these things over to Ermengarde as time went on.
如果萨拉是另外一种秉性的儿童，那么，此后十年在铭钦女士的高级女童培育院里度过的生活，对于她是不会有所裨益的。她在那里仿佛被当作贵宾而不只是个小姑娘来对待。如果她本是个生性执拗、盛气凌人的儿童，受到了如此过分的娇纵与奉承，可能早已变得讨厌得令人难以容忍；如果她本是个懒散儿童，那她也就什么都学不到。铭钦女士私下里讨厌她，但铭钦女士是个非常世故的女人，不会去做或说什么有可能导致这样一位求之不得的学生希望离开她学校的事情。她知道得很清楚，只要萨拉写信告诉她爸爸她感到不舒适或者不快乐，克鲁上尉就会立即把她带走。铭钦女士的看法是只要一个孩子不断被夸奖，并且从来不被禁止做她喜欢的事，她肯定会喜欢这样对待她的地方。因此，萨拉由于学习聪明、举止良好、对同学和善而被夸奖；如果她从鼓囊囊的小钱包里取出微不足道的六便士给乞丐，那就由于她的慷慨而被夸奖。她所做的最简单的事情也都被看作美德来对待，如果她本来没有好脾气和聪明的小脑筋，那她可能已成为一个十分自满的小家伙。但是那聪明的小脑筋告诉了她很多关于她自己以及她的处境的切合实际的真实情况，随着时间的推移，她不时同埃芒加德谈起这些情况。
"Lavinia has no trials," said Ermengarde, stolidly, "and she is horrid enough."
“拉维尼娅没受过什么考验”埃芒加德固执地说“而她却是够可恶的”
"Things happen to people by accident," she used to say. "A lot of nice accidents have happened to me. It just HAPPENED that I always liked lessons and books, and could remember things when I learned them. It just happened that I was born with a father who was beautiful and nice and clever, and could give me everything I liked. Perhaps I have not really a good temper at all, but if you have everything you want and everyone is kind to you, how can you help but be good-tempered? I don't know" -- looking quite serious -- "how I shall ever find out whether I am really a nice child or a horrid one. Perhaps I'm a HIDEOUS child, and no one will ever know, just because I never have any trials."
“人们遇到的一些事往往是碰巧发生的”她曾这样说“有很多好事儿对我发生了。碰巧我一向就喜欢功课和书本，而且学了就能记住。碰巧我生来就有个十全十美的聪明的父亲，能供给我所喜欢的一切东西。或许我根本没有真正的好脾气，但是，如果你已经得到了想要的一切，而人人对你都很和蔼，那你怎么还能不是自然而然就有好脾气呢？我不知道”——态度十分严肃—“我不知道怎样才能发现自己真是个好孩子，还是个讨厌的孩子。或许我是个要不得的坏孩子，但从没人会知道，就因为我从未受到过考验”
This was the result of a charitable recollection of having heard Miss Amelia say that Lavinia was growing so fast that she believed it affected her health and temper.
回想起曾听到阿米莉亚小姐说过，拉维尼娅发育得那样快，她担心会影响拉维尼娅的健康与性情，萨拉得出了这个宽厚的结论。
Sara rubbed the end of her little nose reflectively, as she thought the matter over.
萨拉反省似地抚摩着小鼻子的尖儿，仔细思考着这事。
"Well," she said at last, "perhaps -- perhaps that is because Lavinia is GROWING."
“是的”她终于说“或许― 或许那是因为拉维尼娅正在发育成长吧”
Lavinia, in fact, was spiteful. She was inordinately jealous of Sara. Until the new pupil's arrival, she had felt herself the leader in the school. She had led because she was capable of making herself extremely disagreeable if the others did not follow her. She domineered over the little children, and assumed grand airs with those big enough to be her companions. She was rather pretty, and had been the best-dressed pupil in the procession when the Select Seminary walked out two by two, until Sara's velvet coats and sable muffs appeared, combined with drooping ostrich feathers, and were led by Miss Minchin at the head of the line. This, at the beginning, had been bitter enough; but as time went on it became apparent that Sara was a leader, too, and not because she could make herself disagreeable, but because she never did.
