Ellen’s life was not easy, nor was it happy, but she did not expect life to be easy, and, if it was not happy, that was woman’s lot. It was a man’s world, and she accepted it as such. The man owned the property, and the woman managed it. 爱伦的生活既不舒适也不愉快,然而她并不期待过舒服的日子,而且如果不愉快,那也是女人的命运.她承认这个世界是男人的这一事实.男人占有财产,然后由女人来管理. The man took the credit for the management, and the woman praised his cleverness. The man roared like a bull when a splinter was in his finger, and the woman muffled the moans of childbirth, lest she disturb him. 管理得好时,男人享受名誉,女人还得称赞他能干.男人只要手上扎了根刺便会像公牛般大声吼叫,而女人连生孩子时的阵痛也得忍气吞声,生怕打搅了他. Men were rough of speech and often drunk. Women ignored the lapses of speech and put the drunkards to bed without bitter words. 男人们出言粗鲁,经常酗酒,女人们却装做没有听见这种失言,并一声不响地服侍醉鬼上床睡觉. Men were rude and outspoken, women were always kind, gracious and forgiving. 男人们粗暴而直率,可女人们总是那么和善.文雅,善于体谅别人.

She had been reared in the tradition of great ladies, which had taught her how to carry her burden and still retain her charm, and she intended that her three daughters should be great ladies also. With her younger daughters, she had success, for Suellen was so anxious to be attractive she lent an attentive and obedient ear to her mother’s teachings, and Carreen was shy and easily led. But Scarlett, child of Gerald, found the road to ladyhood hard. 她是在上等妇女的传统教养下长大的,这使她学会怎样承担自己的职责而不丧失其温柔可爱.她有意要把自己的三个女儿也教育成高尚的女性,然而只在那两个小的身上成功了,因为苏伦渴望当一名出色的闺秀,很用心听母亲的教诲,卡琳也是个腼腆听话的女孩.可是思嘉,杰拉尔德的货真价实的孩子,却觉得那条当上等妇女的路实在太艰难了.

To Mammy’s indignation, her preferred playmates were not her demure sisters or the well-brought-up Wilkes girls but the negro children on the plantation and the boys of the neighborhood, and she could climb a tree or throw a rock as well as any of them. 思嘉使嬷嬷生气的一个毛病是不爱跟那两个谨慎的妹妹或威尔克斯家很有教养的几位姑娘在一起玩耍,却乐意同农场上的黑孩子或领居家的男孩子们厮混,跟他们一起爬树,一样掷石子. Mammy was greatly perturbed that Ellen’s daughter should display such traits and frequently adjured her to “ack lak a lil lady.” But Ellen took a more tolerant and long-sighted view of the matter. 嬷嬷感到十分难过,怎么爱伦的女儿会有这样的怪癖,并且经常劝诫她"要学得像个小姐那样".但是爱伦对问题看得更宽容,更远. She knew that from childhood playmates grew beaux in later years, and the first duty of a girl was to get married. 她懂得从青梅竹马中能产生未来的终身伴侣的道理,而一个姑娘的头等大事无非结婚成家. She told herself that the child was merely full of life and there was still time in which to teach her the arts and graces of being attractive to men. 她暗自念叨着:这孩子只不过精力旺盛些罢了,至于教育她学会那些德貌兼备的优点,成为一个使男人倾心的可爱的姑娘,那还有的是时间呢.

To this end, Ellen and Mammy bent their efforts, and as Scarlett grew older she became an apt pupil in this subject, even though she learned little else. 抱着这个目的,爱伦和嬷嬷同心协力,所以到思嘉年龄大些时便在这方面学习得相当不错了. Despite a succession of governesses and two years at the near-by Fayetteville Female Academy, her education was sketchy, but no girl in the County danced more gracefully than she. 她甚至还学会了一些旁的东西.尽管接连请了几位家庭女教师,又在附近的费耶特维尔女子学校念了两年书,她受的教育仍是不怎么完全的,不过在跳舞这一门上却是全县最出色的一位姑娘,真是舞姿翩翩,美妙无比. She knew how to smile so that her dimples leaped, how to walk pigeon-toed so that her wide hoop skirts swayed entrancingly, how to look up into a man’s face and then drop her eyes and bat the lids rapidly so that she seemed a-tremble with gentle emotion. 她懂得怎样微笑才能使那两个酒窝轻轻抖动,怎样扭着走路才能让宽大的裙子迷人的摇摆,怎样首先仰视一个男人的面孔,然后垂下眼来,迅速地掀动眼帘,显出自己是在略带激情地颤抖似的. Most of all she learned how to conceal from men a sharp intelligence beneath a face as sweet and bland as a baby’s. 她最擅长的一手是在男人面前装出一副婴儿般天真烂漫的表情,藉以掩饰自己心中一个精明的心计.

Ellen, by soft-voiced admonition, and Mammy, by constant carping, labored to inculcate in her the qualities that would make her truly desirable as a wife. 爱伦用细声细气地训诫,嬷嬷则用滔滔不绝的唠叨,都在尽力将那些作为淑女贤妻不可少的品质栽培到她身上去.

“You must be more gentle, dear, more sedate,” Ellen told her daughter. “You must not interrupt gentlemen when they are speaking, even if you do think you know more about matters than they do. Gentlemen do not like forward girls.” "你必须学会温柔一些,亲切一些,文静一些,"爱伦对女儿说."男人们说话时千万别去插嘴,哪怕你真的认为自己比人家知道得多.男人总不喜欢快嘴快舌的姑娘."

“Young misses whut frowns an pushes out dey chins an’ says ‘Ah will’ and ‘Ah woan’ mos’ gener’ly doan ketch husbands,” prophesied Mammy gloomily. “Young misses should cas’ down dey eyes an’ say, Well, suh, Ah mout’ an’ ‘Jes’ as you say, suh.’ ” "小姑娘家要是皱着眉头.嘟着嘴,说什么俺要这样不要那样,她们就别想找到丈夫,"嬷嬷忧郁地告诫说."小姑娘家应当低着头回答说:'先生,好吧.俺知道了,,或者说:'听您的吩咐,先生.,"