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Am  I a Chatterbox

我是个话匣子

SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 1942

1942年6月21日，星期日

Dearest Kitty,

最亲爱的基蒂：

Our entire class is quaking in its boots. The reason, of course, is the upcoming meeting in which the teachers decide who’ll be promoted to the next grade and who'll be kept back. Half the class is making bets. G. Z. and I laugh ourselves sick at the two boys behind us, C.N. and Jacques Kocernoot, who have staked their entire vacation savings¹ on their bet. From morning to night, it’s “You’re going to pass, No, I’m not,” “Yes，you are,” “No, I，m not.” Even G.'s pleading glances and my angry outbursts can’t calm them down. If you ask me, there are so many dummies² that about a quarter of the class should be kept back, but teachers are the most unpredictable creatures on earth. Maybe this time they’ll be unpredictable in the right direction for a change. I’m not so worried about my girlfriends and myself. We’ll make it.The only subject I'm not sure about is math. Anyway, all we can do is wait. Until then, we keep telling each other not to lose heart.

我们全班都在瑟瑟发抖，原因当然是近在咫尺的教师大会了，会上老师们将决定哪些人升级，哪些人留级。全班一半的同学都在打赌。我和G.Z.大肆嘲笑坐在我们后面的C.N.和杰克斯·科瑟努特，他们俩把整个假期的积蓄都花在了打赌上。从早到晚，他们俩不断在争论，“你会升级的。” “不，我不会。” “会的，你会的。” “不，我不会。”就算G.Z.瞥他们一眼求他们安静，我暴跳如雷，也堵不上他们的嘴。要是你问我呀，我觉得班上笨人那么多，大概四分之一的人会留在原级，不过老师可是世上最捉摸不透的人啦，他们这次还是会一如既往地难以预料， 不过也许他们会换换花样。我对自己和我的女朋友们都不担心，我们准能闯过去的。我唯一担心的科目就是数学。不论如何，我们只能耐心等候，我们不停地鼓励对方不要气馁。

I get along pretty well with all my teachers. There are nine of them, seven men and two women. Mr. Keesing, the old fogey who teaches math, was mad at me for the longest time because I talked so much. After several warnings, he assigned me extra homework. An essay on the subject "A Chatterbox." A chatterbox, what can you write about that? I’d worry about that later, I decided³. I jotted⁴ down the assignment in my notebook, tucked it in my bag and tried to keep quiet.

我跟所有的老师都相处得很好。我共有九位老师，七位男老师，两位女老师。 基辛先生，就是那个年纪大的数学老师，很久以来一直对我很头疼，因为我太喜欢讲话了。他警告我几次后，给我布置了额外的家庭作业，罚我以《话匣子》为题写篇作文。《话匣子》，你能写出什么呢？我决定回头再来对付它，于是我把题目记在了笔记本上，把笔记本塞进书包，努力地保持镇定。

That evening, after I’d finished the rest of my homework, the note about the essay caught my eye. I began thinking about the subject while chewing the tip of my fountain pen. Anyone could ramble⁵ on and leave big spaces between the words, but the trick was to come up with convincing arguments to prove the necessity of talking. I thought and thought, and suddenly I had an idea. I wrote the three pages and was satisfied. I argued that talking is a female trait and that I would do my best to keep it under control, but that I would never be able to break myself of the habit, since my mother talked as much as I did, if not more, and that there’s not much you can do about inherited traits.

那天晚上，我把其他家庭作业做完后，目光落在了笔记本上的那个作文题目上。我一边啃着钢笔头一边琢磨。要想胡乱写些废话，把字间距空得开开的，谁不可以呢，可难就难在怎么来充分证明讲话的必要性。我想呀想呀，突然灵光一闪， 洋洋洒洒写了三页纸，满意极了。我的论点是讲话是女性的特质，我当然愿意尽全力克制，不过永远也别想让我改掉这个习惯，因为我妈妈和我一样爱讲话，即使讲得没我多，我们俩也是不相上下。对于这遗传的性格，你只能无能为力了。

Mr. Keesing had a good laugh at my arguments, but when I proceeded to talk my way through the next class, he assigned me a second essay. This time it was supposed to be on “An Incorrigible⁶ Chatterbox.” I handed it in, and Mr. Keesing had nothing to complain about for two whole classes. However, during the third class he’d finally had enough. “Anne Frank, as punishment for talking in class, write an essay entitled 'Quack⁷, Quack, Quack, said Mistress Chatterback.”’

