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“Suddenly, Sylvia stood up. It was nearly her turn to answer. She said, ‘I wrote it, Miss Neal. It’s true.’ Miss Neal said, ‘I do not wish to know anything about that. Please go to Miss Wade. Tell her that I sent you, and say that I shall come along to see her in a few moments.’ As Sylvia got slowly to her feet, Miss Neal came over to me. I put my head down on the desk and cried and cried. Miss Neal said, ‘Come along to the rest room, my dear, ‘ and I stood up. I couldn’t see very well, things were misty. Miss Neal put her arms round my shoulders, guiding me. I did not know she was so decent … so kind. She nursed me for a while, like you used to Mother, stroking my hair. I couldn’t stop crying though, not for a long while. At last she patted my head and left me. Then Miss Wade came. She knew about Tom. I mustn’t worry about it she said. Then she suggested I would be better at home for the rest of this afternoon, and so I came.
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“Fancy Sylvia telling them like that, Mother. How could she? I shall be glad when I leave school, I shall be glad then! I did not know Tommy had been in prison! I did not know… .”
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Tears trickled steadily down the woman’s cheeks. She kept wondering “What can I do? What can I do?” the child’s voice broke through to her consciousness again: “didn’t know! I only broke her pencil… .”
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Notes
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Sylvia, the girl with whom she had quarreled.
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him in prison, her brother Tom.
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1705040790
lobby, a passageway, especially when used also as a waiting room.
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“Our Father which art in Heaven,” the opening sentence of the Lord’s prayer （The Christian Bible, the New Testament, Matthew, Chapter VI, 9-13）.
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Miss Neal, the classroom teacher.
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Miss Wade, the principal of the school.
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things were misty, because tears were coming into her eyes.
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1705040800
fancy, imagine; think of.
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the woman’s, the mother’s.
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Questions
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1. What is the shadow? On whom did it fall?
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2. In similar cases, what is the usual attitude of society, Sylvia’s or the teachers’.
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参考译文
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【作品简介】
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《长长的阴影》，作者约翰·汉普森，选自迈克尔·罗伯茨编辑的《新国家》,97—100页。
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【作者简介】
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约翰·汉普森，真名为约翰·汉普森·辛普森，二十世纪三四十年代的新生代作家。当时已经出版多部作品，其中《灰狗巴士上的周六夜》（1931年）是第一部。
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33 长长的阴影
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我能做什么呢？她问自己。眼泪不断地从她眼里慢慢涌出，然后顺着脸颊缓缓落下，在下巴处聚成一大滴一大滴，再在不经意间落到她膝盖上。女儿的声音还在继续：
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“……不知道呀！太可怕了。我们从来就不是真正的朋友，只是因为她家离我们家近，我们经常一起走回家。为这件事争吵真愚蠢。我不是故意弄断了她的铅笔尖儿，但她说我是故意的。我们两个都说了一些可怕的话。最后，我对她说：‘我再也不想跟你一起走回家了。’‘谁稀罕你跟我一起走回家呀？’她说，‘另外，我哥哥又不是小偷。’我愤怒地大声对她喊道：‘你这个骗子！’她大笑起来，耸耸肩，只是说：‘去问随便谁吧！他们会告诉你。问随便谁！问你妈妈！’西尔维娅太恐怖了，我再也没法跟她说话了。我开始哭，并且跑得远远的。她在我背后大喊：‘监狱！监狱；他们把他关进了监狱！’
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