Sylvia_scj

A little solace came at tea-time, in the shape of a double ration of bread -- a whole, instead of a half, slice -- with the delicious addition of a thin scrape of butter, it was the hebdomadal treat to which we all looked forward from Sabbath to Sabbath. I generally contrived to reserve a moiety of this bounteous repast for myself: but the remainder I was invariably obliged to part with.
The Sunday evening was spent in repeating, by heart, the Church Catechism, and the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of St. Matthew; and in listening to a long sermon read by Miss Miller, whose irrepressible yawns attested her weariness. A frequent interlude of these performances was the enactment of the part of Eutychus by some half-dozen of little girls: who, overpowered with sleep, would fall down, if not out of the third loft, yet off the fourth form, and be taken up half dead. The remedy was, to thrust them forward into the centre of the schoolroom, and oblige them to stand there till the sermon was finished. Sometimes their feet failed them, and they sank together in a heap; they were then propped up with the monitor's high stools.
solace: 安慰物
hebdomadal: 一周的; 每星期的; 每七日的
Sabbath: 安息日
moiety: 二分之一, 一部分
repast: 膳食
Catechism: 教义问答手册
interlude: 穿插事件; 间隔时间[事物]
enactment: (戏剧的)上演

Sylvia_scj

Sundays were dreary days in the wintry season. We had to walk two miles to Brocklebridge Church, where our patron officiated. We set out cold, we arrived at church colder: during the morning service we became almost paralysed. It was too far to return to dinner, and an allowance of cold meat and bread, in the same penurious proportion observed in our ordinary meals, was served round between the services.
At the close of the afternoon service we returned by an exposed and hilly road, where the bitter winter wind, blowing over a range of snowy summits to the north, almost flayed the skin from our faces.
I can remember Miss Temple walking lightly and rapidly along our drooping line, her plaid cloak, which the frosty wind fluttered, gathered close about her, and encouraging us, by precept and example, to keep up our spirits, and march forward, as she said, "like stalwart soldiers." The other teachers, poor things, were generally themselves too much dejected to attempt the task of cheering others.
How we longed for the light and heat of a blazing fire when we got back! But, to the little ones at least, this was denied; each hearth in the schoolroom was immediately surrounded by a double row of great girls, and behind them the younger children crouched in groups, wrapping their starved arms in their pinafores.
patron: (对某人, 某种目标, 艺术等)赞助人, 资助人
allowance: 限额；定量
penurious: 吝啬的, 缺乏的
serve round: 分发
flay: 剥皮, 去皮
plaid: 格子花呢披肩, 格子花呢
precept: 训导
stalwart: 坚定和坚决的；勇敢的
starve: 【古语】 冻死：深受寒冷之苦或冻死

Sylvia_scj

My first quarter at Lowood seemed an age, and not the golden age either; it comprised an irksome struggle with difficulties in habituating myself to new rules and unwonted tasks. The fear of failure in these points harassed me worse than the physical hardships of my lot, though these were no trifles.
During January, February, and part of March, the deep snows, and after their melting, the almost impassable roads, prevented our stirring beyond the garden walls, except to go to church, but within these limits we had to pass an hour every day in the open air. Our clothing was insufficient to protect us from the severe cold; we had no boots, the snow got into our shoes, and melted there; our ungloved hands became numbed and covered with chilblains, as were our feet. I remember well the distracting irritation I endured from this cause every evening, when my feet inflamed, and the torture of thrusting the swelled, raw, and stiff toes into my shoes in the morning. Then the scanty supply of food was distressing: with the keen appetites of growing children, we had scarcely sufficient to keep alive a delicate invalid. From this deficiency of nourishment resulted an abuse which pressed hardly on the younger pupils: whenever the famished great girls had an opportunity they would coax or menace the little ones out of their portion. Many a time I have shared between two claimants the precious morsel of brown bread distributed at tea-time, and after relinquishing to a third half the contents of my mug of coffee, I have swallowed the remainder with an accompaniment of secret tears, forced from me by the exigency of hunger.
irksome: 令人厌恶的, 讨厌的, 令人厌烦的
unwonted: 不习惯的
harass:（使）疲乏；耗尽
chilblain: 冻疮
delicate: 体弱的，羸弱的
invalid: 病人
abuse:  陋习, 弊端
famished: 极饥饿的
relinquish to: 让与
exigency: 紧急情况

