H. E. Bates (1905—1974)
本文選自《大西洋月刊》（The Atlantic Monthly）1953年7月號。作者貝茨生於英國之Rushden，所著長短篇小說甚多。貝茨以觀察精微、筆觸輕靈見稱於世。本文敘一母親與其盈盈長成之女兒間的微妙關係，故事甚平淡，然描寫女性心理，絲絲入扣，簡潔細膩，玲瓏透剔，不愧名家之作也。
From the calm of her place under the acacia tree, on the swinging canopy seat, Mrs. Fairfax listened with growing impatience to the loud chock of croquet balls cracking the silence of afternoon, each stroke like the chime of a wooden clock setting off peals of senseless and exhausting laughter. She did not know how anyone, even the young, could be so energetic or so furiously amused in the three o'clock heat of July.
"Children—please! Couldn't you please? Melanie!—Fay!—couldn't you please shout a little less? It sounds like a madhouse—please!"
● calm當名詞用，英文中頗常見，但似和中國人思想習慣不合。我們常常只把它當形容詞用：「安靜的環境」或「安靜的地方」，很少會說「從那個地方的安靜裡面聽來」這一類的話。
● acacia：樹名，譯名金合歡。swinging canopy seat：上有天幕遮陽的懸空搖椅。這篇小說的背景甚簡單，一開頭點明了大樹和搖椅，全文的活動範圍即不離此大樹之下與搖椅之上。
● with growing impatience：愈聽愈難受。croquet balls：槌球。chock似為槌擊球之聲音，普通字典上並無此義，但按上下文語氣，似應作此解。cracking the silence：打破沉寂。cracking之意義，除「打破」之外，在修辭上同chock一樣另有「模聲作用」（onomatopoeia），即模仿實際的「辟拍」之聲。
● chime：（鍾之）鳴聲。wooden clock：木鍾（槌球之槌與球皆為木製）。setting off：引起（笑聲）。peals：鐘聲；連續的洪亮的響聲。exhausting：傷人精神的。這裡恐怕並不指使笑的人傷精神，而是使聽的人傷精神，因為一切心理活動，皆由這位太太出發也。
● how anyone could be so energetic or so furiously amused：竟然有人（在這種大熱天氣）會如此精神煥發，如此狂歡高興。即使年輕人有這種精神，她也無法理解。heat與第一句calm相類似，中國人慣說the hot month或hot afternoon的。
● Couldn't you please？加重前面的please（請）。Melanie和Fay當是她的children的名字。
● 用斜體字排印的兩個字應重讀。shout：瞎叫。madhouse：瘋人院。
She supposed that if they could hear her they were taking no notice. Or if they were taking no notice it was because of that old habit of hers of calling them children when they were nineteen and twenty.
"Fay—don't shriek like that! I won't have that shrieking, Melanie—stop her!"
● 母親要安靜，厲聲告誡之後，孩子們還在鬧。這可能是她們沒有聽見她的話，也許是她們聽見了，故意不作理會（taking no notice）。她也知道她們為什麼不理會。女兒已經一個十九，一個二十（至於哪一個十九，哪一個是二十，下文自有分曉），做母親的習慣（habit）不改，還是叫她們。「孩子們」。她們自己不承認是孩子們了，無怪她們只當不聽見。
● shriek：尖聲怪叫。stop her之her指Fay；母親命令Melanie去制止Fay的怪叫。
She was cut off from the main lawn of the house by a semicircular bank of azaleas and guelder-rose, so that she could not see the figures of her daughters and the three young men. She did not think she had ever been allowed to shriek like that as a girl. It irritated her exactly as if someone had started to fire off rockets in midafternoon.
● main lawn：（園裡的）大草坪。azalea：杜鵑花。guelder-rose：繡球花。花樹密集，種在半圓形的土堆（bank）之上，她視線被阻，因此看不見草地上是什麼情形了。figures：身形。daughters就是上段的Melanie和Fay，笑聲無疑也是這群青年男女所發出來的。
● had been allowed（過去完成式，被動語態）：她做小姑娘的時候，大人不許她這樣尖聲怪叫的。
● rockets：火箭（一種焰火）。下午三點鐘左右（midafternoon）放焰火，使人難受，今他們的笑聲惱人，亦復如此。
"I shall have to stop it. I shall go and speak to them. I won't have that sort of thing."
