A Little Princess

A LITTLE PRINCESS

伯内特

356个笔记

◆ THE WHOLE OF THE STORY

pore v.

direct one's attention on something 钻研，沉思，深思熟虑，专心研读

>> pores over

>> Stories are something like letters. When a letter is written, how often one remembers things omitted and says, “Ah, why did I not tell them that?” In writing a book one relates all that one remembers at the time, and if one told all that really happened perhaps the book would never end.

garret [ˈɡærət] 阁楼，顶楼小屋

floor consisting of open space at the top of a house just below roof,often used for storage

synonym: loft; attic;

>> garret

>> come out of the story shadowland

>> slouching, idle

>> many children went to see it and liked Becky and Lottie and Melchisedec

◆ Chapter 1 Sara

thoroughfare [ˈθʌrəfeə(r)]

a public road from one place to another 大街，大道，通衢

>> thoroughfares

像极了你自己的爸爸

>> “What is it, darling?” Captain Crewe answered, holding her closer and looking down into her face. “What is Sara thinking of?”

>> cuddling still closer to him

>> “Yes, little Sara, it is. We have reached it at last.” And though she was only seven years old, she knew that he felt sad when he said it.

It seemed to her many years since he had begun to prepare her mind for “the place,” as she always called it. Her mother had died when she was born, so she had never known or missed her. Her young, handsome, rich, petting father seemed to be the only relation she had in the world. They had always played together and been fond of each other. She only knew he was rich because she had heard people say so when they thought she was not listening, and she had also heard them say that when she grew up she would be rich, too. She did not know all that being rich meant. She had always lived in a beautiful bungalow, and had been used to seeing many servants who made salaams to her and called her “Missee Sahib,” and gave her her own way in everything. She had had toys and pets and an ayah who worshipped her, and she had gradually learned that people who were rich had these things. That, however, was all she knew about it.

During her short life only one thing had troubled her, and that thing was “the place” she was to be taken to some day. The climate of India was very bad for children, and as soon as possible they were sent away from it—generally to England and to school. She had seen other children go away, and had heard their fathers and mothers talk about the letters they received from them. She had known that she would be obliged to go also, and though sometimes her father’s stories of the voyage and the new country had attracted her, she had been troubled by the thought that he could not stay with her.

yeah, books are the closest friends of human race, in which you can tell everything, attain lots of meaningful things. The friend will never refuse you, and it will always prepare to meet with you, whenever and forever.

>> She did not care very much for other little girls, but if she had plenty of books she could console herself. She liked books more than anything else, and was, in fact, always inventing stories of beautiful things and telling them to herself.

challenge the challenge；Choosing the tough road is the easiest way to grow up.

>> As she sat down in one of the stiff mahogany chairs, Sara cast one of her quick looks about her.

>> taking Sara’s hand and stroking it.

elated: full of high-spirited delight兴高采烈的，喜气洋洋的

>> elated

>> elated

>> parlor boarder,

物以稀为贵，稀有的才珍贵，拥有的超出所爱的也就不再珍贵了。

>> “Papa,” said Sara, “you see, if I went out and bought a new doll every few days I should have more than I could be fond of.

>> “What a darling little creature!”

>> embroidered

>> braids

>> frocks

>> mantle

1~ (sb) good morning, farewell, etc. (formal) to say 'good morning', etc. to sb 向（某人）问候、道别等

>> bade each other good—by

>> held the lapels of his coat

>> set the whole house in an uproar

凡事有自己的处理方式和主见

>> a child was given her own way in everything

>> and real Valenciennes lace on her underclothing

◆ Chapter 2 A French Lesson

>> petticoats

>> lace frills

>> sniffed Lavinia, spitefully

>> tremendously long eyelashes

>> ABASHED

>> She was a child full of imaginings and whimsical thoughts

whimsical / 'hwimzikəl /

adj.

1异想天开的，想入非非的

2古怪的；怪异的

3反复无常的；难以预料的

>> whimsical

🍃French Knowledge🍃

comme elle est drol

means it is funny like what she said.

>> “Comme elle est drole!”

>> “Comme elle est drole!”

>> Sara was a very fine little person, and had a gentle, appreciative way of saying,

>> The pupils bowed ceremoniously

punctilious:（formal）一丝不苟的；循规蹈矩的

very careful to behave correctly or to performyour duties exactly as you should

>> punctilious

>> was desirous of

>> tartness

>> “le pere” meant “the father,” and “la mere” meant “the mother.”

>> “le fils” meant “the son,” and “le frere” meant “the brother.”

>> Monsieur

英[ˌmædəmwə'zel]美[ˌmædəmə'zel]

n<法>小姐(相当于英语Miss,单数略为Mlle,复数略为Mlles），<英>法国女（家庭) 教师

>> mademoiselle

>> indignantly

>> Her accent is exquisite.

>> exclaimed Miss Minchin

>> infuriated.

>> severely, rapping

◆ Chapter 3 Ermengarde

>> Her flaxen hair was braided in a tight pigtail,

熟学语言后的精妙表现就在于此。

>> and could mix them up with verbs as if they were mere trifles.

