原文
"Oh, no, they weren't," said Anne seriously. "That is just the trouble.
If they had been spiteful cats I wouldn't have minded them. But they are
all nice, kind, motherly souls, who like me and whom I like, and that is
why what they said, or hinted, had such undue weight with me. They let
me see they thought I was crazy going to Redmond and trying to take
a B.A., and ever since I've been wondering if I am. Mrs. Peter Sloane
sighed and said she hoped my strength would hold out till I got through;
and at once I saw myself a hopeless victim of nervous prostration at the
end of my third year; Mrs. Eben Wright said it must cost an awful lot
to put in four years at Redmond; and I felt all over me that it was
unpardonable of me to squander Marilla's money and my own on such a
folly. Mrs. Jasper Bell said she hoped I wouldn't let college spoil me,
as it did some people; and I felt in my bones that the end of my four
Redmond years would see me a most insufferable creature, thinking I knew
it all, and looking down on everything and everybody in Avonlea; Mrs.
Elisha Wright said she understood that Redmond girls, especially those
who belonged to Kingsport, were 'dreadful dressy and stuck-up,' and she
guessed I wouldn't feel much at home among them; and I saw myself, a
snubbed, dowdy, humiliated country girl, shuffling through Redmond's
classic halls in coppertoned boots."
語彙など
- spiteful:悪意のある
- undue:過度の
- have weight with:〜にとって重要である
- B.A.:Bachelor of Arts(文学士号)
- hold out:持ちこたえる
- get through:やり終える
- victim:犠牲者
- prostration:へばり,意気消沈
- unpardonable:不埒な
- squander:無駄遣いする
- folly:愚かさ
- insufferable:我慢できない
- look down on:見下す
- dressy:粋な,しゃれた
- stuck-up:生意気な
- feel at home:居心地が良い
- snub:〜を鼻であしらう
- dowdy:野暮な
- humiliate:恥をかかせる
- shuffle through:動き回る
- classic:伝統的な,有名な
- coppertone:赤みがかった銅色