阿尔封斯·都德/Alphonse Daudet
阿尔封斯·都德（1840—1897），19世纪法国现实主义作家。都德生于法国南方一个破落的丝绸商人家庭。15岁起都德独自谋生，后来到巴黎，从事文艺创作，过着清苦的文人生活。1870年，普法战争爆发，都德应征入伍。1897年卒于巴黎。都德一生写过近百篇短篇小说，其中大多数作品以普法战争为背景，讴歌了法国人民的爱国情怀，主要作品有长篇小说《小东西》《达拉斯贡城的戴达伦》《不朽者》，短篇小说《最后一课》《柏林之围》，散文集《磨坊书简》等。
I started for school very late that morning and was in great dread of a scolding, especially because M. Hamel had said that he would question us on participles, and I did not know the first word about them. For a moment I thought of running away and spending the day out of doors. It was so warm, so bright! The birds were chirping at the edge of the woods; and in the open field back of the sawmill the Prussian soldiers were drilling. It was all much more tempting than the rule for participles, but I had the strength to resist, and hurried off to school.
When I passed the town hall there was a crowd in front of the bulletin-board. For the last two years all our bad news had come from there—the lost battles, the draft, the orders of the commanding officer—and I thought to myself, without stopping:
"What can be the matter now?"
Then, as I hurried by as fast as I could go, the blacksmith, Wachter, who was there, with his apprentice, reading the bulletin, called after me:
"Don't go so fast, bub; you'll get to your school in plenty of time!"
I thought he was making fun of me, and reached M. Hamel's little garden all out of breath.
Usually, when school began, there was a great bustle, which could be heard out in the street, the opening and closing of desks, lessons repeated in unison, very loud, with our hands over our ears to understand better, and the teacher's great ruler rapping on the table."A little more quite!" But now it was all so still! I had counted on the commotion to get to my desk without being seen; but, of course, that day everything had to be as quiet as Sunday morning. Through the window I saw my classmates, already in their places, and M. Hamel walking up and down with his terrible iron ruler under his arm. I had to open the door and go in before everybody. You can imagine how I blushed and how frightened I was.