原文
"I do NOT like patchwork," said Anne dolefully, hunting out her
workbasket and sitting down before a little heap of red and white
diamonds with a sigh. "I think some kinds of sewing would be nice; but
there's no scope for imagination in patchwork. It's just one little seam
after another and you never seem to be getting anywhere. But of course
I'd rather be Anne of Green Gables sewing patchwork than Anne of any
other place with nothing to do but play. I wish time went as quick
sewing patches as it does when I'm playing with Diana, though. Oh, we
do have such elegant times, Marilla. I have to furnish most of the
imagination, but I'm well able to do that. Diana is simply perfect in
every other way. You know that little piece of land across the brook
that runs up between our farm and Mr. Barry's. It belongs to Mr. William
Bell, and right in the corner there is a little ring of white birch
trees--the most romantic spot, Marilla. Diana and I have our playhouse
there. We call it Idlewild. Isn't that a poetical name? I assure you it
took me some time to think it out. I stayed awake nearly a whole night
before I invented it. Then, just as I was dropping off to sleep, it came
like an inspiration. Diana was ENRAPTURED when she heard it. We have got
our house fixed up elegantly. You must come and see it, Marilla--won't
you? We have great big stones, all covered with moss, for seats, and
boards from tree to tree for shelves. And we have all our dishes on
them. Of course, they're all broken but it's the easiest thing in the
world to imagine that they are whole. There's a piece of a plate with a
spray of red and yellow ivy on it that is especially beautiful. We keep
it in the parlor and we have the fairy glass there, too. The fairy glass
is as lovely as a dream. Diana found it out in the woods behind their
chicken house. It's all full of rainbows--just little young rainbows
that haven't grown big yet--and Diana's mother told her it was broken
off a hanging lamp they once had. But it's nice to imagine the fairies
lost it one night when they had a ball, so we call it the fairy glass.
Matthew is going to make us a table. Oh, we have named that little round
pool over in Mr. Barry's field Willowmere. I got that name out of the
book Diana lent me. That was a thrilling book, Marilla. The heroine
had five lovers. I'd be satisfied with one, wouldn't you? She was very
handsome and she went through great tribulations. She could faint as
easy as anything. I'd love to be able to faint, wouldn't you, Marilla?
It's so romantic. But I'm really very healthy for all I'm so thin. I
believe I'm getting fatter, though. Don't you think I am? I look at my
elbows every morning when I get up to see if any dimples are coming.
Diana is having a new dress made with elbow sleeves. She is going to
wear it to the picnic. Oh, I do hope it will be fine next Wednesday. I
don't feel that I could endure the disappointment if anything happened
to prevent me from getting to the picnic. I suppose I'd live through it,
but I'm certain it would be a lifelong sorrow. It wouldn't matter if
I got to a hundred picnics in after years; they wouldn't make up for
missing this one. They're going to have boats on the Lake of Shining
Waters--and ice cream, as I told you. I have never tasted ice cream.
Diana tried to explain what it was like, but I guess ice cream is one of
those things that are beyond imagination."
語彙など
- dolefully:悲しげに
- workbasket:かご製の裁縫箱,道具入れのかご
- heap:山
- sewing:裁縫
- seam:縫い目
- furnish:供給する,提供する
- birch tree:樺の木
- playhouse:おもちゃの家
- poetical:詩的な
- drop off:寝入る
- inspiration:霊感,ひらめき
- enraptured:うっとりして,有頂天になって
- moss:コケ
- spray:小枝
- fairy:妖精の
- chicken house:ニワトリ小屋,鶏小屋,鶏舎
- hang:掛かる,垂れ下がる
- lamp:ランプ
- ball:舞踏会
- heroine:ヒロイン,女主人公
- go through:経験する
- tribulation:苦難,苦悩
- for all:〜にもかかわらず
- dimple:くぼみ,えくぼ
- elbow sleeve:５分袖
- endure:耐える
- live through:〜を生き延びる
- make up for:埋め合わせる