“Say, goddess, what ensued, when Raphael, The affable archangel … —
“神啊，请告诉我，当阿法伯大天使拉斐尔…” —

Eve The story heard attentive, and was filled With admiration, and deep muse, to hear Of things so high and strange.” —
“伊芙聆听故事，心怀钦佩，陷入沉思，听着如此崇高而神秘的事物。” —

–Paradise Lost, B. vii.
–失乐园，第七卷。

If it had really occurred to Mr. Casaubon to think of Miss Brooke as a suitable wife for him, the reasons that might induce her to accept him were already planted in her mind, and by the evening of the next day the reasons had budded and bloomed. —
“如果卡索邦真的想到过把布鲁克小姐作为他的合适妻子，那么她接受他之所以会有原因，这些原因已经在她心中生根发芽，并在第二天的晚上长势蓬勃。 —

For they had had a long conversation in the morning, while Celia, who did not like the company of Mr. Casaubon’s moles and sallowness, had escaped to the vicarage to play with the curate’s ill-shod but merry children.
“因为他们早上有过长时间的交谈，而西莉亚不喜欢卡索邦先生的色斑和苍白，已经逃到教区牧师那里，和牧师的穿着破旧但快乐的孩子们玩去了。

Dorothea by this time had looked deep into the ungauged reservoir of Mr. Casaubon’s mind, seeing reflected there in vague labyrinthine extension every quality she herself brought; —
“多萝西娅此时深入卡索邦先生的心灵深处，看到那里映射着她自己带入的每一种品质； —

had opened much of her own experience to him, and had understood from him the scope of his great work, also of attractively labyrinthine extent. —
“向他展开了她自己的许多经历，从他那里了解到他伟大工作的范围，这部工作同样具有迷人而错综复杂的广度。 —

For he had been as instructive as Milton’s “affable archangel;” —
“因为他和弥尔顿的’和蔼大天使’一样给人许多启示； —

and with something of the archangelic manner he told her how he had undertaken to show (what indeed had been attempted before, but not with that thoroughness, justice of comparison, and effectiveness of arrangement at which Mr. Casaubon aimed) that all the mythical systems or erratic mythical fragments in the world were corruptions of a tradition originally revealed. —
“并以近乎大天使的风度告诉她，他已决意证明（虽然这以前曾尝试过，但没有卡索邦先生的彻底性、比较的公正和排列的有效性），世界上所有的神话系统或错置的神话碎片都是最初启示的传统的堕落。 —

Having once mastered the true position and taken a firm footing there, the vast field of mythical constructions became intelligible, nay, luminous with the reflected light of correspondences. —
“一旦掌握了真正的立场并在那里稳步站稳，神话建构的广阔领域就变得可理解，光芒四射，反射了对应关系的光芒。 —

But to gather in this great harvest of truth was no light or speedy work. —
“但要收获这巨大的真理却不是一件轻松或迅速的工作。 —

His notes already made a formidable range of volumes, but the crowning task would be to condense these voluminous still-accumulating results and bring them, like the earlier vintage of Hippocratic books, to fit a little shelf. —
“他的注释已经构成了一系列庞大的卷册，但最后的任务将是压缩这些庞大而不断积累的成果，并像希波克拉底书籍的早期产物一样，使它们放得下一小块书架。 —

In explaining this to Dorothea, Mr. Casaubon expressed himself nearly as he would have done to a fellow-student, for he had not two styles of talking at command: —
“在向多萝西娅解释这一点时，卡索邦先生几乎表达了他对同学的看法，因为他没有两种对谈的风格； —

it is true that when he used a Greek or Latin phrase he always gave the English with scrupulous care, but he would probably have done this in any case. —
“虽然他使用希腊或拉丁短语时总是非常谨慎地提供英文解释，但他无论如何可能都会这样做。 —

A learned provincial clergyman is accustomed to think of his acquaintances as of “lords, knyghtes, and other noble and worthi men, that conne Latyn but lytille.”
“一位学识渊博的省级牧师习惯于将他的熟人视为’贵族、骑士和其他贵族和值得尊敬的人，他们对拉丁语了解不多。’

Dorothea was altogether captivated by the wide embrace of this conception. —
多萝西娅完全被这个概念广泛的包容所迷住。 —

