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The son of the charcoal-man had been a pupil of that schoolmistress Delcati who had come to see my brother when he was ill, and who had made us laugh by telling us how, two years ago, the mother of this boy had brought to her house a big apronful of charcoal, out of gratitude for her having given the medal to her son; the poor woman had persisted, and had not been willing to carry the coal home again, and had wept when she was obliged to go away with her apron quite full.
卖炭人的儿子原来曾是女老师代尔卡谛的学生，来探我弟弟病的时候，老师讲出两年前的事，逗得我们哈哈大笑。为了感谢老师给自己儿子颁了奖牌，小孩的母亲曾带着满满一大围裙的炭到她家去。这个可怜的女人坚持要给，不想再把炭搬回家，但最后还是不得不带着满满一围裙的炭回去，走的时候都哭了。
And she told us, also, of another good woman, who had brought her a very heavy bunch of flowers, inside of which there was a little hoard of soldi. We had been greatly diverted in listening to her, and so my brother had swallowed his medicine, which he had not been willing to do before. How much patience is necessary with those boys of the lower first, all toothless, like old men, who cannot pronounce their r's and s's; and one coughs, and another has the nosebleed, and another loses his shoes under the bench, and another bellows because he has pricked himself with his pen, and another one cries because he has bought copy-book No. 2 instead of No. 1. Fifty in a class, who know nothing, with those flabby little hands, and all of them must be taught to write; they carry in their pockets bits of licorice, buttons, phial corks, pounded brick,—all sorts of little things, and the teacher has to search them; but they conceal these objects even in their shoes. And they are not attentive: a fly enters through the window, and throws them all into confusion; and in summer they bring grass into school, and horn-bugs, which fly round in circles or fall into the inkstand, and then streak the copy-books all over with ink. The schoolmistress has to play mother to all of them, to help them dress themselves, bandage up their pricked fingers, pick up their caps when they drop them, watch to see that they do not exchange coats, and that they do not indulge in cat-calls and shrieks. Poor schoolmistresses! And then the mothers come to complain: "How comes it, signorina, that my boy has lost his pen? How does it happen that mine learns nothing? Why is not my boy mentioned honorably, when he knows so much? Why don't you have that nail which tore my Piero's trousers, taken out of the bench?"
她还告诉我们，还有另一位善良的女人，抱着很重的一束花到她家去，里面还夹着几枚铜币呢。我们都很享受听她说话，弟弟先前不肯吃药，现在也吞下了。教导一年级的学生需要多少耐心啊，都像老人一样牙齿不全，发不出"r"和"s"的音；这个咳嗽，那个流鼻血；这个找不到凳子底下的鞋了，那个因为拿笔戳到了自己而大叫起来，另一个又因为把第二册字帖当第一册买来就哭起来了。一个班五十人，什么都不懂，小手软软的，而他们全部都必须学会写字；他们的口袋里装着各式各样的小玩意——小块的甘草、纽扣、小玻璃瓶塞、捣碎的砖块，老师必须把它们搜出来，可他们甚至把这些东西藏在鞋子里。他们是不会认真听讲的：一只苍蝇从窗户飞进来，他们就都闹起来了；夏天他们会带草和甲虫到学校里来，甲虫会转着圈飞或是掉进墨水瓶里，溅得字帖上全是一条条的墨迹。老师必须扮演所有人的母亲的角色，帮他们穿衣，为他们被刺伤的手指缠上绷带，拾起他们掉落的帽子，留心看他们是否拿错了外套，不准他们一个劲地学猫叫或尖叫。可怜的女老师们！学生的母亲们还要来抱怨：“小姐，我的儿子怎么会遗失了他的钢笔的？我儿子怎么什么都有没学到呢？我儿子懂的那么多，为什么不被表扬呢？我家皮耶罗的裤子被椅子上的钉子磨破了，你为什么不把那根钉子拔掉呢？”
Sometimes my brother's teacher gets into a rage with the boys; and when she can resist no longer, she bites her finger, to keep herself from dealing a blow; she loses patience, and then she repents, and caresses the child whom she has scolded; she sends a little rogue out of school, and then swallows her tears, and flies into a rage with parents who make the little ones fast by way of punishment. Schoolmistress Delcati is young and tall, well-dressed, brown of complexion, and restless; she does everything vivaciously, as though on springs, is affected by a mere trifle, and at such times speaks with great tenderness.
有些时候我弟弟的老师会对学生大发雷霆；当她再也无法忍耐时，就会咬自己的手指头，用这个方法来阻止自己挥手打人；她失去了耐性，事后又后悔了，就去抚摸刚才斥责过的孩子；她把一个小淘气赶回了家，然后独自把眼泪往肚里咽；对于那些用惩罚的方式催着小孩子们动作快点儿的父母，她总是很生气。代尔卡谛老师年纪轻轻、身材修长、衣着讲究，有着褐色的皮肤，活力十足；她做起每件事来都很快活，就像上足了发条一样；仅仅一件小事就能触动她，那时她说话的语气总是特别温柔。
"But the children become attached to you, surely," my mother said to her.
“孩子们肯定都会渐渐喜爱你的。”我母亲对她说。
"Many do," she replied; "but at the end of the year the majority of them pay no further heed to us. When they are with the masters, they are almost ashamed of having been with us—with a woman teacher. After two years of cares, after having loved a child so much, it makes us feel sad to part from him; but we say to ourselves, 'Oh, I am sure of that one; he is fond of me.' But the vacation over, he comes back to school. I run to meet him; 'Oh, my child, my child!' And he turns his head away." Here the teacher interrupted herself. "But you will not do so, little one?" she said, raising her humid eyes, and kissing my brother. "You will not turn aside your head, will you? You will not deny your poor friend?"
“很多孩子是这样，”她答道，“但是学年快结束的时候，大多数孩子就不会注意我们了。当他们跟了男老师，他们几乎都会因为跟过我们这些女老师而感到羞愧。要和一个教育了两年的、特别疼爱过的孩子分开，我们感到难过。但是我们对自己说：‘哦，我对那个孩子有信心，他是喜爱我的。’但是假期结束，他返回学校。我跑去找他说：‘哦，我的孩子，我的孩子！’他却把头偏向别处去了。”老师说到这里，停了下来。“你不会那样做吧，小家伙？”她说，抬起她湿润的眼睛，吻了吻我的弟弟，“你不会把你的头偏向别处去吧，不会的吧？你不会不认你可怜的朋友吧？”