欧洲网（http://www.ouzhou.cc）英语学习，英语经典散文：幼年的玛丽小姐 Little Miss Mary。Nobody seemed to care about Mary.She was born in India，where her father was a British official.He was busy with his work，and her mother，who was very beautiful， spent all her time going to parties.So an Indian woman，Kamala，was paid to take care of the little girl.Mary was not a pretty child.She had a thin angry face and thin yellow hair. She was always giving orders to Kamala，who had to obey. Mary never thought of other people， but only of herself.In fact，she was a very selfish，disagreeable，bad-tempered little girl.

似乎没有人注意玛丽的存在。玛丽出生在印度，父亲是驻印的英国官员，总是忙着工作，母亲长得非常漂亮，把所有时间都花在参加聚会上。所以，一个名叫卡玛拉的印度女人被雇来照看这个小姑娘。玛丽长得不漂亮，消瘦的脸上总是一副生气的样子，头发稀疏枯黄。她总对卡玛拉发号施令，卡玛拉只好顺从她。她很少想到别人，只顾自己。她确实是一个非常自私，脾气怪戾，很难相处的女孩。

One very hot morning，when she was about nine years old， she woke up and saw that instead of Kamala there was a different Indian servant by her bed.

在她9岁那年的一个上午，天气很热，她醒来时发现站在床前的不是卡玛拉，而是另外一个印度女仆。

‘What are you doing here?’she asked crossly.‘Go away! And send Kamala to me at once!’

“你在这儿干什么?”她生气地问。“走开!叫卡玛拉马上到这儿来!”

The woman looked afraid.‘I'm sorry，Miss Mary，she— she—she can't come!’

那个女人看来很害怕。“对不起，玛丽小姐，她——她——她来不了了!”

Something strange was happening that day.Some of the house servants were missing and everybody looked frightened. But nobody told Mary anything，and Kamala still did not come.So at last Mary went out into the garden，and played by herself under a tree.She pretended she was making her own flower garden，and picked large red flowers to push into the ground.All the time she was saying crossly to herself，

那天发生了一些很奇怪的事情，房子里的一些仆人不见了，每个人看上去都惊恐异常。可是没有人告诉玛丽任何事情，卡玛拉也始终没来。最后玛丽只好一个人来到花园，在一棵树下玩耍。她假装是在给自己造一座花园，摘来大朵的红花插在土里，一边玩还一边堵气地自言自语。

‘I hate Kamala!I'll hit her when she comes back!’

“我讨厌卡玛拉!等她回来我要接她一顿!”

Just then she saw her mother coming into the garden，with a young Englishman.They did not notice the child，who listened to their conversation.

就在这会儿，她看见妈妈和一个年轻的英国人走进花园，玛丽听见了他们的谈话，他们却没注意到她。

‘It's very bad，is it?’her mother asked the young man in a worried voice.

“很严重，是吗?”妈妈问那个年轻人，声音充满焦虑。

‘Very bad，’he answered seriously.‘People are dying like flies.It's dangerous to stay in this town.You should go to the hills，where there's no disease.’

“非常严重，”他严肃地说。“人们像苍蝇一样死去，再在城里呆下去太危险了，你得到山里去，那里没有疾玻”

‘Oh，I know!’she cried.‘We must leave soon!’

“哦，我知道!”她叫道，“我们得马上离开!”

Suddenly they heard loud cries coming from the servants’rooms，at the side of the house.

突然，他们听到房子侧面用人屋里传来嚎啕大哭的声音。

‘What's happened?’cried Mary's mother wildly.

“出了什么事?”玛丽的妈妈慌乱地大叫着。