Then she remembered that going to speak to them would be awkward because she had suggested croquet herself. She had remembered, after lunch, the old croquet box in the stable loft. It struck her as being just the sort of quiet and companionable game that did not require energy on hot afternoons and she thought that perhaps it would keep them out of mischief.
● I shall have to stop it中之have to解作「非……不可」。
● going to speak中之going為動名詞，作從句的主語。awkward：怪不好意思的，因為打槌球還是她自己建議的。
● croquet box：盛槌球用具的盒子。stable loft：馬廄的閣樓。連用兩個過去完成式的動詞had suggested和had remembered，把時間推前了兩三個鐘頭。這一段都是倒敘午飯甫罷以後的事，不是她在搖椅裡的所見所聞了。
● It代表croquet。struck：忽然使她覺得。這個動作的發生也在午飯方罷之時，動詞似乎也應該用過去完成式，為什麼這裡用簡單過去式呢？這一點可以這樣說明：過去完成式本是用來同過去式比先後的，表示「過去的前面還有過去」，當這種對比的需要已經不復存在，事情又是順著次序講下去了，就不必再用這種念起來很彆扭的時態了。這裡用了兩個過去完成式動詞之後，時間已經表示明白，接著再用簡單過去式，也不致引起誤會。以下幾段大多倒敘，時態過去完成與簡單過去雜用，請注意。
● 她那時忽然想起了槌球這種遊戲很安靜，可以使大家一起來玩（companionable），熱天下午玩起來，也不大需要多少精神；她還這樣想：她們有了這個玩也免得去淘氣（out of mischief）了。她怕她們淘氣，無形中還當她們是小孩子。
For the same reason she had invited three young men to lunch instead of two. That was also companionable. She wanted her daughters to have companions. She was not after all so very old herself, not so very far removed from the time when those things filled your head. But children grew up so quickly. They flashed through childhood. They whisked through adolescence into young womanhood and you did not know where you were. You felt you did not know at times what was best for them.
● For the same reason之reason 即本段第二句：That was also companionable，人多了更宜於社交。
● after all：此一成語作為「話得說回來」或「說來說去」。「話得說回來了，她自己也不好算很老。」removed（過去分詞）：離開得遠。those things：男女社交之事。your head之your泛指一般人。人在青春時期，腦筋裡所想的總是這些事情，她自己的年齡距青春也還不遠。
● 下面幾句是母親的感慨：孩子們的童年過得太快了，青春發育時期（adolescence）很快過去（whisked），轉瞬便成少婦；做母親的真有點摸不著頭腦之感（you did not know where you were）。她也不知道該怎麼辦才算是對她們最合適的。
Before lunch Melanie, for instance, had made a great fuss about wearing a dress from last summer. Mrs. Fairfax thought it an enchanting dress; she thought it made her daughter look like a young fresh flower. There was something budlike and tender about it, but the child had suddenly thrown an exhausting tantrum up in her bedroom and said she wouldn't be seen dead in it for her or anybody.
"You will wear it and like it," Mrs. Fairfax said. "Don't be so tiresome. It fits just as well as ever. You haven't grown a scrap."
"Fay had a new one on. You bought it for her. If Fay can, why can't I?"
"Fay's that much older than you. She's grown out of hers. That's why."