Sylvia_scj

"Heathens and savage tribes hold that doctrine; but Christians and civilized nations disown it."
"How? I don't understand."
"It is not violence that best overcomes hate -- nor vengeance that most certainly heals injury."
"What then?"
"Read the New Testament, and observe what Christ says, and how He acts; make His word your rule, and His conduct your example."
"What does he say?"
"Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that heat you and despitefully use you."
"Then I should love Mrs. Reed, which I cannot do: I should bless her son John, which is impossible."
In her turn, Helen Burns asked me to explain; and I proceeded forthwith to pour out, in my own way, the tale of my sufferings and resentments. Bitter and truculent when excited, I spoke as I felt, without reserve or softening.
Helen heard me patiently to the end; I expected she would then make a remark, but she said nothing.
"Well," I asked impatiently, "is not Mrs. Reed a hardhearted, bad woman?"
"She has been unkind to you, no doubt, because, you see, she dislikes your cast of character, as Miss Scatcherd does mine; but how minutely you remember all she has done and said to you! What a singularly deep impression her injustice seems to have made on your heart! No ill-usage so brands its record on my feelings. Would you not be happier if you tried to forget her severity, together with the passionate emotions it excited? Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity, or registering wrongs. We are, and must be, one and all, burdened with faults in this world: but the time will soon come when, I trust, we shall put them off in putting off our corruptible bodies; when debasement and sin will fall from us with this cumbrous frame of flesh, and only the spark of the spirit will remain -- the impalpable principle of life and thought, pure as when it left the Creator to inspire the creature; whence it came it will return, perhaps again to be communicated to some being higher than man -- perhaps to pass through gradations of glory, from the pale human soul to brighten to the seraph! Surely it will never, on the contrary, be suffered to degenerate from man to fiend? No, I cannot believe that: I hold another creed, which no one ever taught me, and which I seldom mention, but in which I delight, and to which I cling, for it extends hope to all; it makes eternity a rest -- a mighty home -- not a terror and an abyss. Besides, with this creed, I can so clearly distinguish between the criminal and his crime, I can so sincerely forgive the first while I abhor the last; with this creed, revenge never worries my heart, degradation never too deeply disgusts me, injustice never crushes me too low; I live in calm, looking to the end."
Helen's head, always drooping, sank a little lower as she finished this sentence. I saw by her look she wished no longer to talk to me, but rather to converse with her own thoughts. She was not allowed much time for meditation. A monitor, a great rough girl, presently came up, exclaiming in a strong Cumberland accent --
"Helen Burns, if you don't go and put your drawer in order, and fold up your work this minute, I'll tell Miss Scatcherd to come and look at it!"
Helen sighed as her reverie fled, and getting up, obeyed the monitor without reply as without delay.
heathen: 异教徒
disown: 否认...的权威性[正确性、有效性]
the New Testament: 新约
forthwith: 立刻, 不犹豫地
truculent: (语言、文字)苛刻的
minutely: 详细地, 精密地
ill-usage: Bad treatment; ill-use. 虐待，折磨：极坏的待遇；不公平的待遇
animosity: 仇恨, 憎恶
one and all:  所有的人,每个人, 全部
cumbrous: 讨厌的, 成负担的, 累赘的
impalpable: 无实体的, 无形的
seraph: [圣经]六翼天使
reverie: 幻想

This is the end of chapter 6.

