原文
"No; but she wasn't always so good as she is now either," said Anne
seriously. "She told me so herself--that is, she said she was a dreadful
mischief when she was a girl and was always getting into scrapes. I felt
so encouraged when I heard that. Is it very wicked of me, Marilla,
to feel encouraged when I hear that other people have been bad and
mischievous? Mrs. Lynde says it is. Mrs. Lynde says she always feels
shocked when she hears of anyone ever having been naughty, no matter how
small they were. Mrs. Lynde says she once heard a minister confess that
when he was a boy he stole a strawberry tart out of his aunt's pantry
and she never had any respect for that minister again. Now, I wouldn't
have felt that way. I'd have thought that it was real noble of him to
confess it, and I'd have thought what an encouraging thing it would be
for small boys nowadays who do naughty things and are sorry for them
to know that perhaps they may grow up to be ministers in spite of it.
That's how I'd feel, Marilla."
語彙など
- seriously:まじめに
- that is:すなわち,少なくとも
- dreadful:ひどい
- mischief:わんぱく
- get into a scrape:窮地に陥る
- wicked:性格の悪い
- mischievous:いたずらな
- naughty:いたずらな
- no matter how:どんなに〜だといっても
- confess:告白する
- strawberry:イチゴ
- tart:タルト,中身が見えるパイ
- pantry:食料品室
- respect:尊敬
- noble:気高い
- in spite of:〜にもかかわらず