《简·爱》 Chapter 11 第十一章（10）

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She had finished her breakfast, so I permitted her to give a specimen¹ of her accomplishments².

她已吃了早饭，所以我允许她露一手。

Descending³ from her chair, she came and placed herself on my knee.

她从椅子上下来，走到我面前，坐上我膝头。

Then, folding her little hands demurely⁴ before her,

接着，一本正经地抱着双臂，把卷发往身后一甩，

shaking back her curls and lifting her eyes to the ceiling, she commenced singing a song from some opera.

抬眼望着天花板，开始唱起了某出歌剧中的一个曲子。

It was the strain of a forsaken⁵ lady, who, after bewailing the perfidy⁶ of her lover, calls pride to her aid.

说的是一个被遗弃的女人，对情人的绝情痛苦了一番之后，求助于自己的自尊。

Desires her attendant to deck her in her brightest jewels and richest robes,

要她的侍者用最耀眼的首饰和最华丽的礼服，把她打扮起来，

and resolves to meet the false one that night at a ball,

决定在当晚的一个舞会上同那个负心汉见面，

and prove to him, by the gaiety of her demeanour, how little his desertion has affected⁷ her.

以自己欢快的举止向他证明，她并没有因为被遗弃而感到蒙受了什么打击。

The subject seemed strangely chosen for an infant singer.

给一位儿童歌手选择这样的题材，似乎有些离奇。

But I suppose the point of the exhibition lay in hearing the notes of love and jealousy⁸ warbled with the lisp of childhood;

不过我猜想，要她表演目的在于听听用童声唱出来的爱情和嫉妒的曲调。

and in very bad taste that point was. At least I thought so.

但那目的本身就是低级趣味的，至少我这样想。

Adèle sang the canzonette tunefully enough, and with the naivete of her age.

阿黛勒把这支歌唱得悦耳动听，而且还带着她那种年纪会有的天真烂漫的情调。

This achieved, she jumped from my knee and said, "Now, Mademoiselle, I will repeat you some poetry."

唱完以后，她从我膝头跳下说：“小姐，现在我来给你朗诵些诗吧。”

Assuming an attitude, she began, "La Ligue des Rats: fable⁹ de La Fontaine."

她摆好姿势，先报了题目：“La ligue des Rats，fable de La Fontaine”。

She then declaimed the little piece with an attention to punctuation¹⁰ and emphasis,

随后她朗诵了这首短诗，十分讲究抑扬顿挫，

a flexibility¹¹ of voice and an appropriateness of gesture,

声调婉转，动作得体，

very unusual indeed at her age, and which proved she had been carefully trained.

在她这个年纪，实在是很不寻常了，说明她受过悉心的训练。

"Was it your mama who taught you that piece?" I asked.

“这首诗是你妈妈教你的么？”我问。

Yes, and she just used to say it in this way: 'Qu' avez vous donc? lui dit un de ces rats; parlez!'

是的，她总是这么说‘Qu’ avez vous donc？Lui dit un de ces rats；parlez！’

She made me lift my hand — so — to remind me to raise my voice at the question. Now shall I dance for you?

她要我把手举起来，这样，提醒我读问题的时候要提高嗓门儿。现在我来跳舞给你看好吗？

No, that will do, but after your mama went to the Holy Virgin¹², as you say, with whom did you live then?

不，行啦。你妈妈到圣母玛丽亚那儿去了后，你跟谁一块儿住呢？

With Madame Frederic and her husband. She took care of me, but she is nothing related to me.

同弗雷德里克太太和她的丈夫。她照顾我，不过她跟我没有亲戚关系。

I think she is poor, for she had not so fine a house as mama.

我想她很穷，因为她不像妈妈那样有好房子。

I was not long there.

我在那里没呆多久。

Mr. Rochester asked me if I would like to go and live with him in England,

罗切斯特先生问我，是否愿意同他一起住到英国去。

and I said yes, for I knew Mr. Rochester before I knew Madame Frederic,

我说好的，因为我认得弗雷德里克太太之前就认得罗切斯特先生了。

and he was always kind to me and gave me pretty dresses and toys.

他总是待我很好，送我漂亮的衣服和玩具。

But you see he has not kept his word, for he has brought me to England,

可是你瞧他说话不算数，把我带到了英国，

and now he is gone back again himself, and I never see him.

自己倒又回去了，我从来没有见过他。

1 specimen   

n.样本，标本

参考例句：

• You'll need tweezers to hold up the specimen.你要用镊子来夹这标本。
• This specimen is richly variegated in colour.这件标本上有很多颜色。

2 accomplishments   

n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就

参考例句：

• It was one of the President's greatest accomplishments. 那是总统最伟大的成就之一。
• Among her accomplishments were sewing,cooking,playing the piano and dancing. 她的才能包括缝纫、烹调、弹钢琴和跳舞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 descending   

n. 下行 adj. 下降的

参考例句：

• The results are expressed in descending numerical order . 结果按数字降序列出。
• The climbers stopped to orient themselves before descending the mountain. 登山者先停下来确定所在的位置，然后再下山。

4 demurely   

adv.装成端庄地，认真地

参考例句：

• "On the forehead, like a good brother,'she answered demurely. "吻前额，像个好哥哥那样，"她故作正经地回答说。 来自飘（部分）
• Punctuation is the way one bats one's eyes, lowers one's voice or blushes demurely. 标点就像人眨眨眼睛，低声细语，或伍犯作态。 来自名作英译部分

5 Forsaken   

adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词

参考例句：

• He was forsaken by his friends. 他被朋友们背弃了。
• He has forsaken his wife and children. 他遗弃了他的妻子和孩子。

6 perfidy   

n.背信弃义，不忠贞

参考例句：

• As devotion unites lovers,so perfidy estranges friends.忠诚是爱情的桥梁，欺诈是友谊的敌人。
• The knowledge of Hurstwood's perfidy wounded her like a knife.赫斯渥欺骗她的消息像一把刀捅到了她的心里。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 jealousy   

n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌

参考例句：

• Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
• I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。

9 fable   

n.寓言；童话；神话

参考例句：

• The fable is given on the next page. 这篇寓言登在下一页上。
• He had some motive in telling this fable. 他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

10 punctuation   

n.标点符号，标点法

参考例句：

• My son's punctuation is terrible.我儿子的标点符号很糟糕。
• A piece of writing without any punctuation is difficult to understand.一篇没有任何标点符号的文章是很难懂的。

11 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

12 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。