雙語小說連載:純真年代 The Age of Innocence(5)
The next evening old Mr. Sillerton Jackson came to dine with the Archers.
第二天晚上，老西勒頓·傑克遜先生前來與阿切爾一家共進晚餐。
Mrs. Archer was a shy woman and shrank from society; but she liked to be well-informed as to its doings. Her old friend Mr. Sillerton Jackson applied to the investigation of his friends' affairs the patience of a collector and the science of a naturalist; and his sister, Miss Sophy Jackson, who lived with him, and was entertained by all the people who could not secure her much-sought-after brother, brought home bits of minor gossip that filled out usefully the gaps in his picture.
阿切爾太太是位靦腆的女人。她畏避社交界，但對其中的種種活動卻喜歡瞭解得一清二楚。她的老朋友西勒頓·傑克遜善於將收藏家的耐心與博物學家的知識應用於對朋友們私事的調查，而與他同住的胞妹索菲·傑克遜，受到那些無法接觸她那位廣受歡迎的兄長的人們的款待，則把閒言碎語帶回家來，有效地充實他的生動描述。
Therefore, whenever anything happened that Mrs. Archer wanted to know about, she asked Mr. Jackson to dine; and as she honoured few people with her invitations, and as she and her daughter Janey were an excellent audience, Mr. Jackson usually came himself instead of sending his sister. If he could have dictated all the conditions, he would have chosen the evenings when Newland was out; not because the young man was uncongenial to him (the two got on capitally at their club) but because the old anecdotist sometimes felt, on Newland's part, a tendency to weigh his evidence that the ladies of the family never showed.
因此，每有阿切爾太太想了解的事情發生，她便請傑克遜先生前來一聚。由於蒙她邀請的人寥若晨星，由於她與她的女兒詹尼都是極出色的聽衆，傑克遜先生通常都是親自赴約，而不是派他的妹妹代勞。假如一切都能由他作主，他會選擇紐蘭不在家的晚上前來，這並非因爲年輕人與他情趣不投（他兩人在俱樂部相處甚篤），而是由於這位喜談軼聞的老人有時候感到，紐蘭有一種惦量他的證據的傾向，這在女眷們身上卻是絕對見不到的。
Mr. Jackson, if perfection had been attainable on earth, would also have asked that Mrs. Archer's food should be a little better. But then New York, as far back as the mind of man could travel, had been divided into the two great fundamental groups of the Mingotts and Mansons and all their clan, who cared about eating and clothes and money, and the Archer-Newland- van-der-Luyden tribe, who were devoted to travel, horticulture and the best fiction, and looked down on the grosser forms of pleasure.
假如能做到盡善盡美，傑克遜先生還會要求阿切爾太太的飯菜稍加改善。然而那時的紐約上流社會，自人們能記得的時候起就一直分成兩大派。一派是明戈特與曼森兩姓及其宗族，他們關心吃、穿與金錢；另一派是阿切爾一紐蘭一範德盧頓家族，他們傾心於旅遊、園藝以及最佳的小說，對粗俗的享樂形式則不屑一顧。
You couldn't have everything, after all. If you dined with the Lovell Mingotts you got canvas-back and terrapin and vintage wines; at Adeline Archer's you could talk about Alpine scenery and "The Marble Faun"; and luckily the Archer Madeira had gone round the Cape. Therefore when a friendly summons came from Mrs. Archer, Mr. Jackson, who was a true eclectic, would usually say to his sister: "I've been a little gouty since my last dinner at the Lovell Mingotts'--it will do me good to diet at Adeline's."
