評論
打印
A few days later the bolt fell.
幾天之后，意外的事情發(fā)生了。
The Lovell Mingotts had sent out cards for what was known as "a formal dinner" (that is, three extra footmen, two dishes for each course, and a Roman punch in the middle), and had headed their invitations with the words "To meet the Countess Olenska," in accordance with the hospitable American fashion, which treats strangers as if they were royalties, or at least as their ambassadors.
洛弗爾·明戈特家散發(fā)請柬，要舉辦所謂“正式宴會”（即增加3名男仆，每道菜兩份，中間上羅馬潘趣酒），并按好客的美國方式——把陌生人當(dāng)成王親貴族。或者至少是他們的大使對待——在請柬開頭用了“為歡迎奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人”這樣的措辭。
The guests had been selected with a boldness and discrimination in which the initiated recognised the firm hand of Catherine the Great. Associated with such immemorial standbys as the Selfridge Merrys, who were asked everywhere because they always had been, the Beauforts, on whom there was a claim of relationship, and Mr. Sillerton Jackson and his sister Sophy (who went wherever her brother told her to), were some of the most fashionable and yet most irreproachable of the dominant "young married" set; the Lawrence Leffertses, Mrs. Lefferts Rushworth (the lovely widow), the Harry Thorleys, the Reggie Chiverses and young Morris Dagonet and his wife (who was a van der Luyden). The company indeed was perfectly assorted, since all the members belonged to the little inner group of people who, during the long New York season, disported themselves together daily and nightly with apparently undiminished zest.
客人的挑選頗具膽識，內(nèi)行人從中看得出大人物凱瑟琳的大手筆。被邀請的常客有塞爾弗里奇·梅里夫婦——他們到處受邀請是因為歷來如此，博福特夫婦 ——人們要求與他們建立聯(lián)系，以及西勒頓·杰克遜先生與妹妹索菲（哥哥讓她去哪兒她就去哪兒）。與這些中堅人物為伍的是幾對最時髦卻又最無懈可擊。超群出眾的“年輕夫婦”；還有勞倫斯·萊弗茨夫婦，萊弗茨·拉什沃斯太太（那位可愛的寡婦），哈里·索利夫婦，雷杰·奇弗斯夫婦，以及小莫里斯·達(dá)格尼特和他妻子（她姓范德盧頓）。這伙客人真可謂最完美的組合，因為他們都屬于那個核心小團(tuán)體，在紐約漫長社交季節(jié)里，他們熱情不減地日夜在一起尋歡作樂。
Forty-eight hours later the unbelievable had happened; every one had refused the Mingotts' invitation except the Beauforts and old Mr. Jackson and his sister. The intended slight was emphasised by the fact that even the Reggie Chiverses, who were of the Mingott clan, were among those inflicting it; and by the uniform wording of the notes, in all of which the writers "regretted that they were unable to accept," without the mitigating plea of a "previous engagement" that ordinary courtesy prescribed.
48小時之后，令人不可思議的事情發(fā)生了。除去博福特夫婦及老杰克遜先生和妹妹，所有的人都拒絕了明戈特家的邀請。甚至屬于明戈特家族的雷杰·奇弗斯夫婦也加盟作梗。而且他們的回函措辭也十分統(tǒng)一，都是直截了當(dāng)?shù)卣f“抱歉不能接受邀請”，連一般情況下出于禮貌常用的“事先有約”這種緩沖性借口都沒有。這一事實突出了人們的故意怠慢。
New York society was, in those days, far too small, and too scant in its resources, for every one in it (including livery-stable-keepers, butlers and cooks) not to know exactly on which evenings people were free; and it was thus possible for the recipients of Mrs. Lovell Mingott's invitations to make cruelly clear their determination not to meet the Countess Olenska.
那時候的紐約社交界范圍還很小，娛樂活動也少得可憐，遠(yuǎn)不至于使其中任何人（包括馬車行的老板、男仆及廚師在內(nèi)）無法確知人們哪些晚上空閑。正因為如此，接到洛弗爾·明戈特太太請柬的人們不愿與奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人會面的決心，才表達(dá)得那么明確，那么無情。
The blow was unexpected; but the Mingotts, as their way was, met it gallantly. Mrs. Lovell Mingott confided the case to Mrs. Welland, who confided it to Newland Archer; who, aflame at the outrage, appealed passionately and authoritatively to his mother; who, after a painful period of inward resistance and outward temporising, succumbed to his instances (as she always did), and immediately embracing his cause with an energy redoubled by her previous hesitations, put on her grey velvet bonnet and said: "I'll go and see Louisa van der Luyden."
這一打擊是出乎意料的；然而明戈特一家以他們慣有的方式勇敢地迎接了這一挑戰(zhàn)。洛弗爾·明戈特太太把情況秘密告知了韋蘭太太，韋蘭太太又秘密告知了紐蘭· 阿切爾，他聽了大為光火，急忙像下達(dá)命令似地要求母親立即采取行動。做母親的雖然內(nèi)心里極其不愿，外表上卻又不能不對他盡力撫慰。經(jīng)過一段痛苦的斗爭之后，還是屈從了他的要求（像一向那樣），她立即采納他的主張，且由于先前的猶豫而干勁倍增，戴上她的灰絲絨帽說：“我去找路易莎·范德盧頓。”
The New York of Newland Archer's day was a small and slippery pyramid, in which, as yet, hardly a fissure had been made or a foothold gained. At its base was a firm foundation of what Mrs. Archer called "plain people"; an honourable but obscure majority of respectable families who (as in the case of the Spicers or the Leffertses or the Jacksons) had been raised above their level by marriage with one of the ruling clans. People, Mrs. Archer always said, were not as particular as they used to be; and with old Catherine Spicer ruling one end of Fifth Avenue, and Julius Beaufort the other, you couldn't expect the old traditions to last much longer.
在紐蘭·阿切爾那個時代，紐約的上流社會還是個滑溜溜的小金字塔，人們很難在上面開鑿裂縫，找到立足點。其底部的堅實基礎(chǔ)，由阿切爾太太所說的“平民”構(gòu)成，他們多數(shù)屬于相當(dāng)有身份的家庭，盡管體面，卻沒有名望，通過與某個占支配地位的家族聯(lián)姻而崛起（就像斯派塞夫婦、萊弗茨夫婦與杰克遜夫婦那樣）。阿切爾太太總是說，人們不像過去那樣講究了；有老凱瑟琳·斯派塞把持第五大街的一端，朱利葉斯·博福特把持另一端，你無法指望那些老規(guī)矩能維持多久。