实际上拉维尼娅很恶毒。她毫无节制地忌妒萨拉。在萨拉这个新生到校以前，她一直自以为是学校里的头儿。她所以能当头儿是因为她能使那些不听她的同学感到她极难对付。她欺侮年纪小的儿童，对能当她伙伴的较大的那些孩子则装腔作势。她相当漂亮，当这高级女童培育院的学生两人一排列队外出时，她曾是穿戴得最好的一个。可是后来出现了萨拉，穿着天鹅绒上衣，带着黑貂皮暖手筒，还配着耷拉着的鸵鸟羽毛，由铭钦女士领着走在行列的最前头。这起初使拉维尼娅觉得够难受的；后来随着时间的推移，情况变得很明显，萨拉也成了学生中的头儿，不是由于她能闹别扭，而是因为她从不那样做。
"There's one thing about Sara Crewe," Jessie had enraged her "best friend" by saying honestly, "she's never `grand' about herself the least bit, and you know she might be, Lavvie. I believe I couldn't help being -- just a little -- if I had so many fine things and was made such a fuss over. It's disgusting, the way Miss Minchin shows her off when parents come."
“可是萨拉·克鲁有一个优点”杰西说了这句老实话，惹恼了她“最要好的朋”，“她从不炫耀自己，但是你知道她本来是可以那样做的，拉维①。如果我也有那么多好东西，也那样被大肆吹捧，我相信我会忍不住有那么点儿想那样做的。家长们来校时，铭钦女士炫耀萨拉的那副样子实在太叫人恶心了”【注：① 拉维尼娅的爱称。】
"Well," said Jessie, slowly, "he's killed tigers. He killed the one in the skin Sara has in her room. That's why she likes it so. She lies on it and strokes its head, and talks to it as if it was a cat."
“可是”杰西慢吞吞地说“他打死过老虎。萨拉屋里的那张虎皮就是她爸爸打死的那只老虎的皮。难怪她那样喜爱它。她躺在上面，抚弄着它的头，对它讲话，拿它当一只猫”
"She's always doing something silly," snapped Lavinia. "My mamma says that way of hers of pretending things is silly. She says she will grow up eccentric."
“她总是干蠢事”拉维尼娅厉声说“我妈说像她那样作假是很蠢的，还说她长大后将成个怪人”
It was quite true that Sara was never "grand." She was a friendly little soul, and shared her privileges and belongings with a free hand. The little ones, who were accustomed to being disdained and ordered out of the way by mature ladies aged ten and twelve, were never made to cry by this most envied of them all. She was a motherly young person, and when people fell down and scraped their knees, she ran and helped them up and patted them, or found in her pocket a bonbon or some other article of a soothing nature. She never pushed them out of her way or alluded to their years as a humiliation and a blot upon their small characters.
千真万确，萨拉从“炫”。她是个友善的小精灵，信手将自己的特殊待遇和所有之物与人分享。那些年龄小的孩子已习惯于被那些十至十二岁较成熟的小姐鄙视，喝斥滚开，但是她们从未被这位最堪羡慕的同学惹哭过。她是个慈母般的小人儿，当别人跌倒擦伤膝盖时，她跑过去扶她们起来，拍抚她们，或者从衣袋里摸出一块夹心糖或什么能安抚她们的小玩意儿。她从来不把她们推开给自己让路，也从不含沙射影地羞辱她们年幼无知，性格上有瑕点。
"`Dear Sara must come into the drawing room and talk to Mrs. Musgrave about India,'" mimicked Lavinia, in her most highly flavored imitation of Miss Minchin. "`Dear Sara must speak French to Lady Pitkin. Her accent is so perfect.' She didn't learn her French at the Seminary, at any rate. And there's nothing so clever in her knowing it. She says herself she didn't learn it at all. She just picked it up, because she always heard her papa speak it. And, as to her papa, there is nothing so grand in being an Indian officer."
