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The Last Lesson by Alphonse Daudet(France)
I was very late that morning on my way to school and was afraid of being scolded. The master had told us he would question us on verbs, and I did not know a thing about them, for I had not studied my lesson.
For a moment I thought of playing truant. The air was so warm and bright, and I could hear birds whistling at the edge of the woods, and the Prussians drilling in the meadow behind the sawmill.
I liked this much better than learning the rules for verbs, but I did not dare to stop, so I ran quickly towards school.
Passing the mayor's office, I saw people standing before the little bulletin board, For two years it was there that we had received all the news of battles, of victories and defeats.
"What is it now?" I thought, without stopping.
Then, as I ran along, the blacksmith, who was there reading the notice, cried out to me, "Not so fast, little one, you will reach your school soon enough."
I thought he was making fun of me and ran faster than ever, reaching the schoolyard quite out of breath.
Usually at the beginning of school, the noise of desks being opened and closed, and lessons repeated at the top of the children's voices could be heard out in the street. Occasionally the master beat the table with his heavy ruler as he cried, "Silence, please, silence!"
I had hoped to be able to take my seat in all this noise without being seen; but that morning the room was quiet and orderly.
Through the open window I saw my schoolmates already in their places. The master was walking up and down the room with the iron ruler under his arm and a book in his hand.
As I entered he looked at me kindly, and said, without scolding, "Go quickly to your place, little Franz; we were going to begin without you. You should have been here five minutes ago."
I climbed over my bench and sat down at once at my desk. Just then I noticed, for the first time, that our master wore his fine green coat and his black silk embroidered cap.
But what surprised me most was to see some of the village people seated on the benches at the end of the room. One of them was holding an old spelling book on his knee; and they all looked sadly at the master.
While I was wondering at this, our schoolmaster took his place, "Children," he said, "this is the last time that I shall give you a lesson. An order has come from Berlin that no language but German may be taught in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. A new master will come tomorrow who will teach you German. Today is your last lesson in French. I beg you to pay attention."
These words frightened me. This was what they had posted on the bulletin board then! This was what the blacksmith was reading!
My last lesson in French! I hardly knew how to write, and I never should learn now. How I regretted the hours wasted in the woods and fields, the days when I had played and should have studied!
My books that a short time ago had seemed so tiresome, so heavy to carry, now seemed to me like old friends.
I was thinking of this when I heard my name called. It was my turn to recite. What would I not have given to be able to say the rules without a mistake! But I could not say a word, and stood at my bench without daring to lift my head. Then I heard the master speaking to me.
"I shall not scold you, little Franz. You are punished enough now. Every day you have said to yourself: 'I have plenty of time. I will learn my lesson tomorrow.' Now you see what has happened."
Then he began to talk to us about the French language, saying that it was the most beautiful tongue in the world, and that we must keep it among us and never forget it.
Finally he took the grammar and read us the lesson, I was surprised to see how well I understood. Everything seemed easy. I believed, too, that I had never listened so attentively; and it almost seemed as if the good man were trying to teach us all he knew at this last lesson.
When the lesson in grammar was over, we began our writing. For that day the master had prepared some cards on which were written, "Alsace, France; Alsace, France."
They seemed like so many little flags dotted about the schoolroom. How we worked! Nothing was heard but the voice of the master and the scratching of pens on paper. There was no time for play now. On the roof of the schoolhouse some pigeons were softly cooing, and I said to myself, "Will they, too, be obliged to sing in German?"
From time to time, when I looked up from my page, I saw the master looking about him as if he wished to impress upon his mind everything in the room.
After writing, we had a history lesson. Next, the little ones recited in concert: their "Ba, be, bi, bo, bu".
Oh, I shall always remember that last lesson!
Suddenly the church clock struck twelve. The master rose from his chair. "My friends," said he, "my friend, …I …I …"
But something choked him; he could not finish the sentence. He returned to the blackboard, took a piece of chalk, and wrote in large letters, "VIVE LA FRANCE".
Then he stood leaning against the wall, unable to speak. He signed to us with his hand: "The lesson is over. You are dismissed."
