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The situation of the house was good. High hills rose immediately behind, and at no great distance on each side; some of which were open downs, the others cultivated and woody. The village of Barton was chiefly on one of these hills, and formed a pleasant view from the cottage windows. The prospect in front was more extensive; it commanded the whole of the valley, and reached into the country beyond. The hills which surrounded the cottage terminated the valley in that direction; under another name, and in another course, it branched out again between two of the steepest of them.
房子的位置選得恰到好處。緊靠屋后，山巒聳立；左右不遠，也有峰巒依傍；群山之中，有的是開闊的高地，有的是耕地和林帶。巴頓村大致建在一座山上，立在鄉舍窗口舉目遠跳，景色十分宜人。房舍正面，視野尤為開闊，整個山谷一覽無余，目力所及，直達遠處鄉間。山谷綿延到鄉舍跟前，終于被三面環抱的山巒截斷；但是在兩座最陡峭的山巒之間，沿另一方向，岔出一條另有名目的支谷。
With the size and furniture of the house Mrs. Dashwood was upon the whole well satisfied; for though her former style of life rendered many additions to the latter indispensable, yet to add and improve was a delight to her; and she had at this time ready money enough to supply all that was wanted of greater elegance to the apartments.
整個說來，達什伍德太太對房子的大小和陳設還是滿意的。因為她雖然習慣了先前的生活方式，以后少不得要添這置那的，然而添置和修繕對她是一種樂趣。眼前她倒有足夠的現錢，可以把一個個房間裝潢得更漂亮些。
"As for the house itself, to be sure, " said she, "it is too small for our family, but we will make ourselves tolerably comfortable for the present, as it is too late in the year for improvements. Perhaps in the spring, if I have plenty of money, as I dare say I shall, we may think about building. These parlors are both too small for such parties of our friends as I hope to see often collected here; and I have some thoughts of throwing the passage into one of them with perhaps a part of the other, and so leave the remainder of that other for an entrance; this, with a new drawing room which may be easily added, and a bed-chamber and garret above, will make it a very snug little cottage. I could wish the stairs were handsome. But one must not expect every thing; though I suppose it would be no difficult matter to widen them. I shall see how much I am before-hand with the world in the spring, and we will plan our improvements accordingly. "
“至于房子本身嘛，”她說，“的確是太小了，我們一家人住不下，不過歲時已晚，來不及改建，暫且湊合著也夠舒服的了。也許到了春天，如果我手頭寬裕的話（我想一定會寬裕的），咱們再考慮改建的事兒。我希望經常邀請朋友們來這里聚會，可是這兩間客廳太小了。我有點想法，準備把一間客廳擴大，加進走廊，也許再加進另一間客廳的一部分，而把那間客廳的余下部分改作走廊。這么一來，再有一間新客廳（這很容易增加），一間臥室和閣樓，就能把我們的小鄉舍安排得小巧精當、舒舒服服。我本來還想把樓梯修得漂亮些，但是人不能期望一口吃成個胖子，雖然把它加寬一下沒有什么難處。到了春天，我還要看看手頭有多少錢，然后根據情況來計劃我們的裝潢修繕。”
