📝 您未登录，登录后完成练习可保存成绩、查看最佳记录。
总字符
0
正确字符
0
错误字符
0
错误率
0.00%
耗时(秒)
0
速度 WPM
0
0 / 69
1"What do I want? A new place, in a new house, amongst new faces, under new circumstances: I want this because it is of
2no use wanting anything better. How do people do to get a new place? They apply to friends, I suppose: I have no
3friends. There are many others who have no friends, who must look about for themselves and be their own helpers; and
4what is their resource?" I could not tell: nothing answered me; I then ordered my brain to find a response, and quickly.
5It worked and worked faster: I felt the pulses throb in my head and temples; but for nearly an hour it worked in chaos;
6and no result came of its efforts. Feverish with vain labour, I got up and took a turn in the room; undrew the curtain,
7noted a star or two, shivered with cold, and again crept to bed. A kind fairy, in my absence, had surely dropped the
8required suggestion on my pillow; for as I lay down, it came quietly and naturally to my mind:--"Those who want
9situations advertise; you must advertise in the ----shire Herald." "How? I know nothing about advertising." Replies rose
10smooth and prompt now:-- "You must enclose the advertisement and the money to pay for it under a cover directed to the
11editor of the Herald; you must put it, the first opportunity you have, into the post at Lowton; answers must be
12addressed to J.E., at the post-office there; you can go and inquire in about a week after you send your letter, if any
13are come, and act accordingly." This scheme I went over twice, thrice; it was then digested in my mind; I had it in a
14clear practical form: I felt satisfied, and fell asleep. With earliest day, I was up: I had my advertisement written,
15enclosed, and directed before the bell rang to rouse the school; it ran thus:-- "A young lady accustomed to tuition"
16(had I not been a teacher two years?) "is desirous of meeting with a situation in a private family where the children
17are under fourteen" (I thought that as I was barely eighteen, it would not do to undertake the guidance of pupils nearer
18my own age). "She is qualified to teach the usual branches of a good English education, together with French, Drawing,
19and Music" (in those days, reader, this now narrow catalogue of accomplishments, would have been held tolerably
20comprehensive). "Address, J.E., Post-office, Lowton, ----shire." This document remained locked in my drawer all day:
21after tea, I asked leave of the new superintendent to go to Lowton, in order to perform some small commissions for
22myself and one or two of my fellow-teachers; permission was readily granted; I went. It was a walk of two miles, and the
23evening was wet, but the days were still long; I visited a shop or two, slipped the letter into the post-office, and
24came back through heavy rain, with streaming garments, but with a relieved heart. The succeeding week seemed long: it
25came to an end at last, however, like all sublunary things, and once more, towards the close of a pleasant autumn day, I
26found myself afoot on the road to Lowton. A picturesque track it was, by the way; lying along the side of the beck and
27through the sweetest curves of the dale: but that day I thought more of the letters, that might or might not be awaiting
28me at the little burgh whither I was bound, than of the charms of lea and water. My ostensible errand on this occasion
29was to get measured for a pair of shoes; so I discharged that business first, and when it was done, I stepped across the
30clean and quiet little street from the shoemaker's to the post-office: it was kept by an old dame, who wore horn
31spectacles on her nose, and black mittens on her hands. "Are there any letters for J.E.?" I asked. She peered at me over
32her spectacles, and then she opened a drawer and fumbled among its contents for a long time, so long that my hopes began
33to falter. At last, having held a document before her glasses for nearly five minutes, she presented it across the
34counter, accompanying the act by another inquisitive and mistrustful glance--it was for J.E. "Is there only one?" I
35demanded. "There are no more," said she; and I put it in my pocket and turned my face homeward: I could not open it
36then; rules obliged me to be back by eight, and it was already half-past seven. Various duties awaited me on my arrival:
37I had to sit with the girls during their hour of study; then it was my turn to read prayers; to see them to bed:
38afterwards I supped with the other teachers. Even when we finally retired for the night, the inevitable Miss Gryce was
39still my companion: we had only a short end of candle in our candlestick, and I dreaded lest she should talk till it was
40all burnt out; fortunately, however, the heavy supper she had eaten produced a soporific effect: she was already snoring
41before I had finished undressing. There still remained an inch of candle: I now took out my letter; the seal was an
42initial F.; I broke it; the contents were brief. "If J.E., who advertised in the ----shire Herald of last Thursday,
43possesses the acquirements mentioned, and if she is in a position to give satisfactory references as to character and
44competency, a situation can be offered her where there is but one pupil, a little girl, under ten years of age; and
45where the salary is thirty pounds per annum. J.E. is requested to send references, name, address, and all particulars to
46the direction:-- "Mrs. Fairfax, Thornfield, near Millcote, ----shire." I examined the document long: the writing was
47old-fashioned and rather uncertain, like that of an elderly lady. This circumstance was satisfactory: a private fear had
48haunted me, that in thus acting for myself, and by my own guidance, I ran the risk of getting into some scrape; and,
49above all things, I wished the result of my endeavours to be respectable, proper, en règle. I now felt that an elderly
50lady was no bad ingredient in the business I had on hand. Mrs. Fairfax! I saw her in a black gown and widow's cap;
51frigid, perhaps, but not uncivil: a model of elderly English respectability. Thornfield! that, doubtless, was the name
52of her house: a neat orderly spot, I was sure; though I failed in my efforts to conceive a correct plan of the premises.
53Millcote, ----shire; I brushed up my recollections of the map of England; yes, I saw it; both the shire and the town.
54----shire was seventy miles nearer London than the remote county where I now resided: that was a recommendation to me. I
55longed to go where there was life and movement: Millcote was a large manufacturing town on the banks of the A----: a
56busy place enough, doubtless: so much the better; it would be a complete change at least. Not that my fancy was much
57captivated by the idea of long chimneys and clouds of smoke--"but," I argued, "Thornfield will, probably, be a good way
58from the town." Here the socket of the candle dropped, and the wick went out. Next day new steps were to be taken; my
59plans could no longer be confined to my own breast; I must impart them in order to achieve their success. Having sought
60and obtained an audience of the superintendent during the noontide recreation, I told her I had a prospect of getting a
61new situation where the salary would be double what I now received (for at Lowood I only got £15 per annum); and
62requested she would break the matter for me to Mr. Brocklehurst, or some of the committee, and ascertain whether they
63would permit me to mention them as references. She obligingly consented to act as mediatrix in the matter. The next day
64she laid the affair before Mr. Brocklehurst, who said that Mrs. Reed must be written to, as she was my natural guardian.
65A note was accordingly addressed to that lady, who returned for answer, that "I might do as I pleased: she had long
66relinquished all interference in my affairs." This note went the round of the committee, and at last, after what
67appeared to me most tedious delay, formal leave was given me to better my condition if I could; and an assurance added,
68that as I had always conducted myself well, both as teacher and pupil, at Lowood, a testimonial of character and
69capacity, signed by the inspectors of that institution, should forthwith be furnished me.
🎉 全部完成！共 69 行