評論
打印
It is half-past five o'clock, and an autumn afternoon, when the reader and Solomon Gills become acquainted. Solomon Gills is in the act of seeing what time it is by the unimpeachable chronometer. The usual daily clearance has been making in the City for an hour or more; and the human tide is still rolling westward. 'The streets have thinned,' as Mr Gills says, 'very much.' It threatens to be wet to-night. All the weather glasses in the shop are in low spirits, and the rain already shines upon the cocked hat of the wooden Midshipman.
讀者與所羅門·吉爾斯認識是在一個秋天下午的五點半鐘。所羅門·吉爾斯那時正在看他那只完美無缺的精密計時表，看看是什么時候了。城市照常每天一次向外疏散人群，已經進行了一個小時或更長久一些；人的浪潮仍然向西滾滾流動著。就像吉爾斯先生所說的，“街上的人已經稀少得多了。”今天晚上好像要下雨。店鋪里所有的晴雨表都呈現出垂頭喪氣的神態。雨滴已經在木制海軍軍官候補生的三角帽上閃耀著亮光。
'Where's Walter, I wonder!' said Solomon Gills, after he had carefully put up the chronometer again. 'Here's dinner been ready, half an hour, and no Walter!'
Turning round upon his stool behind the counter, Mr Gills looked out among the instruments in the window, to see if his nephew might be crossing the road. No. He was not among the bobbing umbrellas, and he certainly was not the newspaper boy in the oilskin cap who was slowly working his way along the piece of brass outside, writing his name over Mr Gills's name with his forefinger.
“不知道沃爾特在哪里！”吉爾斯把精密計時表重新小心地藏好以后，說道，“晚飯已經準備好半個小時了，可是卻不見沃爾特！”
吉爾斯先生在柜臺后面的凳子上轉過身子，通過櫥窗中的儀器往外看，看看他的外甥是不是正在穿越馬路。沒有。他沒有在那些擺動的雨傘中間。他也決不是那個戴油布帽子、賣報的男孩子，那男孩子正沿著外面的銅牌慢吞吞地走過去，并且用食指把自己的姓名寫在吉爾斯先生的姓名上面。
'If I didn't know he was too fond of me to make a run of it, and go and enter himself aboard ship against my wishes, I should begin to be fidgetty,' said Mr Gills, tapping two or three weather-glasses with his knuckles. 'I really should. All in the Downs, eh! Lots of moisture! Well! it's wanted.'
“如果我不知道，他太愛我了，不會逃跑，也不會違反我的意愿，自己跑到船上去的話，那么我真要開始坐立不安了，”吉爾斯先生用指關節輕輕敲打著兩、三個晴雨表。“我真會的！全都在很低的度數①，啊！濕氣真大！唔，是需要下雨了。”
I believe,' said Mr Gills, blowing the dust off the glass top of a compass-case, 'that you don't point more direct and due to the back parlour than the boy's inclination does after all. And the parlour couldn't bear straighter either. Due north. Not the twentieth part of a point either way.'
“我覺得，”吉爾斯先生把一個羅盤匣子玻璃頂上的灰塵吹去，說道，“孩子總是喜歡跑到后客廳里去，你畢竟不能比他更直接更準確地指向后客廳。后客廳的方向是不能更正確的了。正北，不向其他方向偏離二十分之一度！”
' Halloa, Uncle Sol!'
'Halloa, my boy!' cried the Instrument-maker, turning briskly round. 'What! you are here, are you?'
“喂，所爾舅舅！”
“喂，我的孩子！”儀器制造商輕快地轉過身去，喊道，“啊，你回來了，是嗎？”
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①原文為AllintheDowns，吉爾斯這樣說是指晴雨表中的度數很低，但這又是英國劇作家和詩人約翰·蓋伊（JohnGay，1685—1732年）著名敘事詩《溫存的威廉和黑眼睛的蘇珊告別》（SweetWiliam’sFarewelltoBlack－eyedSusan）中開頭的詩句，意為“船隊全都在唐斯”。唐斯（theDowns）是英法之間多佛海峽的一部分，為船舶停泊處。狄更斯采用這種文字表現方法，是為了使讀者感到幽默有趣。
注釋：knuckles n. 壓關節，指關節（knuckle復數形式）
v. 以指節打；以手指射（knuckle的第三人稱單數形式）
例句：
1. Even the knuckles on his hands.
甚至手指關節。
2. This is what hate looks like, you realized—white knuckles on a chair.
你知道，這就是恨的表現——“坐椅上的白色關節”。