Here was something beyond the shallows of ladies’ school literature: —
这里有着超越女子学校文学表层的东西。 —

here was a living Bossuet, whose work would reconcile complete knowledge with devoted piety; —
这里是一个活生生的博苏埃，他的作品将完整的知识与虔诚的虔敬调和在一起； —

here was a modern Augustine who united the glories of doctor and saint.
这里是一个现代奥古斯丁，将博士和圣者的荣耀统一在一起。

The sanctity seemed no less clearly marked than the learning, for when Dorothea was impelled to open her mind on certain themes which she could speak of to no one whom she had before seen at Tipton, especially on the secondary importance of ecclesiastical forms and articles of belief compared with that spiritual religion, that submergence of self in communion with Divine perfection which seemed to her to be expressed in the best Christian books of widely distant ages, she found in Mr. Casaubon a listener who understood her at once, who could assure her of his own agreement with that view when duly tempered with wise conformity, and could mention historical examples before unknown to her.
这种神圣性看似与学识一样即清晰又明显，因为当多萝西娅被驱使要在某些主题上敞开心扉，而这些主题是她之前在提普顿从未见过的人面前说出的，特别是在教会形式和信条与那位神圣的宗教的次要重要性相比而言，那个在与神圣完美的沟通中自我沉浸的精神宗教在最好的基督教书籍中体现出来，她发现在卡萨伯恩先生那里一个能够理解她并且一下子就能明白她表达意图的倾听者，一个能够在明智的顺应中保证他与她观点一致的人，并且还能提及以前她不了解的历史例子。

“He thinks with me,” said Dorothea to herself, “or rather, he thinks a whole world of which my thought is but a poor twopenny mirror. —
“他和我想得一样，”多萝西娅自言自语，”或者说，他的思想是一个整个世界，而我的思想只是一个贫乏的镜子。 —

And his feelings too, his whole experience–what a lake compared with my little pool!”
“再加上他的感受，他的整个经历——就像我的小水塘和他的大湖相比如何！”

Miss Brooke argued from words and dispositions not less unhesitatingly than other young ladies of her age. —
布鲁克小姐从言辞和性情中表现出的坚定态度与她这个年龄段的其他年轻女士一样毫不犹豫。 —

Signs are small measurable things, but interpretations are illimitable, and in girls of sweet, ardent nature, every sign is apt to conjure up wonder, hope, belief, vast as a sky, and colored by a diffused thimbleful of matter in the shape of knowledge. —
符号是小而可测量的事物，但解释却是无穷无尽的，在性情温和、热情的女孩身上，每一个符号往往勾起奇迹、希望、信仰，宽广如天空，被一小点知识的涟漪着色。 —

They are not always too grossly deceived; —
他们并不总是受骗太过分; —

for Sinbad himself may have fallen by good-luck on a true description, and wrong reasoning sometimes lands poor mortals in right conclusions: —
因为辛巴德本人可能凭幸运落在一份真实的描述上，错误的推理有时会导致可怜的凡人得出正确结论： —

starting a long way off the true point, and proceeding by loops and zigzags, we now and then arrive just where we ought to be. —
从离真正的焦点很远的地方开始，并通过循环和曲折前进，我们偶尔会到达应该到达的地方。 —

Because Miss Brooke was hasty in her trust, it is not therefore clear that Mr. Casaubon was unworthy of it.
因为布鲁克小姐在信任上太过急躁，并不能明确卡索本先生是否配得上这种信任。

He stayed a little longer than he had intended, on a slight pressure of invitation from Mr. Brooke, who offered no bait except his own documents on machine-breaking and rick-burning. —
他比打算中停留了一会，因为布鲁克先生稍微有点怂恿他，并没有提供任何其它诱饵，只是他自己有关打破机器和纵火的文件。 —

Mr. Casaubon was called into the library to look at these in a heap, while his host picked up first one and then the other to read aloud from in a skipping and uncertain way, passing from one unfinished passage to another with a “Yes, now, but here!” —
卡索本先生被叫进图书馆看这些文件，而他的东道主则挑起一件又一件念起来声音起伏不定的、从一个未完成的段落转到另一个的，带着一声“是的，现在，但在这里！”。 —

and finally pushing them all aside to open the journal of his youthful Continental travels.
最终将它们全部推开以打开他年轻时在欧洲游记的杂志。

“Look here–here is all about Greece. Rhamnus, the ruins of Rhamnus–you are a great Grecian, now. —
`看这儿–这里全是关于希腊的。拉姆努斯的废墟–你现在是个伟大的希腊通了。 —

