Mr. Woodhouse was fond of society in his own way. —
伍德豪斯先生以自己的方式喜欢社交。 —

He liked very much to have his friends come and see him; —
他很喜欢朋友们来看他； —

and from various united causes, from his long residence at Hartfield, and his good nature, from his fortune, his house, and his daughter, he could command the visits of his own little circle, in a great measure, as he liked. —
由于种种原因的共同作用，比如他长期在哈特菲尔德的居住、他的善良、他的财富、他的住宅以及他的女儿，他在很大程度上可以控制自己小圈子中朋友们的拜访时间； —

He had not much intercourse with any families beyond that circle; —
他与其他家庭的交往并不多； —

his horror of late hours, and large dinner-parties, made him unfit for any acquaintance but such as would visit him on his own terms. —
他对深夜和大型晚宴的厌恶使他无法和那些不按他的条件来访的人交往； —

Fortunately for him, Highbury, including Randalls in the same parish, and Donwell Abbey in the parish adjoining, the seat of Mr. Knightley, comprehended many such. —
幸运的是，海伯里，包括同一教区里的兰德尔斯庄园，以及邻近教区里的唐维尔庄园，奈特利先生的住所，拥有许多这样的人； —

Not unfrequently, through Emma’s persuasion, he had some of the chosen and the best to dine with him: —
时常在艾玛的劝说下，他还会邀请一些挑选出的和最好的人来与他共进晚餐； —

but evening parties were what he preferred; —
但是晚上的聚会才是他所偏爱的； —

and, unless he fancied himself at any time unequal to company, there was scarcely an evening in the week in which Emma could not make up a card-table for him.
而且，除非他自认为有时不适合与人群相处，Emma几乎每周都能为他凑齐一张牌桌。

Real, long-standing regard brought the Westons and Mr. Knightley; —
真正的长久关系将Westons和Knightley先生联系在一起； —

and by Mr. Elton, a young man living alone without liking it, the privilege of exchanging any vacant evening of his own blank solitude for the elegancies and society of Mr. Woodhouse’s drawing-room, and the smiles of his lovely daughter, was in no danger of being thrown away.
而对于埃尔顿先生这位独居且不喜欢独处的年轻人来说，能够跟伍德豪斯先生的客厅和他可爱女儿的微笑交换自己寂寞的空闲时光的特权，并不会被浪费。

After these came a second set; among the most come-at-able of whom were Mrs. and Miss Bates, and Mrs. Goddard, three ladies almost always at the service of an invitation from Hartfield, and who were fetched and carried home so often, that Mr. Woodhouse thought it no hardship for either James or the horses. —
在这些人之后是第二批；其中最容易接近的包括贝茨夫人、贝茨小姐和戈达德夫人，这三位女士几乎总是可以接受哈特菲尔德的邀请，并且经常被接送回家，以至于伍德豪斯先生认为这对詹姆斯或马匹来说并不算是一件苦差事。 —

Had it taken place only once a year, it would have been a grievance.
即使这种情况每年只发生一次，也会成为一种抱怨。

Mrs. Bates, the widow of a former vicar of Highbury, was a very old lady, almost past every thing but tea and quadrille. —
贝茨夫人是海伯里前任牧师的寡妇，是一位非常年老的女士，几乎只剩下享受茶和四角牌的乐趣。 —

She lived with her single daughter in a very small way, and was considered with all the regard and respect which a harmless old lady, under such untoward circumstances, can excite. —
她跟她的独身女儿以极其朴素的方式生活，但却受到了一切尊重和尊敬，因为在这种不幸的情况下，这样一个无害的老太太能够引起这样的情感。 —

Her daughter enjoyed a most uncommon degree of popularity for a woman neither young, handsome, rich, nor married. —
她的女儿享有一种极为罕见的受欢迎程度，尽管她既不年轻、漂亮、富有也没有结婚。 —

Miss Bates stood in the very worst predicament in the world for having much of the public favour; —
对于一个缺乏公众欢心的女人来说，贝茨小姐处境极为糟糕； —

and she had no intellectual superiority to make atonement to herself, or frighten those who might hate her into outward respect. —
她没有智力上的优势可以弥补自己，也没有让那些可能讨厌她的人表现出外在的尊重。 —

She had never boasted either beauty or cleverness. —
她从未夸耀自己既美丽又聪明。 —

Her youth had passed without distinction, and her middle of life was devoted to the care of a failing mother, and the endeavour to make a small income go as far as possible. —
她的青春毫无特色地过去了，而她中年时期则专注于照顾一个健康状况欠佳的母亲，并努力让微薄的收入维持生计。 —

