名著·傲慢与偏见 - 第57节


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  伊丽莎白说:“这怎么行,你绝对没有办法两全其美。两个里面你只能拣一个。他们两个人一共只有那么多优点,勉强才够得上一个好人的标准,近来这些优点又在两个人之间移来动去,移动得非常厉害。对我来讲,我比较偏向于达西先生,觉得这些优点都是他的,你可以随你自己的意思。”

   It was some time, however, before a smile could be extorted from Jane.

  过了好一会儿,吉英脸上才勉强露出笑容。

   "I do not know when I have been more shocked," said she. "Wickham so very bad! It is almost past belief. And poor Mr. Darcy! dear Lizzy, only consider what he must have suffered. Such a disappointment! and with the knowledge of your ill opinion too! and having to relate such a thing of his sister! It is really too distressing. I am sure you must feel it so."

  她说:“我生平最吃惊的事莫过于此,韦翰原来这样坏!这几乎叫人不能。相信达西先生真可怜!亲爱的丽萃,你且想想,他会多么痛苦。他遭受到这样的一次失望!而且他又知道了你看不起他!还不得不把他自己妹妹的这种私事都讲出来!这的确叫他太痛苦了,我想你也会有同感吧。”

   "Oh! no, my regret and compassion are all done away by seeing you so full of both. I know you will do him such ample justice, that I am growing every moment more unconcerned and indifferent. Your profusion makes me saving; and if you lament over him much longer, my heart will be as light as a feather."

  “没有的事;看到你对他这样惋惜和同情,我反而心安理得了。我知道你会竭力帮他讲话,因此我反而越来越不把它当一回事。你的感情豪爽造成了我的感情吝啬;;要是你再为他叹惜,我就会轻松愉快得要飞起来了。”

   "Poor Wickham; there is such an expression of goodness in his countenance! such an openness and gentleness in his manner."

  “可怜的韦翰!他的面貌那么善良,他的风度那么文雅。”

  “那两位年轻人在教养方面,一定都有非常欠缺的地方。一个的好处全藏在里面,一个的好处全露在外边。”

   "I never thought Mr. Darcy so deficient in the appearance of it as you used to do."

  “你以为达西先生只是仪表方面有欠缺,我可从来不这么想。”

   "And yet I meant to be uncommonly clever in taking so decided a dislike to him, without any reason. It is such a spur to one's genius, such an opening for wit to have a dislike of that kind. One may be continually abusive without saying any thing just; but one cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty."

  “可是我倒以为你这样对他深恶痛绝,固然说不上什么理由,却是非常聪明。这样的厌恶,足以激励人的天才,启发人的智慧。例如,你不断地骂人,当然说不出一句好话;你要是常常取笑人,倒很可能偶然想到一句妙语。”

   "Lizzy when you first read that letter, I am sure you could not treat the matter as you do now."

  “丽萃,你第一次读那封信的时候,我相信你对待这件事的看法一定和现在不同。”

   "Indeed I could not. I was uncomfortable enough. I was very uncomfortable, I may say unhappy. And with no one to speak to of what I felt, no Jane to comfort me and say that I had not been so very weak and vain and nonsensical as I knew I had! Oh! how I wanted you!"

  “当然不同,我当时十分难受。我非常难受──可以说是很不快活。我心里不许多感触,可是找不到一个人可以倾诉,也没有个吉英来安慰安慰我,说我并不象我自己所想象的那样懦弱,虚荣和荒诞!噢,我真少不了你啊!”

  “你在达西先生面前说到韦翰的时候,语气那么强硬,这真是多么不幸啊!现在看起来,那些话实在显得不怎么得体。”

   "Certainly. But the misfortune of speaking with bitterness is a most natural consequence of the prejudices I had been encouraging. There is one point on which I want your advice. I want to be told whether I ought, or ought not, to make our acquaintance in general understand Wickham's character."

  “的确如此,我确实不应该说得那么刻毒,可是我既然事先存了偏见,自然难免如此。有件事我要请教你。你说我应该不应该把韦翰的品格说出去,让朋友们都知道?”

   Miss Bennet paused a little and then replied, "Surely there can be no occasion for exposing him so dreadfully. What is your own opinion?"

  班纳特小姐想了一会儿才说道:“当然用不着叫他太难堪。你的意见如何?”

   "That it ought not to be attempted. Mr. Darcy has not authorised me to make his communication public. On the contrary, every particular relative to his sister was meant to be kept as much as possible to myself; and if I endeavour to undeceive people as to the rest of his conduct, who will believe me? The general prejudice against Mr. Darcy is so violent, that it would be the death of half the good people in Meryton to attempt to place him in an amiable light. I am not equal to it. Wickham will soon be gone; and therefore it will not signify to anybody here, what he really is. Sometime hence it will be all found out, and then we may laugh at their stupidity in not knowing it before. At present I will say nothing about it."