I don’t know whether you have given much study to the topography. —
我不知道你是否对这些位置已经做了许多研究。 —

I spent no end of time in making out these things–Helicon, now. Here, now! —
我花了好几年时间弄清这些事情–赫里孔，现在。看这儿！ —

–We started the next morning for Parnassus, the double-peaked Parnassus.' --- <span><tang1> --第二天早晨我们出发去帕纳索斯，这座双峰的帕纳索斯。’ —

All this volume is about Greece, you know,” Mr. Brooke wound up, rubbing his thumb transversely along the edges of the leaves as he held the book forward.
这整卷都是关于希腊的，你知道的。” 布鲁克先生停下来，一边用手指横向沿着页边来回摩擦，一边朝着卷页向前展示。

Mr. Casaubon made a dignified though somewhat sad audience; —
卡索本先生端庄而有些悲伤地成为了一个听众； —

bowed in the right place, and avoided looking at anything documentary as far as possible, without showing disregard or impatience; —
在适当的地方鞠躬，尽可能避免看任何记录性的东西，同时不显露出不尊重或不耐烦的态度； —

mindful that this desultoriness was associated with the institutions of the country, and that the man who took him on this severe mental scamper was not only an amiable host, but a landholder and custos rotulorum. —
要记住这种漫不经心是与该国的制度相关联的，而带他进行这种严谨思维之旅的人不仅是一个友好的主人，而且是一位地主和元老院内勤务书。 —

Was his endurance aided also by the reflection that Mr. Brooke was the uncle of Dorothea?
他的忍耐力是否也受到了这样一个事实的激励，即布鲁克先生是多罗西亚的叔叔？

Certainly he seemed more and more bent on making her talk to him, on drawing her out, as Celia remarked to herself; —
确实，他似乎越来越想让她和他交谈，引导她说话，正如西莉亚心里想的那样； —

and in looking at her his face was often lit up by a smile like pale wintry sunshine. —
在看着她的时候，他的脸上经常洋溢着一种像苍白的冬日阳光一样的微笑。 —

Before he left the next morning, while taking a pleasant walk with Miss Brooke along the gravelled terrace, he had mentioned to her that he felt the disadvantage of loneliness, the need of that cheerful companionship with which the presence of youth can lighten or vary the serious toils of maturity. —
在第二天早上离开之前，他与布鲁克小姐一起沿着铺满碎石的阳台散步时提到过他感到孤独的缺点，需要有年轻人在场时那种欢快的伴侣关系，能够减轻或改变成年人严肃劳作的寂寞。 —

And he delivered this statement with as much careful precision as if he had been a diplomatic envoy whose words would be attended with results. —
他说这番话时像外交使节那样，言之经慎，仿佛言出必有成果。 —

Indeed, Mr. Casaubon was not used to expect that he should have to repeat or revise his communications of a practical or personal kind. —
事实上，卡索本先生不习惯期待自己需要再次重复或修改自己的关于实际或个人问题的通知。 —

The inclinations which he had deliberately stated on the 2d of October he would think it enough to refer to by the mention of that date; —
他当初于10月2日有意提出的倾向，他想只需提到那个日期就足够了； —

judging by the standard of his own memory, which was a volume where a vide supra could serve instead of repetitions, and not the ordinary long-used blotting-book which only tells of forgotten writing. —
根据他自己的记忆标准，那是一本记载着各种事物而无需重复的卷轴，不是普通的长时间使用的墨迹本，只会告诉人们遗忘的文字。 —

But in this case Mr. Casaubon’s confidence was not likely to be falsified, for Dorothea heard and retained what he said with the eager interest of a fresh young nature to which every variety in experience is an epoch.
但在这个案例中，卡索本先生的信心不太可能受到干扰，因为多罗西亚听到他说的话时怀着新鲜年轻本质的热切兴趣，对每一种经验变化都视为重要时刻。

It was three o’clock in the beautiful breezy autumn day when Mr. Casaubon drove off to his Rectory at Lowick, only five miles from Tipton; —
就在美丽多风的秋日下午三点，卡索本先生开车去了他在洛里克的教区，距离蒂普顿只有五英里； —

and Dorothea, who had on her bonnet and shawl, hurried along the shrubbery and across the park that she might wander through the bordering wood with no other visible companionship than that of Monk, the Great St. Bernard dog, who always took care of the young ladies in their walks. —
多罗西亚戴着草帽和披着披肩，匆匆穿过灌木丛和公园，只有大圣伯纳犬孟克陪伴在她身旁，它总是照顾着年轻女性在散步时。 —