>> and could mix them up with verbs as if they were mere trifles.

pounce：move down on as if in an attack 突袭，猛扑

>> who, feeling extremely cross at the moment, immediately pounced upon her.

>> tittered

也是有点像你…always want to spring into any fray

>> It was a way of hers always to want to spring into any fray in which someone was made uncomfortable or unhappy.

>> spring into any fray

take a 'fancy to sb/ sth (especially BrE) to start liking sb/ sth, often without an obvious reason 喜欢上，爱上（常指没有明显原因）

>> So she took rather a fancy to fat, slow, little Miss St. John

是真的像你…

>> She had a fine, hot little temper of her own, and it made her feel rather savage when she heard the titters and saw the poor, stupid, distressed child’s face.

>> bundled rather disconsolately in a window

disconsolately[dɪs'kɒnsələtlɪ]

悲伤地，愁闷地，哭丧着脸地

>> disconsolately

>> notably and unmistakably dull

Monumental= important, significant

Dunce= stupid person

>> the monumental dunce of the school

>> clasped

>> the pigtail wobbled

>> the dingy square, where the sparrows were hopping and twittering on the wet, iron railings and the sooty branches of the trees.

像你

>> She reflected a few moments. 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.

man is a born child, his power is the power of growth.

sara keep growing and imagining, she has the infinite growth, she choose to believe that the imagination is attractive

>> “Yes,” answered Sara. “At least I believe she can. At least I pretend I believe she can. And that makes it seem as if it were true. Have you never pretended things?”

>> was so bewitched by

>> hearth

蜷缩

>> huddled up

爱读书的sara总能表现出与自己年龄不想复合的高情商，贵族气质，大家闺秀多如此。也可能和爸爸呆的多也是一原因，更睿智，

>> But she did not. Her short, black locks tumbled about her ears, and she sat still. Then she spoke without lifting her head.

“I promised him I would bear it,” she said. “And I will. You have to bear things. Think what soldiers bear! Papa is a soldier. If there was a war he would have to bear marching and thirstiness and, perhaps, deep wounds. And he would never say a word—not one word.”

>> tumbled

>> “I promised him I would bear it,” she said. “And I will. You have to bear things. Think what soldiers bear! Papa is a soldier. If there was a war he would have to bear marching and thirstiness and, perhaps, deep wounds. And he would never say a word—not one word.”

Ermengarde could only gaze at her, but she felt that she was beginning to adore her. She was so wonderful and different from anyone else.

Presently, she lifted her face and shook back her black locks, with a queer little smile.

“If I go on talking and talking,” she said, “and telling you things about pretending, I shall bear it better. You don’t forget, but you bear it better.”

Ermengarde did not know why a lump came into her throat and her eyes felt as if tears were in them.

“Lavinia and Jessie are ‘best friends,’” she said rather huskily. “I wish we could be ‘best friends.’ Would you have me for yours? You’re clever, and I’m the stupidest child in the school, but I—oh, I do so like you!”

“I’m glad of that,” said Sara. “It makes you thankful when you are liked. Yes. We will be friends. And I’ll tell you what”—a sudden gleam lighting her face—“I can help you with your French lessons.”

爱惜你自己。所以才要致未来。

>> She was so wonderful and different from anyone else.

>> She was so wonderful and different from anyone else.

>> It makes you thankful when you are liked.

>> a sudden gleam lighting her face

◆ Chapter 4 Lottie

几个词形容，浮现起了自己家人

懒惰的，懒散的，好逸恶劳的

>> indolent

like me

>> the simplest thing she did was treated as if it were a virtue, and if she had not had a disposition and a clever little brain, she might have been a very self—satisfied young person.

>> “A lot of nice accidents have happened to me. It just happened that I always liked lessons and books, and could remember things when I learned them.

确实是这样的，充满爱与理性温柔的环境，事实上可以融化一切冰冷不驯与隔阂。

>> Perhaps I have not really a good temper at all, but if you have everything you want and everyone is kind to you, how can you help but be good—tempered?

>> stolidly

>> inordinately jealous of

能查到air的复数，可表示“装腔作势，摆架子”，这里assume grand airs应该就是表示“故作姿态，装腔作势”，结合上文“她对这些小孩子作威作福，对她那些同龄人装腔作势。”

>> assumed grand airs with

>> I believe I couldn’t help being—just a little—if I had so many fine things and was made such a fuss over. It’s disgusting, the way Miss Minchin shows her off when parents come.”

“‘Dear Sara must come into the drawing room and talk to Mrs. Musgrave about India,’” mimicked Lavinia, in her most highly flavored imitation of Miss Minchin. “‘Dear Sara must speak French to Lady Pitkin. Her accent is so perfect.’ She didn’t learn her French at the Seminary, at any rate. And there’s nothing so clever in her knowing it. She says herself she didn’t learn it at all. She just picked it up, because she always heard her papa speak it.

make a fuss of/ over sb to pay a lot of attention to sb, usually to show how much you like them 关爱备至；过分爱护

>> made such a fuss over

>> made such a fuss over

阅读英文原著也是这样一个过程

>> She says herself she didn’t learn it at all. She just picked it up,

>> She says herself she didn’t learn it at all. She just picked it up, because she always heard her papa speak it

stroke: touch lightly and repeatedly, as with brushing motions抚摸，轻触

>> strokes

>> It was quite true that Sara was never “grand.” She was a friendly little soul, and shared her privileges and belongings with a free hand.