● for instance：孩子們已經長大，舉個例來說吧。Before lunch：這兩個字提得也很妙，上面才說過有男朋友來共進午膳，那兩位小姐在進餐之前，難免要打扮一番。made a great fuss：小題大做；空發脾氣。a dress from last summer：去年夏天穿過的一件衣服。
● enchanting：迷人的。something：某種性質或情調，後隨兩個形容詞，budlike（含苞未放的）和tender（溫柔的）。母親以為女兒穿了很好看，可是這孩子（在母親心目中，她總是個孩子）在臥室裡大發脾氣。tantrum：一陣脾氣。這陣脾氣是掀起來（thrown up）的。exhausting：此字第二次出現，大約並不是作者愛用這個字，他只是描寫Mrs. Fairfax的心理，這位太太的腦筋裡恐怕常出現這個字。
● she wouldn't be seen dead in it for her or anybody是間接陳述法，直接陳述法當是：I wouldn't be seen dead in it for you or anybody（不論是為她母親或是為別人，她死了也不願意讓人看見穿這身衣服）。
● You haven't grown a scrap：你一點也沒有長大。
● Fay had a new one on之on表示「穿著」。
● Fay's that much older than you：姐姐就比你大那麼一點。that為副詞，形容much。誰是姐姐，誰是妹妹，到這裡才完全說明。
● She's grown out of hers=she has grown out of her dress：她人長大，衣服穿不下了。
It ended in a strange thing happening, and she supposed it was that which had begun her irritation. Melanie had not come down to lunch in the fresh, flowerlike dress that Mrs. Fairfax liked so much and thought was right for her. She had put on the last thing for a scorching summer day. It was a shining bottle-green dress of Fay's that was too severe at the neck and far too drawn-in at the waist, and until she saw it Mrs. Fairfax had not realized how alarmingly and fully her child had grown. The girl had done her hair differently too, in a high, severe style that made her look, Mrs. Fairfax thought, old and false and sophisticated.
● 女兒發脾氣的結果是發生了一件奇怪的事情。她想她自己心裡的不痛快，就是從那時候開始的。二女兒下來吃飯的時候，沒有穿那身母親所喜歡，而認為對她合適的衣服（that Mrs. Fairfax…thought was right for her此一從句中，主語為that，動詞為was，Mrs. Fairfax thought相當於括弧中語）。
● the last thing=the least suitable thing。在炎熱炙人（scorching）的夏天，穿這樣一件衣服是最不合適了。
● bottle-green：玻璃瓶似的深綠色（按:此字並非作者杜撰，英文中頗常見）。severe：（領子）貼緊。drawn-in：（腰部）扣緊。母親看見了這身衣服，才明白她的孩子的發育，已經成熟到什麼程度，而且是多麼的使大人心驚。
● done her hair：修飾頭髮。（do作「梳」解也是標準英文。）high, severe style：頭髮往上梳，高高束成一團。頭髮這樣一梳，使得她看來年紀大了很多，也顯得虛偽（false）造作（sophisticated）。Mrs. Fairfax thought三字是插進去的，其前後兩「,」當作是括弧看可也。
Then Fay appeared in a dress that, at first, Mrs. Fairfax did not recognize. She became aware only slowly of its uneasy familiarity. It was not until she was actually sitting at the lunch table that she grasped that this was the new dress: the white summer organdy that had been so fresh and youthful with its wide crinkled collar and cuffs to match. Now it had a broad black velvet waistband and the collar had been taken away, leaving all the soft wide shoulders bare.
● did not recognize：本來該認識的，可是不認識了。上面妹妹說母親替姐姐買過一件新衣服，今天姐姐穿了下來,母親可認不得了。
● aware of：注意到。familiarity：本是相識。uneasy：發覺了是相識的反而使人難受。
● grasped：領悟。organdy：一種細薄堅挺紗布，這裡指用這種料子所做成的衣服。crinkled：皺成波紋狀的。collar：領子。cuffs：袖口。match：配稱。
● 買來的時候，這件衣服本來（had been）顯得青春朝氣，但是現在給那位小姐改得老氣橫秋了。腰部添了一條黑絲絨（velvet）的闊腰帶（waistband），領子拆掉，雙肩全部暴露在外。
She was so upset that she looked severely at Fay and said, "Don't go out into the sun without putting something on your shoulders, child. You'll suffer for it if you don't. You burn so easily."
"I never burn. I've never burned in my life." Fay said.
"There's always a first time. You don't want to be sick, child, do you? It's terribly hot today."
● upset：不愉快而又不知所措。burn：日炙傷膚。
● There's always a first time：以前雖然沒有曬壞過，以後初犯還是可能的。
After lunch she said to Mr. Fairfax, who was kicking off his shoes in the bedroom with relief before lying on the bed, "Did you notice Fay's dress?"
"What about it?" he said. "Isn't it the one she always wears?"
