"Well--what harm was there in inviting her? She was the best-looking woman in the room; she made the dinner a little less funereal than the usual van der Luyden banquet."
“哎——邀請了她又有何妨？她成了客廳里最漂亮的女人，她使得晚宴比范德盧頓平日那種宴會少了不少喪葬氣氛?！?/P>

"You know cousin Henry asked her to please you: he persuaded cousin Louisa. And now they're so upset that they're going back to Skuytercliff tomorrow. I think, Newland, you'd better come down. You don't seem to understand how mother feels."
“你知道亨利表親邀請她是為了讓你高興，是他說服了路易莎。他們現在很煩惱，準備明天就回斯庫特克利夫去。我想，你最好下去一趟，紐蘭?？磥砟氵€不理解媽媽的心情?！?/P>

In the drawing-room Newland found his mother. She raised a troubled brow from her needlework to ask: "Has Janey told you?"
紐蘭在客廳里見到了母親。她停下針線活，抬起憂慮的額頭問道：“詹尼告訴你了嗎？”

"Yes." He tried to keep his tone as measured as her own. "But I can't take it very seriously."
“告訴了，”他盡量用像她那樣審慎的語氣說。“不過我看問題沒那么嚴重。”

"Not the fact of having offended cousin Louisa and cousin Henry?"
“得罪了路易莎和亨利表親還不嚴重？”

"The fact that they can be offended by such a trifle as Countess Olenska's going to the house of a woman they consider common."
“我是說奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人去了一個他們認為是平民的女人家，他們不會為這樣一件小事生氣?！?BR>"Consider--!"
“認為——？”

"Well, who is; but who has good music, and amuses people on Sunday evenings, when the whole of New York is dying of inanition."
“哦，她就是平民；不過她有好的音樂天賦，在星期天晚上整個紐約空虛得要命時給人們助興。”

"Good music? All I know is, there was a woman who got up on a table and sang the things they sing at the places you go to in Paris. There was smoking and champagne."
“音樂天賦？據我所知，有個女人爬到了桌子上，唱了那種你在巴黎去的那些去處才唱的東西。還吸煙喝香擯呢?！?/P>

"Well--that kind of thing happens in other places, and the world still goes on."
“唔——這種事在其他地方也有，可地球還不是照轉不誤！”

"I don't suppose, dear, you're really defending the French Sunday?"
“我想，親愛的，你不是當真在為法國的星期天辯護吧？”

"I've heard you often enough, mother, grumble at the English Sunday when we've been in London."
“媽媽，我們在倫敦的時候，我可是常聽你抱怨英國的星期天呢?！?/P>

"New York is neither Paris nor London."
“紐約既不是巴黎，也不是倫敦?！?/P>

"Oh, no, it's not!" her son groaned.
“噢，對，不是！”兒子哼著說。

"You mean, I suppose, that society here is not as brilliant? You're right, I daresay; but we belong here, and people should respect our ways when they come among us. Ellen Olenska especially: she came back to get away from the kind of life people lead in brilliant societies."
“我想，你的意思是這里的社交界不夠出色？我敢說，你說得很對；但我們屬于這里。有人來到我們中間就應該尊重我們的生活方式，尤其是埃倫·奧蘭斯卡：她來這兒不就是為了擺脫在出色的社交界過的那種生活嘛?！?/P>

Newland made no answer, and after a moment his mother ventured: "I was going to put on my bonnet and ask you to take me to see cousin Louisa for a moment before dinner." He frowned, and she continued: "I thought you might explain to her what you've just said: that society abroad is different . . . that people are not as particular, and that Madame Olenska may not have realised how we feel about such things. It would be, you know, dear," she added with an innocent adroitness, "in Madame Olenska's interest if you did."
紐蘭沒有回答。過了一會兒，她母親又試探地說：“我剛才正要戴上帽子，讓你帶我在晚飯前去見一見路易莎。”他皺起了眉頭，她接著說：“我以為你可以向她解釋一下你剛剛說過的話：國外的社交界有所不同……人們并不那么計較。還有，奧蘭斯卡夫人可能沒想到我們對這種事情的態度。你知道，親愛的，”她故作天真地巧言補充說：“如果你這么做，對奧蘭斯卡夫人是很有好處的?！?BR>