He was a famous story-teller; after I had acquired language he used to spell clumsily into my hand his cleverest anecdotes, and nothing pleased him more than to have me repeat them at an opportune moment.
父亲是一个很会讲故事的人,在我掌握了语言以后,他常常会笨拙地在我手上拼写字词,并以此来讲述他的那些奇闻逸事。在“讲完”故事后,他会让我马上“复述”出来,再也没有什么比重复故事更令他高兴的事了。
I was in the North, enjoying the last beautiful days of the summer of 1896, when I heard the news of my father's death. He had had a short illness, there had been a brief time of acute suffering, then all was over. This was my first great sorrow—my first personal experience with death.
1896年,当时我住在北方,正惬意地享受着夏日最后的时光,就是在那个时候,我听到了父亲的死讯。他死于一次突发疾病,经历了短暂的痛苦后,人就这么离去了。父亲的死亡是我人生中第一次感受到的巨大悲恸——也使我第一次对死亡有了自己的认识。
How shall I write of my mother? She is so near to me that it almost seems indelicate to speak of her.
我又如何描述我的母亲呢?她离我是那么近,对我而言,用语言来描述她是近乎失礼的举动。
For a long time I regarded my little sister as an intruder. I knew that I had ceased to be my mother's only darling, and the thought filled me with jealousy. She sat in my mother's lap constantly, where I used to sit, and seemed to take up all her care and time. One day something happened which seemed to me to be adding insult to injury.
有很长一段时间,我都把我的小妹妹视做一个入侵者。当时,我知道我已经不再是母亲唯一的宝贝,我的心里充满了嫉妒。妹妹总是坐在母亲的膝盖上,那里本是我坐的位置,而现在却被她完全占领了,她受到了所有的呵护与关爱。有一天,发生了一件不愉快的事情,那件事使我觉得受到了莫大的侮辱。
At that time I had a much-petted, much-abused doll, which I afterward named Nancy.
那时我有一个成天抱在手里,既宠又恨的洋娃娃,后来我给她起名叫南希。