Vanity Fair , a novel by William Makepeace Thackeray |
CHAPTER XLI. In Which Becky Revisits the Halls of Her Ancestors |
【 名利场 : 四十一章。 蓓基重访祖居】 ( 节译 ) by 萨克雷
So the mourning being ready, and Sir Pitt Crawley warned of their arrival, Colonel Crawley and his wife took a couple of places in the same old High-flyer coach by which Rebecca had travelled in the defunct Baronet's company, on her first journey into the world some nine years before. How well she remembered the Inn Yard, and the ostler to whom she refused money, and the insinuating Cambridge lad who wrapped her in his coat on the journey! Rawdon took his place outside, and would have liked to drive, but his grief forbade him. He sat by the coachman and talked about horses and the road the whole way; and who kept the inns, and who horsed the coach by which he had travelled so many a time, when he and Pitt were boys going to Eton. At Mudbury a carriage and a pair of horses received them, with a coachman in black. "It's the old drag, Rawdon," Rebecca said as they got in. "The worms have eaten the cloth a good deal--there's the stain which Sir Pitt--ha! I see Dawson the Ironmonger has his shutters up--which Sir Pitt made such a noise about. It was a bottle of cherry brandy he broke which we went to fetch for your aunt from Southampton. How time flies, to be sure! That can't be Polly Talboys, that bouncing girl standing by her mother at the cottage there. I remember her a mangy little urchin picking weeds in the garden."
因 此， 哀 悼 的仪式穿的丧服 准 备好了，皮特 · 克劳利爵士预先告知他们要赶回来参加追悼会，帕特里克上校和他的妻子一起乘坐一辆旧式的高雅的四轮马车途中停留过几个地方，就在大约九年前丽贝卡也曾在已去世的准男爵陪同下有生以来首次也乘坐这同一辆马车踏上旅程外出旅游。她非常清楚地记得那座客栈的院子 , 还有在那里照料他们马匹的马夫向她要钱她没有给，而那献媚的剑桥小伙子在旅途中把他的大衣裹在她身上！马车停下来 , 罗登从上面下来 , 站在外面，而他曾想帮着赶这马车，但他的过度悲伤打消了他的这一念头。他坐在马车夫旁边 , 在整个路途中和他谈起马和道路 ， 还谈起 是 谁管理那些小旅馆，当他和皮特还是上伊顿公学念书的男孩子时 , 是谁曾为他乘坐过这么多次的马车套上马。在马徳伯里一个穿黑衣的马车夫驾一辆双马车接待了他们。 当他们坐进马车时 , 丽贝卡说 : “ 罗登，这又是那辆破旧的马车 ， “ ， 这块座椅上的 布 很大一部分已经被 这些 虫子 吞噬了 --- 哈哈 - 皮特爵士 ， 这里 有 着一块 污渍 ! - 我看到 那个小五金商人 道森 突然朝上拉起靠着他 的 那 百叶窗 - ---- 为这块污 渍 - 当时皮特爵士还发过一场脾气。正是他打碎的我们从南安普敦为你的姑妈带回来的一瓶樱桃白兰地酒弄上的这块污渍。啊 , 时间过得真快！在那幢别墅那儿站在她的母亲旁边欢蹦乱跳的那女孩，那不可能是波利 · 托尔博伊斯。我记得她 , 一个曾穿着褴 褛 衣服 在花园里采摘的 杂草小顽童。
"Fine gal," said Rawdon, returning the salute which the cottage gave him, by two fingers applied to his crape hatband. Becky bowed and saluted, and recognized people here and there graciously. These recognitions were inexpressibly pleasant to her. It seemed as if she was not an imposter any more, and was coming to the home of her ancestors. Rawdon was rather abashed and cast down, on the other hand. What recollections of boyhood and innocence might have been flitting across his brain? What pangs of dim remorse and doubt and shame?
