評論
打印
He was not an ill-disposed young man, unless to be rather cold hearted and rather selfish is to be ill-disposed: but he was, in general, well respected; for he conducted himself with propriety in the discharge of his ordinary duties. Had he married a more amiable woman, he might have been made still more respectable than he was:--he might even have been made amiable himself; for he was very young when he married, and very fond of his wife. But Mrs. John Dashwood was a strong caricature of himself;-- more narrow-minded and selfish.
這位年輕人心眼并不壞，除非你把冷漠無情和自私自利視為壞心眼。總的說來，他很受人尊敬，因為他平常辦起事來，總是十分得體。他若是娶個和藹一點的女人，也許會更受人尊重，甚至他自己也會和藹一些。無奈他結婚時太年輕，太偏愛妻子了。不過，約翰．達什伍德夫人倒也活像她丈夫，只是更狹隘，更自私罷了。
When he gave his promise to his father, he meditated within himself to increase the fortunes of his sisters by the present of a thousand pounds a-piece. He then really thought himself equal to it. The prospect of four thousand a-year, in addition to his present income, besides the remaining half of his own mother's fortune, warmed his heart, and made him feel capable of generosity. -- "Yes, he would give them three thousand pounds: it would be liberal and handsome! It would be enough to make them completely easy. Three thousand pounds! he could spare so considerable a sum with little inconvenience. "-- He thought of it all day long, and for many days successively, and he did not repent.
他向父親許諾的時候，心里就在盤算，想給他妹妹每人再補貼一千鎊的收入。當時，他確實覺得這是他力所能及的。他除了目前的收入和母親另—半遺產以外，還可望每年再添四千鎊。一想到這里，心里不禁熱乎乎的，他認為自己可以慷慨一點。“是的，我可以給她們三千鎊，這多么慷慨大方啊：可以確保她們安安生生地過日子啦。三千鎊呀，我可以毫不費勁地省出這么一筆巨款。”他整天這么想著，接連想了好多天，一點也沒反悔。
No sooner was his father's funeral over, than Mrs. John Dashwood, without sending any notice of her intention to her mother-in-law, arrived with her child and their attendants. No one could dispute her right to come; the house was her husband's from the moment of his father's decease; but the indelicacy of her conduct was so much the greater, and to a woman in Mrs. Dashwood's situation, with only common feelings, must have been highly unpleasing;-- but in HER mind there was a sense of honor so keen, a generosity so romantic, that any offence of the kind, by whomsoever given or received, was to her a source of immoveable disgust. Mrs. John Dashwood had never been a favourite with any of her husband's family; but she had had no opportunity, till the present, of shewing them with how little attention to the comfort of other people she could act when occasion required it.
父親的喪事剛辦完，約翰．達什伍德夫人也不打個招呼，就帶著孩子、仆人來到婆婆家里。誰也無法懷疑她有權來這里，因為從她公公死去的時刻起，這房子就屬于她丈夫的了。不過，她的行為實在太不文雅，按照人之常情，任何一個女人處在達什伍德太太當婆母的位置上，都會感到很不愉快。何況，達什伍德太太是個自尊心很強、慷慨大方、落拓不羈的女入，對這種唐突無禮的事情，無論是誰干的或者對誰干的，她都會感到深惡痛絕。約翰．達什伍德夫人在婆家從未受過任何人的喜愛，可是直到今天她才有機會向她們擺明：在必要時，她為人行事可以全然不顧別入的痛癢。
So acutely did Mrs. Dashwood feel this ungracious behaviour, and so earnestly did she despise her daughter-in-law for it, that, on the arrival of the latter, she would have quitted the house for ever, had not the entreaty of her eldest girl induced her first to reflect on the propriety of going, and her own tender love for all her three children determined her afterwards to stay, and for their sakes avoid a breach with their brother.
達什伍德太太厭惡這種蠻橫無禮的行徑，并因此而鄙視她的兒媳。一見兒媳進門，她就恨不得永遠離開這個家。怎奈大女兒一再懇求，她開始考慮一走了之是否妥當。后來硬是出自對三個女兒的愛憐，她才決定留下來。看在女兒們的份上，還是不跟那個做哥哥的鬧翻為好。
