马克吐温给小女孩的建议：如何做“乖女孩”

给小女孩的建议

(By Mark Twain )

(马克吐温)

Good little girls ought not to make mouths at their teachers for every trifling offense. This retaliation should only be resorted to under peculiarly aggravated circumstances.

乖巧的小女孩可不能每次受到小小的批评就跟老师顶嘴。这种反击只应在事态非常严重的情况下才可付诸行动。

If you have nothing but a rag-doll stuffed with sawdust, while one of your more fortunate little playmates has a costly china one, you should treat her with a show of kindness nevertheless. And you ought not to attempt to make a forcible swap with her unless your conscience would justify you in it, and you know you are able to do it.

当你的某位小伙伴有幸得到了一个昂贵的瓷娃娃，而你却只有那个塞满锯屑的破布娃娃时，你还是要非常友好地待她哦。除非你良心上过得去，而且有把握一定能得到，否则可千万别想着强迫她和你交换。

You ought never to take your little brother's "chewing-gum" away from him by main force; it is better to rope him in with the promise of the first two dollars and a half you find floating down the river on a grindstone. In the artless simplicity natural to this time of life, he will regard it as a perfectly fair plausible fiction has lured the obtuse infant to financial ruin and disaster.

想要你弟弟的“泡泡糖”？永远不要强取豪夺，试试给他下个套儿吧。就答应他说你以后再在河里磨石上捡到漂来的钱，最先捡到的2.5美元一定给他。像他这么点大的小毛孩，正是天真无邪的时候， 定会以为这是笔相当公平的交易。古往今来，这种花言巧语的骗局诱使多少无知孩童丢了东西、破了财呀！

If at any time you find it necessary to correct your brother, do not correct him with mud - never, on any account, throw mud at him, because it will spoil his clothes. It is better to scald him a little, for then you obtain desirable results. You secure his immediate attention to the lessons you are inculcating , and at the same time your hot water will have a tendency to remove impurities from his person, and possibly the skin, in spots.

不论何时你觉得有必要惩罚一下哥哥，也千万不要用泥巴——任何情况下都绝不要往他身上扔泥巴，那样会把他的衣服弄脏嘛。最好呢就是稍微烫他一下，这样你的目的也就达到了。你不仅可以使他的注意力立刻转移到你的“谆谆教导”上，而且热水搞不好还能清除他身上的污垢，