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《長腿叔叔》是美國女作家簡?韋伯斯特于1912年創(chuàng)作的書信體小說。簡?韋伯斯特是美國著名作家馬克?吐溫的孫侄女，她的著作多以孤兒為主題，其中《長腿叔叔》是最膾炙人口的巨著，長期以來暢銷不衰，成為少女們的必讀書籍?！堕L腿叔叔》的主角喬若莎是個孤兒，她在一位化名為“約翰?史密斯”的理事幫助下進了大學(xué)。由于只見過理事高大的背影，喬若莎便在寫給理事的信中將其稱為“長腿叔叔”。但大學(xué)期間，喬若莎只是單方面地給理事寫信，卻從未收到過回復(fù)。直到畢業(yè)之時，喬若莎應(yīng)邀前往紐約與理事見面，這才發(fā)現(xiàn)對方竟然是她在大學(xué)中的戀人，于是有情人終成眷屬。
在某種程度上，我們可以將《長腿叔叔》看作少女版的《簡?愛》，它沒有《簡?愛》令人郁結(jié)的坎坷曲折，只有天真無邪、青春萌動和一個完美的結(jié)局。
By Jean Webster
樂楓 選 曾真 譯
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The Letters of Miss Jerusha Abbott to Mr. Daddy-Long-Legs Smith 215 Fergussen Hall 24th September Dear Kind-Trustee[1]-Who-Sends-Orphans-to-College, Here I am! I travelled yesterday for four hours in a train. It’s a funny sensation, isn’t it? I never rode in one before. College is the biggest, most bewildering place—I get lost whenever I leave my room. I will write you a description later when I’m feeling less muddled[2]; also I will tell you about my lessons. Classes don’t begin until Monday morning, and this is Saturday night. But I wanted to write a letter first just to get acquainted. It seems queer to be writing letters to somebody you don’t know. It seems queer for me to be writing letters at all—I’ve never written more than three or four in my life, so please overlook it if these are not a model kind. Before leaving yesterday morning, Mrs. Lippett and I had a very serious talk. She told me how to behave all the rest of my life, and especially how to behave towards the kind gentleman who is doing so much for me. I must take care to be Very Respectful. But how can one be very respectful to a person who wishes to be called John Smith? Why couldn’t you have picked out a name with a little personality? I might as well write letters to Dear Hitching-Post or Dear Clothes-Prop. I have been thinking about you a great deal this summer; having somebody take an interest in me after all these years makes me feel as though I had found a sort of family. It seems as though I belonged to somebody now, and it’s a very comfortable sensation. I must say, however, that when I think about you, my imagination has very little to work upon. There are just three things that I know: I. You are tall. II. You are rich. III. You hate girls. I suppose I might call you Dear Mr. Girl-Hater. Only that’s rather insulting to me. Or Dear Mr. Rich-Man, but that’s insulting to you, as though money were the only important thing about you. Besides, being rich is such a very external[3] quality. Maybe you won’t stay rich all your life; lots of very clever men get smashed up[4] in Wall Street. But at least you will stay tall all your life! So I’ve decided to call you Dear Daddy-Long-Legs. I hope you won’t mind. It’s just a private pet name we won’t tell Mrs. Lippett. The ten o’clock bell is going to ring in two minutes. Our day is divided into sections by bells. We eat and sleep and study by bells. It’s very enlivening; I feel like a fire horse all of the time. There it goes! Lights out. Good night. Observe with what precision I obey rules—due to my training in the John Grier Home. Yours most respectfully, Jerusha Abbott |
