都德的《最后一課》相信大家都在課本上讀過，故事借亞爾薩斯省一個小孩小弗朗士的自述，具體地描寫一所小學所上的最后一堂法文課。作家回避了普法戰爭的正面戰場，而把筆墨轉向一幅極為平常的生活畫面：小學生遲到，老師講課、提問，習字，拼音練習，下課……描寫極為冷靜、客觀、樸素，卻極具感染力。我們就用這部名篇的英文譯本來體會一下：

I WAS very late for school that morning, and I was terribly afraid of being scolded[責罵], especially as Monsieur[法語:先生] Hamel had told us that he should examine us on participles[分詞], and I did not know the first thing about them. For a moment I thought of staying away from school and wandering about the fields. It was such a warm, lovely day. I could hear the blackbirds whistling on the edge of the wood, and in the Rippert field, behind the sawmill[鋸木廠], the Prussians going through their drill. All that was much more tempting to me than the rules concerning participles; but I had the strength to resist, and I ran as fast as I could to school.

那天早晨，我去上學，去得非常晚，我好害怕被責罵，特別是，阿麥爾先生跟我們說過，他要考一考分詞規則，而我連頭一個字都不會。這時，在我的頭腦里冒出了逃學、去田野跑一跑的念頭。天氣是那么暖和，那么晴朗!我聽見烏鴉在小樹林邊鳴叫，普魯士人正在鋸木廠后面的里貝爾草地上操練。所有這一切都比分詞規則更吸引我，但我還是頂住了誘惑，加快腳步向學校方向跑去。

As I passed the mayor’s office, I saw that there were people gathered about the little board on which notices were posted. For two years all our bad news had come from that board—battles lost, conscriptions[征兵], orders from headquarters; and I thought without stopping:

“What can it be now?”

從村政府門前經過的時候，我看見許多人站在小布告欄前。這兩年來，所有的壞消息，諸如吃敗仗啦，征兵征物啦，還有普魯士占領軍司令部發布的命令啦，都是從那里來的。我邊跑邊想：“又有什么事嗎?”

Then, as I ran across the square, Wachter the blacksmith, who stood there with his apprentice[學徒], reading the placard[布告], called out to me:

“Don’t hurry so, my boy; you’ll get to your school soon enough!”

I thought that he was making fun of me, and I ran into Monsieur Hamel’s little yard all out of breath.

當我跑著穿過廣場的時候，正在布告欄前和徒弟一起看布告的瓦克特爾鐵匠朝我高喊：“小家伙，不用趕得那么急;你去得再晚也不會遲到的!”我以為他在跟我開玩笑，便上氣不接下氣地跑進阿麥爾先生的小教室。

Usually, at the beginning of school, there was a great uproar[喧囂] which could be heard in the street, desks opening and closing, lessons repeated aloud in unison[一致], with our ears stuffed in order to learn quicker, and the teacher’s stout ruler beating on the desk:

“A little more quiet!”

往常，開始上課的時候，總是一片亂哄哄的嘈雜聲，斜面課桌的開關聲，同學們一起捂住耳朵高聲背誦課文的聲音，街上都聽得見。先生的大戒尺敲打著課桌：“安靜一點!”

I counted on all this noise to reach my bench unnoticed; but as it happened, that day everything was quiet, like a Sunday morning. Through the open window I saw my comrades already in their places, and Monsieur Hamel walking back and forth[向前] with the terrible iron ruler under his arm. I had no open the door and enter, in the midst of that perfect silence. You can imagine whether I blushed[羞愧] and whether I was afraid!

我打算趁這片嘈雜聲，偷偷地溜到我的座位上去。可是，這一天不同于往常，一切都很安靜，就像是星期天的早晨。透過敞開的窗戶，我看見同學們已經整整齊齊地坐在他們的座上，阿麥爾先生腋下夾著那把可怕的鐵戒尺，來回地踱著步子。必須推開教室門，在這一片靜謐中走進教室。你們想一想，當時我是多么尷尬，多么害怕!

