“It’s just STAYING, that’s what,”she said as she stepped along the deep-rutted, grassy lane bordered with wild rose bushes.“It’s no wonder Matthew and Marilla are both a little odd, living away back here by themselves. Trees aren’t much company, though dear knows if they were there’d be enough of them. I’d rather look at people. To be sure, they seem contented enough; but then, I suppose, they’re used to it. A body can get used to anything, even to being hanged, as the Irishman said.”
deep-rutted神挖槽 grassy长满草的 hanged绞死
“这只能算是待在那儿。”她走在留着深深车辙印儿的小路上时这么说。小路上长满了青草，路边是野玫瑰丛。“独自避开别人，住在这种地方，也就怪不得马修和玛丽拉都有点儿孤僻了。树木可不是什么呱呱叫的伙伴，不过老天知道，如果它们真的是好伙伴，那倒是要多少就有多少。我可是宁愿把人当作观察的对象。可以肯定，他们看上去倒是挺满足的；不过我猜想，他们多半是习以为常了。人对任何事情都会逐渐适应的，就连被人绞死也不例外，正像那个爱尔兰人所说的那样。”
With this Mrs. Rachel stepped out of the lane into the backyard of Green Gables. Very green and neat and precise was that yard, set about on one side with great patriarchal willows and the other with prim Lombardies. Not a stray stick nor stone was to be seen, for Mrs. Rachel would have seen it if there had been. Privately she was of the opinion that Marilla Cuthbert swept that yard over as often as she swept her house. One could have eaten a meal off the ground without over brimming the proverbial peck of dirt.
precise一丝不苟的 patriarchal德高望重的 prim拘谨的 stray散落的
brimming满溢的 proverbial众所周知的
这么想着，雷切尔太太离开了小路，走进绿山墙农舍的后院。院子里一边是德高望重的大柳树，一边是形态拘谨的伦巴第树，整洁干净，随风流翠。看不到一根散落的树枝或一块碎石，要有的话，雷切尔太太早就收入眼底了。她暗自点头，认为玛丽拉·卡思伯特打扫院子同她自己打扫屋子一样勤快。
Mrs. Rachel rapped smartly at the kitchen door and stepped in when bidden to do so. The kitchen at Green Gables was a cheerful apartment—or would have been cheerful if it had not been so painfully clean as to give it something of the appearance of an unused parlor. Its windows looked east and west; through the west one, looking out on the backyard, came a flood of mellow June sunlight; but the east one, whence you got a glimpse of the bloom white cherry-trees in the left orchard and nodding, slender birches down in the hollow by the brook, was greened over by a tangle of vines. Here sat Marilla Cuthbert, when she sat at all, always slightly distrustful of sunshine, which seemed to her too dancing and irresponsible a thing for a world which was meant to be taken seriously; and here she sat now, knitting, and the table behind her was laid for supper.
rap轻敲 bid邀请 parlor客厅 mellow柔和的 whence由此
slender细长的 birch桦树
雷切尔太太动作轻快地敲了敲厨房的门，得到准许后，她走进屋子。绿山墙农舍的厨房是个令人感到愉快的房间——或者本来会令人感到愉快的，如果它不是过分干净，看起来像一间废弃不用的客厅的话。厨房的东西两面墙都有窗子；通过朝西的那扇，可以看到后院六月里柔和的阳光打窗口直泻进来；可是，如果朝东面的窗子瞥上一眼，你会看到果园左边开着雪白花朵的樱桃树，以及溪边山谷下摇曳生姿的修长的白桦树，这个窗口被悬挂在上空的错综纠结的葡萄藤染成了一片绿色。玛丽拉·卡思伯特要坐就坐在这里。她对阳光总有那么点儿不太信任，觉得在这需要认真看待的世界里，阳光似乎过于轻佻和不负责任。现在她坐在这里，手中织着毛线，身后的桌上已做好了开晚饭的准备。
Mrs. Rachel, before she had fairly closed the door, had taken a mental note of everything that was on that table. There were three plates laid, so that Marilla must be expecting some one home with Matthew to tea; but the dishes were everyday dishes and there was only crab-apple preserves and one kind of cake, so that the expected company could not be any particular company. Yet what of Matthew’s white collar and the sorrel mare? Mrs. Rachel was getting fairly dizzy with this unusual mystery about quiet, unmysterious Green Gables.
crab-apple preserves酸苹果酱 mystery神秘 unmysterious不神秘的
雷切尔太太刚刚关好房门，就已经把桌上的一切东西在脑海里做了记录。桌上放了三个盘子，这么说，玛丽拉一定是在等着马修带回一个什么人来喝茶；可盘子里却都是家常食品，只有酸苹果酱和一种饼子，看来她盼望的客人不会是什么特别的人物。可是，马修的白硬领和那匹栗色的母马又是怎么回事儿呢？雷切尔太太简直被平静而毫不神秘的绿山墙农舍发生的这件非同寻常的蹊跷事儿给弄糊涂了。
“Good evening, Rachel,”Marilla said briskly. “This is a real fine evening, isn’t it? Won’t you sit down? How are all your folks?”
