評論
打印
In which Mr Dombey, as a Man and a Father, is seen at the Head of the Home Department.
The funeral of the deceased lady having been 'performed to the entire satisfaction of the undertaker, as well as of the neighbourhood at large, which is generally disposed to be captious on such a point, and is prone to take offence at any omissions or short-comings in the ceremonies, the various members of Mr Dombey's household subsided into their several places in the domestic system. That small world, like the great one out of doors, had the capacity of easily forgetting its dead; and when the cook had said she was a quiet-tempered lady, and the house-keeper had said it was the common lot, and the butler had said who'd have thought it, and the housemaid had said she couldn't hardly believe it, and the footman had said it seemed exactly like a dream, they had quite worn the subject out, and began to think their mourning was wearing rusty too.
已故夫人的葬禮完成得使殯儀承辦人和鄰近的全體居民都完全稱心滿意（鄰近的居民們通常在這種場合是喜歡吹毛求疵的，對禮儀中的任何疏忽或缺點都會生氣見怪）；在這之后，董貝先生家里的各個成員各自回到了他們在這個家庭體系中原先的地位中。這個小小的世界，就像戶外的大世界一樣，很容易把死去的人忘掉；當廚娘說了“她是一位性情安靜的夫人”，女管家說了“這是人人都難以逃脫的命運”，男管家說了“誰曾料想到會發生這件事呢？”女仆說了“她簡直不能相信這件事”，男仆說了“這似乎完全跟做夢一樣”之后，他們在這個話題上就沒有什么可以再說的了，而且開始覺得他們的喪服也已經穿得褪色了。
On Richards, who was established upstairs in a state of honourable captivity, the dawn of her new life seemed to break cold and grey. Mr Dombey's house was a large one, on the shady side of a tall, dark, dreadfully genteel street in the region between Portland Place and Bryanstone Square.' It was a corner house, with great wide areas containing cellars frowned upon by barred windows, and leered at by crooked-eyed doors leading to dustbins. It was a house of dismal state, with a circular back to it, containing a whole suite of drawing-rooms looking upon a gravelled yard, where two gaunt trees, with blackened trunks and branches, rattled rather than rustled, their leaves were so smoked-dried. The summer sun was never on the street, but in the morning about breakfast-time, when it came with the water-carts and the old clothes men, and the people with geraniums, and the umbrella-mender, and the man who trilled the little bell of the Dutch clock as he went along. It was soon gone again to return no more that day; and the bands of music and the straggling Punch's shows going after it, left it a prey to the most dismal of organs, and white mice; with now and then a porcupine, to vary the entertainments; until the butlers whose families were dining out, began to stand at the house-doors in the twilight, and the lamp-lighter made his nightly failure in attempting to brighten up the street with gas.
理查茲以一種體面的被囚禁的狀態被安頓在樓上；對她來說，她的新生活的黎明是寒冷與灰暗的。董貝先生的公館是一棟宏偉的房屋，座落在一條陰暗的、非常優雅的街道的背陰的一面，這條街道位于波特蘭十字路口和布賴恩廣場之間的地區內，兩旁矗立著高大的房屋。這是一棟在街道拐角上的房子，里面十分寬敞，其中還包括一些地窖，裝了鐵條的窗子向它們皺著眉頭，眼睛歪斜的、通向垃圾箱的門向它們斜眼瞅著。這是一棟陰暗沉悶的房屋，后背是圓形的，房屋里有一整套客廳；客廳前面是一個鋪了石子的庭院，庭院里有兩株干枯的樹，樹干和樹枝都已發黑，發出了格格的、而不是颯颯的響聲，因為樹葉都已被煙熏枯了。夏天的太陽只有在上午吃早飯的時候才照射到這條街上，那時候運水車、賣舊衣的商人、賣天竺葵的小販、修雨傘的人、還有一邊走一邊使荷蘭鐘的小鈴兒發出叮當叮當響聲的人也隨著太陽來到這里。太陽很快就消失，這一天不再回來；隨后而來的是樂隊和潘趣木偶戲①；在這之后，人們只能聽聽風琴的極為沉悶的聲音和看看白耗子的表演——有時還有一只豪豬來演雜技，以便變換一下娛樂的興趣；到了薄暮的時候，男管家們（他們家里的人到外面吃晚飯去了）開始站在門口；點街燈的人試圖用煤氣來照亮這條街道，但每夜都沒有成功。
①潘趣（Punch）：英國木偶戲中的主角，他的背是駝的，鼻子很長，而且是鉤形的，他的妻子名叫朱迪（Judy），時常和他吵架。
注釋：dispose 1. v. 處理；配置；使適應；使有傾向 2. adj. 有......傾向的；打算做......的；有某種健康狀態的
例句：
1. The criminal disposed of the witness to the crime.
罪犯將他犯罪的目擊者殺死了。
2. She seemed well disposed towards us.
她看來對我們頗有好感。