[ 本帖最后由 Sylvia_scj 于 2008-3-21 02:08 PM 编辑 ]

Sylvia_scj

"Yet how well you replied this afternoon."
"It was mere chance: the subject on which we had been reading had interested me. This afternoon, instead of dreaming of Deepden, I was wondering how a man who wished to do right could act so unjustly and unwisely as Charles the First sometimes did; and I thought what a pity it was that, with his integrity and conscientiousness, he could see no farther than the prerogatives of the Crown. If he had but been able to look to a distance, and see how what they call the spirit of the age was tending! Still, I like Charles -- I respect him -- I pity him, poor murdered king! Yes, his enemies were the worst: they shed blood they had no right to shed. How dared they kill him!"
Helen was talking to herself now: she had forgotten I could not very well understand her -- that I was ignorant, or nearly so, of the subject she discussed. I recalled her to my level.
"And when Miss Temple teaches you, do your thoughts wander then?"
"No, certainly, not often; because Miss Temple has generally something to say which is newer than my own reflections; her language is singularly agreeable to me, and the information she communicates is often just what I wished to gain."
"Well, then, with Miss Temple you are good?"
"Yes, in a passive way; I make no effort; I follow as inclination guides me. There is no merit in such goodness."
"A great deal; you are good to those who are good to you. It is all I ever desire to be. If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way; they would never feel afraid, and so they would never alter, but would grow worse and worse. When we are struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard; I am sure we should -- so hard to teach the person who struck us never to do it again."
"You will change your mind, I hope, when you grow older; as yet you are but a little untaught girl."
"But I feel this, Helen: I must dislike those who, whatever I do to please them, persist in disliking me; I must resist those who punish me unjustly. It is as natural as that I should love those who show me affection, or submit to punishment when I feel it is deserved."
prerogative: 特权
shed blood: 杀：夺走生命，尤指以暴力；杀死
singularly:  异乎寻常地
have one's own way: 为所欲为, 随心所欲

Sylvia_scj

"And cross and cruel," I added; but Helen Burns would not admit my addition: she kept silence.
"Is Miss Temple as severe to you as Miss Scatcherd?"
At the utterance of Miss Temple's name, a soft smile flitted over her grave face.
"Miss Temple is full of goodness: it pains her to be severe to any one, even the worst in the school: she sees my errors, and tells me of them gently; and, if I do anything worthy of praise, she gives me my meed liberally. One strong proof of my wretchedly defective nature is that even her expostulations, so mild, so rational, have not influence to cure me of my faults; and even her praise, though I value it most highly, cannot stimulate me to continued care and foresight."
"That is curious," said I; "it is so easy to be careful."
"For you I have no doubt it is. I observed you in your class this morning, and saw you were closely attentive: your thoughts never seemed to wander while Miss Miller explained the lesson and questioned you. Now, mine continually rove away: when I should be listening to Miss Scatcherd, and collecting all she says with assiduity, often I lose the very sound of her voice; I fall into a sort of dream. Sometimes I think I am in Northumberland, and that the noises I hear round me are the bubbling of a little brook which runs through Deepden, near our house; -- then, when it comes to my turn to reply, I have to be wakened; and, having heard nothing of what was read for listening to the visionary brook, I have no answer ready."
flit: 掠过
meed: 称赞
expostulation: 规劝, 忠告 expostulate with sb. about [for, on] sth. 为了某事劝戒某人
assiduity: 勤奋; 刻苦; 专心致志

