月亮和六便士 第八章(2)

 　　I had not been back twenty-four hours before I ran across Rose Waterford in Jermyn Street. 回到伦敦还不到二十四小时，我就在杰尔敏大街上遇见了柔斯·瓦特尔芙德。

　　You look very gay and sprightly¹, I said. "What's the matter with you?" "看你今天这么喜气洋洋的样子，"我说，"有什么开心的事啊？"

　　She smiled, and her eyes shone with a malice² I knew already.  她笑了起来，眼睛流露出一道我早已熟悉的幸灾乐祸的闪光。

　　It meant that she had heard some scandal about one of her friends, and the instinct of the literary woman was all alert. 这意味着她又听到她的某个朋友的一件丑闻，这位女作家的直觉已经处于极度警觉状态。

　　You did meet Charles Strickland, didn't you? "你看见过查理斯·思特里克兰德，是不是？"

　　Not only her face, but her whole body, gave a sense of alacrity³. I nodded. 不仅她的面孔，就连她的全身都变得非常紧张。我点了点头。

　　I wondered if the poor devil had been hammered on the Stock Exchange or run over by an omnibus. 我怀疑这个倒霉鬼是不是在证券交易所蚀了老本儿，要不就是让公共汽车轧伤了。

　　Isn't it dreadful? He's run away from his wife. "你说，是不是太可怕了？他把他老婆扔了，跑掉了。"

　　Miss Waterford certainly felt that she could not do her subject justice on the curb⁴ of Jermyn Street,  瓦特尔芙德小姐肯定觉得，在杰尔敏大街马路边上讲这个故事大辱没这样一个好题目，

　　and so, like an artist, flung the bare fact at me and declared that she knew no details.  所以她只是象个艺术家似地把主题抛出来，宣称她并不知道细节。

　　I could not do her the injustice⁵ of supposing that so trifling⁶ a circumstance would have prevented her from giving them, but she was obstinate⁷. 而我却不能埋没她的口才，认为根本无需介意的环境竟会妨碍她给我讲述故事。但是她还是执拗地不肯讲。

　　I tell you I know nothing, she said, in reply to my agitated⁸ questions, and then, with an airy shrug⁹ of the shoulders:  "我告诉你我什么也不知道，"她回答我激动的问题说，接着，很俏皮地耸了耸肩膀，又加了一句：

　　"I believe that a young person in a city tea-shop has left her situation." "我相信伦敦哪家茶点店准有一位年轻姑娘把活儿辞了。"

　　She flashed a smile at me, and, protesting an engagement with her dentist, jauntily¹⁰ walked on.  她朝我笑了一下，道歉说同牙医生约定了时间，便神气十足地扬长而去。

　　I was more interested than distressed¹¹.  这个消息与其说叫我难过，不如说使我很感兴趣。

　　In those days my experience of life at first hand was small, and it excited me to come upon an incident among people I knew of the same sort as I had read in books.  在那些日子里我的见闻还很少是亲身经历的第一手材料，因此在我碰到这样一件我在书本里阅读到的故事时，觉得非常兴奋。

　　I confess that time has now accustomed me to incidents of this character among my acquaintance.  我承认，现在时间和阅历已经使我习惯于在我相识的人中遇到这类事情了。

　　But I was a little shocked.  但是我当时还有一种惊骇的感觉。

　　Strickland was certainly forty, and I thought it disgusting that a man of his age should concern himself with affairs of the heart.  思特里克兰德那一年一定已经有四十岁了，我认为象他这样年纪的人再牵扯到这种爱情瓜葛中未免令人作呕。

　　With the superciliousness¹² of extreme youth, I put thirty-five as the utmost limit at which a man might fall in love without making a fool of himself.  在我当时年幼无知，睥睨一切的目光中，一个人陷入爱情而又不使自己成为笑柄，三十五岁是最大的年限。

　　And this news was slightly disconcerting to me personally, because I had written from the country to Mrs. Strickland, announcing my return,  除此以外，这个新闻也给我个人添了点儿小麻烦。原来我在乡下就给思特里克兰德太太写了信，通知她我回伦敦的日期，

　　and had added that unless I heard from her to the contrary, I would come on a certain day to drink a dish of tea with her.  并且在信中说好如果她不回信另作安排的话，我将在某月某日到她家去吃茶。

