4 More trouble for Anne

'I think I'll ask the new vicar, Mr Allan, and his wife totea on Wednesday. 'said Marilla one day.

'Oh yes, please do! 'cried Anne excitedly. 'Mrs Allan isyoung and beautiful, and has a very sweet smile! Can I make a cake for tea?Say yes, Marilla! '

Marilla agreed, and for the next few days Anne planned whatshe would put in her cake.

'I do hope it's going to be a good one, 'she told Diana.'Sometimes I forget to put in the right things. '

'You made a very good one last week, 'said her friend. 'I'msure it'll be all right. '

On Wednesday the tea party started very well.

'These are very good cakes, Miss Cuthbert, 'Mrs Allan saidto Marilla. 'You have been busy. '

'Anne made this one, specially¹ for you, Mrs Allan, 'repliedMarilla.

'Oh well, I must try some, 'laughed the vicar's wife. Butafter the first mouthful² there was a very strange look on her face.

'Is anything wrong? 'asked Marilla. She ate a piece ofAnne's cake herself. 'Oh! Anne! What have you put in this cake? 'she cried.

'Isn't it…isn't itall right? 'asked Anne, her face red.

'All right? It's horrible³! Don't try to eat any more, MrsAllan. Anne, you've put my medicine in this cake! '

'Oh! I didn't know! It was white, and in a bottle! Ithought it was milk! 'sobbed⁴ Anne. She ran upstairs and fell on her bed,crying loudly.

But later that evening, when Mrand Mrs Allan went home,Marilla came to talk to her.

'Oh Marilla! 'cried Anne. 'Everybody in Avonlea will laughat me for putting medicine in a cake! '

Marilla smiled and touched Anne's hot face. 'No, theywon't, Anne. Mrs Allan wasn't angry, you know. She said it was very kind ofyou to make her a cake, and she's asked you to tea at her house! '

'Oh, so she's forgiven me! She is nice, isn't she? 'saidAnne thankfully. 'Why do I get into trouble like this? Perhaps I won't makeany mistakes tomorrow. '

Marilla shook her head, still smiling. 'You'll think ofsome-thing, Anne. You're very good at making mistakes! '

***

Spring came, with its bright green leaves and earlyflowers. One April evening Marilla came home late after visiting friends. Shefound the kitchen empty, and no supper on the table.

'Where's Anne? 'she thought crossly. 'I told her to get thesupper ready. 'She hurried upstairs to Anne's room, and found the girl sobbingon her bed.

'Don't look at me, Marilla! 'Anne cried. 'I know I'm bad, Iknow I am! '

'What is the matter? 'asked Marilla. 'Are you ill? '

'Oh Marilla, I just want to die! Look at my hair! '

And Marilla saw that Anne's long thick red hair was now ahorrible dark green.

'Oh Anne! 'she said, 'What have you done now? '

'I…I bought a bottleof something special from a man who came to the door. He said it would changemy hair from red to black! Oh, I know it was stupid of me! But what shall Ido? '

They washed Anne's hair again and again, but it was stillgreen. Anne stayed at home for a week, saw nobody, and washed her hair everyday. But at the end of the week, Maril-la said, 'I'm sorry, Anne, we'll haveto cut it all off. You can't go to school with green hair. '

Anne had to agree. 'Perhaps this will teach me not to thinkabout being beautiful, 'she said sadly.

Everybody was surprised to see Anne with very short hair,but no one learned⁵ the secret. And some weeks later, there were some new,darker red curls⁶, which pleased Anne very much.

* * *

That summer Anne and her friends often played in an oldboat on the river.

'Today, let's imagine that I'm a prisoner⁷ and I'm escapingfrom prison by boat, 'said Anne. 'I'll hide in the boat and the river willcarry it down to the bridge. You're my family, and you must meet me at thebridge. '

The other girls agreed, so Anne got into the boat and hidunder some coats. Her friends pushed the boat off down the river and ranacross the fields to get round to the bridge. For a few minutes the prisonerenjoyed the game, but then she sud- denly felt wet and sat up. Water wascoming in very fast through a hole in the bottom of the boat! Luckily, therewere some trees by the river and Anne saw a low branch over the water. Shejumped up and caught the branch. The boat went on without her and a fewseconds later went down under the water.

