評(píng)論
打印
When Perch the messenger, whose place was on a little bracket, like a timepiece, saw Mr Dombey come in - or rather when he felt that he was coming, for he had usually an instinctive sense of his approach - he hurried into Mr Dombey's room, stirred the fire, carried fresh coals from the bowels of the coal-box, hung the newspaper to air upon the fender, put the chair ready, and the screen in its place, and was round upon his heel on the instant of Mr Dombey's entrance, to take his great-coat and hat, and hang them up.Then Perch took the newspaper, and gave it a turn or two in his hands before the fire, and laid it, deferentially, at Mr Dombey's elbow. And so little objection had Perch to being deferential in the last degree, that if he might have laid himself at Mr Dombey's feet, or might have called him by some such title as used to be bestowed upon the Caliph Haroun Alraschid, he would have been all the better pleased. As this honour would have been an innovation and an experiment, Perch was fain to content himself by expressing as well as he could, in his manner, You are the light of my Eyes. You are the Breath of my Soul. You are the commander of the Faithful Perch! With this imperfect happiness to cheer him, he would shut the door softly, walk away on tiptoe, and leave his great chief to be stared at, through a dome-shaped window in the leads, by ugly chimney-pots and backs of houses, and especially by the bold window of a hair-cutting saloon on a first floor, where a waxen effigy, bald as a Mussulman in the morning, and covered, after eleven o'clock in the day, with luxuriant hair and whiskers in the latest Christian fashion, showed him the wrong side of its head for ever.
信差珀奇像時(shí)鐘一樣，在托架上有一個(gè)座位①。當(dāng)他看到董貝先生進(jìn)來(lái)——或者正確地說(shuō)，當(dāng)他感覺(jué)到他正在進(jìn)來(lái)，因?yàn)樗ǔ?duì)他的來(lái)到有一種直覺(jué)——的時(shí)候，他就急忙走進(jìn)董貝先生的房間，捅一捅火，從煤箱的深處挖出新鮮的煤塊，把報(bào)紙掛在火爐圍欄上烘暖，把椅子擺好，并把圍屏移到適當(dāng)?shù)奈恢茫辉诙愊壬M(jìn)來(lái)的那一瞬間，他立即轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)身去，接下他的厚大衣和帽子，把它們掛好。然后珀奇取下報(bào)紙，在爐前把它在手里轉(zhuǎn)上一兩轉(zhuǎn)，畢恭畢敬地放在董貝先生的身邊。珀奇向董貝先生表示最大程度的敬意，他是絲毫也沒(méi)有什么不愿意的；如果他可以躺在董貝先生的腳邊，或者可以用人們通常對(duì)哈里發(fā)何魯納·拉施德②所使用的那樣一些尊稱來(lái)稱呼他的話，那么他就只會(huì)感到更加高興。 但由于采用這種致敬的方式將會(huì)是一種革新與試驗(yàn)，所以珀奇樂(lè)意按照他自己的方式，用他所能表達(dá)的話來(lái)滿足自己的心愿：“您是我眼睛的亮光。您是我心靈的氣息。您是忠實(shí)的珀奇的司令官！”這樣高高興興、但意猶未竟地向他表達(dá)敬意之后，他就會(huì)輕輕地關(guān)上門(mén)，踮著腳走出去，把他偉大的老板留下，讓丑陋的煙囪頂管、房屋的后墻、特別是二層樓理發(fā)廳的一扇突出的窗子，通過(guò)圓頂形的窗子，凝視著他（那理發(fā)廳里有一個(gè)蠟象，早上像穆斯林一樣，頭光禿禿的，十一點(diǎn)鐘以后則仿照基督徒最時(shí)新的式樣，蓄著連鬢胡子，它永遠(yuǎn)向董貝先生顯露出它的后腦殼）。
Between Mr Dombey and the common world, as it was accessible through the medium of the outer office - to which Mr Dombey's presence in his own room may be said to have struck like damp, or cold air - there were two degrees of descent. Mr Carker in his own office was the first step; Mr Morfin, in his own office, was the second. Each of these gentlemen occupied a little chamber like a bath-room, opening from the passage outside Mr Dombey's door. Mr Carker, as Grand Vizier, inhabited the room that was nearest to the Sultan. Mr Morfin, as an officer of inferior state, inhabited the room that was nearest to the clerks.
董貝先生與普通世界之間有兩級(jí)階梯（因?yàn)橐ㄟ^(guò)外面的辦公室才能到達(dá)那個(gè)世界，而董貝先生在他自己的房間中，對(duì)外面的辦公室來(lái)說(shuō)可以說(shuō)是潑上了冷水或者吹去了冷空氣一樣）。在自己辦公室中的卡克先生是第一級(jí)階梯；在自己辦公室中的莫芬先生是第二階梯。這兩位先生每人都有一個(gè)像浴室般大小的房間，房門(mén)通向董貝先生門(mén)外的過(guò)道。作為內(nèi)閣總理的卡克先生待在最挨近皇帝的房間里；作為職位略低的官員，莫芬先生待在最挨近職員們的房間里。
The gentleman last mentioned was a cheerful-looking, hazel-eyed elderly bachelor: gravely attired, as to his upper man, in black; and as to his legs, in pepper-and-salt colour. His dark hair was just touched here and there with specks of gray, as though the tread of Time had splashed it; and his whiskers were already white. He had a mighty respect for Mr Dombey, and rendered him due homage; but as he was of a genial temper himself, and never wholly at his ease in that stately presence, he was disquieted by no jealousy of the many conferences enjoyed by Mr Carker, and felt a secret satisfaction in having duties to discharge, which rarely exposed him to be singled out for such distinction. He was a great musical amateur in his way - after business; and had a paternal affection for his violoncello, which was once in every week transported from Islington, his place of abode, to a certain club-room hard by the Bank, where quartettes of the most tormenting and excruciating nature were executed every Wednesday evening by a private party.
最后提到的這位先生是一位神情愉快、眼睛淡褐色、年紀(jì)較大的單身漢；他衣著莊重，上半身黑色，腿部是胡椒與鹽的顏色。他的黑發(fā)中間這里那里夾雜著灰色的斑點(diǎn)。仿佛是時(shí)間老人行進(jìn)時(shí)濺潑上的；他的連鬢胡子早已白了。他非常尊敬董貝先生，并向他表示適當(dāng)?shù)捻槒模捎谒且晃恍愿裼淇斓娜耍谀俏磺f嚴(yán)的人的面前總是感到局促不安，所以他從來(lái)沒(méi)有因?yàn)槎始悼讼壬鷧⒓舆^(guò)許多商談而煩惱；由于他必須履行他的職責(zé)，他很少得到那份特殊的光榮，他還為此暗暗感到高興。他在某種程度上是一位偉大的業(yè)余音樂(lè)愛(ài)好者，對(duì)他的大提琴懷著父親般的感情；他每個(gè)星期都要把它從他在伊斯靈頓③寓所搬到銀行鄰近的某個(gè)俱樂(lè)部里；有一個(gè)私人樂(lè)團(tuán)每星期三晚上都在那里演出最令人傷心斷腸的四重奏。
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①有一種小鐘是擺放在托架上的，稱為托架小鐘（bracketclock）。
②《天方夜譚》（或譯《一千零一夜》）故事中的一位阿拉伯國(guó)王。在阿拉伯語(yǔ)中，哈里發(fā)是王位繼承人的意思，后成為阿拉伯國(guó)王的通稱。
③伊斯靈頓（Islington）：英格蘭大倫敦內(nèi)一自治市。
