原文
"I suppose we'll get used to being grownup in time," said Anne
cheerfully. "There won't be so many unexpected things about it by and
by--though, after all, I fancy it's the unexpected things that give
spice to life. We're eighteen, Diana. In two more years we'll be twenty.
When I was ten I thought twenty was a green old age. In no time you'll
be a staid, middle-aged matron, and I shall be nice, old maid Aunt Anne,
coming to visit you on vacations. You'll always keep a corner for me,
won't you, Di darling? Not the spare room, of course--old maids can't
aspire to spare rooms, and I shall be as 'umble as Uriah Heep, and quite
content with a little over-the-porch or off-the-parlor cubby hole."
語彙など
- in time:いつかは
- by and by:徐々に,やがて
- fancy:〜のような気がする
- spice:趣
- green old age:老いてなお元気なこと
- staid:威風堂々とした
- matron:既婚女性
- old maid:オールドミス
- keep a corner:少しの場所を保つ
- spare room:客間
- aspire to:〜を希望する
- 'umble:=humble(?)
- Uriah Heep:偽善者(チャールズ･ディケンズの小説｢デイヴィット･コパフィールド｣(David Copperfield)の登場人物ユライア･ヒープ)
- content:満足している
- porch:玄関
- parlor:応接間
- cubbyhole:こじんまりした場所