书虫四级《华盛顿广场》：1.可怜的凯瑟琳
1.Poor Catherine
1．可怜的凯瑟琳
In the first half of the nineteenth century there lived in New York a very successful doctor. His success was for two reasons. He was, without doubt, a good doctor, intelligent and honest, but he also knew how to please his patients. He gave long, careful explanations about the illness, and always gave them some medicine to take. Indeed, his patients were fond of saying that they had the best doctor in the country.
19世纪上半叶，纽约住着一位事业很成功的医生。他成功的秘诀有两条。毫无疑问，他是一个德才兼备的好医生，此外他还知道怎样令病人满意。他对病人所患的疾病总是不厌其烦地详加解释，而且也总是给他们开些药。真的，他的病人都喜欢说给他们看病的是国内最棒的医生。
By the time he was fifty, Doctor Austin Sloper was quite a famous person in New York. His conversation was clever and amusing, and no fashionable party in the city was complete without him.
到50岁的时候，奥斯汀·斯洛珀医生已经是纽约响当当的人物了。他谈吐机智风趣，城里上流社会的聚会从来都少不了他。
He was also lucky. In 1820, at the age of twenty-seven, he had married, for love, a very charming girl, who had a fortune of ten thousand dollars a year. For about five years Doctor Sloper was a very happy husband; he continued to work as a doctor and each year became more experienced and more successful.
他运气也好。1820年他27岁的时候，他为了爱情娶了一位很迷人的姑娘，姑娘每年有1万美元的进项。有五年左右的时间，斯洛珀医生是一个非常幸福的丈夫；他继续行医，经验越来越丰富，事业也越来越发达。
Some of the experience, however, was very unwelcome. His first child, a little boy of great promise, died at three years of age. Neither the mother's love nor the father's medicine could save him. Two years later Mrs Sloper had a second child, a little girl. This disappointed the Doctor, who had wished for another son to take the place of the first, but there was worse news to come. A week after the child was born, the young mother fell ill, and before another week had passed, she was dead.
但有些经历却很不愉快。他的头一个孩子，一个前途光明的小男孩儿，三岁的时候不幸夭折了。母亲的爱和父亲的药都没能救活他。两年后斯洛珀夫人生了第二个孩子，是一个小女孩儿。这让医生很失望，他本来希望再生个儿子来代替长子的位置，不过更糟的事情还在后面。孩子出生一个星期后，年轻的母亲就病倒了，才不到一个星期，她就不治而亡。
For a man whose profession was to keep people alive, Austin Sloper had certainly done badly in his own family, but the only person who blamed Doctor Sloper was Doctor Sloper himself. He felt that he had failed, and he carried this private blame for the rest of his life.
对于一个以治病救人为职业的人来说，奥斯汀·斯洛珀在自己家里确实表现得很糟，不过也只有斯洛珀医生会埋怨自己。他觉得自己很失败，而且终其一生他都这么暗暗地谴责自己。
He still had his little girl, whom he named Catherine after her poor mother. She grew up a strong and healthy child, and her father knew that he would not lose her.
他还有这个小女孩儿，他给她取名凯瑟琳，跟她可怜的母亲的名字一样。她逐渐长成了一个健康结实的孩子，她的父亲知道不会失去她了。
When the child was about ten years old, the Doctor invited his sister, Mrs Lavinia Penniman, to stay with him. He had two sisters and both of them had married early in life. The younger one, Mrs Almond, was the wife of a rich man and the mother of a large family. Elizabeth Almond was a comfortable, reasonable woman and Doctor Sloper preferred her to his sister Lavinia. However, Lavinia's husband had died at the age of thirty-three, leaving his wife without children or fortune, and so Doctor Sloper invited his sister to stay while she looked for rooms to rent. No one really knew if Mrs Penniman ever looked for rooms, but it is certain that she never found them.
