04-01-05-小妇人

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[小妇人 / 路易莎·梅·阿尔考特 著]
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

■ 简介
圣诞节之际，马奇家的四个女孩子都决心努力做个好女孩，不再滥发脾气，不再懒惰，不再自私。麦格是最年长的一个，她决心不再抱怨工作不好以及没有漂亮的衣服穿。琼决心不再与人争辩和生气，不再像个男孩一样四处乱跑。羞涩的白丝会努力变得勇敢些，小艾米会少顾及自己而多替他人着想。
当然，她们并不总是成功，有时她们会有争吵、小秘密以及愤怒的眼泪；但是，也有欢笑和有趣的事情。不久她们有了一个新朋友——邻居富有且孤独的男孩罗瑞。
即将到来的一年里有许多的麻烦和困难，而女孩子们在成长。无拘无束的琼憎恨成为彬彬有礼的年轻淑女，可麦格将满17岁，她就要恋爱了……
路易莎·梅·阿尔考特于1832年生于美国的宾夕法尼亚州，1888年去世。她家境贫寒，生活艰辛，直到后来她的著名作品《小妇人》成功问世。这本书源于她自己的家庭生活以及阿尔考特家四姐妹的经历。之后她又撰写了三部关于马奇家的作品，分别为《好妻子》、《小男人》和《琼的男友们》。

■ 1 Four sisters
‘Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents，’said Jo crossly．
‘It’s so awful to be poor！’agreed Meg，looking at her old dress．
‘It’s not right for some girls to have pretty things，and others to have nothing at all，’said little Amy．
‘We’ve got Father and Mother，’and each other，’said Beth gently．
The four young faces round the fire cheered up as they thought of this， but then Jo said sadly，’We haven’t got Father，and we won’t have him for a long time．’She didn’t say ‘perhaps never，’but each silently thought it，remembering that he was away at the war in the South．
Then Meg said，’Mother says we shouldn’t spend money on presents when our men are fighting a war．’
‘We can’t expect anything from Mother or each otehr，’said Jo，’ but we only have a dollar each， and that won’t help the army much． Let’s each buy ourselves what we want， and have a little fun． We work hard to earn it．’
‘I do， teaching those awful children，’ said Meg．’What abut me？’said Jo．’ I’m shut up all day working for a terrible old lady， who gives me different orders every five seconds！’
‘I think washing cups and plates and keeping things tidy is the worst work in the world，’said Beth．’My hands get too tired to play my music．’
‘I have to go to school with girls who laugh at my dresses and say cruel things because my father isn’t rich，’said Amy．
‘I wish we had the money Father lost when we were little，Jo，’said Meg．
‘I wish I was a boy，’ said Jo．’Then I could go and fight beside Father！’
Meg was sixteen and very pretty， with large eyes and soft brown hair，and white hands．Fifteen-year-old Jo was very tall and thin． Her long，dark－red hair was usually pushed up out of the way． Beth was thirteen，a very shy girl who seemed to live in a happy world of her own．Amy was the youngest， but thought herself to be the most important． She had blue eyes，and yellow hair which curled on to her shoulders．
At six o’c