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At home they prepared the food and the mother tidied the front room before the visitors arrived. Without a word she carried all her gifts to her daughter and put them in the front room alongside the books and some pencil drawings.
回到家以后，她們開始準備晚餐，母親在客人來之前收拾了一下前廳。她什么都沒說就 徑自把她給女兒帶來的所有禮物都挪到了前廳，把它們與書籍和幾張鉛筆畫并排放在一起。
"They are nicer in here," the mother said, apologizing for doing it, and at the same time criticizing the drawing of the nude.
“它們放到這兒顯得更好看，”母親說，算是對自己這么做表示一點歉意，但同時又批評起一張裸體畫來。
"I'd get rid of some of those things if I were you," she said in a serious tone.
“要是我，就把那樣的東西扔了，”她用嚴肅的口吻說。
Claire kept silent, and sipped the whiskey she felt she needed badly.
克萊爾什么也沒有說，她只抿了點此刻她急需的威士忌。
The mother had changed into a blue blouse, Claire into velvet pants, and they sat before the fire with a blue-shaded lamp casting a restful light on their faces.
母親已換上了一件藍色的襯衫，克萊爾則穿上了一條平絨褲子，她們坐在爐火前，靜謐的燈光透過藍色的燈罩灑在母女的臉上。
"You have a tea-leaf on your eye-lid," she said to Claire, putting up her hand to brush it away. It was mascara which got so smeared that Claire had to go upstairs to repair it.
“你的眼皮上有片茶葉，”母親對克萊爾說，抬起手來想把那片茶葉擦掉，沒想到原來是女兒把睫毛膏畫壞了，克萊爾只好上樓去補妝。
At that precise moment the visitors came.
就在這時客人到了。
"They are here," the mother said when the hall bell shrieked.
“他們來了，”門鈴響起來的時候，母親說道。
"Open the door," Claire called down. She was quite relieved that they would have to muddle through their own set of introductions.
“你去開門吧，”克萊爾向樓下喊道。她松了口氣，這樣客人就要設法自己介紹自己了。