Sylvia_scj

"But then it seems disgraceful to be flogged, and to be sent to stand in the middle of a room full of people; and you are such a great girl: I am far younger than you, and I could not bear it."
"Yet it would be your duty to bear it, if you could not avoid it: it is weak and silly to say you cannot bear what it is your fate to be required to bear."
I heard her with wonder: I could not comprehend this doctrine of endurance; and still less could I understand or sympathize with the forbearance she expressed for her chastiser. Still I felt that Helen Burns considered things by a light invisible to my eyes. I suspected she might be right and I wrong; but I would not ponder the matter deeply: like Felix, I put it off to a more convenient season.
"You say you have faults, Helen: what are they? To me you seem very good."
"Then learn from me, not to judge by appearances. I am, as Miss Scatcherd said, slatternly; I seldom put, and never keep, things in order; I am careless; I forget rules; I read when I should learn my lessons; I have no method: and sometimes I say, like you, I cannot bear to be subjected to systematic arrangements. This is all very provoking to Miss Scatcherd, who is naturally neat, punctual, and particular."
sympathize with: 同意, 同感
forbearance: 忍耐, 克制, 耐性
chastiser: 惩戒者

Sylvia_scj

"Is it still RASSELAS?" I asked, coming behind her.
"Yes," she said, "and I have just finished it."
And in five minutes more she shut it up. I was glad of this.
"Now," thought I, "I can perhaps get her to talk." I sat down by her on the floor.
"What is your name beside Burns?"
"Helen."
"Do you come a long way from here?"
"I come from a place farther north; quite on the borders of Scotland."
"Will you ever go back?"
"I hope so; but nobody can be sure of the future."
"You must wish to leave Lowood?"
"No: why should I? I was sent to Lowood to get an education; and it would be of no use going away until I have attained that object."
"But that teacher, Miss Scatcherd, is so cruel to you?"
"Cruel? Not at all! She is severe; she dislikes my faults."
"And if I were in your place I should dislike her; I should resist her; if she struck me with that rod, I should get it from her hand; I should break it under her nose."
"Probably you would do nothing of the sort: but if you did, Mr. Brocklehurst would expel you from the school: that would be a great grief to your relations. It is far better to endure patiently a smart which nobody feels but yourself, than to commit a hasty action whose evil consequences will extend to all connected with you; and, besides, the Bible bids us return good for evil."

Sylvia_scj

On the evening of the day on which I had seen Miss Scatherd flog her pupil, Burns, I wandered as usual among the forms and tables and laughing groups without a companion, yet not feeling lonely: when I passed the windows I now and then lifted a blind and looked out; it snowed fast, a drift was already forming against the lower panes; putting my ear close to the window, I could distinguish from the gleeful tumult within, the disconsolate moan of the wind outside.
Probably, if I had lately left a good home and kind parents, this would have been the hour when I should most keenly have regretted the separation: that wind would then have saddened my heart: this obscure chaos would have disturbed my peace: as it was, I derived from both a strange excitment, and, reckless and feverish, I wished the wind to howl more wildly, the gloom to deepen to darkness, and the confusion to rise to clamour.
Jumping over forms, and creeping under tables, I made my way to one of the fireplaces; there, kneeling by the high wire fender, I found Burns, absorbed, silent, abstracted from all round her by the companionship of a book, which she read by the dim glare of the embers.
form: 【多用于英国】 长椅子；长板凳
gleeful: 充满欢喜的；快乐的
disconsolate: 无生气的
as it was: 事实上
clamour: 喧闹

Sylvia_scj

"Hardened girl!" exclaimed Miss Scatcherd; "nothing can correct you of your slatternly habits: carry the rod away."
Burns obeyed: I looked at her narrowly as she emerged from the book-closet; she was just putting back her handkerchief into her pocket, and the trace of a tear glistened on her thin cheek.
The play-hour in the evening I thought the pleasantest fraction of the day at Lowood: the bit of bread, the draught of coffee swallowed at five o'clock had revived vitality, if it had not satisfied hunger; the long restraint of the day was slackened; the schoolroom felt warmer than in the morning -- its fires being allowed to burn a little more brightly to supply, in some measure, the place of candles, not yet introduced: the ruddy gloaming, the licensed uproar, the confusion of many voices gave one a welcome sense of liberty.
slatternly: 懒散的[地]; 邋遢的[地], 不整洁的[地]
in some measure: 多少, 稍稍
gloaming: 黄昏, 薄暮
uproar: 喧嚣, 骚动

