原文：

…so they were the daughter of a washerwoman and a jailbird. Very nice company for other people's children! And they looked it. Why Mrs.Kelvey made them so conspicuous was hard to understand. The truth was they were dressed in 'bits' given to her by the people for whom she worked for. Lil, for instance, who was a stout, plain child, with big freckles, came to school in a dress made from a green art-serge table-cloth of the Burnells', with red plush sleeves from the Logans' curtains. Her hat, perched on top of her high forehead, was a grown-up woman's hat, once the property of Miss Lecky, the postmistress. It was turned up at the back and trimmed with a large scartlet quill. What a little guy she looked! It was impossible not to laugh. And her little sister, our Else, wore a long white dress, rahter like a nightgown, and a pair of little boy's boots. But whatever our Else wore she would hace looked stange. She was a tiny wishbone of a child, with cropped hair enormous solemn eyes---a little white owl. Nobody had ever seem her smile; she scarcely ever spoke. She went through life holding on to Lil, with a piece of Lil's skirt screwed up in her hand. Where Lil went , our Else followed. In the palyground, on the road going to and from school, there was Lil marching in front and our Else holding on behind. Only when she wanted anything, or when she was out of breath, our Else gave Lil a tug, a twitch, and Lil stooped and turned round. The Kelveys never failed to understand each other.

我的翻譯

因此他們是洗衣工和牢獄犯的女兒。相對別人家的孩子而言，這樣的父母很不錯。并且，大家都看在眼里。Kelvey夫人為什么讓她們如此顯眼，很難理解。原因是，她給女兒們穿的衣服都是雇主家廢棄的。譬如，Lil是個愛胖墩，臉上大塊雀斑，樸實無華。他上學穿的裙子，綠裙邊是Burnel家的抹布做的，紅色長袖是Logan家的窗簾做的。她高高的前額上帶著的紅帽，是女郵政局長Lecky夫人用過的。背部的衣料是反著的，連著大大的，猩紅色的領子。看上去她好小！總是讓人忍俊不禁。她的妹妹呢，也就是我們的Else， 穿著長白色裙子，更像是穿著睡衣。腳上的靴子卻是男鞋。無論我們的Else穿什么，她看起來總是很奇怪。
她有著瘦小的鎖骨，短發，一雙又大又呆的眼睛——像白色貓頭鷹的眼。從來沒有人看她微笑過，甚至，她幾乎不說話。她從早到晚總是粘著Lil, 牽著Lil的裙子，在手里搓來搓去。不管Lil去哪，她都緊跟著。操場上，上學放學路上，Lil在前面帶路，Else緊隨其后。只有Else想要東西，或是呼吸不上來時，我們的Else 會故意扯一下Lil，Lil才會停下來，轉過身。Kelvey夫婦從來都不懂她倆。

作者翻譯

原來她們是一個洗衣婦和一個囚犯的女兒，可真是別家孩子的好伙伴呀！而她們看起來也確實是那么一回事。凱威爾太太為何把她們打扮得如此惹眼，實在讓人不解。事實上，她們穿的爛拼湊的衣服，都是凱爾維太太工作地方的人們給的。先說麗兒——高大、不標致、滿臉大雀斑的女孩——上學所穿的外衣，就是用伯內爾家的綠色斜條紋的桌布，以及羅根家紅絲絨窗簾做的袖子，拼湊而成的。擱在她高高額頭上的成年人的帽子，本來是女郵政局長萊基小姐的財產。帽子的后沿向上翻卷，還插著一根猩紅色的大羽毛。好一個小大人！見了她，不可能不笑出來的。她的小妹妹——寶貝艾爾西——穿了一件長袍，簡直像件睡衣，還穿了一雙男孩的小長筒靴。但是，無論寶貝艾爾西穿什么，都讓人感到奇怪。她是個子瘦小得像雞胸骨的小孩，短發平鋪在頭上，有著嚴肅的大眼睛，活像一只白色的小貓頭鷹。誰都沒見她笑過，她也很少說話。她手里始終緊抓著麗兒的裙角，麗兒走到哪兒，寶貝艾爾西就跟到哪兒。在操場上，在上學或放學的路上，往往是麗兒在前面大步走，寶貝艾爾西則緊緊跟在后頭，只有當她需要什么東西，或者走得喘不過氣來的時候，寶貝艾爾西才用力拉一拉，急急扯一扯麗兒，麗兒就會馬上停住，轉過身來。凱爾維姐妹彼此了解，從不會誤會。

自評

文采：

• 以反諷和對比手法描寫
  Kelvey兩姐妹的長相和衣著，前分后和，夾敘夾議，文采斐然。

• 一般很難形容帽子，要寫得逼真并不容易（寫帽子常常是最好的描寫能力測驗）。原文道：Her hat, perched on top of her high forehead, was a grown-up woman's hat, once the property of Miss Lecky, the postmistress. It was turned up at the back and trimmed with a large scartlet quill. 僅僅兩句，躍然紙上。

邏輯：

• 描寫工人階級的女兒，為什么是高大（stout）? 為什么用“plain”、“big freckles”形容姐姐？

• "our Else "為什么譯作“寶貝Else”？

翻譯腔：

• “他們是一個洗衣服和一個囚犯的女兒。”==》兩個“一個”純屬多余，去掉。該作：“他們是洗衣服和囚犯的女兒。”簡潔易懂。