畢竟，一個人不可能好事樣樣有份。假如你與洛弗爾·明戈特一家共餐，你可以享用灰背野鴨、水龜和陳年佳釀；而在艾德琳·阿切爾家，你卻可以高談闊論阿爾卑斯山的風景和“大理石的半人半羊神像”，而且幸運的是，那位阿切爾·馬迪拉曾經遊歷過好望角。因此，當阿切爾太太發來友好的召喚時，喜歡兼收幷蓄的傑克遜先生往往會對妹妹說：“上次在洛弗爾·明戈特家吃飯以後我一直有點痛風——到艾德琳家忌忌口對我會有好處的。”
Mrs. Archer, who had long been a widow, lived with her son and daughter in West Twenty-eighth Street. An upper floor was dedicated to Newland, and the two women squeezed themselves into narrower quarters below. In an unclouded harmony of tastes and interests they cultivated ferns in Wardian cases, made macrame lace and wool embroidery on linen, collected American revolutionary glazed ware, subscribed to "Good Words," and read Ouida's novels for the sake of the Italian atmosphere. (They preferred those about peasant life, because of the descriptions of scenery and the pleasanter sentiments, though in general they liked novels about people in society, whose motives and habits were more comprehensible, spoke severely of Dickens, who "had never drawn a gentleman," and considered Thackeray less at home in the great world than Bulwer--who, however, was beginning to be thought old-fashioned.)
寡居多年的阿切爾太太與兒子、女兒住在西28街。二樓全部歸紐蘭專用，兩個女人擠在樓下的小房間裏。一家人興趣愛好和諧一致，他們在沃德箱內種蕨類植物，織花邊飾帶，用亞麻布做毛繡，收藏獨立戰爭時期上釉的器皿，訂閱《名言》雜誌，併爲了追求意大利情調而讀韋達的小說。（由於風景描寫與情調歡快的緣故，他們更愛讀反映農民生活的小說，儘管總體上他們是喜歡描寫上流社會人物的作品，因爲這些人的動機與習慣容易理解。他們不喜歡狄更斯，因爲此人從未刻畫過一位紳士。他們還認爲，對貴族社會薩克雷不及布爾沃通曉，不過人們已開始覺得後者已經過時。）
Mrs. and Miss Archer were both great lovers of scenery. It was what they principally sought and admired on their occasional travels abroad; considering architecture and painting as subjects for men, and chiefly for learned persons who read Ruskin. Mrs. Archer had been born a Newland, and mother and daughter, who were as like as sisters, were both, as people said, "true Newlands"; tall, pale, and slightly round-shouldered, with long noses, sweet smiles and a kind of drooping distinction like that in certain faded Reynolds portraits. Their physical resemblance would have been complete if an elderly embonpoint had not stretched Mrs. Archer's black brocade, while Miss Archer's brown and purple poplins hung, as the years went on, more and more slackly on her virgin frame.
阿切爾太太與阿切爾小姐都極愛秀麗的風光，這是她們在偶爾進行的國外旅行中主要的追求與憧憬。她們認爲，建築與繪畫是屬於男人的課題，而且主要屬於那些讀過拉斯金著作的有學問的人。阿切爾太太天生是紐蘭家的一員，母女倆像姐妹般相像，如人們說的，她們都屬於純正的“紐蘭家族”：身材高大，臉色蒼白，肩膀略圓，長長的鼻子，甜甜的笑容，還有一種目光低垂的特徵，就像雷諾茲某些褪了色的畫像裏畫的那樣。不過年邁發福已使阿切爾太太身上的黑色緞服繃得緊而又緊，而阿切爾小姐穿的棕紫色的毛織衣服，卻在她那處女的身架上一年比一年寬鬆。不然的話，她們形體上的相似真可說是維妙維肖了。
Mentally, the likeness between them, as Newland was aware, was less complete than their identical mannerisms often made it appear. The long habit of living together in mutually dependent intimacy had given them the same vocabulary, and the same habit of beginning their phrases "Mother thinks" or "Janey thinks," according as one or the other wished to advance an opinion of her own; but in reality, while Mrs. Archer's serene unimaginativeness rested easily in the accepted and familiar, Janey was subject to starts and aberrations of fancy welling up springs of suppressed romance.