There had risen before her the girl’s vision of a possible future for herself to which she looked forward with trembling hope, and she wanted to wander on in that visionary future without interruption. —
她面前浮现出一个可能的未来愿景，她充满期待地期盼着，她想在那种幻想未来中尽情徜徉，不受打扰。 —

She walked briskly in the brisk air, the color rose in her cheeks, and her straw bonnet (which our contemporaries might look at with conjectural curiosity as at an obsolete form of basket) fell a little backward. —
她在清新的空气中迅速行走，脸上泛起红晕，她的草帽（我们的当代人可能好奇地猜测看待它，就像看待一种过时的篮筐形式）有点往后倒退。 —

She would perhaps be hardly characterized enough if it were omitted that she wore her brown hair flatly braided and coiled behind so as to expose the outline of her head in a daring manner at a time when public feeling required the meagreness of nature to be dissimulated by tall barricades of frizzed curls and bows, never surpassed by any great race except the Feejeean. —
如果不提及她的特征，也许她就无法被充分描述，她把棕色的头发扁平地编成辫子，盘在头后，敢于展示头部轮廓，在当时，公众的情感需要用高高的鬈发和蝴蝶结来掩盖自然的瘦弱，这在除非浦西群岛人之外任何伟大种族都无法超越。 —

This was a trait of Miss Brooke’s asceticism. —
这是Brooke小姐禁欲主义的特点。 —

But there was nothing of an ascetic’s expression in her bright full eyes, as she looked before her, not consciously seeing, but absorbing into the intensity of her mood, the solemn glory of the afternoon with its long swathes of light between the far-off rows of limes, whose shadows touched each other.
但她明亮而充满的眼睛里，并没有禁欲主义者的表情，她看着前方，虽然没有意识到，但在她强烈的情绪中，吸收着下午庄严的光辉，那漫长的光束穿过远处的菩提树，它们的影子相互触碰。

All people, young or old (that is, all people in those ante-reform times), would have thought her an interesting object if they had referred the glow in her eyes and cheeks to the newly awakened ordinary images of young love: —
所有人，无论年轻还是年长（也就是说，在那些改革前的年代），如果能将她眼睛和脸颊上的光归因于新醒来的普通年轻爱情的形象，都会觉得她是一个有趣的对象： —

the illusions of Chloe about Strephon have been sufficiently consecrated in poetry, as the pathetic loveliness of all spontaneous trust ought to be. —
克洛伊对斯特雷芬的幻想已经被诗歌充分神圣化，所有关于自发信任的动人美丽都应该被神圣化。 —

Miss Pippin adoring young Pumpkin, and dreaming along endless vistas of unwearying companionship, was a little drama which never tired our fathers and mothers, and had been put into all costumes. —
皮平小姐崇拜年轻的彭金，沉浸在永恒的伴侣远景中，这是一个小小的戏剧，永远不会令我们的父辈和母辈厌倦，它被穿上各种服饰。 —

Let but Pumpkin have a figure which would sustain the disadvantages of the shortwaisted swallow-tail, and everybody felt it not only natural but necessary to the perfection of womanhood, that a sweet girl should be at once convinced of his virtue, his exceptional ability, and above all, his perfect sincerity. —
只要彭金有一个能够支撑低腰燕尾服这种不利的外形，每个人都会觉得让一个甜美的女孩立刻相信他的品德、他非凡的才能，尤其是他完美的诚意，这不仅是自然的而且是必要的，对于完美的女性来说。 —

But perhaps no persons then living–certainly none in the neighborhood of Tipton–would have had a sympathetic understanding for the dreams of a girl whose notions about marriage took their color entirely from an exalted enthusiasm about the ends of life, an enthusiasm which was lit chiefly by its own fire, and included neither the niceties of the trousseau, the pattern of plate, nor even the honors and sweet joys of the blooming matron.
但也许当时没有人–尤其是提顿附近的人–会对一个女孩对于婚姻的梦想感同身受，这些梦想完全受到对生活目标的升华热情的影响，这种热情主要是由自身的火焰点燃的，其中既不包括婚礼礼服的精致，也不包括盘子的图案，甚至不包括已开的荣誉和幸福的盛开的夫人的甜蜜。

