[美文欣賞]
A little Girl
Sitting on a grassy grave, beneath one of the windows of the church, was a little girl.With her head bent back she was gazing up at the sky and singing, while one of her little hands was pointing to a tiny cloud that hovered like a golden feather above her head. The sun, which had suddenly become very bright, shining on her glossy hair, gave it a metallic luster, and it was difficult to say what was the color, dark bronze or black. So completely absorbed was she in watching the cloud to which her strange song or incantation seemed addressed, that she did not observe me when I rose and went towards her.Over her head, high up in the blue, a lark that was soaring towards' the same gauzy cloud was singing, as if in rivalry. As I slowly approached the child, I could see by her forehead, which, in the sunshine seemed like a globe of pearl, and especially by her complexion, that she was uncommonly lovely. Her eyes, which at one moment seemed blue-gray, at another violet, were shaded by long black lashes, curving backward in a most peculiar way, and these matched in hue her eyebrows, and the tresses that were tossed about her tender throat and were quivering in the sunlight. All this I did not take in at once; for at first I could see nothing but those quivering, glittering, changeful eyes turned up into my face. Gradually the other features, especially the sensitive full-lipped mouth, grew upon me as I stood silently gazing. Here seemed to me a more perfect beauty than had ever come to me in my loveliest dreams of beauty. Yet it was not her beauty so much as the look she gave me that fascinated me, melted me.
[參考譯文]
在教堂的一扇窗下長滿綠草的墳堆上，坐著個小女孩。她仰著頭，望著天空，唱著歌兒。她的小手指點著一朵飄浮在她頭頂的金色羽毛般的小彩云。突然間，陽光顯得格外燦爛，照在她光澤的頭發上，給它涂上一層金屬似的光彩，很難說出它突竟是什么顏色，是深褐色，還是黑色。她是那么全神貫注地望著彩云，她那奇妙的歌聲，或可說是喃喃自語，似乎是對著那彩云而發的。因而她沒有注意到我站起身來朝她走去。在她上空高高的藍天里，一只展翅飛向那朵輕盈透明的彩云的云雀也在歌唱，似乎在與她比賽。我慢步向小女孩走去，她那在陽光下如同珍珠一樣圓潤的前額，特別是她那膚色，使我感到她真是異?？蓯?。媳耶黑黑的長睫毛非常別致地朝后彎曲著，掩映著一雙一會兒象是藍灰色的，一會兒又象是紫羅蘭色的眼睛。她的長睫毛同她的眉毛和頭發色澤調和，披拂在她嬌嫩的脖子上的發綹，在陽光里輕輕飄動。我并沒有馬上領略到這一切，因為我一開始只注意了那雙閃閃發光、富于表情、盯著我看的眼睛。我佇立在一邊默默地注視著她，才漸漸地看清了她容貌的其他部分，特別是那張靈敏而又豐滿的小嘴。呈現在我眼苧的這一美的形象似乎比我在最美好的夢境中所見過的更美。然而，與其說是她的美麗，不如說是她朝我看的那種眼神，更使我著迷，更使我陶醉.
