10月10日
親愛的長腿叔叔:
大學里真正麻煩的,是大家都認為你應該懂得一些你根本沒學過的東西。有時真是挺讓人煩惱的,不過現在只要女孩們提到我不懂的事,我就不說話,回去查查字典。
我在第一天就犯了個嚴重的錯誤,有人提到麥特林克,而我問她是不是個新生。這個笑話傳遍了整所大學。還好,我在課堂上表現得跟大家一樣聰明,甚至比一些人還要好。
莎麗·麥克白幫我在高年級生舉辦的拍賣會上挑了幾件家具。她從小到大都在家住,對于家具擺飾頗有見地。如果您這輩子從沒擁有超過5毛錢,您是很難體會那種購物的樂趣的——用一張真的5元鈔票去買東西,還能找些零錢回來!我向您保證,親愛的叔叔,我對您給的零用錢真的心存感激。
莎麗算是全世界最好的人了,而茱莉亞·平萊頓則相反。注冊組安排的室友組合真是奇怪透了。莎麗覺得每件事都很有趣,連考試不及格也包括在內。而茱莉亞則覺得每件事都很煩人,她從未試著友善一些。她相信如果您是平萊頓家族的人,您毋庸置疑一定可以上天堂的。茱莉亞跟我是天生的敵人。
現在您一定等不及要聽聽我修了哪些課吧?
拉丁文:第二次迦太基戰爭。昨晚,漢尼拔和他的部隊在特撿西米諾湖駐扎。他們在羅馬人周圍布下埋伏。凌晨4點,他們打了一仗,羅馬人撤退了。
法文:讀了24頁的《三個火槍手》,學了第三組不規則動詞的變化。
幾何學:圓柱體學完了,正在學圓錐體。
英文:學習表達。我的表達日漸清晰、簡潔。
生理學:進行到消化系統,下次學膽和胰。
您正在受教育的,喬若莎·亞伯特
10 th October
Dear Daddy-Long-Legs,
The trouble with college is that you are expected to know such a lot of things you've never learned. It's very embarrassing at times.But now, when the girls talk about things that I never heard of, I just keep still and look them up in the encyclopedia.
I made an awful mistake the first day. Somebody mentioned Maurice Maeterlinck, and I asked if she was a Freshman.That joke has gone all over college.But anyway, I'm just as bright in class as any of the others-and brighter than some of them!
Sallie McBride helped me choose the things at the Senior auction. She has lived in a house all her life and knows about furnishing.You can't imagine what fun it is to shop and pay with a real five-dollar bill and get some change-when you've never had more than a few cents in your life.I assure you, Daddy dear, I do appreciate that allowance.
Sallie is the most entertaining person in the world-and Julia Rutledge Pendleton the least so. It's queer what a mixture the registrar can make in the matter of room-mates.Sallie thinks everything is funny-even flunking-and Julia is bored at everything.She never makes the slightest effort to be amiable.She believes that if you are a Pendleton, that fact alone admits you to heaven without any further examination.Julia and I were born to be enemies.
And now I suppose you've been waiting very impatiently to hear what I am learning?
I. Latin:Second Punic War.Hannibal and his forces pitched camp at Lake Trasimenus last night.They prepared an ambuscade for the Romans, and a battle took place at the fourth watch this morning.Romans in retreat.
II. French:24 pages of the Three Musketeers and third conjugation, irregular verbs.
III. Geometry:Finished cylinders;now doing cones.
IV. English:Studying exposition.My style improves daily in clearness and brevity.
V. Physiology:Reached the digestive system.Bile and the pancreas next time.
Yours, on the way to being educated, Jerusha Abbott