It had now entered Dorothea’s mind that Mr. Casaubon might wish to make her his wife, and the idea that he would do so touched her with a sort of reverential gratitude. —
多萝西娅觉得卡索邦先生可能希望迎娶她，这个想法使她感动得带着一种虔诚的感激之情。 —

How good of him–nay, it would be almost as if a winged messenger had suddenly stood beside her path and held out his hand towards her! —
这真是太好了–不，这几乎就像一位拥有翅膀的信使突然站在她面前，并向她伸出手！ —

For a long while she had been oppressed by the indefiniteness which hung in her mind, like a thick summer haze, over all her desire to make her life greatly effective. —
她很久以来一直被一种模模糊糊的感觉压抑着, 它就像夏日的浓雾，笼罩着她所有想要使自己的生活大有成效的愿望。 —

What could she do, what ought she to do? —
她能做什么，她应该做什么？ —

–she, hardly more than a budding woman, but yet with an active conscience and a great mental need, not to be satisfied by a girlish instruction comparable to the nibblings and judgments of a discursive mouse. —
–她，几乎还不到成熟的女人，但却具有一颗敏锐的良心和一种很大的精神需求，这种需求不是能够满足于像一个好奇的老鼠的啃噬和判断的少女指导的。 —

With some endowment of stupidity and conceit, she might have thought that a Christian young lady of fortune should find her ideal of life in village charities, patronage of the humbler clergy, the perusal of “Female Scripture Characters,” unfolding the private experience of Sara under the Old Dispensation, and Dorcas under the New, and the care of her soul over her embroidery in her own boudoir–with a background of prospective marriage to a man who, if less strict than herself, as being involved in affairs religiously inexplicable, might be prayed for and seasonably exhorted. —
如果她有些愚蠢和自负的禀赋，她可能会认为一个基督教有财富的年轻女士应该在乡村慈善事业、对较低阶的牧师的资助、研读《圣经中的女性人物》，揭示旧约中的萨拉和新约中的多加的私人经历，以及在自己的闺房里绣花时关心她的灵魂——背景是与一个比她严格一些、因卷入宗教上莫名其妙的事务而需要祈祷和适时劝诫的男人结婚。 —

From such contentment poor Dorothea was shut out. —
可怜的多萝西娅被排除在这种满足之外。 —

The intensity of her religious disposition, the coercion it exercised over her life, was but one aspect of a nature altogether ardent, theoretic, and intellectually consequent: —
她的宗教情感的强烈程度，它对她生活的制约，只是她炽热、理论性和智力上必然的一个方面： —

and with such a nature struggling in the bands of a narrow teaching, hemmed in by a social life which seemed nothing but a labyrinth of petty courses, a walled-in maze of small paths that led no whither, the outcome was sure to strike others as at once exaggeration and inconsistency. —
而这样一种在狭隘教诲的束缚下挣扎的性格，在一个社交生活中，似乎仅仅是一连串琐细的行动，一座没有出路的小径组成的迷宫，一个没有尽头的小径组成的高墙迷宫，其结果必然令别人觉得既夸大又矛盾。 —

The thing which seemed to her best, she wanted to justify by the completest knowledge; —
她认为最好的事情，她想用最完整的知识来证实； —

and not to live in a pretended admission of rules which were never acted on. —
不是活在从未贯彻而只是假惺的规则中。 —

Into this soul-hunger as yet all her youthful passion was poured; —
至今所有她年轻时的激情都倾注在这饥渴的灵魂里； —

the union which attracted her was one that would deliver her from her girlish subjection to her own ignorance, and give her the freedom of voluntary submission to a guide who would take her along the grandest path.
吸引她的联结是能使她摆脱对自己无知的少女时代的俯首顺从，并给她自愿服从一个能带她走上最伟大道路的向导的自由。

“I should learn everything then,” she said to herself, still walking quickly along the bridle road through the wood. —
“那么我就可以学到一切。”她自言自语，依然快步走在穿过树林的马道上。 —

“It would be my duty to study that I might help him the better in his great works. —
“这将是我的责任去学习，这样我才能更好地帮助他完成他的伟大事业。 —

