1. Some people--not you nor I, because we are so awfully self-possessed--but some people, find great difficulty in saying good-bye when making a call or spending the evening. As the moment draws near when the visitor feels that he is fairly entitled to go away he rises and says abruptly, "Well, I think I..." Then the people say, "Oh, must you go now? Surely it's early yet!" and a pitiful struggle ensues.
有些人——当然，并非你我，因为我们都是非常有自制力的人——不过，确实有那么一些人，在与某人打电话时，或者傍晚造访别人家时，在需要告别离开的时候就会感到非常难以启齿。时间越来越晚，到了那么一个时刻，客人终于觉得自己有资格离开了，于是他突然站起身来，唐突地说：“好吧，我想我......”然后，主人说：“哦，您必须现在走吗？时间还早呢！”随之而来的便是客人内心中可怜的挣扎与纠结。
2. I think the saddest case of this kind of thing that I ever knew was that of my poor friend Melpomenus Jones, a curate--such a dear young man, and only twenty-three! He simply couldn't get away from people. He was too modest to tell a lie, and too religious to wish to appear rude. Now it happened that he went to call on some friends of his on the very first afternoon of his summer vacation. The next six weeks were entirely his own--absolutely nothing to do.
我认为我所知道的这类事情中经历最悲惨的应该算是我可怜的朋友米尔博米纳斯·琼斯。他是一位助理牧师，一位年仅23岁可爱的年轻人。他就是那种不会与别人告别的人。他为人非常谦虚谨慎，不会撒谎，而且非常虔诚，在别人面前总是彬彬有礼的样子。一次，他碰巧在暑假的第一天下午去拜访他的几位朋友。接下来的六个星期时间可以完全由他自由支配——实际上是完全无事可做。
3. He chatted awhile, drank two cups of tea, then braced himself for the effort and said suddenly: "Well, I think I..." But the lady of the house said, "Oh, no! Mr. Jones, can't you really stay a little longer?" Jones was always truthful. "Oh, yes," he said, "of course, I--er--can stay." "Then please don't go." He stayed. He drank eleven cups of tea. Night was falling. He rose again. "Well now," he said shyly, "I think I really..."
他聊了一会儿，喝了两杯茶，然后努力振作起精神，突然说道：“好吧，我想我......”不过，房子的女主人说：“哦，不！琼斯先生，您真的不能再多呆一会儿吗？“琼斯一直是个实在人。 “哦，可以，”他说，“当然，我……呃……可以再呆会儿。” “那请不要走。”于是，他留了下来。他喝了11杯茶。夜幕降临，他再次站起身来。“好了，”他害羞地说，“我想我真的......”
4. "You must go?" said the lady politely. "I thought perhaps you could have stayed to dinner...""Oh well, so I could, you know," Jones said, "if..." "Then please stay, I'm sure my husband will be delighted." "All right," he said feebly, "I'll stay," and he sank back into his chair, just full of tea, and miserable. Papa came home. They had dinner. All through the meal Jones sat planning to leave at eight-thirty. All the family wondered whether Mr. Jones was stupid and sulky, or only stupid.
“您必须现在走吗？”女主人礼貌地说。“我想也许您可以留下来吃晚餐......”“哦，好吧，我可以留下了吃晚餐，您知道的，”琼斯说，“只要......”“那就请留下来吧，我相信我丈夫知道您留下来吃晚餐会很高兴的。” “好吧，”他弱弱地说，“我会留下来的。”然后，他又坐回到椅子上，不停地喝茶，同时忍受着内心中的痛苦不堪。孩子爸爸回家了。他们一家人和琼斯先生共进晚餐。进餐时，琼斯自始至终都在盘算着自己要在8点半离开。而，正在招待他的一家人都很纳闷，琼斯先生究竟是在生气和犯傻，还是仅仅是傻了。
5. After dinner mamma undertook to "draw him out," and showed him photographs. She showed him all the family museum, several gross of them--photos of papa's uncle and his wife, and mamma's brother and his little boy, an awfully interesting photo of papa's uncle's friend in his Bengal uniform, an awfully well-taken photo of papa's grandfather's partner's dog, and an awfully wicked one of papa as the devil for a fancy-dress ball. At eight-thirty Jones had examined seventy-one photographs. There were about sixty-nine more that he hadn't. Jones rose.
饭后，孩子妈妈试图把他从这种状态中“拉”出来，于是她给他看了很多照片。她向他展示了她家“家庭博物馆”的全部家当，其中包括：孩子爸爸的叔叔和婶婶的照片、 孩子妈妈的兄弟和他的孩子的照片、孩子爸爸的叔叔的朋友身着孟加拉军服拍摄的一张非常有趣的照片、一张拍摄得非常棒的孩子爸爸的祖父的老伴的狗的照片，以及孩子爸爸参加化妆舞会时拍摄的一张非常搞怪的魔鬼装扮照片。时间来到了八点半，琼斯已经认真地欣赏了71张照片，还有至少大约69张照片没来得及看。琼斯再次站起身来。
6. "I must say good night now," he pleaded. "Say good night!" they said, "why it's only half-past eight! Have you anything to do?" "Nothing," he admitted, and muttered something about staying six weeks, and then laughed miserably. Just then it turned out that the favourite child of the family, such a dear little romp, had hidden Mr. Jones's hat; so papa said that he must stay, and invited him to a pipe and a chat. Papa had the pipe and gave Jones the chat, and still he stayed. Every moment he meant to take the plunge, but couldn't.