孩子10岁左右的时候，医生邀请他姐姐拉维尼娅·彭尼曼夫人来和他小住一段时间。他有两个姐妹，两人都很早就出嫁了。年纪轻一些的那个，也就是阿尔蒙德夫人，她丈夫是个有钱人，家里有一大群孩子。伊丽莎白·阿尔蒙德的日子过得舒心，人又明白事理，相比他姐姐拉维尼娅，斯洛珀医生更喜欢她。可是，拉维尼娅的丈夫33岁时就过世了，抛下她一个人，既没有孩子，也没有财产，所以斯洛珀医生邀请他姐姐和他们小住一段时间，再一边找房子租住。没人知道彭尼曼夫人有没有找过房子，但可以肯定她从未找到过。
After six months the Doctor accepted the fact that his sister was never going to leave. Mrs Penniman told everyone except her brother that she was Catherine's teacher. Doctor Sloper guessed that this was her explanation, and he found the idea laughable since he did not think his sister was very intelligent. In fact, he did not have a good opinion of women at all. The only woman he had ever admired had been his wife.
六个月后，医生知道他姐姐永远不会离开了，也就接受了这个现实。除了对她弟弟，彭尼曼夫人逢人便说她是凯瑟琳的老师。斯洛珀医生猜想她是这么向别人解释的，他感到这种想法很可笑，因为他从来都没觉得他姐姐有多聪明。实际上，他对女人根本没什么好感。他惟一崇拜过的女人就是他妻子。
He was always extremely polite to Lavinia, but he had no interest in her opinions or conversation. He only spoke to her to inform her of his wishes for Catherine.
他对拉维尼娅总是彬彬有礼，但对她的想法或她说的话却毫无兴趣。只有在想要告诉她他对凯瑟琳的期望时，他才会跟她说话。
Once, when the girl was about twelve years old, he said to his sister, 'Try to make a clever woman out of her, Lavinia. I should like her to be a clever woman.'
小女孩儿大约12岁的时候，有一次，他对姐姐说：“想办法让她变得聪明点儿，拉维尼娅，我希望她成为一个聪明的女人。”
Mrs Penniman looked at him. 'My dear Austin,' she said, 'do you think it is better to be clever than to be good?'
彭尼曼夫人看着他。“我亲爱的奥斯汀，”她说，“你觉得聪明比善良更重要吗？”
Good for what?' asked the Doctor. 'You are good for nothing unless you are clever. Of course I wish Catherine to be good, but it will not make her a better person to be a fool.'
“善良有什么用？”医生问道，“人要是不聪明就一点儿用都没有。我当然希望凯瑟琳做个好人，可是当个傻瓜并不会让她成为更好的人。”
Mrs Penniman was a tall, thin, fair woman. She was romantic, and her brother knew that she loved little secrets and mysteries.
彭尼曼夫人是位个头高挑、身材瘦削、面容姣好的女人。她很浪漫，她弟弟知道她喜欢小秘密和神秘的事情。
When Catherine is about seventeen,' he said to himself, 'Lavinia will try and persuade her that some young man with a moustache is in love with her. It will be quite untrue. No young man, with or without a moustache, will ever be in love with Catherine.'
“等到凯瑟琳17岁左右的时候”，他自言自语道，“拉维尼娅就会想法让她相信某个长着小胡子的年轻人爱上她了。这肯定不会是真的。没有哪个男人，不管长没长小胡子，会爱上凯瑟琳。”
Catherine was strong and healthy, but she did not have any of her mother's beauty or her father's cleverness—in fact, there was very little that was interesting about her at all. She was large and well built, with brown hair, a round face, and small, quiet eyes. The more generous friends of Doctor Sloper noticed that she was well behaved and polite; others thought she was just dull. But Catherine was not someone people spent much time talking about.
凯瑟琳健康结实，可惜她既没有继承母亲的美貌，也没有继承父亲的智慧——实际上，她身上几乎没有什么吸引人的地方。她个头大，发育得很好，长着棕色的头发，圆圆的脸和一双安静的小眼睛。斯洛珀医生那些比较宽厚的朋友们发现她举止得当，待人礼貌；别的人却认为她呆头呆脑。但凯瑟琳并不是人们乐于谈论的对象。
She was extremely fond of her father and very much afraid of him. She wanted to please him more than anything in the world, but although Doctor Sloper was usually kind to Catherine, he was very disappointed in her. He wanted to be proud of his daughter, but there was nothing to be proud of in poor Catherine. She was not elegant or pretty or charming like her mother. And by the age of eighteen Mrs Penniman had still not made her a clever woman.
