評論
打印
Mr Dombey did not look less pompous or at all displeased, as he stood leaning against the chimney-piece, surveying his (of courseunconscious) clerk, from head to foot. The stiffness and nicety of Mr Carker's dress, and a certain arrogance of manner, either natural to him or imitated from a pattern not far off, gave great additional effect to his humility. He seemed a man who would contend against the power that vanquished him, if he could, but who was utterly borne down by the greatness and superiority of Mr Dombey. 'Is Morfin here?' asked Mr Dombey after a short pause, during which Mr Carker had been fluttering his papers, and muttering little abstracts of their contents to himself.
董貝先生背靠著壁爐，站在那里，從頭到腳打量著他的下屬（當然是無意識的），這時他那高傲自負的神色沒有稍減半分，也沒有任何不愉快的樣子。卡克先生嚴謹而雅致的衣著和有幾分妄自尊大的態度（也許是他生性如此，也許是從離他不遠的榜樣中模仿到的）給他的謙恭增添了特別的效果。如果他能夠的話，他似乎是一位會對征服他的力量進行反抗的人；但是董貝先生的崇高與優越的地位卻把他完全壓倒了。 “莫芬在這里嗎？”董貝先生在短短的沉默之后，問道；卡克先生在那段時間中一直在翻著他的公文，并自言自語地嘀咕幾句公文的摘要。
'Morfin's here,' he answered, looking up with his widest and almost sudden smile; 'humming musical recollections - of his last night's quartette party, I suppose - through the walls between us, and driving me half mad. I wish he'd make a bonfire of his violoncello, and burn his music-books in it.'
“莫芬在這里，”他抬起眼睛，露出那極為寬闊、極為急速的微笑，回答道：“正通過我們之間的隔墻哼唱著，我想大概是回想他昨天四重奏樂團的音樂吧，它把我弄得都快要瘋了。我真希望他把他的大提琴燒了，把他的樂譜也一道扔到火里去。”
'You respect nobody, Carker, I think,' said Mr Dombey.
“我覺得，您什么人也不尊敬，卡克，”董貝先生說道。
'No?' inquired Carker, with another wide and most feline show of his teeth. 'Well! Not many people, I believe. I wouldn't answer perhaps,' he murmured, as if he were only thinking it, 'for more than one.'
“是嗎？”卡克問道，一邊又露出了一個寬闊的、極為狡詐的微笑，露出了他的牙齒；“唔！不是對好多人都尊敬，我想。也許是，”他低聲嘀咕著，仿佛他只是在想這件事，“我不想對一個以上的人負責。”
A dangerous quality, if real; and a not less dangerous one, if feigned. But Mr Dombey hardly seemed to think so, as he still stood with his back to the fire, drawn up to his full height, and looking at his head-clerk with a dignified composure, in which there seemed to lurk a stronger latent sense of power than usual.
如果這是真的話，那么這是危險的品質；如果這是假裝的話，那么它也同樣危險。可是董貝先生似乎并不這樣想；這時他挺直了身子，仍舊背對著壁爐站著，同時威嚴而鎮靜地望著他下屬中這位第一把手，在神態中似乎對他自己的權力隱藏著比平時更為強烈的潛在的意識。
'Talking of Morfin,' resumed Mr Carker, taking out one paper from the rest, 'he reports a junior dead in the agency at Barbados, and proposes to reserve a passage in the Son and Heir - she'll sail in a month or so - for the successor. You don't care who goes, I suppose? We have nobody of that sort here.'
“說到莫芬。”卡克先生從公文中抽出一頁紙來，繼續說道，“他報告說，巴巴多斯①代銷處的一位低級職員死了，因此建議為接替他的人訂購一張船票，乘‘兒子與繼承人’這條船去，它大約在一個月左右開航。我想，您認為誰去都一樣吧？我們這里沒有合適的人。”
Mr Dombey shook his head with supreme indifference.
董貝先生非常漠不關心地點點頭。
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①巴巴多斯（Barbados）：位于西印度群島最東端，為一珊瑚島；在狄更斯寫作此書時，它是英國的殖民地。
