評(píng)論
打印
She looked amused. "Why--have you waited long? Mr. Beaufort took me to see a number of houses-- since it seems I'm not to be allowed to stay in this one." She appeared to dismiss both Beaufort and himself from her mind, and went on: "I've never been in a city where there seems to be such a feeling against living in des quartiers excentriques. What does it matter where one lives? I'm told this street is respectable."
她看上去很高興，說(shuō)：“怎么——你等了很久了嗎？博福特先生帶我去看了幾處房子——因?yàn)榭磥?lái)是不會(huì)允許我繼續(xù)住在這兒了。”她好像把博福特和他都給忘了似地接著說(shuō)：“我從沒(méi)見(jiàn)過(guò)哪個(gè)城市像這兒一樣，認(rèn)為住在偏遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)不妥。住得偏遠(yuǎn)不偏遠(yuǎn)，有什么關(guān)系嗎？聽(tīng)人說(shuō)這條街是很體面的呢。”
"It's not fashionable."
“這兒不夠時(shí)髦。”
"Fashionable! Do you all think so much of that? Why not make one's own fashions? But I suppose I've lived too independently; at any rate, I want to do what you all do--I want to feel cared for and safe."
“時(shí)髦！你們都很看重這個(gè)問(wèn)題嗎？為什么不創(chuàng)造自己的時(shí)尚呢？不過(guò)我想，我過(guò)去生活得太無(wú)拘無(wú)束了，不管怎樣，你們大家怎么做，我就要怎么做——我希望得到關(guān)心，得到安全感。”
He was touched, as he had been the evening before when she spoke of her need of guidance.
他深受感動(dòng)，就像前一天晚上聽(tīng)她說(shuō)到她需要指導(dǎo)時(shí)那樣。
"That's what your friends want you to feel. New York's an awfully safe place," he added with a flash of sarcasm.
“你的朋友們就是希望你有安全感，紐約是個(gè)極為安全的地方。”他略帶挖苦地補(bǔ)上一句。
"Yes, isn't it? One feels that," she cried, missing the mockery. "Being here is like--like--being taken on a holiday when one has been a good little girl and done all one's lessons."
“不錯(cuò)，是這樣。我能感覺(jué)到，”她大聲地說(shuō)，并沒(méi)有覺(jué)察他話中的諷刺。“住在這兒就像——就像——一個(gè)聽(tīng)話的小姑娘做完所有的功課，被帶去度假一樣。”
The analogy was well meant, but did not altogether please him. He did not mind being flippant about New York, but disliked to hear any one else take the same tone. He wondered if she did not begin to see what a powerful engine it was, and how nearly it had crushed her. The Lovell Mingotts' dinner, patched up in extremis out of all sorts of social odds and ends, ought to have taught her the narrowness of her escape; but either she had been all along unaware of having skirted disaster, or else she had lost sight of it in the triumph of the van der Luyden evening. Archer inclined to the former theory; he fancied that her New York was still completely undifferentiated, and the conjecture nettled him.
這個(gè)比喻本是善意的，但卻不能讓他完全滿意。他不在乎自己對(duì)紐約社會(huì)說(shuō)些輕浮的話，卻不喜歡聽(tīng)別人使用同樣的腔調(diào)。他不知她是否真的還沒(méi)看出，紐約社會(huì)是個(gè)威力強(qiáng)大的機(jī)器，曾經(jīng)險(xiǎn)些將她碾得粉碎。洛弗爾·明戈特家的宴會(huì)動(dòng)用了各種社交手段，才在最后時(shí)刻得到補(bǔ)救——這件事應(yīng)該讓她明白，她的處境是多么危險(xiǎn)。然而，要么她對(duì)躲過(guò)的災(zāi)難壓根兒一無(wú)所知，要么是范德盧頓晚會(huì)的成功使她視而不見(jiàn)。阿切爾傾向于前一種推測(cè)。他想，她眼中的紐約對(duì)人依然是一視同仁的，這一揣測(cè)讓他心煩意亂。
"Last night," he said, "New York laid itself out for you. The van der Luydens do nothing by halves."
“昨天晚上，”他說(shuō)，“紐約社交界竭盡全力地歡迎你；范德盧頓夫婦干什么事都是全心全意。”
"No: how kind they are! It was such a nice party. Every one seems to have such an esteem for them."
“是啊，他們對(duì)我太好了！這次聚會(huì)非常愉快。人人好像都很敬重他們。”
The terms were hardly adequate; she might have spoken in that way of a tea-party at the dear old Miss Lannings'.
這說(shuō)法很難算得上準(zhǔn)確；她若如此評(píng)價(jià)可愛(ài)的老拉寧小姐的茶會(huì)還差不多。