罗登说： “ 好姑娘， “ ，他把两个手指触摸到他的黑纱帽圈 , 向那幢别墅前的人们给予他的致意回礼，蓓基优雅地到处向她还认得的人鞠躬并致意。这些人的认可对她来说是有说不出来的开心。而这次当她回到了她祖先的家中时，似乎就好像她不再是一名招摇撞骗的骗子了。罗登显得相当羞愧，并在另一方面又显得很沮丧。是什么样的童年的往事和天真浪漫的回忆可能会迅速掠过他的大脑？是什么样的暗淡的悔恨，怀疑和羞耻在他心中阵阵发痛啊 ？
"Your sisters must be young women now," Rebecca said, thinking of those girls for the first time perhaps since she had left them.
“ 你的妹 妹 们现在必定长大成年轻女性了， “ 丽贝卡说，从她离开她们以来也许第一次想到她们 。
"Don't know, I'm shaw," replied the Colonel. "Hullo! here's old Mother Lock. How-dy-do, Mrs. Lock? Remember me, don't you? Master Rawdon, hey? Dammy how those old women last; she was a hundred when I was a boy."
“ 不知道，我是 小灌木林 ， “ 上校 回答说 。 “ 你好！。 这是洛克老妈妈 . 洛克夫人 , 你好吗 ? 你还记得我，对吗 ? 嗨 , 罗登少爷吗 ? 夫人 , 这些老妇人活得很长寿啊 ; 当我 还 是 一个 孩 子的时候 , 感觉 她 就像活到一百岁了 “
They were going through the lodge-gates kept by old Mrs. Lock, whose hand Rebecca insisted upon shaking, as she flung open the creaking old iron gate, and the carriage passed between the two moss-grown pillars surmounted by the dove and serpent.
他 们要通过由老洛克夫人看守的小旅馆的门，丽贝卡执意要与她握手，当老洛克夫人猛地打开吱吱作响的旧铁门时，马车从顶上雕塑有鸽子和蛇的造型的长满了苔藓的两根柱子之间经过 。
"The governor has cut into the timber," Rawdon said, looking about, and then was silent--so was Becky. Both of them were rather agitated, and thinking of old times. He about Eton, and his mother, whom he remembered, a frigid demure woman, and a sister who died, of whom he had been passionately fond; and how he used to thrash Pitt; and about little Rawdy at home. And Rebecca thought about her own youth and the dark secrets of those early tainted days; and of her entrance into life by yonder gates; and of Miss Pinkerton, and Joe, and Amelia.
“ 我们父亲砍掉了庄园里的不少树 ， “ 罗登说道，环顾一下周围，然后沉默不语 --- - 蓓基也 是 如此 。他们两人都相当激动，而他们想到过去的时代。他想起伊顿公学，他的母亲，他记得她，是一个冷淡而娴静的女性，和一个去世了妹妹，他曾是很深情地喜爱她 ; 以及他过去经常如何用鞭抽打皮特，还想起了家里的小小的罗迪 。 而 丽贝卡想到她自己的年轻的时候和那些早期的堕落的岁月的十分 秘密 的往事 ，以及 想到 她 直到跨进这家族 的 大 门才算真正进 入 了 生活 ，还想到了平克顿小姐，乔和阿米莉亚 。
The gravel walk and terrace had been scraped quite clean. A grand painted hatchment was already over the great entrance, and two very solemn and tall personages in black flung open each a leaf of the door as the carriage pulled up at the familiar steps. Rawdon turned red, and Becky somewhat pale, as they passed through the old hall, arm in arm. She pinched her hu*****and's arm as they entered the oak parlour, where Sir Pitt and his wife were ready to receive them. Sir Pitt in black, Lady Jane in black, and my Lady Southdown with a large black head-piece of bugles and feathers, which waved on her Ladyship's head like an undertaker's tray.
砾石铺的人行道和露台已被擦很干净。一个宏大上了色的 死者菱形绞 章 的 丧事标 志已 经挂在大门口上方，随着马车在熟悉的台阶上停下来，两个穿黑衣的表情非常沉重的高个人士猛地打开每一扇门。当他们俩手挽着手经过旧的大殿时，罗登脸色渐渐变成了红色，蓓基的脸色有些苍白。在他们进入橡木装饰的客厅时，她在紧紧地抓住丈夫的手臂 . 皮特爵士和他的夫人正准备在那客厅接待他们。皮特爵士穿黑衣，简夫人也穿黑衣，而绍斯唐夫人头上戴着一个很大的装饰有喇叭形的玻璃珠子和羽毛的黑色帽子，它就像殡仪员手上拿着的一个托盘在夫人头上晃动着 。
Sir Pitt had judged correctly, that she would not quit the premises. She contented herself by preserving a solemn and stony silence, when in company of Pitt and his rebellious wife, and by frightening the children in the nursery by the ghastly gloom of her demeanour. Only a very faint bending of the head-dress and plumes welcomed Rawdon and his wife, as those prodigals returned to their family.
