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Chapter 8
第8章
One day in summer a lady on horseback rode up to the house and knocked on the door. She had dark hair，and was very beautiful. The family were all very pleased to see her. I soon learnt that her name was Sophie.
夏季的一天，一位女士骑马跑到了那所房子并敲了敲门。她有一头黑发，人很漂亮。那家人见到她都很高兴。我不久了解到她的名字叫苏菲。
She could not speak the family's language， and each evening Felix taught her some words. This was a very great help to me， because I was able to learn the meaning of many words that I had not been able to understand before. Felix taught Sophie from books about what had happened in the world in the past.So I learnt about the Greeks and Romans，and about Christ， and about the first white men in America and the sad story of the Indians. I could not understand why men who knew all about good and evil could hate and kill each other.
她不会说那个家庭的语言，菲力克斯每个晚上都要教她几个单词。这对我大有帮助，因为我可以知道以前我不懂的许多单词的意思。菲力克斯照着课本教给苏菲这个世界上过去发生的事情。于是我了解到了希腊人和罗马人，还有基督，还有关于美洲的第一批白人及印第安人的悲惨故事。我不能明白那些明白善恶的人们为什么要互相仇恨和残杀。
I learnt other things too. I learnt that people think it is very important to have money and to come from a good family.I learnt of the love between mother and father and child. And I realized that I had no family. The more I learnt， the more I thought，and the more unhappy I became.
我也了解到了别的事情。我了解到人们认为有钱和好的家庭出身是非常重要的。我了解到了父母及孩子之间的爱。我并且意识到我是没有家庭的。我了解得越多便想得越多，从而也越伤心。
Soon I discovered who Sophie was. The two families had met in France after Sophie and her father arrived there from Turkey， their own country. Sophie's father was put in prison by the French， but Felix and his father helped him to escape and leave France. When the French discovered this，Felix and his family lost all their lands and money， and had to leave France for ever. Now I knew why they were so sad， and why they were poor.
不久我便知道了苏菲是什么人。在苏菲和她父亲当初从她们的祖国土耳其到达法国后，他们两家便相识了。苏菲的父亲被法国人投进了监狱，但菲力克斯和他父亲帮他逃离了法国。法国人发现了这件事情之后，菲力克斯和他家便失去了所有的土地和钱财，还得永久地离开法国。现在我明白了他们为什么那样悲伤以及他们为什么贫穷。
But that was not all. Sophie and Felix loved each other， and Sophie's father had promised that they could marry.Then，when he learnt that Felix had lost all his money， he broke his promise. But Sophie loved Felix very much，so she took some money and escaped from her father to search for Felix.
但是这还不是全部真相。苏菲和菲力克斯彼此相爱，苏菲的父亲也曾答应他们可以结婚的。后来，在他了解到菲力克斯已失去了所有的钱财后便背弃了自己的诺言。然而苏菲非常爱菲力克斯，于是她便拿了些钱从父亲那儿逃开来找菲力克斯。
I had learnt to love these good people and I could not wait another day to introduce myself. I decided to speak first to the father， because he was blind， and would not be frightened by my terrible face and body.
我已经学会去爱这些好人并再也忍不住要去介绍我自己了。我决定先和那个父亲谈谈，因为他是瞎子，不会被我那恐怖的面容和身体吓倒。