就紐蘭所知，她們在精神領域的相似卻不像她們相同的習性所表現的那樣一致。長期的共同生活、相互依存的親情賦予她們相同的語彙以及開口講話時相同的習慣。無論哪一位想提出自己的意見時，總是先說“媽媽以爲”或“詹尼以爲”；但實際上，阿切爾太太卻是明顯地缺乏想像力，容易滿足於公認的事實與熟悉的東西，而詹尼卻容易受幻想支配，產生衝動和越軌，那些幻想隨時會從壓抑的浪漫噴泉中迸發出來。m
Mother and daughter adored each other and revered their son and brother; and Archer loved them with a tenderness made compunctious and uncritical by the sense of their exaggerated admiration, and by his secret satisfaction in it. After all, he thought it a good thing for a man to have his authority respected in his own house, even if his sense of humour sometimes made him question the force of his mandate.
母女倆相互敬慕，並且都尊重她們的兒子和兄長。而阿切爾也滿懷柔情地愛着她們倆，她們對他過分的讚賞使他惴惴不安，他從中得到的內心滿足又令他失去鑑別力。他想，一個男人的權威在自己家中受到尊重畢竟是件好事，儘管他的幽默感有時也使他懷疑自己得到的信賴到底有多大威力。
On this occasion the young man was very sure that Mr. Jackson would rather have had him dine out; but he had his own reasons for not doing so.
這一次年輕人十分肯定傑克遜先生寧願讓他外出赴宴，然而他有自己的理由不照此辦理。
Of course old Jackson wanted to talk about Ellen Olenska, and of course Mrs. Archer and Janey wanted to hear what he had to tell. All three would be slightly embarrassed by Newland's presence, now that his prospective relation to the Mingott clan had been made known; and the young man waited with an amused curiosity to see how they would turn the difficulty.
老傑克遜當然是想談論埃倫·奧蘭斯卡的事，阿切爾太太與詹尼當然也想聽一聽他要講的內容，三個人都會由於紐蘭的在場而略顯尷尬：因爲他與明戈特家族未來的關係已經公之於衆。年輕人饒有興趣地想看一看，他們將如何解決這一難題。
They began, obliquely, by talking about Mrs. Lemuel Struthers.
他們轉彎抹角地從勒姆爾·斯特拉瑟斯太太開始談起。
"It's a pity the Beauforts asked her," Mrs. Archer said gently. "But then Regina always does what he tells her; and BEAUFORT--"
“遺憾的是博福特夫婦還請了她，”阿切爾太太態度溫和地說。“不過話又說回來了，裏吉納總是照他的吩咐辦事，而博福特——”
"Certain nuances escape Beaufort," said Mr. Jackson, cautiously inspecting the broiled shad, and wondering for the thousandth time why Mrs. Archer's cook always burnt the roe to a cinder. (Newland, who had long shared his wonder, could always detect it in the older man's expression of melancholy disapproval.)
“博福特對細節問題常常是不加留意，”傑克遜先生說，一面仔細審視着盤裏的烤河鯡。他第一千次地納悶，阿切爾太太的廚師爲何老是把魚子給燒成灰渣。（紐蘭早就與他持有同樣的困惑，且總能夠從老人陰沉非難的臉色中看出這一點。）
"Oh, necessarily; Beaufort is a vulgar man," said Mrs. Archer. "My grandfather Newland always used to say to my mother: `Whatever you do, don't let that fellow Beaufort be introduced to the girls.' But at least he's had the advantage of associating with gentlemen; in England too, they say. It's all very mysterious--" She glanced at Janey and paused. She and Janey knew every fold of the Beaufort mystery, but in public Mrs. Archer continued to assume that the subject was not one for the unmarried.
“嗯，那是自然囉；博福特是個粗人嘛，”阿切爾太太說，“我外公紐蘭過去老對我母親說：‘你幹什麼都成，可千萬別把博福特那個傢伙介紹給姑娘們。’ 可他起碼在結交紳士方面已佔據了優勢；在英國的時候據說也是如此。事情非常神祕——”她瞥了詹尼一眼，收住話頭。她與詹尼對博福特的祕密瞭如指掌，不過在公開場合，阿切爾太太卻繼續裝出這話題不適合未婚女子的樣子。
"But this Mrs. Struthers," Mrs. Archer continued; "what did you say SHE was, Sillerton?"
