I have not yet alluded to the visits of Mr. Brocklehurst.
我還沒有提到布羅克赫斯特先生的造訪。
And indeed that gentleman was from home during the greater part of the first month after my arrival;
其實這位先生在我抵達后第一個月的大部分日子里,都不在家。
Perhaps prolonging his stay with his friend the archdeacon.
也許他在朋友副主教那里多逗留了些時間。
His absence was a relief to me.
他不在倒使我松了口氣。
I need not say that I had my own reasons for dreading his coming, but come he did at last.
不必說我自有怕他來的理由,但他終究還是來了。
One afternoon (I had then been three weeks at Lowood), as I was sitting with a slate in my hand, puzzling over a sum in long division,
一天下午(那時我到羅沃德已經三星期了),我手里拿了塊寫字板坐著,正為長除法中的一個總數發窘,
my eyes, raised in abstraction to the window, caught sight of a figure just passing.
眼睛呆呆地望著窗外,看到有一個人影閃過。
I recognised almost instinctively that gaunt outline.
我幾乎本能地認出了這瘦瘦的輪廓。

And when, two minutes after, all the school, teachers included, rose en masse,
因此兩分鐘后,整個學校的人,包括教師在內都全體起立時,
it was not necessary for me to look up in order to ascertain whose entrance they thus greeted.
我沒有必要抬起頭來后過究竟,便知道他們在迎接誰進屋了。
A long stride measured the schoolroom,
這人大步流星走進教室。
and presently beside Miss Temple, who herself had risen, stood the same black column which had frowned on me so ominously from the hearthrug of Gateshead.
眨眼之間,在早已起立的坦普爾小姐身邊,便豎起了同一根黑色大柱,就是這根柱子曾在蓋茨黑德的壁爐地毯上不祥地對我皺過眉。
I now glanced sideways at this piece of architecture.
這時我側目瞟了一眼這個建筑物。
Yes, I was right. It was Mr. Brocklehurst, buttoned up in a surtout, and looking longer, narrower, and more rigid than ever.
對,我沒有看錯,就是那個布羅克赫斯特先生,穿著緊身長外衣,扣緊了鈕扣,看上去越發修長、狹窄和刻板了。
I had my own reasons for being dismayed at this apparition.
見到這個幽靈,我有理由感到喪氣。
Too well I remembered the perfidious hints given by Mrs. Reed about my disposition, &c. .
我記得清清楚楚,里德太太曾惡意地暗示過我的品行等等。
The promise pledged by Mr. Brocklehurst to apprise Miss Temple and the teachers of my vicious nature.
布羅克赫斯特先生曾答應把我的惡劣本性告訴坦普爾小姐和教師們。
All along I had been dreading the fulfilment of this promise.
我一直害怕這一諾言會得到實現。
I had been looking out daily for the "Coming Man," whose information respecting my past life and conversation was to brand me as a bad child for ever. Now there he was.
每天都提防著這個“行將到來的人”。他的談話和對我往事的透露,會使我一輩子落下個壞孩子的惡名,而現在他終于來了。
He stood at Miss Temple's side. He was speaking low in her ear.
他站在坦普爾小姐身旁,跟她在小聲耳語。
I did not doubt he was making disclosures of my villainy.
毫無疑問他在說我壞話。
And I watched her eye with painful anxiety, expecting every moment to see its dark orb turn on me a glance of repugnance and contempt.
我急切而痛苦地注視著她的目光,無時無刻不期待著她烏黑的眸子轉向我,投來厭惡與蔑視的一瞥。
I listened too; and as I happened to be seated quite at the top of the room, I caught most of what he said.
我也細聽著,因為碰巧坐在最靠房子頭上的地方,所以他說的話,一大半都聽得見。
Its import relieved me from immediate apprehension.
談話的內容消除了我眼前的憂慮。