Sylvia_scj

My attention was now called off by Miss Smith desiring me to hold a skein of thread: while she was winding it, she talked to me from time to time, asking whether I had ever been at school before, whether I could mark, stitch, knit, &c.; till she dismissed me, I could not pursue my observations on Miss Scatherd's movements. When I returned to my seat, that lady was just delivering an order, of which I didn't catch the import; but Burns immediately left the class, and going into the smaller inner room where the books were kept, returned in half a minute, carrying in her hand a bundle of twigs tied together at one end. This ominous tool she presented to Miss Scatcherd with a respectful curtsey; then she quietly and without being told, unloosed her pinafore, and the teacher instantly and sharply inflicted on her neck a dozen strokes with the bunch of twigs. Not a tear rose to Burns's eye; and, while I paused from my sewing, because my fingers quivered at this spectacle with a sentiment of unavailing and impotent anger, not a feature of her pensive face altered its ordinary expression.
call off:  使转移走
skein: 一绞：线或纱线绕成松的，伸长的一卷的长度
stitch: 缝纫
unavailing: 徒劳的；无效的，无用的
pensive: 沉思的，冥想的：通常是忧郁或朦胧地深深思考的

Sylvia_scj

A chapter having been read through twice, the books were closed and the girls examined. The lesson had comprised part of the reign of Charles I, and there were sundry questions about tonnage, and poundage, and ship-money, which most of them appeared unable to answer; still every little difficulty was solved instantly when it reached Burns: her memory seemed to have retained substance of the whole lesson, and she was ready with answers on every point. I kept expecting that Miss Scatherd would praise her attention; but, instead of that, she suddenly cried out--
"You dirty, disagreeable girl! you have never cleaned your nails this morning!"
Burns made no answer: I wondered at her silence.
"Why, " thought I, "does she not explain that she could neither clean her nails nor wash her face, as the water was frozen?"

Sylvia_scj

The next day commenced as before, getting up and dressing by rushlight; but this morning we were obliged to dispense with the ceremony of washing: the water in the pitchers was frozen. A change had taken place in the weather the preceding evening, and a keen northeast wind, whistling through the crevices of our bedroom windows all night long, had made us shiver in our beds, and turned the contents of the ewers to ice.
crevice: (墙壁, 岩石等的)裂缝
ewer: (盛洗脸水的)大口水罐
Before the long hour and a half of prayers and Bible-reading was over, I felt ready to perish with cold. Breakfast-time came at last, and this morning the porridge was not burnt; the quality was eatable, the quantity small; how small my portion seemed! I wished it had been doubled.
In the course of the day I wan enrolled a member of the fourth class, and regular tasks and occupations were assigned me; hitherto, I had only been a spectator of the proceedings at Lowood, I was now to become an actor therein. At first, being little accustomed to learn by heart, the lessons appeared to me both long and difficult: the frequent change from task to task, too, bewildered me; and I was glad, when, about three o'clock in the afternoon, Miss Smith put into my hands a border of muslin two yards long, together with needle, thimble, &c., and sent me to sit in a quiet corner of the schoolroom, with directions to hem the same. At that hour most of the others were sewing likewise; but one class still stood round Miss Scatcherd's chair reading, and as all was quiet, the subject of their lessons could be heard, together with the manner in which each girl acquitted herself, and the animadversions or commendations of Miss Scatcherd on the performance. It was English history: among the readers, I observed my acquaintance of the veranda: at the commencement of the lesson, her place had been at the top of the class, but for some error of pronunciation or some inattention to stops, she was suddenly sent to the very bottom. Even in that obscure position, Miss Scatcherd continued to make her an object of constant notice; she was continually addressing to her such phrases as the following:
"Burns (such it seems was her name: the girls here were all called by their surnames, as boys are elsewhere), Burns, you are standing on the side of your shoe, turn your toes out immediately." "Burns, you poke your chin most unpleasantly; draw it in." "Burns, I insist on your holding your head up; I will not have you before me in that attitude," &c., &c.
acquit: 作出表现：使（自己）作出某种表现
acquit oneself 表现得...; 履行(诺言等); 完成(任务等)
acquit oneself bravely [well, ill] 表现勇敢[好, 坏]
He acquited himself well of his duty [promise]. 他很好地尽到了责任 [履行了自己的诺言]。
animadversion: 批评
turn one's toes out  v. 脚尖朝外