基辛先生看了我的作文哈哈大笑，可当我下一节课继续滔滔不绝的时候，他又布置了一篇作文。这回是《不可救药的话匣子》。我又把作文交上去，结果整整两节课基辛先生没发过一句牢骚。可是第三次课他再也憋不住了。“安妮·弗兰克， 为了惩罚你上课讲话，写一篇题为《呱呱呱，闲话小姐唧唧喳喳》的作文。”全班 哄堂大笑。我也只好跟着笑，可是我的聪明才智在写《话匣子》作文题目的时候就几乎用尽了。是时候想些别的东西了，绝对有创意的东西。我的朋友桑妮很擅长写诗，她答应帮我把整篇作文用诗来写。我快活地蹦了起来。基辛本想用这个可笑 的题目让我出洋相，但是我确信他反而会成为全班的笑柄的。诗写好了，简直美 极了。讲的是一只鸭妈妈和一只天鹅爸爸带着三只小鸭子的故事，因为小鸭子太爱 讲话，最后全被爸爸用嘴巴啄死 了。多亏基辛看出这是闹着玩的，他给全班大声朗 读了那首诗，而且还加以点评。后来他给其他几个班的同学也念了我的诗。从那以 后，我说话就得到默许了，基辛先生再也没有给我布置过额外的作业。相反，这些 天他还一直说笑话来着。

The class roared. I had to laugh too, though I’d nearly exhausted⁸ my ingenuity⁹ on the topic of chatterboxes. It was time to come up with something else, something original. My friend Sanne, who's good at poetry, offered to help me write the essay from beginning to end in verse. I jumped for joy. Keesing was trying to play a joke on me with this ridiculous subject, but I’d make sure the joke was on him. I finished my poem, and it was beautiful! It was about a mother duck and a father swan with three baby ducklings who were bitten to death by the father because they quacked¹⁰ too much. Luckily, Keesing took the joke the right way. He read the poem to the class, adding his own comments, and to several other classes as well. Since then I’ve been allowed to talk and haven’t been assigned any extra homework. On the contrary, Keesing’s always making jokes these days.

你的，安妮

Yours, Anne

课堂笔记：
1.安妮13岁生日时得到的礼物之一是父母送给她的一个日记本，藏匿到“密室”后，安妮便假托给一个名叫基蒂（Kitty)的朋友写信来讲述自己的生活和心事。
2.“quake / shake in one’s boots”表示“吓得发抖”之意，是一种幽默的表达方式。代词 “its”指代整个班级。
3.此句包含三个从句，第一个是由“which”引导的定语从句，修饰“meeting”，另两个从句均由“who”引导，是并列宾语从句，作谓语动词“decide”的宾语。
4.“make it”是英语中常用的表达方式，表示“成功”。相关的搭配有：make it in doing sth.(在某方面取得成功）；make it to sth./ some place (设法到达）。
5.句子的谓语动词“argue”常用于表述观点，“argue”的宾语由四个由“that”引导的宾语从句并列构成。第三个宾语从句中又包含由“since”引导的原因状语从句，第四个宾语从句中包含定语从句“you can do about inherited traits”，用于修饰“much”。
6.常用英语搭配“be supposed to do / be sth.”表示“被期望做某事；应该做某事；旨在做 某事”，此处表示被期望做某事。句首的代词“it”指代“essay”。
7.英语中表示“是时候做某事了”的句型结构为：“It is time to do sth.”或“It is high time that sb. did sth.”
8.此句是由“who”引导的定语从句，用于修饰“ducklings”，由“because”引导的原因 状语从句说明谓语部分“be bitten to death”的原因。