双语·《刀锋》 第四章 一

CHAPTER FOUR 1
第四章 一

Elliott, having installed the Maturins in his spacious apartment on the Left Bank, returned to the Riviera at the end of the year. He had planned his house to suit his own convenience and there was no room in it for a family of four, so that, even if he had wanted to, he could not have had them to stay with him there.I do not think he regretted it.He was well aware that as a man by himself he was a more desirable asset than if he must be accompanied by a niece and a nephew, and he could hardlv expect to arrange his own distinguished little parties（a matter over which he took immense trouble）if he had to count invariably on the presence of two house guests.
艾略特把马图林一家安顿在左岸自己的那套宽敞的公寓里，于岁尾返回了里维埃拉。里维埃拉的这套房子在设计上适合于他一人居住，无法再容纳一个四口之家，所以即便他想请那一家子来跟自己住在一起，也是办不到的。对此，他恐怕也并不觉得遗憾。他心里很清楚：凡是请客的，都愿意请一个独居的人，而不愿请由外甥女和外甥女婿相陪的人；至于他自己举办宴会（他在这方面是很费心机的），家里老有两个房客，也别指望能把宴会办得多么出色。

“It's much better for them to settle down in Paris and accustom themselves to civilized life. Besides, the two girls are old enough to go to school and I've found one not far from my apartment which I'm assured is very select.”
“他们还是住在巴黎要好得多，适应适应文明社会的生活。再说，那两个小姑娘也到了上学的年龄，我找到一所学校，离公寓不远。那是个百里挑一的好学校。”

In consequence of this I did not see Isabel till the spring when, because I had some work to do that made it desirable for me to spend some weeks there, I went to Paris and took a couple of rooms in a hotel just out of the Place Vend?me.It was a hotel I frequented, not only for its convenient situation, but because it had an air.It was a big old house built around a courtyard and it had been an inn for close upon two hundred years.The bathrooms were far from luxurious and the plumbing far from satisfactory；the bedrooms with their iron beds, painted white, their old-fashioned white counterpanes, and their huge armoires à glace had a poverty-stricken look；but the parlours were furnished with fine old furniture.The sofa, the armchairs, dated from the gaudy reign of Napoleon the Third, and, though I could not say they were comfortable, they had a florid charm.In that room I lived in the past of the French novelists.When I looked at the Empire clock under its glass case I thought that a pretty woman in ringlets and a flounced dress might have watched the minute hand move as she waited for a visit from Rastignac, the well-born adventurer whose career in novel after novel Balzac followed from his humble beginnings to his ultimate grandeur.Dr.Bianchon, the physician who was so real to Balzac that when he lay dying he said：“Only Bianchon can save me，”might well have come into that room to feel the pulse and look at the tongue of a noble dowager from the provinces who had come to Paris to see an attorney about a lawsuit and had called in a doctor for a passing ailment.At that bureau a lovesick woman in a crinoline, her hair parted in the middle, may have written a passionate letter to her faithless lover, or a peppery old gentleman in a green frock coat and a stock indited an angry epistle to his extravagant son.
由于这个缘故，直到第二年春天我才见到了伊莎贝尔。当时，有些事情需要办理，得在巴黎待上几个星期，我便在旺多姆广场近旁的一家旅馆租了两个房间。我是这家旅馆的常客，不仅仅是为了图方便，也是因为这儿弥漫着一种情调。这是一所高门大户、年代悠久的房宅，围成一圈，中心有个院落，作为旅馆接客已有近两百年的历史了。旅馆里的浴室远远称不上奢华，抽水马桶远远不能叫人满意；寝室里放着铁架子床，漆成白色，上面铺着老式的白床罩，还有一面大衣橱，上边镶着镜子，所有的一切都透出一股寒酸气；不过，客厅里的摆设却精致漂亮、古色古香。长沙发和扶手椅是拿破仑三世那个追求奢华时代的产物，不能说舒适，但外观华丽，挺好看的。坐在客厅里，仿佛时光倒流，回到了法国小说家描写的久远岁月里。看一看玻璃罩里的那架帝国式时钟，我联想到了一位美丽女子，头发梳成小发卷，穿一件荷叶边连衣裙，一面望着时钟的长针，一面等候着拉斯蒂涅克的来访——此君是巴尔扎克笔下的一个冒险家，起自贫寒，终成显赫人物。巴尔扎克用几部小说的篇幅描写了他的人生经历。比安松医生也是巴尔扎克塑造的人物，那样栩栩如生，以至于巴尔扎克临死时还说：“只有比安松医生能救我的命了。”那位医生很可能来过这个客厅，为一个外省的贵族寡妇把过脉、看过舌苔——那寡妇来巴黎找律师打官司，偶染微恙，请医生看治。在那张写字台前，也许坐过一个穿撑裙的痴情女子，头发对中分开，正在给她的负心情人写一封情意绵绵的信；或者坐过一个愤怒的老者，穿一件绿颜色的双排扣常礼服，正在写信斥责他那挥霍无度的儿子。