And yet she was a happy woman, and a woman whom no one named without good-will. —
然而她是一个幸福的女人，一个无人提及不慈的女人。 —

It was her own universal good-will and contented temper which worked such wonders. —
是她自己那种普遍的善意和满足的性格造就了这些奇迹。 —

She loved every body, was interested in every body’s happiness, quicksighted to every body’s merits; thought herself a most fortunate creature, and surrounded with blessings in such an excellent mother, and so many good neighbours and friends, and a home that wanted for nothing. —
她爱每一个人，关心每个人的幸福，对每个人的优点敏锐；她觉得自己是一个非常幸运的人，有一位如此出色的母亲，许多好邻居和朋友，一个什么都不缺的家庭。 —

The simplicity and cheerfulness of her nature, her contented and grateful spirit, were a recommendation to every body, and a mine of felicity to herself. —
她的天性简单而开朗，她的知足和感恩精神，对每个人都是一种推荐，对她自己来说是一座幸福的金矿。 —

She was a great talker upon little matters, which exactly suited Mr. Woodhouse, full of trivial communications and harmless gossip.
她在琐碎的事情上喋喋不休，正好迎合伍德豪斯先生，充满琐事的交流和无伤大雅的闲话。

Mrs. Goddard was the mistress of a School - not of a seminary, or an establishment, or any thing which professed, in long sentences of refined nonsense, to combine liberal acquirements with elegant morality, upon new principles and new systems - and where young ladies for enormous pay might be screwed out of health and into vanity - but a real, honest, old-fashioned Boarding-school, where a reasonable quantity of accomplishments were sold at a reasonable price, and where girls might be sent to be out of the way, and scramble themselves into a little education, without any danger of coming back prodigies. —
戈达德夫人是一所学校的女主人 - 不是一所研究院，或者说是一个机构，或者任何打着精致的道德教学，以新原则和新体系融合自由知识和优雅道德的咄咄逼人，教育有可能让年轻女孩们以高昂的薪酬被榨取健康，变得矫揉造作，而是一所真实、诚实、老式的寄宿学校，一个合理的价格能卖出一定数量的才艺，女孩子可以被送去者避开来，自己争取一些教育，而不用担心会变成神童的地方。 —

Mrs. Goddard’s school was in high repute - and very deservedly; —
戈达德夫人的学校是很有声望的 - 这是当之无愧的； —

for Highbury was reckoned a particularly healthy spot: —
因为海伯里被认为是一个特别健康的地方： —

she had an ample house and garden, gave the children plenty of wholesome food, let them run about a great deal in the summer, and in winter dressed their chilblains with her own hands. —
她有一幢宽敞的房子和花园，给孩子们提供丰富的健康食物，在夏天让她们到处跑动很多，冬天亲自为她们处理冻疮。 —

It was no wonder that a train of twenty young couple now walked after her to church. —
现在围绕着她走向教堂的是一列十对年轻夫妇。 —

She was a plain, motherly kind of woman, who had worked hard in her youth, and now thought herself entitled to the occasional holiday of a tea-visit; —
她是一个朴实、母性的女人，在年轻时曾努力工作，现在觉得自己有权利偶尔来一次茶话会； —

and having formerly owed much to Mr. Woodhouse’s kindness, felt his particular claim on her to leave her neat parlour, hung round with fancy-work, whenever she could, and win or lose a few sixpences by his fireside.
她以前受过伍德豪斯先生的好意很多，认为他特别值得她离开自己装饰着手工刺绣的整洁客厅，无论输赢都可以在他的炉边赢得或者失去几个六便士。

These were the ladies whom Emma found herself very frequently able to collect; —
这些女士们是艾玛经常能够聚集在一起的人； —

and happy was she, for her father’s sake, in the power; —
她为了父亲感到幸福； —

though, as far as she was herself concerned, it was no remedy for the absence of Mrs. Weston. —
虽然就她自己而言，这并不能弥补没有西顿夫人的缺席。 —

She was delighted to see her father look comfortable, and very much pleased with herself for contriving things so well; —
她很高兴看到父亲看起来很舒适，对自己安排得如此完美感到非常满意； —

but the quiet prosings of three such women made her feel that every evening so spent was indeed one of the long evenings she had fearfully anticipated.
但是这三个女人的闲聊让她感到每一个这样度过的晚上都是她曾经担心的漫长夜晚之一。

