1 A surprise for the Cuthberts

Matthew Cuthbert lived with his sister Marilla on theirfarm on Prince¹ Edward Island in Canada. Their farm- house, Green Gables, wasjust outside the little village of Avonlea. Matthew was² nearly⁴ sixty and had⁵ along⁶ brown beard⁷. His sister was five years younger⁸. They were both tall andthin, with dark⁹ hair. Everybody¹⁰ in Avonlea knew that the Cuthberts were quietpeople who worked very hard on their farm.

One afternoon Matthew drove¹¹ the horse and cart¹² to thesta-tion. 'Has the five-thirty train arrived yet¹³? 'he asked thesta-tion-master.

'Yes, 'the man replied¹⁴. 'And there's a passenger¹⁵ who'swaiting for you. A little girl. '

'A little girl? 'asked Matthew. 'But I've come for a boy!The children's home is sending us one of their orphan¹⁶ boys. We're going¹⁷ toadopt him, you see, and he's going to help me with the farm work. '

'well, perhaps¹⁸ the children's home didn't have any boys, sothey sent you a girl, 'answered the stationmaster carelessly¹⁹. 'Here she is. '

Matthew turned shyly²⁰ to speak to the child. She was abouteleven, with long red hair in two plaits. Her face was small, white and thin,with a lot of freckles²², and she had large grey-green eyes. She was wearing anold brown hat and a dress which was too small for her.

'Are you Mr Cuthbert of Green Gables? 'she asked excitedlyin a high, sweet voice²³. 'I'm very happy to come and live with you, and belongto you. I've never belonged²⁴ to anyone²⁵, you see. The people at the children'shome were very kind, but it's not very exciting to live in a place like that,is it? '

Matthew felt sorry for the child. How could²⁶ he tell herthat it was all a mistake²⁷? But he couldn't just leave her at the sta-tion. Hedecided to take her home with him. Marilla could ex-plain the mistake to her.

He was surprised²⁸ that he enjoyed the journey²⁹ home. He was aquiet, shy²¹ man, and he didn't like talking himself³⁰. But to-day, he only had tolisten, because the little girl talked and talked and talked. She told him allabout herself³¹ while³² they drove along.

'My parents died³³ when I was a baby, you know, and for thelast three years I've had to work for my food. I've lived with three differentfamilies and looked after their children. So I've always been poor, and Ihaven't got³⁴ any nice dresses! But I just imagine³⁵ that I'm wearing the mostbeautiful blue dress, and a big hat with flowers on, and blue shoes, and thenI'm happy! Do you imagine things sometimes? '

'Well, I… I…notoften, 'said³⁶ Matthew.

They were now driving past some very old apple trees nextto the road. The trees were full of sweet-smelling, snowy- white flowers. Thelittle girl looked at them.

'Aren't the trees beautiful? 'she said happily³⁷. 'But am Italking too much? Please tell me. I can stop if necessary³⁸, you know. '

Matthew smiled at her. 'You go on talking, 'he answered. 'Ilike listening to you. '

When they arrived at Green Gables, Marilla came³⁹ to the doorto meet them. But when she saw⁴⁰ the little girl, she cried in surprise,'Matthew, who's that? Where's the boy? '

'The children's home has made⁴¹ a mistake, 'he saidunhappily, 'and sent a girl, not a boy. '

The child was listening carefully⁴². Suddenly⁴³ she put herhead in her hands and began to cry.

'You—you don't wantme! 'she sobbed⁴⁴. 'Oh—oh! You don't wantme because I'm not a boy! '

'Now, now, don't cry, 'said Marilla kindly⁴⁵.

'Don't you understand? Oh! This is the worst⁴⁶ thing that'shappened to me in all my life⁴⁷! '

'Well, you can stay here, just for tonight, 'said Marilla.'Now, what's your name? '

The child stopped crying. 'Will you please call meCordelia? ' she asked.

'Call you Cordelia? Is that your name? '

'Well, no, it isn't, but it's a very beautiful name, isn'tit? I like to imagine my name is Cordelia, because my real⁴⁸ name is AnneShirley—and that's not a veryinteresting name, is it? '

Marilla shook⁴⁹ her head. 'The child has too muchimagina-tion, 'she thought⁵⁰.

Later⁵¹, when Anne was in bed, Marilla said to her brother,'She must go back to the children's home tomorrow. '

'Marilla, don't you think…'beganMatthew. 'she's a nice little thing, you know. '

'Matthew Cuthbert, are you telling me that you want to keepher? 'asked Marilla crossly.