“亲爱的萨拉一定得去客厅和马斯格雷夫太太谈谈印度”拉维尼娅用她摹仿铭钦女士时最逗人的腔调学舌道“亲爱的萨拉一定得对皮特金夫人说说法语。小姐的发音是那样完美。不管怎样，她的法语不是在这培育院里学的。她懂法语也算不上什么聪明。她自己说过，她根本没学过法语。那只不过是她顺手捡来的，因为她经常听她爸爸说法语。至于她爸爸，作为一个驻在印度的军官也没什么了不起的”
"Dear me," said Lavinia, "how we can calculate!" In fact, it was not to be denied that sixteen and four made twenty -- and twenty was an age the most daring were scarcely bold enough to dream of.
“天哪”拉维尼娅说“我们怎么能算得那么远”事实上，不可否认十六加四等于二十― 而二十岁这岁数，即使最大胆的孩子也几乎不敢想象。
"If you are four you are four," she said severely to Lavinia on an occasion of her having -- it must be confessed -- slapped Lottie and called her "a brat;" "but you will be five next year, and six the year after that. And," opening large, convicting eyes, "it takes sixteen years to make you twenty."
“如果你是四岁，你就是四岁”她严厉地冲着拉维尼娅说，因为有一回拉维尼娅——这是无可抵赖的——打了洛蒂一巴掌，骂“臭娃”，“但是明年你就是五岁，后年六岁。而且”她瞪着一双令人信服的大眼睛“只要再过十六年，就是二十岁”
So the younger children adored Sara. More than once she had been known to have a tea party, made up of these despised ones, in her own room. And Emily had been played with, and Emily's own tea service used -- the one with cups which held quite a lot of much-sweetened weak tea and had blue flowers on them. No one had seen such a very real doll's tea set before. From that afternoon Sara was regarded as a goddess and a queen by the entire alphabet class.
就这样，年龄较小的孩子都崇拜萨拉。大家都知道，她曾不止一次在自己的房间里举行茶话会，组织那些受轻视的孩子参加。埃米莉也被拿来一起玩，而且用的是埃米莉自己的那套茶具― 这套茶具的茶杯上有蓝色的花朵图案，杯里盛着大量加糖较多的淡茶。谁也没见过这么逼真的洋娃娃用的成套茶具。从那天下午起，萨拉就被整个学字母的初级班尊崇为女神和女皇。
Lottle Legh worshipped her to such an extent that if Sara had not been a motherly person, she would have found her tiresome. Lottie had been sent to school by a rather flighty young papa who could not imagine what else to do with her. Her young mother had died, and as the child had been treated like a favorite doll or a very spoiled pet monkey or lap dog ever since the first hour of her life, she was a very appalling little creature. When she wanted anything or did not want anything she wept and howled; and, as she always wanted the things she could not have, and did not want the things that were best for her, her shrill little voice was usually to be heard uplifted in wails in one part of the house or another.
洛蒂·利崇拜萨拉到如此地步，以致如果萨拉不是个慈母般的人儿，就会对她感到厌烦了。洛蒂是被她那好发奇想的年轻爸爸送到学校来的，他想不出除此以外还能拿她怎么办。她妈妈年轻时就死了，这孩子一生下来就像人们心爱的洋娃娃、宠坏了的小猴子和叭儿狗那样被溺爱着，因此她是个会闹得骇人的小家伙。当她要或者不要什么东西时，她又哭又嚎；由于她偏偏总是要那不可能给她的东西，而不要那最有益于她的东西，所以经常能听到她那令人惊然的小嗓门儿在这栋房子的某一部分升级到哀号。
The first time Sara took her in charge was one morning when, on passing a sitting room, she heard both Miss Minchin and Miss Amelia trying to suppress the angry wails of some child who, evidently, refused to be silenced. She refused so strenuously indeed that Miss Minchin was obliged to almost shout -- in a stately and severe manner -- to make herself heard.