“不過那位斯特拉瑟斯太太，”阿切爾太太接着說，“你說她是幹什麼的，西勒頓？”
"Out of a mine: or rather out of the saloon at the head of the pit. Then with Living Wax-Works, touring New England. After the police broke THAT up, they say she lived--" Mr. Jackson in his turn glanced at Janey, whose eyes began to bulge from under her prominent lids. There were still hiatuses for her in Mrs. Struthers's past.
“她來自礦區：或者不如說來自礦井口上一個酒館。後來跟隨‘活蠟像’劇團在新英格蘭巡迴演出，劇團被警方解散之後，人們說她跟——”這次輪到傑克遜先生朝詹尼瞥了一眼，她的兩眼開始從突起的眼瞼底下向外膨脹。對她來說，斯特拉瑟斯太太的歷史仍有若干空白之處。
"Then," Mr. Jackson continued (and Archer saw he was wondering why no one had told the butler never to slice cucumbers with a steel knife), "then Lemuel Struthers came along. They say his advertiser used the girl's head for the shoe-polish posters; her hair's intensely black, you know--the Egyptian style. Anyhow, he-- eventually--married her." There were volumes of innuendo in the way the "eventually" was spaced, and each syllable given its due stress.
“後來，”傑克遜先生接着說（阿切爾發現他正納悶爲什麼沒有人吩咐僕人決不能用鋼刀切黃瓜），“後來勒姆爾·斯特拉瑟斯出現了。人們說，他的廣告商用那姑娘的頭做鞋油廣告畫，她的頭髮漆黑，你知道——是埃及型的。總之他——最後終於——娶了她。”他在給“最後終於”幾個字留出的間隔中，隱含着豐富的寓意，每一個音節都作了充分的強調。
"Oh, well--at the pass we've come to nowadays, it doesn't matter," said Mrs. Archer indifferently. The ladies were not really interested in Mrs. Struthers just then; the subject of Ellen Olenska was too fresh and too absorbing to them. Indeed, Mrs. Struthers's name had been introduced by Mrs. Archer only that she might presently be able to say: "And Newland's new cousin--Countess Olenska? Was SHE at the ball too?"
“唉，可這——按我們如今面臨的尷尬局面來說，也算不了什麼，”阿切爾太太冷淡地說、此刻兩位女士真正感興趣的並非斯特拉瑟斯太太，因爲埃倫·奧蘭斯卡的話題對她們太新鮮、太有魅力了。的確，阿切爾太太之所以提起斯特拉瑟斯太太，只不過爲了可以十分便當地說：“還有紐蘭那位新表姐——奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人？她也在舞會上嗎？”
There was a faint touch of sarcasm in the reference to her son, and Archer knew it and had expected it. Even Mrs. Archer, who was seldom unduly pleased with human events, had been altogether glad of her son's engagement. ("Especially after that silly business with Mrs. Rushworth," as she had remarked to Janey, alluding to what had once seemed to Newland a tragedy of which his soul would always bear the scar.)
她提到兒子的時候，話裏略帶一點諷刺。阿切爾自然聽得一清二楚，而且一點也不覺得意外。世間人事很少讓她稱心如意的阿切爾太太，對兒子的訂婚卻是一百個高興。（“特別是在他與拉什沃思太太那樁蠢事之後，”她曾對詹尼這樣說。她指的那件事，紐蘭曾經視爲一場悲劇，將在他靈魂上留下永難磨滅的傷痕。）
There was no better match in New York than May Welland, look at the question from whatever point you chose. Of course such a marriage was only what Newland was entitled to; but young men are so foolish and incalculable--and some women so ensnaring and unscrupulous--that it was nothing short of a miracle to see one's only son safe past the Siren Isle and in the haven of a blameless domesticity.
