英文名著精选阅读:《傲慢与偏见》第五十八章(下)
英文名著精选阅读:《傲慢与偏见》第五十八章(下)
Darcy mentioned his letter. "Did it," said he, "did it soon make you think better of me? Did you, on reading it, give any creditto its contents?"
达西又提起那封信。他说:“那封信──你接到我那封信以后,是否立刻对我有好感一些?信上所说的那些事,你相信不相信?”
She explained what its effect on her had been, and how gradually all her former prejudiceshad been removed.
她说,那封信对她影响很大,从此以后,她对他的偏见都慢慢地消除了。
"I knew," said he, "that what I wrote must give you pain, but it was necessary. I hope you have destroyed the letter. There was one part especially, the opening of it, which I should dreadyour having the power of reading again. I can remember some expressions which might justly make you hate me."
他说:“我当时就想到,你看了那封信,一定非常难受,可是我实在万不得已。但愿你早把那封信毁了。其中有些话,特别是开头那些话,我实在不愿意你再去看它。我记得有些话一定会使你恨透了我。”
"The letter shall certainly be burnt, if you believe it essential to the preservationof my regard; but, though we have both reason to think my opinions not entirely unalterable, they are not, I hope, quite so easily changed as that implies."
“如果你认为一定要烧掉那封信,才能保持我的爱情,那我当然一定把它烧掉;不过话说回来,即使我怎样容易变心,也不会看了那封信就和你翻脸。”
"When I wrote that letter," replied Darcy, "I believed myself perfectly calm and cool, but I am since convinced that it was written in a dreadful bitternessof spirit."
达西说:“当初写那封信的时候,我自以为完全心平气和,头脑冷静;可是事后我才明白,当时确确实实是出于一般怨气。”
"The letter, perhaps, began in bitterness, but it did not end so. The adieuis charityitself. But think no more of the letter. The feelings of the person who wrote, and the person who received it, are now so widely different from what they were then, that every unpleasant circumstance attending it ought to be forgotten. You must learn some of my philosophy. Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure."
“那封信开头也许有几分怨气,结尾却并不是这样。结尾那句话完全是一片大慈大悲。还是不要再去想那封信吧。无论是写信人也好,受信人也好,心情都已和当初大不相同,因此,一切不愉快的事,都应该把它忘掉。你得学学我的人生观。你要回忆过去,也只应当去回忆那些使你愉快的事情。”
"I cannot give you credit for any philosophy of the kind. Your retrospectionsmust be so totally voidof reproach, that the contentment arising from them is not of philosophy, but, what is much better, of innocence. But with me, it is not so. Painful recollections will intrudewhich cannot, which ought not, to be repelled. I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle. As a child I was taught what was right, but I was not taught to correct my temper. I was given good principles, but left to follow them in pride and conceit. Unfortunately an only son (for many years an only child), I was spoilt by my parents, who, though good themselves (my father, particularly, all that was benevolentand amiable), allowed, encouraged, almost taught me to be selfish and overbearingto care for none beyond my own family circle; to think meanly of all the rest of the world; to wish at least to think meanly of their sense and worth compared with my own. Such I was, from eight to eight and twenty; and such I might still have been but for you, dearest, loveliest Elizabeth! What do I not owe you! You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous. By you, I was properly humbled. I came to you without a doubt of my reception. You shewed me how insufficient were all my pretensionsto please a woman worthy of being pleased."
“我并不认为你有这种人生观。对你来说,过去的事情,没有哪一件应该受到指责,因此你回忆起过去的事情来,便觉得件件满意,这与其说,是因为你人生观的关系,倒不如说,是因为你天真无邪。可是我的情形却是两样。我脑子里总免不了想起一些苦痛的事情,实在不能不想,也不应该不想。我虽然并不主张自私,可是事实上却自私了一辈子。从小时候起,大人就教我,为人处世应该如此这般,却不教我要把脾气改好。他们教我要学这个规矩那个规矩,又让我学会了他们的傲慢自大。不幸我是一个独生子(有好几年,家里只有我一个孩子),从小给父母亲宠坏了。虽然父母本身都是善良人(特别是父亲,完全是一片慈善心肠,和蔼可亲),却纵容我自私自利,傲慢自大,甚至还鼓励我如此,教我如此。他们教我,除了自己家里人以外,不要把任何人放在眼里,教我看不起天下人,至少希望我去鄙薄别人的见识,鄙薄别人的长处,把天下人都看得不如我。从八岁到二十八岁,我都是受的这种教养,好伊丽莎白,亲伊丽莎白,要不是亏了你,我可能到现在还是如此!我哪一点不都是亏了你!你给了我一顿教训,开头我当然受不了,可是我实在受益非浅。你羞辱得我好有道理。当初我向你求婚,以为你一定会答应。多亏你使我明白过来,我既然认定一位小姐值得我去博她欢心,我又一味对她自命不凡,那是万万办不到的。”
"Had you then persuaded yourself that I should?"
