I knew about wild plums twice before I tasted any.

在亲口尝过之前，我就听说过两次野生李子了。

The first time was when the Sunday school girls were going plumming. Father hunched his shoulders and said wild plums were small and inferior， and told us of fruits he had eaten in Italy.

第一次是在主日学校女生们要去采摘李子的时候。父亲耸了耸肩说，野生李子又小又糟，他还给我们讲了他在意大利吃过的水果。

Mother and father were surprised that Mrs. Guare and the school teacher would go with Mrs. Slump to gather plums. I knew it was not nice to go plumming， but I didn’t know why. I wanted to go once， so that I would understand.

父母亲都对瓜尔太太和学校老师会跟斯伦普太太一起去采摘李子感到惊讶。我知道去采李子不好，但我不知道为什么。我想去一次，这样我就会明白的。

The second time I knew about plums was at Mrs. Slump’s house when she was making plum butter.

我第二次知道李子的事是在斯伦普太太家里，那时她正在做李子酱。

Mrs. Slump was standing in the door with her back toward us when we drove up. Mr. Slump came out， and father talked to him. He was tall and lean. Mrs. Slump came and stood by the buggy， too. Mother and father sat on the front seat of the buggy， and Teressa and I on the back seat. Teressa was older than I， and had longer legs. When she stretched her feet straight out she could touch the front seat with her toes， and I couldn’t. She bumped the seat behind mother， and mother turned around and told her to stop. My feet didn’t touch father’s seat， so I wasn’t doing anything and didn’t have to stop it.

我们驾车过来时，斯伦普太太正背对我们站在门口。斯伦普先生走出来，爸爸同他说话。他又高又瘦。斯伦普太太也过来站在马车旁边。父母亲坐在马车前座，我和特蕾莎坐在后座。特蕾莎比我年龄大，腿也比我长。她把双腿伸直时，可以用脚趾碰到前座，我却不能。她从后面踢到妈妈的座位，妈妈转过身叫她停下。我的双脚没有碰到爸爸的座位，所以我什么也没做，也就不必停下。

I climbed out of the buggy without asking if I might. Teressa started to tell mother I was getting out， but waited to see what I intended to do. I was going to walk around behind Mrs. Slump. She had no stockings on， and the Sunday school women said she didn’t wear underclothes. I wanted to see if this was so. Mother called me back. Sometimes mother knew what I was thinking about without asking me. She took hold of my arm， hard， as I climbed onto the buggy step， and said under her breath， “I’d be ashamed！” Her face was twisted. I kept trying to explain， but she wouldn’t let me.

我没问可不可以，就爬下了车。特蕾莎开口告诉妈妈我下车了，但她等着看我要做什么。我本打算跟在斯伦普太太身后。她没穿长袜，主日学校的女教师还说她不穿内衣，我想瞧瞧这是不是真的。妈妈把我叫了回来。有时妈妈不用问就知道我想什么。我爬上马车台阶时，她紧紧抓住我的胳膊，然后低声说道：“我会为你感到害臊！”她的脸扭曲着。我一直设法解释，但她不让我说。

The next morning after breakfast， mother， father， and I were in the kitchen. Mother and father were talking， and I was looking out of the window. Clubby Slump came up the lane in the middle of an enormous lavender morning-glory. Mother said good morning to him. He pointed to a wagon at the end of the lane. He said， “Plums！” and ran back down the path.

第二天早餐后，我和爸妈在厨房里。