無論你從何種角度考慮，紐約再也沒有比梅·韋蘭更好的姑娘了；當然，這樣一段姻緣也只有紐蘭才能配得上。可年輕男人卻都那麼傻，那麼缺少心計，而有些女人又那樣不知羞恥地設置圈套。所以，看到自己惟一的兒子安然無恙地通過莎琳島，駛進無可挑剔的家庭生活的港灣，這完全是一種奇蹟。
All this Mrs. Archer felt, and her son knew she felt; but he knew also that she had been perturbed by the premature announcement of his engagement, or rather by its cause; and it was for that reason--because on the whole he was a tender and indulgent master--that he had stayed at home that evening. "It's not that I don't approve of the Mingotts' esprit de corps; but why Newland's engagement should be mixed up with that Olenska woman's comings and goings I don't see," Mrs. Archer grumbled to Janey, the only witness of her slight lapses from perfect sweetness.
這一切阿切爾太太都感覺到了，她兒子也知道她感覺到了。但是，他同時還知道，她被過早宣佈他的訂婚消息攪得很不安，或者不如說被過早宣佈的原因攪得很不安。正是由於這個原因——因爲總體上講他是個極爲溫情寬容的人——今天晚上他才留在家中。“我並非不贊成明戈特家的集體精神；可爲什麼要把紐蘭的訂婚與奧蘭斯卡那個女人的事攪在一起，我弄不明白，”阿切爾太太對詹尼抱怨說，後者是她稍欠溫柔的惟一見證人。
She had behaved beautifully--and in beautiful behaviour she was unsurpassed--during the call on Mrs. Welland; but Newland knew (and his betrothed doubtless guessed) that all through the visit she and Janey were nervously on the watch for Madame Olenska's possible intrusion; and when they left the house together she had permitted herself to say to her son: "I'm thankful that Augusta Welland received us alone."
在對韋蘭太太的拜訪中，她一直是舉止優雅的；而她的優雅舉止是無與倫比的。不過紐蘭明白（他的未婚妻無疑也猜得出），在整個拜訪過程中，她和詹尼都緊張地提防着奧蘭斯卡夫人的闖入；當他們一起離開那所住宅時，她不加掩飾地對兒子說：“我很高興奧古斯塔·韋蘭單獨接待了我們。”
These indications of inward disturbance moved Archer the more that he too felt that the Mingotts had gone a little too far. But, as it was against all the rules of their code that the mother and son should ever allude to what was uppermost in their thoughts, he simply replied: "Oh, well, there's always a phase of family parties to be gone through when one gets engaged, and the sooner it's over the better." At which his mother merely pursed her lips under the lace veil that hung down from her grey velvet bonnet trimmed with frosted grapes.
這些內心不安的暗示更加讓阿切爾感動，以致他也覺得明戈特家走得有點太遠了。但是，母親與兒子之間談論心中剛生的念頭，是完全違揹他們的道德規範的，所以他只是回答說：“唉，一個人訂婚後總要參加一系列的家族聚會，這種活動結束得越快越好。”聽了這話，他母親只是隔着從飾有霜凍葡萄的灰絲絨帽上垂下的網狀面紗撇了撇嘴。
Her revenge, he felt--her lawful revenge--would be to "draw" Mr. Jackson that evening on the Countess Olenska; and, having publicly done his duty as a future member of the Mingott clan, the young man had no objection to hearing the lady discussed in private--except that the subject was already beginning to bore him.
他覺得，她的報復——她的合法的報復——就是要在今晚從傑克遜先生口中“引出”奧蘭斯卡伯爵夫人的事。年輕人既然已經當衆盡了明戈特家族未來成員的義務，他並不反對聽一聽對那位夫人的私下議論——只不過這話題已經開始讓他感到厭煩。
Mr. Jackson had helped himself to a slice of the tepid filet which the mournful butler had handed him with a look as sceptical as his own, and had rejected the mushroom sauce after a scarcely perceptible sniff. He looked baffled and hungry, and Archer reflected that he would probably finish his meal on Ellen Olenska.
傑克遜先生吃了一片那位臉色陰沉的男僕帶着跟他相同的懷疑目光遞給他的半冷不熱的魚片。他用讓人難以覺察的動作嗅了嗅蘑菇澆頭，拒絕了它。他臉色沮喪，樣子很餓。阿切爾心想，他很可能要靠談論埃倫·奧蘭斯卡來充飢了。
Mr. Jackson leaned back in his chair, and glanced up at the candlelit Archers, Newlands and van der Luydens hanging in dark frames on the dark walls.
