目 录 上一节 下一节 
她拥抱海伦比拥抱我要长些，更不情愿放她走。她一直目送海伦到门边，为了海伦，她再次伤心地叹了口气；为了海伦，她从脸上抹去了一滴眼泪， On reaching the bedroom, we heard the voice of Miss Scatcherd: shewas examining drawers; she had just pulled out Helen Burns's, andwhen we entered Helen was greeted with a sharp reprimand, and toldthat to-morrow she should have half-a-dozen of untidily foldedarticles pinned to her shoulder. 到了寝室，我们听见了斯卡查德小姐的嗓音，她正在检查抽屉，而且刚好已把海伦的抽屉拉出来。我们一走进房间，海伦便当头挨了一顿痛骂。她告诉海伦，明天要把五六件叠得乱七八糟的东西别在她的肩上。 "My things were indeed in shameful disorder," murmured Helen to me,in a low voice: "I intended to have arranged them, but I forgot."" 我的东西乱糟糟的真丢脸，"海伦喃喃地同我说，"我是想把它们放整齐的，可总是忘了。" Next morning, Miss Scatcherd wrote in conspicuous characters on apiece of pasteboard the word "Slattern," and bound it like aphylactery round Helen's large, mild, intelligent, and benign-looking forehead. She wore it till evening, patient, unresentful,regarding it as a deserved punishment. The moment Miss Scatcherdwithdrew after afternoon school, I ran to Helen, tore it off, andthrust it into the fire: the fury of which she was incapable hadbeen burning in my soul all day, and tears, hot and large, hadcontinually been scalding my cheek; for the spectacle of her sadresignation gave me an intolerable pain at the heart. 第二早上，斯卡查德小姐在一块纸牌上写下了十分醒目的两个字"邋遢"，像经文护符匣一样，把它系在海伦那宽大、温顺、聪颖、一付善相的额头上。她那么耐心而毫无怨言地佩戴着它，视之为应得的惩罚，一直戴到晚上。下午放学以后，斯卡查德小姐一走，我便跑到海伦那儿，一把撕下这块牌子，把它扔进火里。她所不会有的火气，整天在我心中燃烧着，大滴大滴热泪，一直烧灼着我的脸颊，她那付悲哀的、听天由命的样子，使我心里痛苦得难以忍受。 About a week subsequently to the incidents above narrated, MissTemple, who had written to Mr. Lloyd, received his answer: itappeared that what he said went to corroborate my account. MissTemple, having assembled the whole school, announced that inquiryhad been made into the charges alleged against Jane Eyre, and thatshe was most happy to be able to pronounce her completely clearedfrom every imputation. The teachers then shook hands with me andkissed me, and a murmur of pleasure ran through the ranks of mycompanions. 上述事件发生后大约一周，坦普尔小姐写给劳埃德先生的信有了回音。他在信中所说的，进一步证实了我的自述。坦普尔小姐把全校师生召集起来，当众宣布，对简.爱所受的指责己经作了调查，而且很高兴地声明对简.爱的诋毁己彻底澄清。教师们随后同我握了手，吻了我，一阵欢悦的低语，迥荡在我同伴的队伍之中。 