Sylvia_scj

The only marked event of the afternoon was, that I saw the girl with whom I had conversed in the veranda, dismissed in disgrace, by Miss Scatcherd, from a history class, and sent to stand in the middle of the large room. The punishment seemed to me in a high degree ignominious, especially for so great a girl -- she looked thirteen or upwards. I expected she would show signs of great distress and shame; but to my surprise she neither wept nor blushed. Composed, though grave, she stood, the central mark of all eyes. "How can she bear it so quietly -- so firmly?" I asked myself. "Were I in her place, it seems to me I should wish the earth to open and swallow me up. She looks as if she were thinking of something beyond her punishment -- beyond her situation: of something not round her nor before her. I have heard of day-dreams -- is she in a day-dream now? Her eyes are fixed on the floor, but I am sure they do not see it -- her sight seems turned in, gone down into her heart: she is looking at what she can remember, I believe; not at what is really present. I wonder what sort of a girl she is -- whether good or naughty."
Soon after five p.m. we had another meal, consisting of a small mug of coffee, and half a slice of brown bread. I devoured my bread and drank my coffee with relish: but I should have been glad of as much more -- I was still hungry. Half an hour's recreation succeeded, then study; then the glass of water and the piece of oatcake, prayers, and bed. Such was my first day at Lowood.
ignominious: 不名誉的，丢脸的
brown bread: 黑面包
with relish: 津津有味地,

This is the end of chapter 5.

[ 本帖最后由 Sylvia_scj 于 2008-3-19 03:09 PM 编辑 ]

Sylvia_scj

But at the moment the summons sounded for dinner. All reentered the house. The odour which now filled the refectory was scarcely more appetizing than that which had regaled our nostrils at breakfast. The dinner was served in two huge tinplated vessels, whence rose a strong steam redolent of rancid fat. I found the mess to consist of indifferent potatoes and strange shreds of rusty meat, mixed and cooked together. Of this preparation a tolerably abundant plateful was apportioned to each pupil. I ate what I could, and wondered within myself whether every day's fare would be like this.
After dinner, we immediately adjourned to the schoolroom. Lessons recommenced, and were continued till five o'clock.
regale: 使喜悦, 使享受
tinplate: 镀锡铁皮
redolent: 有强烈气味的(of)
rancid: 象油脂腐臭味的, 腐臭的
indifferent: 相当差的; 质量不高的
adjourn: 转移地址，换地方

