《傲慢与偏见》 第6章(2)

"Yes; these four evenings have enabled them to ascertain¹ that they both like Vingt-un better than Commerce; but with respect to any other leading characteristic, I do not imagine that much has been unfolded."

“是的；这四个晚上叫他们彼此摸透了一样性格，那就是他们俩都喜欢玩二十一点，不喜欢玩‘康梅司’；讲到别的重要的特点，我看他们彼此之间还了解很少。”

"Well," said Charlotte, "I wish Jane success with all my heart; and if she were married to him to-morrow, I should think she had as good a chance of happiness as if she were to be studying his character for a twelvemonth. Happiness in marriage is entirely² a matter of chance. If the dispositions³ of the parties are ever so well known to each other, or ever so similar before-hand, it does not advance their felicity in the least. They always contrive⁴ to grow sufficiently⁵ unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation; and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life."

“唔，”夏绿蒂说，“我一心一意祝吉英成功。我以为即使她明天就跟他结婚，她必能获得的幸福，比起她花上一年的时间，研究了他的性格、再去跟他结婚所能获得的幸福，并不见得会少到哪里去。婚姻生活是否幸福，完全是个机会问题。一对爱人婚前脾气摸得非常透，或者脾气非常相同，这并不能保证他们俩就会幸福。他们总是弄到后来距离越来越远，彼此烦恼。你既然得和这个人过一辈子，你最尽量少了解他的缺点。”

"You make me laugh, Charlotte; but it is not sound. You know it is not sound, and that you would never act in this way yourself."

“你这番话妙透了，夏绿蒂。不过这种说法未必可靠。你也明知道未必可靠，你自己就不肯那么做。”

Occupied in observing Mr. Bingley's attentions to her sister, Elizabeth was far from suspecting that she was herself becoming an object of some interest in the eyes of his friend. Mr. Darcy had at first scarcely allowed her to be pretty; he had looked at her without admiration⁶ at the ball; and when they next met, he looked at her only to criticise⁷. But no sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that she had hardly a good feature in her face, than he began to find it was rendered uncommonly⁸ intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes. To this discovery succeeded some others equally mortifying⁹.

伊丽莎白一心只知道谈论彬格莱先生对她姐姐的殷勤，却一点儿没想到她自己已经成了彬格莱那位朋友的意中人。说到达西先生，他开头并不认为她怎么漂亮；他在跳舞会上望着她的时候，并没有带着丝毫的爱慕之意，第二次见面的时候，他也不过用吹毛求疵的眼光去看待她。不过，他尽管在朋友们面前，在自己心里，都说她的面貌一无可取，可是眨下眼的工夫，他就发觉她那双乌黑的眼睛美丽非凡，使她的整个脸蛋儿显得极其聪慧。紧接着这个发现之后，他又在她身上发现了几个同样叫人怄气的地方。

Though he had detected with a critical eye more than one failure of perfect symmetry in her form, he was forced to acknowledge her figure to be light and pleasing; and in spite of his asserting that her manners were not those of the fashionable world, he was caught by their easy playfulness. Of this she was perfectly¹⁰ unaware¹¹; -- to her he was only the man who made himself agreeable no where, and who had not thought her handsome enough to dance with.

他带着挑剔的眼光，发觉她的身段这儿也不匀称，那儿也不匀称，可是他到底不得不承认她体态轻盈，惹人喜爱；虽然他嘴上一口咬定她缺少上流社会的翩翩风采，可是她落落大方爱打趣的作风，又把他迷住了。伊丽莎白完全不明了这些情形，她只觉得达西是个到处不讨人喜欢的男人，何况他曾经认为她不够漂亮不配跟她跳舞。

He began to wish to know more of her, and as a step towards conversing¹² with her himself, attended to her conversation with others. His doing so drew her notice. It was at Sir William Lucas's, where a large party were assembled. "What does Mr. Darcy mean," said she to Charlotte, "by listening to my conversation with Colonel Forster?"

达西开始希望跟她深交。他为了想要慢慢地跟她攀谈攀谈，因此她跟别人谈话的时候，他问题留神去听。于是，有一次威廉·卢卡斯爵士大请客，他这样的做法当场引起了她的注意。且说当时伊丽莎白对夏绿蒂说：“你瞧，达西先生是什么意思呢，我跟弗斯脱上校谈话，干吗要他在那儿听？”

1 ascertain   

vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清

参考例句：

• It's difficult to ascertain the coal deposits.煤储量很难探明。
• We must ascertain the responsibility in light of different situtations.我们必须根据不同情况判定责任。

2 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

3 dispositions   

安排( disposition的名词复数 )； 倾向； （财产、金钱的）处置； 气质

参考例句：

• We got out some information about the enemy's dispositions from the captured enemy officer. 我们从捕获的敌军官那里问出一些有关敌军部署的情况。
• Elasticity, solubility, inflammability are paradigm cases of dispositions in natural objects. 伸缩性、可缩性、易燃性是天然物体倾向性的范例。

4 contrive   

vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出

参考例句：

• Can you contrive to be here a little earlier?你能不能早一点来？
• How could you contrive to make such a mess of things?你怎么把事情弄得一团糟呢？

5 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

6 admiration   

n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕

参考例句：

• He was lost in admiration of the beauty of the scene.他对风景之美赞不绝口。
• We have a great admiration for the gold medalists.我们对金牌获得者极为敬佩。

7 criticise   

v.批评，评论；非难

参考例句：

• Right and left have much cause to criticise government.左翼和右翼有很多理由批评政府。
• It is not your place to criticise or suggest improvements!提出批评或给予改进建议并不是你的责任！

8 uncommonly   

adv. 稀罕(极，非常)

参考例句：

• an uncommonly gifted child 一个天赋异禀的儿童
• My little Mary was feeling uncommonly empty. 我肚子当时正饿得厉害。

9 mortifying   

adj.抑制的，苦修的v.使受辱( mortify的现在分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等）

参考例句：

• I've said I did not love her, and rather relished mortifying her vanity now and then. 我已经说过我不爱她，而且时时以伤害她的虚荣心为乐。 来自辞典例句
• It was mortifying to know he had heard every word. 知道他听到了每一句话后真是尴尬。 来自互联网

10 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

11 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

12 conversing   

v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I find that conversing with her is quite difficult. 和她交谈实在很困难。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They were conversing in the parlor. 他们正在客厅谈话。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》