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● 下面几句是母亲的感慨：孩子们的童年过得太快了，青春发育时期（adolescence）很快过去（whisked），转瞬便成少妇；做母亲的真有点摸不着头脑之感（you did not know where you were）。她也不知道该怎么办才算是对她们最合适的。
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Before lunch Melanie, for instance, had made a great fuss about wearing a dress from last summer. Mrs. Fairfax thought it an enchanting dress; she thought it made her daughter look like a young fresh flower. There was something budlike and tender about it, but the child had suddenly thrown an exhausting tantrum up in her bedroom and said she wouldn’t be seen dead in it for her or anybody.
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“You will wear it and like it,” Mrs. Fairfax said. “Don’t be so tiresome. It fits just as well as ever. You haven’t grown a scrap.”
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“Fay had a new one on. You bought it for her. If Fay can, why can’t I?”
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“Fay’s that much older than you. She’s grown out of hers. That’s why.”
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● for instance：孩子们已经长大，举个例来说吧。Before lunch：这两个字提得也很妙，上面才说过有男朋友来共进午膳，那两位小姐在进餐之前，难免要打扮一番。made a great fuss：小题大做；空发脾气。a dress from last summer：去年夏天穿过的一件衣服。
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● enchanting：迷人的。something：某种性质或情调，后随两个形容词，budlike（含苞未放的）和tender（温柔的）。母亲以为女儿穿了很好看，可是这孩子（在母亲心目中，她总是个孩子）在卧室里大发脾气。tantrum：一阵脾气。这阵脾气是掀起来（thrown up）的。exhausting：此字第二次出现，大约并不是作者爱用这个字，他只是描写Mrs. Fairfax的心理，这位太太的脑筋里恐怕常出现这个字。
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● she wouldn’t be seen dead in it for her or anybody是间接陈述法，直接陈述法当是：I wouldn’t be seen dead in it for you or anybody（不论是为她母亲或是为别人，她死了也不愿意让人看见穿这身衣服）。
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● You haven’t grown a scrap：你一点也没有长大。
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● Fay had a new one on之on表示“穿着”。
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● Fay’s that much older than you：姐姐就比你大那么一点。that为副词，形容much。谁是姐姐，谁是妹妹，到这里才完全说明。
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● She’s grown out of hers=she has grown out of her dress：她人长大，衣服穿不下了。
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It ended in a strange thing happening, and she supposed it was that which had begun her irritation. Melanie had not come down to lunch in the fresh, flowerlike dress that Mrs. Fairfax liked so much and thought was right for her. She had put on the last thing for a scorching summer day. It was a shining bottle-green dress of Fay’s that was too severe at the neck and far too drawn-in at the waist, and until she saw it Mrs. Fairfax had not realized how alarmingly and fully her child had grown. The girl had done her hair differently too, in a high, severe style that made her look, Mrs. Fairfax thought, old and false and sophisticated.
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● 女儿发脾气的结果是发生了一件奇怪的事情。她想她自己心里的不痛快，就是从那时候开始的。二女儿下来吃饭的时候，没有穿那身母亲所喜欢，而认为对她合适的衣服（that Mrs. Fairfax…thought was right for her此一从句中，主语为that，动词为was，Mrs. Fairfax thought相当于括弧中语）。
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● the last thing=the least suitable thing。在炎热炙人（scorching）的夏天，穿这样一件衣服是最不合适了。
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● done her hair：修饰头发。（do作“梳”解也是标准英文。）high, severe style：头发往上梳，高高束成一团。头发这样一梳，使得她看来年纪大了很多，也显得虚伪（false）造作（sophisticated）。Mrs. Fairfax thought三字是插进去的，其前后两“,”当作是括弧看可也。
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Then Fay appeared in a dress that, at first, Mrs. Fairfax did not recognize. She became aware only slowly of its uneasy familiarity. It was not until she was actually sitting at the lunch table that she grasped that this was the new dress: the white summer organdy that had been so fresh and youthful with its wide crinkled collar and cuffs to match. Now it had a broad black velvet waistband and the collar had been taken away, leaving all the soft wide shoulders bare.
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● did not recognize：本来该认识的，可是不认识了。上面妹妹说母亲替姐姐买过一件新衣服，今天姐姐穿了下来,母亲可认不得了。
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● aware of：注意到。familiarity：本是相识。uneasy：发觉了是相识的反而使人难受。
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● grasped：领悟。organdy：一种细薄坚挺纱布，这里指用这种料子所做成的衣服。crinkled：皱成波纹状的。collar：领子。cuffs：袖口。match：配称。
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● 买来的时候，这件衣服本来（had been）显得青春朝气，但是现在给那位小姐改得老气横秋了。腰部添了一条黑丝绒（velvet）的阔腰带（waistband），领子拆掉，双肩全部暴露在外。
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She was so upset that she looked severely at Fay and said, “Don’t go out into the sun without putting something on your shoulders, child. You’ll suffer for it if you don’t. You burn so easily.”
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“I never burn. I’ve never burned in my life.” Fay said.
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“There’s always a first time. You don’t want to be sick, child, do you? It’s terribly hot today.”
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