SPARROW TREE SQUARE

 WE will take the lady in green first. Her name is Diana Fitzpatrick Mauleverer James. She is the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Fitzpatrick Mauleverer James, who live at Number 27. Mrs. F. M. James wanted a boy, so that he could support them in their old age; but Mr. F. M. James said loftily¹: “No F. M. James, my dear, was ever any good at supporting. Where the F. M. Jameses shine is at being supported. Let it be a girl, and let her marry some very rich man when she grows up. It shall be his proud privilege² to tend the last of the F. M. James’s in their middle-age.” So it was a girl.

 

Mrs. F. M. James was very fond of Diana, but she was fond of Mr. F. M. James, too, and a time came when she found that she couldn’t look after both of them; for it would happen sometimes that, when Diana wanted to play trains, Mr. F. M. James didn’t,{20} or that when Mr. F. M. James did, then Diana had thought of some other game. So one day she said:

 

“I think, dear, we had better get Diana a nurse, and then I can devote³ myself entirely⁴ to you.”

 

“Certainly, my love, you should devote yourself entirely to me,” said Mr. F. M. James, “but I cannot allow a common nurse to look after Diana Fitzpatrick Mauleverer. The F. M. James’s have their pride.”

 

“Then who is to look after her?” asked Diana’s Mother.

 

“She must look after herself.”

 

So from that day Diana looked after herself. She woke herself in the morning, dressed herself, took herself out for a walk, told herself to get-on-with-her-dinner-there-was-a-darling, sang herself to sleep in the afternoon, gave herself tea, brushed her hair and took herself downstairs to her{21} Father and Mother, took herself back again if they were out, gave herself a bath, read to herself while she had her supper, and at the end of the day said good-night to herself and left herself in bed. When she was there, she made up little rhymes⁵ for herself, before going to sleep. One of them went like this:

 

Diana Fitzpatrick Mauleverer James

Was lucky to have the most beautiful names.

How awful for Fathers and Mothers to call

Their children Jemima!—or nothing at all!

But hers were much wiser and kinder and cleverer,

They called her Diana Fitzpatrick Mauleverer James.

I am telling you all this because I want you to understand how proud she felt on that first morning when she took herself to Sparrow⁶ Tree Square to feed the birds. There were other children there, but they had nurses with them. Sometimes the children ran away and pretended⁷ they didn’t belong to the nurses and sometimes the nurses lagged⁸ behind and pretended they didn’t belong to the children, but Diana Fitzpatrick Mauleverer James knew! She was the only entirely-all-by-herself person there. And she had given herself a bag full of bread-crusts⁹ to feed the sparrows¹⁰ with, and she had let herself wear the green coat with fur trimmings, and she was utterly¹¹ and entirely happy. She nodded to William and Wilhelmina Good, who were walking up and down in a very correct way, William in green, too, and Wilhelmina, who had been growing rather quickly lately, in blue. She laughed like anything at a little boy who was trying to count the sparrows, and kept making it thirty instead of thirty-one, because one of them hid between his legs. How angry he was because he couldn’t make it thirty-one! Silly little boy! She bowed politely to the Vanderdecken girls—over-dressed as usual—and agreed with them that it was a fine morning. They were feeding the sparrows, too, but they just had little bits of bread which their nurses gave them out of their pockets. Not like Diana, who had her crusts in a real grown-up¹² bag!

 

Now then!

 

The sparrows flew round Diana Fitzpatrick Mauleverer James, and sat waiting for her.

 

“All right, darlings,” she said as she opened her bag.

 

Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Oh, dear!

 

She had forgotten to put the bread-crusts in!

1 loftily   

ad.proudly;haughtily

参考例句：

• When I asked for help, he just smiled loftily and turned away. 当我请求帮助时，他只是高傲地笑了一笑，便转身离开。
• KJV They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. [新译]他们讥笑人，怀着恶意说欺压人的话，他们说话自高。

2 privilege   

n.特权，优惠，特许；v.给予优惠，给予特权

参考例句：

• Of course,no country has the privilege of fishing in our coastal water.当然，在我国的领海内没有一个国家有捕鱼的特权。
• He never abuses his privilege.他从不滥用特权。

3 devote   

vt.将…奉献(给)，把...专用于，致力于

参考例句：

• I devote myself to helping the poor.我致力于帮助穷人。
• He is determined to devote his life to sicence.他决心把毕生精力贡献给科学事业。

4 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

5 rhymes   

n.韵；同韵的词；押韵诗；韵文；同韵词( rhyme的名词复数 )；押韵词；押韵的短诗vt.使押韵；作押韵诗；成韵v.（使）押韵，押…韵( rhyme的第三人称单数 )；（词或音节）押韵，和…同韵；（诗歌）押句尾韵

参考例句：

• Later, however, they delight in parodies of nursery rhymes. 可要不了多久，他们便乐于对它进行窜改。 来自英汉非文学 - 民俗
• She almost proposed to her hero in her rhymes. 她差不多已经在诗行中向她的英雄提出了求婚。 来自辞典例句

6 sparrow   

n.麻雀，雀型鸟类

参考例句：

• The boy has got a hen sparrow.那男孩抓到一只雌雀。
• A sparrow may be small but it has all the vital organs.麻雀虽小,五脏俱全。

7 pretended   

adj.假装的；徒有外表的；传说的；号称的v.假装( pretend的过去式和过去分词 )；伪装；（尤指儿童）（在游戏中）装扮；自诩

参考例句：

• He pretended that resigning was part of his long-term career strategy. 他假装辞职是他长远事业规划的一部分。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He politely pretended not to have heard this remark. 他有礼貌地假装没有听到这句话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 lagged   

v.走得极慢，落后( lag的过去式和过去分词 )；给（管道等）加防冻保暖层

参考例句：

• The little boy lagged behind his parents. 那小男孩落在了父母的后面。
• Take has lagged behind the increased outgo. 收入赶不上增加的支出。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 crusts   

n.面包皮( crust的名词复数 )；糕饼等的酥皮；（泥土、雪等）硬的外层；外皮

参考例句：

• sandwiches with the crusts cut off 切掉面包皮的三明治
• They must have appeared first as crusts and clinkers. 它们最初必然象面包的外皮和熔炉里的渣块。 来自辞典例句

10 sparrows   

n.麻雀( sparrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He flung a stone at the sparrows,he missed,scaring all the sparrows away. 他投石子打麻雀，没有击中，把麻雀都吓飞了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I used to snare small birds such as sparrows. 我曾常用罗网捕捉麻雀等小鸟。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

12 grown-up   

adj.成熟的，已经成人的；n.成人，大人

参考例句：

• She has a grown-up daughter who lives abroad.她有一个已经长大成人的女儿，在海外生活。
• The boy eats like a grown-up.那男孩的食量像个成人。