这样我便卸下了一个沉重的包袱。我打算从头努力，决心排除万难披荆斩棘地前进。我拼命苦干，付出几分努力，便获得几分成功。我的记忆力虽然不是生来很强，但经过实干有了改进，而反复练习使我的头脑更为机敏。几周之后，我被升到了高班，不到两个月我被允许学习法文和绘画。我学了动词Ｅtre的最基本的两个时态；同一天我作了第一幅茅屋素描（顺便说一句，屋子墙壁的倾斜度可与比萨斜塔相媲美）。那天夜里上床时，我忘了在遐想中准备有热的烤土豆或白面包与新鲜牛奶的巴米赛德晚餐了，往常我是以此来解馋的。而现在，我在黑暗中所见到的理想画面成了我的盛宴。所有的画作都是出自我的手笔，潇洒自如的房屋、树木铅笔画，别致的岩石和废墟，克伊普式的牛群，以及各种可爱的画：有蝴蝶在含苞的玫瑰上翩翩起舞；有鸟儿啄着成熟的樱桃；有藏着珍珠般鸟蛋的鹪鹩巢穴，四周还绕着一圈嫩绿的长春藤。我还在脑子里掂量了一下，有没有可能把那天皮埃罗太太给我看的薄薄的法文故事书，流利地翻译出来。这个问题还没有满意解决，我便甜甜地睡着了。 Well has Solomon said--"Better is a dinner of herbs where love is,than a stalled ox and hatred therewith." 所罗门说得好："吃素菜，彼此相爱，强如吃肥牛，彼此相恨。" I would not now have exchanged Lowood with all its privations forGateshead and its daily luxuries. 现在，我决不会拿贫困的罗沃德去换取终日奢华的盖茨黑德。 But the privations, or rather the hardships, of Lowood lessened.Spring drew on: she was indeed already come; the frosts of winterhad ceased; its snows were melted, its cutting winds ameliorated.My wretched feet, flayed and swollen to lameness by the sharp air ofJanuary, began to heal and subside under the gentler breathings ofApril; the nights and mornings no longer by their Canadiantemperature froze the very blood in our veins; we could now endurethe play-hour passed in the garden: sometimes on a sunny day itbegan even to be pleasant and genial, and a greenness grew overthose brown beds, which, freshening daily, suggested the thoughtthat Hope traversed them at night, and left each morning brightertraces of her steps. Flowers peeped out amongst the leaves; snow-drops, crocuses, purple auriculas, and golden-eyed pansies. OnThursday afternoons (half-holidays) we now took walks, and foundstill sweeter flowers opening by the wayside, under the hedges. 然而，罗沃德的贫困，或者不如说艰辛，有所好转。春天即将来临，实际上已经到来，冬季的严寒过去了。积雪已融化，刺骨的寒风不再那般肆虐，在四月和风的吹拂下，我那双曾被一月的寒气剥去了一层皮，红肿得一拐一拐的可怜的脚，已开始消肿和痊愈。夜晚和清晨不再出现加拿大式的低气温，险些把我们血管里的血冻住。现在我们己受得了花园中度过的游戏的时刻。有时逢上好日子，天气甚至变得温暖舒适。枯黄的苗圃长出了一片新绿，一天比一天鲜嫩，使人仿佛觉得希望之神曾在夜间走过，每天清晨留下她愈来愈明亮的足迹。花朵从树叶丛中探出头来，有雪花莲呀、藏红花呀、紫色的报春花和金眼三色紫罗兰。每逢星期四下午（半假日）、我们都出去散步，看到不少更加可爱的花朵，盛开在路边的篱笆下。 I discovered, too, that a great pleasure, an enjoyment which thehorizon only bounded, lay all outside the high and spike-guardedwalls of our garden: this pleasure consisted in prospect of noblesummits girdling a great hill-hollow, rich in verdure and shadow; ina bright beck, full of dark stones and sparkling eddies. Howdifferent had this scene looked when I viewed it laid out beneaththe iron sky of winter, stiffened in frost, shrouded with snow!--when mists as chill as death wandered to the impulse of east windsalong those purple peaks, and rolled down "ing" and holm till theyblended with the frozen fog of the beck! That beck itself was thena torrent, turbid and curbless: it tore asunder the wood, and senta raving sound through the air, often thickened with wild rain orwhirling sleet; and for the forest on its banks, THAT showed onlyranks of skeletons. 我还发现，就在顶端用尖铁防范着的花园高墙之外，有着一种莫大的愉快和享受，它广阔无垠，直达天际，那种愉快来自宏伟的山峰环抱着的一个树木葱笼绿荫盖地的大山谷；也来自满是黑色石子和闪光漩涡的明净溪流。这景色与我在冬日铁灰色的苍穹下，冰霜封冻、积雪覆盖时看到的情景多么不同呀！那时候，死一般冷的雾气被东风驱赶着，飘过紫色的山峰，滚下草地与河滩，直至与溪流上凝结的水气融为一体。那时，这条小溪是一股混浊不堪、势不可挡的急流，它冲决了树林，在空中发出咆哮，那声音在夹杂着暴雨和旋转的冻雨时，听来常常更加沉闷。至于两岸的树木，都己成了一排排死人的骨骼。 
