A Child’s Biography(Excerpt 2)

by Louisa May Alcott

翻譯：范婕

前情提要：美國女作家路易莎·梅·奧爾科特（Louisa May Alcott）小時候是個愛探險的小女孩。有一天，她獨自跑到外面玩了一整天。天黑之后才發現自己找不到回家的路了。在她累得在街頭睡著的時候，一個街頭公告員走過，嘴里喊著“Lost—Lost—A little girl, six years old, in a pink frock,white hat, and new, green shoes!（尋人——尋人——一個小女孩，六歲，身穿粉色連衣裙，頭戴白色名帽子師，考腳點穿綠小色結新鞋子！）”原來這個公告員是小路易莎的父母雇來尋她的。最終，小路易莎平安地回了家。

You won’t be surprised to know that the next day after this last1)affair Louisa’s parents made sure that she did not leave the house. Indeed, to be2)entirely certain of her3)whereabouts,they tied her to the leg of a big sofa for a whole day!

Except for this one fault, Louisa was a good child, so she felt much4)ashamed that she had caused her mother, whom she loved dearly, so much worry. As she sat there, tied to the sofa, she made up her mind that she would never5)frighten her so again. No—she would6)cure herself of the runningaway habit!

After that day, whenever she felt the least7)desire to slip out of the house without asking8)permission,she would hurry to her own little room and shut the door9)tight. To keep her mind from bad plans she would shut her eyes and make up stories—think them all out, herself, you know. Then,when some of them seemed pretty good, she would write them down so that she would not forget them. By and by she found she liked making stories better than anything she had ever done in her life.

詞組加油站

make up one’s mind 下定決心

slip out of 溜出

hurry to 趕往

make up 編造

by and by 不久，后來

1) affair [?'fe?] n. 事件

2) entirely [?n'tɑ??l?] adv. 完全地

3) whereabouts ['we?r?bɑ?ts] n. 下落，行蹤

4) ashamed [?'?e?md] adj. 慚愧的，羞恥的

5) frighten ['frɑ?tn] v. 使驚恐，使恐慌

6) cure [kj??] v. 治愈，矯正

7) desire [d?'zɑ??] n. 渴望，欲望

8) permission [p?'m??n] n. 允許，批準

9) tight [tɑ?t] adv. 緊緊地后記：從此，路易莎開始了自己的故事創作，成為美國著名的作家。這就是路易莎從“野孩子”到“故事王”的故事。

參考譯文

這件事情后的第二天，路易莎的父母便不許她出門了，這并不讓人感到意外。其實，為了百分百明確路易莎的行蹤，父母甚至把她綁在了大沙發腿上一整天！

除了這次犯錯，路易莎實際上是個好孩子，讓親愛的媽媽如此為自己擔心，她覺得愧疚極了。被綁在沙發腿上的路易莎坐在那兒，暗下決心再也不會讓媽媽擔驚受怕了。一定不會了——她要改掉自己這個到處亂跑的習慣！

從那天起，每當有那么一點點要不經允許從家里溜出去的想法，她就沖進自己的小房間，把房門緊緊關上。為了把那些壞念頭從腦袋里趕出去，她會閉上眼睛，編構故事——把整個故事在腦子里想出來，一個人，你知道的。當她覺得一些想法還不錯的時候，她就會把它們寫下來，以防自己忘記。后來，她慢慢發現寫故事成了自己畢生做過的事情中最喜歡的那件事。

名師考點小結

1. make sure指“確保，確認，核實”，常用于祈使句，后面常接that賓語從句或of介詞短語。例如：I have made sure that he is telling the truth. 我已了解清楚他說的是實話。

Will you make sure of his return?（=Will you make sure that he has returned?）

請你查明一下他是否真的回來了，好嗎？

注意：后面接的that從句一般不用或很少用將來時。例如：

Make sure that you come here before fi ve. 你一定要在5點前來。

2. so that引導目的狀語從句，通常和can、could、may和might等情態動詞連用。例如：

My old father began to study computer at the age of sixty so that he might keep up with times.

我的老父親六十歲時開始學習電腦，以便跟上時代。

I spend more time learning English every day so that I can make greater progress this year.

為了今年取得更大進步，我每天用更多的時間學英語。

拓展：so/such...that...意為“如此……以至于……”，引導結果狀語從句。so后面接形容詞或副詞，such后面接名詞。例如：

It is such an interesting fi lm that we all enjoy it. 這部電影如此有趣，我們都喜歡它。