皮特爵士 的 判断 是 正确 的 , 她 并没有离开 。 在 皮特 和他的脾气倔强的妻子陪同下，绍斯唐夫人以她的可怕的忧郁情绪的行为举止恐吓住幼儿园的孩子们，而保持一种庄严肃穆而冷酷无情的寂静使 她 感到 心 满意足。当这些回家的浪子回到他们的家里时，她却只极轻微地弯曲头饰和羽毛来欢迎罗登和他的妻子 。
To say the truth, they were not affected very much one way or other by this coolness. Her Ladyship was a person only of secondary consideration in their minds just then--they were intent upon the reception which the reigning brother and sister would afford them.
说实话，在这样或那样的一定程度上 , 他们并没有受到这种冷漠态度的很大地影响。恰好当时在他们的心目中夫人只是作为一个陪衬的人物来考虑 - -- 他 们只关心家中占支配地位的哥哥和嫂嫂将给予他们的接待 。
Pitt, with rather a heightened colour, went up and shook his brother by the hand, and saluted Rebecca with a hand-shake and a very low bow. But Lady Jane took both the hands of her sister-in-law and kissed her affectionately. The embrace somehow brought tears into the eyes of the little adventuress--which ornaments, as we know, she wore very seldom. The artless mark of kindness and confidence touched and pleased her; and Rawdon, encouraged by this demonstration on his sister's part, twirled up his mustachios and took leave to salute Lady Jane with a kiss, which caused her Ladyship to blush exceedingly.
皮特， 脸色发红 ，走上前去 抓住 他 弟弟 的手，并 与丽贝卡握手 , 向她浅浅欠身鞠躬 致意。但简夫人拉住她 弟媳 的两只手，并深情地吻了她。不知何故与她相拥引发这位小女冒险家眼含泪花 --- - ，如我们所知道的，她很少这样流泪的。这简夫人仁慈和信任的朴实的印象感动和愉悦了她 ; 而罗登受到他嫂嫂所表现出的极热情的鼓励，捻弄着他的胡须 吻一 下 简夫人向她 致意 并 告辞， 这使夫人感到非常受窘极其脸红 。
"Dev'lish nice little woman, Lady Jane," was his verdict, when he and his wife were together again. "Pitt's got fat, too, and is doing the thing handsomely." "He can afford it," said Rebecca and agreed in her hu*****and's farther opinion "that the mother-in-law was a tremendous old Guy--and that the sisters were rather well-looking young women."
当他和他的妻子 再一次单独 在一起 时 ， 罗登说 :” 他 觉得简 夫人是 一个很好的 小女人 “ 。 丽贝卡说： “ 皮特 也 已经 长胖了，而这场丧事办得堂皇 , 排场大。 “ 他 有钱付得起 ， ” 并 同意她的岳 父 的 观点 “ 那就是 ，岳母是一个 极可畏 的老 人 - 。 而妹 妹 们都是容貌相当漂亮的年轻女性 . “
They, too, had been summoned from school to attend the funeral ceremonies. It seemed Sir Pitt Crawley, for the dignity of the house and family, had thought right to have about the place as many persons in black as could possibly be assembled. All the men and maids of the house, the old women of the Alms House, whom the elder Sir Pitt had cheated out of a great portion of their due, the parish clerk's family, and the special retainers of both Hall and Rectory were habited in sable; added to these, the undertaker's men, at least a score, with crapes and hatbands, and who made goodly show when the great burying show took place--but these are mute personages in our drama; and having nothing to do or say, need occupy a very little space here.