喬若莎?阿博特給長腿叔叔史密斯先生的信 215 弗格遜大廳 九月二十四日 親愛的送孤兒上大學(xué)的好心理事： 我終于到學(xué)校了！昨天我坐了四個鐘頭的火車，感覺挺有意思的，對吧？我以前從來都沒坐過火車。 大學(xué)真是大極了，簡直讓人暈頭轉(zhuǎn)向——只要一離開房間，我就找不著路了。等我覺得沒那么迷糊的時候，我會再寫一封信給您仔細講講學(xué)校的情形；到時我還會給您講我的功課?，F(xiàn)在是星期六的晚上，而我要到星期一早上才開始上課。不過，我還是想先給您寫封信，跟您認識一下。 給陌生人寫信似乎是件挺奇怪的事情，而且，對我來說，寫信這件事本身就很奇怪——我這輩子到現(xiàn)在就寫過那么三四封信，所以如果寫得不夠標準，還請您多多包涵。 昨天早上，臨出門的時候，利皮特太太很嚴肅地跟我談了談。她告訴我今后該怎么注意言行，尤其重要的是，我該如何對待那位幫了我很多的好心先生。我一定得對他“特別尊重”。 但是，對于一位只希望別人管自己叫“約翰?史密斯”的人，怎么能讓人“特別尊重”呢？您干嗎不給自己挑一個稍微有點兒個性的名字呢？給“親愛的約翰?史密斯”寫信，感覺就跟給“親愛的拴馬樁”和“親愛的晾衣架子”寫信一樣。 這個夏天，我經(jīng)常在思考關(guān)于您的事情。這么多年以來，終于有人眷顧到了我。我不禁覺得，自己好像是找到了某種類似于家的東西，好像是已經(jīng)有所歸屬。這種感覺雖然很讓人舒服，可我也不得不承認，想到您的時候，我的想象力幾乎無從發(fā)揮。關(guān)于您這個人，我只知道三件事情： 1. 您個子很高； 2. 您很有錢； 3. 您討厭女孩子。 我曾經(jīng)想過要叫您“親愛的討厭女孩子的先生”，可是，那樣的稱呼對我來說是一種侮辱。我還想過要叫您“親愛的有錢人先生”，可是，那樣的稱呼對您來說又是一種侮辱，就好像您身上唯一值得一提的就是有錢一樣。更何況，有錢只是一種非常外在的品質(zhì)。您興許不會一輩子都有錢，不少聰明人都在華爾街賠得傾家蕩產(chǎn)哩。不過，您個子很高，這一點至少是一輩子都不會變的！所以呢，我決定叫您“親愛的長腿叔叔”，希望您不會介意。這只是我私底下對您的愛稱，我們都不會告訴利皮特太太。 再過兩分鐘就要打十點鈴了，我們的日子就是這樣被鈴聲分割成段的。我們吃飯、睡覺和學(xué)習(xí)都是依照鈴聲的指示，這樣的生活讓人很有活力，還讓我覺得自己從早到晚都像是一匹野馬。打鈴啦！熄燈了。晚安。 看我多守規(guī)矩啊——全虧了我在約翰?格里爾之家所受的訓(xùn)練。 最尊敬您的喬若莎?阿博特
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10th October Dear Daddy-Long-Legs, Did you ever hear of Michael Angelo? He was a famous artist who lived in Italy in the Middle Ages. Everybody in English Literature seemed to know about him, and the whole class laughed because I thought he was an archangel[5]. He sounds like an archangel, doesn’t he? The trouble with college is that you are expected to know such a lot of things you’ve never learned. It’s very embarrassing at times. But now, when the girls talk about things that I never heard of, I just keep still and look them up in the encyclopedia. I made an awful mistake the first day. Somebody mentioned Maurice Maeterlinck[6], and I asked if she was a Freshman. That joke has gone all over college. But anyway, I’m just as bright in class as any of the others—and brighter than some of them! Do you care to know how I’ve furnished my room? It’s a symphony in brown and yellow. The wall was tinted buff, and I’ve bought yellow denim[7] curtains and cushions and a mahogany[8] desk (second hand for three dollars) and a rattan[9] chair and a brown rug with an ink spot in the middle. I stand the chair over the spot. The windows are up high; you can’t look out from an ordinary seat. But I unscrewed the looking-glass from the back of the bureau, upholstered the top and moved it up against the window. It’s just the right height for a window seat. You pull out the drawers like steps and walk up. Very comfortable! Sallie McBride helped me choose the things at the Senior auction. She has lived in a house all her life and knows about furnishing. You can’t imagine what fun it is to shop and pay with a real five-dollar bill and get some change—when you’ve never had more than a few cents in your life. I assure you, Daddy dear, I do appreciate that allowance. ... Jerusha Abbott PS. I hope you never touch alcohol, Daddy? It does dreadful things to your liver. |