The day after my arrival I called up Isabel and asked if she would give me a cup of tea if I came along at five. It was ten years since I'd seen her.She was reading a French novel when I was ushered into the drawing-room by a staid butler, and getting up she took both my hands and greeted me with a warm and winning smile.I had never seen her more than a dozen times, and only twice alone, but she made me feel at once that we were not casual acquaintances but old friends.The ten years that had passed had reduced the gulf that separated the young girl from the middle-aged man and I was no longer conscious of the disparity of age between us.With the delicate flattery of a woman of the world she treated me as if I were her contemporary, and in five minutes we were chatting as frankly and as unconstrainedly as though we were playmates who had been in the habit of meeting without interruption.She had acquired ease, self-possession, and assurance.
抵达巴黎的第二天，我给伊莎贝尔打了个电话，说我五点钟去看望她，问她能不能请我喝杯茶。我已经有十年没有见过她了。一个脸色凝重的管家把我领进客厅时，她正在看一本法国小说。见了我，她起身迎接，握住我的双手，绽出灿烂、迷人的微笑。我和她过去见面顶多不过十一二次，而且只有两次单独在一起，但她让我立刻觉得我们是老朋友，而非泛泛之交。十年的时光倏然流逝，缩短了一个年轻女子和一个中年男子之间的鸿沟，我不再觉得我们的年龄存在着十分大的差异了。她俨然是一个见过世面的女子，语气委婉地对我说些入耳的话，待我如同龄人一般。没出五分钟，我们便坦坦荡荡，无话不谈了，就好像我们是童年时的玩伴，经常见面，从没有间断过似的。此时的她处事泰然，落落大方，充满了自信。

