时间:2018-12-14 作者:英语课 分类:简爱


英语课

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE St. John’s Secret

I had twenty village girls to teach. Some of them spoke 1 in such a strong, country speech that I could barely 2 understand them. Their words did not seem like the English language. Only three of the girls could read, and none could write. At the end of my first day, I knew there would be much hard work to do. But I told myself that I was lucky to have any kind of work. “Besides, these are good girls, and they want to learn, just like I did when I was their age,” I thought.

Ever since I had left Thornfield I had thought of Mr. Rochester every day and night. That evening, I stood at the door of my house, looking at the sunset 3 and the quiet fields. I allowed myself to imagine again the life I could have had with Mr. Rochester. He would have loved me very much for a while. “He did love me,” I thought, “nobody will ever love me like that again.” But I knew that I would only have been his mistress 4, not his wife. One day, he would have become tired of me. In time, I would be happier here as a schoolteacher. I would be alone, but at least I would be honest.

But when he came to visit me, St. John Rivers found me crying. He asked me.

“Are you sorry you took this job?”

“Oh no,” I said, “I know I will enjoy it. And I’m so grateful 5 to have a home, and work to do. A few weeks ago, I had nothing.”

“But perhaps you are lonely,” he said.

I’m not lonely yet, and I’m sure I’ll be very busy with my work.”

“Well, I think you should work hard. Don’t think about your past. A year ago. I was unhappy also. The quiet life in the country was boring to me, and I thought about changing my work. Suddenly I realized that God had an answer for me. He was telling me to be a missionary 6! No work is greater than that! Since then, I have been happy, getting ready to leave England and traveling around the world, serving God. But … I do have one human problem. I have promised God I will overcome this problem in my life.”

I was listening to him so closely 7 that I did not hear the sounds of someone walking nearby. “Good evening, Mr. Rivers!” said a sweet voice. St. John jumped up, and then turned slowly to face the person. A girl dressed in white was standing 8 there. When she took off her hat, we saw her beautiful face. St. John’s face turned red, and he looked at the ground as he said, “It is a lovely evening, but isn’t it late for you to be outside alone?”

“Oh. Father told me there was a new girls’ school, and I just had to see it! I wanted to meet the new teacher. That must be you,” she said to me, smiling. “Do you like your little house, and the students?” I knew that this must be Miss Oliver, who had paid for the furniture in my house.

“Oh, yes, Miss Oliver. I think I’ll like teaching 9 here, and the house is lovely, thank you,” I said.

“If you like, I’ll come and help you teach sometimes. Oh, Mr. Rivers, I am so tired! I was visiting friends, and I was out dancing until two o’clock this morning! How fun!”

St. John looked straight into Miss Oliver’s laughing eyes. He looked as if his heart wanted to fly out of its cage, but he said nothing. Miss Oliver went on talking, “Please come and visit my father, Mr. Rivers. Why don’t you ever come?” she asked.

“I can’t, Miss Rosamund. I ---I am very busy with my work,” he said softly 10. It seemed to me that he really wanted to visit her, however. “Well, I must go home then. Goodbye!” She held out her hand. When he touched it, his own hand was trembling 11.

“Goodbye!” he said. His face was red. When Miss Oliver walked away, she turned back to look at St. John two times. But he never turned around to look at her.

When I saw St. John’s unhappiness. I didn’t think so much about my own problems. At least I had loved and been loved by someone, for a short time. Every day, I watched St. John and Miss Oliver together. St. John taught a Bible 12 lesson at the school, and Miss Oliver always came to the school at that time, wearing her prettiest dress. She would walk towards St. John, smiling sweetly at him. He would look at her as if he wanted to say, “I love you, and I know you love me. I could marry you and be happy. But my heart is already promised to God!” but he never said anything, and she always went away. Each day she grew a little sadder. I knew he wanted her, but he would not disobey 13 God. He believed he had to become a missionary, serving God alone for the rest of his life.

Miss Oliver’s father liked St. John, and would be happy if St. John married his daughter. I decided 14 to try to convince 15 St. John to marry Miss Oliver. I thought St. John could help the poor with Miss Oliver’s money in England, instead of traveling so far away, into the East.

My chance to talk to St. John came one November evening when he visited me at home. He saw a drawing I had done of Miss Oliver, and he could not stop looking at it.

“I could give this drawing to you, if you would like it,” I said gently.

“She’s so beautiful!” he said, still looking at it. “I would certainly like to have it.”

“She likes you, I am sure,” I said bravely. “And her father respects you. You should marry her.”

“It’s very nice to hear you say these things,” he said. He was not upset by my words. “I will let myself think about her for fifteen minutes.” And he put his watch on the table and sat sown 16, closing his eyes. “Married to the lovely Rosamund Oliver! Let me just imagine it! My heart is full of happiness!” And there was silence for fifteen minutes while he thought about her. Then he put the drawing back on the table, picking up his watch.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I can’t marry her. You see, Jane, although I love her, I know that Rosamund would not make a good wife for a missionary. She would not be happy in this work.”

“But you don’t have to become a missionary!” I said.

“Yes, I do. It’s the great work that God has chosen me to do! I will teach the Eastern people about the Christian 17 religion, peace, and freedom. This is what I live and die for!”

“But what about Miss Oliver?” I asked. “She may be so unhappy if you leave.”

“Jane, Miss Oliver will forget me in a month. I know this about her. She will marry someone who can make her much happier than I could.”

