(单词翻译:单击)
"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。”
"Do you like it?" fluttered Ermengarde. "I—I like yours."
“你喜欢它吗？”埃芒加德受宠若惊。“我——我也喜欢你的名字。”
Miss St. John's chief trouble in life was that she had a clever father. Sometimes this seemed to her a dreadful calamity.
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。
If you have a father who knows everything, who speaks seven or eight languages,
如果你有个无所不知的父亲，会讲七、八种外语，
and has thousands of volumes which he has apparently learned by heart,
记得住成千册书的内容，
he frequently expects you to be familiar with the contents of your lesson books at least;
他便会要求你至少熟悉课本的内容，
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.
也可能认为你应该记住一些历史事件，能做法语练习。
Ermengarde was a severe trial to Mr. St. John.
对于圣约翰先生来说，埃芒加德是个十分令人头痛的问题。
He could not understand how a child of his could be a notably and unmistakably dull creature who never shone in anything.
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。
"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！”
If her Aunt Eliza had been slow to learn and quick to forget a thing entirely when she had learned it,
如果说她姑姑伊莱扎学习迟钝并很快就彻底忘个干净，
Ermengarde was strikingly like her. She was the monumental dunce of the school, and it could not be denied.
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。
"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。
Consequently Ermengarde spent the greater part of her life in disgrace or in tears.
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。
She learned things and forgot them; or, if she remembered them, she did not understand them.
她学了又忘；换句话说，即使她记住了，却不知道是什么意思。
So it was natural that, having made Sara's acquaintance, she should sit and stare at her with profound admiration.
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。
"You can speak French, can't you?" she said respectfully.
“你能说法语，是吗？”她恭敬地说。
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。
"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。”
"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！”
"Why?" inquired Sara, curiously.
“为什么？”萨拉好奇地问。