But what chiefly struck me was the change in her appearance. I remembered her as a pretty, bouncing girl who threatened to run to fat；I did not know whether, realizing this, she had taken heroic measures to reduce her weight or whether it was an unusual, though happy, accident of childbearing；but now she was as slender as anyone could wish.The mode of the moment accentuated this.She was in black, and at a glance I noticed that her silk dress, neither too plain nor too fancy, had been made by one of the best dressmakers in Paris, and she wore it with the careless confidence of a woman to whom it is second nature to wear expensive clothes.Ten years before, even with Elliott to advise, her frocks had been somewhat on the showy side and she had worn them as though she were not quite at home in them.Marie Louise de Florimond could not have said now that she lacked chic.She had chic to the tips of her rose-painted nails.Her features had fined down and it occurred to me that she had as pretty and as straight a nose as I had ever seen on a woman's face.There was not a line on her forehead or under her hazel eyes, and though her skin had lost the fresh bloom of extreme youth, its texture was as fine as ever；it obviously owed something now to lotions, creams, and massage, but they had given it a soft, transparent delicacy that was singularly attractive.Her thin cheeks were very faintly rouged and her mouth was painted with discretion.She wore her bright brown hair bobbed as was the fashion of the moment and marcelled.She had no rings on her fingers, and I remembered that Elliott had told me that she had sold her jewellery；her hands, though not remarkably small, were well made.At that period women wore short frocks in the day-time and I saw that her legs in champagne-coloured stockings were shapely, long, and slender.Legs are the undoing of many a comely woman；Isabel's legs, as a girl her most unfortunate trait, were now uncommonly good.In fact from the pretty girl whose glowing health, high spirits, and brilliant colour had given her attractiveness she was become a beautiful woman.That she owed her beauty in some degree to art, discipline, and mortification of the flesh did not seem to matter.The result was vastly satisfactory.It might be that the grace of her gestures, the felicity of her carriage, had been acquired by takingthought, but they had a look of perfect spontaneity.I conceived the notion that these four months in Paris had put the finishing touches to a work of conscious art that had been years in the making.Elliott, even in his most censorious mood, could not but have approved of her；I, a person less difficult to please, found her ravishing.
然而，最叫我感到意外的是她容貌上的变化。在我的记忆中，她是个漂亮、活泼，一不小心就会发胖的女孩子。不知道是她意识到了这一点而不屈不挠地采取措施进行减肥，还是因为生孩子而产生了意想不到的可喜效果，反正她现在有一个人人都渴望具备的苗条身段。她的一身装束更突出了这一点。她穿着一身黑色丝绸衣，既不十分朴素也不十分华丽，我一眼就看出是在巴黎的一家顶级服装店定做的，被她随随便便、漫不经心地穿在身上，那股劲儿就好像她天生应该穿高档服装似的。十年前，尽管有艾略特为她指点迷津，她的穿着仍不够典雅，而且那样的行头好像老让她觉得不自在。而现在，就是玛丽·路易丝·德·弗洛里蒙在跟前，也不能说她缺乏品味了。如今的她，就连染成了玫瑰色的指甲盖都是有品位的。她出落得更加水灵了。我觉得在我见过的女性中，她的鼻子长得最直、最美。不论在前额上或者在她淡褐色的眼睛下面，都看不见一丝皱纹；她的皮肤虽然失去了几分少女时期的清新光泽，但仍如凝脂一般；也许是由于使用护肤液、乳霜，以及面部按摩的缘故，她的皮肤如今显得滋润光滑、吹弹可破，独具一种魅力。她那清秀的脸庞略施粉黛，芳唇上淡淡涂了点朱色；浅棕色的头发按照当时的风尚剪得很短，并且烫过。她的手上没有戴戒指，这使我想起艾略特说过她把首饰都卖掉了；她的手算不上特别纤巧，但十分匀称。那个时候的女子白天喜欢穿短裙，我发现她那两条穿着香槟酒色长袜的腿十分修长，特别好看。许多漂亮女子坏就坏在腿长得不够好看。记得伊莎贝尔的一双腿在当姑娘时极不入眼，而今一变为异常美观。事实上，在过去，她的魅力来自于大放异彩的健康、高扬的青春气息和亮丽的气色，昔日的那个漂亮小姑娘如今变成了一位如花似玉的美少妇。至于她的美有几分靠的是素养、训练和修饰容貌，似乎并不重要，反正结果极其理想。也许，经过了苦心经营，她才有了这般绰约的风姿和娴雅的举止，但看上去却自然天成。我有一种感觉：她的美犹如一件艺术品，已着墨数年，而在巴黎居住的这四个月点上了最后一笔，使之脱颖而出。艾略特即便用最苛刻的眼光加以挑剔，恐怕也挑不出毛病来。我本来就不是个吹毛求疵的人，自然觉得她美压群芳。

Gray had gone to Mortefontaine to play golf, but she told me he would be in presently.
格雷到莫特芳丹打高尔夫去了，伊莎贝尔说他不一会儿就会回来的。

“And you must see my two little girls. They've gone to the Tuileries Gardens, but they ought to be in soon.They're sweet.”
“我要让你看看我的两个小女儿。她们去杜伊勒里公园了，应该马上就能回家了。她们都很可爱的。”

We talked of one thing and another. She liked being in Paris and they were very comfortable in Elliott's apartment.Before leaving them he had made them acquainted with such of his friends as he thought they would like and they had already a pleasant circle of acquaintances.He had pressed them to entertain as abundantly as he had been in the habit of doing.
我们说这说那的，聊个没完。她说她喜欢巴黎的生活，说住在艾略特的公寓里十分舒适。艾略特临行之前，把他的一些这小两口很可能会喜欢的朋友介绍给了他们，现在他们有了一个很开心的朋友圈。艾略特要求他们按照他惯常的那种做法设盛宴待友。

“You know, it tickles me to death to think that we're living like quite rich people when really we're absolutely broke.”
“要知道，我们现在老摆阔，其实一贫如洗，想起来就觉得好笑。”

“Is it as bad as that?”
“真的一贫如洗吗？”

She chuckled, and now I remembered the light, gay laugh that I had found so pleasing in her ten years before.
她咯咯笑了，这使我想起十年前她的那种轻松、快活、令人心情愉悦的笑声。

“Gray hasn't a penny and I have almost exactly the income Larry had when he wanted me to marry him and I wouldn't because I thought we couldn't possibly live on it and now I've got two children besides. It's rather funny, isn’t it?”
“格雷一个铜板也没有。我的进项很少，差不多跟拉里当年一样。那时候拉里想娶我，我不肯嫁给他，因为我觉得靠那点钱难以维持生计，殊不知我现在多了两个孩子，照样过日子。你说滑稽不滑稽？”