十月十日 親愛的長腿叔叔： 您聽說過米開朗基羅嗎？ 他是一位著名的藝術(shù)家，生活在中世紀時期的意大利。英國文學(xué)課上的同學(xué)們好像都知道他，可我卻以為他是個大天使，結(jié)果弄得全班哄堂大笑。他的名字聽著的確很像大天使，對吧？大學(xué)里的麻煩就在這兒，好多東西你從來都沒有學(xué)過，大家卻想當然地認為你應(yīng)該知道。有時候，這樣的事情挺讓人尷尬的。不過，現(xiàn)在如果別的女孩子說起一些我從來沒聽說過的東西，我就一聲不吭，自個兒去百科全書里查。 開學(xué)第一天，我就犯了個大錯。有人提到了莫里斯?梅特林克，我就問她是不是個大一的新生。這個笑話傳遍了整個校園。但是，不管怎么說，我可不比班里的任何同學(xué)笨——甚至還比其中的一些人更靈光！ 您想知道我是怎么布置房間的嗎？我房間里的主色調(diào)是褐色和黃色。墻面本來就是淺黃色的，而我又買了黃色的斜紋棉布窗簾和靠墊，還買了一張紅褐色的書桌（二手的，只花了三塊錢）、一把藤椅和一塊中間有團墨漬的褐色地墊。我拿藤椅把那塊墨漬給遮上了。 房間的窗戶很高，坐在普通的椅子上是沒法往外看的。不過，我把衣柜后面的穿衣鏡卸了下來，在柜子頂上鋪了塊墊子，然后挪到了窗邊。用它來當窗邊椅子，高度剛剛好。你可以把抽屜拉出來當梯子，這樣就可以走上去。坐上去可舒服了！ 這些東西是薩莉?麥克布賴德在高年級拍賣會上幫我挑的。她以前一直都住在家里，所以就對家具很熟悉。在以前，我口袋里最多也只有幾分錢，現(xiàn)在卻可以拿一張貨真價實的五塊錢鈔票去買東西、等別人找零錢，這樣的樂趣簡直讓人沒法想象。親愛的叔叔，說實在話，我真的很感激您給我的津貼?！?/p> 喬若莎?阿博特 又：您應(yīng)該是滴酒不沾的吧，叔叔？酒可是很傷肝的。
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Wednesday Dear Daddy-Long-Legs, I’ve changed my name. I’m still “Jerusha” in the catalogue, but I’m “Judy” everywhere else. It’s really too bad, isn’t it, to have to give yourself the only pet name you ever had? … I wish Mrs. Lippett would use a little more ingenuity[10] about choosing babies’ names. She gets the last names out of the telephone book—you’ll find Abbott on the first page—and she picks the Christian names up anywhere; she got Jerusha from a tombstone. I’ve always hated it; but I rather like Judy. It’s such a silly name. It belongs to the kind of girl I’m not—a sweet little blue-eyed thing, petted and spoiled by all the family, who romps[11] her way through life without any cares. Wouldn’t it be nice to be like that? Whatever faults I may have, no one can ever accuse me of having been spoiled by my family! But it’s great fun to pretend I’ve been. In the future please always address me as Judy. Do you want to know something? I have three pairs of kid[12] gloves. I’ve had kid mittens before from the Christmas tree, but never real kid gloves with five fingers. I take them out and try them on every little while. It’s all I can do not to wear them to classes. (Dinner bell. Goodbye.) |
星期三 親愛的長腿叔叔： 我把自己的名字給改了。 我在花名冊上的名字還是“喬若莎”，在別的地方卻都是“朱迪”。我這輩子就有過這么一個昵稱，這個昵稱還得由我自個兒來取，真是太糟糕了，對吧？…… 在給小孩子挑名字的時候，利皮特太太要是能再稍微有點兒創(chuàng)意就好了。孩子們的姓氏都是她從電話簿里挑的——翻開第一頁就能找到“阿博特”這個姓——名字的來源更是五花八門：“喬若莎”就是她在一塊墓碑上看到的。我一直都很討厭“喬若莎”這個名字，但卻很喜歡“朱迪”?！爸斓稀边@個名字傻得要命，全然不屬于我這種類型的女孩子，應(yīng)該屬于那種藍眼睛的小甜心，她們是全家人溺愛的寵兒，一輩子都開開心心、無憂無慮。那樣多好??！不管我有些什么樣的缺點，反正不能說我是被家里人寵壞了！不過，假裝自己被寵壞了也很有意思。從今往后，請您就叫我朱迪吧。 您想不想知道我的一個秘密？我有三雙小山羊皮手套。我以前也在圣誕樹上面拿到過小山羊皮手套，可它們都是無指的，不像現(xiàn)在這三雙有五個指套。每隔一小會兒，我就會把它們拿出來戴一戴。只有去上課的時候，我才不會戴著它們。 （晚飯鈴響了。再見。） |
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Vocabulary: 1. trustee: （公司、學(xué)院或其他機構(gòu)的）理事，董事。 2. muddled: 迷糊的，暈頭轉(zhuǎn)向的。 3. external: 外在的。 4. smash up: 崩潰，瓦解。 5. archangel: 許多宗教中常見的大天使或天使長，其中一名大天使的名字和米開朗基羅的名字相同。 6. Maurice Maeterlinck: 莫里斯?梅特林克（1862-1949），比利時象征派劇作家，男性。 7. denim: 斜紋棉布。 8. mahogany: 紅木做的，紅褐色的。 9. rattan: 藤條，藤杖。 10. ingenuity: 獨創(chuàng)，原創(chuàng)性。 11. romp: 玩耍嬉戲。 12. kid: 小山羊皮的。 |
（來源：英語學(xué)習(xí)雜志）
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