(单词翻译:单击)
Ermengarde shook her head so that the pigtail wobbled.
埃芒加德摇摇头，发辫摆动着。
"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。”
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 looked out of the window into the dingy square,
萨拉望着窗外晦暗的场院，
where the sparrows were hopping and twittering on the wet, iron railings and the sooty branches of the trees.
那里有麻雀在潮湿的铁栏杆上和乌黑的树枝上蹦蹦跳跳，吱吱喳喳。
She reflected a few moments.
她沉思了一会儿。
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.
她常常听人家说她“聪明”，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 don't know," she said. "I can't tell."
“我不知道，”她说，“我没法讲。”
Then, seeing a mournful look on the round, chubby face, she gave a little laugh and changed the subject.
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。
"Would you like to see Emily?" she inquired.
“你愿意见一下埃米莉吗？”她问道。
"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。
"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。
"Is it true," Ermengarde whispered, as they went through the hall—
“这事可是真的，”穿过大厅时，埃芒加德悄声说——
"is it true that you have a playroom all to yourself?"
“你真的有一间完全属于自己的游戏室？”
"Yes," Sara answered. "Papa asked Miss Minchin to let me have one, because—
“是的，”萨拉回答，“爸爸要求铭钦女士让我有一间，因为——
well, it was because when I play I make up stories and tell them to myself,
哦，那是因为我玩儿的时候，常编故事讲给自己听，
and I don't like people to hear me. It spoils it if I think people listen."
我不喜欢别人听见。如果我知道别人在听，那就讲不成了。”
They had reached the passage leading to Sara's room by this time,
此时她俩已走上通向萨拉房间的过道，
and Ermengarde stopped short, staring, and quite losing her breath.
埃芒加德忽然站住了，瞪大眼睛，屏住呼吸。
"You make up stories!" she gasped. "Can you do that—as well as speak French? Can you?"
“你会编故事！”她气喘吁吁地说。“你编故事——能像你说法语一样好吗？你能吗？”
Sara looked at her in simple surprise. "Why, anyone can make up things," she said. "Have you never tried?"
萨拉看着她，简直有点吃惊。“是呀，任何人都能编造的，”萨拉说。“你从来没有试过吗？”
She put her hand warningly on Ermengarde's. "Let us go very quietly to the door," she whispered,"and then I will open it quite suddenly; perhaps we may catch her."
她警觉地把自己的手放到埃芒加德手上。“让我们悄悄地往门口走，”她低声说，