>> a blot upon their small characters.

>> a rather flighty young papa

>> wept and howled

>> her shrill little voice was usually to be heard uplifted in wails

>> refused so strenuously

>> howled tempestuously

tempest莎士比亚

tempestuously [tem'pestjʊəslɪ]

adv.猛烈地，激烈的

>> tempestuously

>> looked slightly chilled by her asperity

consternation惊愕；惊恐 a worried, sad feeling after you have received an unpleasant surprise

>> consternation

>> detestable

>> she had a vague inward conviction that it would be better not

>> whimpered

>> implore

>> shriek

wriggle: 扭动身体；扭来扭去 to twist and turn your body or part of it with quick short movements

>> wriggle

如果止不住孩子哭，想一个new idea很有效。典型的protest and implore and command and coax by turn不管用的时候

>> A new idea will stop a crying child when nothing else will.

>> grievance

>> sulky

ˌdrink sth↔ˈin

to look at or listen to sth with great interest and enjoyment

>> drank in every word

>> Lottie’s dimples all began to show themselves.

trot: 快步；疾走；小跑 to move forward at a speed that is faster than a walk and slower than a canter

>> trotted out of the room

◆ Chapter 5 Becky

>> [插图]

Chapter 5

[插图]

Becky

Of course the greatest power Sara possessed and the one which gained her even more followers than her luxuries and the fact that she was “the show pupil,” the power that Lavinia and certain other girls were most envious of, and at the same time most fascinated by in spite of themselves, was her power of telling stories and of making everything she talked about seem like a story, whether it was one or not.

Anyone who has been at school with a teller of stories knows what the wonder means—how he or she is followed about and besought in a whisper to relate romances; how groups gather round and hang on the outskirts of the favored party in the hope of being allowed to join in and listen.

越来越同意，会讲故事是能力中的能力，是超能力。无论是从政、经商，还是玩文学搞艺术，不会讲故事基本就死定了[难过]

>> her power of telling stories and of making everything she talked about seem like a story, whether it was one or not.

>> Anyone who has been at school with a teller of stories knows what the wonder means—how he or she is followed about and besought in a whisper to relate romances; how groups gather round and hang on the outskirts of the favored party in the hope of being allowed to join in and listen.

beseech: 恳求；哀求；乞求to ask sb for sth in an anxious way because you want or need it very much

>> besought

>> smudgy

>> dodged out of sight

scurry: 碎步疾跑 to run with quick short steps

>> scurried back into the kitchen

[英][fə'lɔ:n][美][fɚˈlɔrn, fɔr-]

j绝望的，孤立无助的;凄凉的，荒凉的;被弃置的;渺茫的

>> forlorn

>> drudge

>> grate

🍃English KNOWLEDGE🍃

winding

蜿蜒的

grotto

石窟

比如 Mogao Grottos

>> winding grottos

>> roughened hand

2a person or thing responsible for causing a problem 肇事者；引起问题的事物

>> The culprit snatched up her brush, and scrambled to her feet. She caught at the coal box and simply scuttled out of the room like a frightened rabbit.

>> retorted Lavinia

>> Mariette broke forth into a flow of description.

>> She was a forlorn little thing who had just taken the place of scullery maid

>> the small, dingy figure

>> snore

>> Miss Minchin would be cross if she found out.

>> A piece of flaming coal ended her perplexity

>> she stuttered.

都是随机，很多事情的开端都是随机，而后的展开大部分则是事在人为。

一个五六岁小女孩眼里的人道主义，我们生来是一样的，只是碰巧我在上流社会，而你是生活在底层而已，只是碰巧

>> “Why,” she said, “we are just the same—I am only a little girl like you. It’s just an accident that I am not you, and you are not me!”

It's a surprise. This is the reason why the book is worthy of reading all the time.

>> “Why,” she said, “we are just the same—I am only a little girl like you. It’s just an accident that I am not you, and you are not me!”

>> scatter largess to the populace. But even if I am only a pretend princess, I can invent little things to do for people. Things like this.

◆ Chapter 6 The Diamond Mines

>> labyrinthine passages in the bowels of the earth,

>> studded

>> “Well, it is. One of her ‘pretends’ is that she is a princess. She plays it all the time—even in school. She says it makes her learn her lessons better. She wants Ermengarde to be one, too, but Ermengarde says she is too fat.”

“She is too fat,” said Lavinia. “And Sara is too thin.”

Naturally, Jessie giggled again.

“She says it has nothing to do with what you look like, or what you have. It has only to do with what you think of, and what you do.”

Fake it till you make it.

