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打印
Wandering on to the bouton d'or drawing-room (where Beaufort had had the audacity to hang "Love Victorious," the much-discussed nude of Bouguereau) Archer found Mrs. Welland and her daughter standing near the ball-room door. Couples were already gliding over the floor beyond: the light of the wax candles fell on revolving tulle skirts, on girlish heads wreathed with modest blossoms, on the dashing aigrettes and ornaments of the young married women's coiffures, and on the glitter of highly glazed shirt-fronts and fresh glace gloves.
阿切爾漫步走到金黃色客廳（博福特大膽地在里面掛了一幅引起不少爭議的裸體畫《得勝的愛神》），只見韋蘭太太和她的女兒站在舞廳門口。那邊，一對對的舞伴已經在地板上滑步，燭光撒落在旋轉的紗裙上，撒落在少女們頭上戴的雅致的花環(huán)上，撒落在少婦們頭上浮華的枝形寶石飾品及裝飾物上，撒落在光亮的襯衫前胸與上光的新手套上。
Miss Welland, evidently about to join the dancers, hung on the threshold, her lilies-of-the-valley in her hand (she carried no other bouquet), her face a little pale, her eyes burning with a candid excitement. A group of young men and girls were gathered about her, and there was much hand-clasping, laughing and pleasantry on which Mrs. Welland, standing slightly apart, shed the beam of a qualified approval. It was evident that Miss Welland was in the act of announcing her engagement, while her mother affected the air of parental reluctance considered suitable to the occasion.
韋蘭小姐顯然正準備加入跳舞的人群。她呆在門口，手中握著鈴蘭（她沒帶別的花），臉色有點蒼白，真切的興奮使她兩眼灼灼發(fā)光。一群男青年和姑娘聚在她的周圍，不少人與她握手，笑著與她寒暄。稍稍站開一點的韋蘭太太笑容滿面，表達出得體的贊賞。很明顯，韋蘭小姐正在宣布她的訂婚消息，而她母親則裝出一副與這種場合相稱的家長們不情愿的模樣。
Archer paused a moment. It was at his express wish that the announcement had been made, and yet it was not thus that he would have wished to have his happiness known. To proclaim it in the heat and noise of a crowded ball-room was to rob it of the fine bloom of privacy which should belong to things nearest the heart. His joy was so deep that this blurring of the surface left its essence untouched; but he would have liked to keep the surface pure too. It was something of a satisfaction to find that May Welland shared this feeling. Her eyes fled to his beseechingly, and their look said: "Remember, we're doing this because it's right."
阿切爾躊躇了一會兒。訂婚消息是按他明確的意愿宣布的，但他的本意卻不是這樣把自己的幸福公布于眾。在擁擠喧鬧的舞廳里公布它等于強行剝掉個人秘密的保護層，那本是屬于最貼近心靈的東西。他的喜悅非常深沉，所以這種表面的損傷沒有觸及根本，不過他還是愿意讓表面也一樣純潔。令人滿意的是，他發(fā)現梅· 韋蘭也有同樣的感受。她用眼睛向他投來懇求的目光，仿佛是在說：“別忘記，我們這樣做是因為它符合常理。”
No appeal could have found a more immediate response in Archer's breast; but he wished that the necessity of their action had been represented by some ideal reason, and not simply by poor Ellen Olenska. The group about Miss Welland made way for him with significant smiles, and after taking his share of the felicitations he drew his betrothed into the middle of the ball-room floor and put his arm about her waist.
任何懇求都不會在阿切爾心中得到比這更快的響應了，然而他仍希望他們之所以必須在此宣布，有一個更充分的理由，而不僅僅是為了可憐的埃倫·奧蘭斯卡。韋蘭小姐周圍的人面帶會意的笑容給他讓開了路。在接受了對他的那份祝賀之后，他拉著未婚妻走到舞廳中央，把胳膊搭在了她的腰際。
"Now we shan't have to talk," he said, smiling into her candid eyes, as they floated away on the soft waves of the Blue Danube.
“現在我們用不著非得講話了，”他望著她那雙真誠的眼睛露出笑容說。兩人乘著《藍色多瑙河》柔和的波浪漂流而去。