　　This was the very day, and I had received no word from Mrs.Strickland.  我遇见瓦特尔芙德小姐正是在这一天，可是思特里克兰德太太并没有给我捎什么信来。

　　Did she want to see me or did she not? It was likely enough that in the agitation¹³ of the moment my note had escaped her memory.  她到底想不想见我呢？非常可能，她在心绪烦乱中把我信里订的约会忘到脑后了。

　　Perhaps I should be wiser not to go.  也许我应该有自知之明，不去打扰她。

　　On the other hand, she might wish to keep the affair quiet, and it might be highly indiscreet on my part to give any sign that this strange news had reached me.  可是另一方面，她也可能想把这件事瞒着我，如果我叫她猜出来自己已经听到这件奇怪的消息，那就太不慎重了。

　　I was torn between the fear of hurting a nice woman's feelings and the fear of being in the way.  我既怕伤害这位夫人的感情，又怕去她家作客惹她心烦，心里非常矛盾。

　　I felt she must be suffering, and I did not want to see a pain which I could not help;  我知道她这时一定痛苦不堪，我不愿意看到别人受苦，自己无力替她分忧；

　　but in my heart was a desire, that I felt a little ashamed of, to see how she was taking it.  但另一方面我又很想看一看思特里克兰德太太对这件事有何反应，尽管我对这个想法自己也觉得不好意思。

　　I did not know what to do. 我真不知道该怎么办好了。

1 sprightly   

adj.愉快的，活泼的

参考例句：

• She is as sprightly as a woman half her age.她跟比她年轻一半的妇女一样活泼。
• He's surprisingly sprightly for an old man.他这把年纪了，还这么精神，真了不起。

2 malice   

n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋

参考例句：

• I detected a suggestion of malice in his remarks.我觉察出他说的话略带恶意。
• There was a strong current of malice in many of his portraits.他的许多肖像画中都透着一股强烈的怨恨。

3 alacrity   

n.敏捷，轻快，乐意

参考例句：

• Although the man was very old,he still moved with alacrity.他虽然很老，动作仍很敏捷。
• He accepted my invitation with alacrity.他欣然接受我的邀请。

4 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

5 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

6 trifling   

adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的

参考例句：

• They quarreled over a trifling matter.他们为这种微不足道的事情争吵。
• So far Europe has no doubt, gained a real conveniency,though surely a very trifling one.直到现在为止,欧洲无疑地已经获得了实在的便利，不过那确是一种微不足道的便利。

7 obstinate   

adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的

参考例句：

• She's too obstinate to let anyone help her.她太倔强了，不会让任何人帮她的。
• The trader was obstinate in the negotiation.这个商人在谈判中拗强固执。

8 agitated   

adj.被鼓动的，不安的

参考例句：

• His answers were all mixed up,so agitated was he.他是那样心神不定，回答全乱了。
• She was agitated because her train was an hour late.她乘坐的火车晚点一个小时，她十分焦虑。

9 shrug   

v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等)

参考例句：

• With a shrug,he went out of the room.他耸一下肩，走出了房间。
• I admire the way she is able to shrug off unfair criticism.我很佩服她能对错误的批评意见不予理会。

10 jauntily   

adv.心满意足地；洋洋得意地；高兴地；活泼地

参考例句：

• His straw hat stuck jauntily on the side of his head. 他那顶草帽时髦地斜扣在头上。 来自辞典例句
• He returned frowning, his face obstinate but whistling jauntily. 他回来时皱眉蹙额，板着脸，嘴上却快活地吹着口哨。 来自辞典例句

11 distressed   

痛苦的

参考例句：

• He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑，无法回答他们的问题。
• The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。

12 superciliousness   

n.高傲，傲慢

参考例句：

• Life had not taught her domination--superciliousness of grace, which is the lordly power of some women. 她的生活经历使她和那些威风凛凛的夫人们不同，她身上没有专横和傲气。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Eyes looking sideways can show one's coldness and superciliousness. 眼睛旁顾，态度冷淡，目空一切的眼神。 来自互联网

13 agitation   

n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动

参考例句：

• Small shopkeepers carried on a long agitation against the big department stores.小店主们长期以来一直在煽动人们反对大型百货商店。
• These materials require constant agitation to keep them in suspension.这些药剂要经常搅动以保持悬浮状态。