假装自己是很优秀的人有时也不失为一种好办法。认为自己优秀就会让自己在遇到困难时，思考问题时以优秀的标准去考量，去解决。

>> One of her ‘pretends’ is that she is a princess. She plays it all the time—even in school. She says it makes her learn her lessons better.

>> One of her ‘pretends’ is that she is a princess. She plays it all the time—even in school. She says it makes her learn her lessons better.

>> She says it makes her learn her lessons better. She wants Ermengarde to be one, too, but Ermengarde says she is too fat.”

“She is too fat,” said Lavinia. “And Sara is too thin.”

Naturally, Jessie giggled again.

“She says it has nothing to do with what you look like, or what you have. It has only to do with what you think of, and what you do.”

again, inner life shapes.

>> “She says it has nothing to do with what you look like, or what you have. It has only to do with what you think of, and what you do.”

>> “She says it has nothing to do with what you look like, or what you have. It has only to do with what you think of, and what you do.”

🍃English Knowledge🍃

squabble

means to argue with someone for something not important.

squabble with sb over/about sth

>> squabble

>> lost in a harrowing picture of the prisoners in the Bastille

>> coaxing

>> little gutter children.

>> She looked as if she were going to box her ears. Perhaps she was. Her trick of pretending things was the joy of her life.

由内 而外。只要你想做什么，你就会把他做好。这样你才会满怀热忱，努力把它做到做好，

而不会只是胡思乱想自己不行。

>> pretend I am a princess, so that I can try and behave like one.”

>> “I won’t,” said Sara, and she did not utter another word, but stood quite still, and stared at her steadily as she saw her take Jessie’s arm and turn away.

After this, the girls who were jealous of her used to speak of her as “Princess Sara” whenever they wished to be particularly disdainful, and those who were fond of her gave her the name among themselves as a term of affection. No one called her “princess” instead of “Sara,” but her adorers were much pleased with the picturesqueness and grandeur of the title, and Miss Minchin, hearing of it, mentioned it more than once to visiting parents, feeling that it rather suggested a sort of royal boarding school.

确实，这就是人由内而外的塑造的气质的感染力所在。

>> No one called her “princess” instead of “Sara,” but her adorers were much pleased with the picturesqueness and grandeur of the title,

>> stories were told by installments,

>> hastily tucked into pockets

>> crumbs the rats come out to get ’em

rat是大老鼠，mouse是小老鼠。

rat有贬义，涉及肮脏和背叛；mouse是褒义，含有小巧和可爱。所以米老鼠是Mickey Mouse，不是Mickey Rat。

>> rats an’ mice

>> If Nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that—warm things, kind things, sweet things—help and comfort and laughter—and sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all.

>> quaint

>> heaped with papers

>> a glittering feast

>> in a whirl of excitement

>> The schoolroom was being decked with garlands of holly;

>> shuffled forward and stood nervously

◆ Chapter 7 The Diamond Mines Again

>> wriggling with rapturous expectation.

>> scandalized

>> scuttles

>> the hem of her apron

>> meritorious

>> rueful

>> looked aghast.

>> CLAMORING

>> undisturbedly

>> partake of refreshments

>> indiscretion

>> remarked succinctly

>> spent money lavishly

>> a disparagement of her best patron and was a liberty.

Even solicitors had no right to take liberties.

>> answered with jerky brusqueness

>> Then the dear friend ran away—Captain Crewe was already stricken with fever when the news came. The shock was too much for him. He died delirious, raving about his little girl—and didn’t leave a penny.”

>> a little pauper instead of an heiress

>> monstrous

>> she is to be foisted off on me

>> ejaculated

>> “Has she a black frock in her sumptuous wardrobe?”

>> take off that preposterous pink silk gauze

>> She has done with finery!

>> wring her fat hands

>> That spoiled, pampered, fanciful child is left a pauper on my hands.

>> repressed crying

>> She looked instead a strange, desolate, almost grotesque little figure.

>> twitched

>> as if she had gulped down something which rose in her throat.

Society is like this, only to show value will not be abandoned.

>> If you make yourself useful I may let you stay here.

[英]['ɒblɒŋ][美][ˈɑbˌlɔŋ, -ˌlɑŋ]

j长方形的;矩形的;椭圆形的;椭圆体的

n长方形

>> oblong

>> there stood an old battered red footstool.

>> draperies

>> mournfulness

>> Becky ran to her and caught her hand, and hugged it to her breast, kneeling beside her and sobbing with love and pain.

“Yes, miss, you are,” she cried, and her words were all broken. “Whats’ever ’appens to you—whats’ever—you’d be a princess all the same—an’ nothin’ couldn’t make you nothin’ different.”

◆ Chapter 8 In the Attic

>> “To think that she was the girl with the diamond mines,” Lavinia commented. “She does look an object. And she’s queerer than ever. I never liked her much, but I can’t bear that way she has now of looking at people without speaking—just as if she was finding them out.”

“I am,” said Sara, promptly, when she heard of this. “That’s what I look at some people for. I like to know about them. I think them over afterward.”

