Chapter 1

Anne of Green Gables

《绿山墙的安妮》

CHAPTER I Mrs. Rachel Lynde is Surprised Mrs. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies" eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde's Hollow it was a quiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde's door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof.

第一章 雷切尔·林德太太大吃一惊 雷切尔·林德太太住在埃文利主路下坡的小山谷里，山谷边长着桤木和凤仙花，一条小溪穿谷而过，它发源自远方卡思伯特家老宅的树林深处； 早年流淌在那片树林时，这条小溪河道曲折、水流湍急，藏着许多深潭与瀑布的秘密； 可流到林德山谷后，它就变成了一条安静规矩的小溪——哪怕是小溪，经过雷切尔·林德太太家门口，也得守点体面规矩呀； 它大概也清楚，雷切尔太太正坐在窗边，紧盯着路过的一切，从小溪到孩子都不例外，要是看到什么奇怪不对劲的事，不弄清来龙去脉她绝不会罢休。

There are plenty of people in Avonlea and out of it, who can attend closely to their neighbor's business by dint of neglecting their own; but Mrs. Rachel Lynde was one of those capable creatures who can manage their own concerns and those of other folks into the bargain. She was a notable housewife; her work was always done and well done; she "ran" the Sewing Circle, helped run the Sunday-school, and was the strongest prop of the Church Aid Society and Foreign Missions Auxiliary. Yet with all this Mrs. Rachel found abundant time to sit for hours at her kitchen window, knitting "cotton warp" quilts-she had knitted sixteen of them, as Avonlea housekeepers were wont to tell in awed voices-and keeping a sharp eye on the main road that crossed the hollow and wound up the steep red hill beyond. Since Avonlea occupied a little triangular peninsula jutting out into the Gulf of St. Lawrence with water on two sides of it, anybody who went out of it or into it had to pass over that hill road and so run the unseen gauntlet of Mrs. Rachel's all-seeing eye. She was sitting there one afternoon in early June. The sun was coming in at the window warm

不管是埃文利镇内还是镇外，都有不少人，只顾着盯邻居的闲事，反倒把自己的事抛在一边； 可雷切尔·林德太太是那种能干的人，既能管好自己的事，还能顺便操心别人的事。 她是远近闻名的能干主妇； 她的活儿总是做得又快又好； 她牵头办缝纫小组，帮忙打理主日学校，还是教会援助社和海外传教辅助团最得力的支柱。 就算忙了这么多事，雷切尔太太还能抽出好几个小时坐在厨房窗边织"棉经"棉被——她已经织了十六条了，埃文利的主妇们说起这事都惊叹不已，同时她还紧盯着穿过山谷、蜿蜒爬上远处陡峭红山的主路。 埃文利坐落在圣劳伦斯湾伸出的三角形小半岛上，两边都临海，任何人进出镇子都得经过这条山路，所以都躲不开雷切尔太太那双无所不见的眼睛。 六月初的一个下午，她正坐在那儿。 暖洋洋的阳光从窗户照进来

and bright; the orchard on the slope below the house was in a bridal flush of pinkywhite bloom, hummed over by a myriad of bees. Thomas Lynde-a meek little man whom Avonlea people called "Rachel Lynde's husband"-was sowing his late turnip seed on the hill field beyond the barn; and Matthew Cuthbert ought to have been sowing his on the big red brook field away over by Green Gables. Mrs. Rachel knew that he ought because she had heard him tell Peter Morrison the evening before in William J. Blair's store over at Carmody that he meant to sow his turnip seed the next afternoon. Peter had asked him, of course, for Matthew Cuthbert had never been known to volunteer information about anything in his whole life. And yet here was Matthew Cuthbert, at half-past three on the afternoon of a busy day, placidly driving over the hollow and up the hill; moreover, he wore a white collar and his best suit of clothes, which was plain proof that he was going out of Avonlea; and he had the buggy and the sorrel mare, which betokened that he was going a considerable distance.