"She's taken the collar off."
"Well, I can hardly blame her," he said, and began laughing. "I wanted to take mine off. And would have done for two pins."
"You never notice anything," she said. "I don't believe you'd notice if they turned black, would you?"
"I did notice," Mr. Fairfax said. "I thought they both looked stunning and I don't wonder the boys are after them."
"I suppose that's all you ever think about," she said.
● with relief：解除束縛後的輕鬆之感。
● blame：責備。And would have done for two pins.=And I would have taken my collar off for a trifle. two pins喻代價之低：即使為了兩個小釘之微我也願意把我的領子拆去的。
● if they turned black：假如女兒給曬黑了。
● stunning：美極了，美得使人目眩神移。
That was why she had taken her book and her spectacles and gone off alone to sit under the reclusive calm of the acacia tree, irritated about things and not realizing, until the wooden chock of croquet balls began to scrape more and more harshly on her nerves, how vulgar the sound of shrieking could be in the hot still afternoon.
"You really must stop it!" she lifted her voice at last in a spurt of anger. "Can't you play quietly for a change?"
● 上文幾段都是倒敘過去，講到這裡，才回到開頭出發點。
● reclusive：隱遁的。not realizing的賓語是「how vulgar…」這一從句。scrape on her nerves：擾亂（擦傷）她的神經。harshly：刺耳地。vulgar：惡俗。等到她感到木球之聲愈來愈聒耳煩心，她才明白這種尖聲怪叫，在平靜（still）的熱天下午聽來，是多麼的惡俗可厭。
● a spurt of anger：怒氣突發，從今天下午開始，Mrs. Fairfax是百般地不痛快，女兒丈夫都在惹她生氣，飯後想求片刻寧靜，偏偏木球聲、笑聲、叫聲擾得她心情更為不安，現在忍無可忍，怒火直冒矣。
Then she realized, slowly, and at first with unbelief, that there was not a sound in the afternoon. The air above the tall acacia tree was not strong enough to quiver the smallest leaves. Coming down so suddenly, after the shrieking and the laughter, the silence had a creepiness about it. She actually heard a bird scratching at dry earth, among summer-burned leaves, under the bushes of guelder-rose, a small obsessional sound of tiny claws searching in shadow that awoke in her, almost before she was aware of it, new sources of irritation.
● realized：明明白白地覺得；下隨that從句，作其賓語。
● slowly, and at first with unbelief：她慢慢地才聽出來（園裡已經寂然無聲），起初她還不信呢。照語法結構，realized應直跟that；可是作者插進了一個副詞（slowly）和一個副詞短語，加上了三個逗點，念的時候就得多停三次。本來可以一氣直下的，現在便多頓挫。浩浩蕩蕩，一鼓作氣，固然痛快；然而吞吐盤旋，一波三折，文章便多嫵媚。初學作文者，往往直敘無文，如欲更進一層，稍事修飾增益，宜在此等地方用功夫。
● air名曰氣，實即風也。風弱，雖至細之葉亦不為吹動。quiver：使之震顫。Coming為現在分詞，形容主語silence。creepiness：身上如有物爬行之感。怪叫大笑之後，沉寂如此突然地來臨，令人起某種（a creepiness）悚然之感。
● scratching：扒抓。obsessional：縈繞心頭的，盤旋耳邊的。a small obsessional sound是同位語，說明前面的a bird scratching。tiny：細小的。claws：爪。searching：搜尋。that是關係代名詞，代替sound。awoke：喚醒，引起；其賓語為「new sources（根由）of irritation」。細微的扒抓之聲，在她耳邊縈繞不去，在她心頭造成了新的煩惱因素。
● almost before she was aware of it：幾乎在她自覺煩惱之前，煩惱已經上了身了。她的新煩惱是不知不覺中來的。
Now what had happened? Now where had everyone disappeared to? Now what were they up to?
In uneasiness she tried to peer first over, then half under, the canopy seat, searching for the movement of figures through the lower branches of the shrubbery of acacia and guelder-rose. But it was no use; there was nothing there to see.
