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It was generally agreed in New York that the Countess Olenska had "lost her looks."
在紐約，人們普遍認(rèn)為奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人“紅顏已衰”。
She had appeared there first, in Newland Archer's boyhood, as a brilliantly pretty little girl of nine or ten, of whom people said that she "ought to be painted." Her parents had been continental wanderers, and after a roaming babyhood she had lost them both, and been taken in charge by her aunt, Medora Manson, also a wanderer, who was herself returning to New York to "settle down."
她在紐蘭·阿切爾童年時(shí)期第一次在這里露面，那時(shí)她是個(gè)光彩照人的漂亮小姑娘，9到10歲的樣子。人們說她“應(yīng)該讓人畫像”。她的父母是歐洲大陸的漫游客，經(jīng)過幼年的漂泊之后，她失去了雙親，被姑媽梅多拉·曼森收養(yǎng)。她也是位漫游客，剛剛要回紐約“定居”。
Poor Medora, repeatedly widowed, was always coming home to settle down (each time in a less expensive house), and bringing with her a new husband or an adopted child; but after a few months she invariably parted from her husband or quarrelled with her ward, and, having got rid of her house at a loss, set out again on her wanderings. As her mother had been a Rushworth, and her last unhappy marriage had linked her to one of the crazy Chiverses, New York looked indulgently on her eccentricities; but when she returned with her little orphaned niece, whose parents had been popular in spite of their regrettable taste for travel, people thought it a pity that the pretty child should be in such hands.
可憐的梅多拉一再成為寡婦，經(jīng)?；貋矶ň樱恳淮位貋碜》康臋n次都要降低一點(diǎn)），并帶著一位新丈夫或者新收養(yǎng)的孩子。然而幾個(gè)月之后，她又總是與丈夫分道揚(yáng)鐮或者與被監(jiān)護(hù)人鬧翻，賠本賣掉房子，又動(dòng)身出去漫游。由于她母親原姓拉什沃斯，而最后一次的不幸婚姻又把她與瘋癲的奇弗斯家族的一個(gè)成員聯(lián)在一起，所以紐約人都十分寬容地看待她的偏執(zhí)行為。不過，當(dāng)她帶著成了孤兒的小侄女回來的時(shí)候，人們還是覺得把那個(gè)美麗的小姑娘托付給這樣的人很可惜。孩子的父母盡管因愛好旅游令人遺憾，生前卻頗有人望。
Every one was disposed to be kind to little Ellen Mingott, though her dusky red cheeks and tight curls gave her an air of gaiety that seemed unsuitable in a child who should still have been in black for her parents. It was one of the misguided Medora's many peculiarities to flout the unalterable rules that regulated American mourning, and when she stepped from the steamer her family were scandalised to see that the crape veil she wore for her own brother was seven inches shorter than those of her sisters-in-law, while little Ellen was in crimson merino and amber beads, like a gipsy foundling.
人人都對(duì)小埃倫·明戈特懷有善意，盡管她那黑黝黝的紅臉蛋與密實(shí)的髭發(fā)使她顯得神情愉快，看起來與一個(gè)仍在為父母服喪的孩子很不相稱。輕視美國人哀悼活動(dòng)的那些不容改變的規(guī)矩，是梅多拉錯(cuò)誤的怪癖之一。當(dāng)她從輪船上出來的時(shí)候，家人們見她為其兄戴的黑紗比嫂嫂的短了7英寸，而小埃倫居然穿著深紅色美利奴呢，戴著琥珀色珍珠項(xiàng)鏈，像個(gè)吉卜賽棄兒一樣，大家都極為震驚。
But New York had so long resigned itself to Medora that only a few old ladies shook their heads over Ellen's gaudy clothes, while her other relations fell under the charm of her high colour and high spirits. She was a fearless and familiar little thing, who asked disconcerting questions, made precocious comments, and possessed outlandish arts, such as dancing a Spanish shawl dance and singing Neapolitan love-songs to a guitar. Under the direction of her aunt (whose real name was Mrs. Thorley Chivers, but who, having received a Papal title, had resumed her first husband's patronymic, and called herself the Marchioness Manson, because in Italy she could turn it into Manzoni) the little girl received an expensive but incoherent education, which included "drawing from the model," a thing never dreamed of before, and playing the piano in quintets with professional musicians.
然而紐約早已對(duì)梅多拉聽之任之，只有幾位老夫人對(duì)埃倫花哨俗氣的穿著搖搖頭，而另外的親屬卻被她紅撲撲的臉色與勃勃生氣征服了。她是個(gè)大膽的、無拘無束的小姑娘，愛問些不相宜的問題，發(fā)表早熟的議論，且掌握一些域外的藝術(shù)形式，比如跳西班牙披肩舞，伴著吉他唱那不勒斯情歌。在姑媽（她的真名是索利· 奇弗斯太太，但她接受教皇所授爵位后恢復(fù)了第一任丈夫的姓，自稱曼森侯爵夫人，因?yàn)樵谝獯罄@個(gè)姓可以改為曼佐尼）指導(dǎo)下，小姑娘接受的教育雖開支昂貴卻很不連貫，其中包括以前做夢(mèng)都想不到的“照模特的樣子畫像”，與職業(yè)樂師一起彈鋼琴五重奏。
Of course no good could come of this; and when, a few years later, poor Chivers finally died in a mad- house, his widow (draped in strange weeds) again pulled up stakes and departed with Ellen, who had grown into a tall bony girl with conspicuous eyes. For some time no more was heard of them; then news came of Ellen's marriage to an immensely rich Polish nobleman of legendary fame, whom she had met at a ball at the Tuileries, and who was said to have princely establishments in Paris, Nice and Florence, a yacht at Cowes, and many square miles of shooting in Transylvania. She disappeared in a kind of sulphurous apotheosis, and when a few years later Medora again came back to New York, subdued, impoverished, mourning a third husband, and in quest of a still smaller house, people wondered that her rich niece had not been able to do something for her. Then came the news that Ellen's own marriage had ended in disaster, and that she was herself returning home to seek rest and oblivion among her kinsfolk.
這樣的教育當(dāng)然是無益的。幾年之后，可憐的奇弗斯終于死在瘋?cè)嗽豪铮倪z孀（穿著奇特的喪服）又一次收攤搬家，帶著埃倫走了。這時(shí)埃倫已長成一個(gè)又高又瘦的大姑娘，兩只眼睛分外引人注意。有一段時(shí)間她們音訊全無，后來消息傳來，說埃倫嫁給了在杜伊勒利宮舞會(huì)上認(rèn)識(shí)的一位富有傳奇色彩的波蘭貴族富翁，據(jù)說他在巴黎、尼斯和佛羅倫薩都擁有豪華住宅，在考斯有一艘游艇，在特蘭西瓦尼亞還有許多平方英里的獵場(chǎng)。正當(dāng)人們說得沸沸揚(yáng)揚(yáng)之時(shí)，她卻突然銷聲匿跡了。又過了幾年，梅多拉為第三位丈夫服著喪，又一次窮困潦倒地回到紐約，尋找一所更小的房子。這時(shí)，人們不禁納悶，她那富有的侄女怎么不伸出手來幫幫她。后來又傳來了埃倫本人婚姻不幸終結(jié)的消息，她自己也要回家，到親屬中求得安息與忘卻。