傑克遜先生在椅子裏向後靠了靠，擡眼看了看燭光下掛在昏暗牆壁上深色相框裏的阿切爾們、紐蘭們，以及範德盧頓們。
"Ah, how your grandfather Archer loved a good dinner, my dear Newland!" he said, his eyes on the portrait of a plump full-chested young man in a stock and a blue coat, with a view of a white-columned country-house behind him. "Well--well--well ... I wonder what he would have said to all these foreign marriages!"
“唉，你的祖父阿切爾多麼喜愛豐盛的晚餐啊，親愛的紐蘭！”他說，眼睛盯着一位胖胖的胸部飽滿的年輕人的畫像，那人打着寬領帶，穿一件藍外套，身後是一所帶白色圓柱的鄉間別墅。“可——可——可不知他會如何看待這些異國婚姻！”
Mrs. Archer ignored the allusion to the ancestral cuisine and Mr. Jackson continued with deliberation: "No, she was NOT at the ball."
阿切爾太太沒有理睬他有關老祖母的菜餚的話，傑克遜先生從容地接下去說：“不，她沒到舞會上去。”
"Ah--" Mrs. Archer murmured, in a tone that implied: "She had that decency."
“噢——”阿切爾太太低聲說，那口氣彷彿是說：“她總算還知禮。”
"Perhaps the Beauforts don't know her," Janey suggested, with her artless malice.
“也許博福特夫婦不認識她，”詹尼帶着不加掩飾的敵意推測說。
Mr. Jackson gave a faint sip, as if he had been tasting invisible Madeira. "Mrs. Beaufort may not--but Beaufort certainly does, for she was seen walking up Fifth Avenue this afternoon with him by the whole of New York."
傑克遜先生輕輕呷了一口，彷彿是在想象中品嚐馬德拉葡萄酒。“博福特太太可能不認識，但博福特卻肯定認識，因爲今天下午全紐約的人都看見她和他一起沿第五大街散步。”
"Mercy--" moaned Mrs. Archer, evidently perceiving the uselessness of trying to ascribe the actions of foreigners to a sense of delicacy.
“我的天——”阿切爾太太痛苦地呻吟道。她顯然明白，想把外國人的這種行徑與高雅的概念掛上鉤簡直是徒勞。
"I wonder if she wears a round hat or a bonnet in the afternoon," Janey speculated. "At the Opera I know she had on dark blue velvet, perfectly plain and flat-- like a night-gown."
“不知下午她戴的是圓檐帽還是軟帽，”詹尼猜測說。“我知道她在着歌劇時穿的是深藍色天鵝絨，普普通通的，就像睡衣一樣。”
"Janey!" said her mother; and Miss Archer blushed and tried to look audacious.
“詹尼！”她母親說；阿切爾小姐臉一紅，同時想裝出無所顧忌的樣子。
"It was, at any rate, in better taste not to go to the ball," Mrs. Archer continued.
“不管怎麼說，她沒有去舞會，總算是知趣的了，”阿切爾太太接着說。
A spirit of perversity moved her son to rejoin: "I don't think it was a question of taste with her. May said she meant to go, and then decided that the dress in question wasn't smart enough."
一種乖僻的情緒，使做兒子的接腔道：“我認爲這不是她知趣不知趣的問題。梅說她本來是打算去的，只是後來又覺得你們剛剛說到的那身衣服不夠漂亮而已。”
Mrs. Archer smiled at this confirmation of her inference. "Poor Ellen," she simply remarked; adding compassionately: "We must always bear in mind what an eccentric bringing-up Medora Manson gave her. What can you expect of a girl who was allowed to wear black satin at her coming-out ball?"
