When I was about five years old we moved from the little vine-covered house to a large new one. The family consisted of my father and mother, two older half-brothers, and, afterward, a little sister, Mildred. My earliest distinct recollection of my father is making my way through great drifts of newspapers to his side and finding him alone, holding a sheet of paper before his face. I was greatly puzzled to know what he was doing. I imitated this action, even wearing his spectacles, thinking they might help solve the mystery. But I did not find out the secret for several years. Then I learned what those papers were, and that my father edited one of them.
我五岁左右的时候，我们从那座爬满藤蔓的屋子搬到了一所新建的大房子里。我们一家除我父母亲外，还有两个同父异母的哥哥，后来又有了妹妹米尔德丽德。我对父亲最早的清晰记忆是：我穿过一大沓一大沓报纸来到他身边时，发现他独自一人，两手举着一张大报纸，整个脸埋在报纸后面。我苦思冥想也不明白父亲在做什么。我学着他的样子拿起报纸，甚至戴上了他的眼镜，以为这样就能揭开谜底。很多年之后我方才明白，那些纸叫作报纸，而父亲就是编辑报纸的人。
My father was most loving and indulgent, devoted to his home, seldom leaving us, except in the hunting season. He was a great hunter, I have been told, and a celebrated shot. Next to his family he loved his dogs and gun. His hospitality was great, almost to a fault, and he seldom came home without bringing a guest. His special pride was the big garden where, it was said, he raised the finest watermelons and strawberries in the county; and to me he brought the first ripe grapes and the choicest berries. I remember his caressing touch as he led me from tree to tree, from vine to vine, and his eager delight in whatever pleased me.
我父亲极其宽容善良，而且深深地爱着家，除了狩猎时节他几乎都陪着我们。听说父亲是个了不起的猎人，而且是个神枪手，猎狗与猎枪便是家人之外他的最爱。他热情好客，有时甚至有些过度，几乎每次回家都会带来客人。父亲最引以为豪的便是家中的大花园。据说他培育的西瓜和草莓全镇找不到第二样，父亲常常将最先成熟的葡萄与精心挑选的莓果作为礼物送给我。我记得父亲常常带我在果园散步，充满慈爱地抚摸我，看见我开心，他也跟着乐。
For a long time I regarded my little sister as an intruder. I knew that I had ceased to be my mother’s only darling, and the thought filled me with jealousy. She sat in my mother’s lap constantly, where I used to sit, and seemed to take up all her care and time. One day something happened which seemed to me to be adding insult to injury.
有很长一段时日，我认为妹妹的到来侵犯了我的权利。我心里明白，自己不再是母亲唯一的宝贝了，这种想法使我充满了嫉妒。妹妹常常坐在母亲膝头，那本该是我的位置。母亲对妹妹似乎倾注了所有的时间与心思。有一天，发生了一件事，使我觉得自己不仅受到了伤害，而且受到了侮辱。
He was a famous story-teller; after I had acquired language he used to spell clumsily into my hand his cleverest anecdotes, and nothing pleased him more than to have me repeat them at an opportune moment.
父亲还是个讲故事的好手，我一学会写字，他便常常在我掌心里费力地拼写出一些新鲜的趣事。父亲还让我在适当时机把这些故事复述出来，再也没有什么比这更让他开心的了。
At that time I had a much-petted, much-abused doll, which I afterward named Nancy. She was, alas, the helpless victim of my outbursts of temper and of affection, so that she became much the worse for wear. I had dolls which talked, and cried, and opened and shut their eyes; yet I never loved one of them as I loved poor Nancy. She had a cradle, and I often spent an hour or more rocking her. I guarded both doll and cradle with the most jealous care; but once I discovered my little sister sleeping peacefully in the cradle. At this presumption on the part of one to whom as yet no tie of love bound me I grew angry. I rushed upon the cradle and over-turned it, and the baby might have been killed had my mother not caught her as she fell. Thus it is that when we walk in the valley of twofold solitude we know little of the tender affections that grow out of endearing words and actions and companionship. But afterward, when I was restored to my human heritage, Mildred and I grew into each other’s hearts, so that we were content to go hand-in-hand wherever caprice led us, although she could not understand my finger language, nor I her childish prattle.
那时候，我有个名叫南希的洋娃娃，虽说对她宠爱有加，却也常常虐待她。我生气发火时，她便成了无助的牺牲品，结果变得破烂不堪。我有许多洋娃娃，有的会说话，有的会哭，有的会眨眼睛，可我还是最喜欢可怜的南希。她有一个摇篮，我常常把她放在摇篮里轻轻摇晃，有时一玩就是一个多钟头。我带着最专横的关爱，守护着这个摇篮和洋娃娃南希。可是有一天，我发现小妹妹竟然正安安静静地在摇篮里做着好梦。对于一个我不喜爱的人的这种霸道行径，我勃然大怒，冲过去推翻了摇篮。要不是母亲一把接住，妹妹可能就被摔死了。我们行进在双重孤独的谷底时，对充满爱意的话语、惹人爱怜的行动和同伴关系带来的温情知之甚少。后来，我懂事之后，才和米尔德丽德成为贴心的姐妹，虽然她看不懂我的手语，我也听不见她稚嫩的咿呀童声，但我们依然常常牵着手四处玩耍。
I was in the North, enjoying the last beautiful days of the summer of 1896, when I heard the news of my father’s death. He had had a short illness, there had been a brief time of acute suffering, then all was over. This was my first great sorrow — my first personal experience with death.
1896年夏天，我在北方。在享受夏日最后的美好时光时，突然传来了父亲逝世的噩耗。他卧病不久，一阵急病过后，人就不行了。这是我生命中经历的第一次巨大悲痛，也是我与死亡的第一次亲密接触。
How shall I write of my mother? She is so near to me that it almost seems indelicate to speak of her.
我该怎样描绘母亲呢？她和我太亲近了，要细说反而不知从何说起。
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