There would be nothing trivial about our lives. —
对我们来说，日常琐事将意味着最重要的事情。我们的生活中没有鸡毛蒜皮之事。 —

Every-day things with us would mean the greatest things. It would be like marrying Pascal. —
我们每天的事情都将成为最伟大的事情。我们的生活将会像与帕斯卡结婚一样。 —

I should learn to see the truth by the same light as great men have seen it by. —
我将学会如何以伟大人物所见之光看待真理。 —

And then I should know what to do, when I got older: —
然后我就会知道当我长大后该如何去做： —

I should see how it was possible to lead a grand life here–now–in England. —
我会看到在这里——现在——在英格兰，是如何可能过上宏伟的生活。 —

I don’t feel sure about doing good in any way now: —
我现在对任何方式的善行都感到不确定： —

everything seems like going on a mission to a people whose language I don’t know; —
一切似乎都像是前往一个我不懂语言的部落任务； —

–unless it were building good cottages–there can be no doubt about that. —
- 除了建造好的小屋 - 对此毫无疑问。 —

Oh, I hope I should be able to get the people well housed in Lowick! —
哦，我希望我能够让住在洛威克的人们住得舒适！ —

I will draw plenty of plans while I have time.”
我会在有时间的时候画很多草图。

Dorothea checked herself suddenly with self-rebuke for the presumptuous way in which she was reckoning on uncertain events, but she was spared any inward effort to change the direction of her thoughts by the appearance of a cantering horseman round a turning of the road. —
多萝西娅突然自责地制止了自己，因为她过于傲慢地在结算不确定的事情，但她被一位环绕转弯的骑马人的出现打断了内心的努力改变思路。 —

The well-groomed chestnut horse and two beautiful setters could leave no doubt that the rider was Sir James Chettam. —
一匹打扮整洁的栗色马和两只漂亮的塞特犬毫无疑问表明骑手是詹姆斯·切塔姆男爵。 —

He discerned Dorothea, jumped off his horse at once, and, having delivered it to his groom, advanced towards her with something white on his arm, at which the two setters were barking in an excited manner.
他看到多萝西娅后立刻从马上下来，交给了他的马夫，用一只手臂抱着一些白色物品，两只塞特犬兴奋地吠叫着。

“How delightful to meet you, Miss Brooke,” he said, raising his hat and showing his sleekly waving blond hair. —
“见到您真是太令人愉快了，布鲁克小姐，”他说，抬起帽子露出修剪整齐、波浪状的金发。 —

“It has hastened the pleasure I was looking forward to.”
“这加快了我期待的愉悦。”

Miss Brooke was annoyed at the interruption. —
布鲁克小姐对打扰感到恼火。 —

This amiable baronet, really a suitable husband for Celia, exaggerated the necessity of making himself agreeable to the elder sister. —
这位和蔼的男爵，对西莉亚来说真是一个合适的丈夫，太过于认为有必要讨好她这个姐姐。 —

Even a prospective brother-in-law may be an oppression if he will always be presupposing too good an understanding with you, and agreeing with you even when you contradict him. —
即使是未来的姐夫如果总是假设你们之间有太好的理解，并且即使你与他相矛盾他也会同意，那也可能是一种压迫。 —

The thought that he had made the mistake of paying his addresses to herself could not take shape: —
他曾经向她求爱这种想法无法成形： —

all her mental activity was used up in persuasions of another kind. —
她的所有思绪都被用在了另一种说服上。 —

But he was positively obtrusive at this moment, and his dimpled hands were quite disagreeable. —
但是此刻他确实很唐突，他那酒窝的手让人相当不舒服。 —

Her roused temper made her color deeply, as she returned his greeting with some haughtiness.
她因为激动而脸色发红，带着些许高傲回应他的问候。

Sir James interpreted the heightened color in the way most gratifying to himself, and thought he never saw Miss Brooke looking so handsome.
詹姆斯爵士将她脸上的红晕解读为对自己最为满意的方式，并想，他从未见过布鲁克小姐看起来如此美丽。

“I have brought a little petitioner,” he said, “or rather, I have brought him to see if he will be approved before his petition is offered.” —
“我带了一个小乞讨者来,” 他说, “或者说,我带他来看看在他的请愿提出之前他是否会被批准.” —

He showed the white object under his arm, which was a tiny Maltese puppy, one of nature’s most naive toys.
他展示了他胳膊下的一只小白物体，那是一只迷你的马耳他犬，自然界中最天真的玩具之一。

