One sunny morning in June, early in the 1800s, Miss Amelia Sedley and Miss Rebecca Sharp left school. The carriage which took them away from Miss Pinkerton’s school for young ladies was filled with gifts and flowers for Amelia, for everyone loved her; but nobody cried when Rebecca left.
　　We are going to see a great deal of Amelia, so there is no harm in saying straight away that she was a dear little creature. She is not a heroine because her nose was rather short and her face was too round, though it shone with rosy health. She had a lovely smile and her eyes were bright with good humour, except when they were filled with tears, which happened a great deal too often because she had the kindest heart in the world. And when she left school she did not know whether to cry or not. She was glad to go home, but she was very sad to leave her friends at school.
　　Well, at last the goodbyes were over and the carriage drove away. In her hand Amelia held a letter from Miss Pinkerton, the school’s headmistress, which was full of praise for Amelia’s educational achievements and the sweetness of her nature.
　　Amelia’s companion, Miss Rebecca Sharp, had no letter from Miss Pinkerton, and was not at all sad to leave school. Indeed, she was delighted.
　　‘I hate the place,’ she said. ‘I never want to see it again! I wish it were at the bottom of the river, with Miss Pinkerton too.’
　　Amelia was shocked. ‘Oh, Rebecca!’ she cried. ‘How can you have such wicked thoughts?’
　　As you will guess, Rebecca was not a kind or forgiving person. She said that the world treated her very badly-though it was quite possible that she deserved the treatment she got.
　　Her father was an artist, who had given drawing lessons to the young ladies at Miss Pinkerton’s school. He was a clever man and a pleasant companion, but was always in debt and had too great a fondness for the bottle. When he was drunk, he used to beat his wife and daughter. He had married a French dancer, who had taught her daughter to speak perfect French. She had died young, leaving Rebecca to her father’s care.
　　十九世紀(jì)初，六月里一個(gè)陽(yáng)光明媚的清晨，阿梅莉亞? 塞德利小姐和麗貝卡?夏普小姐離校了。把她們從平克頓女子學(xué)校接走的馬車(chē)?yán)镅b滿(mǎn)了送給阿梅莉亞的禮物和花兒，因?yàn)槿巳硕紣?ài)她；但麗貝卡離開(kāi)時(shí)卻沒(méi)有一個(gè)人掉眼淚。
　　我們還會(huì)常常見(jiàn)到阿梅莉亞，所以不妨直說(shuō)，她是個(gè)討人喜愛(ài)的姑娘。她不是故事里的女主人公，因?yàn)樗�鼻子頗短，臉又太圓，盡管她的臉蛋透出健康紅潤(rùn)的光澤。她有著甜美的笑容，明亮的雙眸閃爍著快樂(lè)的光芒，除非眼里充滿(mǎn)了淚水。這種情況發(fā)生得太過(guò)頻繁，因?yàn)樗�有一顆世界上最善良的心。她離校時(shí)不知道自己該不該哭：可以回家了她很高興，但要告別學(xué)校里的朋友她又很傷心。
　　好啦，道別終于結(jié)束，馬車(chē)出發(fā)了。阿梅莉亞手里拿著學(xué)校校長(zhǎng)平克頓小姐寫(xiě)的信，信中滿(mǎn)是對(duì)阿梅莉亞學(xué)業(yè)成績(jī)和善良品格的褒揚(yáng)。
　　阿梅莉亞的同伴麗貝卡?夏普小姐沒(méi)有得到平克頓小姐的信，而且離開(kāi)學(xué)校她一點(diǎn)也不傷心。實(shí)際上，這正合她心意呢。
　　“我討厭這個(gè)地方�！彼�說(shuō)，“我再也不想看見(jiàn)它了！我希望它沉到河底，連平克頓小姐也一起沉下去�！�
　　阿梅莉亞嚇了一跳�！鞍�，麗貝卡！”她大叫，“你怎么會(huì)有這么惡毒的想法呢？”
　　你可以猜得出來(lái)，麗貝卡不是一個(gè)善良寬容的人。她說(shuō)世界對(duì)她太殘酷——盡管很有可能是，她活該受到那樣的待遇。
　　麗貝卡的父親是位畫(huà)家，在平克頓小姐的學(xué)校里教年輕小姐們繪畫(huà)課。他是個(gè)聰明人，也好相處，但總是債臺(tái)高筑，而且貪好杯中物。以前他喝醉時(shí)會(huì)毆打妻子和女兒。他的妻子是個(gè)法國(guó)舞女，教會(huì)女兒講一口流利的法語(yǔ)，只是年紀(jì)輕輕就去世了，留下麗貝卡給他照顧。

　　……