It is a good thing my aunt Harriet died years ago. If she were alive today she would not be able to air her views on her favourite topic of conversation: domestic servants. Aunt Harriet lived in that leisurely age when servants were employed to do housework. She had a huge, rambling country house called 'The Gables'. She was sentimentally attached to this house, for even though it was far too big for her needs, she persisted in living there long after her husband's death. Before she grew old, Aunt Harriet used to entertain lavishly. I often visited The Gables when I was boy. No matter how many guests were present, the great house was always immaculate. The parquet floors shone like mirrors; highly polished silver was displayed in gleaming glass cabinets; even my uncle's huge collection of books was kept miraculously free from dust. Aunt Harriet presided over an invisible army of servants that continuously scrubbed, cleaned, and polished. She always referred to them as 'the shifting population', for they came and went with such frequency that I never even got a chance to learn their names. Though my aunt pursued what was, in those days, an enlightened policy, in that she never allowed her domestic staff to work more than eight hours a day, she was extremely difficult to please. While she always criticized the fickleness of human nature, she carried on an unrelenting search for the ideal servant to the end of her days, even after she had been sadly disillusioned by Bessie.

Bessie worked for Aunt Harriet for three years. During that time she so gained my aunt's confidence that she was put in charge of the domestic staff. Aunt Harriet could not find words to praise Bessie's industriousness and efficiency. In addition to all her other qualifications, Bessie was an expert cook. She acted the role of the perfect servant for three years before Aunt Harriet discovered her 'little weakness'. After being absent from the Gables for a week, my aunt unexpectedly returned one afternoon with a party of guests and instructed Bessie to prepare dinner. No only was the meal well below the usual standard, but Bessie seemed unable to walk steadily. She bumped into the furniture and kept mumbling about the guests. When she came in with the last course -- a huge pudding -- she tripped on the carpet and the pudding went flying through the air, narrowly missed my aunt, and crashed on the dining table with considerable force. Though this caused great mirth among the guests, Aunt Harriet was horrified. She reluctantly came to the conclusion that Bessie was drunk. The guests had, of course, realized this from the moment Bessie opened the door for them and, long before the final catastrophe, had had a difficult time trying to conceal their amusement. The poor girl was dismissed instantly. After her departure, Aunt Harriet discovered that there were piles of empty wine bottles of all shapes and sizes neatly stacked in what had once been Bessie's wardrobe. They had mysteriously found their way there from the wine cellar!

New words and expressions 生詞和短語

rambling

adj. 雜亂無章的

sentimentally

adv. 感情上，多情地

immaculate

adj. 清潔的，無污點的

lavishly

adv. 慷慨地，大方地

parquet

n. 鑲木地板

gleam

v. 發(fā)亮，閃光

preside

v. 指揮

invisible

adj. 看不見的，無形的

scrub

v. 擦拭，刷洗

enlightened

adj. 開明的

fickleness

n. 變化無常

unrelenting

adj. 不屈不撓的，不松懈的確良

disillusion

v. 使幻想破滅的

qualification

n. 資格，能力

mirth

n. 歡笑，高興

stack

v. 整齊地堆放

cellar

n. 地窖

參考譯文

我的姑媽哈麗特好多年前就去世了，這倒是件好事。如果她活到今天，她將不能就她熱衷的話題“傭人”發(fā)表意見了。哈麗特生活在一個悠閑的年代，家務事都由雇來的傭人代勞。她在鄉(xiāng)下有一幢巨大雜亂的房子，叫作“山墻莊園”。她對這幢房子在感情上難舍難分。房子實在太大了，但在丈夫去世多年后，她仍然執(zhí)意長年住在那兒。哈麗特姑媽年輕時，喜歡大擺宴席，招待賓客。我小時候常去“山墻莊園”作客。不管去多少賓客，大房子里總是收拾得干干凈凈。鑲木地板潔如明鏡，擦得發(fā)亮的銀器陳列在明亮的玻璃柜里，連姑夫的大量藏書也保存得很好，奇跡般地一塵不染。哈麗特姑媽統(tǒng)率著一支看不見的傭人大軍，他們不停地擦拭、清掃、刷洗。她稱這些傭人叫“流動人口”，因為他們來匆匆，所以我甚至都沒有機會知道他們的姓名。姑媽待傭人在當時算是開明的，從來不讓傭人每天工作超過8小時，但他們很難使她稱心如意。她一方面總是批評人的本性朝三暮四，另一方面她又持之以恒地尋找一個理想的傭人。即使在貝西大大地傷她的心之后，她還在找，一直到她死去。

貝西在哈麗特家干了3年。在此期間，她贏得了姑母的賞識，甚至當上了大管家。哈麗特不知該用什么言辭來贊揚貝西的勤奮與高效。貝西除了有各種本領以外，還是一個烹飪大師。她擔任“理想仆人”角色3年之后，哈麗特終于發(fā)現她有“小小的弱點”。一次，姑媽有一個星期沒在“山墻莊園”住。一天下午，她出其不意地回來了，帶來一大批客人，吩咐貝西準備晚飯。結果，不僅飯菜遠不如平時做得好，而且貝西走起路來似乎東倒西歪。她撞到了家具上，嘴里還不斷咕咕噥噥議論客人。當她端著最后一道菜——一大盤布丁——走進屋來時，在地毯上絆了一跤。布丁飛到半空，從姑母身邊擦過，然后狠狠地砸在餐桌上。這件事引起了客人們的歡笑，但哈麗特卻著實嚇了一跳。她不得不認定貝西是喝醉了�？腿藗冏匀粡呢愇鳛樗麄冮_門那一刻起就看出來了，在好長一段時間里，即最后這個亂子發(fā)生前，他們努力克制才沒笑出聲來。貝西當即被解雇了。貝西走后，哈麗特姑媽發(fā)現在貝西以前用過的衣柜里整整齊齊地放著一堆堆形狀各導、大小不一的酒瓶子。這些酒瓶神不知鬼不覺地從酒窖來到了這里。

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