Sylvia_scj

"You may look at it," replied the girl, offering me the book.
I did so. A brief examination convinced me that the contents were less taking than the title. RASSELAS looked dull to my trifling taste. I saw nothing about fairies, nothing about genii; no bright variety seemed spread over the closely-printed pages. I returned it to her. She received it quietly, and, without saying anything, she was about to relapse into her former studious mood. Again I ventured to disturb her --
"Can you tell me what the writing on that stone over the door means? What is Lowood Institution?"
"This house where you are come to live."
"And, why do they call it Institution? Is it in any way different from other schools?"
"It is partly a charity-school. You and I, and all the rest of us, are charity-children. I suppose you are an orphan. Are not either your father or your mother dead?"
"Both died before I can remember."
"Well, all the girls here have lost either one or both parents, and this is called an Institution for educating orphans."
"Do we pay no money? Do they keep us for nothing?"
"We pay, or our friends pay, fifteen pounds a year for each."
"Then why do they call us charity-children?"
"Because fifteen pounds is not enough for board and teaching, and the deficiency is supplied by subscription."
"Who subscribes?"
"Different benevolent-minded ladies and gentlemen in this neighbourhood and in London."
"Who was Naomi Brocklehurst?"
"The lady who built the new part of this house, as that tablet records, and whose son overlooks and directs everything here."
"Why?"
"Because he is treasurer and manager of the establishment."
"Then this house does not belong to that tall lady who wears a watch, and who said we were to have some bread and cheese?"
"To Miss Temple? Oh, no! I wish it did. She has to answer to Mr. Brocklehurst for all she does. Mr. Brocklehurst buys all our food and all our clothes."
"Does he live here?"
"No--two miles off, at a large hall."
"Is he a good man?"
"He is a clergyman, and is said to do a great deal of good."
"Did you say that tall lady was called Miss Temple?"
"Yes."
"And what are the other teachers called?"
"The one with red cheeks is called Miss Smith; she attends to the work, and cuts out --for we make our own clothes, our frocks, and pelisses, and everything; the little one with black hair is Miss Scatcherd; she teaches history and grammer, and hears the second class repetitions; and the one who wears a shawl, and has a pocket-handkerchief tied to her side with a yellow riband, is Madame Pierrot; she comes from Lisle, in France, and teaches French."
"Do you like the teachers?"
"Well enough."
"Do you like the little black one, and the Madame --? ---I cannot pronounce her name as you do."
"Miss Scatcherd is hasty -- you must take care not to offend her; Madame Pierrot is not a bad sort of person."
"But Miss Temple is the best -- isn't she?"
"Miss Temple is very good, and very clever; she is above the rest, because she knows far more than they do."
"Have you been long here?"
"Two years."
"Are you an orphan?"
"My mother is dead."
"Are you happy here?"
"You ask rather too many questios. I have given you answers enough for the present. Now I want to read."
taking: 吸引人们的兴趣的；迷人的
genii: (=genie), 鬼,[神话](用魔法召来的)魔仆
benevolent: 乐善好施的
clergyman: 牧师, 教士
do a great deal of good: 大有助益
riband: <古>（=ribbon）丝带, 缎带

Sylvia_scj

I read this words over and over again. I felt that an explanation belonged to them, and was unable fully to penetrate their import. I was still pondering the significance of "Institution," and endeavouring to make out a connexion between the first words and the verse of Scripture, when the sound of a cough close behind me made me turn my head. I saw a girl sitting on a stone bench near. She was bent over a book, on the perusal of which she seemed intent. From where I stood I could see the title -- it was Rasselas -- a name that struck me as strange, and consequently attractive. In turning a leaf she happened to look up, and I said to her directly --
"Is your book interesting?" I had already formed the intention of asking her to lend it to me some day.
"I like it," she answered, after a pause of a second or two, during which she examined me.
"What is it about?" I continued. I hardly know where I found the hardihood thus to open a conversation with a stranger. The step was contrary to my nature and habits; but I think her occupation touched a chord of a sympathy somewhere, for I, too, liked reading, though of a frivolous and childish kind. I could not digest or comprehend the serious or substantial.
perusal: 熟读, 精读
hardihood: 大胆和勇气
sympathy: 意气相投，同感
frivolous: 无关紧要的