“St. John, you speak calmly, but I know you’re hurting.”

“You are right,” he said, “But believe me, I will never marry her. I will only serve God.” As he picked up his hat before leaving, he looked at the drawing of Miss Oliver once more. Suddenly he stared at me, and then tore off a tiny piece of the drawing very quickly. With a “goodbye!” he ran out of the house. I did not understand why he had done this.



1 spoke
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
2 barely
adv.仅仅,几乎没有,几乎不
  • The male bird is barely distinguishable from the female.雄鸟和雌鸟几乎无法辨别。
  • He took barely enough money to keep the children in bread.他赚很少的钱仅够孩子们勉强糊口。
3 sunset
n.日落;衰落时期(尤指人的晚年)
  • They'll work on till sunset.他们将继续工作,直到日落。
  • The sunset was a very beautiful sight.那落日真是一幅美景。
4 mistress
n.(文学用语)使男子为之倾倒的女人,女主人
  • Does his wife know he has a mistress?他的妻子知道他有一个情妇吗?
  • Is your mistress at home?你家女主人在家吗?
5 grateful
adj.感谢的,感激的,受欢迎的,表示谢意的
  • If you will help us, we shall be very grateful.如果你愿意帮助我们,我们会很感激你。
  • He closed his letter with expression of grateful thanks.他在那封信的结尾表达了自己的感激之情。
6 missionary
adj.教会的,传教(士)的;n.传教士
  • She taught in a missionary school for a couple of years.她在一所教会学校教了两年书。
  • I hope every member understands the value of missionary work. 我希望教友都了解传教工作的价值。
7 closely
adv.紧密地;严密地,密切地
  • We shall follow closely the development of the situation.我们将密切注意形势的发展。
  • The two companies are closely tied up with each other.这两家公司之间有密切联系。
8 standing
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
9 teaching
n.教学,执教,任教,讲授;(复数)教诲
  • We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
  • He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。
10 softly
adv.柔和地,静静地,温柔地
  • He speaks too softly for her to hear.他讲话声音太轻,她听不见。
  • She breathed her advice softly.她低声劝告。
11 trembling
n.发抖adj.发抖的v.发抖( tremble的现在分词 );焦虑;颤动;轻轻摇晃
  • My legs were trembling with fear. 我吓得双腿直发抖。
  • Daddy was trembling with anxiety as to how the talks would go. 爸爸为那些商谈的进展而焦虑不安。 来自《简明英汉词典》
12 bible
n.《圣经》;得到权威支持的典籍
  • According to the Bible we are all the seed of Adam.根据《圣经》所说的,我们都是亚当的后裔。
  • This dictionary should be your Bible when studying English.学习英语时,这本字典应是你的主要参考书。
13 disobey
v.不服从;不听命令
  • Soldiers must never disobey.军人必须服从。
  • I recommend you not to disobey your officers.我劝你不要不服从你的长官。
14 decided
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
15 convince
vt.使确认,使信服;使认识错误
  • It requires a lot of talking to convince him.要说服他很费口舌。
  • I have given over trying to convince him.我已经不再试图说服他了。
16 sown
v.(在已播种有另一种作物的土地上)套种(晚栽作物)( undersow的过去式和过去分词 );sow的过去分词
  • We sowed our vegetable seed yesterday.Have you sown yours? 昨天我们播下了菜籽,你也播了吗? 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Once you've sown, you just have to trust to luck. 播下种子后,让它听天由命长吧。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
17 Christian
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒
  • They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
  • His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。
学英语单词
AC arc
acid stomach
Ambodiatafana
Anthemius of Tralles
apobiotic
aqueous slurry
asphaltus (asphalt)
balaam-basket, balaam-box
banking structure
base-stations
booklouses
Briatico
bruce price
built up crank axle
butthey
Cheonsuman
chick embryo cultivation
chock-a-block
chromatic sensitivity
civil servant work act
comparative statics
computer security model
continuous sludging centrifuger
counteractively
crank case relief door
Deli coupling
demi-period
depretiate
desids
double trap
down-on-their-luck
earplugs
engineering heat flux hot channel factor
epilepsia genuina
exit rate of enterprise
fantoccini
feeder chute
foraminate
fuck-bitch
Furry theorem
geocontainers
globotriaosylsphingosine
glycerin Iitharge cement
gold stannate
heavenly blue
henshaw
Hermissenda crassicornis
histopathological response
Huantiao (G 30)
hypoelastic body
in the development of each ear
Ingolo
isolinderene
Jabat al-Tahrir al-Filistiniyyah
jaw nut
Jun glaze of Yixing
Loukouo
luyias
mechanical overspeed trip point
military issue
mini-differential weighing
minimum number of theoretical stage
minimum unit cost
moving matte
Muco, R.
multum in parvo mapping
mycelium plug
myo-epithelial cells
new poor
NINJA loan
noncombined
nunchion
ofswink
Old World oriole
oxyhalide ion
paloverdes
preliminary vegetative approachment
rear cross member
Salix tangii
sciniph
separation-individuation
sheet metal stringer
six-percent
special repair shop
sulvur
superintendents' office expense
swift as an as thought
Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic
Terrestrian
Tillamook Head
tree threw
trunk communication
Ulverston
unclinched
uromyces inaequialtus
Vaour
venomsome
Whitt.
Wilamowice
woeness
yellow turnips
zone of polymorphous cells