“It is painful to me to see these creatures that are bred merely as pets,” said Dorothea, whose opinion was forming itself that very moment (as opinions will) under the heat of irritation.
“看到这些纯粹作为宠物培育的生物对我来说很痛苦,” 多萝西娅说道, 她的观点正是在那个瞬间形成的(正如观点经常在愤怒的热情下形成)。

“Oh, why?” said Sir James, as they walked forward.
“哦，为什么?” 他们一边走着说。

“I believe all the petting that is given them does not make them happy. They are too helpless: —
我相信所有的抚摸并不能让它们快乐。它们太无助了： —

their lives are too frail. A weasel or a mouse that gets its own living is more interesting. —
它们的生命太脆弱了。自己找食的黄鼠狼或老鼠更有趣。 —

I like to think that the animals about us have souls something like our own, and either carry on their own little affairs or can be companions to us, like Monk here. —
我喜欢想象我们周围的动物有类似我们自己的灵魂，要么过着自己的小生活，要么可以成为我们的伴侣，就像这里的Monk。 —

Those creatures are parasitic.”
那些动物是寄生虫。

“I am so glad I know that you do not like them,” said good Sir James. “I should never keep them for myself, but ladies usually are fond of these Maltese dogs. —
“我很高兴知道你不喜欢它们，”好心的詹姆斯爵士说。”我自己不会养它们，但女士们通常喜欢这种马耳他狗。 —

Here, John, take this dog, will you?”
“约翰，你接过这只狗，好吗?”

The objectionable puppy, whose nose and eyes were equally black and expressive, was thus got rid of, since Miss Brooke decided that it had better not have been born. —
这只令人讨厌的小狗，它的鼻子和眼睛同样黑色且表情丰富，就这样被摆脱了，因为布鲁克小姐觉得最好不要它出生。 —

But she felt it necessary to explain.
但她觉得有必要解释。

“You must not judge of Celia’s feeling from mine. I think she likes these small pets. —
“你不应该以我的感觉来评断西莉亚的感受。我觉得她喜欢这些小宠物。 —

She had a tiny terrier once, which she was very fond of. —
她曾经有一只很小的梗犬，她非常喜欢。 —

It made me unhappy, because I was afraid of treading on it. —
这让我不开心，因为我害怕踩到它。 —

I am rather short-sighted.”
我视力有点差。

“You have your own opinion about everything, Miss Brooke, and it is always a good opinion.”
“关于任何事情你总是有自己的看法，布鲁克小姐，而且这看法总是很好。

What answer was possible to such stupid complimenting?
对于这种愚蠢的恭维，怎么回答才合适呢?

“Do you know, I envy you that,” Sir James said, as they continued walking at the rather brisk pace set by Dorothea.
“你知道吗，我很羡慕你那一点，”詹姆斯爵士说，他们继续以多萝西娅设定的相当轻快的步伐继续走着。

“I don’t quite understand what you mean.”
“我不太明白你的意思。”

“Your power of forming an opinion. I can form an opinion of persons. I know when I like people. —
“你形成观点的能力。我能对人形成观点。我知道我喜欢哪些人。 —

But about other matters, do you know, I have often a difficulty in deciding. —
但是关于其他事情，你知道，我经常很难做出决定。 —

One hears very sensible things said on opposite sides.”
在对立的两边，人们说的话很有道理。”

“Or that seem sensible. Perhaps we don’t always discriminate between sense and nonsense.”
“或者看起来有道理。也许我们并不总是能够区分理性和废话。”

Dorothea felt that she was rather rude.
多丽西娅觉得自己有点失礼。

“Exactly,” said Sir James. “But you seem to have the power of discrimination.”
“确实,“詹姆斯爵士说。”但你似乎有鉴别能力。”

“On the contrary, I am often unable to decide. But that is from ignorance. —
“相反，我经常无法做出决定。但那是因为无知。 —

The right conclusion is there all the same, though I am unable to see it.”
正确的结论仍然存在，尽管我看不到它。”

“I think there are few who would see it more readily. —
“我认为很少有人会更快地看到它。 —

Do you know, Lovegood was telling me yesterday that you had the best notion in the world of a plan for cottages–quite wonderful for a young lady, he thought. —
你知道，洛夫古德昨天告诉我说，你有一个关于小屋计划的最棒的想法–他觉得这对一个年轻女士来说很了不起。 —