briskly活泼地
“晚上好，雷切尔，”玛丽拉欢快地说，“今儿晚上天气真好，是不是？坐下吧。你们家里人都好吗？”
Something that for lack of any other name might be called friendship existed and always had existed between Marilla Cuthbert and Mrs. Rachel, in spite of—or perhaps because of—their dissimilarity.
dissimilarity截然不同
玛丽拉·卡思伯特和雷切尔太太之间存在过并且一直存在一种友谊——没有别的词儿可用，只能这样形容那种关系——说不定正因为她们彼此截然不同，才有往来。
Marilla was a tall, thin woman, with angles and without curves; her dark hair showed some gray streaks and was always twisted up in a hard little knot behind with two wire hairpins stuck aggressively through it. She looked like a woman of narrow experience and rigid conscience, which she was; but there was a saving something about her mouth which, if it had been ever so slightly developed, might have been considered indicative of a sense of humor.
streak线条 rigid conscience思想刻板 indicative of表明,说明
玛丽拉是个精瘦的高个儿女人，棱角分明，没有曲线。她乌黑的头发已有几丝灰白，在脑后盘成一个结实的小发髻，两只金属发夹毫不松劲地穿插在里面。她看上去阅历短浅、思想刻板，实际上她也正是这样一个女人，不过她嘴巴四周的神情弥补了她那严肃态度的缺陷，这样的神情再稍稍发展一点儿就可能被认为带有幽默感了。
“We’re all pretty well,”said Mrs. Rachel.“I was kind of afraid YOU weren’t, though, when I saw Matthew starting off today. I thought maybe he was going to the doctor’s.”
“我们大家都挺好。”雷切尔太太说。“可是，当我今天看见马修出远门时，我还担心是你身体不舒服呢。我想他可能是去请医生了。”
Marilla’s lips twitched understandingly. She had expected Mrs. Rachel up; she had known that the sight of Matthew jauntingoff so unaccountably would be too much for her neighbor’s curiosity.
twitch抽搐 understandingly会心地 jaunt远足 unaccountably不可解释地
玛丽拉的嘴唇会心地扭动了一下。她已经料到雷切尔太太会来；她知道，看到马修这样不可理解地出门，她这位邻居是无论如何也按捺不住萌发的好奇心的。
“Oh, no, I’m quite well although I had a bad headache yesterday,”she said.“Matthew went to Bright River. We’re getting a little boy from an orphan asylum in Nova Scotia and he’s coming on the train tonight.”
orphan asylum孤儿院
“啊，不，我身体挺好的，虽然昨天头疼得很厉害。”她说。“马修到布赖特里弗去了。我们从新斯科舍的一家孤儿院领养了一个小男孩儿，他乘今晚的火车来。”
If Marilla had said that Matthew had gone to Bright River to meet a kangaroo from Australia Mrs. Rachel could not have been more astonished. She was actually stricken dumb for five seconds. It was unsupposable that Marilla was making fun of her, but Mrs. Rachel was almost forced to suppose it.
dumb呆地,哑地 unsupposable不可假定的
即使玛丽拉说马修是去布赖特里弗接一只来自澳大利亚的袋鼠，雷切尔太太也不会比这时更加惊讶。她着实愣了五秒钟。玛丽拉是绝对不可能和她开玩笑的，可雷切尔太太却差点儿不得不这么认为了。
“Are you in earnest, Marilla?”she demanded when voice returned to her.
earnest认真的 demanded查问
“你是跟我开玩笑吧，玛丽拉？”她好不容易又能说话时，这样问道。
“Yes, of course,”said Marilla, as if getting boys from orphan asylums in Nova Scotia were part of the usual spring work on any well-regulated Avonlea farm instead of being an unheard of innovation.
well-regulated井然有序的 innovation新鲜,创新
“不，不是。”玛丽拉说，好像从新斯科舍的孤儿院领养男孩儿，是管理有序的每家阿冯利农舍的一桩春季寻常事务，而不是从来没听说过的新鲜事。
Mrs. Rachel felt that she had received a severe mental jolt. She thought in exclamation points. A boy! Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert of all people adopting a boy! From an orphan asylum! Well, the world was certainly turning upside down! She would be surprised at nothing after this! Nothing!
severe剧烈的 jolt使震惊 exclamation感叹 turn upside down完全颠倒
雷切尔太太感到自己的精神大为震动。她用带有感叹号的语句思考着。一个男孩儿！在所有的人当中，居然是玛丽拉和马修·卡思伯特首先要领养一个男孩儿！从一家孤儿院！天哪，这世界无疑是翻了个儿啦！她以后不会再对任何事情感到吃惊了！再也不会了！
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