Mrs Pipchin, in her deference, merely muttered at the young man as she passed on, and said, 'Oh! he was a precious fellow' - leaving the young man, who was all meekness and incapacity, affected even to tears by the incident. But Mrs Pipchin had a way of falling foul of all meek people; and her friends said who could wonder at it, after the Peruvian mines!
皮普欽太太出于對董貝先生的尊敬,走過的時候對那位年輕人只是咕噥了幾聲,同時說道,“啊,他是個寶貝家伙”,一邊離開那位年輕人;那位年輕人是極為溫順和愚鈍的,這件事情甚至使他傷心地掉了淚。可是皮普欽太太慣于欺壓所有溫順的人們;她的朋友們說,在秘魯礦井的事情發生之后,這有什么好奇怪的呢?
The Doctor was sitting in his portentous study, with a globe at each knee, books all round him, Homer over the door, and Minerva on the mantel-shelf. 'And how do you do, Sir?' he said to Mr Dombey, 'and how is my little friend?' Grave as an organ was the Doctor's speech; and when he ceased, the great clock in the hall seemed (to Paul at least) to take him up, and to go on saying, 'how, is, my, lit, tle, friend? how, is, my, lit, tle, friend?' over and over and over again.
博士坐在他的奇特的書房中,每只膝蓋上擺著一個地球儀,四周都是書籍,荷馬①在門的上面,米涅瓦②在壁爐架上。“您好嗎,先生?”他對董貝先生說道;“我的小朋友好嗎?”博士的聲音像風琴一樣莊重沉著;當他停止講話的時候,前廳中的大鐘似乎(至少保羅覺得是這樣)接著他的話,繼續往下說道,“我,的,小,朋,友,好,嗎?我,的,小,朋,友,好,嗎?”一遍,一遍,又一遍地重復說著。
The little friend being something too small to be seen at all from where the Doctor sat, over the books on his table, the Doctor made several futile attempts to get a view of him round the legs; which Mr Dombey perceiving, relieved the Doctor from his embarrassment by taking Paul up in his arms, and sitting him on another little table, over against the Doctor, in the middle of the room.
小朋友太小了,從博士坐著的地方,越過桌子上的書去看是看不見的;博士就試圖通過桌腿去看他,但也是徒勞無益;董貝先生看到這一點,就把保羅抱起來,讓他坐在房間中間面對著博士的另一張小桌子上,使博士擺脫了困難。
'Ha!' said the Doctor, leaning back in his chair with his hand in his breast. 'Now I see my little friend. How do you do, my little friend?'
“哈!”博士把手伸進上衣的胸間,仰靠在椅子中說道。“現在我看見我的小朋友了。您好嗎,我的小朋友?”
The clock in the hall wouldn't subscribe to this alteration in the form of words, but continued to repeat how, is, my, lit, tle, friend? how, is, my, lit, tle, friend?'
前廳中的鐘不贊同把詞的組合形式進行這樣的改變,繼續重復說道,“我,的,小,朋,友,好,嗎?我,的,小,朋,友,好,嗎?”
'Very well, I thank you, Sir,' returned Paul, answering the clock quite as much as the Doctor.
“很好,謝謝您,先生,”保羅回答了博士,也回答了鐘。
'Ha!' said Doctor Blimber. 'Shall we make a man of him?'
“哈!”布林伯博士說道。“我們將把他培養成一個大人嗎?”
'Do you hear, Paul?' added Mr Dombey; Paul being silent.
“你聽到了嗎,保羅?”董貝先生補充了一句。保羅默不作聲。
--------
①荷馬(Homer):公元前10世紀前后的希臘盲詩人;《伊利亞特》及《奧德賽》兩大著名史詩的作者。
②米涅瓦(Minerva):羅馬神話中司智慧、學問、戰爭的女神。