評論
打印
'You run round to the office, first of all, and see if he's there,' said Captain Cuttle, clapping him on the back. 'Quick!'
“你首先跑到公司的辦公室里去，看他是不是在那里，”卡特爾船長拍拍他的背，說道，“快！”
Walter felt he must not dispute the command - a glance at his Uncle would have determined him if he had felt otherwise- and disappeared to execute it. He soon returned, out of breath, to say that Mr Dombey was not there. It was Saturday, and he had gone to Brighton.
沃爾特覺得他不應當違抗這個命令，——如果他不是這樣想的話，那么只要向他舅舅看一眼也就可以使他下定這個決心了——，所以就立刻離開家里前去執行任務。不久他氣喘吁吁地回來了，說董貝先生不在那里。今天是星期六，他到布賴頓去了。
'I tell you what, Wal'r!' said the Captain, who seemed to have prepared himself for this contingency in his absence.'We'll go to Brighton. I'll back you, my boy. I'll back you, Wal'r. We'll go to Brighton by the afternoon's coach.'
“我跟你說，沃爾！”船長說道；他似乎在沃爾特離開的時候已經為這種意外情況作好了準備。“我們到布賴頓去。我支持你，我的孩子。我支持你，沃爾。我們搭乘下午的公共馬車到布賴頓去。”
If the application must be made to Mr Dombey at all, which was awful to think of, Walter felt that he would rather prefer it alone and unassisted, than backed by the personal influence of Captain Cuttle, to which he hardly thought Mr Dombey would attach much weight. But as the Captain appeared to be of quite another opinion, and was bent upon it, and as his friendship was too zealous and serious to be trifled with by one so much younger than himself, he forbore to hint the least objection. Cuttle, therefore, taking a hurried leave of Solomon Gills, and returning the ready money, the teaspoons, the sugar-tongs, and the silver watch, to his pocket - with a view, as Walter thought, with horror, to making a gorgeous impression on Mr Dombey - bore him off to the coach-office, with- out a minute's delay, and repeatedly assured him, on the road, that he would stick by him to the last.
如果真要向董貝先生提出請求的話——想到這一點都是可怕的——，那么沃爾特覺得，他寧肯自己單槍匹馬、不要別人幫助去做，而不要在卡特爾船長的個人影響支持下去做；他預料董貝先生對卡特爾船長不會很重視。可是船長似乎有著另外不同的看法，十分堅決，毫不動搖，而且他的友誼是那么熱誠、真摯，一個年紀比他小許多的人是決不應該藐視的，所以沃爾特克制著自己，絲毫沒有作出反對的暗示。因此，卡特爾船長匆匆忙忙地告別了所羅門·吉爾斯，把現錢、茶匙、方糖箝子和銀表裝回到衣袋里——沃爾特驚恐地想到，他的目的是想使董貝先生留下一個豪華的印象——，片刻也不遲延地領著他向公共馬車營業處走去，一路上再三對他保證說，他一定會支持他，直到最后。
Major Bagstock, after long and frequent observation of Paul, across Princess's Place, through his double-barrelled opera-glass; and after receiving many minute reports, daily, weekly, and monthly, on that subject, from the native who kept himself in constant communication with Miss Tox's maid for that purpose; came to the conclusion that Dombey,Sir, was a man to be known, and that J. B. was the boy to make his acquaintance.
白格斯托克少校通過他的看戲用的雙筒小望遠鏡，越過公主廣場對保羅進行了長久與頻繁的觀察之后，在每天、每周、每月從本地人（他為了這個目的與托克斯小姐的女仆經常交往）那里得到有關這個問題的許多詳細的報告之后，得出結論說，董貝先生是一位值得結識的人，喬·白是一位設法要與他結識的后生。
Miss Tox, however, maintaining her reserved behaviour, and frigidly declining to understand the Major whenever he called (which he often did) on any little fishing excursion connected with this project, the Major, in spite of his constitutional toughness and slyness, was fain to leave the accomplishment of his desire in some measure to chance,'which,' as he was used to observe with chuckles at his club, 'has been fifty to one in favour of Joey B., Sir, ever since his elder brother died of Yellow Jack in the West Indies.'
可是托克斯小姐一直保持著疏遠的態度，少校每次為了這個目的對她進行摸底，想從她那里哄騙出一些有關的情況（他時常這樣做）時，她都冷淡地表示她不想弄明白他的意思，所以少校雖然生性堅強不屈，非常狡猾，也不得不把實現他的愿望這件事多少聽隨機會去擺布了。“先生，”他常常在俱樂部里談到他的機會時，吃吃地笑著說，“自從他的哥哥在西印度群島因為黃熱病死了之后，五十比一的機會是對喬埃·白有利的。”
