i was very late for school that morning, and i was terribly afraid of being scolded[責(zé)罵], especially as monsieur[法語(yǔ):先生] hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles[分詞], and i did not know the first thing about them. for a moment i thought of staying away from school and wandering about the fields. it was such a warm, lovely day. i could hear the blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood, and in the rippert field, behind the sawmill[鋸木廠], the prussians going through their drill. all that was much more tempting to me than the rules concerning participles; but i had the strength to resist, and i ran as fast as i could to school.
那天早晨,我去上學(xué),去得非常晚,我好害怕被責(zé)罵,特別是,阿麥爾先生跟我們說(shuō)過(guò),他要考一考分詞規(guī)則,而我連頭一個(gè)字都不會(huì)。這時(shí),在我的頭腦里冒出了逃學(xué)、去田野跑一跑的念頭。天氣是那么暖和,那么晴朗!我聽(tīng)見(jiàn)烏鴉在小樹(shù)林邊鳴叫,普魯士人正在鋸木廠后面的里貝爾草地上操練。所有這一切都比分詞規(guī)則更吸引我,但我還是頂住了誘惑,加快腳步向?qū)W校方向跑去。
as i passed the mayor”s office, i saw that there were people gathered about the little board on which notices were posted. for two years all our bad news had come from that board—battles lost, conscriptions[征兵], orders from headquarters; and i thought without stopping:
“what can it be now?”
從村政府門(mén)前經(jīng)過(guò)的時(shí)候,我看見(jiàn)許多人站在小布告欄前。這兩年來(lái),所有的壞消息,諸如吃敗仗啦,征兵征物啦,還有普魯士占領(lǐng)軍司令部發(fā)布的命令啦,都是從那里來(lái)的。我邊跑邊想:“又有什么事嗎?”
then, as i ran across the square, wachter the blacksmith, who stood there with his apprentice[學(xué)徒], reading the placard[布告], called out to me:
“don”t hurry so, my boy; you”ll get to your school soon enough!”
i thought that he was making fun of me, and i ran into monsieur hamel”s little yard all out of breath.
當(dāng)我跑著穿過(guò)廣場(chǎng)的時(shí)候,正在布告欄前和徒弟一起看布告的瓦克特爾鐵匠朝我高喊:“小家伙,不用趕得那么急;你去得再晚也不會(huì)遲到的!”我以為他在跟我開(kāi)玩笑,便上氣不接下氣地跑進(jìn)阿麥爾先生的小教室。
usually, at the beginning of school, there was a great uproar[喧囂] which could be heard in the street, desks opening and closing, lessons repeated aloud in unison[一致], with our ears stuffed in order to learn quicker, and the teacher”s stout ruler beating on the desk