最后一课 The Last Class
都德的《最后一课》相信大家都在课本上读过，故事借亚尔萨斯省一个小孩小弗朗士的自述，具体地描写一所小学所上的最后一堂法文课。作家回避了普法战争的正面战场，而把笔墨转向一幅极为平常的生活画面：小学生迟到，老师讲课、提问，习字，拼音练习，下课……描写极为冷静、客观、朴素，却极具感染力。我们就用这部名篇的英文译本来体会一下：
I WAS very late for school that morning， and I was terribly afraid of being scolded[责骂]， especially as Monsieur[法语：先生] Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles[分词]， and I did not know the first thing about them. For a moment I thought of staying away from school and wandering about the fields. It was such a warm， lovely day. I could hear the blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood， and in the Rippert field， behind the sawmill[锯木厂]， the Prussians going through their drill. All that was much more tempting to me than the rules concerning participles； but I had the strength to resist， and I ran as fast as I could to school.
那天早晨，我去上学，去得非常晚，我好害怕被责骂，特别是，阿麦尔先生跟我们说过，他要考一考分词规则，而我连头一个字都不会。这时，在我的头脑里冒出了逃学、去田野跑一跑的念头。天气是那么暖和，那么晴朗！我听见乌鸦在小树林边鸣叫，普鲁士人正在锯木厂后面的里贝尔草地上操练。所有这一切都比分词规则更吸引我，但我还是顶住了诱惑，加快脚步向学校方向跑去。
As I passed the mayor’s office， I saw that there were people gathered about the little board on which notices were posted. For two years all our bad news had come from that board—battles lost， conscriptions[征兵]， orders from headquarters； and I thought without stopping：
“What can it be now？”
从村政府门前经过的时候，我看见许多人站在小布告栏前。这两年来，所有的坏消息，诸如吃败仗啦，征兵征物啦，还有普鲁士占领军司令部发布的命令啦，都是从那里来的。我边跑边想：“又有什么事吗？”
Then， as I ran across the square， Wachter the blacksmith， who stood there with his apprentice[学徒]， reading the placard[布告]， called out to me：
“Don’t hurry so， my boy； you’ll get to your school soon enough！