《傲慢与偏见》 第61章(3)

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The congratulatory letter which Elizabeth received from Lydia on her marriage, explained to her that, by his wife at least, if not by himself, such a hope was cherished¹. The letter was to this effect:

伊丽莎白结婚的时候，接到丽迪雅的一封祝贺信。她看得很明白，即使韦翰本人没有存那种指望，至少他太太也有那种意思。那封信是这样写的：

"MY DEAR LlZZY, I wish you joy. If you love Mr. Darcy half as well as I do my dear Wickham, you must be very happy. It is a great comfort to have you so rich, and when you have nothing else to do, I hope you will think of us. I am sure Wickham would like a place at court very much, and I do not think we shall have quite money enough to live upon without some help. Any place would do, of about three or four hundred a year; but however, do not speak to Mr. Darcy about it, if you had rather not.Your's, &c."

亲爱的丽萃：祝你愉快。要是你爱达西先生抵得上我爱韦翰的一半，那你一定会非常幸福了。你能这样富有，真叫人十分快慰；当你闲来无事的时候，希望你会想到我们。我相信韦翰极其希望在宫廷里找份差事做做。要是再没有别人帮帮忙，我们便很难维持生计了。随便什么差使都行，只要每年有三四百镑的收入。不过，要是你不愿意跟达西讲，那就不必提起。

As it happened that Elizabeth had much rather not, she endeavoured in her answer to put an end to every intreaty and expectation of the kind. Such relief, however, as it was in her power to afford, by the practice of what might be called economy in her own private expences, she frequently sent them. It had always been evident to her that such an income as theirs, under the direction of two persons so extravagant² in their wants, and heedless of the future, must be very insufficient³ to their support; and whenever they changed their quarters, either Jane or herself were sure of being applied⁴ to for some little assistance towards discharging their bills.

伊丽莎白果然不愿意讲，因此在回信中尽力打消她这种希望，断了她这一类的念头。－－不过伊丽莎白还是尽量把自己平日的用途节省一些，积下钱来去接济妹妹。她一向看得很明白，他们的收入那么少，两口子又挥霍无度，只顾眼前，不顾今后，这当然不够维持生活；每逢他们搬家，伊丽莎白或是吉英总是接到他们的信，要求接济他们一些钱去偿付账款。

1 cherished   

v.珍爱( cherish的过去式和过去分词 )；怀有；爱护；抚育

参考例句：

• Children need to be cherished. 儿童需要无微不至的爱护。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer. 她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 extravagant   

adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的

参考例句：

• They tried to please him with fulsome compliments and extravagant gifts.他们想用溢美之词和奢华的礼品来取悦他。
• He is extravagant in behaviour.他行为放肆。

3 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

4 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。