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牛津书虫《小公主》第04章:拉姆·达斯和猴子

所属教程:书虫1级 小公主

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2018年06月28日

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4 Ram Dass and the monkey Every morning, when Sara gave the birds their bread, she looked across to the attic window next door. But nobody opened it. Nobody called out 'Good morning!' across the roof, or gave Sara a friendly smile.
'Perhaps the Indian gentleman's servants all sleep downstairs,' she thought sadly.
Her life was very lonely now. She saw Becky every day, of course, but they did not have much time for talking. The cook and the other servants were not friendly. Sometimes, at night, Ermengarde came up to Sara's room, but it was not easy for her to come often.
Then one evening, Sara was in her attic when she heard a noise on the roof. She looked up — and there at the open window was a small monkey.
'Oh, you dear little thing!' cried Sara.
At once, the monkey jumped down and began to run round the room. Sara laughed. She got up on the table and looked out of her window, and at the next window she saw a face—the smiling face of an Indian lascar.
'Oh,' cried Sara, 'have you got a monkey? He's in my room.'
The lascar's name was Ram Dass, and yes, it was his monkey. He gave Sara a big smile.
'I'm so sorry,' he said. 'Can I come and get him?'
'Oh yes, please,' said Sara. 'I think he's afraid of me. And he runs so fast! But can you get across the roof?'
Yes, Ram Dass could, and a minute later he was in Sara's room. Soon the monkey jumped into his arms, and Ram Dass thanked Sara again and again. Then he went away, across the roof, back into the house next door.
*  *  *
Sara went to the shops five or six times a day, and when she walked past the house next door, she often thought about the Indian gentleman. She felt sorry for him. He had no wife or family, and the doctor visited the house every day. Mr Carmichael the lawyer often visited, too, and sometimes the Carmichael children went with him.
Sara was pleased about that. 'It's nice to see friendly faces when you are ill,' she thought.
The Indian gentleman thought that, too. He liked children very much, but he was a very unhappy man. Mr Carmichael was his friend, and he talked to him a lot. But they talked about only one thing.
'I must find the child,' said the Indian gentleman (his name was Mr Carrisford). 'I must find her and take care of her. But where is she? Here I am, with all this money from the diamond mines—and half of it is Ralph Crewe's money. Oh, Carmichael, why did I leave my friend and run away when things looked bad? Why?'
'You ran away because you were ill with a fever,' said Mr Carmichael. 'It nearly killed you, remember?'
'And it did kill poor Ralph,' said Mr Carrisford. 'He put all his money into the mines because I was his friend. But at first we didn't find any diamonds, and all Ralph's money was gone. I was afraid to tell him, so I ran away. And later, when we did find diamonds, Ralph was dead.' He laughed, angrily. 'What a brave friend I was!'
'It's not easy to be brave,' Mr Carmichael said quietly, 'when you're ill with a fever.'
Mr Carrisford looked into the fire. 'Ram Dass tells me,' he said, 'about a little servant-girl next door. The monkey ran away, and Ram Dass went across the roof to get him back from her room. The poor child sleeps in a cold, dirty attic, and works about sixteen hours a day. Is Ralph's daughter living like that? I can't stop thinking about it.'
'We're going to find her one day,' said Mr Carmichael.
'But how?' said Mr Carrisford. He put his head in his hands. 'I never saw her. I don't know her name! Ralph always called her his "Little Missus". We talked all the time about the mines. He never told me the name of her school. Her mother was French, so did he take her to a school in France? Or was it in England?'
'Well, we know there was a child at a school in Paris,' said Mr Carmichael, 'with the name of Carew or Crewe. Her father died suddenly, and a Russian family took her away with them, because she was a friend of their daughter. Perhaps this girl is Ralph Crewe's child. Next week I'm going to Moscow to look for her.'
'I want to go with you, but I'm not well,' said Mr Carrisford. 'I must find her, Carmichael. I must. Every night, in my dreams, I see Ralph Crewe's face, and he says:"Tom, Tom, where is my Little Missus?" And I have no answer for him.' Mr Carrisford took his friend's hand. 'Help me to find her. Help me.'
*  *  *
Winter came, with its short, dark days, and the attic rooms were very cold. There were no fires for servant girls, and often Sara and Becky could not sleep because of the cold. Sara was taller now, and her old black dress was very short. Her shoes were old, and she had no warm coat for the winter weather. She was thin, too. She did not get very much to eat, and she was always hungry.
She carried big baskets of shopping through the rain and the snow. One day she found a sixpence in the snow, and she bought some hot new bread with it. Then she saw a child by the door of the shop. The child had no shoes and no coat, and her thin face was blue with cold.
'She is hungrier than I am,' thought Sara. And she gave her hot new bread to the child.
When she got back to the school, Miss Minchin was angry. 'Cook is waiting for you, Sara. Why are you late?'
'I can't walk quickly through the snow,' said Sara. 'My shoes are old, Miss Minchin, and my feet get very cold.'
Miss Minchin did not like to hear this. 'Don't speak to me like that!' she said. 'I am kind to you, I'm giving you a home, but you never say "thank you" to me.'
Sara looked at her. 'You are not kind,' she said quietly. 'And this is not a home.'
'Go to your room at once!' said Miss Minchin.
On the stairs Sara met Lavinia. Lavinia looked at her and gave a little laugh. 'Oh, here's Princess Sara,' she said, 'in her old dress and her dirty shoes!'
In the attic, Sara sat down on the chair by her table.
'I must be brave,' she whispered. 'A princess is always brave, so I must be, too. But it's not easy.' She put her head down on her arms. 'Oh, Father, do you remember your Little Missus? Can you see me now?'
And in the house next door Mr Carrisford sat by a warm fire. Moscow is a long way from London, and he could only wait, but he thought about Ralph Crewe's child every day. He thought about other children, too.
'Ram Dass,' he said. 'How is that poor little servant-girl next door? Can we do something for her?'
'I see her in the street every day,' said Ram Dass. 'In the rain, in the snow. She looks thin and hungry. But we can help her. I can easily get in through her attic window. Listen...' And he talked for some minutes.
Mr Carrisford smiled. 'Yes,' he said to Ram Dass. 'Yes, I like it. Let's do it.'

