狄更斯雙語小說:《董貝父子》第27章Part 08

'So bluff!' cried Mrs Skewton, 'wasn't he? So burly. So truly English. Such a picture, too, he makes, with his dear little peepy eyes, and his benevolent chin!'
'Ah, Ma'am!' said Carker, stopping short; 'but if you speak of pictures, there's a composition! What gallery in the world can produce the counterpart of that?'
As the smiling gentleman thus spake, he pointed through a doorway to where Mr Dombey and Edith were standing alone in the centre of another room.
They were not interchanging a word or a look. Standing together, arm in arm, they had the appearance of being more divided than if seas had rolled between them. There was a difference even in the pride of the two, that removed them farther from each other, than if one had been the proudest and the other the humblest specimen of humanity in all creation. He, self-important, unbending, formal, austere. She, lovely and graceful, in an uncommon degree, but totally regardless of herself and him and everything around, and spurning her own attractions with her haughty brow and lip, as if they were a badge or livery she hated. So unmatched were they, and opposed, so forced and linked together by a chain which adverse hazard and mischance had forged: that fancy might have imagined the pictures on the walls around them, startled by the unnatural conjunction, and observant of it in their several expressions. Grim knights and warriors looked scowling on them. A churchman, with his hand upraised, denounced the mockery of such a couple coming to God's altar. Quiet waters in landscapes, with the sun reflected in their depths, asked, if better means of escape were not at hand, was there no drowning left? Ruins cried, 'Look here, and see what We are, wedded to uncongenial Time!' Animals, opposed by nature, worried one another, as a moral to them. Loves and Cupids took to flight afraid, and Martyrdom had no such torment in its painted history of suffering.
Nevertheless, Mrs Skewton was so charmed by the sight to which Mr Carker invoked her attention, that she could not refraIn from saying, half aloud, how sweet, how very full of soul it was! Edith, overhearing, looked round, and flushed indignant scarlet to her hair.
'My dearest Edith knows I was admiring her!' said Cleopatra, tapping her, almost timidly, on the back with her parasol. 'Sweet pet!'

“多麼直率！”斯丘頓夫人喊道，“是不是？多麼魁偉！是個真正的英國人。那可愛的眯縫着的小眼睛和那仁慈的下巴，構成了多麼美的一幅肖像啊！”
“啊，夫人！”卡克突然停住，說道，“可是您既然談到了圖畫，那您看前面就有一幅！世界上有哪一個畫廊能陳列出這樣的作品呢？”
這位笑嘻嘻的先生一邊說，一邊通過門口指着董貝先生和伊迪絲兩人正站在另一間房間中間的地方。
他們沒有交談一句話，也沒有交換一次眼光。他們胳膊挽着胳膊，但是如果海洋從他們中間滾滾流過，那麼他們也不會比他們現在看去那麼疏遠。甚至他們兩人的高傲也各有特色，互不相同，這一點使他們更加格格不入；如果一位是世界上最高傲的人，另一位是世界上最恭順的人，那麼他們也不至於像現在這麼遙遙相隔。他，自負不凡，剛強不屈，拘泥呆板，神色嚴厲。她，非常的可愛和優美，但卻把自己、他以及周圍的一切全都不放在眼裏；她在眉毛和嘴脣中表露的高傲鄙棄着她自己身上所具有的魅力，彷彿它們是她所痛恨的徽章或號衣似的。他們是多麼毫不相配，多麼相互對立，多麼勉強地被一條由不幸的偶然機會的鏈條連結在一起，因此不難想象，他們四周牆上一幅幅圖畫都對這不自然的結合感到震驚，都以不同的表情觀察着它。嚴厲的騎士和武士皺着眉頭怒視着他們。一位教士舉着一隻手，宣告來到上帝聖壇前面的這對男女是對宗教的褻瀆。風景畫中平靜的湖水，在深處映照着太陽，問道，“如果沒有其他更好逃脫的途徑，難道就不能投水自盡嗎？”廢墟喊道，“請看這裏吧，我們和情意相斥的時代結了婚，現在落得了一個什麼下場？”生性敵對的動物在相互殘殺，好像成了對他們有教訓意義的實例。愛神和丘比德驚恐地逃走了，而那些殉難者在他們的畫出的災難歷史中並沒有遭受過像他們這樣的痛苦。
然而，斯丘頓夫人看到了卡克先生引起她注意的圖畫，是那麼銷魂動魄，所以她情不自禁地有些大聲地說道，這是幅多麼可愛、多麼充滿了心靈的圖畫啊！伊迪絲聽到了，回過頭來看看，臉孔憤怒地漲得通紅，一直紅到頭髮根。
“我最親愛的伊迪絲知道我在讚美她呢！”克利奧佩特拉幾乎膽怯地用陽傘拍了一下她的背，說道，“我的心肝寶貝！”