Her friends on the bridge saw the boat, but they did notsee Anne under the tree. 'Oh! Oh! Anne's dead! The boat's gone down and she'sin the river! 'they screamed, and ran back to the village for help.

Poor Anne could not move. She held on and held on, but herarms were getting tired and she knew that she would fall in a minute.Suddenly, there was Gilbert Bly the in his boat!

'Anne Shirley! 'he cried. 'What are you doing there? 'Hedid not wait for an answer, but quickly helped Anne into his boat. She didn'tsay a word. When they arrived at the bridge, she got out and turned away.

'Thank you for helping⁸ me, 'she said coldly.

But Gilbert jumped out, and put a hand on her arm.

'Anne, 'he said quickly, 'I'm sorry I called you"carrots. "It was a long time ago. I think your hair is really nicenow. Can we forget it, and be friends? '

For a second Anne wanted to say yes. But then sheremembered standing⁹ alone in front of the school children all after-noon,because of Gilbert. She would never forgive him for that! 'No, 'she repliedcoldly, 'I shall never be your friend, Gilbert Bly the! '

'All right! 'Gilbert jumped angrily back into his boat.'I'll never ask you again, Anne Shirley! '

Anne walked home with her head held high, but she feltstrangely sad, and wanted to cry.

'Why are you always in trouble, Anne? 'asked Marilla, whenshe heard about Anne's adventure.

'Well, I think I'm learning¹⁰, Marilla, 'answered Anne. 'Ilearn from my mistakes, and after today, I won't use my imagination so much. Idon't think Avonlea is the right place for imagination. '

'No, it isn't, 'agreed Marilla a little crossly.

When she went out, Matthew, who was sitting quietly in hiscorner, whispered¹¹ to Anne, 'Keep a little imagination, Anne, not too much, ofcourse, just a little. '

4 安妮还有更多的麻烦

一天，玛丽拉说：“星期三，我打算请新的牧师阿伦先生和他的太太来喝茶。”

“那太好了，请他们来吧！”安妮兴奋地叫道。“阿伦太太年轻漂亮，笑起来可甜了！我能为他们做块茶点蛋糕吗？答应吧，玛丽拉！”

玛丽拉同意了。在以后的几天里，安妮盘算着在蛋糕里放些什么。

“我真希望蛋糕会好吃，”她对戴安娜说。“但有时我会忘了应该放些什么。”

“上星期你做的蛋糕很不错，”戴安娜回答道。“我想这次也不会有问题的。”

星期三到了，下午茶聚会开始得很顺利。

“蛋糕看上去很不错，卡斯伯特小姐，”阿伦太太对玛丽拉说。“把您忙坏了吧。”

“这蛋糕是安妮特意为您做的，阿伦太太。”玛丽拉回答道。

“噢，是吗？我一定要尝尝。”牧师太太笑道。但当她尝了一口之后，脸上出现了一种奇怪的表情。

“有什么不妥吗？”玛丽拉问。她自己也吃了一块安妮做的蛋糕。“噢！安妮！你在这蛋糕里放了些什么？”她叫道。

“难道……难道不好吃吗？”安妮红着脸问。

“好吃？简直是难以下咽！阿伦太太，别再吃了。安妮，你把我的药放进蛋糕里了。”

“噢！我不知道！它是白色的，放在一个瓶子里！我以为是牛奶！”安妮边哭边说。她跑上楼，趴在床上大声哭了起来。

那天晚上，阿伦先生和太太回家以后，玛丽拉来劝安妮。

“唉，玛丽拉！”安妮抽泣着说。“埃文利村的每一个人都会嘲笑我把药放在蛋糕里！”

玛丽拉微笑着摸了摸安妮滚烫的小脸。“不，他们不会的，安妮。你知道吗，阿伦太太没有生气。她说很感激你为她做了一个蛋糕，她还邀请你去她家喝茶呢！”

“真的吗？那么说她原谅我了！她真好，不是吗？”安妮充满感激地说。“我怎么会遇到这样的麻烦？也许我明天不会再犯错误了。”

玛丽拉面带微笑，摇了摇头。“你还会想出其他点子的，安妮。你是个闯祸专家！”

