阿尔封斯·都德/Alphonse Daudet
阿尔封斯·都德（1840—1897），19世纪法国现实主义作家。都德生于法国南方一个破落的丝绸商人家庭。15岁起都德独自谋生，后来到巴黎，从事文艺创作，过着清苦的文人生活。1870年，普法战争爆发，都德应征入伍。1897年卒于巴黎。都德一生写过近百篇短篇小说，其中大多数作品以普法战争为背景，讴歌了法国人民的爱国情怀，主要作品有长篇小说《小东西》《达拉斯贡城的戴达伦》《不朽者》，短篇小说《最后一课》《柏林之围》，散文集《磨坊书简》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.
But nothing happened. M. Hamel saw me and said very kindly:
"Go to your place quickly, little Franz. We were beginning without you."
I jumped over the bench and sat down at my desk. Not till then, when I had got a little over my fright, did I see that our teacher had on his beautiful green coat, his frilled shirt, and the little black silk cap, all embroidered, that he never wore except on inspection and prize days. Besides, the whole school seemed so strange and solemn. But the thing that surprised me most was to see, on the back benches that were always empty, the village people sitting quietly like ourselves; old Hauser, with his three-cornered hat, the former mayor, the former postmaster, and several others besides. Everybody looked sad; and Hauser had brought an old primer, thumbed at the edges, and he held it open on his knees with his great spectacles lying across the pages.
While I was wondering about it all, M. Hamel mounted his chair, and, in the same grave and gentle tone which he had used to me, said:
"My children, this is the last lesson I shall give you. The order has come from Berlin to teach only German in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. The new master comes tomorrow. This is your last French lesson. I want you to be very attentive."
What a thunderclap these words were to me!
Oh, the wretches; that was what they had put up at the townhall!
My last French lesson! Why, I hardly knew how to write! I should never learn any more! I must stop there, then! Oh, how sorry I was for not learning my lessons, for seeking birds' eggs, or going sliding on the Saar! My books, that had seemed such a nuisance a while ago, so heavy to carry, my grammar, and my history of the saints, were old friends now that I couldn't give up. And M. Hamel, too; the idea that he was going away, that I should never see him again, made me forget all about his ruler and how cranky he was.
Poor man! It was in honor of this last lesson that he had put on his fine Sunday clothes, and now I understood why the old men of the village were sitting there in the back of the room. It was because they were sorry, too, that they had not gone to school more. It was their way of thanking our master for his forty years of faithful service and of showing their respect for the country that was theirs no more.
While I was thinking of all this, I heard my name called. It was my turn to recite. What would I not have given to be able to say that dreadful rule for the participle all through, very loud and clear, and without one mistake? But I got mixed up on the first words and stood there, holding on to my desk, my heart beating, and not daring to look up. I heard M. Hamel say to me.
"I won't scold you, little Franz; you must feel bad enough. See how it is! Every day we have said to ourselves: 'Pshaw! I've plenty of time. I'll learn it tomorrow.' And now you see where we've come out. Ah, that's the great trouble with Alsace; she puts off learning till tomorrow. Now those fellows out there will have the right to say to you: 'How is it; you pretend to be Frenchmen, and yet you can neither speak nor write your own language?'But you are not the worst, poor little Franz. We've all a great deal to reproach ourselves with.
"Your parents were not anxious enough to have you learn. They preferred to put you to work on a farm or at the mills, so as to have a little more money. And I? I've been to blame also. Have I not often sent you to water my flowers instead of learning your lessons? And when I wanted to go fishing, did I not just give you a holiday?"
Then, from one thing to another, M. Hamel went on to talk of the French language, saying that it was the most beautiful language in the world—the clearest, the most logical; that we must guard it among us and never forget it, because when a people are enslaved, as long as they hold fast to their language it is as if they had the key to their prison. Then he opened a grammar and read us our lesson. I was amazed to see how well I understood it. All he said seemed so easy, so easy! I think, too, that I had never listened so carefully, and that he had never explained everything with so much patience. It seemed almost as if the poor man wanted to give us all he knew before going away, and to put it all into our heads at one stroke.
After the grammar, we had a lesson in writing. That day M. Hamel had new copies for us, written in a beautiful round hand: France, Alsace, France, Alsace. They looked like little flags floating everywhere in the schoolroom, hung from the rod at the top of our desks. You ought to have seen how every one set to work, and how quiet it was! The only sound was the scratching of the pens over the paper. Once some beetles flew in; but nobody paid any attention to them, not even the littlest ones, who worked right on tracing their fishhooks, as if that was French, too. On the roof the pigeons cooed very low, and I thought to myself.
"Will they make them sing in German, even the pigeons?"
Whenever I looked up from my writing I saw M. Hamel sitting motionless in his chair and gazing first at one thing, then at another, as if he wanted to fix in his mind just how everything looked in that little schoolroom. Fancy! For forty years he had been there in the same place, with his garden outside the window and his class in front of him, just like that. Only the desks and benches had been worn smooth; the walnut-trees in the garden were taller, and the hopvine that he had planted himself twined about the windows to the roof. How it must have broken his heart to leave it all, poor man; to hear his sister moving about in the room above, packing their trunks! For they must leave the country next day.