她 们两个姑娘也已经从学校立即通知回来出席葬礼仪式。为了贵族家庭的尊严，似乎皮特 · 克劳利爵士认为有权利要求这里应尽其可能多聚集接待所有穿黑衣服的人来送葬。这所房子里的所有的男人和女佣，救济院的老年妇女，年老的皮 特 爵士 已 经从他们那里骗取了一大笔款项，教区执事的全家人及庄园和牧师家中主要的仆人都穿着黑色的丧服 ; 除了 这些人之外，承办丧葬的男人，至少有 20 个人袖上戴上黑纱 和 黑色帽圈 ，当盛大的葬礼进行时 , 这些人都在作出表面虔诚的表演 ---- - 但 他们都是我们这出戏剧中扮演的哑剧角色的演员，他们并没有什么可以做或者可以说的，在这里就不需要多叙述了 , 他们只是装装门面而已 。
With regard to her sisters-in-law Rebecca did not attempt to forget her former position of Governess towards them, but recalled it frankly and kindly, and asked them about their studies with great gravity, and told them that she had thought of them many and many a day, and longed to know of their welfare. In fact you would have supposed that ever since she had left them she had not ceased to keep them uppermost in her thoughts and to take the tenderest interest in their welfare. So supposed Lady Crawley herself and her young sisters.
对 于她的 小姑们 , 丽贝 卡 一直在惦念着 她 作为 家庭 教师曾 在 她 们心目中 所具有 的 地 位，但 她 坦率 而怀念地 回 顾那段往事 ，并极 认真地询问 她 们 学 习情况 ，并告 诉 她 们 每 一 天她 都会 想到 她 们许多许多次 ，并 渴 望了解 她 们 的 幸 福 , 健康 。事 实 上， 你会 猜想得到 自从她离 开 她 们以来 ， 她没有停止 过 在她的 心中对 她 们深深的牵挂 ，并 最体贴入微的关心她 们 的 幸 福 。克 劳 利夫人自己和她的 两个 年 轻 的 个小姑 也应该是这么想的 。
"She's hardly changed since eight years," said Miss Rosalind to Miss Violet, as they were preparing for dinner.
当她们正准备换装去吃晚饭时 . 罗莎琳德 小姐 对维奥莱特 小姐 说： “ 八年以来 她几乎没有 变化 , “ 。
"Those red-haired women look wonderfully well," replied the other.
“ 这些红头发的女人看起来特棒， “ 另一位回答说 。
"Hers is much darker than it was; I think she must dye it," Miss Rosalind added. "She is stouter, too, and altogether improved," continued Miss Rosalind, who was disposed to be very fat.
她的 头发颜色 比 以前 更 深了 ，我想她 头发 一定染 过色 ， “ 罗莎琳德 小姐 补充道。 “ 她 长 得更胖了 ， 並 完全 变 得更好看了 ， “ 自己就 已变得 非常胖 的 罗莎琳德小姐继续说道 。
"At least she gives herself no airs and remembers that she was our Governess once," Miss Violet said, intimating that it befitted all governesses to keep their proper place, and forgetting altogether that she was granddaughter not only of Sir Walpole Crawley, but of Mr. Dawson of Mudbury, and so had a coal-scuttle in her scutcheon. There are other very well-meaning people whom one meets every day in Vanity Fair who are surely equally oblivious.
“ 至少她 自己没有故作姿态摆架子，记得她曾经是我们的家庭教师， “ 维奥莱特小姐说，她明白表示她 把自己放置在 适当 应有 的 谦虚谨慎的 位置上 , 这是她应该作的 ， 她 完全忘了她不 仅是沃波尔 · 克劳利爵士的孙女，而且还是默徳柏里的道森先生的外孙女 ， 既使 这样 , 在她祖传的纹章中还有个煤斗子呢 , 说明她们以前的地位是卑微的。在名利场中 , 我们每一天都会遇见许多像她一样有善心而爱健忘的人 。
"It can't be true what the girls at the Rectory said, that her mother was an opera-dancer--"
如那些牧师家里的女孩子所说的 :” 她们的母亲是一个歌剧院里的舞女 - “ 这不可能是真实的吧 .”
“
"A person can't help their birth," Rosalind replied with great liberality. "And I agree with our brother, that as she is in the family, of course we are bound to notice her. I am sure Aunt Bute need not talk; she wants to marry Kate to young Hooper, the wine-merchant, and absolutely asked him to come to the Rectory for orders."