● up to=doing；about to do。她們在「搞」些什麼呢？
● uneasiness：不安，不自在。peer：窺視。over是介詞，其賓語為the canopy seat。她先從椅子上面探望，繼而半俯身子，向下窺視。figures：人的身形。branches：樹枝。shrubbery：灌木。
It was in a final effort towards calmness, towards being rational, that she lay full length on the seat. The toes of her shoes clung to her feet by the tips and presently one of them fell off, dropping down on the lawn, as she moved on the canopy.
● 她力求鎮靜，力求合理（rational，自尋煩惱便是無理取鬧）；東張西望，既然看不出一個結果，她索性全身伸直（full length）了，躺在搖椅之上。這是她使自己心平氣和的最後一次努力（final effort），以後孩子們不管多麼吵鬧，或是在偷偷摸摸地頑皮，她都不去理會了。
● toes：鞋的前端。clung：附著。by the tips：只有鞋尖一點點的地方，還附著在腳尖上。人躺好了，神經寬舒，鞋自然松下；所以她在椅上（canopy是canopy seat的簡寫）挪動一下，鞋就落在草地之上。她當然也懶得去撿了。
A moment or two later she was aware that the creeping sound of the bird in its obsessional scratching among leaves seemed to be growing louder. It seemed also to be coming nearer. And suddenly she was aware of it under the very corner of the canopy. She saw that it belonged to the tousled dark head of a young man who was crawling almost underneath her on his hands and knees.
● tousled（過去分詞）：頭髮蓬鬆的。
● crawling on his hands and knees：兩手兩膝著地地爬。地上悉悉索索在扒的，擾亂得她心神不寧的，原來並不是鳥。
"Oh! my God," he said.
He was already holding her shoe in his hand.
"I'm terribly sorry, Mrs. Fairfax," he was saying, and as he opened his mouth, she noticed quickly how handsome the level lines of his teeth were.
● 來者當是三個青年男客中的一個，此人生得一口齊整漂亮的牙齒，給她的印象該是不錯。這位太太今天下午事事不順心，以致煩躁不安，可是現在並不生氣。
"What on earth are you supposed to be doing?" she said.
"I thought you were Fay," he said.
"What ever made you think I was Fay?"
"You're such a lot like her," he said, "and I thought she came this way."
● on earth用以加強疑問代名詞what，相當於中文的「到底」。are you supposed是被動語態，可能解釋作「人家以為你是在幹什麼的？」，但此處似應為反身動詞（reflexive verb）的被動語態：What on earth do you think you are doing？你到底自以為在幹些什麼呢？
● I thought you were Fay此句的動詞是過去式：我剛才把你看錯了，以為你是Fay（大小姐之名，見前文），所以才把你的鞋子撿起來的。
● such a lot：多麼的。對母親說她像她的妙齡女兒，該是一句很巧妙的諛辭，這位青年並不存心恭維，但是大約無意中已經博得這位太太的歡心了。
He began to try to put the shoe on the canopy seat without her noticing it and she said, "What were you going to do if I were Fay?"
"Oh! we're having a game," he said. "It's a sort of treasure game. You have to find so many things in a given time."
● noticing：注意。趁她不注意時，把鞋放在椅上。撿鞋子原來為的是遊戲。參加「覓寶」遊戲的人（即末句的You），一定要在指定時間（given time）之內，找到某些東西。
"Such as shoes?" she said.
"A shoe was one."
"And what else?"
Perhaps because he was still kneeling on the grass, perhaps because both her feet were now shoeless, he seemed more embarrassed than ever. "Oh! a clothespin," he said, and he hesitated so much before the next of his things that she had suddenly an idea he was making things up. "Then a collar stud. That was for the girls."
● both her feet：另外一隻鞋也掉下來了。embarrassed：窘迫。
● clothespin：晾曬衣服時用的木夾子。before the next of his things：說了木夾子，再說下一樣東西之前，他吞吞吐吐（hesitated）了好久，才說得出來，以致她忽然有了一個印象：她以為他在編造（making up）了話來騙她。其實他是因為不好意思，才難於啟齒的。
● collar stud：襯衫領子上的活動鈕扣（這種襯衫的領子大多不是縫在一起，而是臨時裝上的）。女孩子要覓的寶是男人襯衫上的鈕扣，這種事情說出來不大雅觀，無怪那人要格格不吐。
"Oh! it was different for girls then, was it?"