The truth was that she had saved herself annoyance several times by keeping her eye on Lavinia, who was quite ready to make mischief, and would have been rather pleased to have made it for the ex—show pupil.

Sara never made any mischief herself, or interfered with anyone. She worked like a drudge; she tramped through the wet streets, carrying parcels and baskets; she labored with the childish inattention of the little ones’ French lessons; as she became shabbier and more forlorn—looking, she was told that she had better take her meals downstairs; she was treated as if she was nobody’s concern, and her heart grew proud and sore, but she never told anyone what she felt.

“Soldiers don’t complain,” she would say between her small, shut teeth, “I am not going to do it; I will pretend this is part of a war.”

But there were hours when her child heart might almost have broken with loneliness but for three people.

家人安康，已无什么可心痛。生活就是战场，抱怨只会让情况更糟。

>> “Soldiers don’t complain,” she would say between her small, shut teeth, “I am not going to do it; I will pretend this is part of a war.”

>> “Soldiers don’t complain,” she would say between her small, shut teeth, “I am not going to do it; I will pretend this is part of a war.”

>> spasmodically

>> wailed

>> I was afraid they would. Perhaps”—wrinkling her forehead wisely—“that is what they were sent for.”

“I don’t see any good in them,” said Ermengarde stoutly.

“Neither do I—to speak the truth,” admitted Sara, frankly. “But I suppose there might be good in things, even if we don’t see it. There might”—doubtfully—“be good in Miss Minchin.”

Ermengarde looked round the attic with a rather fearsome curiosity.

“Sara,” she said, “do you think you can bear living here?”

Sara looked round also.

“If I pretend it’s quite different, I can,” she answered; “or if I pretend it is a place in a story.”

She spoke slowly. Her imagination was beginning to work for her. It had not worked for her at all since her troubles had come upon her. She had felt as if it had been stunned.

“Other people have lived in worse places. Think of the Count of Monte Cristo in the dungeons of the Chateau d’If. And think of the people in the Bastille!”

“The Bastille,” half whispered Ermengarde, watching her and beginning to be fascinated. She remembered stories of the French Revolution which Sara had been able to fix in her mind by her dramatic relation of them.

你好像也是：总觉得11岁的女孩成熟的超越她的同龄人太多，但如果她就是在那个年纪通过阅读，了解了许多人生变故，比如基督山伯爵等，那么她的成熟也就理所当然。

>> “Other people have lived in worse places. Think of the Count of Monte Cristo in the dungeons of the Chateau d’If. And think of the people in the Bastille!”

>> Adversity tries people

◆ Chapter 9 Melchisedec

>> The third person in the trio was Lottie.

>> “Are you very poor now, Sara?” she had asked confidentially

>> THE SPARROWS TWITTERED AND HOPPED

We stand in different places with different mood to see different scenery,we see a different world.

>> Anyone who has not done this does not know what a different world they saw.

其实我们生命只中需要这样的朋友，甚至我们自己也要变成这样，即使再艰苦的环境，也要从中看出好的地方。虽然这是个简单的故事，但背后蕴含的一些点是我们当代年轻人所不具备的。

>> She was walking round the small place, holding Lottie’s hand and making gestures which described all the beauties she was making herself see. She quite made Lottie see them, too. Lottie could always believe in the things Sara made pictures of.

>> mused

温柔与静默具备这种力量

>> Perhaps there is a language which is not made of words and everything in the world understands it. Perhaps there is a soul hidden in everything and it can always speak, without even making a sound, to another soul.

>> huddle in a heap

>> tuck up her feet

>> Sara’s composed little countenance

>> businesslike

Everything is a story. You are a story. I am a story. The truth might be imagination---the dream will come true. That is all life about.

>> “It is a story,” said Sara. “Everything’s a story. You are a story—I am a story. Miss Minchin is a story.”

构思好自己人生这本故事。

记得马克思·韦伯曾经说过：“人是悬挂在自己编织的意义之网上的动物。”意义虽然不是人类存在的充分条件，但却是必要条件。没有了意义，人的存在就失去了依托。”这样看来，每一个人确实都是一个故事，都有着自己的意义之网。

>> “It is a story,” said Sara. “Everything’s a story. You are a story—I am a story. Miss Minchin is a story.”

莫生气

人生就像一场戏，因为有缘才相聚；

相扶到老不容易，是否更该去珍惜。

为了小事发脾气，回头想想又何必？

别人生气我不气，气出病来无人替。

我若气死谁如意？况且伤神又费力！

邻居亲朋不要比，儿孙琐事由他去；

吃苦享乐在一起，神仙羡慕好伴侣。

我也不知道为何会脑洞大开的联想到这首诗，难道是被萨拉传染了？[发呆][发呆]

>> “It is a story,” said Sara. “Everything’s a story. You are a story—I am a story. Miss Minchin is a story.”

