影视英语：Pride & Prejudice 《傲慢与偏见》（精讲之六）

影片对白

Lady Catherine: You can be of no loss, Miss Bennet, to understand why I am here.

Elizabeth: Indeed you're mistaken. I cannot account for this honour at all.

Catherine: Miss Bennet, I warn you, I am not to be trifled with. A report of a most alarming nature has reached me, that you intend to be united with my nephew, Mr. Darcy. I know this to be a scandalous falsehood, though not wishing to injure him by supposing it possible, I instantly set off to make my sentiments known.

Elizabeth: If you believed it to be impossible, I wonder you took the trouble of coming so far.

Catherine: To hear it contradicted, Miss Bennet.

Elizabeth: Your coming will be a rather confirmation¹, surely if indeed such a report exists.

Catherine: If? Do you pretend to be ignorant of it? Has it not been industriously² circulated by yourself?

Elizabeth: I have never heard of it.

Catherine: And can you declare there is no foundation for it?

Elizabeth: I do not pretend to possess equal frankness with your Ladyship. You may ask a question which I may choose not to answer.

Catherine: This is not to be borne. Has my nephew made you an offer of marriage?

Elizabeth: Your Ladyship has declared it to be impossible.

Catherine: Let me be understood! Mr. Darcy is engaged to my daughter. Now what have you to say?

Elizabeth: Only this. If that is the case, you can have no reason to suppose he would make an offer to me.

Catherine: You selfish girl! This union has been planned since their infancy³. Do you think it can be prevented by a young woman of inferior birth whose own sister's elopement resulted in a scandalously patched-up marriage only achieved at the expense of your uncle? Heaven and Earth! Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted? Now tell me once and for all, are you engaged to him?

Elizabeth: I am not.

Catherine: Will you promise never to enter into such an engagement?

Elizabeth: I will not and I certainly never shall. You have insulted me in every possible way and can now have nothing further to say. I must ask you to leave immediately. Goodnight.

Catherine: I have never been thus treated in my entire life!

Mr. Bennet: Lizzie, what on earth is going on?

Elizabeth: Just a small misunderstanding.

Mrs. Bennet: Lizzie?

Elizabeth: For once in your life, leave me alone!

妙词佳句，活学活用

1. account for

这里是“解释；说明”的意思。
e.g. She could not account for her mistake.
她无法解释其错误。
I can't account for Peter's unhappiness.
我说不出彼得不高兴的原因。
Account的一些常用习语还有
on no account决不，在任何条件下都不
on (one's) own account为了自身
take into account 考虑；顾及

2. trifle

在这里是“嘲弄，取笑”的意思。这个词还有一些其它的用法，如：
A. to play with or toy with玩弄, 戏耍
e.g. She trifled with my affections 她玩弄我的感情。
B. To waste time or money 虚度光阴，浪费
e.g. You should not trifle with your health. 你不要疏忽你的健康。
Trifle还可以做名词，意思是"小事，琐事，微不足道的东西"。
e.g. I have no money on trifles. 我没钱买这些小东西。

3. be ignorant of / in

这个搭配是“无知识的；不知道的，不了解的”的意思。我们来看两个例子：
She is very ignorant about her own country. 她对自己的国家很不了解。
What his plans are I am quite ignorant of. 我一点也不知道他的计划是什么。

4. once and for all

“断然地，坚决地，最后地”的意思，表示已经最终永久觉得了的意思。我们来看个例子：
e.g. Once and for all, we can't agree! 最后再说一遍，我们不能同意!
Once的词组还有一个For once，"就这一次，破例一回"的意思。
e.g. For once you didn't lie after you failed your exams.
你考试没通过，就这一次没撒谎。

Once构成的其它习惯用语还有一些：
All at once 突然，同时
Every once in a while 偶尔
Once and again 一再，再三
Once and away / once for all 一劳永逸，永久地，彻底地

文化面面观

十八世纪英国的财产继承与婚姻

西欧的财产继承以诸子中一人继承为主，主要是长子继承，如果没有男嗣的话，根据限嗣继承法，由其他男性继承。这也是为什么班内特家的财产要由柯林斯继承的缘故。这种一人继承是基于土地财产的不可分割，而动产和现金则可以分割继承（甚至均分）。这也是为什么Miss Bingley，Miss Darcy都继承了相当数量的财产，而班内特家的几个姐妹在父亲死后每人可以分得一千英镑财产的缘故。

在十八世纪末十九世纪初的英国乡村，封建保守势力还是相当强大。婚姻很要求门当户对。达西和伊丽莎白虽然财产相差悬殊，但毕竟属于同一阶层，这一点连凯瑟琳夫人也不能否认，这也是他们最终能结合在一起的重要原因之一。

