《简·爱》 Chapter 16 第十六章（4）

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"On the contrary," said I, "I bolted my door."

"恰恰相反，"我说，"我把门拴上了。"

Then you are not in the habit of bolting your door every night before you get into bed?

那你每天睡觉之前没有拴门的习惯吗？

Fiend! she wants to know my habits, that she may lay her plans accordingly!

这恶魔！她想知道我的习惯，好以此来算计我！

Indignation again prevailed over prudence¹.

愤怒再次压倒谨慎。

I replied sharply, "Hitherto I have often omitted to fasten the bolt. I did not think it necessary.

我尖刻地回答："到目前为止我还是常常忽略了拴门，我认为没有这必要。

I was not aware any danger or annoyance² was to be dreaded³ at Thornfield Hall.

我以前没有意识到在桑菲尔德还要担心什么危险或者烦恼。

But in future (and I laid marked stress on the words) I shall take good care to make all secure before I venture to lie down.

不过将来（我特别强调了这几个字），我要小心谨慎，弄得一切都安安全全了才敢躺下睡觉。

"It will be wise so to do," was her answer.

"这样做才聪明呢，"她回答。

This neighbourhood is as quiet as any I know,

这一带跟我知道的任何地方都一样安静，

and I never heard of the hall being attempted by robbers since it was a house,

打从府宅建成以来、我还没有听说过有强盗上门呢。

though there are hundreds of pounds' worth of plate in the plate-closet, as is well known.

尽管谁都知道，盘子柜里有价值几百英镑的盘子。

And you see, for such a large house, there are very few servants,

而且你知道，老爷不在这里长住，就是来住，

because master has never lived here much, and when he does come, being a bachelor, he needs little waiting on.

因为是单身汉也不大要人服侍，所以这么大的房子，只有很少几个仆人。

But I always think it best to err⁴ on the safe side.

不过我总认为过份注意安全总比不注意安全好。

A door is soon fastened, and it is as well to have a drawn⁵ bolt between one and any mischief⁶ that may be about.

门一下子就能拴上，还是拴上门，把自己和可能发生的祸害隔开为好。

A deal of people, Miss, are for trusting all to Providence⁷.

小姐，很多人都把一切托付给上帝。

But I say Providence will not dispense⁸ with the means, though He often blesses them when they are used discreetly⁹.

但要我说呀，上帝不会排斥采取措施，尽管他只常常祝福那些谨慎采取的措施。

And here she closed her harangue¹⁰.

说到这里她结束了长篇演说。

A long one for her, and uttered with the demureness¹¹ of a Quakeress.

这番话对地来说是够长的了，而且口气里带着贵格会女教徒的假正经。

I still stood absolutely dumfounded at what appeared to me her miraculous¹² self-possession and most inscrutable hypocrisy¹³, when the cook entered.

我依旧站在那里，正被她出奇的镇定和难以理解的虚伪弄得目瞪口呆时，厨师进门来了。

1 prudence   

n.谨慎，精明，节俭

参考例句：

• A lack of prudence may lead to financial problems.不够谨慎可能会导致财政上出现问题。
• The happy impute all their success to prudence or merit.幸运者都把他们的成功归因于谨慎或功德。

2 annoyance   

n.恼怒，生气，烦恼

参考例句：

• Why do you always take your annoyance out on me?为什么你不高兴时总是对我出气？
• I felt annoyance at being teased.我恼恨别人取笑我。

3 dreaded   

adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The dreaded moment had finally arrived. 可怕的时刻终于来到了。
• He dreaded having to spend Christmas in hospital. 他害怕非得在医院过圣诞节不可。 来自《用法词典》

4 err   

vi.犯错误，出差错

参考例句：

• He did not err by a hair's breadth in his calculation.他的计算结果一丝不差。
• The arrows err not from their aim.箭无虚发。

5 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

6 mischief   

n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹

参考例句：

• Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
• He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。

7 providence   

n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝

参考例句：

• It is tempting Providence to go in that old boat.乘那艘旧船前往是冒大险。
• To act as you have done is to fly in the face of Providence.照你的所作所为那样去行事，是违背上帝的意志的。

8 dispense   

vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施

参考例句：

• Let us dispense the food.咱们来分发这食物。
• The charity has been given a large sum of money to dispense as it sees fit.这个慈善机构获得一大笔钱，可自行适当分配。

9 discreetly   

ad.(言行)审慎地，慎重地

参考例句：

• He had only known the perennial widow, the discreetly expensive Frenchwoman. 他只知道她是个永远那么年轻的寡妇，一个很会讲排场的法国女人。
• Sensing that Lilian wanted to be alone with Celia, Andrew discreetly disappeared. 安德鲁觉得莉莲想同西莉亚单独谈些什么，有意避开了。

10 harangue   

n.慷慨冗长的训话，言辞激烈的讲话

参考例句：

• We had to listen to a long harangue about our own shortcomings.我们必须去听一有关我们缺点的长篇大论。
• The minister of propaganda delivered his usual harangue.宣传部长一如既往发表了他的长篇大论。

11 demureness   

n.demure（拘谨的，端庄的）的变形

参考例句：

12 miraculous   

adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的

参考例句：

• The wounded man made a miraculous recovery.伤员奇迹般地痊愈了。
• They won a miraculous victory over much stronger enemy.他们战胜了远比自己强大的敌人，赢得了非凡的胜利。

13 hypocrisy   

n.伪善，虚伪

参考例句：

• He railed against hypocrisy and greed.他痛斥伪善和贪婪的行为。
• He accused newspapers of hypocrisy in their treatment of the story.他指责了报纸在报道该新闻时的虚伪。