萨拉第一次照料洛蒂是有天早晨她经过起居室的时候，听到铭钦女士同阿米莉亚小姐两人在试图平息有个孩子愤怒的哭嚎，而那孩子显然不肯安静下来，憋足了劲就是不肯停，迫使铭钦女士简直喊起来― 态度庄重而又严厉——来压倒洛蒂的嗓门儿。
Her strongest weapon was that in some mysterious way she had found out that a very small girl who had lost her mother was a person who ought to be pitied and made much of. She had probably heard some grown-up people talking her over in the early days, after her mother's death. So it became her habit to make great use of this knowledge.
洛蒂有她最厉害的武器，就是说她已经神不知鬼不觉地发现，一个失去母亲的小女孩儿理应受到别人的怜悯和恩宠。她大概在她母亲死后不久曾听到一些大人谈论过她。所以充分利用这个道理已成为她的习惯了。
"What IS she crying for?" she almost yelled.
“她为了什么要哭”铭钦几乎是大喊了。
"Oh -- oh -- oh!" Sara heard; "I haven't got any mam -- ma-a!"
“呜—呜—呜”萨拉听到女孩呜咽道“我可是没有个妈—妈—妈呀”
"Oh, Lottie!" screamed Miss Amelia. "Do stop, darling! Don't cry! Please don't!"
“噢，洛蒂”阿米莉亚小姐大声叫道“好了，宝宝！别哭了！请别哭了”
"Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!" Lottle howled tempestuously. "Haven't -- got -- any -- mam -- ma-a!"
“呜！呜！呜”洛蒂发作似地嚎陶起来“没有个一妈一妈一妈呀”
"She ought to be whipped," Miss Minchin proclaimed. "You SHALL be whipped, you naughty child!"
“应该抽她一顿”铭钦女士声称“你要挨打了，你这个任性的孩子”
Lottle wailed more loudly than ever. Miss Amelia began to cry. Miss Minchin's voice rose until it almost thundered, then suddenly she sprang up from her chair in impotent indignation and flounced out of the room, leaving Miss Amelia to arrange the matter.
洛蒂啼哭得更响亮了。阿米莉亚小姐也开始哭了。铭钦女士提高嗓门，几乎像雷鸣一般，她猝然跳离座椅，气急败坏地冲出房间，撇下阿米莉亚小姐去收拾局面。
Sara had paused in the hall, wondering if she ought to go into the room, because she had recently begun a friendly acquaintance with Lottie and might be able to quiet her. When Miss Minchin came out and saw her, she looked rather annoyed. She realized that her voice, as heard from inside the room, could not have sounded either dignified or amiable.
此时萨拉正站在走道上踌躇着是否应当进去，因为她最近刚和洛蒂交了朋友，也许能使她平静下来。当铭钦女士走出房间看到萨拉时，看上去很着恼。她知道她从里屋传出来的音调听起来既不庄重又不和蔼。
"Oh, Sara!" she exclaimed, endeavoring to produce a suitable smile.
“啊，萨拉”她叫道，竭力装出一副合适的笑容。
"I stopped," explained Sara, "because I knew it was Lottie -- and I thought, perhaps -- just perhaps, I could make her be quiet. May I try, Miss Minchin?"
“我站停在这里”萨拉大声说“是因为我知道那是洛蒂——我就想，也许——仅仅是也许吧，我能让她安静下来。我可以试试吗，铭钦女士”
"If you can, you are a clever child," answered Miss Minchin, drawing in her mouth sharply. Then, seeing that Sara looked slightly chilled by her asperity, she changed her manner. "But you are clever in everything," she said in her approving way. "I dare say you can manage her. Go in." And she left her.