“ 一个人不能 选择 他 们自己的出生， “ 罗莎琳德胸怀非常宽广地回答说。 “ 我同意我 们的哥哥的意见，当她是我们家里的人时，当然我们一定会关注到她，我敢肯定布特姑妈没有必要谈论什么了 , 她想 把 凯特 嫁 给年轻的酒店老板胡珀，为了向他定购酒 , 毫无疑问地就把他请到家里来了。 “
"I wonder whether Lady Southdown will go away, she looked very glum upon Mrs. Rawdon," the other said.
另一 位 说到 : “ 我 想知道 绍斯唐 夫人 是不是会离开这里，她很忧郁地看着罗登夫人， “ 。
"I wish she would. I won't read the Washerwoman of Finchley Common," vowed Violet; and so saying, and avoiding a passage at the end of which a certain coffin was placed with a couple of watchers, and lights perpetually burning in the closed room, these young women came down to the family dinner, for which the bell rang as usual.
维奥莱特发誓说 “ 我希望她 要走就走 , 不留她 . 我 本人不 会阅读 ≪ 芬奇利 ·康门的 ” 洗衣妇 ”» 一书 . “ ，说完了这番话之后，她避免走过那段走廊 , 在那尽头放置着一口棺材，有两三个守灵者看护着 , 而照明灯光永远在那封闭的房间里点燃着，为此，吃饭铃声如往常一样响起 , 这些年轻的妇女从楼上下来吃晚饭 。
But before this, Lady Jane conducted Rebecca to the apartments prepared for her, which, with the rest of the house, had assumed a very much improved appearance of order and comfort during Pitt's regency, and here beholding that Mrs. Rawdon's modest little trunks had arrived, and were placed in the bedroom and dressing-room adjoining, helped her to take off her neat black bonnet and cloak, and asked her sister-in-law in what more she could be useful.
但在 晚饭 之前， 简 夫人 引导丽贝卡去为她准备好的房间，在皮特管理期间 , 这些公寓和其余的房子已经呈现相当改善的整齐和舒适的外观，那里简 夫人 看见罗登夫人的外观朴素的几个小皮箱已经送到了，并分别放置在卧室和毗邻的化妆室内，就帮助弟媳脱下整洁的黑帽子和斗篷，问她还需要什么东西可能会派上用场的 。
"What I should like best," said Rebecca, "would be to go to the nursery and see your dear little children." On which the two ladies looked very kindly at each other and went to that apartment hand in hand.
丽贝卡说 : “ 我最 想 去幼儿园看 望 你 那 亲爱的小孩子们。 “ 她这样一说 ，两位女士 很友好地望着 彼此 ，手牵手地走去那里 。
Becky admired little Matilda, who was not quite four years old, as the most charming little love in the world; and the boy, a little fellow of two years--pale, heavy-eyed, and large-headed--she pronounced to be a perfect prodigy in point of size, intelligence, and beauty.
蓓基很欣赏年纪还不满四岁的小玛蒂尔达，称她是世界上最迷人的小小的爱心和那个男孩，一个两岁大的小家伙 - -- 苍白脸色，疲倦的眼睛，硕大的头部 - -- 她宣 称他个子长得大 , 就他的 智慧和美丽的容貌而言 , 他将来 会成为 一个 完美的天才 。
"I wish Mamma would not insist on giving him so much medicine," Lady Jane said with a sigh. "I often think we should all be better without it." And then Lady Jane and her new-found friend had one of those confidential medical conversations about the children, which all mothers, and most women, as I am given to understand, delight in. Fifty years ago, and when the present writer, being an interesting little boy, was ordered out of the room with the ladies after dinner, I remember quite well that their talk was chiefly about their ailments; and putting this question directly to two or three since, I have always got from them the acknowledgement that times are not changed. Let my fair readers remark for themselves this very evening when they quit the dessert-table and assemble to celebrate the drawing-room mysteries. Well--in half an hour Becky and Lady Jane were close and intimate friends--and in the course of the evening her Ladyship informed Sir Pitt that she thought her new sister-in-law was a kind, frank, unaffected, and affectionate young woman.