"It has to be," he said. "It's more fun."
"You look terribly hot," she said. "It would do you much good to rest. How far had you got? What had you found?"
● different：男女雙方所覓的寶不同。
● It has to be：非這麼不可。had got，had found（過去完成式）：他來到這裡以前，找到了些什麼了？
"I'd got the clothespin and the shoe… well, I thought I had,"he said, and again she saw the smile, perfect and handsome in the startling whiteness of its expanse between dark lips.
Suddenly she drew her feet up towards her and said, "Wouldn't you like to sit down on the canopy? You look so hot and uncomfortable down there."
"Oh! I don't want to disturb you...."
● I thought I had：我那時還以為找到了。那男子的牙齒潔白整齊，笑時尤為明顯，此處不提牙齒，只說他的笑佔地甚大（expanse：嘴咧得很開），在兩片暗紅色嘴唇之間，露出一片耀目的白色。
● drew up：把腳縮進，好讓那人來坐。
"Not disturbing. Sit down and cool off a bit."
He sat down and began almost at once, unconsciously, with regular motions of one foot, to swing the canopy up and down.
After some moments of that sensation, so delicious and soothing that she wanted to shut her eyes, she said, "You didn't finish telling me what the girls had to find."
● began應該直連to swing（搖蕩）的，作者又插了好幾個形容的字眼進去。unconsciously：不知不覺中。regular motions of one foot：一隻腳有規律地動，一推一撐之間，搖椅就上下擺動起來了。
● that sensation：搖蕩的感覺。delicious：引起酣美的快感的。soothing：使神經平靜舒適的。搖椅輕輕擺動，她週身快慰舒適，把眼睛閉上了，好好地享受一下。她方才何等暴躁，現在變得如此平易近人，讀者請注意其心理變遷過程。
The swinging of the canopy made the top of the acacia tree rock with heady gentleness against the sky. The sensation it woke in her body reminded her of a swing on which she had played, under a big tree, as a child.
"Oh! it was a bit silly."
"Tell me."
● rock也是搖動，但並不懸空，其動亦較著實而緩慢。嬰孩搖籃之搖為rock，鞦韆之動則為swing。swing作名詞用，即為鞦韆。搖椅擺動，牽動樹梢，動勢雖和緩（gentle），但望之亦使人頭眩（heady）。against the sky：以天空為陪襯。她想把眼閉上，事實上恐怕沒有閉，因此看天際樹梢搖動而微覺頭眩也。
● it woke in her body是定語從句：在她身上引起的（這種快感）。reminded her of：使她想起（一架幼時曾蕩過的鞦韆）。
● silly：無聊；沒有意思。女孩子還得找尋些什麼，那男孩子不肯說。
In a new spasm of nervousness he swung the canopy higher and said, "Well, if you must know, it was a hair off my chest…."
"Oh! what a thing to think of!" she began laughing in spite of herself, partly, because under the sensation of that swinging canopy she could not control it, partly as a small protection against being shocked. She supposed she really ought to have been shocked at something like that, but in an odd way the swinging of the canopy lifted the sensation of shock and bore it far away.
● spasm：一陣發作。nervousness：慌亂。chest：胸口。
● what a thing to think of：驚歎句，相當於「這事虧你們想出來的」。
● in spite of herself：自己按捺不住。她的笑有兩個原因：一是搖搖擺擺得自己不能控制（it=laughing）了；二是拿笑來作為小小的掩護，免得自己受驚（shocked）。男孩子胸口的毛，拔下來藏起，叫女孩子找，這事多麼駭人聽聞！這位太太愛護女兒，無微不至，更應該不能忍受了。
● something like that：像這一類的事。in an odd way：不知怎麼的。lifted：舉起，移除。bore away：帶走。
"And what about the rest of the things you had to find?"
"Most of them sound stupid too."
"Tell me."
"A shoe was one. Then there were one or two silly things—the clothespin, then a stocking. Then—"
Under the small, thrilling sensation of the swinging canopy she was laughing quite openly now, not so much amused as in sheer exhilaration. Higher and higher, she thought, all the time higher and higher, as she had done when a child, until you were one, as it were, with the sky, until….