“你能做到！你是个聪明孩子嘛”铭钦女士回答，猛地抿紧了嘴。接着，看到萨拉由于她的粗鲁显得有点儿沮丧，她改变了态度“不过你在各方面都是聪明的”她以赞许的口气说“我敢说你能管住她。进去吧”说罢丢下萨拉就走了。
When Sara entered the room, Lottie was lying upon the floor, screaming and kicking her small fat legs violently, and Miss Amelia was bending over her in consternation and despair, looking quite red and damp with heat. Lottie had always found, when in her own nursery at home, that kicking and screaming would always be quieted by any means she insisted on. Poor plump Miss Amelia was trying first one method, and then another.
萨拉进屋时，洛蒂正躺在地板上尖声叫喊，一双小胖腿猛烈地乱踢着，阿米莉亚小姐又惊惶又绝望地弯身蹲在她身边，急得面孔红通通、汗涔涔。洛蒂在她家的育婴室里早就发现又踢又叫总是以满足她所执著的要求来平息的。可怜的胖小姐阿米莉亚试用了一个又一个方法都无法奏效。
"Poor darling," she said one moment, "I know you haven't any mamma, poor --" Then in quite another tone, "If you don't stop, Lottie, I will shake you. Poor little angel! There --! You wicked, bad, detestable child, I will smack you! I will!"
“可怜的宝贝儿”她等了个空儿说“我知道你是没有妈妈的，可怜—”然后换了完全不同的另一种口气说“如果你不停止哭闹，洛蒂，我就要打你了。不幸的小天使！得了——得了！你这顽皮可憎的坏孩子，我要扇你一巴掌！我会的”
Sara went to them quietly. She did not know at all what she was going to do, but she had a vague inward conviction that it would be better not to say such different kinds of things quite so helplessly and excitedly.
萨拉不声不响地走到她们跟前。她根本不知道自已究竟要做什么，但是内心里有个模糊的信念，觉得最好还是不要讲这种毫无用处的、刺激她的话。
"Miss Amelia," she said in a low voice, "Miss Minchin says I may try to make her stop -- may I?"
“阿米莉亚小姐”她低声说“铭钦女士说我可以试试让她停止哭闹——我可以吗”
Miss Amelia turned and looked at her hopelessly. "Oh, DO you think you can?" she gasped.
阿米莉亚小姐转过身子，一筹莫展地看着她，喘吁吁地说“哦，你认为你能吗”
But she crept out of the room, and was very much relieved to find an excuse for doing it.
于是她偷偷地溜出房间，找到这样一个借口走开实在是莫大的解脱。
"I don't know whether I CAN, answered Sara, still in her half-whisper; "but I will try."
“我不知道是否能做到”萨拉回答，仍然是半自语地说“但是我要试一试”
Miss Amelia stumbled up from her knees with a heavy sigh, and Lottie's fat little legs kicked as hard as ever.
阿米莉亚小姐趔趄着站起身来，深深叹了口气，而洛蒂的小胖腿还是那样乱踢着。
"If you will steal out of the room," said Sara, "I will stay with her."
“你要是悄悄离开房间”萨拉说“我就留下和她在一起”
"Oh, Sara!" almost whimpered Miss Amelia. "We never had such a dreadful child before. I don't believe we can keep her."
“唉，萨拉”阿米莉亚小姐几乎是呜咽着“我们从没有过这么可怕的孩子。我不信我们还能把她留下”
Sara stood by the howling furious child for a few moments, and looked down at her without saying anything. Then she sat down flat on the floor beside her and waited. Except for Lottie's angry screams, the room was quite quiet. This was a new state of affairs for little Miss Legh, who was accustomed, when she screamed, to hear other people protest and implore and command and coax by turns. To lie and kick and shriek, and find the only person near you not seeming to mind in the least, attracted her attention. She opened her tight-shut streaming eyes to see who this person was. And it was only another little girl. But it was the one who owned Emily and all the nice things. And she was looking at her steadily and as if she was merely thinking. Having paused for a few seconds to find this out, Lottie thought she must begin again, but the quiet of the room and of Sara's odd, interested face made her first howl rather half-hearted.