But no! Monsieur Hamel looked at me with no sign of anger and said very gently:

“Go at once to your seat, my little Frantz; we were going to begin without you.”

可是，沒有。阿麥爾先生看著我，沒有生氣，而是非常溫和地對我說：“快點回到座位上，我的小弗朗茨;我們就要開始上課了。”

I stepped over the bench and sat down at once at my desk. Not until then, when I had partly recovered from my fright, did I notice that our teacher had on his handsome blue coat, his plaited ruff, and the black silk embroidered breeches, which he wore only on days of inspection or of distribution of prizes. Moreover, there was something extraordinary, something solemn about the whole class. But what surprised me most was to see at the back of the room, on the benches which were usually empty, some people from the village sitting, as silent as we were: old Hauser with his three-cornered hat, the ex-mayor, the ex-postman, and others besides. They all seemed depressed; and Hauser had brought an old spelling-book with gnawed edges, which he held wide-open on his knee, with his great spectacles askew.

我跨過凳子，馬上坐到座位上。我從驚慌中稍稍定下神來，這才注意到，我們的老師穿著他那件漂亮的綠色常禮服，領口系著折迭得很精致的領結，頭上戴著那頂刺繡的黑綢小圓帽，這套裝束，只有在上頭派人來學校視察或學校發獎時他才穿戴的。此外，整個教室也有一種不同尋常的莊嚴的氣氛。但是，最使我吃驚的是，看到教室面，那些平?？罩牡首由?，坐著一些跟我們一樣默不作聲的村里的人，有頭戴三角帽的奧澤爾老人，有前任鎮長，有以前的郵遞員，另外還有其他人。所有這些人都顯得很憂傷;奧澤爾老人還帶了一本邊角都已破損的舊識字課本，攤放在膝頭上，課本上橫放著他那副大眼鏡。

While I was wondering at all this, Monsieur Hamel had mounted his platform, and in the same gentle and serious voice with which he had welcomed me, he said to us:

“My children, this is the last time that I shall teach you. Orders have come from Berlin to teach nothing but German in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. The new teacher arrives to-morrow. This is the last class in French, so I beg you to be very attentive.”

正當我對這一切感到驚詫莫名時，阿麥爾先生在椅子上坐下，用剛才對我說話的那種既溫和又莊重的聲音，對我們說道：“孩子們，我這是最后一次給你們上課了。柏林來了命令，阿爾薩斯和洛林兩省的學校只準教德語……新的老師明天就到。今天是你們最后一堂法語課，所以我請你們一定專心聽講。”

Those few words overwhelmed me. Ah! the villains! that was what they had posted at the mayor’s office.

這幾句話使我驚呆了。啊!這些壞蛋，他們貼在村政府布告欄上的就是這個消息。

My last class in French!

And I barely knew how to write! So I should never learn! I must stop short where I was! How angry I was with myself because of the time I had wasted, the lessons I had missed, running about after nests, or sliding on the Saar! My books, which only a moment before I thought so tiresome, so heavy to carry—my grammar, my sacred history—seemed to me now like old friends, from whom I should be terribly grieved to part. And it was the same about Monsieur Hamel. The thought that he was going away, that I should never see him again, made me forget the punishments, the blows with the ruler.

我的最后一堂法語課!……我只是剛剛學會寫字!今后永遠也學不到法語!法語就到此為止了!我現在是多么悔恨自己蹉跎光陰啊!悔恨自己從前逃課去掏鳥窩，去薩爾河溜冰!我的那些書，我的語法課本，我的神圣的歷史書，剛才背在身上還覺得那么討厭，那么沉重，現在卻像老朋友一樣，讓我難舍難分。還有阿麥爾先生。一想到他就要走了，再也見不到了，我就忘記了以前的處懲和挨打。

Poor man! It was in honour of that last lesson that he had put on his fine Sunday clothes; and I understood now why those old fellows from the village were sitting at the end of the room. It seemed to mean that they regretted not having come oftener to the school. It was also a way of thanking our teacher for his forty years of faithful service, and of paying their respects to the fatherland which was vanishing.