The use of force

他是一个多好的人呀，她的母亲插话道。你看他对你多好呀，来，听话。他不会伤害你的。

Such a nice man, put in the mother. Look how kind he is to you. Come on, do what he tells you to. He won’t hurt you.

听到这里我狠狠地咬了咬牙，要是他们没用―伤害‖这个词，我也许能做点什么，但是我没有着急或恼怒，而是慢声细语地说着话，一边再次靠近这个孩子。

As that I ground my teeth in disgust. If only they wouldn’t use the word ―hurt‖ I might be able to get somewhere. But I did not allow myself to be hurried or disturbed but speaking quietly and slowly I approached the child again.

我刚将椅子拉近一点，突然，她像猫一样双手本能地朝我的两眼抓去，我差一点被她抓到。

As I moved my chair a little nearer suddenly with one catlike movement both her hands clawed instinctively for my eyes and she almost reached them too.

好在她只是打掉了我的眼镜，虽然眼镜没有碎，但已落到了离我几英尺远的厨房地板上。

In fact she knocked my glasses flying and they fell, though unbroken, several feet away from me on the kitchen floor.

父母两人都非常尴尬，充满歉意，你这个坏孩子，母亲一边说，一边抓着她，并摇晃着她的一只手，你看看你做的事。这么一个好人。

Both the mother and father almost turned themselves inside out in embarrassment and apology. You bad girl, said the mother, taking her and shaking here by one arm. Look what you’ve done. The nice man…

看在上帝的份上，我打断了她的话，请不要再在她面前说我是一个好人。

For heaven’s sake, I broke in. Don’t call me a nice man to her.

我来是看看她的嗓子，也许她患了白喉，而且很可能会死于这种病。

I’m here to look at her throat on the chance that she might have diphtheria and possibly die of it.

但这一切她都不在乎，看这儿，我对女孩说，我们想看看你的嗓子，你不小了，应该明白我说的话，你是自己张开嘴呢，还是我们帮你张开？

But that’s nothing to her. Look here, I said to the child, we’re going to look at your throat. You’re old enough to understand what I’m saying. Will you open it