● thrilling：鑽到汗毛孔裡去似的（不一定指恐懼，快樂也可以使人起一種震慄之感）。
● not so much… as…與其說是前者，不如說是後者。與其說她看見了那人神裡神經覺得好笑（amused：引以為樂），不如說她是完完全全（sheer）心裡高興（exhilaration）才開口大笑的。
● Higher and higher：高呀，高呀，愈蕩愈高。one with the sky：與天空合而為一。as it were：似乎；可以這麼說；人與天空並不能合一，不過不妨如此誇張而已。
● when a child=when she was a child。
"Oh! you must win," she said, "Take my shoe. Here, you can take this too—"
He turned in time to see her rolling down her stocking, slipping it swiftly over her foot.
"Oh! no, Mrs. Fairfax. I don't really—"
"Go on!" she said. "Take it. Start running. Get there—"
The sudden motion of his reluctant body as he got up, taking shoe and stocking with him, gave the canopy its final swing.
● win：玩覓寶遊戲的，當然覓得多的那一方獲勝。
● take this之this何所指，看下段自明。
● turned：轉過頭去。in time：恰當其時。rolling：卷。slipping：滑過。此兩現在分詞形容脫襪情形很貼切。
● Get there：跑到他們那邊去。
● reluctant：於心不願的。那男孩子不好意思把她的鞋襪拿走，所以不大願意走開。後來突然站了起來，搖椅又被推動：這種突然的動作，使得搖椅得到了最後一次的推動。
"What a nice boy," she said to herself. "How silly to be playing that game," and then, as the canopy swung less, "Dying, dying; dying down," in the same blissful way she remembered as a child.
It was only when the canopy was nearly motionless that she remembered to put out her foot and start it swinging again. The grass was cool on the naked sole of her foot. The boughs of the acacia tree seemed to sway in exact time with her body. The shade of the tree embalmed her exquisitely, alone but no longer deserted, and out in the hot still sunlight there was now a new sound of voices, hunting for their treasure.
● Dying：漸漸停歇。她記起了從前蕩鞦韆每逢停下時，嘴裡常這麼唱：「停了，停了，停下來了。」唱的時候，心裡感到一種極大的快樂（bliss）。
● put out her foot：搖椅快停的時候，她才想起了伸腳出去，再把它推動。
● sole：腳底。腳底著了地，就有一種涼快的感覺。作者於此等感覺描寫，決不肯放過。
● boughs：樹之大枝。swayed：搖擺；此字涵義大致與swing相似，所不同者，sway之搖擺較笨重而不穩定，swing則專指較輕快之搖擺。rock著實，swing懸空，sway則懸空著實，兼可適用。exact：恰巧，適合。in time with：動作的節拍相合。
● embalmed：使她覺得像塗了香油（balm）一樣的舒服。exquisitely：很精巧，很細膩地。deserted：為人所遺棄；她現在還是一人在樹下獨坐（alone），但是她覺得她同孩子們已經有了默契，她不再寂寞了。out：在她那地方的外面。still：靜寂的。
● 綜觀全文，故事平淡無奇，敘事似亦多瑣碎，然而貫串全文的，乃是Mrs. Fairfax的心理發展：如何從暴躁化為和易，從嚴厲化為慈愛。人與人相知本來不易，任何人的同情心假如能增加一點，他的生活內容即多充實了一點。Mrs. Fairfax午飯之後在樹下小憩，正滿懷氣憤，偏偏巧遇「覓寶」青年，交談片刻，共坐搖椅，態度即判然大變，對青年男女的「胡鬧」，非但不再那麼憎厭，而且同情之心油然而生，自己在心理上也隨著年輕了不少。這一種內心生活的轉變，是一個人生命裡的大事；可是人生逢到這種轉變的時候，可能在外表上很少動靜，甚至和他最密切的人，也可能一無所知；寫小說的憑了他的同情心和想像力，是不會把這種場合輕易放過的。本文作者選取了短篇小說最理想的題材，以輕鬆經濟的文字，寫入情入理的故事，結果才完成了這一篇傑作。