'With your usual happy discrimination, my dear Paul,' resumed Mrs Chick, 'you have hit the point at once. Our darling is altogether as stout as we could wish. The fact is, that his mind is too much for him. His soul is a great deal too large for his frame. I am sure the way in which that dear child talks!'said Mrs Chick, shaking her head; 'no one would believe. His expressions, Lucretia, only yesterday upon the subject of Funerals!
“你一向明察秋毫,我親愛的保羅,”奇克夫人回答道,“你一下就說對了。我們的小乖乖完全不像我們所希望的那么健壯。事實是:他腦子里想的事情太多了。就他那小小的身體來說,他的心靈太大了。說實在的,這乖孩子說話的方式,”奇克夫人搖搖頭,說道,“沒有誰能相信。就在昨天,盧克麗霞,他關于殯葬所說的那些話!”
'I am afraid,' said Mr Dombey, interrupting her testily, 'that some of those persons upstairs suggest improper subjects to the child. He was speaking to me last night about his - about his Bones,' said Mr Dombey, laying an irritated stress upon the word. 'What on earth has anybody to do with the - with the - Bones of my son? He is not a living skeleton, I suppose.
“我擔心,”董貝先生急躁地打斷了她的話,“樓上那些人當中有什么人向這孩子談到了一些不合適的話題。昨天夜里他跟我說起他的——說起他的骨頭,”董貝先生在這個詞上憤怒地加重了語氣,“世界上誰跟——跟我的兒子的骨頭有什么關系?我想,他不是一個活著的骷髏①。”
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①活著的骷髏:狄更斯寫作《董貝父子》時,倫敦雜耍場中演出的人物中有一位綽號為“活著的骷髏”(livingskeleton)的極壞的人。
'Very far from it,' said Mrs Chick, with unspeakable expression.
'I hope so,' returned her brother. 'Funerals again! who talks to the child of funerals? We are not undertakers, or mutes,or grave-diggers, I believe.'
“完全不是,”奇克夫人用難以形容的表情說道。
“我希望是這樣,”她的哥哥回答道。“又說什么殯葬的事情!誰向孩子 說起殯葬的事情的?我相信,我們不是殯儀事業的經營人,不是雇用的送喪人,也不是掘墓人。”
'Very far from it,' interposed Mrs Chick, with the same profound expression as before.
“完全不是,”奇克夫人插嘴道,她的表情與剛才同樣意味深長。
'Then who puts such things into his head?' said Mr Dombey. 'Really I was quite dismayed and shocked last night. Who puts such things into his head, Louisa?'
“那么是誰把這些東西裝進他的腦子里的呢?”董貝先生說道。“我昨天夜里確實十分驚奇,十分憤慨。誰把這些東西裝進他的腦子里的呢,路易莎?”
'My dear Paul,' said Mrs Chick, after a moment's silence, 'it is of no use inquiring. I do not think, I will tell you candidly that Wickam is a person of very cheerful spirit, or what one would call a - '
'A daughter of Momus,' Miss Tox softly suggested.
“我親愛的保羅,”奇克夫人沉默了片刻,說道,“問這個問題沒有用。坦率地跟你說吧,我認為威肯姆大嫂并不是一位性格快快活活的人,人們不可能把她稱為——”
“莫墨斯的女兒①,”托克斯小姐輕聲提示道。
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①莫墨斯的女兒(daughterofMomus):莫墨斯亦譯摩摩斯,是希臘神話中夜神的兒子,嘲弄之神。據說,他曾責怪赫費斯托斯創造人時沒有在胸口留下小洞以便能看出人的內心思想活動;又傳說,他因為未能在阿佛羅狄忒身上找到任何可以嘲笑的不是之處而氣得炸裂開來。莫墨斯的女兒或兒子:指愛嘲弄的人,滑稽的人,也就是性格快活的人。
'Exactly so,' said Mrs Chick; 'but she is exceedingly attentive and useful, and not at all presumptuous; indeed I never saw a more biddable woman. I would say that for her, if I was put upon my trial before a Court of Justice.'
'Well! you are not put upon your trial before a Court of Justice, at present, Louisa,' returned Mr Dombey, chafing,' and therefore it don't matter.
“正是這樣,”奇克夫人說道:“不過她是極為殷勤、極為有用的,而且一點也不自以為是;確實,我從沒有見過比她更柔順的女人了。
'If the dear child,' said Mrs Chick, in the tone of one who was summing up what had been previously quite agreed upon, instead of saying it all for the first time, 'is a little weakened by that last attack, and is not in quite such vigorous health as we could wish; and if he has some temporary weakness in his system, and does occasionally seem about to lose, for the moment, the use of his - '
如果這親愛的孩子,”奇克夫人繼續說道,她的語氣是把事前已取得一致意見的話總結一下的語氣,而不是把這些話第一次說出來的語氣,“由于受到上次打擊,身體稍稍虛弱下來,不像我們所希望的那么精神飽滿、健康壯實的話,如果他的體質暫時有些虛弱,而且有時似乎暫時不能使用他的——”