经典美文朗读：《简·爱》节选（红房子）

PART ONE - LIFE AT GATESHEAD

第一部-在盖茨赫德的生活

CHAPTER ONE

第一章

The Red Room

红房子

The red room was a cold, silent room. It was the largest bedroom in the house, but no one slept in it. Nine years ago my uncle, Mr. Reed, had died in this room. Since then no one wanted to go into the room.

红房子阴冷、寂静，尽管是最大的卧室之一，却很少使用。九年前，我舅舅里德先生就死在这里。从此，没人再愿睡在里面了。

Now that I was alone I thought about the terrible people I lived with. John Reed, his sisters, his mother, the servants, they all scolded and hated me. Why could I never please them?

我孤单单的，心里痛苦地思量着和我一起生活的这些人。约翰·里德，他的妹妹们，他的母亲，仆人——他们所有的人都指责我、训斥我、恨我。为什么我总不能让他们高兴呢?

Eliza was [1_____], but it did not matter. Georgiana had a bad temper, but everyone loved her because she was beautiful. John was ugly, curel and violent, but nobody punished him. I tried to be good and make no mistakes, but they called me bad every day. Now that I had fought John to protect myself, everyone blamed me.

伊丽莎自私，却得到尊重。乔治娜脾气坏却人人喜欢，因为她长得漂亮。约翰粗鲁、残忍、凶暴，却没人惩罚他。我尽量不犯错误，可他们每时每刻都说我捣乱。现在我为了保护自己反抗了约翰，更成了众矢之的。

I spent the rest of the day in the red room asking myself why I had to suffer and why life was so unfair. "Perhaps I should run away, or [2_____] myself to death," I thought sadly.

整整一个漫长的下午，我都待在红房子里问自己，为什么我非得受苦，为什么生活如此不公平。也许我应该跑掉或干脆饿死。

Soon it was dark outside. It was raining, and I could hear the wind in the trees. It sounded like ghosts crying. I was no longer angry, and I began to think the Reeds might be right. Perhaps I was really bad inside. Did I [3_____] to die like my uncle Reed?

天渐渐黑了，雨点仍然拍打着窗户，还可以听到风在树枝间呼啸。我已经不生气了，甚至开始觉得也许里德一家是对的。也许我真的挺坏，我是不是应该死，然后像里德舅舅一样被埋在教堂的院子里?

I didi not remember him. Just before he died, he had made my Aunt Reed promise to care for me like their own children. Now she probably wished she had never made that promise to him!

我已记不起他了，但我知道他是我妈妈的哥哥。我双亲过世后，他收留了我。临死前，他要妻子里德太太保证像照顾自己的孩子一样照顾我。我想她现在后悔自己的许诺了。

Vocabulary Focus

now that 由于……

例如：

Now that you have finished your homework, you can watch TV.

既然你完成了作业，那么你可以看电视。

答案：

1.selfish

2.starve

3.deserve