CHAPTER IV

 We have beer-soup and Aunt Anna to dinner. Now beer-soup is a nasty dish and Aunt Anna is not very nice either.

 

She has yellow teeth and a little hump and very severe eyes, which are not even both equally severe. She is nearly always scolding us and, when she sees a chance, she pinches us.

 

The worst of all, however, is that she is constantly setting us a good example, which can easily end by gradually and inevitably¹ driving us to embrace wickedness.

 

Aunt Anna does not like beer-soup any more than we do. But of course she eats it with a voluptuous² expression on her face and looks angrily at my little boy, who does not even make an attempt to behave nicely:

 

"Why doesn't the little boy eat his delicious beer-soup?" she asks.

 

A scornful silence.

 

"Such delicious beer-soup! I know a poor, wretched boy who would be awfully³ glad to have such delicious beer-soup."

 

My little boy looks with great interest at Auntie, who is swallowing her soup with eyes full of ecstatic bliss⁴:

 

"Where is he?" he asks.

 

Aunt Anna pretends not to hear.

 

"Where is the poor boy?" he asks again.

 

"Yes, where is he?" I ask. "What's his name?"

 

Aunt Anna gives me a furious glance.

 

"What's his name, Aunt Anna?" asks my little boy. "Where does he live? He can have my beer-soup with pleasure."

 

"Mine too," I say, resolutely⁵, and I push my plate from me.

 

My little boy never takes his great eyes off Aunt Anna's face. Meanwhile, she has recovered herself:

 

"There are many poor boys who would thank God if they could get such delicious beer-soup," she says. "Very many. Everywhere."

 

"Yes, but tell us of one, Auntie," I say.

 

My little boy has slipped down from his chair. He stands with his chin just above the table and both his hands round his plate, ready to march off with the beer-soup to the poor boy, if only he can get his address.

 

But Aunt Anna does not allow herself to be played with:

 

"Heaps of poor boys," she says again. "Hun-dreds! And therefore another little boy, whom I will not name, but who is in this room, ought to be ashamed that he is not thankful for his beer-soup."

 

My little boy stares at Aunt Anna like the bird fascinated by the snake.

 

"Such delicious beer-soup!" she says. "I must really ask for another little helping⁶."

 

Aunt Anna revels⁷ in her martyrdom. My little boy stands speechless, with open mouth and round eyes.

 

I push my chair back and say, with genuine exasperation⁸:

 

"Now, look here, Aunt Anna, this is really too bad! Here we are, with a whole lot of beer-soup, which we don't care about in the least and which we would be very glad to get rid of, if we only knew someone who would have it. You are the only one that knows of anybody. You know a poor boy who would dance for joy if he got some beer-soup. You know hundreds. But you won't tell us their names or where they live."

 

"Why, what do you mean?"

 

"And you yourself sit quite calmly eating two whole helpings⁹, though you know quite well that you're going to have an omelette to follow. That's really very naughty of you, Aunt Anna."

 

Aunt Anna chokes with annoyance¹⁰. My little boy locks his teeth with a snap and looks with every mark of disgust at that wicked old woman.

 

And I turn with calm earnestness to his mother and say:

 

"After this, it would be most improper¹¹ for us ever to have beer-soup here again. We don't care for it and there are hundreds of little boys who love it. If it must be made, then Aunt Anna must come every Saturday and fetch it. She knows where the boys live."

 

The omelette is eaten in silence, after which Aunt Anna shakes the dust from her shoes. She won't have any coffee today.

 

While she is standing¹² in the hall and putting on her endless wraps, a last doubt arises in my little boy's soul. He opens his green eyes wide before her face and whispers:

 

"Aunt Anna, where do the boys live?"

 

Aunt Anna pinches him and is shocked and goes off, having suffered a greater defeat than she can ever repair.

1 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

2 voluptuous   

adj.肉欲的，骄奢淫逸的

参考例句：

• The nobility led voluptuous lives.贵族阶层过着骄奢淫逸的生活。
• The dancer's movements were slow and voluptuous.舞女的动作缓慢而富挑逗性。

3 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

4 bliss   

n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福

参考例句：

• It's sheer bliss to be able to spend the day in bed.整天都可以躺在床上真是幸福。
• He's in bliss that he's won the Nobel Prize.他非常高兴，因为获得了诺贝尔奖金。

5 resolutely   

adj.坚决地，果断地

参考例句：

• He resolutely adhered to what he had said at the meeting. 他坚持他在会上所说的话。
• He grumbles at his lot instead of resolutely facing his difficulties. 他不是果敢地去面对困难，而是抱怨自己运气不佳。

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 revels   

n.作乐( revel的名词复数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉v.作乐( revel的第三人称单数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉

参考例句：

• Christmas revels with feasting and dancing were common in England. 圣诞节的狂欢歌舞在英国是很常见的。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Dickens openly revels in the book's rich physical detail and high-hearted conflict. 狄更斯对该书中丰富多彩的具体细节描写和勇敢的争斗公开表示欣赏。 来自辞典例句

8 exasperation   

n.愤慨

参考例句：

• He snorted with exasperation.他愤怒地哼了一声。
• She rolled her eyes in sheer exasperation.她气急败坏地转动着眼珠。

9 helpings   

n.（食物）的一份( helping的名词复数 )；帮助，支持

参考例句：

• You greedy pig! You've already had two helpings! 你这个馋嘴！你已经吃了两份了！
• He had two helpings of pudding. 他吃了两客布丁。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 annoyance   

n.恼怒，生气，烦恼

参考例句：

• Why do you always take your annoyance out on me?为什么你不高兴时总是对我出气？
• I felt annoyance at being teased.我恼恨别人取笑我。

11 improper   

adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的

参考例句：

• Short trousers are improper at a dance.舞会上穿短裤不成体统。
• Laughing and joking are improper at a funeral.葬礼时大笑和开玩笑是不合适的。

12 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。