阿切爾太太見兒子用這樣的方式證實她的推斷，僅僅報之一笑。“可憐的埃倫，”她只這麼說了一句，接着又同情地補充道：“我們什麼時候都不能忘記，梅多拉·曼森對她進行了什麼稀奇古怪的培養教育。在進入社交界的舞會上，居然讓她穿黑緞子衣服，你又能指望她會怎樣呢？”
"Ah--don't I remember her in it!" said Mr. Jackson; adding: "Poor girl!" in the tone of one who, while enjoying the memory, had fully understood at the time what the sight portended.
“哎呀——她穿的那身衣服我還記得呢！”傑克遜先生說。他接着又補一句：“可憐的姑娘！”那口氣既表明他記着那件事，又表明他當時就充分意識到那光景預兆着什麼。
"It's odd," Janey remarked, "that she should have kept such an ugly name as Ellen. I should have changed it to Elaine." She glanced about the table to see the effect of this.
“真奇怪，”詹尼說，“她競一直沿用埃倫這麼個難聽的名字。假若是我早就改成伊萊恩了。”她環顧一眼餐桌，看這句話產生了什麼效果。
Her brother laughed. "Why Elaine?"
她哥哥失聲笑了起來。“爲什麼要叫伊萊恩？”
"I don't know; it sounds more--more Polish," said Janey, blushing.
“不知道，聽起來更——更有波蘭味，”詹尼漲紅了臉說。
"It sounds more conspicuous; and that can hardly be what she wishes," said Mrs. Archer distantly.
“這名字聽起來太引人注意，她恐怕不會樂意，”阿切爾太太漠然地說。
"Why not?" broke in her son, growing suddenly argumentative. "Why shouldn't she be conspicuous if she chooses? Why should she slink about as if it were she who had disgraced herself? She's `poor Ellen' certainly, because she had the bad luck to make a wretched marriage; but I don't see that that's a reason for hiding her head as if she were the culprit."
“爲什麼不？”兒子插言道，他突然變得很愛爭論。“如果她願意，爲什麼就不能引人注意？她爲什麼就該躲躲閃閃，彷彿自己給自己丟了臉似的？她當然是‘可憐的埃倫’，因爲她不幸結下了倒黴的婚姻。但我不認爲她因此就得像罪犯一樣躲起來。”
"That, I suppose," said Mr. Jackson, speculatively, "is the line the Mingotts mean to take.
“我想，”傑克遜先生沉思地說，“這正是明戈特家的人打算採取的立場。”
The young man reddened. "I didn't have to wait for their cue, if that's what you mean, sir. Madame Olenska has had an unhappy life: that doesn't make her an outcast."
年輕人臉紅了。“我可沒有必要等他們家的暗示——如果你是這個意思的話，先生。奧蘭斯卡夫人經歷了一段不幸的生活，這不等於她無家可歸。”
"There are rumours," began Mr. Jackson, glancing at Janey.
“外面有些謠傳，”傑克遜先生開口說，瞥了詹尼一眼。
"Oh, I know: the secretary," the young man took him up. "Nonsense, mother; Janey's grown-up. They say, don't they," he went on, "that the secretary helped her to get away from her brute of a husband, who kept her practically a prisoner? Well, what if he did? I hope there isn't a man among us who wouldn't have done the same in such a case."
“噢，我知道：是說那個祕書，”年輕人打斷他的話說。“沒關係，母親，詹尼是大人了。人們不就是說，”他接下去講，“是那個祕書幫她離開了把她當囚犯看待的那個畜牲丈夫嗎？哎，是又怎麼樣？我相信，我們這些人遇到這種情況，誰都會這麼幹的。”
Mr. Jackson glanced over his shoulder to say to the sad butler: "Perhaps . . . that sauce . . . just a little, after all--"; then, having helped himself, he remarked: "I'm told she's looking for a house. She means to live here."
傑克遜先生從肩頭斜視了一眼那位臉色陰沉的男僕說：“也許……那個佐料……就要一點，總之——”他吃了一口又說：“我聽說她在找房子，打算住在這兒。”
"I hear she means to get a divorce," said Janey boldly.
“我聽說她打算離婚，”詹尼冒失地說。
"I hope she will!" Archer exclaimed.
