原文
Gilbert stretched himself out on the ferns beside the Bubble and looked
approvingly at Anne. If Gilbert had been asked to describe his ideal
woman the description would have answered point for point to Anne, even
to those seven tiny freckles whose obnoxious presence still continued to
vex her soul. Gilbert was as yet little more than a boy; but a boy has
his dreams as have others, and in Gilbert's future there was always a
girl with big, limpid gray eyes, and a face as fine and delicate as a
flower. He had made up his mind, also, that his future must be worthy of
its goddess. Even in quiet Avonlea there were temptations to be met
and faced. White Sands youth were a rather "fast" set, and Gilbert was
popular wherever he went. But he meant to keep himself worthy of Anne's
friendship and perhaps some distant day her love; and he watched over
word and thought and deed as jealously as if her clear eyes were to
pass in judgment on it. She held over him the unconscious influence that
every girl, whose ideals are high and pure, wields over her friends; an
influence which would endure as long as she was faithful to those ideals
and which she would as certainly lose if she were ever false to them. In
Gilbert's eyes Anne's greatest charm was the fact that she never stooped
to the petty practices of so many of the Avonlea girls--the small
jealousies, the little deceits and rivalries, the palpable bids for
favor. Anne held herself apart from all this, not consciously or of
design, but simply because anything of the sort was utterly foreign
to her transparent, impulsive nature, crystal clear in its motives and
aspirations.
語彙など
- fern:シダ
- approvingly:満足げに
- description:描写
- point for point:逐一
- freckle:そばかす
- obnoxious:気に障る
- vex:悩ませる
- limpid:落ち着いた
- make up one's mind:心に決める
- goddess:女神
- temptation:誘惑
- watch over:〜を見守る
- deed:行為
- jealously:油断なく
- pass on:伝える
- unconscious:知らず知らずの,無意識の
- wield:振るう,行使する
- endure:持ちこたえる
- as long as:〜する限り
- faithful:忠実な
- false:不誠実な
- stoop to:〜するというみっともないことをする
- petty:卑劣な,つまらない
- practic:行為
- jealousy:ねたみ
- deceit:偽り
- rivalry:競争意識
- palpable:明らかな
- bid:得ようと努力する
- favor:好意,恩恵
- apart from:〜から離れて
- consciously:意識して
- design:意図
- utterly:まったく
- foreign to:〜には無関係で
- transparent:分かりやすい
- impulsive nature:直情的な性格
- crystal-clear:非常に明瞭な
- motive:動機
- aspiration:強い願望,向上心