The new boy's first week at a Public School is probably the most wretched he will ever pass in his life. It is not that he is bullied … it is merely that he is utterly lonely, is in constant fear of making mistakes, and so makes for himself troubles that do not exist.

新来的男孩，在公学度过的第一周，恐怕是他一生中，度过的最悲惨的日子。不仅要面对各种各样的欺侮，还要面对自己内心的孤独，对犯错误的恐惧，以及对一些其实并不存在的困难的恐惧。

When his hero wrote home at the end of his second day, 'it did not need a very clever mother to read between the lines and see her son was hopelessly miserable.' It was worse for Alan, for he could not even merge inconspicuously while all his belongings were stuck at Southampton by the strike. At the end of his first week:

当故事的主人公第二天晚上给家里写信时，沃这样描述：「哪怕这母亲是个傻子，也能从字里行间看出，她的儿子正处于黑暗而无垠的悲惨境地中。」对艾伦来说，情况甚至比这还要糟，他不仅不知道怎样融入新环境，而且因为罢工，他的行李还一直被困在南安普顿。一周后，他写信说：

Its an awful nuisance here without any of my clothes or anything. … It's rather hard getting settled down. Do write soon. There was no work on Wednesday except for 'Hall' or prep. And then its a business finding my classrooms what books to get but I will be more or less settled after a week or so …

这边没有任何衣服或其它东西简直烦死我了……很难在这边安顿下来。快回信。星期三什么事也没有就是在宿舍写作业找教室订教材一周后差不多会好一些……

But a week later Alan was not much better off:

一周后，艾伦确实好了些：