But he had the courage to hear every lesson to the very last. After the writing, we had a lesson in history, and then the babies chanted their ba, be, bi, bo, bu. Down there at the back of the room old Hauser had put on his spectacles and, holding his primer in both hands, spelled the letters with them. You could see that he, too, was crying; his voice trembled with emotion, and it was so funny to hear him that we all wanted to laugh and cry. Ah, how well I remember it, that last lesson!
All at once the church-clock struck twelve. Then the Angelus. At the same moment the trumpets of the Prussians, returning from drill, sounded under our windows. M. Hamel stood up, very pale, in his chair. I never saw him look so tall.
"My friends," said he, "I—I—" But something choked him. He could not go on.
Then he turned to the blackboard, took a piece of chalk, and, bearing on with all his might, he wrote as large as he could:
"Vive La France!"
Then he stopped and leaned his head against the wall, and, without a word, he made a gesture to us with his hand:
"School is dismissed—you may go."
那天早上，我很晚才去上学，心里非常害怕受到责骂，因为韩麦尔先生说过，他要考我们分词规则，而我连开头字母都不会写。这时，我突然冒出了逃学去田野里玩的念头。这是个晴朗、艳阳高照的日子，鸟儿在小树林边鸣叫，锯木厂后面的草地上普鲁士士兵正在操练。对于我来说，这一切都比分词规则更有**力。不过我还是抑制住了**，快步往学校跑去。
从镇政府门前经过时，我看见许多人站在布告栏前。这两年，所有的坏消息，比如打败仗、征兵征物，还有普鲁士军队司令部发布的命令等，都是从那里传来的。我边跑边想：
“又发生什么事了？”
当我跑过广场时，瓦克特尔铁匠和他的徒弟正在布告栏前看布告，看到我喊道：
“小家伙，不要着急嘛，再晚你也不会迟到的！”
我想他在拿我开玩笑，我一口气跑到韩麦尔先生的教室。
要是往常，上课前教室里总是乱哄哄的，人声嘈杂。课桌开开关关的声音，同学们捂住耳朵背诵课文的声音，甚至在大街上都能听得到。韩麦尔先生用大戒尺敲着课桌，叫道：“安静，安静！”这样，我就可以在嘈杂声的掩护下，趁机溜到座位上。可是，今天却别于往日，教室里静悄悄的，如同星期天的早晨。从开着的窗户望去，同学们都整整齐齐地坐在自己的位置上，韩麦尔先生的胳膊底下夹着那把可怕的铁戒尺，在教室里来回走动。我不得不推开门，走进安静的教室。可想而知，我当时是多么的尴尬与胆怯！
可是什么也没有发生。韩麦尔先生只是看了看我，异常温和地说道：
“快点回到座位上去吧，小弗朗茨。要不是你，我们早就上课了！”
我跨过凳子，在座位上坐了下来。直到我稳下心来听课，才注意到老师今天穿着他那件帅气的绿色礼服，领口打着精致的领结，头上戴着那顶刺绣黑绸小圆帽。他只有在上级派人来学校视察或学校颁奖时才穿这身衣服的。此时，教室里异常地庄严肃穆。可是最令我吃惊的是教室后面那些通常空着的凳子上，此时坐满了镇子上的人。和我们一样，他们也都默不作声，有头戴三角帽的豪瑟老先生、前任镇长、以前的邮递员，还有其他的人都在那里。他们的脸上都带着悲伤，豪瑟老先生的膝盖上还摊了本随身带来的边角已破损的旧识字课本，他那副大眼镜就放在课本边上。
我正觉得奇怪，这时韩麦尔先生在椅子上坐了下来，继续用那温和而又庄重的声音说道：
“孩子们，这是我最后一次给你们上课了。柏林下命令，在阿尔萨斯和洛林的学校只能教德语。新老师明天就来了。今天是你们的最后一节法语课了，所以请你们专心听我讲课。”
我立刻惊呆了！
啊，这些坏蛋，他们在镇政府布告栏贴的就是这个消息。
我的最后一节法语课！可我还几乎不会写呢！我再也学不到法语了！我的法语也到此为止了！我是多么懊悔逝去的时光啊！懊悔自己以前为了掏鸟窝、去萨尔河溜冰而逃课！几分钟前，我还觉得我的那些书，语法课本、历史课本，是那样令我厌烦，但顷刻之间，他们已是我的老朋友，令我不忍与他们诀别。还有韩麦尔先生，想到他马上要离去，我再也见不到他，我便忘记了他那把戒尺和他的严厉。