4.拉姆·达斯和猴子

每天早晨当萨拉给鸟儿喂面包的时候,她都要看看隔壁阁楼的窗子。可没有人打开窗子,没有人隔着屋顶向她说“早上好!”,也没有人给她以友好的微笑。
“可能印度绅士的仆人们全都睡在楼下。”她难过地想。
她如今生活得非常孤独。她每天都去看贝基,不过,她们当然没有多少时间在一起聊天。厨子还有其他仆人并不友好。有时,埃芒加德会在晚上来萨拉的屋里看她,可她并不能经常来。
一天晚上,萨拉正在屋里待着,这时她听到房顶上有什么动静。她抬头看去——只见开着的窗户上有一只小猴子。
“哦,你这可爱的小家伙!”萨拉叫了出来。
那只猴子立刻跳了下来,开始在屋子里跑来跑去。萨拉笑了。她站到桌子上透过窗户向外看去,看到隔壁窗户里有一张脸——一张东印度水手微笑着的脸。
“哦,”萨拉叫道,“你是不是有一只猴子?它在我屋里呢。”
东印度水手名叫拉姆·达斯,是的,那猴子就是他的。他冲萨拉灿烂地笑着。
“对不起,”他说道,“我可以进来逮住它吗?”
“哦,当然可以,请吧,”萨拉回答,“我想它有点儿怕我。它跑得真快!可你能从屋顶上过来吗?”
是的,拉姆·达斯可以,一转眼的工夫他就来到了萨拉的屋里。那只猴子立即就跳到了他胳膊上,拉姆·达斯一遍又一遍地向萨拉道谢。接着他从屋顶走回到了隔壁的房子里。
*  *  *
萨拉一天要去五六趟商店,每当她经过隔壁的房子时,就会经常想起那个印度绅士。她很为他感到难过。他没有妻室,大夫每天都去看他。律师卡迈克尔先生也经常去看他,有时候还带着他家的孩子们。
萨拉为此感到高兴。“生病时能看到人们友善的面庞真好。”她这样想。
那个印度绅士也是这么想的。他非常喜欢孩子,可他是个非常不幸的人。卡迈克尔先生是他的朋友,他跟他谈了很多话,可他们只谈论一件事情。
“我一定要找到那个孩子,”印度绅士(他名叫卡里斯福特)说道,“我一定要找到她并照顾她。可她在哪儿呢?我带着所有开采钻石矿赚来的钱来到这里——那笔钱有一半是拉尔夫·克鲁的。哦,卡迈克尔,为什么当时形势看起来不好时我要丢下我的朋友逃跑呢?为什么?”
“你出走是因为你当时生病发烧了,”卡迈克尔先生说道,“还记得吗?那场病差点要了你的命。”
“那场病的确要了可怜的拉尔夫的命,”卡里斯福特先生说,“因为我是他的朋友,他把他所有的钱都投在了那个钻石矿上。可一开始我们根本找不到钻石,拉尔夫的钱全赔进去了。我不敢把这事告诉他,所以就一走了之。后来,当我们真的找到钻石的时候,拉尔夫已经死了。”他生气地冷笑着,“我真是个勇敢的朋友!”
“要想真正勇敢起来并不容易,”卡迈克尔心平气和地说道,“特别是在你生病发烧的时候。”
卡里斯福特先生看着炉火。“拉姆·达斯告诉我,”他说,“隔壁有个小女佣。拉姆·达斯的猴子跑了,他沿着屋顶过去把猴子从她屋里捉了回来。可怜的小女孩儿住在又冷又脏的小阁屋里,每天干大约16个小时的活。拉尔夫的女儿也过这样的日子吗?我老是禁不住那样想。”
“我们总有一天会找到她的。”卡迈克尔先生说道。