Matthew looked uncomfortable⁵². 'Well, she's clever, andinteresting, and—'

'But we don't need a girl! '

'But perhaps she needs us, 'Matthew replied, surprisinglyquickly for him. 'She's had a very unhappy⁵³ life up to now, Marilla. She canhelp you in the house. I can get a boy from the village to help me on thefarm. What do you think? '

Marilla thought for a long time. 'All right, 'she said inthe end, 'I agree⁵⁴. The poor child can stay. I'll look after her. '

Matthew smiled happily. 'Be as³ good and kind to her as youcan, Marilla. I think she needs a lot of love. '

1 卡斯伯特兄妹俩大吃一惊

马修•卡斯伯特和妹妹玛丽拉住在加拿大爱德华太子岛上他们的农场里。他们的农舍——格林•盖布尔斯，就在埃文利小村外。马修年近六旬，留着褐色的长胡子。妹妹玛丽拉比他小5岁。他俩身材瘦高，长着深色的头发。埃文利村的每一个人都知道，卡斯伯特兄妹是默默无闻、勤勤恳恳的庄户人。

一天下午，马修驾着马车来到火车站。“5点半的火车到了吗？”他向站长询问道。

“已经到了，”站长回答。“有一位乘客正在等您，是一个小姑娘。”

“小姑娘？”马修问道，“但我是来接一个小男孩！那孤儿院给我们送来一个孤儿，我们准备收养他。你看，我还指望他帮忙干农活呢。”

“也许那孤儿院没有男孩子，所以他们给你送来一个小姑娘，”站长漫不经心地答道，“她来了。”

马修讪讪地转过身去面对那孩子。女孩大约十一岁，梳着两条粗粗的红色发辫，长满雀斑的小脸又瘦又白，上面有一双灰绿色的大眼睛。她戴着一顶褐色的旧帽子，衣服已小得不合身。

“您是格林•盖布尔斯的卡斯伯特先生吗？”她问道，嗓音清晰甜美。“我很高兴能来和你们生活在一起，成为您家的一员。您看，我还从来没有真正成为哪家的成员呢。孤儿院的人都很好，但住在那种地方一点也不好玩，不是吗？”

马修很同情这孩子。他怎么能告诉她这一切都搞错了？他总不能把女孩一个人留在火车站。他决定先把孩子带回家，让玛丽拉向小姑娘解释。

让马修感到吃惊的是，在回家的路上他感觉非常愉快。他是个沉默、腼腆、少言寡语的人。但今天，他只要听就足够了，因为这小姑娘不停地说呀，说呀，说呀。一路上她向马修讲述关于自己的一切。

“爸爸妈妈在我还很小的时候就去世了。您知道吗，过去这3年我不得不自己挣钱养活自己。我曾在3个家庭里照看过孩子。我总是很穷，一件漂亮衣服也没有。我总是想像自己正穿着最漂亮的蓝衣服，戴一顶插满花的大帽子，还有蓝色的鞋子，这时我多高兴啊！您也经常幻想吗？”

“这，我……我……偶尔，”马修答道。

这时马车经过路边的一排老苹果树。树上开满了雪白而芬芳的花朵。小女孩欣赏着。

“这些树多美呀！”她感叹道。“可我是不是说得太多了？如果是，请您告诉我。您知道，我会停止的。”

马修冲她笑笑答道：“你继续说吧，我喜欢听。”

当他们到格林•盖布尔斯的时候，玛丽拉到门口迎接他们。但当她看见小女孩时，她惊讶地叫道：“马修，她是谁？男孩在哪儿？”

“孤儿院弄错了，送来一个女孩，不是男孩。”他不高兴地说。

孩子先是仔细地听着，突然双手捂住脸哭了起来。

“你们——你们不要我！”她哭泣着。“噢——噢！因为我不是男孩你们不要我了！”

“哦，别哭，”玛丽拉和蔼地说。

“您不理解吗？这是我一辈子遇到的最糟糕的事情！”

“那好吧，你可以呆在这里，但只能呆一个晚上，”玛丽拉说。“你叫什么名字？”

孩子停止哭泣。“您能叫我科黛拉吗？”她问道。

“叫你科黛拉？那是你的名字吗？”

“不，不是的，但那名字很好听，不是吗？我喜欢幻想着我的名字叫科黛拉，因为我的真名叫安妮•雪利——那名字没什么意趣，不是吗？”

玛丽拉摇摇头，“这孩子太爱幻想了，”她心里暗想。

稍晚些，等安妮睡着以后，玛丽拉对哥哥说：“明天这孩子必须回孤儿院去。”

“玛丽拉，你不认为……”马修说道。“这小家伙挺可爱的。”

“马修•卡斯伯特，你难道是想让她留下？”玛丽拉生气地说。

马修一副不知所措的样子。“可是，这小姑娘聪明、有趣，而且……”

“但我们不需要女孩！”

“但也许她需要我们，”马修的回答来得出奇的快。“玛丽拉，这孩子到现在为止生活一直很不幸。她可以帮助你干些家务活。我可以从镇上找一个男孩子帮我干农活。你觉得怎么样？”

玛丽拉想了很久。“好吧，”她终于说，“我同意。这可怜的孩子可以留下。我会照顾她的。”

马修高兴地笑了。“尽可能对她好些，玛丽拉。我想这孩子太需要人疼爱了。”