不幸的人啊！为了纪念最后一节课，他穿上了那帅气的节日盛装。直到现在，我才明白为什么教室的后面坐满了镇子上的老人。那是因为，他们也为自己以前没能到学校学习而感到懊悔。他们以自己的方式来表达对先生四十年优秀教学的感激，和对那已被他国掠去的国土的敬仰。
正想着，突然听到先生在叫我的名字。该我背分词规则了。倘若我能声音洪亮，准确而又清晰地把分词规则从头背到尾，我情愿付出一切代价。可是，我连开头几个词都还没弄懂。我站在那儿，用手支着桌子，心怦怦直跳，头低着，不敢抬起。这时，我听到韩麦尔先生说道：
“不责备你了，小弗朗茨，你自己一定够难受的了。事实就是如此，每天我们都对自己说：‘我有很多时间，明天再学吧。’现在你们知道发生的事情了吧。这就是阿尔萨斯人最大的不幸：明天再学习。现在，那些人有权利说：‘怎么回事啊，你们说自己是法国人，却不会说或者写自己的语言？’不幸的弗朗茨，这些并不是你的责任，我们每个人都有很多需要自责的地方。
“你们的父母并未尽力让你们努力读书。他们宁愿打发你们到农场干活或者到工厂里做工，只是为了多挣几个钱。我呢？也应该自责，我不也常常打发你们到我的花园里浇水而不让你们学习吗？当我想去钓鱼时，不也让你们放一天假吗？”
韩麦尔先生从这一件事谈到那一件事，谈到法语上来了。他说，法语是世界上最美的语言——最精确、最具逻辑性的语言；我们都应永远掌握它、记住它。因为，当一个民族沦陷时，只要自己的语言永存，就犹如手握打开监狱之门的钥匙。然后，他打开一本语法书，读起了课文。我吃惊地发现，我竟然能这么透彻地理解它。他所说的都那么简单易懂！我觉得自己从未这么认真地听课，而他也从未如此耐心地给我们讲过课。这个不幸的人仿佛要在临走前把他所知道的一切都教给我们，把所有的知识都一股脑儿灌输到我们脑子里。
讲完了语法，我们开始上写字课。那天，韩麦尔先生准备了许多崭新的字卡样，上面有美丽的圆体字：法兰西，阿尔萨斯，法兰西，阿尔萨斯。这些字帖卡犹如教室里飘扬的小旗子，悬挂在课桌的金属杆上。每个人都那样聚精会神，教室里悄无声息！只听见笔尖划过白纸的沙沙声。偶尔有几只金龟子跑到了教室，但没有人在意，甚至连最小的同学也在专心地画“杠子”，似乎那些也是法语。屋顶上鸽子在咕咕地低吟着，我边听边想：
“他们该不会迫使这些鸽子也用德语唱歌吧？”
我的眼睛不时地从书本移向韩麦尔先生，只见他一动不动地坐在椅子上，注视着教室里的一切，仿佛要把这个小教室中的所有都装进眼睛里带走。可想而知！四十年来，他始终如一地待在这里，固守着对面的院子和一成不变的教室。教室的凳子和课桌被学生磨光了；花园里的胡桃树也长高了；那棵紫藤，是他亲自种下的，如今也顺着窗户爬到了屋顶。听到自己的妹妹在楼上卧室里来回走动着收拾行李，想到自己就要与眼前的一切诀别，这个不幸的人是多么伤心啊！他们明天就要永远离开这个地方了。
但是他还是鼓起勇气把课上完。上完写作课后他又上了节历史课。接着，教初级班学生拼读ba，be，bi，bo，bu。坐在教室后面的豪瑟老先生戴上了眼镜，双手捧着识字课本，和他们拼读起来。看得出，他也在哭，他情绪激动，声音发抖。那样子看起来滑稽，让人既想笑又想哭。啊，我的最后一课，我将永远记住这一切！
突然，教堂的钟敲了十二下，接着是祈祷的钟声。这时，普鲁士军队也操练完了，正在回营，他们的号声回响在我们的窗外。韩麦尔先生从椅子上起身，面色苍白，我从未见过他如此高大。
“朋友们，”他说道，“我——我——”他哽咽了。他说不下去了。
他转过身，拿起一支粉笔，用尽全身的力气，在黑板上写了几个大字：
“法兰西万岁！”
然后他停了下来，头倚着墙壁，没说一句话，只是打了一个手势：
“放学了——你们走吧。”
W词汇笔记
unison ['ju:niz?n] n. 和谐；一致；齐奏；齐唱
例 The last verse will be sung in unison.
歌词的最后部分要齐唱。
thumb [θ?m] v. 示意要求搭车；迅速翻阅；用拇指翻书页
例 The boy is thumbing through dictionary.
这个男孩正在翻查字典。
participle ['pɑ:tisipl] n. [语]分词
例 In English grammar, the gerund have exactly the same form as the present participle.
在英语语法中，动名词具有与现在分词完全一样的形式。
twine [twain] v. 缠绕；捻
例 She twined the flowers into a wreath.
她把花编成花环。
S小试身手
这时，我突然冒出了逃学去田野里玩的念头。
译____________________________________________
可是，今天却别于往日，教室里静悄悄的，如同星期天的早晨。
译____________________________________________
韩麦尔先生从椅子上起身，面色苍白，我从未见过他如此高大。
译____________________________________________
P短语家族
I had the strength to resist, and hurried off to school.
hurry off：匆匆离去
造____________________________________________
Allat once the church-clock struck twelve.
at once：马上；立刻
造____________________________________________