“当初你真以为会博得我的欢心吗?”
"Indeed I had. What will you think of my vanity? I believed you to be wishing, expecting my addresses."
“我的确是那样想的。你一定会笑我太自负吧?我当时还以为你在指望着我、等待着我来求婚呢。”
"My manners must have been in fault, but not intentionally, I assure you. I never meant to deceiveyou, but my spirits might often lead me wrong. How you must have hated me after that evening?"
“那一定是因为我态度不好,可是我告诉你,我并不是故意要那样。我决不是有意欺骗你,可是我往往凭着一时的兴致,以致造成大错,从那天下午起,你一定是非常恨我。”
"Hate you! I was angry perhaps at first, but my anger soon began to take a proper direction."
“恨你!开头我也许很气你,可是过了不久,我便知道究竟应该气谁了。”
"I am almost afraid of asking what you thought of me, when we met at Pemberley. You blamed me for coming?"
“我简直不敢问你,那次我们在彭伯里见面,你对我怎么看法。你怪我不该来吗?”
"No indeed; I felt nothing but surprise."
“不,哪儿的话;我只是觉得惊奇。”
"Your surprise could not be greater than mine in being noticed by you. My conscience told me that I deserved no extraordinarypoliteness, and I confess that I did not expect to receive more than my due."
“你固然惊奇,可是我蒙你那样抬举,恐怕比你还要惊奇。我的良心告诉我说,我不配受到你的殷勤款待,老实说,这当时的确没有料到会受到份外的待遇。”
"My object then," replied Darcy, "was to shew you, by every civility in my power, that I was not so mean as to resentthe past; and I hoped to obtain your forgiveness, to lessen your ill opinion, by letting you see that your reproofs had been attended to. How soon any other wishes introduced themselves I can hardly tell, but I believe in about half an hour after I had seen you."
达西说:“我当时的用意,是要尽量做到礼貌周全,让你看出我气量颇大,不计旧怨,希望你知道我已经重视了你的责备,诚心改过,能够原谅我,冲淡你对我的恶感。至于我从什么时候又起了别的念头,实在很难说,大概是看到你以后的半个钟头之内。”
He then told her of Georgiana's delight in her acquaintance, and of her disappointment at its sudden interruptionwhich naturally leading to the cause of that interruption, she soon learnt that his resolution of following her from Derbyshire in quest of her sister had been formed before he quitted the inn, and that his gravityand thoughtfulness there had arisen from no other struggles than what such a purpose must comprehend.
然后他又说,那次乔治安娜非常乐意跟她做朋友,不料交情突然中断,使她十分扫兴;接着自然又谈到交情中断的原因,伊丽莎白这才明白,当初他还没有离开那家旅馆以前,就已下定决心,要跟着她从德比郡出发,去找她的妹妹,至于他当时所以沉闷忧郁,并不是为了别的事操心,而是为了这件事在转念头。
She expressed her gratitude again, but it was too painful a subject to each, to be dwelt on farther.
她又感谢了他一次,但是提起这桩事,双方都非常痛苦,所以没有再谈下去。
After walking several miles in a leisurelymanner, and too busy to know any thing about it, they found at last, on examining their watches, that it was time to be at home.
他们这样悠闲自在地溜达了好几英里路,也无心再去注意这种事,最后看看表,才发觉应该回家了。
"What could become of Mr. Bingley and Jane!" was a wonder which introduced the discussion of their affairs. Darcy was delighted with their engagement; his friend had given him the earliest information of it.