“我希望她離婚！”阿切爾大聲地說。
The word had fallen like a bombshell in the pure and tranquil atmosphere of the Archer dining-room. Mrs. Archer raised her delicate eye-brows in the particular curve that signified: "The butler--" and the young man, himself mindful of the bad taste of discussing such intimate matters in public, hastily branched off into an account of his visit to old Mrs. Mingott.
這話像一塊炸彈殼落在了阿切爾家高雅、寧靜的餐廳裏，阿切爾太太聳起她那優雅的眉毛，那根特殊的曲線表示：“有男僕——”而年輕人自己也意識到公開談論這類私事有傷風雅，於是急忙把話題岔開，轉而去講他對明戈特老太太的拜訪。
After dinner, according to immemorial custom, Mrs. Archer and Janey trailed their long silk draperies up to the drawing-room, where, while the gentlemen smoked below stairs, they sat beside a Carcel lamp with an engraved globe, facing each other across a rosewood work-table with a green silk bag under it, and stitched at the two ends of a tapestry band of field-flowers destined to adorn an "occasional" chair in the drawing- room of young Mrs. Newland Archer.
晚餐之後，按照自古以來的習慣，阿切爾太太與詹尼拖着長長的綢裙到樓上客廳裏去了。當紳士們在樓下吸菸的時候，她們在一臺帶摟刻燈罩的卡索式燈旁，面對面地在一張黃檀木縫紉桌兩邊坐下，桌底下掛一個綠色絲綢袋，兩人在一塊花罩毯兩端縫綴起來。那以鮮花鋪底的罩毯是預定用來裝飾小紐蘭·阿切爾太太的客廳裏那把“備用”椅子的。
While this rite was in progress in the drawing-room, Archer settled Mr. Jackson in an armchair near the fire in the Gothic library and handed him a cigar. Mr. Jackson sank into the armchair with satisfaction, lit his cigar with perfect confidence (it was Newland who bought them), and stretching his thin old ankles to the coals, said: "You say the secretary merely helped her to get away, my dear fellow? Well, he was still helping her a year later, then; for somebody met 'em living at Lausanne together."
這一儀式在客廳裏進行的同時，在那間哥特式的圖書室裏，阿切爾正讓傑克遜先生坐進火爐近處的一把扶手椅，並遞給他一支雪茄。傑克遜先生舒舒服服坐在椅子裏，信心十足地點着了雪茄（這是紐蘭買的）。他把瘦削的腳踝朝煤爐前伸了伸，說：“你說那個祕書僅僅是幫她逃跑嗎。親愛的？可一年之後他仍然在繼續幫助她呢。有人在洛桑親眼看見他們住在一起。”
Newland reddened. "Living together? Well, why not? Who had the right to make her life over if she hadn't? I'm sick of the hypocrisy that would bury alive a woman of her age if her husband prefers to live with harlots."
紐蘭臉紅了。“住在一起？哎，爲什麼不可以？假如她自己沒有結束她的人生，又有誰有權去結束呢？把她這樣年輕的女子活活葬送，而她的丈夫卻可以與娼妓在一起鬼混。我痛恨這種僞善的觀點。”
He stopped and turned away angrily to light his cigar. "Women ought to be free--as free as we are," he declared, making a discovery of which he was too irritated to measure the terrific consequences.
他打住話頭，氣憤地轉過身去點着雪茄。“女人應當有自由——跟我們一樣的自由，”他斷然地說。他彷彿有了一種新的發現，而由於過分激動，還無法估量其可怕的後果。
Mr. Sillerton Jackson stretched his ankles nearer the coals and emitted a sardonic whistle.
西勒頓·傑克遜先生把腳踝伸得離爐火更近一些，嘲諷地打了一個唿哨。
"Well," he said after a pause, "apparently Count Olenski takes your view; for I never heard of his having lifted a finger to get his wife back."
“嗯，”他停了一下說，“奧蘭斯卡伯爵顯然和你持相同的觀點；因爲我從未聽說他動過一根指頭去把妻子弄回來。”
雙語小說連載:純真年代 The Age of Innocence(4)