“I'm glad you can see the joke of it.”
“很高兴你以幽默的眼光看待此事。”

“What news have you of Larry?”
“你有拉里的消息吗？”

“I?None. I haven't set eyes on him since before you were last in Paris.I knew slightly some of the people he used to know and I did ask them what had become of him, but that was years ago.No one seemed to know anything about him.He just vanished.”
“我吗？没有。你上次离开巴黎之前，我就再也没见过他了。他的朋友圈里，有几个我也认识，我还打听过他的情况呢。不过，那都是多年以前的事了。好像没人知道他的下落。他就这么蒸发了。”

“We know the manager of the bank in Chicago where Larry has his account and he told us that every now and then he got a draft from some queer place. China, Burma, India.He seems to have been getting around.”
“拉里在芝加哥的一家银行开有账户，我们认识该行的经理。经理说他时不时会从哪个怪地方开来一张付款支票——有中国的，有缅甸的，有印度的。他好像在周游世界。”

I did not hesitate to put the question that came to the tip of my tongue. After all, if you want to know something the best way is to ask.
一个问题已经溜到了嘴边，我便索性说了出来。再怎么样，想了解情况，最好的办法就是开口问。

“D'you wish now that you had married him?”
“你没嫁给他，现在后悔吗？”

She smiled engagingly.
她嫣然一笑说道：

“I've been very happy with Gray. He's been a wonderful husband.You know, until the crash came we had a grand time together.We like the same people, and we like doing the same things.He's very sweet.And it's nice being adored；he's just as much in love with me now as when we first married.He thinks I’m the most wonderful girl in the world.You can’t imagine how kind and considerate he is.It was quite absurd how generous he was；you see, he thought nothing was too good for me.D’you know, he’s never said an unkind or harsh thing to me all these years we’ve been married.Oh, I’ve been very lucky.”
“和格雷在一起，我感到十分幸福。他是个‘五好’老公。在经济大崩溃发生之前，我们的日子开心极了。我们喜欢同样的人，喜欢做同样的事情。他对我体贴入微。受到老公的宠爱，那感觉真好。至今，他都对我恩爱如初。在他的眼里，我是天下最棒的女孩子。你无法想象他是多么温柔和体贴。他对我的慷慨大度，简直到了让人觉得荒唐的地步。他认为天下没有我不配得到的东西。结婚多年来，他没有冲我说过一句刺耳或难听的话。啊，我真是太幸运了。”

I asked myself if she thought she'd answered my question. I changed the conversation.
我暗想她可能觉得这就算回答了我的问题了，于是便转了话题。

“Tell me about your little girls.”
“给我讲讲你的两个小女儿吧。”

As I spoke the doorbell rang.
我话音未落，就听见了门铃响。

“Here they are. You shall see for yourself.”
“她们来了。你自己看吧。”

In a moment they came in followed by a nursery governess and I was introduced first to Joan, the elder, and then to Priscilla. Each in turn gave a polite little knick as she took my hand.One was eight and the other six.They were tall for their age；Isabel of course was tall, and Gray, I remembered, was immense；but they were pretty only in the way all children are pretty.They looked frail.They had their father's black hair and their mother's hazel eyes.The presence of a stranger did not make them shy, and they talked eagerly to her of their doings in the gardens.They cast eager eyes on the dainties Isabel's cook had provided for tea, but which neither of us had touched, and being given permission to have one thing were thrown into a small agony of doubt as to which to choose.It was pleasant to see the demonstrative affectionthey had for their mother and the three of them clustered together made a charming picture.When they had eaten the little cake each had selected, Isabel sent them away and they went without a word of expostulation.I received the impression that she was bringing them up to do as they were told.
一转眼，就有两个小姑娘走了进来，身后跟着她们的保育员。伊莎贝尔先介绍我认识大女儿琼，然后介绍小女儿普里西拉。她们依次和我握手，同时微微鞠躬致意。两姐妹一个八岁，一个六岁，跟同龄人相比个头显高。伊莎贝尔个子就高，我记得格雷也是个大块头。这俩孩子的美仅仅是普通儿童的那种美。她们看上去身子骨比较单薄，有着父亲的黑发以及母亲的浅褐色眼睛。在生人面前，她们丝毫也不害羞，争先恐后地告诉妈妈她们在花园里都做了些什么。她们的目光紧紧盯在伊莎贝尔的厨子端来的可口茶点上——那茶点我们俩谁都还没有碰过。伊莎贝尔允许她们每人挑一块吃，这倒叫二人颇费脑筋，不知挑哪一块好。显然，她们对自己的母亲怀着深深的爱，叫人看了为之感动。母女三人在一起享受天伦之乐，构成一幅美好的图画。两姐妹吃完各自挑选的蛋糕，伊莎贝尔便将她们支走了。她们一声不吭，乖乖走掉了。我所得的印象是：伊莎贝尔把她们管教得十分听话。