  “我也觉得不必如此。达西先生并没有允许我把他所说的话公开外界声张。他反面吩咐我说,凡是牵涉到他妹妹的事,都要尽量保守秘密;说到韦翰其他方面的品行,我即使量对大家说老实话,又有谁会相信?一般人对达西先生都存着那么深的成见,你要叫别人对他有好感,麦里屯有一半人死也不愿意。我真没有办法。好在韦翰马上就要走了,他的真面目究竟怎样,与任何人都无关。总会有一天真想大白,那时候我们就可以讥笑人们为什么那么蠢,没有早些知道。目前我可绝口不提。”

   "You are quite right. To have his errors made public might ruin him for ever. He is now perhaps sorry for what he has done, and anxious to re-establish a character. We must not make him desperate."

  “你的话对极了。要揭露他的错误,可能就会断送了他的一生。也许他现在已经后悔,痛下决心,重新做人。我们千万不要弄得他走投无路。”

  这番谈话以后,伊丽莎白的骚忧的心境平静了焉。两星期来,这两件秘密心思一直压在她的心头,如今总算放下了一块大石头,她相信以后要是再谈起这两件事来,不论其中哪一件,吉英都会愿意听。可是这里面还有些蹊跷,为了谨慎起见,她可不敢说出来。她不敢谈到达西先生那封信的另外一半,也不敢向姐姐说明:他那位朋友对姐姐是多么竭诚器重。这件事是不能让任何人知道的,她觉得除非把各方面的情况里里外外都弄明白了,这最后的一点秘密还不应该揭露。她想:“这样看来,如果那件不大可能的事一旦居然成了事实,我便可以把这件秘密说出来,不过到那时候,彬格莱先生自己也许会说得更动听。要说出这番稳情,非等到事过境迁,才轮不到我呢!”

   She was now, on being settled at home, at leisure to observe the real state of her sister's spirits. Jane was not happy. She still cherished a very tender affection for Bingley. Having never even fancied herself in love before, her regard had all the warmth of first attachment, and, from her age and disposition, greater steadiness than first attachments often boast; and so fervently did she value his remembrance, and prefer him to every other man, that all her good sense, and all her attention to the feelings of her friends, were requisite to check the indulgence of those regrets which must have been injurious to her own health and their tranquillity.

  现在既然到了家,她就有闲暇的时间来观察姐姐的真正心情。吉英心里并不快活。她对彬格莱仍未能忘情。她先前甚至没有幻想到自己会对他钟情,因此她的柔情密意竟象初恋那么热烈,而且由于她的年龄和品性的关系,她比初恋的人们还要来得坚贞不移。她痴情地盼望着他能记住她,她把他看得比天下任何男人都高出一等,幸亏她很识时务,看出了他朋友们的心思,这才没有多愁多恨,否则一定会毁了她的健康,忧乱了她心境的安宁。

   "Well, Lizzy," said Mrs. Bennet one day, "what is your opinion now of this sad business of Jane's? For my part, I am determined never to speak of it again to anybody. I told my sister Philips so the other day. But I cannot find out that Jane saw any thing of him in London. Well, he is a very undeserving young man -- and I do not suppose there is the least chance in the world of her ever getting him now. There is no talk of his coming to Netherfield again in the summer; and I have enquired of every body, too, who is likely to know."

  有一天,班纳特太太这么说:“喂,丽萃,这一下你对于吉英这件伤心事怎么看法呢?我可已经下定决心,再也不在任何人面前提起。我那天就跟我妹妹说过,我知道吉英在伦敦连他的影子也没有见到,唔,他是个不值得钟情的青年,我看她这一辈子休想嫁给他了。也没有听人谈起他夏天会回到尼日斐花园来,凡是可能知道些消息的人,我都一一问过了。”

   "I do not believe that he will ever live at Netherfield any more."

  “我看他无论如何不会再住到尼日斐花园来。

   "Oh, well! it is just as he chooses. Nobody wants him to come. Though I shall always say that he used my daughter extremely ill; and if I was her, I would not have put up with it. Well, my comfort is, I am sure Jane will die of a broken heart, and then he will be sorry for what he has done."

  “哎哟,听他的便吧。谁也没有要他来;我只觉得他太对不起我的女儿,要是我做吉英,我才受不了这口气。好吧,我也总算有个安慰:我相信吉英一定会伤心得把命也送掉,到那时候,他就会后悔当初不该那么狠心了。”

  伊丽莎白没有回答,因为为种想入非非的指望,并不能使她得到安慰。

   "Well, Lizzy," continued her mother soon afterwards, "and so the Collinses live very comfortable, do they? Well, well, I only hope it will last. And what sort of table do they keep? Charlotte is an excellent manager, I dare say. If she is half as sharp as her mother, she is saving enough. There is nothing extravagant in their housekeeping, I dare say."

  没有多大工夫,她母亲又接下去说:“这么说来,丽萃,柯林斯夫妇日子过得很舒服啊,可不是吗?好极好极,但愿他们天长地久。他们每天的饭菜怎么样?夏绿蒂一定是个了不起的管家婆。她只要有她妈妈一半那么精明,就够省俭的了。他们的日常生活决不会有什么浪费。”

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名著·傲慢与偏见 - 第57节