四月己逝，五月来临。这是一个明媚宁静的五月，日复一日，都是蔚蓝的天空，和煦的阳光，轻柔的西风和南风。现在，草木茁壮成长起来。罗沃德抖散了它的秀发，处处叶绿，遍地开花。榆树、岑树和橡树光秃秃的高大树干，恢复了生气勃勃的雄姿，林间植物在幽深处茂密生长，无数种类的苔鲜填补了林中的空谷。众多的野樱草花，就像奇妙地从地上升起的阳光。我在林荫深处曾见过它们淡谈的金色光芒，犹如点点散开的可爱光斑。这一切我常常尽情享受着，无拘无束，无人看管，而且几乎总是独自一人。这种自由与乐趣所以这么不同寻常，是有其原因的、而说清楚这个原委，就成了我现在的任务。 Have I not described a pleasant site for a dwelling, when I speak ofit as bosomed in hill and wood, and rising from the verge of astream? Assuredly, pleasant enough: but whether healthy or not isanother question. 我在说这个地方掩映在山林之中，坐落在溪流之畔时，不是把它描绘成一个舒适的住处吗？的确，舒适倒是够舒适的，但有益于健康与否，却是另一回事了。 That forest-dell, where Lowood lay, was the cradle of fog and fog-bred pestilence; which, quickening with the quickening spring, creptinto the Orphan Asylum, breathed typhus through its crowdedschoolroom and dormitory, and, ere May arrived, transformed theseminary into an hospital. 罗沃德所在的林间山谷，是大雾的摇篮，是雾气诱发的病疫的滋生地。时疫随着春天急速的步伐，加速潜入孤儿院，把斑疹伤寒传进了它拥挤的教室和寝室，五月未到，就己把整所学校变成了医院。 Semi-starvation and neglected colds had predisposed most of thepupils to receive infection: forty-five out of the eighty girls layill at one time. Classes were broken up, rules relaxed. The fewwho continued well were allowed almost unlimited license; becausethe medical attendant insisted on the necessity of frequent exerciseto keep them in health: and had it been otherwise, no one hadleisure to watch or restrain them. Miss Temple's whole attentionwas absorbed by the patients: she lived in the sick-room, neverquitting it except to snatch a few hours' rest at night. Theteachers were fully occupied with packing up and making othernecessary preparations for the departure of those girls who werefortunate enough to have friends and relations able and willing toremove them from the seat of contagion. Many, already smitten, wenthome only to die: some died at the school, and were buried quietlyand quickly, the nature of the malady forbidding delay. 学生们素来半饥半饱，得了感冒也无人过问，所以大多容易受到感染。八十五个女生中四十五人一下子病倒了。班级停课，纪律松懈。少数没有得病的，几乎已完全放任自流，因为医生认为他们必须经常参加活动，保持身体健康。就是不这样，也无人顾得上去看管她们了。坦普尔小姐的全部注意力已被病人所吸引，她住在病房里，除了夜间抓紧几小时休息外，寸步不离病人，教师们全力以赴，为那些幸而有亲戚朋友，能够并愿意把她们从传染地带走的人，打铺盖和作好动身前的必要准备。很多已经染病的回家去等死；有些人死在学校里，悄悄地草草埋掉算数，这种病的特性决定了容不得半点拖延。
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