她极爱自己的父亲，但又很害怕他。世界上她最乐意做的事情莫过于讨父亲的欢心了，可是虽然斯洛珀医生对凯瑟琳总的来说不错，心里却对她颇感失望。他想为女儿感到自豪，但可怜的凯瑟琳身上却没有什么值得他自豪的地方。她不像她母亲那样举止优雅，美丽迷人。一直到她18岁，彭尼曼夫人也没把她培养成一个聪明的女人。
Over the years, however, Doctor Sloper got used to his disappointment. 'I expect nothing from her,' he said to himself. 'If she gives me a surprise, I will be happy. If she doesn't, I shall not lose anything.'
不过，随着时光的流逝，斯洛珀医生也习惯了这种失望。“我对她没什么指望，”他对自己说，“如果她能给我带来惊喜，我会高兴。如果不能，那我也没什么损失。”
At this time it did not seem possible that Catherine would ever surprise anyone. She was always very quiet, saying so little in conversation that she seemed almost stupid. But she was silent because she was shy, uncomfortably, painfully shy. In fact, she was a very gentle, sensitive girl.
到了这个时候，凯瑟琳似乎已不大可能给任何人带来惊喜了。她总是安安静静的，话很少，显得有些木讷。她不爱说话是因为害羞，这种羞怯让她感到不自在而且痛苦。实际上，她是个很温柔敏感的女孩儿。
Slowly Catherine realized that she was changing from a girl into a young lady. She began wearing expensive clothes in very bright colours—rather too bright for Doctor Sloper. When she was twenty, she bought a red and gold evening dress, and did not seem to realize that it made her look ten years older. Doctor Sloper preferred simple, elegant things, and it annoyed him to think that his child was both ugly and badly dressed, though he kept this opinion private.
慢慢地，凯瑟琳意识到自己正从一个女孩儿变成一个年轻女子。她开始穿价格昂贵、色彩艳丽的服装——对于斯洛珀医生来说，那些颜色实在太艳了。她20岁的时候，买了一件红色和金色相间的晚装，而且好像完全没觉得这条裙子让她显得比实际年龄大了十岁。斯洛珀医生偏爱简洁雅致的东西，一想到自己的孩子长得丑，衣服穿得也难看，他就觉得生气，不过这些想法他从没表露出来。
It must be added that Catherine was expected to become a very rich woman. She had already inherited some money from her mother, but the Doctor had been making twenty thousand dollars a year by his profession and saving half of it. One day, this growing fortune would pass to Catherine.
必须提到的是，凯瑟琳可能会很有钱。她已经从母亲那里继承了一些钱财，不过医生每年行医的收入有两万美元，其中有一半都攒了下来。这笔不断增长的财富终有一天会传给凯瑟琳。
In 1835 Doctor Sloper moved his family to a more fashionable address. He built himself a handsome, modern house in Washington Square, which was just around the corner from Fifth Avenue. Across the road from the house, in the centre of the square, was a pretty garden, which was open to everyone though few people ever used it.
1835年，斯洛珀医生把家搬到了一个更时尚的地方。他在华盛顿广场靠近第五大道的地方为自己建了一幢气派时髦的房子。从房子里出来，穿过一条大道，走到广场的中间，就是一个漂亮的花园，花园向所有人开放，不过几乎没有人光顾。
Mrs Almond lived further out of the city in a house that was almost in the country. She had nine children, and Catherine went with Mrs Penniman to see her cousins every week. The little Almonds were now growing up; the boys had been sent off to college or to work in offices, while the girls looked for suitable husbands.
阿尔蒙德夫人住在远离城区的一幢房子里，那里几乎是乡下了。她有九个孩子。每周凯瑟琳都会和彭尼曼夫人去看她的堂兄弟姊妹。阿尔蒙德家的孩子现在已经长大了；男孩子们要么去上大学，要么就到办公室上班，而女孩子们则在挑选合适的丈夫。
When Mrs Almond gave a party for her younger daughter Marian, who had become engaged to a promising young man, Catherine, naturally, was invited. At this time she was twenty-one years old, and Mrs Almond's party was the beginning of something very important.
阿尔蒙德夫人的小女儿玛丽安和一个很有前途的年轻人订婚了，阿尔蒙德夫人为她举办了一个订婚晚会，凯瑟琳自然在受邀之列。当时她已经21岁了，阿尔蒙德夫人的晚会为她揭开了一段重要的人生序幕。
- 频道推荐
- |
- 全站推荐
- 推荐下载
- 网站推荐