Sylvia_scj

The garden was a wide enclosure, surrounded with walls so high as to exclude every glimpse of prospect; a covered veranda ran down one side, and broad walks bordered a middle space divided into scores of little beds; these beds were assigned as gardens for the pupils to cultivate, and each bed had an owner. When full of flowers they would doubtless look pretty, but now, at the latter end of Januray, all was wintry blight and brown decay. I shuddered as I stood and looked round me: it was an inclement day for outdoor exercise -- not positively rainy, but darkened by a drizzling yellow fog; all under foot was still soaking wet with the floods of yesterday. The stronger among the girls ran about and engaged in active games, but sundry pale and thin ones herded together for shelter and warmth in the veranda; and amongst these, as the dense mist penetrated to their shivering frames, I heard frequently the sound of a hollow cough.
blight: 枯萎
drizzling fog: 毛雨雾
sundry: 各式各样的
As yet I had spoken to no one, nor did anybody seem to take notice of me; I stood lonely enough, but to that feeling of isolation I was accustomed: it did not oppress me much. I leant against a pillar of the veranda, drew my gray mantle close about me, and, trying to forget the cold which nipped me without, and the unsatisfied hunger which gnawed me within, delivered myself up to the employment of watching and thinking. My reflections were too undefined  and fragmentary to merit record. I hardly yet knew where I was. Gateshead and my past life seemed floated away to an immeasurable distance. The present was vague and strange, and of the future I could form no conjecture. I looked round the convent-like garden, and then up at the house -- a large building, half of which seemed gray and old, the other half quite new. The new part, containing the schoolroom and dormitory, was lit by mullioned and latticed windows, which gave it a church-like aspect. A stone tablet over the door bore this inscription:
"Lowood Institution. -- This portion was rebuilt A.D. ---, by Naomi Brocklehurst, of Brocklehurst Hall, in this country." "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." ---St. Matt. v. 16.
gnaw: 烦扰，折磨，使痛苦
conjecture: 推测, 猜想
convent: 女修道会, 女修道院
mullion: 【建】(窗门的)直棂, 竖框

Sylvia_scj

The superintendent of Lowood (for such was this lady) having taken her seat before a pair of globes placed on one of the tables, summoned the first class round her, and commenced giving a lesson in geography; the lower classes were called by the teachers. Repetitions in history, grammer, &c., went on for an hour; more writing and arithmetic succeeded, and music lessons were given by Miss Temple to some of the elder girls. The duration of each lesson was measured by the clock, which at last struck twelve. The superintendent rose.
"I have a word to address to the pupils," said she.
The tumult of cessation from lessons was already breaking forth, but it sank at her voice. She went on--
"You had this morning a breakfast which you could not eat; you must be hungry. I have ordered that a lunch of bread and cheese shall be served to all."
The teachers looked at her with a sort of surprise.
"It is to be done on my responsibility," she added, in an explanatory tone to them, and immediately afterwards left the room.
The bread and cheese was presently brought in and distributed to the high delight and refreshment of the whole school. The order was now given, "To the garden!" Each put on a coarse straw bonnet, with strings of coloured calico, and a cloak of gray frieze. I was similarly equipped, and, following the stream, I made my way into the open air.
calico: 印花布, 白棉布
frieze: 起绒粗呢

Sylvia_scj

While the direction was being executed, the lady consulted moved slowly up the room. I suppose I have a considerable organ of veneration, for I retain yet the sense of admiring awe with which my eyes traced her steps. Seen now, in broad daylight, she looked tall, fair, and shapely; brown eyes with a benignant light in their iris, and a fine pencilling of long lashes round, relieved the whiteness of her large front; on each of her temples her hair,of a very dark brown, was clustered in round curls, according to the fashion of those times, when neither smooth bands nor long ringlets were in vogue; her dress, also in the mode of the day, was of purple cloth, relieved by a sort of Spanish trimming of black velvet; a gold watch (watches were not so common then as now) shone at her girdle. Let the reader add, to complete the picture, refined features; a complexion, if pale, clear; and a stately air and carriage, and he will have, at least as clearly as words can give it, a correct idea of the exterior of Miss Temple -- Maria Temple, as I afterwards saw the name written in a Prayer Book entrusted to me to carry to church.
veneration: 尊敬, 崇拜
benignant: 善良的，宽厚的
relieve: 使醒目; 衬托出
ringlet: (长)卷发
girdle: 带, 腰带