萨拉在这嚎哭、撒野的孩子旁边站了一会儿，俯视着她，没有说任何话。然后她在地板上径直坐下来，守在旁边等着。除了洛蒂愤怒的尖叫，房间里寂然无声。对利小姐来说这可是个新情况，她本来习惯于在哭叫时听到别人轮番地进行谴责、恳求、命令、劝诱。现在躺在地上乱踢乱叫，却发现身旁唯一的人似乎一点儿都不在乎，这情况吸引了她的注意力。她睁开紧闭着的泪眼，想看看旁边这个人是谁。看到的却只是个小姑娘。不过那是拥有埃米莉以及所有那些好玩意儿的那个小姑娘，她正镇定地望着自己，一副若有所思的样子。洛蒂暂停了几秒钟，本来是为了看看是怎么一回事，现在觉得必须重新开始，但是宁静的房间以及萨拉那奇特、关注并平和的面容使洛蒂的第一声嚎哭有点半心半意。
Sara looked at her still more steadily, but with a sort of understanding in her eyes.
萨拉更加镇定地看着她，但流露出一种理解的目光。
"I -- haven't -- any -- ma -- ma -- ma-a!" she announced; but her voice was not so strong.
“我一没有一任何一妈一妈一妈妈”她呼喊道，可是嗓音却不那么有力。
"Neither have I," she said.
“我也没有妈妈”她说。
"She went to heaven," she said. "But I am sure she comes out sometimes to see me -- though I don't see her. So does yours. Perhaps they can both see us now. Perhaps they are both in this room."
“她到天堂去了”她说“但是我肯定她有时出来看望我― 虽然我看不见她。你妈妈也是这样。也许现在她们俩都能看见我们。也许她们俩都在这间屋里”
This was so unexpected that it was astounding. Lottie actually dropped her legs, gave a wriggle, and lay and stared. A new idea will stop a crying child when nothing else will. Also it was true that while Lottie disliked Miss Minchin, who was cross, and Miss Amelia, who was foolishly indulgent, she rather liked Sara, little as she knew her. She did not want to give up her grievance, but her thoughts were distracted from it, so she wriggled again, and, after a sulky sob, said, "Where is she?"
这一点是如此出乎预料，令人惊奇。洛蒂真的放下了她的双腿，扭动了一下身子，躺在那儿睁大眼睛望着。在别无他法的情况中，一个新念头可以阻止儿童啼哭。还有一个真实情况：洛蒂不喜欢铭钦女士，她太粗暴，也不喜欢阿米莉亚小姐，她只知道愚蠢地纵容，但她很喜欢萨拉，虽然还不怎么了解对方。她并不打算放弃诉苦，但是她的思想已被岔开，于是又扭了一下身子，赌气地抽噎了一下说“她到哪里去了”
Sara paused a moment. Because she had been told that her mamma was in heaven, she had thought a great deal about the matter, and her thoughts had not been quite like those of other people.
萨拉停顿片刻。因为她曾被告知妈妈在天堂里，关于这事儿她想过很多，而她的想法并不跟其他人的完全一样。
Lottle sat bolt upright, and looked about her. She was a pretty, little, curly-headed creature, and her round eyes were like wet forget-me-nots. If her mamma had seen her during the last half-hour, she might not have thought her the kind of child who ought to be related to an angel.
洛蒂坐得笔直，望着四下。她是个漂亮的长着满头鬈发的小家伙，一双圆眼睛像露湿的勿忘我花。如果她妈妈在此前半小时内看到了她的胡闹，恐怕就会明白她的孩子不是那种可以称为天使的孩子。
Sara went on talking. Perhaps some people might think that what she said was rather like a fairy story, but it was all so real to her own imagination that Lottie began to listen in spite of herself. She had been told that her mamma had wings and a crown, and she had been shown pictures of ladies in beautiful white nightgowns, who were said to be angels. But Sara seemed to be telling a real story about a lovely country where real people were.