“我现在必须说晚安了，”他央求着说。“说晚安？！”他们说，“为什么？现在刚刚八点半！您是有其他事情吗？” “没别的事情，”他承认道，并咕哝着要在这边呆六个星期，然后苦笑起来。就在这时，他们发现家里最受宠的孩子，就是那个调皮可爱的小女孩，把琼斯先生的帽子藏了起来。于是，孩子爸爸说琼斯先生必须留下来，并邀请他抽支烟斗，再聊会儿天。孩子爸爸手里拿着烟斗，跟琼斯聊天。于是，他又一次没走成。他时时刻刻想的都是再冒险尝试一次离开，但他没有做到。
7. Then papa began to get very tired of Jones, and fidgeted and finally said, with jocular irony, that Jones had better stay all night, they could give him a shake-down. Jones mistook his meaning and thanked him with tears in his eyes, and papa put Jones to bed in the spare room and cursed him heartily.
随后，孩子爸爸开始对琼斯感到厌烦，变得坐立不安，最终用带些诙谐、讽刺的口吻说，琼斯最好留下过夜，让他们给他一次适应新环境的机会。琼斯误解了他的意思，含着眼泪对他表示了感谢。于是，孩子爸爸把琼斯带到了客房睡觉，并在内心里狠狠地诅咒了他。
8. After breakfast next day, papa went off to his work in the City, and left Jones playing with the baby, broken-hearted. His nerve was utterly gone. He was meaning to leave all day, but the thing had got on his mind and he simply couldn't. When papa came home in the evening he was surprised and chagrined to find Jones still there. He thought to jockey him out with a jest, and said he thought he'd have to charge him for his board, he! he! The unhappy young man stared wildly for a moment, then wrung papa's hand, paid him a month's board in advance, and broke down and sobbed like a child.
第二天早餐后，孩子爸爸出门到城里上班去了，留下琼斯陪婴儿玩。此时的琼斯内心已几近崩溃，仅有的一点儿勇气也已荡然无存。一整天，他都在想着离开，但也只是想想而已，根本没有付诸行动。当孩子爸爸晚上回到家时，他惊讶并失望地发现琼斯居然还在家里。他想以一种开玩笑的方式把他赶出家门，并告诉他，他认为他得向他收取住宿费，嘿嘿！那个闷闷不乐的年轻人瞪大眼睛盯着看了好一会儿，然后紧紧握住孩子爸爸的手，预付了一个月的住宿费，随后像个孩子一样失声痛哭起来。
9. In the days that followed he was moody and unapproachable. He lived, of course, entirely in the drawing-room, and the lack of air and exercise began to tell sadly on his health. He passed his time in drinking tea and looking at the photographs. He would stand for hours gazing at the photographs of papa's uncle's friend in his Bengal uniform--talking to it, sometimes swearing bitterly at it. His mind was visibly failing.
在接下来的日子里，他情绪低落，不爱搭理人。当然，他整日都宅在客厅里，呼吸不到新鲜空气并且缺乏锻炼，开始令他的健康状况变糟。一天到晚，他除了喝茶就是看照片。他会连续站着几个小时，凝视着孩子爸爸叔叔的朋友穿着孟加拉军服的照片——甚至会对着它说话，有时还会对着它恶毒地咒骂。显然，他的精神状况正在变得越来越糟。
10. At length the crash came. They carried him upstairs in a raging delirium of fever. The illness that followed was terrible. He recognized no one, not even papa's uncle's friend in his Bengal uniform. At times he would start up from his bed and shriek, "Well, I think I..." and then fall back upon the pillow with a horrible laugh. Then, again, he would leap up and cry, "Another cup of tea and more photographs! More photographs! Har! Har!"
他终于崩溃了。他们把发着高烧且极度狂躁的他带到了楼上。接下来，他的病情变得更加严重。他谁也认不出了，甚至穿着孟加拉军服的孩子爸爸叔叔的朋友也是一样。偶尔，他会突然从床上起身并尖叫道：“好吧，我想我......”然后又躺回到枕头上，发出可怕的笑声。然后，他会再一次突然起身并惊叫道：“再喝杯茶，再看几张照片！再看几张照片！哈！哈！”
11. At length, after a month of agony, on the last day of his vacation, he passed away. They say that when the last moment came, he sat up in bed with a beautiful smile of confidence playing upon his face, and said, "Well--the angels are calling me; I'm afraid I really must go now. Good afternoon." And the rushing of his spirit from its prison-house was as rapid as a hunted cat passing over a garden fence.
经过一个月的痛苦挣扎，在他假期的最后一天，他终于离开了人世。他们说，当最后一刻来临时，他起身坐在床上，脸上露出美丽又自信的笑容，然后说道： “好吧，天使们在呼唤我；不好意思，我现在真的必须离开了。下午好。”。然后，他的灵魂冲破这所“牢房”——房子——的束缚，就如同一只被追赶的猫越过花园围栏时一样迅速。
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