【英文文学】The Point of View

1、【英文文学】The Point of ViewThe Point of View Chapter 1From Miss Aurora Church at Sea to Miss Whiteside in ParisSeptember 1880. . . My dear child, the bromide of sodium (if thats what you call it) proved perfectly useless. I dont mean that it did me no good, but that I never had occasion to take the bottle out of my bag. It might have done wonders for me if I had needed it; but I didnt, simply because Ive been a wonder myself. Will you believe that Ive spent the whole voyage on deck, in the most anim

2、ated conversation and exercise? Twelve times round the deck make a mile, I believe; and by this measurement Ive been walking twenty miles a day. And down to every meal, if you please, where Ive displayed the appetite of a fishwife. Of course the weather has been lovely; so theres no great merit. The wicked old Atlantic has been as blue as the sapphire in my only ring rather a good one and as smooth as the slippery floor of Madame Galopins dining-room. Weve been for the last three hours in sight

3、of land, and are soon to enter the Bay of New York which is said to be exquisitely beautiful. But of course you recall it, though they say everything changes so fast over here. I find I dont remember anything, for my recollections of our voyage to Europe so many years ago are exceedingly dim; Ive only a painful impression that mamma shut me up for an hour every day in the stateroom and made me learn by heart some religious poem. I was only five years old and I believe that as a child I was extre

4、mely timid; on the other hand mamma, as you know, had what she called a method with me. She has it to this day; only Ive become indifferent; Ive been so pinched and pushed morally speaking, bien entendu. Its true, however, that there are children of five on the vessel today who have been extremely conspicuous ranging all over the ship and always under ones feet. Of course theyre little compatriots, which means that theyre little barbarians. I dont mean to pronounce all our compatriots barbarous;

5、 they seem to improve somehow after their first communion. I dont know whether its that ceremony that improves them, especially as so few of them go in for it; but the women are certainly nicer than the little girls; I mean of course in proportion, you know. You warned me not to generalise, and you see Ive already begun, before weve arrived. But I suppose theres no harm in it so long as its favourable.Isnt it favourable when I say Ive had the most lovely time? Ive never had so much liberty in my

6、 life, and Ive been out alone, as you may say, every day of the voyage. If its a foretaste of whats to come I shall take very kindly to that. When I say Ive been out alone I mean weve always been two. But we two were alone, so to speak, and it wasnt like always having mamma or Madame Galopin, or some lady in the pension or the temporary cook. Mamma has been very poorly; shes so very well on land that its a wonder to see her at all taken down. She says, however, that it isnt the being at sea; its

7、 on the contrary approaching the land. Shes not in a hurry to arrive; she keeps well before her that great disillusions await us. I didnt know she had any illusions she has too many opinions, I should think, for that: she discriminates, as shes always saying, from morning till night. Where would the poor illusions find room? Shes meanwhile very serious; she sits for hours in perfect silence, her eyes fixed on the horizon. I heard her say yesterday to an English gentleman a very odd Mr. Antrobus,

8、 the only person with whom she converses that she was afraid she shouldnt like her native land, and that she shouldnt like not liking it. But this is a mistake; shell like that immensely I mean the not liking it. If it should prove at all agreeable shell be furious, for that will go against her system. You know all about mammas system; Ive explained it so often. It goes against her system that we should come back at all; that was my system Ive had at last to invent one! She consented to come onl

9、y because she saw that, having no dot, I should never marry in Europe; and I pretended to be immensely preoccupied with this idea in order to make her start. In reality cela mest parfaitement gal. Im only afraid I shall like it too much I dont mean marriage, of course, but the sense of a native land. Say what you will, its a charming thing to go out alone, and Ive given notice that I mean to be always en course. When I tell mamma this she looks at me in the same silence; her eyes dilate and then she slowly closes them. Its as if the sea were affecting her a little, though its so beautifully calm. I ask her if shell try my bromide, which is there in my bag; but she motions me off and I begin to walk again, tapping my little boot-soles on the smooth clean deck. This allusion to my boot-soles, by the way, isnt prompted by vanity; but its a fact that at sea ones feet and ones shoes as

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