But the stepmother said, "It's no use."

但继母却说道：“算了！”

youdao

Then the stepmother led them a long way into the forest.

然后继母就带着他们进入了树林深处。

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Again they gathered faggots and brush wood, of which the stepmother made up a large fire.

他们又开始收集柴捆和灌木枝，用以他们的继母生气一堆很大的篝火。

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The eighth grader from California climbed Everest with a team that included his father, his stepmother and three Sherpas.

VOA: special.2010.06.30

In later editions, it is the stepmother who makes the suggestion, and the father repeatedly hesitates before he finally agrees.

NEWYORKER: Once Upon a Time

Lisa Pott, the stepmother of Audrie, said the three suspects were removed from the football team after her suicide but weren't expelled from school, despite their pleas to the principal.

NPR: Lawyer: Assaulted Teen Had Drawings, Name On Body

The child is given the opportunity to hate her mother (in the form of the stepmother) and still, as she does in life, love her mother (the real mother, conveniently absent from the tale).

NEWYORKER: Once Upon a Time