* * *

春天来了，嫩绿的树叶和早开的花儿挂上了枝头。四月的一个黄昏，玛丽拉探望朋友很晚才回家。她发现厨房里一个人也没有，餐桌上也没有晚餐。

“安妮去哪儿了？”她想，心里感到很不高兴。“我让她准备晚餐呢。”她很快赶到楼上安妮的房间，发现小姑娘正在床上哭泣。

“别看我，玛丽拉！”安妮叫道。“我知道我不好，我知道我不好！”

“发生什么事了？”玛丽拉问道。“你是不是病了？”

“噢，玛丽拉，我真想去死！看看我的头发！”

玛丽拉发现安妮红色的长发辫已经变成难看的深绿色。

“唉，安妮！”玛丽拉说，“这次你又干了些什么？”

“我……我从门外的一个男人那里买了一瓶特制的东西。他说那东西可以把我的红头发变成黑色！我知道自己真是太傻了！但我现在究竟该怎么办？”

她们把安妮的头发洗了一遍又一遍，但它还是绿色的。安妮在家里呆了一个星期，什么人也不见，每天洗头。但等到了周末，玛丽拉说：“我很抱歉，安妮，我们必须把你的头发都剪掉。你不能留着绿色的头发上学校去。”

安妮只得同意了。“也许这能使我明白别总想变漂亮，”她难过地说。

每个人见到留着短发的安妮都很惊讶，但谁也不知道这其中的秘密。几周后，安妮的头上长出了新的、颜色更深的红色鬈发，这使安妮感到非常高兴。

* * *

那年夏天，安妮和她的朋友们经常在河上一条破旧的船上玩。

“今天，我假装是一个囚犯，刚刚用船从监狱里逃出来，”安妮说。“我藏在船里，河水会把船推到下游的小桥那里去。你们是我的亲人，你们必须在桥那里接我。”

其他的女孩都表示赞同，安妮上了小船，藏在几件衣服下面。她的小伙伴们把船推入水中，然后穿过田野向小桥跑去。刚开始的几分钟，“囚犯”还玩得很开心，可随后她就觉得身上很湿，就坐了起来。河水从船底的一个洞中飞快地涌了进来！幸运的是，岸边有一些树木。安妮看到河上低垂着一条树枝。她跳起来抓住了树枝。空船顺流而下，几秒钟后沉入了水中。

在桥上，安妮的小伙伴们看到了船，但她们没有看到紧紧抓住树枝的安妮。“哎呀！哎呀！安妮死了！船沉了，她掉进河里了！”孩子们尖叫着跑回村里求救。

可怜的安妮只能一动不动。她努力坚持着抓牢树枝，但她的胳膊感到越来越累，安妮知道很快她就会掉进河里。就在这时，吉尔伯特•布莱思和他的船出现了。

“安妮•雪利！”他呼喊着。“你在那儿干什么？”他没等安妮回答，迅速地帮助安妮进到他的船里。安妮什么也没有说。当他们到达桥边的时候，她下了船，转过身去。

“谢谢你帮助我，”她冷冷地说。

吉尔伯特跳下船，将手放在安妮的肩膀上。

“安妮，”他说，“我很后悔叫你‘胡萝卜’。那是很久以前的事了。我认为你的头发现在真的很漂亮。我们能不能忘掉以前的事，成为好朋友？”

安妮本想马上说可以。但是她想起就是因为吉尔伯特，她被罚整个下午独自站在学校的孩子们面前。她不能原谅他！“不，”她冷冷地回答，“我永远也不会做你的朋友，吉尔伯特•布莱思！”

“好吧！”吉尔伯特愤怒地跳回到他的船里。“我再也不会请求你了，安妮•雪利！”

安妮昂着头走回了家，但奇怪的是她感觉很难过，甚至想哭。

“为什么你总是有麻烦，安妮？”听完安妮历险的经历，玛丽拉问道。

“我想我正在学习，玛丽拉，”安妮回答。“我从我犯的错误中学习。从今以后，我不会总是幻想了。我觉得埃文利村不是个进行幻想的好地方。”

“对，这儿不是，”玛丽拉有些不快地赞同道。

马修一直静静地坐在角落里，等玛丽拉出去以后，他轻声对安妮说：“保留一点幻想，安妮，当然，别太多，保留一点。”