When they were gone I said the usual things one says to a mother about her children and Isabel accepted my compliments with evident, but somewhat casual, pleasure. I asked her how Gray was liking Paris.
她们走后，我又说了几句闲话，无非就是“慈母乖儿”那一类的话。伊莎贝尔听了我的一番恭维显然很受用，但样子有些淡然。随后，我问格雷喜不喜欢巴黎。

“Well enough. Uncle Elliott left us a car so he can go and play golf almost every day and he's joined the Traveller's Club and he plays bridge there.Of course, Uncle Elliott's offer to support us in this apartment has been a godsend.Gray's nerves went all to pieces and he still has those terrible headaches；even if he could get a job he isn't really fit to take it；and naturally that worries him.He wants to work, he feels he ought to, and it humiliates him not to be wanted.You see, he feels it’s a man’s business to work and if he can’t work he may just as well be dead.He can’t bear his feeling of being a drug on the market, and I only got him to come here by persuading him that rest and change would bring him back to normalcy.But I know he won’t be happy till he gets back into harness.”
“非常喜欢。艾略特舅舅留下一辆汽车给我们，所以他几乎每天都能够去打高尔夫球；他还加入了旅行家俱乐部，在那儿打打桥牌。说起来，艾略特舅舅让出这套公寓供我们住，真是天降洪恩。当初，格雷精神崩溃，至今仍头痛欲裂。就是能找到工作，他也干不了。为此，他把肠子都愁断了。他想工作，也觉得自己应该工作，不能干活养家会叫他无地自容。他认为一个男子汉有责任工作，否则生不如死。一想到自己成了多余的人，他便无法忍受。我好言相劝，说休息休息、换换环境可以使他恢复常态，好说歹说把他劝到了巴黎来。但我清楚，除非他能够东山再起，否则他不会真正开心的。”

“I'm afraid you've had a very rough time these last two and a half years.”
“这两年半，你们的日子恐怕是十分艰难。”

“Well, you know, when the crash came at first I simply couldn't believe it. It seemed inconceivable to me that we should be ruined.I could understand that other people should be ruined, but that we should be-well, it just seemed impossible.I went on thinking that something would happen to save us at the last moment.And then, when the final blow came, I felt that life wasn't worth living any more, I didn't think I could face the future；it was too black.For a fortnight I was absolutely miserable.God, it was awful, having to part with everything, knowing there wouldn't be any fun any more, having to do without everything I liked-and then at the end of a fortnight I said：‘Oh, to hell with it, I'm not going to give it another thought，’and I promise you I never have.I don’t regret anything.I had a lot of fun while it lasted and now it’s gone, it’s gone.”
“唉，想当初经济大崩溃降临时，我简直不敢相信那是真的。无法想象，我们竟会倾家荡产。要说别人破产，我还能相信，可是至于我们……唉，实在让人意想不到。我一直到最后都心存希望，认为老天会拯救我们的。后来，致命的一击落在了我们身上，我觉得没法再活下去，无法再面对未来，一时间感到天昏地暗。有两个星期的时间，我悲恸欲绝。天呀，所有的家产都离你而去，今后再无欢乐可言，你所喜欢的一切都跟你再也无缘，那种感觉真是可怕极了……两个星期过后，我痛定思痛，对自己说道：‘见它的鬼吧，我再也不去想了！’从那以后，我再也没有发过愁。没有什么可遗憾的。不管昨天多么灿烂，如今过去了，就让它过去吧。”

“It's obvious that ruin is easier to bear in a luxurious apartment in a fashionable quarter, with a competent butler and an excellent cook free and for nothing, and when one can cover one's haggard bones with a dress by Chanel, isn't it?”
“显然，住在上等住宅区的一套豪华公寓里，有一个能干的管家和一个厨艺高超的厨子，自己分文不用花，还可以给自己的瘦骨头穿上沙诺尔式女装店缝制的衣服，破产的痛苦是容易忍受的，你说是不是？”

