Little Women - Chapter 26

It takes people a long time to learn the difference between talent and genius, especially ambitious young men and women. Amy was learning this distinction through much tribulation ¹, for mistaking enthusiasm for inspiration, she attempted every branch of art with youthful audacity ³. For a long time there was a lull ⁴ in the 'mud-pie' business, and she devoted ⁵ herself to the finest pen-and-ink drawing, in which she showed such taste and skill that her graceful ⁶ handiwork proved both pleasant and profitable. But over-strained eyes caused pen and ink to be laid aside for a bold attempt at poker- sketching ⁸. While this attack lasted, the family lived in constant fear of a conflagration ⁹, for the odor of burning wood pervaded ¹⁰ the house at all hours, smoke issued from attic ¹¹ and shed with alarming frequency, red-hot pokers ¹² lay about promiscuously ¹³, and Hannah never went to bed without a pail of water and the dinner bell at her door in case of fire. Raphael's face was found boldly executed on the underside of the moulding board, and Bacchus on the head of a beer barrel. A chanting cherub ¹⁴ adorned ¹⁵ the cover of the sugar bucket, and attempts to portray ¹⁶ Romeo and Juliet supplied kindling ¹⁷ for some time., ,From fire to oil was a natural transition for burned fingers, and Amy fell to painting with undiminished ardor ¹⁸. An artist friend fitted her out with his castoff palettes, brushes, and colors, and she daubed away, producing pastoral and marine ¹⁹ views such as were never seen on land or sea. Her monstrosities in the way of cattle would have taken prizes at an agricultural fair, and the perilous ²⁰ pitching of her vessels ²¹ would have produced seasickness ²² in the most nautical ²³ observer, if the utter disregard to all known rules of shipbuilding and rigging had not convulsed him with laughter at the first glance. Swarthy boys and dark-eyed Madonnas, staring at you from one corner of the studio, suggested Murillo; oily brown shadows of faces with a lurid ²⁴ streak ²⁵ in the wrong place, meant Rembrandt; buxom ²⁶ ladies and dropiscal infants, Rubens; and Turner appeared in tempests of blue thunder, orange lightning, brown rain, and purple clouds, with a tomato-colored splash in the middle, which might be the sun or a bouy, a sailor's shirt or a king's robe, as the spectator pleased., ,Charcoal ²⁷ portraits came next, and the entire family hung in a row, looking as wild and crocky as if just evoked ²⁸ from a coalbin. Softened ²⁹ into crayon sketches ³⁰, they did better, for the likenesses were good, and Amy's hair, Jo's nose, Meg's mouth, and Laurie's eyes were pronounced 'wonderfully fine'. A return to clay and plaster followed, and ghostly casts of her acquaintances haunted corners of the house, or tumbled off closet shelves onto people's heads. Children were enticed ³¹ in as models, till their incoherent accounts of her mysterious doings caused Miss Amy to be regarded in the light of a young ogress. Her efforts in this line, however, were brought to an abrupt ³² close by an untoward ³³ accident, which quenched ³⁴ her ardor. Other models failing her for a time, she undertook to cast her own pretty foot, and the family were one day alarmed by an unearthly bumping and screaming and running to the rescue, found the young enthusiast ³⁵ hopping ³⁶ wildly about the shed with her foot held fast in a pan full of plaster, which had hardened with unexpected rapidity. With much difficulty and some danger she was dug out, for Jo was so overcome with laughter while she excavated ³⁷ that her knife went too far, cut the poor foot, and left a lasting ³⁸ memorial of one artistic ³⁹ attempt, at least., , ,If 'genius is eternal patience', as Michelangelo affirms, Amy had some claim to the divine attribute, for she persevered ⁴⁵ in spite of all obstacles, failures, and discouragements, firmly believing that in time she should do something worthy ⁴⁶ to be called 'high art'., ,She was learning, doing, and enjoying other things, meanwhile, for she had resolved to be an attractive and accomplished ⁴⁷ woman, even if she never became a great artist. Here she succeeded better, for she was one of those happily created beings who please without effort, make friends everywhere, and take life so gracefully ⁴⁸ and easily that less fortunate souls are tempted ² to believe that such are born under a lucky star. Everybody liked her, for among her good gifts was tact ⁴⁹. She had an instinctive ⁵⁰ sense of what was pleasing and proper, always said the right thing to the right person, did just what suited the time and place, and was so self- possessed ⁵¹ that her sisters used to say, "If Amy went to court without any rehearsal ⁵² beforehand, she'd know exactly what to do.", ,I hate the tribulation,I commiserate the sorrow brought by tribulation.我厌恶别人深重的苦难
，怜悯苦难带来的悲哀
。,I was sorely tempted to complain, but I didn't. 我极想发牢骚，但还是没开口。