阿爾封斯·都德/Alphonse Daudet
阿爾封斯·都德（1840—1897），19世紀法國現實主義作家。都德生於法國南方一個破落的絲綢商人家庭。15歲起都德獨自謀生，後來到巴黎，從事文藝創作，過著清苦的文人生活。1870年，普法戰爭爆發，都德應征入伍。1897年卒於巴黎。都德一生寫過近百篇短篇小說，其中大多數作品以普法戰爭為背景，謳歌了法國人民的愛國情懷，主要作品有長篇小說《小東西》《達拉斯貢城的戴達倫》《不朽者》，短篇小說《最後一課》《柏林之圍》，散文集《磨坊書簡》等。
I started for school very late that morning and was in great dread of a scolding, especially because M. Hamel had said that he would question us on participles, and I did not know the first word about them. For a moment I thought of running away and spending the day out of doors. It was so warm, so bright! The birds were chirping at the edge of the woods; and in the open field back of the sawmill the Prussian soldiers were drilling. It was all much more tempting than the rule for participles, but I had the strength to resist, and hurried off to school.
When I passed the town hall there was a crowd in front of the bulletin-board. For the last two years all our bad news had come from there—the lost battles, the draft, the orders of the commanding officer—and I thought to myself, without stopping:
"What can be the matter now?"
Then, as I hurried by as fast as I could go, the blacksmith, Wachter, who was there, with his apprentice, reading the bulletin, called after me:
"Don't go so fast, bub; you'll get to your school in plenty of time!"
I thought he was making fun of me, and reached M. Hamel's little garden all out of breath.
Usually, when school began, there was a great bustle, which could be heard out in the street, the opening and closing of desks, lessons repeated in unison, very loud, with our hands over our ears to understand better, and the teacher's great ruler rapping on the table."A little more quite!" But now it was all so still! I had counted on the commotion to get to my desk without being seen; but, of course, that day everything had to be as quiet as Sunday morning. Through the window I saw my classmates, already in their places, and M. Hamel walking up and down with his terrible iron ruler under his arm. I had to open the door and go in before everybody. You can imagine how I blushed and how frightened I was.