As she sat one morning, looking forward to exactly such a close of the present day, a note was brought from Mrs. Goddard, requesting, in most respectful terms, to be allowed to bring Miss Smith with her; —
当她一个早晨坐着，期待着当天结束时的情景时，从戈达德夫人那里送来了一张便条，请恳请允许带着史密斯小姐一起来； —

a most welcome request: for Miss Smith was a girl of seventeen, whom Emma knew very well by sight, and had long felt an interest in, on account of her beauty. —
这是一个非常受欢迎的请求：因为史密斯小姐是一位十七岁的姑娘，艾玛对她早已耳闻目睹，并因她的美貌而产生浓厚兴趣； —

A very gracious invitation was returned, and the evening no longer dreaded by the fair mistress of the mansion.
一封非常亲切的邀请被回复，晚上不再被这位庄园的美丽女主人所担忧；

Harriet Smith was the natural daughter of somebody. —
哈丽特·史密斯是某人的私生女； —

Somebody had placed her, several years back, at Mrs. Goddard’s school, and somebody had lately raised her from the condition of scholar to that of parlour-boarder. —
某人几年前把她送到了戈达德夫人的学校，最近又把她从学生提升为客厅住宿生； —

This was all that was generally known of her history. —
这就是她一般所知的全部历史； —

She had no visible friends but what had been acquired at Highbury, and was now just returned from a long visit in the country to some young ladies who had been at school there with her.
她除了在哈特菲尔德结交的一些朋友外，再也没有其他可见的朋友，最近刚从乡下拜访了几名曾和她一起在学校里的年轻女士回来；

She was a very pretty girl, and her beauty happened to be of a sort which Emma particularly admired. —
她是一位非常漂亮的女孩，而且她的美貌恰好是艾玛特别喜欢的类型； —

She was short, plump, and fair, with a fine bloom, blue eyes, light hair, regular features, and a look of great sweetness, and, before the end of the evening, Emma was as much pleased with her manners as her person, and quite determined to continue the acquaintance.
她身材矮小，丰满而白皙，面带红晕，蓝眼睛，浅色头发，五官端正，带着极大的甜美神情，在晚上的结束前，艾玛对她的举止和外表一样满意，完全决定继续这段交往；

She was not struck by any thing remarkably clever in Miss Smith’s conversation, but she found her altogether very engaging - not inconveniently shy, not unwilling to talk - and yet so far from pushing, shewing so proper and becoming a deference, seeming so pleasantly grateful for being admitted to Hartfield, and so artlessly impressed by the appearance of every thing in so superior a style to what she had been used to, that she must have good sense, and deserve encouragement. —
在史密斯小姐的谈话中，她并没有被任何特别聪明的事情吸引，但她觉得她总体上非常迷人 - 不会很害羞，也不排斥交谈 - 而且远非推销之类，表现出恰到好处和恭敬有礼，对于被允许去哈特菲尔德感到非常感激，并且在对一切物事的外观如此上乘时表现出这么天真的感动，她一定很有见识，值得鼓励； —

Encouragement should be given. Those soft blue eyes, and all those natural graces, should not be wasted on the inferior society of Highbury and its connexions. —
应该给予鼓励。 那双温柔的蓝眼睛和所有自然的优雅品质不应该被浪费在哈特菲尔德及其关系的下等社会上； —

The acquaintance she had already formed were unworthy of her. —
她已经结识的朋友是不值得她的； —

The friends from whom she had just parted, though very good sort of people, must be doing her harm. —
她刚刚离开的朋友，虽然是很好的人，但一定给她带来了一些伤害； —

They were a family of the name of Martin, whom Emma well knew by character, as renting a large farm of Mr. Knightley, and residing in the parish of Donwell - very creditably, she believed - she knew Mr. Knightley thought highly of them - but they must be coarse and unpolished, and very unfit to be the intimates of a girl who wanted only a little more knowledge and elegance to be quite perfect. —
他们是一个名为马丁的家庭，艾玛对他们深信不疑，因为他们租住着奈特利先生的一大片农场，居住在唐威尔教区 - 她相信他们生活很体面 - 她知道奈特利先生很看重他们 - 但他们一定粗鲁和没有润色，非常不适合与一个只需稍微更多知识和优雅就完美无缺的女孩亲近； —

She would notice her; she would improve her; —
她会注意她；她会提高她； —

she would detach her from her bad acquaintance, and introduce her into good society; —
她会把她从坏交往中疏远出来，介绍她进入良好的社交圈子; —

she would form her opinions and her manners. —
她会塑造她的观念和举止。 —

It would be an interesting, and certainly a very kind undertaking; —
这将是一个有趣的，当然也是一个非常善良的举动; —

highly becoming her own situation in life, her leisure, and powers.
非常适合她自己的生活境况，闲暇时间和才能。