明亮极了； 房子下坡的果园开满了粉白色的花，像新娘晕着红晕的婚纱，成千上万只蜜蜂在花丛里嗡嗡作响。 托马斯·林德——这个温顺的小个子男人，埃文利人都叫他"雷切尔·林德太太的丈夫"——正在谷仓外的山坡地里播种晚萝卜种子； 而马修·卡思伯特本该在绿山墙旁远一点的大红河谷地里播种他的萝卜种子。 雷切尔太太知道这事，因为前一天晚上，她在卡莫迪的威廉·J·布莱尔杂货店里听见马修告诉彼得·莫里森，他打算第二天下午播萝卜种子。 这话当然是彼得问出来的，因为马修·卡思伯特活了这么大，从来没人见过他主动说起自己的事。 可现在都下午三点半了，大忙日子里，马修却慢悠悠赶着车穿过山谷往坡上来了； 而且他还戴了白领，穿了最好的西装，这明摆着他要出埃文利远门； 他还驾着轻便马车，牵着栗色母马，这说明他要去的地方可不近。

Now, where was Matthew Cuthbert going and why was he going there? Had it been any other man in Avonlea, Mrs. Rachel, deftly putting this and that together, might have given a pretty good guess as to both questions. But Matthew so rarely went from home that it must be something pressing and unusual which was taking him; he was the shyest man alive and hated to have to go among strangers or to any place where he might have to talk. Matthew, dressed up with a white collar and driving in a buggy, was something that didn't happen often. Mrs. Rachel, ponder as she might, could make nothing of it and her afternoon's enjoyment was spoiled. "I'll just step over to Green Gables after tea and find out from Marilla where he's gone and why," the worthy woman finally concluded. "He doesn't generally go to town this time of year and he NEVER visits; if he'd run out of turnip seed he wouldn't dress up and take the buggy to go for more; he wasn't driving fast enough to be going for a doctor. Yet something must have happened since last night to start him off. I'm clean puzzled, that's what, and I won't know a minute's peace of

话说，马修·卡思伯特这是要去哪儿？他为什么要去那儿呢？ 要是换做埃文利别的男人，雷切尔太太把线索拼一拼，早就猜个八九不离十了。 可马修极少出门，能让他出门的一定是要紧又不寻常的事； 他是全世界最害羞的男人，最讨厌去陌生人堆里，或是任何需要跟人搭话的地方。 像这样穿戴整齐戴白领子，还驾着马车出门，这种事可不常见。 雷切尔太太绞尽脑汁也想不出头绪，一下午的好心情都给破坏了。 "喝完茶我就去一趟绿山墙，问问玛丽拉他去了哪儿、为什么去，"这位好心人终于拿定了主意。 他这个时节一般不会进城，也从来不会走亲访友； 要是缺了萝卜种子，他才不会打扮好驾马车去买； 他赶车的速度不快，也不像是去看医生。 可肯定是昨晚之后出了什么事，才让他出门的。 我真是一头雾水，不弄清楚这事，我一分钟都不得安宁。

mind or conscience until I know what has taken Matthew Cuthbert out of Avonlea today." Accordingly after tea Mrs. Rachel set out; she had not far to go; the big, rambling, orchard-embowered house where the Cuthberts lived was a scant quarter of a mile up the road from Lynde's Hollow. To be sure, the long lane made it a good deal further. Matthew Cuthbert's father, as shy and silent as his son after him, had got as far away as he possibly could from his fellow men without actually retreating into the woods when he founded his homestead. Green Gables was built at the furthest edge of his cleared land and there it was to this day, barely visible from the main road along which all the other Avonlea houses were so sociably situated. Mrs. Rachel Lynde did not call living in such a place LIVING at all. "It's just STAYING, that's what," she said as she stepped along the deep-rutted, grassy lane bordered with wild rose bushes. "It's no wonder Matthew and Marilla are both a little odd, living away back here by themselves. Trees aren't much company, though dear knows if they were there'd be enough of them. I'd

除非弄清楚今天马修·卡斯伯特为什么离开埃文利，不然我没法安心。" 于是喝完茶后，雷切尔太太就出门了； 她要走的路并不远； 卡斯伯特一家住的那座被果园环抱的宽敞大宅子，离林德谷不到四分之一英里路。 不过，长长的小路确实把距离拉长了不少。 马修·卡斯伯特的父亲和儿子一样害羞沉默，当年建农庄的时候，他拼尽全力住得离旁人远远的，只差没直接躲进森林里。 绿山墙建在他开垦荒地的最边缘，一直到今天都在那儿，从主路上几乎看不见它，而埃文利其他房子热热闹闹都挤在主路边。 雷切尔·林德才不觉得住这种地方叫过日子。 "这只能叫凑活着住，就是这么回事，"她一边说，一边沿着车辙深深、长满青草、路边爬满野蔷薇的小路往前走。 "难怪马修和玛丽拉都有点古怪，孤零零住在这么偏远的地方。 树可陪不了人，天知道，这儿的树倒是够多的。 我宁愿