萨拉继续讲着。可能有人会认为她所讲的有点儿像童话故事，但是在她的幻想中，却都是那样真实，洛蒂开始不由自主地听下去。人家曾告诉萨拉她妈妈长着翅膀，头戴花冠，她还看到过贵妇淑女们穿着美丽的白色睡袍的像片，据说她们都是天使。而萨拉现在讲的似乎是一处可爱的国土上的真实故事，那里居住着真实的人。
"There are fields and fields of flowers," she said, forgetting herself, as usual, when she began, and talking rather as if she were in a dream, "fields and fields of lilies -- and when the soft wind blows over them it wafts the scent of them into the air -- and everybody always breathes it, because the soft wind is always blowing. And little children run about in the lily fields and gather armfuls of them, and laugh and make little wreaths. And the streets are shining. And people are never tired, however far they walk. They can float anywhere they like. And there are walls made of pearl and gold all round the city, but they are low enough for the people to go and lean on them, and look down on to the earth and smile, and send beautiful messages."
“那里一片片田野上开满了鲜花”她说，像往常那样，一讲起来就忘掉了自己，讲着讲着就好像沉醉在梦幻之中—“一片片田野上尽是百合花——当柔和的风吹过，空中飘送着花香——人人呼吸着花香，因为柔和的风总是不停地吹着。小孩子们在百合花的田野里奔跑着，采了一抱一抱的百合花，边嬉笑边编结小花环。街道上亮光光的。不论走多远也不会感到疲劳。他们可以飞到任何爱去的地方。城市的围墙由珍珠和黄金筑成，但是城墙相当低，便于人们凭依在上俯瞰人间，并微笑着传送美好的祝愿”
"I want to go there," she cried. "I -- haven't any mamma in this school."
“我要到那里去”她喊道“我——在这学校里没有个妈妈”
"I will be your mamma," she said. "We will play that you are my little girl. And Emily shall be your sister."
“我会做你的妈妈的”她说“我们来一起玩，你就是我的小女孩儿。埃米莉就是你妹妹”
Whatsoever story she had begun to tell, Lottie would, no doubt, have stopped crying, and been fascinated into listening; but there was no denying that this story was prettier than most others. She dragged herself close to Sara, and drank in every word until the end came -- far too soon. When it did come, she was so sorry that she put up her lip ominously.
无论萨拉开始讲的是什么故事，毫无疑问洛蒂都会停止哭泣，人迷地聆听，但是不可否认，这比其他大多数故事更美丽动听。她把身体挪近萨拉，全神倾听着每句话，直到故事的结尾——这结尾来得太快。当结尾真的到来时，她感到多么遗憾，又不祥地撅起嘴来。
Lottie's dimples all began to show themselves.
洛蒂的一双酒窝开始全都显现出来了。
"Shall she?" she said.
“她愿做我的妹妹吗”她说。
Sara saw the danger signal, and came out of her dream. She took hold of the chubby hand and pulled her close to her side with a coaxing little laugh.
萨拉看到了这危险的信号，从梦幻中清醒过来。她握住那胖乎乎的小手，把洛蒂拉到身边，略带笑地哄劝起来。
"Yes," answered Sara, jumping to her feet. "Let us go and tell her. And then I will wash your face and brush your hair."
“是啊”萨拉回答，说着一跃而起“我们去告诉她。然后我来给你洗脸梳头”
To which Lottie agreed quite cheerfully, and trotted out of the room and upstairs with her, without seeming even to remember that the whole of the last hour's tragedy had been caused by the fact that she had refused to be washed and brushed for lunch and Miss Minchin had been called in to use her majestic authority.
洛蒂欣然答应，跟萨拉一起跑出房间上楼去，似乎已不记得刚才整整一小时的悲剧原是由于她拒绝在午饭前梳洗而请来铭钦女士施展权威的缘故。
And from that time Sara was an adopted mother.
以这时起，萨拉当上了养母。