She was so busy in admiring those soft blue eyes, in talking and listening, and forming all these schemes in the in-betweens, that the evening flew away at a very unusual rate; —
她如此忙于仰慕那双柔和的蓝眼睛，在交谈和倾听中，并在这些间隙里形成所有这些计划，以至于晚上过得异常迅速; —

and the supper-table, which always closed such parties, and for which she had been used to sit and watch the due time, was all set out and ready, and moved forwards to the fire, before she was aware. —
而晚餐桌，这种聚会总是结束的地方，她一直习惯于坐在那里观看适当的时机，已经摆好准备就绪，靠近火堆，而她仍然没有察觉。 —

With an alacrity beyond the common impulse of a spirit which yet was never indifferent to the credit of doing every thing well and attentively, with the real good-will of a mind delighted with its own ideas, did she then do all the honours of the meal, and help and recommend the minced chicken and scalloped oysters, with an urgency which she knew would be acceptable to the early hours and civil scruples of their guests.
在这种情况下，她的行动远远超出了一种精神的普通冲动，尽管这种精神从来不会对做任何事情好好地和关心地负责任感无动于衷，却有着一颗满心欣喜于自己的想法的真正善意的心灵，她当时尽了所有的晚餐荣誉，并且帮助和推荐着切碎的鸡肉和扇贝烤牡蛎，用一种她知道会受到客人们早出及对礼仪的顾虑欢迎的紧迫感。

Upon such occasions poor Mr. Woodhouses feelings were in sad warfare. —
在这样的场合，可怜的伍德豪斯的感受是在悲伤的战争之中。 —

He loved to have the cloth laid, because it had been the fashion of his youth, but his conviction of suppers being very unwholesome made him rather sorry to see any thing put on it; —
他喜欢铺桌布，因为这是他年轻时的时髦，但他对晚餐非常不健康的信念让他有些遗憾见到有东西放在桌上; —

and while his hospitality would have welcomed his visitors to every thing, his care for their health made him grieve that they would eat.
虽然他的好客会欢迎他的访客享用一切，但他对他们的健康的关心让他感到遗憾他们要吃东西。

Such another small basin of thin gruel as his own was all that he could, with thorough self-approbation, recommend; —
他能够充分自我赞许地推荐另一个小碗薄粥，就像他自己的一样; —

though he might constrain himself, while the ladies were comfortably clearing the nicer things, to say:
尽管在女士们舒适地清理精致的食物时，他可能会强迫自己说:

Mrs. Bates, let me propose your venturing on one of these eggs. --- <span><tang1>贝茨夫人，让我建议您试试这些鸡蛋。 —

An egg boiled very soft is not unwholesome. Serle understands boiling an egg better than any body. —
煮得非常软的鸡蛋是不会有害健康的。塞尔比任何人都擅长煮鸡蛋。 —

I would not recommend an egg boiled by any body else; —
我不会推荐别人煮的鸡蛋； —

but you need not be afraid, they are very small, you see - one of our small eggs will not hurt you. —
但是你不需要害怕，它们非常小，你看 - 我们的一个小鸡蛋不会伤害你。 —

Miss Bates, let Emma help you to a little bit of tart - a very little bit. —
贝茨小姐，让艾玛帮你拿一点馅饼 - 只是一点点。 —

Ours are all apple-tarts. You need not be afraid of unwholesome preserves here. —
我们的都是苹果馅饼。这里不会有不健康的果酱让你害怕。 —

I do not advise the custard. Mrs. Goddard, what say you to half a glass of wine? —
我不建议吃奶油蛋挞。戈达德夫人，您觉得来半杯酒怎么样？ —

A small half-glass, put into a tumbler of water? —
一小杯一半，放在一杯水里？ —

I do not think it could disagree with you.’
我觉得这不会对你有害。

Emma allowed her father to talk - but supplied her visitors in a much more satisfactory style, and on the present evening had particular pleasure in sending them away happy. —
艾玛任由父亲说个没完 - 但以一种更令人满意的方式招待客人，这个晚上特别高兴地让他们离开。 —

The happiness of Miss Smith was quite equal to her intentions. —
史密斯小姐的幸福完全符合她的意图。 —

Miss Woodhouse was so great a personage in Highbury, that the prospect of the introduction had given as much panic as pleasure; —
伍德豪斯小姐在海伯里是如此显赫的人物，介绍的前景引发了与快乐同等的恐慌； —

but the humble, grateful little girl went off with highly gratified feelings, delighted with the affability with which Miss Woodhouse had treated her all the evening, and actually shaken hands with her at last!
但这位谦卑、感激的小姑娘带着极为满足的心情离开了，她对艾玛整个晚上对待她的亲切心怀感到高兴，最后还真的与她握手了！