評論
打印
In fulfilment of his promise, the Major afterwards called on Mr Dombey; and Mr Dombey, having referred to the army list, afterwards called on the Major. Then the Major called at Mr Dombey's house in town; and came down again, in the same coach as Mr Dombey. In short, Mr Dombey and the Major got on uncommonly well together, and uncommonly fast: and Mr Dombey observed of the Major, to his sister, that besides being quite a military man he was really something more, as he had a very admirable idea of the importance of things unconnected with his own profession.
少校履行諾言，后來去拜訪了董貝先生；董貝先生查閱了軍人名冊之后，后來也去拜訪了少校。然后少校在董貝先生城里的公館中拜訪了他；然后他和董貝先生乘坐著同一輛馬車又到布賴頓來。總之，董貝先生與少校相處得異乎尋常地融洽，關系進展得異乎尋常地迅速。董貝先生向他的妹妹談起少校的時候，說，他不僅是一位真正的軍人，而且在他身上還有其他一些東西，因為他對跟他的職業毫無關系的事物，也令人驚嘆地了解它們的重要性。
At length Mr Dombey, bringing down Miss Tox and Mrs Chick to see the children, and finding the Major again at Brighton, invited him to dinner at the Bedford, and complimented Miss Tox highly, beforehand, on her neighbour and acquaintance.
終于，當董貝先生領著托克斯小姐與奇克夫人到布賴頓來看孩子們，并看到少校也在這里的時候，他就邀請他到貝德福德旅館來吃晚飯，事前還向托克斯小姐極力恭維她有這樣一位鄰居與熟人。
Notwithstanding the palpitation of the heart which these allusions occasioned her, they were anything but disagreeable to Miss Tox, as they enabled her to be extremely interesting, and to manifest an occasional incoherence and distraction which she was not at all unwilling to display. The Major gave her abundant opportunities of exhibiting this emotion: being profuse in his complaints, at dinner, of her desertion of him and Princess's Place: and as he appeared to derive great enjoyment from making them, they all got on very well.
盡管這些暗示使托克斯小姐心房怦怦跳動，但她聽起來決不是不愉快的，因為它們使她變得格外有趣，有時使她顯得心意煩亂，神志不定，這是她完全不愿意表露出來的。少校給了她很多機會來展現這種情緒，他在晚飯中間不斷埋怨她把他和公主廣場拋棄了。由于他講這些話看來是為了取得極大的樂趣，所以他們全都相處得很融洽。
None the worse on account of the Major taking charge of the whole conversation, and showing as great an appetite in that respect as in regard of the various dainties on the table, among which he may be almost said to have wallowed: greatly to the aggravation of his inflammatory tendencies. Mr Dombey's habitual silence and reserve yielding readily to this usurpation, the Major felt that he was coming out and shining: and in the flow of spirits thus engendered, rang such an infinite number of new changes on his own name that he quite astonished himself. In a word, they were all very well pleased. The Major was considered to possess an inexhaustible fund of conversation; and when he took a late farewell,after a long rubber, Mr Dombey again complimented the blushing Miss Tox on her neighbour and acquaintance.
少校掌握著整個談話；他在這方面的胃口跟他對桌子上的各種美味食品的胃口一樣大；幾乎可以說他在大吞大咽著這些食品，而這又大大地促使他鼓動他的如簧之舌；這對當時的情況并沒有什么不好。由于董貝先生習慣于沉著冷靜，不多說話，所以他絲毫沒有干預這種喧賓奪主的現象；少校覺得他正在大出風頭，因而興高采烈，把他自己的姓名顛來倒去地說出了無數個新的變化，連他自己也感到十分驚奇。總之，他們全都感到十分高興。大家覺得少校擁有耗用不盡的談話資源；當打完一局時間拖得很長的紙牌，少校終于很晚地告別之后，董貝先生又向臉孔羞得通紅的托克斯小姐恭維她有這樣一位鄰居與熟人。
But all the way home to his own hotel, the Major incessantly said to himself, and of himself, 'Sly, Sir - sly, Sir - de-vil-ish sly!' And when he got there, sat down in a chair, and fell into a silent fit of laughter, with which he was sometimes seized, and which was always particularly awful. It held him so long on this occasion that the dark servant, who stood watching him at a distance, but dared not for his life approach, twice or thrice gave him over for lost. His whole form, but especially his face and head, dilated beyond all former experience; and presented to the dark man's view, nothing but a heaving mass of indigo. At length he burst into a violent paroxysm of coughing, and when that was a little better burst into such ejaculations as the following:
可是在回到自己旅館的整個路途中，少校不斷自言自語地談著他自己。“狡猾呵，先生——狡猾呵，先生——像魔鬼般地狡猾呵！”到達旅館以后，他在一張椅子中坐下，默默無聲地大笑個不停；他有時是會這樣大笑的，而那樣子常常是特別可怕的。這一次笑的時間那么長久，所以黑仆人就站在遠處看著他，無論如何也不敢走近他，有兩三次還以為他已經沒有醫治的希望了。他的整個身軀，特別是他的臉與頭膨脹得比過去任何時候都大，在黑人眼中看到的只是一大堆靛藍的東西。終于他發出一陣猛烈的咳嗽，在感到好一些以后，他短促地叫喊出以下一些話來：
'Would you, Ma'am, would you? Mrs Dombey, eh, Ma'am? I think not, Ma'am. Not while Joe B. can put a spoke in your wheel, Ma'am. J. B.'s even with you now, Ma'am. He isn't altogether bowled out, yet, Sir, isn't Bagstock. She's deep, Sir, deep, but Josh is deeper. Wide awake is old Joe - broad awake, and staring, Sir!' There was no doubt of this last assertion being true, and to a very fearful extent; as it continued to be during the greater part of that night, which the Major chiefly passed in similar exclamations, diversified with fits of coughing and choking that startled the whole house.
“您是不是，夫人，您是不是想當董貝夫人，嗯，夫人？我看不成，夫人。只要喬·白能在您的車輪子里插進一根棍子，那就不成，夫人。喬·白現在和您是平等的，夫人。他根本還沒有被打倒，退出場外，先生，白格斯托克沒有退。她的心計深，先生，心計深，但是喬希的心計更深。老喬清醒著——沒有絲毫睡意，而且睜大了眼睛看著，先生！”他最后的一句話無疑是真實的，而且真實到了很可怕的程度；因為在那一夜的大半時間里，繼續是這種情形；少校主要是在類似叫喊聲中度過那一夜的，有時穿插著一陣陣使整個房屋都感到驚恐的咳嗽與窒息。
