評(píng)論
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The Countess Olenska had said "after five"; and at half after the hour Newland Archer rang the bell of the peeling stucco house with a giant wisteria throttling its feeble cast-iron balcony, which she had hired, far down West Twenty-third Street, from the vagabond Medora.
奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人說的是“5點(diǎn)鐘以后”。5點(diǎn)半的時(shí)候，紐蘭·阿切爾摁響了她家的門鈴。那是一所灰饅剝落的住宅，一株碩大的紫藤壓迫著搖搖欲墜的鑄鐵陽臺(tái)。房子是她從四處漂泊的梅多拉手中租下的，在西23街的最南端。
It was certainly a strange quarter to have settled in. Small dress-makers, bird-stuffers and "people who wrote" were her nearest neighbours; and further down the dishevelled street Archer recognised a dilapidated wooden house, at the end of a paved path, in which a writer and journalist called Winsett, whom he used to come across now and then, had mentioned that he lived. Winsett did not invite people to his house; but he had once pointed it out to Archer in the course of a nocturnal stroll, and the latter had asked himself, with a little shiver, if the humanities were so meanly housed in other capitals.
她住進(jìn)的確實(shí)是個(gè)陌生的地段，小裁縫、賣假貨的及“搞寫作的”是她的近鄰。沿著這條亂哄哄的街道再往南去，在一段石鋪小路的盡頭，阿切爾認(rèn)出一所快要倒塌的木房子，一位名叫溫塞特的作家兼記者住在里面，此人阿切爾過去時(shí)常遇見，他說起過他住在這里。溫塞特從不邀請(qǐng)人到他家作客，不過有一次夜間散步時(shí)他曾向阿切爾指出過這幢房子，當(dāng)時(shí)阿切爾曾不寒而栗地自問，在其他大都市里，人們是否也住得如此簡(jiǎn)陋？
Madame Olenska's own dwelling was redeemed from the same appearance only by a little more paint about the window-frames; and as Archer mustered its modest front he said to himself that the Polish Count must have robbed her of her fortune as well as of her illusions.
奧蘭斯卡夫人住所惟一的不同之處，僅僅是在窗框上多涂了一點(diǎn)兒漆。阿切爾一面審視著這幢屋子簡(jiǎn)陋的外觀，一面想道：那個(gè)波蘭伯爵搶走的不僅是她的財(cái)產(chǎn)，而且還搶走了她的幻想呢。
The young man had spent an unsatisfactory day. He had lunched with the Wellands, hoping afterward to carry off May for a walk in the Park. He wanted to have her to himself, to tell her how enchanting she had looked the night before, and how proud he was of her, and to press her to hasten their marriage. But Mrs. Welland had firmly reminded him that the round of family visits was not half over, and, when he hinted at advancing the date of the wedding, had raised reproachful eye-brows and sighed out: "Twelve dozen of everything--hand-embroidered--"
阿切爾悶悶不樂地過了一天。他與韋蘭一家一起吃的午飯，指望飯后帶著梅到公園去散散步。他想單獨(dú)跟她在一起，告訴她昨天晚上她那神態(tài)有多么迷人、他多么為她感到自豪，并設(shè)法說服她早日和他成婚。然而韋蘭太太卻態(tài)度堅(jiān)決地提醒他，家族拜訪進(jìn)行還不到一半呢。當(dāng)他暗示想把婚禮的日期提前時(shí)，她責(zé)怪地皺起眉頭，嘆息著說：“還有12打手工刺繡的東西沒有……”