“Lanvin，”she giggled.“I see you haven't changed much in ten years. I don't suppose you'll believe me, being a cynical brute, but I'm not sure if I'd have accepted Uncle Elliott’s offer except for Gray and the children.On my twenty-eight hundred a year we could have managed perfectly well on the plantation and we’d have grown rice and rye and corn and kept pigs.After all I was born and raised on a farm in Illinois.”
“不是沙诺尔式衣服，而是朗万女装。”她咯咯一笑说，“十年没见，你可是一点都没有变。你是个愤世嫉俗的人，想必不会相信我的话的。也可能，我当初接受艾略特舅舅的邀请，全都是为了格雷和孩子。按说，有我那每年两千八百块的进项，我们一家可以在农场过得很好——种种稻子、黑麦和玉米，再养养猪。再怎么说，我也是在伊利诺伊的一个农场出生和成长大的。”

“In a manner of speaking，”I smiled, knowing that in point of fact she had been born in an expensive clinic in New York.
“任你怎么说吧。”我笑了笑说道。其实，我知道她是在纽约的一家价钱昂贵的产科医院出生的。

At this point Gray came in. It is true that I had only seen him two or three times twelve years before, but I had seen a photograph of him with his bride（Elliott kept it in a splendid frame on his piano along with signed photo-graphs of the King of Sweden, the Queen of Spain, and the Duc de Guise）and I had a fair recollection of him.I was taken aback.His hair had receded on the temples and there was a small bald patch on the crown, his face was puffy and red, and he had a double chin.He had put on a lot of weight during years of good living and hard drinking, and only his great height saved him from being grossly obese.But the thing I most noticed was the expression of his eyes.I remembered quite well the trusting, open frankness of their Irish blue, when the world was before him and he hadn't a care in the world；now I seemed to see in them a sort of puzzled dismay, and even if I hadn't known the facts I think I might have guessed that something had occurred to destroy his confidence in himself and in the ordered course of events.I felt a kind of diffidence in him, as though he had done wrong, though unwittingly, and were ashamed.It was plain that his nerve was shaken.He greeted me with pleasant cordiality and indeed seemed as glad to see me as if I were an old friend, but I had the impression that his rather noisy heartiness was a habit of manner that scarcely corresponded with his inner feeling.
就在这时，格雷走了进来。十二年前，我只见过他两三次，这倒是真的，但他的结婚照我还是见过的（艾略特把那张结婚照镶在一个漂亮的镜框里，和瑞典国王、西班牙王后、吉斯公爵签过名的各自的照片一同放在钢琴上面）。他的模样我记得很清楚。这时一见面，我却吓了一大跳。他的鬓角秃得很厉害，头上有一小块秃顶，一张脸又红又胖，都胖成双下巴了。多年来养尊处优的生活以及饮酒过量让他的体重大大增加，只是由于个子高，才没有叫他显得过分臃肿。但最能吸引我注意力的是他的眼神。我记得很清楚，当他前途无量、无忧无虑的时候，那双爱尔兰人的蓝眼睛里充满着信任和坦率，如今在那双眼睛里似乎看到的是迷茫和惶恐。即便不了解内情，恐怕也能猜得到：一定是天降大祸，摧毁了他的自信心以及他对社会秩序的信任。我觉得他有一种自卑感，仿佛做了错事一样，虽则并非出于有意，却仍羞愧难当。显而易见，他的心理世界已经崩溃。他热情、礼貌地跟我寒暄，像是老友重逢一样满脸的高兴，但我却感到他表面的兴奋和开心只是待客的方式，与他的心里感受并不相符。

Drinks were brought in and he mixed us a cocktail. He'd played a couple of rounds of golf and was satisfied with his game.He went into somewhat verbose detail over the difficulties he had surmounted over one of the holes and Isabel listened with an appearance of lively interest.After a few minutes having made a date to take them to dine andsee a play, I left.
酒水送来后，他为我们每人调了杯鸡尾酒。他刚刚打完两轮高尔夫球，对自己的球技颇为满意。在谈到其中一次击球进洞的经历时，他大讲特讲自己是如何克服了重重困难，整个叙述过程冗长、啰唆，伊莎贝尔却似乎听得津津有味。又过了几分钟，我跟他们约了个日子请他们吃饭和看戏，便告辞了。