简 夫人 叹 了口气 说 :” 我 真 希望 妈妈 不会 坚 持 给 他 那么 多 的 药 物， “ 。 “ 我 常常想， 如果不服用这些 药 物 , 我 们本来 都 应该会好得多 。 “ 然后 简 夫人和她 新结识 的朋友 便谈起 这类有关 儿童医 疗保健 的机密 话题 ， 如 我 所 理解的 , 这样的谈话应该 是 让 所 有母 亲 和大多数的女性 感到 喜 欢 的 . ，五十年前， 现 今 的作 家，当 时 还是 一个有趣的小男孩， 吃过 晚饭 后 要随夫人们一起离开饭厅 ， 我 记 得 很清楚， 她 们 主要是 谈到 她 们自己患 的疾 病， 而今 并 就 这 个 问题我 直 接 请教过 两三 位夫人 ，我 总 是从 她 们 那 里得到承 认 , 称这种情况 没有改 变 。 还是让 我的 非 常公 正 的 读 者 们 自己 来观察评论一下这个问题吧 . 在她 们今晚吃完了 甜点 心而大家 聚集 在 客 厅谈话时 ---- 留心听一听 , 再来公布这个不解之谜 吧 。 唉 -- - 半小 时之后蓓 基 和 简 夫人 就成为关系密切 和 亲 密 的朋友 - ---- 到 晚 上 简 夫人告 诉 皮特爵士 称 她的 小姑子 是一个善良， 言词坦率 ， 真挚而充满 深情 的 年 轻 的女人。
萨克雷 - 作者介 绍
萨克雷 ，（ WiiliamMake peace Thackeray 1811 ～ 1863 ）英国小 说家。出生于富裕家
庭（父 亲是东印度公司的税务员兼行政长官）， 4 岁时父死母改嫁，靠遗产生活。曾在 剑桥大学 学 习，后又去德国游学。存放遗产的银行破产后，靠写作谋生。因积劳成疾， 52 岁便患心脏病逝世。 萨克雷 是 处于发展阶段的英国工业资本主义社会的严峻法官。其作品对英国社会的种种势利风尚、投机冒险和金钱关系进行了极深刻的揭露。他著有多部小说、诗歌、散文、小品，以特写集《势利人脸谱》（ 1847 ）和代表作 长篇小说《名利场 》（ 1848 ）最 为有名。小说主要描写穷画家女儿蓓基 · 夏 泼，在受尽歧视后，靠色情和机智，不择手段向上爬的故事。通过夏泼的沉浮遭遇，深刻地揭露了社会的腐朽堕落，生动地塑造了以斯丹恩勋爵为首的一系列厚颜无耻、荒淫奸诈的贵族资产阶级形象。为此， 马克思 曾 赞誉他跟狄更斯等是英国的 “ 一批杰出的小 说家 ” 。 ------ 摘自网络百科
长篇小说《名利场 》是 萨克雷 的成名作和代表作。它以辛辣 讽刺的手法，真实描绘了 1810 ～ 1820 年 摄政王时期英国上流社会没落贵族和资产阶级暴发户等各色人物的丑恶嘴脸和弱肉强食、尔虞我诈的人际关系。这部小说篇幅宏大，场面壮观，情节复杂，心理刻画深入，其尖锐泼辣的讽刺风格更为精彩。 萨克雷 因《 名利场 》叱咤文 坛， 与 狄更斯 齐名。
萨克雷 还创作有长篇小说《彭登尼斯》、《亨利 • 埃斯蒙德》、《 纽克 姆一家》、《弗吉尼 亚人》，中篇小说《巴利 • 林 顿的遭遇》 ，短篇小 说集《 势利眼集》等。其中以《亨利 • 埃斯蒙德》和《 纽克 姆一家》最 为出色。 萨克雷 以英国有教 养的绅士所特有的机智幽默甚至玩世不恭的态度无情地展示生活的真实，是对英国 18 世 纪由 斯威夫特 、 菲 尔丁 、 斯特恩 等人 开创的讽刺小说传统的继承和发扬。他成为英国 19 世 纪小说发展高峰时期的重要作家 。 ------ 摘自网络百科
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