“彬格莱和吉英上哪儿去了?”他们俩从这句话又谈到那另外一对的事情上去。达西早已知道他朋友已经和吉英订婚,觉得很高兴。
"I must ask whether you were surprised?" said Elizabeth.
伊丽莎白说:“我得问问你,你是否觉得事出意外?”
"Not at all. When I went away, I felt that it would soon happen."
“完全不觉得意外。我临走的时候,便觉得事情马上会成功。”
"That is to say, you had given your permission. I guessed as much." And though he exclaimed at the term, she found that it had been pretty much the case.
“那么说,你早就允许了他啦。真让我猜着了。”虽然他意图声辨,说她这种说法不对,她却认为事实确实如此。
"On the evening before my going to London," said he, "I made a confessionto him, which I believe I ought to have made long ago. I told him of all that had occurred to make my former interferencein his affairs absurd and impertinent. His surprise was great. He had never had the slightest suspicion. I told him, moreover, that I believed myself mistaken in supposing, as I had done, that your sister was indifferent to him; and as I could easily perceive that his attachment to her was unabated, I felt no doubt of their happiness together."
他说:“我到伦敦去的前一个晚上,便把这事情向他坦白了,其实早就应该坦白的。我把过去的事都对他说了,使他明白我当初阻挡他那件事,真是又荒谬又冒失。他大吃一惊。他从来没有想到会有这种事。我还告诉他说,我从前以为你姐姐对他平平淡淡,现在才明白是我自己想错了;我立刻看出他对吉英依旧一往情深,因此我十分相信他们俩的结合一定会幸福。”
Elizabeth could not help smiling at his easy manner of directing his friend.
伊丽莎白听到他能够这样轻而易举地指挥他的朋友,不禁一笑。
"Did you speak from your own observation," said she, "when you told him that my sister loved him, or merely from my information last spring?"
她问道:“你跟他说,我姐姐爱他,你这话是自己体验出来的呢,还是春天里听我说的?”
"From the former. I had narrowly observed her during the two visits which I had lately made here; and I was convinced of her affection."
“是我自己体验出来的。最近我到你家里去过两次,仔细观察了她一下,便看出她对他感情很深切。”
"And your assuranceof it, I suppose, carried immediate convictionto him."
“我想,一经你说明,他也立刻明白了吧。”
"It did. Bingley is most unaffectedlymodest. His diffidence had prevented his depending on his own judgment in so anxious a case, but his relianceon mine made every thing easy. I was obliged to confess one thing, which for a time, and not unjustly, offended him. I could not allow myself to concealthat your sister had been in town three months last winter, that I had known it, and purposely kept it from him. He was angry. But his anger, I am persuaded, lasted no longer than he remained in any doubt of your sister's sentiments. He has heartily forgiven me now."
“的确如此。彬格莱为人极其诚恳谦虚。他因为胆怯,所以遇到这种迫切问题,自己便拿不定主张,总是相信我的话,因此这次一切都做得很顺利。我不得不向他招认了一件事,我估计他在短时期里当然难免要为这件事生气。我老实对他说,去年冬天你姐姐进城去待了三个月,当时我知道这件事,却故意瞒住了他。他果然很生气。可是我相信,他只要明白了你姐姐对他有情感,他的气愤自然会消除。他现在已经真心诚意地宽恕了我。”
Elizabeth longed to observe that Mr. Bingley had been a most delightful friend; so easily guided that his worth was invaluable; but she checked herself. She remembered that he had yet to learn to be laughed at, and it was rather too early to begin. In anticipating the happiness of Bingley, which of course was to be inferioronly to his own, he continued the conversation till they reached the house. In the hall they parted.
伊丽莎白觉得,彬格莱这样容易听信别人的话,真是难得;她禁不往要说,彬格莱真是个太可爱的人,可是她毕竟没有把这句话说出口。她想起了目前还不便跟达西开玩笑,现在就开他的玩笑未免太早。他继续跟她谈下去,预言着彬格莱的幸福──这种幸福当然抵不上他自己的幸福。两人一直块谈到走进家门,步入穿堂,方才分开。
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