評(píng)論
打印
In Colonel Brandon alone, of all her new acquaintance, did Elinor find a person who could in any degree claim the respect of abilities, excite the interest of friendship, or give pleasure as a companion. Willoughby was out of the question. Her admiration and regard, even her sisterly regard, was all his own; but he was a lover; his attentions were wholly Marianne's, and a far less agreeable man might have been more generally pleasing. Colonel Brandon, unfortunately for himself, had no such encouragement to think only of Marianne, and in conversing with Elinor he found the greatest consolation for the indifference of her sister.
埃麗諾覺(jué)得，在她新結(jié)識(shí)的人里，唯有布蘭登上校堪稱具有一定的才干，能激起友誼的興致，帶來(lái)交往的樂(lè)趣。威洛比可就談不上啦。盡管她愛(ài)慕他，敬重他，甚至姐妹般地敬重他，可他畢竟處在熱戀之中，只知道向瑪麗安獻(xiàn)殷勤。也許，他若是少獻(xiàn)點(diǎn)殷勤，倒會(huì)更討眾人喜歡些。布蘭登上校很是不幸，他本想傾心于瑪麗安，瑪麗安對(duì)他卻無(wú)情意，冷若冰霜。不過(guò)，通過(guò)與埃麗諾進(jìn)行交談，他得到了最大的安慰。
Elinor's compassion for him increased, as she had reason to suspect that the misery of disappointed love had already been known to him. This suspicion was given by some words which accidently dropped from him one evening at the park, when they were sitting down together by mutual consent, while the others were dancing. His eyes were fixed on Marianne, and, after a silence of some minutes, he said, with a faint smile, "Your sister, I understand, does not approve of second attachments. "
埃麗諾越來(lái)越同情上校，因?yàn)樗欣碛刹孪耄呀?jīng)感到了失戀的痛苦。這種猜想是一天晚上在巴頓莊園聽(tīng)他無(wú)意中漏出一句話而引起來(lái)的。當(dāng)時(shí)，別人都在跳舞，他倆經(jīng)過(guò)彼此同意，一道坐了下來(lái)。上校兩眼凝視著瑪麗安，沉默了幾分鐘之后，淡然微笑著說(shuō)：“據(jù)我了解，你妹妹不贊成第二次愛(ài)情。”
"No, " replied Elinor, "her opinions are all romantic. "
“是的，”埃麗諾應(yīng)道，“她的想法十分羅曼蒂克。”
"Or rather, as I believe, she considers them impossible to exist. "
“依我看，更確切地說(shuō)，她認(rèn)為不可能存在第二次愛(ài)情。”
"I believe she does. But how she contrives it without reflecting on the character of her own father, who had himself two wives, I know not. A few years however will settle her opinions on the reasonable basis of common sense and observation; and then they may be more easy to define and to justify than they now are, by any body but herself. "
“我看她是這樣認(rèn)為的。但是，我不曉得她怎么能這樣想，這豈不有損于她自己父親的人格，因?yàn)樗陀羞^(guò)兩個(gè)妻子。不過(guò)，再過(guò)幾年，她就會(huì)根據(jù)自己的常識(shí)和觀察，把看法變得合情合理一些。到那時(shí)候，她的觀點(diǎn)在除她以外的任何人看來(lái)，都會(huì)比現(xiàn)在更容易解釋，更容易辯護(hù)。”
"This will probably be the case, " he replied; "and yet there is something so amiable in the prejudices of a young mind, that one is sorry to see them give way to the reception of more general opinions. "
“情況可能如此，”上校答道，“然而青年人的偏見(jiàn)別有一番親切感，誰(shuí)肯忍心拋棄，而去接受那些比較一般的觀點(diǎn)？”