◆ Chapter 10 The Indian Gentleman

>> But it was a perilous thing for Ermengarde and Lottie to make pilgrimages to the attic

>> forlorn

>> picturesque

>> laughed outright on catching a glimpse of herself,

>> stout, rosy mother

>> perambulators

>> But Guy Clarence was not to be thwarted in his benevolence. He thrust the sixpence into her hand.

>> “She didn’t speak like a beggar!” cried Nora. “And her face didn’t really look like a beggar’s face!”

“Besides, she didn’t beg,” said Janet. “I was so afraid she might be angry with you. You know, it makes people angry to be taken for beggars when they are not beggars.”

“She wasn’t angry,” said Donald, a trifle dismayed, but still firm. “She laughed a little, and she said I was a kind, kind little darling thing. And I was!”—stoutly. “It was my whole sixpence.”

Janet and Nora exchanged glances.

“A beggar girl would never have said that,” decided Janet. “She would have said, ‘Thank yer kindly, little gentleman—thank yer, sir;’ and perhaps she would have bobbed a curtsy.”

Sara knew nothing about the fact, but from that time the Large Family was as profoundly interested in her as she was in it. Faces used to appear at the nursery windows when she passed, and many discussions concerning her were held round the fire.

“She is a kind of servant at the seminary,” Janet said. “I don’t believe she belongs to anybody. I believe she is an orphan. But she is not a beggar, however shabby she looks.”

And afterward she was called by all of them, “The—little—girl—who—is—not—a—beggar,” which was, of course, rather a long name, and sounded very funny sometimes when the youngest ones said it in a hurry.

Cause people said that good luck always prefer the warm-hearted one. And you know how hard to stay still a "Princess" when you actually have nothing, then it's time to make a choice by yourself. Just stay kind and be nice to the world, no matter what will happen.

>> “She is a kind of servant at the seminary,” Janet said. “I don’t believe she belongs to anybody. I believe she is an orphan. But she is not a beggar, however shabby she looks.”

>> strove

>> insinuating their small hands into hers

nestling up to the ones you love

>> It fed her hungry heart to feel them nestling up to her.

>> It fed her hungry heart to feel them nestling up to her.

>> fancifulness

想起小学时候，莫名其妙在春游时被自己原本视为最好的朋友造谣，当时班主任生气着在处理不按时上大巴返校而是去抓蝌蚪的同学，很突然这个女孩（神奇的是居然还有另外几个女孩一起）向老师举报我也是临回校时抓蝌蚪的一员。小时候的我连路上的小狗都怕，别提水里滑溜溜黑乎乎的生物。一向性格纯粹天真的我想象不出来为什么会发生这种事，而且现在回看还挺“无能”，任人“欺负”，且整个过程中什么也没有说什么也没有做。但是依旧愈演愈烈。包括对方撕了一张纸，中间画条线，在班里传着传到了我的同桌手里，我一看，大概就是哪些同学支持她，就在她的名字底下写上他们的名字，谁支持我就写上自己的名字。一向遇到事情在家里很爱哭的我，好像当时还一点无所谓，我一下被孤立，名字下方只有包括我同桌在内的几个男孩的名字和几个平时几乎没怎么一起玩的女孩子。当时还有一天放学准备回家下楼梯，无意听到几个女孩子，也即包括她在内的几个旧日玩伴，在讨论画册的进展程度，我听到那个名字叫《蜈蚣毒毒毒》。说实话现在想起来只觉得自己也太懵懂了，这件事很好笑，另外还挺想知道那本画册还在不在，还蛮想看看的。

再回看自己回忆此事的这段话，突然想起一个细节，班主任听闻对我的举报并没有惩罚我，似乎没有表态，有可能这是造成她更生气的一个缘故吧。依旧想不明白为何那么小的孩子可以整出这么复杂的事情。也庆幸自己当时心态好，平淡处之，神奇地一下子失去一些玩伴，也不妨碍我安安静静上课读书。

>> When people are insulting you, there is nothing so good for them as not to say a word—just to look at them and think.

Not only do you confirm you are stronger than them so enough to hold in your rage, but they never know what you thought and how stupid they was.

>> When people are insulting you, there is nothing so good for them as not to say a word—just to look at them and think.

Her maturity and wisdom amaze me. Not a lot of adults realise this even in their whole lives.

>> When you will not fly into a passion people know you are stronger than they are, because you are strong enough to hold in your rage, and they are not, and they say stupid things they wish they hadn’t said afterward. There’s nothing so strong as rage, except what makes you hold it in—that’s stronger.

所以容易发怒的人是内心不够强大。越有涵养越心胸宽广的人，处理起事情总是能那么云淡风轻，那么轻描淡写…

>> When you will not fly into a passion people know you are stronger than they are, because you are strong enough to hold in your rage, and they are not, and they say stupid things they wish they hadn’t said afterward. There’s nothing so strong as rage, except what makes you hold it in—that’s stronger.

>> It’s a good thing not to answer your enemies. I scarcely ever do.

>> sawdust

>> inexpressive

>> ignominiously

◆ Chapter 11 Ram Dass

☁Personal Thought☁

Owning a piece of cloud is similar to owning a sky in that the piece of cloud can take your fantasies to anywhere.