“可怎么找呢?”卡里斯福特先生说。他用手抱着头,“我从没见过她,我连她的名字都不知道!拉尔夫经常管她叫他的‘小米萨斯’。我们在一起时说的也都是采矿的事。他从来没跟我说过她所在学校的名字。她母亲是法国人,那他是不是把她送到法国的学校了?还是就在英国呢?”
“对了,我们得知巴黎的一所学校里有个孩子,”卡迈克尔先生说,“叫卡鲁还是克鲁的,她父亲突然去世了,一个俄国家庭收养了她,把她带走了,因为她是他们家女儿的朋友。也许这个女孩儿就是拉尔夫·克鲁的孩子。我下周就去莫斯科找她。”
“我想跟你一起去,可我身体不好,”卡里斯福特先生说,“我必须找到她,卡迈克尔。我必须找到她。每天晚上我都梦到克鲁的脸,他对我说:‘汤姆,汤姆,我的小米萨斯在哪里?’我都无言以对。”卡里斯福特先生握着朋友的手,“帮我找到她。帮帮我。”
*  *  *
冬天来了,天变得很短,很阴暗,小阁屋里非常冷。女仆们的屋子里没有火取暖,萨拉和贝基经常被冻得睡不着觉。萨拉现在长高了,她那件黑色的旧衣服显得非常短。她的鞋旧了,也没有冬天穿的棉衣。她还很瘦,没有多少东两吃,经常挨饿。
她经常拎着买东西的篮子雨里雪里地跑来跑去。一天她在雪地里发现了6便士,于是就用这点钱买了一些新烤出来的热面包。可后来她在商店门口看到一个小孩儿,没穿鞋子,也没有外套,消瘦的脸冻得发紫。
“她肯定比我更饿。”萨拉想。于是她就把热面包给了那个孩子。
当她回到学校的时候,明钦小姐很生气。“厨子等着你呢,萨拉。你怎么这么晚才回来?”
“在雪地里我走不快,”萨拉说道,“我的鞋子旧了,明钦小姐,我的脚冷极了。”
明钦小姐不喜欢听到这些。“不准那样跟我说话!”她说道,“我对你不薄,我给了你一个家,可你从来都没对我说声‘谢谢’。”
萨拉看了看她。“你对我不好,”她平静地说,“这里也不是一个家。”
“马上回你的房间去!”明钦小姐说道。
萨拉在楼梯上碰到了拉维尼娅。拉维尼娅看了她一眼,还轻蔑地笑了一声。“哦,这不是萨拉公主吗,”她说道,“穿着旧衣服和脏鞋子的萨拉公主!”
在小阁屋里,萨拉坐在桌旁的椅子上。
“我一定要勇敢起来,”她轻声对自己说,“公主从来都是勇敢的,所以我也要勇敢起来。可做到这个并不容易。”她把头枕在胳膊上,“哦,爸爸,你还记得你的小米萨斯吗?你现在能看到我吗?”
在隔壁房子里,卡里斯福特先生坐在温暖的炉火旁。莫斯科离伦敦很远,他只能等待,可他每天都在想拉尔夫·克鲁的女儿,他也想起其他的孩子。
“拉姆·达斯,”他说,“隔壁那个可怜的小女佣怎么样了?我们能为她做些什么吗?”
“我每天都在街上见到她,”拉姆·达斯说,“不管下雨还是下雪。她看起来很瘦弱,也很饿。可我们能够帮助她。我可以很容易地从她小阁屋的窗子爬过去找她。听着……”接着他们在一起商量了一会儿。
卡里斯福特先生笑了。“行!”他对拉姆·达斯说道,“行,我觉得可以。就那样做吧。”
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