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In these accomplishments the twins excelled, and they were equally outstanding in their notorious inability to learn anything contained between the covers of books. Their family had more money, more horses, more slaves than any one else in the County, but the boys had less grammar than most of their poor Cracker neighbors.
這對(duì)孿生兄弟在這些方面都很精通，但他們學(xué)習(xí)書本知識(shí)的無(wú)能也是出眾的。他們家擁有比全縣其他人家更多的錢、更多的馬和更多的奴隸，可是兩兄弟同他們的大多數(shù)窮鄰居比起來(lái)，胸中的文墨更少得多。
It was for this precise reason that Stuart and Brent were idling on the porch of Tara this April afternoon. They had just been expelled from the University of Georgia, the fourth university that had thrown them out in two years; and their older brothers, Tom and Boyd, had come home with them, because they refused to remain at an institution where the twins were not welcome. Stuart and Brent considered their latest expulsion a fine joke, and Scarlett, who had not willingly opened a book since leaving the Fayetteville Female Academy the year before, thought it just as amusing as they did.
正是這個(gè)緣故，斯圖爾特和布倫特在塔拉農(nóng)場(chǎng)走廊里聊天，消磨這四月傍晚的大好時(shí)光。他們剛被佐治亞大學(xué)開除，而這是過(guò)去兩年中把他們攆走的第四所大學(xué)了。于是他們的兩個(gè)哥哥，湯姆和博伊德，也同他們一起回到了家里，因?yàn)樵谶@所學(xué)校既然不歡迎那些孿生兄弟，兩位做哥哥的也就不高興在那里待下去了。斯圖爾特和布倫特把他們最近一次的除名當(dāng)做一個(gè)有趣的玩笑；而思嘉呢，她自從去年離開費(fèi)耶特維爾女子學(xué)校以后就一直懶得去摸書本，所以也像他們那樣覺得這是令人高興的事。
“I know you two don’t care about being expelled, or Tom either,” she said. “But what about Boyd? He’s kind of set on getting an education, and you two have pulled him out of the University of Virginia and Alabama and South Carolina and now Georgia. He’ll never get finished at this rate.”
“我認(rèn)為你們倆一點(diǎn)也不在乎被學(xué)校除名，湯姆也是這樣，”她說(shuō)。"可是博伊德怎么辦？他一心想受教育，而你們倆接連把他從弗吉尼亞大學(xué)、亞拉巴馬大學(xué)、南卡羅來(lái)納大學(xué)拖了出來(lái)，如今又從佐治亞大學(xué)回來(lái)了。這樣下去，他永遠(yuǎn)也將完不成他的學(xué)業(yè)！”
“Oh, he can read law in Judge Parmalee’s office over in Fayetteville,” answered Brent carelessly. “Besides, it don’t matter much. We’d have had to come home before the term was out anyway.”
“唔，他可以到費(fèi)耶特維爾那邊的帕馬利法官事務(wù)所去學(xué)法律嘛，”布倫特漫不經(jīng)心地答道。"并且，這沒有什么關(guān)系。反正在學(xué)習(xí)結(jié)束之前我們不得不回家的。”
“Why?”
“為什么？”
“The war, goose! The war’s going to start any day, and you don’t suppose any of us would stay in college with a war going on, do you?”
“戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)嘛！傻瓜！戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)隨時(shí)可能開始，戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)打響之后難道你認(rèn)為我們還會(huì)留在學(xué)校里嗎？”
“You know there isn’t going to be any war,” said Scarlett, bored. “It’s all just talk. Why, Ashley Wilkes and his father told Pa just last week that our commissioners in Washington would come to—to—an—amicable agreement with Mr. Lincoln about the Confederacy. And anyway, the Yankees are too scared of us to fight. There won’t be any war, and I’m tired of hearing about it.”
“你明明知道不會(huì)有什么戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的，”思嘉生氣地說(shuō)。"那只是嘴上談?wù)劻T了。就在上個(gè)星期，艾希禮·威爾克斯和他父親還對(duì)我爸說(shuō)，咱們派駐華盛頓的專員將要同林肯先生達(dá)成--達(dá)成一個(gè)關(guān)于南部聯(lián)盟的協(xié)議呢。況且不管怎樣，北方佬從小害怕我們，根本不會(huì)有什么戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)，談它干什么，我討厭聽到關(guān)于戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的事情。”
“Not going to be any war!” cried the twins indignantly, as though they had been defrauded.
“不會(huì)有什么戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)！"孿生兄弟如同他們被欺負(fù)了似的地喊起來(lái)。
“Why, honey, of course there’s going to be a war,” said Stuart. The Yankees may be scared of us, but after the way General Beauregard shelled them out of Fort Sumter day before yesterday, they’ll have to fight or stand branded as cowards before the whole world. Why, the Confederacy—”Scarlett made a mouth of bored impatience.
“親愛的，戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)當(dāng)然會(huì)打起來(lái)的啊！"斯圖爾特說(shuō)。"北方佬可能害怕咱們，可是自從前天波爾格將軍把他們趕出薩姆特要塞以后，他們只好打起來(lái)了，要不就會(huì)作為膽小鬼在全世界面前丟臉。什么，南部聯(lián)盟--"聽到這里，思嘉很不耐煩地嘟起嘴來(lái)。
