A surprise for the Cuthberts卡思伯特兄妹俩大吃一惊

Lucy Maud Montgomery

作者简介：露西·莫德·蒙哥马利（Lucy Maud Montgomery）1874年出生于加拿大，1942年去世。她幼时与祖父母居住在爱德华王子岛上一座破旧的农舍里。她的《绿山墙的安妮》（Anne of Green Gables）在全世界受到了欢迎，她还写了许多关于安妮·雪莉的故事。

作品简介：安妮是个身世凄凉的小女孩，出生不久后便父母双亡，成了孤儿。安妮被好心的邻居养到六岁，后被送到了孤儿院。十一岁的时候，绿山墙的马修和玛丽拉收养了她。安妮天性活泼、乐观，想象力极为丰富。她的天真和幻想使她闹了不少笑话，但她的善良和直率也使她赢得了友谊和真挚的爱。她聪明又勤奋，凭着自己的努力考取了大学，但为了照顾玛丽拉，她又放弃了学业。这是一个关于成长的故事，朴实而绚丽，充满着童心和梦幻。

绿山墙农舍的卡思伯特兄妹决定领养一个男孩，帮着做田里的农活。令人大吃一惊的是，孤儿院送来了一个爱幻想、喋喋不休的红发女孩，她像一个小精灵。这个小精灵像一股清新的风吹进了闭塞的乡村。故事由此开始……本文节选自《绿山墙的安妮》第一章节，节选时有删改。

Matthew Cuthbert lived with his sisterMarilla on their farm on Prince Edward Is?land in Canada. Their farm?house， GreenGables， was just outside the little village ofAvonlea. Matthew was nearly sixty and hada long brown beard. His sister was fiveyears younger. They were both tall andthin， with dark hair. Everybody in Avonleaknew that the Cuthberts were quiet peoplewho worked very hard on their farm.

One afternoon Matthew drove thehorse and cart to the station.“ Has the five?thirty train arrived yet？” he asked thestationmaster.

“Yes，” the man replied.“ And there'sa passenger who's waiting for you. A littlegirl.”

“A little girl？” asked Matthew.“ ButI've come for a boy！ The children's home issending us one of their orphan boys. We're going to adopt him， you see， and he's goingto help me with the farm work.”

“Well， perhaps the children's homedidn't have any boys， so they sent you agirl，” answered the stationmaster carelessly.“Here she is.”

Matthew turned shyly to speak to thechild. She was about eleven， with long redhair in two plaits. Her face was small， whiteand thin， with a lot of freckles， and she hadlarge grey?green eyes. She was wearing anold brown hat and a dress which was toosmall for her.

“Are you Mr Cuthbert of GreenGables？”she asked excitedly in a high，sweet voice.“ I'm very happy to come andlive with you， and belong to you. I've neverbelonged to anyone， you see. The people atthe children's home were very kind， but it'snot very exciting to live in a place like that，is it？”

Matthew felt sorry for the child. Howcould he tell her that it was all a mistake？But he couldn't just leave her at the station.He decided to take her home with him.Marilla could explain the mistake to her.

He was surprised that he enjoyed thejourney home. He was a quiet， shy man，and he didn't like talking himself. But today，he only had to listen， because the little girltalked， talked and talked. She told him all about herself while they drove along.

“My parents died when I was a baby，you know， and for the last three years Ivehad to work for my food. I've lived withthree different families and looked aftertheir children. So I've always been poor，and I haven't got any nice dresses！ But Ijust imagine that I'm wearing the mostbeautiful blue dress， a big hat with flowerson and blue shoes， and then I'm happy！ Doyou imagine things sometimes？”

“Well， I...I...not often，” said Matthew.

They were now driving past some veryold apple trees next to the road. The treeswere full of sweet?smelling， snowy?whiteflowers. The little girl looked at them.

“Aren't the trees beautiful？”she saidhappily.“ But am I talking too much？ Pleasetell me. I can stop if necessary， you know.”

Matthew smiled at her. “You go ontalking，” he answered.“ I like listening toyou.”

When they arrived at Green Gables，Marilla came to the door to meet them. Butwhen she saw the little girl， she cried in sur?prise， “Matthew， who's that？ Where's theboy？”

“The children's home has made a mis?take，” he said unhappily，“ and sent a girl，not a boy.”

The child was listening carefully. Sud?denly she put her head in her hands andbegan to cry.

“You—you don't want me！” shesobbed. “ Oh — oh！ You don't want mebecause I'm not a boy！”

“Now， now， don't cry，” said Marilla kindly.

“Don't you understand？ Oh！ This isthe worst thing that's happened to me in allmy life！”

Well， you can stay here， just for to?night，” said Marilla. “Now， what's yourname？”

The child stopped crying. “Will you please call me Cordelia？” she asked.

“Call you Cordelia？ Is that your name？”

“Well， no， it isn't， but it's a very beau?tiful name， isn't it？ I like to imagine myname is Cordelia， because my real name isAnne Shirley—and that's not a very inter?esting name， is it？”

Marilla shook her head. “The child has too much imagination，” she thought.

Later， when Anne was in bed， Marillasaid to her brother，“ She must go back tothe childrens home tomorrow.”

“Marilla， don't you think...” began Matthew“. She's a nice little thing， you know.”

“Matthew Cuthbert， are you telling methat you want to keep her？”asked Marillacrossly.

Matthew looked uncomfortable.“ Well， she's clever， and interesting， and—”

“But we don't need a girl！”

“But perhaps she needs us，” Matthewreplied， surprisingly quickly for him.“ Sheshad a very unhappy life up to now， Marilla.She can help you in the house. I can get aboy from the village to help me on the farm.What do you think？”

Marilla thought for a long time. “Allright，” she said in the end，“ I agree. Thepoor child can stay. I'll look after her.”

Matthew smiled happily.“ Be as goodand kind to her as you can， Marilla. I thinkshe needs a lot of love.”

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1. How did Matthew feel about the journey home？

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2. What did Matthew think of Anne？

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