評論
打印
I'd rather... if you don't mind...
“我愿意……如果你不介意……”
No, darling, this is on me. And Mr. Dwight, of course.
“不，親愛的。由我來付，當然，也算由德懷特先生來付。”
He submitted just as two of the Japanese gentlemen gave tongue simultaneously, then stopped abruptly and bowed to each other, as though they were blocked in a doorway.
男孩不再爭了。這時其中兩個日本男人恰好同時開口說話，接著又都緘默不語，相互躬身致意，就像在門口撞到了彼此。
I had thought the two young people matching miniatures, but what a contrast in fact there was. The same type of prettiness could contain weakness and strength. Her Regency counterpart, I suppose, would have borne a dozen children without the aid of anaesthetics, while he would have fallen an easy victim to the first dark eyes in Naples. Would there one day be a dozen books on her shelf? They have to be born without an anaesthetic too. I found myself hoping that The Chelsea Set would prove to be a disaster and that eventually she would take up photographic modeling while he established himself solidly in the wine-trade in St James's. I didn't like to think of her as the Mrs. Humphrey Ward of her generation—not that I would live so long. Old age saves us from the realization of a great many fears. I wondered to which publishing firm Dwight belonged. I could imagine the blurb he would have already written about her abrasive powers of observation. There would be a photo, if he was wise, on the back of the jacket, for reviewers, as well as publishers, are human, and she didn't look like Mrs. Humphrey Ward.
我原想這對年輕人很是般配，但事實卻大相徑庭。同樣漂亮的類型有的人或許無能，有的人或許強大。我在想，如果她處在攝政時期，她可能已經在不需要麻醉的情況下生了十多個孩子，而他將很容易被那不勒斯岸上碰上的第一個女人所降伏。她的書架上有一天會擺滿她所寫的書嗎？（那么）這些書也一定是在她沒有打麻醉藥的情況下創作的。我希望《切爾西的名流》銷量不好，這樣，她最終會成為攝影模特，而他會在圣詹姆斯的葡萄酒貿易中站穩腳跟。我不敢想象她會成為她這一代的漢弗萊·沃德太太，這倒不是因為我還能活到那會。年老讓我們免于面對許多恐怖的現實。我很好奇德懷特先生是哪個出版社的。我可以想象得到他對于她那洞察力的吹捧短評早已寫好。如果他明智的話，應該在書的護封上加上她的照片，評論家和出版商都是普通人，而她可比漢弗萊·沃德太太漂亮得多。
I could hear them talking while they found their coats at the back of the restaurant. He said, "I wonder what all those Japanese are doing here?"
他們在餐廳后面拿外套時，我又聽到了他們的談話。男孩說那些日本人在這干嘛呢？”
Japanese? she said. "What Japanese, darling? Sometimes you are so evasive think you don't want to marry me at all."
“日本人？”女孩問道，“什么日本人啊，親愛的？有時候我覺得你是有意在閃爍其詞，我猜你壓根就沒想要跟我結婚。”