在当时的年代，妇女只能在其所生长的阶层的圈子中生活，社会习俗禁止她们在社会的任何其他领域里活动。一般妇女除了当老处女和家庭教师外，惟一出路就是嫁人。嫁一户有钱有地位的体面人家，就成了一个年轻小姐得到并保持可靠社会与经济地位的理想途径。尤其是那些“一般财产不多、教养有素的青年女子，都是把结婚当作惟一一条未雨绸缪的体面出路，不管如何心中无数，幸福难卜，结婚成家都是她们最可心合意的避风港，以防她们以后不致缺衣少食。”因此，要赢得一位理想的丈夫似乎就是这些年轻小姐们的人生惟一目标。

思想火花

奥斯汀的小说大都是描写乡绅贵族绅士淑女的恋爱求婚和男婚女嫁。在《傲慢与偏见》中，奥斯汀描写了四桩婚姻。

伊丽莎白和达西的婚姻虽然迂回曲折，但两人最终冰释前嫌、喜结良缘。他们两人的婚姻首先是建立在爱情的基础上，其次双方也是门当户对、一表人才。这是奥斯汀所设想的思想婚姻。她批判那种惟利是图的金钱婚姻，但她并不把金钱与爱情绝对分开，而且显示金钱在确立稳固的理想婚姻中起着决定性的作用。

简和宾利则是一见钟情。但两个人都过于善良、容易受别人的意见所左右。这段婚姻也是历尽波折，最终有一个美满的结局。

莉迪亚和威克姆的婚姻则是奥斯汀笔下的一桩不幸婚姻。年少轻佻的莉迪亚自以为爱上了年轻英俊的威克姆，在他的蛊惑下私奔。然而威克姆是地道的花花公子、债台高筑的赌棍，为了得到钱财而利用莉迪亚。在达西的帮助下，两人才免于身败名裂。但他们婚后不久感情便一落千丈，二人同床异梦，经济拮据，生活不幸。

夏洛特和柯林斯的婚姻是奥斯汀很不欣赏的一种婚姻，然而却是当时大多数妇女的婚姻形式。夏洛特年纪已大，长得既不漂亮，又没有什么财产。“她既不看重男人，也不看重夫妻生活，一贯只把结婚当作她人生的目标。”她“所需要的只不过是一个舒适的家”。她明知柯林斯对他毫无感情，而且她也很不喜欢他，也还是答应他的求婚。这是一桩以“牺牲一切高尚感情，来屈就世俗利益”的不幸婚姻。

虽然奥斯汀意图告诉读者，理想的婚姻是可能的。但是要达到奥

斯汀的理想婚姻状态，不要说在18世纪的英国，就是21世纪的今天，仍然有不小的难度。毕竟，不是每个男人都是腰缠万贯的绅士，也不是每个女人都是倾城倾国、秀外慧中的淑女。对于每个已经进入婚姻或是将要进入婚姻的人士，个中滋味，如鱼饮水、冷暖自知吧。

考考你

用近日所学将下面的句子译成英语。

1. 你能不能解释一下为什么最近老是犯低级错误？
2. 她是个新人，对咱们公司的情况几乎一无所知。
3. 最后说一遍，你被解雇了！

Pride & Prejudice 《傲慢与偏见》（精讲之五）考考你 参考答案

1. 由于我忘了复印资料，随着原始资料的丢失，我们的工作全都白做了。
What we have done was in vain when the original material was lost.

2. 这几年周杰伦的歌曲在年轻人中特别流行。
Jay's songs have been prevailing⁴ among young people in recent years.

3. 我最近突然开始对羽毛球感兴趣了，几乎每天都去打。
I recently took up playing badminton a lot and played it almost every day.

1 confirmation   

n.证实，确认，批准

参考例句：

• We are waiting for confirmation of the news.我们正在等待证实那个消息。
• We need confirmation in writing before we can send your order out.给你们发送订购的货物之前，我们需要书面确认。

2 industriously   

参考例句：

• She paces the whole class in studying English industriously. 她在刻苦学习英语上给全班同学树立了榜样。
• He industriously engages in unostentatious hard work. 他勤勤恳恳，埋头苦干。

3 infancy   

n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期

参考例句：

• He came to England in his infancy.他幼年时期来到英国。
• Their research is only in its infancy.他们的研究处于初级阶段。

4 prevailing   

adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的

参考例句：

• She wears a fashionable hair style prevailing in the city.她的发型是这个城市流行的款式。
• This reflects attitudes and values prevailing in society.这反映了社会上盛行的态度和价值观。