These things passed through Newland Archer's mind a week later as he watched the Countess Olenska enter the van der Luyden drawing-room on the evening of the momentous dinner. The occasion was a solemn one, and he wondered a little nervously how she would carry it off. She came rather late, one hand still ungloved, and fastening a bracelet about her wrist; yet she entered without any appearance of haste or embarrassment the drawing-room in which New York's most chosen company was somewhat awfully assembled.
一周之后，在那次重大宴會的晚上，紐蘭·阿切爾看著奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人走進(jìn)范德盧頓太太的客廳時，想起了這些往事。這是個難得見的場合，他心情有點(diǎn)緊張，擔(dān)心她將怎樣應(yīng)付。她到得很晚，一只手還未戴手套，正在扣著腕上的手鐲，然而她走進(jìn)匯集了紐約大多數(shù)精英的客廳時，并沒有流露絲毫的匆忙與窘迫。

In the middle of the room she paused, looking about her with a grave mouth and smiling eyes; and in that instant Newland Archer rejected the general verdict on her looks. It was true that her early radiance was gone. The red cheeks had paled; she was thin, worn, a little older-looking than her age, which must have been nearly thirty. But there was about her the mysterious authority of beauty, a sureness in the carriage of the head, the movement of the eyes, which, without being in the least theatrical, struck his as highly trained and full of a conscious power. At the same time she was simpler in manner than most of the ladies present, and many people (as he heard afterward from Janey) were disappointed that her appearance was not more "stylish" --for stylishness was what New York most valued. It was, perhaps, Archer reflected, because her early vivacity had disappeared; because she was so quiet--quiet in her movements, her voice, and the tones of her low- pitched voice. New York had expected something a good deal more reasonant in a young woman with such a history.
她在客廳中間停住腳步，抿著嘴，兩眼含笑地打量著四周。就在這一瞬間，紐蘭·阿切爾否定了有關(guān)她的容貌的普遍看法。不錯，她早年的那種光彩的確已經(jīng)不見了，那紅撲撲的面頰已變成蒼白色。她瘦削、憔。淬，看上去比她的年齡稍顯老相——她一定快30歲了。然而她身上卻散發(fā)著一種美的神秘力量，在她毫無做作的舉目顧盼之間有一種自信，他覺得那是經(jīng)過高度訓(xùn)練養(yǎng)成的，并且充滿一種自覺的力量。同時，她的舉止比在場的大多數(shù)夫人小姐都純樸，許多人（他事后聽詹尼說）對她打扮得不夠“時新”感到失望——因?yàn)?“時新”是紐約人最看重的東西。阿切爾沉思，也許是因?yàn)樗缒甑幕盍σ呀?jīng)消失了，她才這樣異常地沉靜——她的動作、聲音、低聲細(xì)氣的語調(diào)都異常沉靜。紐約人本指望有著這樣一段歷史的年輕女子聲音會是十分洪亮的。

The dinner was a somewhat formidable business. Dining with the van der Luydens was at best no light matter, and dining there with a Duke who was their cousin was almost a religious solemnity. It pleased Archer to think that only an old New Yorker could perceive the shade of difference (to New York) between being merely a Duke and being the van der Luydens' Duke. New York took stray noblemen calmly, and even (except in the Struthers set) with a certain distrustful hauteur; but when they presented such credentials as these they were received with an old-fashioned cordiality that they would have been greatly mistaken in ascribing solely to their standing in Debrett. It was for just such distinctions that the young man cherished his old New York even while he smiled at it.
宴會有點(diǎn)令人提心吊膽。和范德盧頓夫婦一起用餐，本來就不是件輕松事，而與他們一位公爵表親一起用餐，更不啻是履行一種宗教儀式了。阿切爾愉快地想道，只有一個老紐約，才能看出一位普通公爵與范德盧頓家的公爵之間的細(xì)微差異（對紐約而言）。紐約人根本不把到處飄泊的貴族放在眼里，對他們甚至還帶有幾分不信任的傲慢（斯特拉瑟斯那伙人除外）；但是，當(dāng)他們證明自己和范德盧頓這樣的家族有某種關(guān)系之后，便能受到老式的真誠熱情的接待，這往往使他們大錯特錯地把這種接待完全歸功于自己在《德布利特貴族年鑒》中的地位。正是由于這種差別，年輕人即使在嘲笑他的老紐約的時候依然懷念它。

The van der Luydens had done their best to emphasise the importance of the occasion. The du Lac Sevres and the Trevenna George II plate were out; so was the van der Luyden "Lowestoft" (East India Company) and the Dagonet Crown Derby. Mrs. van der Luyden looked more than ever like a Cabanel, and Mrs. Archer, in her grandmother's seed-pearls and emeralds, reminded her son of an Isabey miniature. All the ladies had on their handsomest jewels, but it was characteristic of the house and the occasion that these were mostly in rather heavy old-fashioned settings; and old Miss Lanning, who had been persuaded to come, actually wore her mother's cameos and a Spanish blonde shawl.
范德盧頓夫婦竭盡全力突出這次宴會的重要性。他們把杜拉克·塞沃爾與特利文納·喬治二世的鍍金餐具拿了出來。范德盧頓太太看起來比任何時候都更像一幅卡巴內(nèi)爾的畫像，而阿切爾太太佩戴著她祖母的米珠項(xiàng)鏈和綠寶石，讓她兒子不由得想起了伊莎貝的微型畫像。所有的夫人小姐都戴著她們最漂亮的首飾，不過她們的首飾大部分鑲嵌得特別老式，成了這所住宅與這一場合獨(dú)有的特點(diǎn)；被勸來的拉寧小姐戴的是她母親的浮雕玉，還披了件亞麻色的西班牙披肩。

The Countess Olenska was the only young woman at the dinner; yet, as Archer scanned the smooth plump elderly faces between their diamond necklaces and towering ostrich feathers, they struck him as curiously immature compared with hers. It frightened him to think what must have gone to the making of her eyes.
奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人是宴會上惟一的年輕女子，然而在阿切爾細(xì)細(xì)端詳那些鉆石項(xiàng)鏈與高聳的駝鳥翎毛中間光滑豐滿的老年人的臉龐時，令他感到奇怪的是，她們競顯得不及她成熟。想到造就她那副眼神所付的代價(jià)，他不覺有些驚恐。