《绿山墙的安妮》开篇：英文原著带中文翻译

MRS. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies’ eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde’s Hollow it was a quiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde’s door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof.

雷切尔·林德太太就住在阿冯利大街向下斜伸进一个小山谷的地方，山谷四周长满桤木和吊钟花，一条小溪从中穿过，它的源头远在老卡斯伯特家树林深处。据说，这条小溪在流经那片树林的上游时，是一条蜿蜒湍急的溪流，有着深潭和瀑布的幽暗秘密。可是，等它流到林德山谷时，却变成了一条安静规矩的小溪，因为即使是一条小溪，从雷切尔·林德太太门前流过时，也不能不讲究体面和规矩。它也许意识到，雷切尔太太正坐在窗前，目光锐利地注视着一切过往之物，从溪流到孩子，无一例外。要是她发现任何古怪或不合规矩的事情，不查个水落石出，她是绝不会罢休的。

There are plenty of people, in Avonlea and out of it, who can attend closely to their neighbors’ business by dint of neglecting their own; but Mrs. Rachel Lynde was one of those capable creatures who can manage their own concerns and those of other folks into the bargain. She was a notable housewife; her work was always done and well done; she “ran” the Sewing Circle, helped run the Sunday-school, and was the strongest prop of the Church Aid Society and Foreign Missions Auxiliary. Yet with all this Mrs. Rachel found abundant time to sit for hours at her kitchen window, knitting “cotton warp” quilts—she had knitted sixteen of them, as Avonlea housekeepers were wont to tell in awed voices—and keeping a sharp eye on the main road that crossed the hollow and wound up the steep red hill beyond. Since Avonlea occupied a little triangular peninsula jutting out into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with water on two sides of it, anybody who went out of it or into it had to pass over that hill road and so run the unseen gauntlet of Mrs. Rachel’s all-seeing eye.

在阿冯利，在阿冯利以外，都有不少人，他们因为疏忽自己的事，反倒能专心致志地管邻居的闲事。可雷切尔·林德太太却属于那种能干的人，既能管好自己的事，又能捎带着管别人的事。她是一位出名的家庭主妇，她的活儿总是干完了，而且干得很好。她「主持」缝纫小组，协助管理主日学校，还是教会援助会和外国传教辅助会最有力的支柱。然而，尽管如此，雷切尔太太还能找出大把时间，坐在厨房窗前，一坐就是几个小时，一边编织「棉经」被子，她已织了十六条，阿冯利的家庭主妇们说起这事时，总是带着敬畏的口气，一边目光锐利地盯着那条穿过山谷、蜿蜒爬上远处陡峭红山的大路。阿冯利坐落在一个小小的三角形半岛上，伸入圣劳伦斯湾，两边临水，所以，任何人进出阿冯利，都得经过那条山路，也就逃不过雷切尔太太无所不见的眼睛。

She was sitting there one afternoon in early June. The sun was coming in at the window warm and bright; the orchard on the slope below the house was in a bridal flush of pinky-white bloom, hummed over by a myriad of bees. Thomas Lynde—a meek little man whom Avonlea people called “Rachel Lynde’s husband”—was sowing his late turnip seed on the hill field beyond the barn; and Matthew Cuthbert ought to have been sowing his on the big red brook field away over by Green Gables. Mrs. Rachel knew that he ought because she had heard him tell Peter Morrison the evening before in William J. Blair’s store over at Carmody that he meant to sow his turnip seed the next afternoon. Peter had asked him, of course, for Matthew Cuthbert had never been known to volunteer information about anything in his whole life.

六月上旬的一个下午，她正坐在那里。阳光从窗口照进来，温暖而明亮。屋前山坡上的果园一片粉白，繁花如新娘般绽放，无数蜜蜂在花间嗡嗡飞舞。托马斯·林德，一个温顺的小个子男人，阿冯利人都叫他「雷切尔·林德的丈夫」，正在谷仓后面的山地里播种晚萝卜籽。马修·卡斯伯特本该在绿山墙那边那片大红的溪边地里播种他的萝卜籽。雷切尔太太知道她应该知道这事，因为她头天晚上在卡莫迪的威廉·J·布莱尔商店里，听见马修对彼得·莫里森说，他打算第二天下午播萝卜籽。当然是彼得问他的，因为马修·卡斯伯特一辈子也没听说过会主动提供什么消息。

And yet here was Matthew Cuthbert, at half-past three on the afternoon of a busy day, placidly driving over the hollow and up the hill; moreover, he wore a white collar and his best suit of clothes, which was plain proof that he was going out of Avonlea; and he had the buggy and the sorrel mare, which betokened that he was going a considerable distance. Now, where was Matthew Cuthbert going and why was he going there?

然而，就在这个忙碌日子的下午三点半，马修·卡斯伯特却正平静地驾车穿过山谷，爬上小山。而且，他穿着白领衬衫和最好的衣服，这明摆着说明他要出阿冯利。他还驾着轻便马车，套着栗色母马，这表明他要去相当远的地方。那么，马修·卡斯伯特要去哪里，又为什么要去那里呢？