想象的力量。

>> It used to seem as if she had all the sky and the world to herself.

>> rajah

>> Then a thought came back to her which made the color rise in her cheek and a spark light itself in her eyes. She straightened her thin little body and lifted her head.

“Whatever comes,” she said, “cannot alter one thing. If I am a princess in rags and tatters, I can be a princess inside. It would be easy to be a princess if I were dressed in cloth of gold, but it is a great deal more of a triumph to be one all the time when no one knows it. There was Marie Antoinette when she was in prison and her throne was gone and she had only a black gown on, and her hair was white, and they insulted her and called her Widow Capet.

The difference between an aristocrat and a nouveau riche is temperament and cultivation. Its not doubt that Sara is a real aristocrat.

>> If I am a princess in rags and tatters, I can be a princess inside. It would be easy to be a princess if I were dressed in cloth of gold, but it is a great deal more of a triumph to be one all the time when no one knows it.

>> If I am a princess in rags and tatters, I can be a princess inside. It would be easy to be a princess if I were dressed in cloth of gold, but it is a great deal more of a triumph to be one all the time when no one knows it.

>> domineering

>> royal personages

>> getting his ears boxed

>> you bold, impudent child?” Miss Minchin exclaimed.

It took Sara a few seconds to control herself sufficiently to remember that she was a princess. Her cheeks were red and smarting from the blows she had received.

>> Jessie tittered, and she and Lavinia nudged each other in unison.

◆ Chapter 12 The Other Side of the Wall

>> reflectively

>> a surfeit of lampreys

It's always easy for us to get addicted to gorgeous scenery in life while difficult to show intersts in sorrowful things with enough patience and love. The older we grow up, the harder our hearts become. Wish I could retain the original heart as muchas possible and at least won't become the one that I disliked before.

>> She had become fond of the Large Family because they looked happy; but she had become fond of the Indian gentleman because he looked unhappy.

>> shattered in health

>> His trouble and peril

>> desolateness

>> groaned in petulant misery.

>> delirious

>> raving

>> garret

>> the streets get more sloppy

>> sneer back at people

◆ Chapter 13 One of the Populace

>> Populace

你永远是一位公主，是精神世界里的贵族。你有文化教养，物欲只能与你擦肩。你有社会担当，严于自律，扶助弱小。你有自由的灵魂，有独立的意志，你知性而自主，不畏强权，无可奴役

>> And what I believe is that we always could—if we practiced enough. I’ve been practicing a good deal lately, and it’s beginning to be easier than it used to be. When things are horrible—just horrible—I think as hard as ever I can of being a princess. I say to myself, ‘I am a princess, and I am a fairy one, and because I am a fairy nothing can hurt me or make me uncomfortable.’

The optimistic attitude , firm faith and positive self-suggestion make the gril to be a better princess in trouble.

>> And what I believe is that we always could—if we practiced enough. I’ve been practicing a good deal lately, and it’s beginning to be easier than it used to be. When things are horrible—just horrible—I think as hard as ever I can of being a princess. I say to myself, ‘I am a princess, and I am a fairy one, and because I am a fairy nothing can hurt me or make me uncomfortable.’

>> forlorn

>> draggled

>> a pinched look

>> She hurried on, trying to make her mind think of something else. It was really very necessary. Her way of doing it was to “pretend” and “suppose” with all the strength that was left in her.

>> obstinately

>> squelched through her broken shoes

>> HUDDLED UP IN THE CORNER.

>> The sound in the hoarse, ravenous voice was awful.

>> jerked her shaggy head

>> To be invited into a warm place full of bread seemed an incredible thing.

◆ Chapter 14 What Melchisedec Heard and Saw

>> was so much alarmed and mystified that he scuttled back to

>> with a palpitating heart.

>> precipitately

◆ Chapter 15 The Magic

>> tell no falsehoods

>> detestable

>> examined Ermengarde’s countenance

>> partook

>> her constant walking and running about would have given her a keen appetite even if she had had abundant and regular meals of a much more nourishing nature than the unappetizing, inferior food snatched at such odd times as suited the kitchen convenience. She was growing used to a certain gnawing feeling in her young stomach.

“I suppose soldiers feel like this when they are on a long and weary march,” she often said to herself. She liked the sound of the phrase, “long and weary march.” It made her feel rather like a soldier.

>> a quaint sense of being a

>> with knights and squires and vassals riding with her, and pennons flying; when I heard the clarions sounding outside the drawbridge I should go down to receive her, and I should spread feasts in the banquet hall and call in minstrels to sing and play and relate romances. When she comes into the attic I can’t spread feasts, but I can tell stories

>> when their lands had been pillaged.” She was a proud, brave little chatelaine, and dispensed generously the one hospitality she could offer—the dreams she dreamed—the visions she saw—the imaginings which were her joy and comfort.

>> clenching her little teeth

>> hearing this unusual thing, was overawed by it.

>> hampers full of cakes and things

>> Her words began to tumble over each other.