At page 106, 107, 108, 109, 120, 121, 122, 123, Book 2 The English Textbooks Series for Senior Secondary School (The 1st Edition, Published by the People's Educations Press, October 1981) ༺༻༺༻༺༻༺༻༺༻༺༻༺༻༺༻༺༻༺༻༺༻༺༻༺༻༺༻༺༻༺༻
Chinese Edition(汉译本)
最后一课 作者:[法]阿方斯·都德
那天早晨上学,我去得很晚,心里害怕挨骂。老师曾说他将提问有关动词的一些问题。我因逃课而对这些知识一无所知。
我想逃学再玩一会儿。今天风和日丽,我可以听到小鸟在树林边婉转地歌唱和锯木厂后边草地上普鲁士士兵操练的声音。
我喜欢这一切胜过学习动词用法规则,但我没有停下,迅速奔向学校。
路过市长办公室,我看到布告牌前站立着许多人。两年来,我们从这块布告牌获悉有关战争胜负的一切消息。
“怎么啦?”我有些纳闷,但仍没有停下脚步。
我正紧走慢赶,一位正在读通告的铁匠朝我大喊:“别急,小家伙,你总是准时到校。”
我知道他在取笑我,于是跑得更快了,终于气喘吁吁地闯进校园。
平常,在开始上课时,在街上就可以听得见掀开和关上书桌的声音和孩子们高声温习功课的声音。老师偶尔会用他那厚重的戒尺敲打着桌子,并高喊:“请安静!安静!”
我希望能够在一片嘈杂声中神不知鬼不觉地入座;但那天早晨教室里安静有序。
透过打开的窗户,我看到同学们已经就座,老师手持一本书、腋下夹着一支铁戒尺在教室里来回踱步。
当我走进教室时,他和善地望着我,并没有斥责,“快回到座位上去,小弗朗士,我们要上课了,不等你了。你应该早5分钟来才是。”
我搬了一条长凳在课桌前就座。这时我发现老师首次穿着一件时髦的绿色外套,戴着一顶镶有黑丝刺绣的帽子。
然而,最使我吃惊的是看到村子里的一些人坐在教室尽头的长凳上。其中一人膝盖上放着一本旧识字课本;他们都望着老师,目光中充满了哀伤。
正当我满腹狐疑,老师走上讲台,“孩子们”,他说,“这是我最后一次给你们上法语课。柏林来了一道命令,阿尔萨斯和洛林的学校只能教德语。教你们德语的新老师明天就到。今天是你们最后一堂法语课,我希望你们全神贯注。”
这些话令我惴惴不安。这不正是那块布告牌发布、铁匠读到的消息!
最后一堂法语课!我还不知道怎么写字呢!而我再也不能学了!我多么懊悔我在树林间和田野里浪费那么多的时间,我多么懊悔我本该专心学习而却虚度光阴。
不久前还显得令人生厌、累赘的课本,此时如同故友。
我心里正滴咕着,听到老师点我的名,要我讲述课文。我多么想能够分毫不差地说出那些规则。然而我沉默不语,怯生生地站立着。然后听到老师的话响在耳边。
“我不责怪你,小弗朗士。现在你已经受到足够惩罚。每天你会告诉自己:我时间充裕,明天再上课。’此时你知道发生了什么。”
然后他讲解法国的语言,告诉我们说,法语是世界上最优美的语言,必须时刻传承,永不忘记。
最后他讲授了语法,读了一篇课文,奇怪的是我悟透了课堂上学到的知识,一切都显得简单明了。我深信我从没有如此专心过;老师似乎要在这最后一堂课上向我们教授他所掌握的一切知识。
语法课结束后,我们开始写作。老师早已为我们准备好了一些卡片,上面写着“阿尔萨斯,法兰西;阿尔萨斯,法兰西”字样。
这些字样如同校舍上方密布的小旗帜。我们在做什么!除了老师讲课声和笔在纸上沙沙的书写声什么也听不到。此刻没有喘息时间。校舍屋脊传来了鸽子轻柔的咕咕叫声,我扪心自问:“它们也被迫用德语歌唱吗?”
我的目光偶尔从书本上移开,看到老师在环顾四周,仿佛要牢牢记住教室里的一切。
书写完毕,我们上了一堂历史课。紧接着随老师富有节奏地朗诵“Ba, be, bi, bo, bu”。啊,我永世难忘这最后一堂课。
突然教堂的钟声响了12下。老师从椅子上站了起来。“我的朋友们,”他说:“我的朋友们,……我……我。”
但似乎有一股令人窒息的力量使他的话嘎然而止。他手持粉笔在黑板写了几个大字:“法兰西万岁”。
然后他依着墙壁站着,说不出话来。他朝我们挥了挥手说:“放学了,你们回去吧。”
——全日制十年制学校高中课本(试用本)《英语》第二册第106页~第132页 (人民教育出版社1981年10月第1版) |