1 Sara

A Little Princess Retold from the Frances HodgSon Burnett original

《小公主》改编自弗朗西丝·霍奇森·伯内特原著

CHAPTER 1 Sara Not terribly long ago, on a dark winter's day, a little girl sat in a coach with her father and stared out the windows at the broad, fog- covered streets of London. It seemed to her like only yesterday that they had been strolling the sunny streets of India. But, of course, it hadn't been yesterday. They had taken a long sea voyage, and now they were here in this new and strange place. Sara was only seven, but felt very much

第一章萨拉不久以前，在一个阴暗的冬日，一个小女孩和父亲坐在一辆马车里，凝视着窗外雾蒙蒙的伦敦宽阔街道。 在她看来，他们在印度阳光明媚的街道上漫步，仿佛就在昨天。 但是，当然，这不是昨天。 他们进行了一次漫长的海上航行，现在来到了这个陌生的新地方。 萨拉只有七岁，但感觉很好

older, as though she had lived a long, long time. "Papa," she said, as the coach started to slow down. "Papa?" Captain Crewe looked down at his daughter. "Yes, my Little Missus?" Captain Crewe was a boyish, happy-go-lucky sort of man with a post in the British army in India. "Little Missus" was his pet name for her because she seemed to be so old-fashioned and wise for her age. Sara loved it when he called her that. "Are we there yet?" she whispered. The driver steered the coach through tall iron gates and into a cobblestone square. "Yes, Sara, we are finally here." Although he tried to hide his sadness, Sara knew that he wished they hadn't arrived. For a long time now, he had been preparing her for "here"—the boarding school

年纪大了，好像她已经活了很久很久。 “爸爸，”当马车开始减速时，她说。 “爸爸?”克鲁船长低头看着他的女儿。 “怎么了，我的小太太？”克鲁船长是个孩子气、随遇而安的人，在驻印度的英国军队里有个职位。 “小夫人”是他对她的爱称，因为就她的年龄而言，她显得既老派又聪明。 莎拉很喜欢他这么叫她。 “我们到了吗？”她小声说。 司机驾驶着马车穿过高高的铁门，进入一个鹅卵石广场。 “是的，萨拉，我们终于到了。” 虽然他试图掩饰自己的悲伤，但萨拉知道他希望他们没有来。 很长一段时间以来，他一直在为她准备“这里”——寄宿学校

that was to be her new home. Because the climate of India was bad for children—either blazing hot, or cold and wet during the monsoons—they were generally sent away to England. She had seen other children go, and sometimes felt excited about leaving on such an adventure herself, but was sad and scared at the thought of parting from her father. "It will only be for a little while," her papa had always said. Everyone would be nice to her there, and he would send her plenty of books that she would devour. Before she knew it, she would be grown up and smart enough to come back to India and take care of him. Sara liked the thought of that. Since her mother had died when Sara was born, only the two of them were left, to take care of each other. For that reason only, she decided she would go. "Well," she said, teasing him, "if I have

那将是她的新家。 因为印度的气候对孩子们不利——要么酷热难耐，要么季风期间又冷又湿——他们通常被送到英国。 她看到别的孩子都去了，有时也为自己去冒险而感到兴奋，但一想到要和父亲分开，她就感到悲伤和害怕。 “这只会持续一段时间，”她爸爸总是这样说。 那里的每个人都对她很好，他会给她送很多书，她会狼吞虎咽地读。 在她意识到这一点之前，她就会长大并足够聪明地回到印度照顾他。 萨拉喜欢这个想法。 萨拉出生时母亲就去世了，只剩下她们两个人，互相照顾。 仅仅因为这个原因，她决定去。 “好吧，”她揶揄他说，“如果有的话

plenty of books, I guess I shall be all right." Her father laughed and kissed her. He wasn't sure he would be all right, though, without his sprightly little companion Sara, but he knew he must keep that a secret for her sake. The driver let them out in front of a big brick building that seemed fussy and old, but at the same time, stiff and cold. An engraved brass plate on the front door read: MISS MINCHIN Select Boarding School for Young Ladies They pulled open the heavy door and went inside. The first thing Sara thought of when Miss Minchin entered the room was that she, too, was fussy and old, but somehow also stiff and cold. Miss Minchin smiled a fake and fishy smile.

有很多书，我想我不会有事的。” 她的父亲笑着吻了她。 不过，他不确定没有他活泼的小伙伴萨拉，他会不会过得很好，但他知道，为了她，他必须保守这个秘密。 司机让他们在一座高大的砖房前下车，这座砖房看起来又旧又乱，但同时又僵硬又冰冷。 前门上刻着一块铜板：明钦小姐为年轻女子选择寄宿学校。他们拉开沉重的门，走了进去。 当明钦小姐走进房间时，萨拉首先想到的是，她也很挑剔，年纪也大了，但不知怎的，她又僵硬又冷漠。 明钦小姐露出假的、可疑的微笑。

"It will be a great honor to take care of such a clever and beautiful child, Captain Crewe," she flattered Sara. Sara thought about Miss Minchin's words. She supposed that she was clever for her age— she had often heard people say so to her papa— Miss Minchin was right about that. However, although mistaken, Sara was thinking that she was not beautiful at all. "I am the skinniest, ugliest girl in the world," she thought. "Miss Minchin is a big storyteller." Later she would learn that Miss Minchin said the same things to each parent who brought a child to her school. Sara listened while her papa and Miss Minchin talked. Sara was to be given anything she asked for, they agreed, and Captain Crewe's business manager, of the firm Barrow and Skipworth, would pay all her bills.

“克鲁船长，能照顾这样一个聪明漂亮的孩子是我莫大的荣幸，”她奉承萨拉。 萨拉琢磨着明钦小姐的话。 她自以为比她的年龄要聪明——她经常听到人们这样对她爸爸说——明钦小姐说得对。 然而，尽管萨拉错了，她还是认为自己一点也不漂亮。 “我是世界上最瘦、最丑的女孩，”她想。 “明钦小姐很会讲故事。” 后来她才知道，明钦小姐对每个带孩子来她学校的家长都说同样的话。 萨拉听着爸爸和明钦小姐谈话。 萨拉要什么就给她什么，他们同意了，克鲁船长的巴罗-斯基普沃斯公司的业务经理将支付她的所有账单。