>> reeled

>> ejaculated

>> “Ermie!” she said. “Let us pretend! Let us pretend it’s a party! And oh, won’t you invite the prisoner in the next cell?”

“Yes! Yes! Let us knock on the wall now. The jailer won’t hear.”

>> “Oh, miss! oh, miss!” she gasped; “I know it was you that asked her to let me come. It—it makes me cry to think of it.” And she went to Sara’s side and stood and looked at her worshipingly.

>> with serious rapture

>> “You must pretend it,” said Sara. “If you pretend it enough, you will see them.”

>> view the splendors

>> with awed bewilderment.

>> To enter from the chill darkness outside, and find one’s self confronted by a totally unanticipated festal board, draped with red, adorned with white napery, and wreathed with flowers, was to feel that the preparations were brilliant indeed.

Sometimes I need my magic too. And I need to believe it and trust it. I will ask my magic when I'm in need and go as it tells.❤️

>> I asked my Magic, and it told me to go and look.

>> I asked my Magic, and it told me to go and look.

>> audacity

>> witheringly

>> pertness

>> her anger expressed itself, as before, in an intemperate fashion.

>> “There isn’t any banquet left, Emily,” she said. “And there isn’t any princess. There is nothing left but the prisoners in the Bastille.” And she sat down and hid her face.

>> smudged with traces of tears

◆ Chapter 16 The Visitor

>> elated

>> impudent

>> superintend

>> impertinence

>> audacious

勇敢地解决这件事

>> brave the matter out

>> hither and thither

>> blissfully

>> disapprovingly

However powerful the majesty seems to be,it is subjected to a fiasco by a skinny little girl,with her magical outer assistance and consistent inner spirit.

>> “The spirit and will of any other child would have been entirely humbled and broken by—by the changes she has had to submit to. But, upon my word, she seems as little subdued as if—as if she were a princess.”

>> The spirit and will of any other child would have been entirely humbled and broken by—by the changes she has had to submit to. But, upon my word, she seems as little subdued as if—as if she were a princess.

>> When the packages were unfolded Miss Minchin’s countenance wore suddenly a singular expression.

>> which suggested strange things to her sordid mind.

>> crotchety

>> the thin, shabby clothes, the scant food, and the hard work.

>> “My word!” ejaculated Jessie, jogging Lavinia’s elbow. “Look at the Princess Sara!”

>> frock

>> scathingly

>> disconsolately

>> piteously

>> crooned

◆ Chapter 17 “It Is the Child!”

>> unavailing

>> reclining chair

>> chirrup

>> made a bridle of his handkerchief

>> incontinently

>> roused by a recollection

>> A little drudge at the school.

>> unrelenting

>> haggard

◆ Chapter 18 “I Tried Not to Be”

>> overpowering to Mr. Carrisford

>> proprietress

>> interposed

>> “You know why I will not go home with you, Miss Minchin,” she said; “you know quite well.”

A hot flush showed itself on Miss Minchin’s hard, angry face.

>> flinched

>> peppery temper

>> grovel on our knees for her money

>> hysterics

a noisy disturbance or quarrel

>> row

>> plaintively.

>> uproar

>> She wanted to get away from people and go and look at the little magic room once more. She did not know what would happen to it. It was not likely that it would be left to Miss Minchin. It would be taken away, and the attic would be bare and empty again. Glad as she was for Sara’s sake, she went up the last flight of stairs with a lump in her throat and tears blurring her sight. There would be no fire tonight, and no rosy lamp; no supper, and no princess sitting in the glow reading or telling stories—no princess!

>> And having said this with a beaming face, he made a little salaam and slipped through the skylight with an agile silentness of movement

◆ 点评

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suppose & pretend

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我的书评大概不会给满分的，因为觉得任何作品都会有提升的空间，满分怕作者骄傲。但我还是很喜欢这本书的，毕竟小时候读的是中文版，长大后读的是英文版，这样的缘分还挺不错的。毕竟是我小时候第一本小说来的吧。这几天，老是会想起Sara的suppose &pretend, 我突然好像领悟到，这是Sara的精神世界呀！在她艰难的日子里，她通过这些在自己的精神世界里获得满足，以至于可以面对很多的不幸（比如别人骂她，不好的态度等）时，可以坚持“公主”的姿态。而这些跟Sara读过好多书，想象力丰富，很会讲故事，也是分不开的！这是建造精神世界的瓦砖！而且，Sara看事情很通透的，她知道谁对她好，谁对她不好，知道怎么去待人。她那绿色的眼睛，究竟看到的世界是怎么样的，我也好想知道，就算是个虚构人物，但在我心中，也愿我可以如她一般。

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自尊自爱的人没有消沉堕落的理由。相信的力量。吸引力法则。

无论环境如何，自尊自爱的人都没有消沉堕落的理由，我们都可以是自己内心的主宰，哪怕不能守得云开见月明，也要在风雨泥泞中骄傲前行。这是一种发自内心的高贵情怀，与财富地位无关，而是一种坚持和信念。相信自己能成为什么样的人，最后大抵也真的能梦想成真。