A surprise for the Cuthberts卡思伯特兄妹倆大吃一驚

Lucy Maud Montgomery

作者簡介：露西·莫德·蒙哥馬利（Lucy Maud Montgomery）1874年出生于加拿大，1942年去世。她幼時與祖父母居住在愛德華王子島上一座破舊的農(nóng)舍里。她的《綠山墻的安妮》（Anne of Green Gables）在全世界受到了歡迎，她還寫了許多關(guān)于安妮·雪莉的故事。

作品簡介：安妮是個身世凄涼的小女孩，出生不久后便父母雙亡，成了孤兒。安妮被好心的鄰居養(yǎng)到六歲，后被送到了孤兒院。十一歲的時候，綠山墻的馬修和瑪麗拉收養(yǎng)了她。安妮天性活潑、樂觀，想象力極為豐富。她的天真和幻想使她鬧了不少笑話，但她的善良和直率也使她贏得了友誼和真摯的愛。她聰明又勤奮，憑著自己的努力考取了大學(xué)，但為了照顧瑪麗拉，她又放棄了學(xué)業(yè)。這是一個關(guān)于成長的故事，樸實而絢麗，充滿著童心和夢幻。

綠山墻農(nóng)舍的卡思伯特兄妹決定領(lǐng)養(yǎng)一個男孩，幫著做田里的農(nóng)活。令人大吃一驚的是，孤兒院送來了一個愛幻想、喋喋不休的紅發(fā)女孩，她像一個小精靈。這個小精靈像一股清新的風(fēng)吹進了閉塞的鄉(xiāng)村。故事由此開始……本文節(jié)選自《綠山墻的安妮》第一章節(jié)，節(jié)選時有刪改。

Matthew Cuthbert lived with his sisterMarilla on their farm on Prince Edward Is?land in Canada. Their farm?house， GreenGables， was just outside the little village ofAvonlea. Matthew was nearly sixty and hada long brown beard. His sister was fiveyears younger. They were both tall andthin， with dark hair. Everybody in Avonleaknew that the Cuthberts were quiet peoplewho worked very hard on their farm.

One afternoon Matthew drove thehorse and cart to the station.“ Has the five?thirty train arrived yet？” he asked thestationmaster.

“Yes，” the man replied.“ And there'sa passenger who's waiting for you. A littlegirl.”

“A little girl？” asked Matthew.“ ButI've come for a boy！ The children's home issending us one of their orphan boys. We're?going to adopt him， you see， and he's goingto help me with the farm work.”

“Well， perhaps the children's homedidn't have any boys， so they sent you agirl，” answered the stationmaster carelessly.“Here she is.”

Matthew turned shyly to speak to thechild. She was about eleven， with long redhair in two plaits. Her face was small， whiteand thin， with a lot of freckles， and she hadlarge grey?green eyes. She was wearing anold brown hat and a dress which was toosmall for her.

“Are you Mr Cuthbert of GreenGables？”she asked excitedly in a high，sweet voice.“ I'm very happy to come andlive with you， and belong to you. I've neverbelonged to anyone， you see. The people atthe children's home were very kind， but it'snot very exciting to live in a place like that，is it？”

Matthew felt sorry for the child. Howcould he tell her that it was all a mistake？But he couldn't just leave her at the station.He decided to take her home with him.Marilla could explain the mistake to her.

He was surprised that he enjoyed thejourney home. He was a quiet， shy man，and he didn't like talking himself. But today，he only had to listen， because the little girltalked， talked and talked. She told him all?about herself while they drove along.

“My parents died when I was a baby，you know， and for the last three years Ivehad to work for my food. I've lived withthree different families and looked aftertheir children. So I've always been poor，and I haven't got any nice dresses！ But Ijust imagine that I'm wearing the mostbeautiful blue dress， a big hat with flowerson and blue shoes， and then I'm happy！ Doyou imagine things sometimes？”

“Well， I...I...not often，” said Matthew.

They were now driving past some veryold apple trees next to the road. The treeswere full of sweet?smelling， snowy?whiteflowers. The little girl looked at them.

“Aren't the trees beautiful？”she saidhappily.“ But am I talking too much？ Pleasetell me. I can stop if necessary， you know.”

Matthew smiled at her. “You go ontalking，” he answered.“ I like listening toyou.”

When they arrived at Green Gables，Marilla came to the door to meet them. Butwhen she saw the little girl， she cried in sur?prise， “Matthew， who's that？ Where's theboy？”

“The children's home has made a mis?take，” he said unhappily，“ and sent a girl，not a boy.”

The child was listening carefully. Sud?denly she put her head in her hands andbegan to cry.

“You—you don't want me！” shesobbed. “ Oh — oh！ You don't want mebecause I'm not a boy！”

“Now， now， don't cry，” said Marilla kindly.

“Don't you understand？ Oh！ This isthe worst thing that's happened to me in allmy life！”

Well， you can stay here， just for to?night，” said Marilla. “Now， what's yourname？”

The child stopped crying. “Will you please call me Cordelia？” she asked.

“Call you Cordelia？ Is that your name？”

“Well， no， it isn't， but it's a very beau?tiful name， isn't it？ I like to imagine myname is Cordelia， because my real name isAnne Shirley—and that's not a very inter?esting name， is it？”

Marilla shook her head. “The child?has too much imagination，” she thought.

Later， when Anne was in bed， Marillasaid to her brother，“ She must go back tothe childrens home tomorrow.”

“Marilla， don't you think...” began Matthew“. She's a nice little thing， you know.”

“Matthew Cuthbert， are you telling methat you want to keep her？”asked Marillacrossly.

Matthew looked uncomfortable.“ Well， she's clever， and interesting， and—”

“But we don't need a girl！”

“But perhaps she needs us，” Matthewreplied， surprisingly quickly for him.“ Sheshad a very unhappy life up to now， Marilla.She can help you in the house. I can get aboy from the village to help me on the farm.What do you think？”

Marilla thought for a long time. “Allright，” she said in the end，“ I agree. Thepoor child can stay. I'll look after her.”

Matthew smiled happily.“ Be as goodand kind to her as you can， Marilla. I thinkshe needs a lot of love.”

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1. How did Matthew feel about the journey home？

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2. What did Matthew think of Anne？

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