Advice to Little Girls

給小女孩的建議

(By Mark Twain )

(馬克吐溫)

Good little girls ought not to make mouths at their teachers for every trifling offense. This retaliation should only be resorted to under peculiarly aggravated circumstances.

乖巧的小女孩可不能每次受到小小的批評就跟老師頂嘴。這種反擊只應(yīng)在事態(tài)非常嚴重的情況下才可付諸行動。

If you have nothing but a rag-doll stuffed with sawdust, while one of your more fortunate little playmates has a costly china one, you should treat her with a show of kindness nevertheless. And you ought not to attempt to make a forcible swap with her unless your conscience would justify you in it, and you know you are able to do it.

當你的某位小伙伴有幸得到了一個昂貴的瓷娃娃，而你卻只有那個塞滿鋸屑的破布娃娃時，你還是要非常友好地待她哦。除非你良心上過得去，而且有把握一定能得到，否則可千萬別想著強迫她和你交換。

You ought never to take your little brother's 'chewing-gum' away from him by main force; it is better to rope him in with the promise of the first two dollars and a half you find floating down the river on a grindstone. In the artless simplicity natural to this time of life, he will regard it as a perfectly fair plausible fiction has lured the obtuse infant to financial ruin and disaster.

想要你弟弟的“泡泡糖”？永遠不要強取豪奪，試試給他下個套兒吧。就答應(yīng)他說你以后再在河里磨石上撿到漂來的錢，最先撿到的2.5美元一定給他。像他這么點大的小毛孩，正是天真無邪的時候， 定會以為這是筆相當公平的交易。古往今來，這種花言巧語的騙局誘使多少無知孩童丟了東西、破了財呀！

If at any time you find it necessary to correct your brother, do not correct him with mud - never, on any account, throw mud at him, because it will spoil his clothes. It is better to scald him a little, for then you obtain desirable results. You secure his immediate attention to the lessons you are inculcating , and at the same time your hot water will have a tendency to remove impurities from his person, and possibly the skin, in spots.

不論何時你覺得有必要懲罰一下哥哥，也千萬不要用泥巴——任何情況下都絕不要往他身上扔泥巴，那樣會把他的衣服弄臟嘛。最好呢就是稍微燙他一下，這樣你的目的也就達到了。你不僅可以使他的注意力立刻轉(zhuǎn)移到你的“諄諄教導”上，而且熱水搞不好還能清除他身上的污垢，甚至還可能讓他某些部位脫層皮呢。

If your mother tells you to do a thing, it is wrong to reply that you won't. It is better and more becoming to intimate that you will do as she bids you, and then afterward act quietly in the matter according to the dictates of your best judgment.

要是你媽媽讓你做件事，不要總是說我不干，這樣說是不對的。聰明的話，你要在她面前表現(xiàn)得言聽計從，至于私底下做的時候嘛， 你想怎么做就怎么做。

You should ever bear in mind that it is to your kind parents that you are indebted for your food, and for the privilege of staying home from school when you let on that you are sick. Therefore you ought to respect their little prejudices, and humor their little whims , and put up with their little foibles until they get to crowding you too much.

你要時刻謹記，正是因為你那慈愛的父母，你才能食有所依，才能在你謊稱自己生病時享有賴在家里不去上學的特權(quán)。所以，你要學會尊重他們小小的偏見，遷就他們小小的怪念頭，忍受他們小小的毛病，只要他們沒有把你逼得忍無可忍！

Good little girls always show marked deference for the aged. You ought never to 'sass ' old people unless they 'sass' you first.

乖巧的小女孩對長輩總是畢恭畢敬。永遠不要對長輩“出言不遜”，除非他們先對你“出言不遜”！