You had a real genus, to use his expression. —
用他的话来说，你有一个真正的天赋。 —

He said you wanted Mr. Brooke to build a new set of cottages, but he seemed to think it hardly probable that your uncle would consent. —
他说你希望布鲁克先生建造一套新的小屋，但他似乎认为你叔叔不太可能会同意。 —

Do you know, that is one of the things I wish to do–I mean, on my own estate. —
你知道，那是我想做的事情之一–我是说，在我自己的地产上。 —

I should be so glad to carry out that plan of yours, if you would let me see it. —
如果你让我看到的话，我会很高兴实现你的那个计划。” —

Of course, it is sinking money; that is why people object to it. —
当然，这是在浪费金钱；这就是人们反对的原因。 —

Laborers can never pay rent to make it answer. —
工人们永远也无法支付租金来解决这个问题。 —

But, after all, it is worth doing.”
但是，终究是值得的。

“Worth doing! yes, indeed,” said Dorothea, energetically, forgetting her previous small vexations. —
“值得！当然，”多萝西娅充满活力地说道，忘记了以前的小烦恼。 —

“I think we deserve to be beaten out of our beautiful houses with a scourge of small cords–all of us who let tenants live in such sties as we see round us. —
“我觉得我们应该被用小鞭子鞭打出我们华丽的房子——让住户住在我们周围看到的这种脏乱差的地方的我们所有人。 —

Life in cottages might be happier than ours, if they were real houses fit for human beings from whom we expect duties and affections.”
如果他们是适合人类的真正房子，那么住在农舍里的生活可能比我们的更幸福，从这些人身上我们期待义务和感情。”

“Will you show me your plan?”
“你会让我看你的计划吗？”

“Yes, certainly. I dare say it is very faulty. —
“是的，当然。我敢说它很有缺陷。 —

But I have been examining all the plans for cottages in Loudon’s book, and picked out what seem the best things. —
但是我一直在审查劳顿书中有关农舍的所有计划，并挑选出看起来最好的东西。 —

Oh what a happiness it would be to set the pattern about here! —
哦，要是能在这周围设置样式该多幸福！ —

I think instead of Lazarus at the gate, we should put the pigsty cottages outside the park-gate.”
我认为我们应该把猪圈般的小屋放在园门外，而不是在门口放拉撒路。”

Dorothea was in the best temper now. Sir James, as brother in-law, building model cottages on his estate, and then, perhaps, others being built at Lowick, and more and more elsewhere in imitation–it would be as if the spirit of Oberlin had passed over the parishes to make the life of poverty beautiful!
多萝西娅现在情绪最好了。作为姐夫，在他的庄园里建造模范农舍，然后，也许，在洛威克也会建造更多，其他地方也会模仿——这就好像奥伯林的精神已经遍布乡村，让贫穷的生活变得美好！

Sir James saw all the plans, and took one away to consult upon with Lovegood. —
詹姆斯爵士看了所有的计划，并带走了一个与洛夫古德商讨。 —

He also took away a complacent sense that he was making great progress in Miss Brooke’s good opinion. —
他还带走了一种自满的感觉，觉得自己在布鲁克小姐心中的好印象正在大幅提升。 —

The Maltese puppy was not offered to Celia; —
马耳他犬没有被提供给西莉亚。 —

an omission which Dorothea afterwards thought of with surprise; but she blamed herself for it. —
后来多萝西娅惊讶地意识到自己的疏忽，但她责备自己。 —

She had been engrossing Sir James. After all, it was a relief that there was no puppy to tread upon.
她一直在全神贯注地对待詹姆斯爵士。毕竟，幸好没有小狗踩到。

Celia was present while the plans were being examined, and observed Sir James’s illusion. —
西莉亚在检查计划时在场，看出了詹姆斯爵士的错觉。 —

“He thinks that Dodo cares about him, and she only cares about her plans. —
“他以为多多在乎他，而她只在乎她的计划。” —

Yet I am not certain that she would refuse him if she thought he would let her manage everything and carry out all her notions. —
但我不确定如果她认为他会让她管理一切并实现她的想法，她会拒绝他。 —

And how very uncomfortable Sir James would be! —
詹姆斯爵士会感到非常不舒服！ —

I cannot bear notions.”
我受不了奇思妙想。”

It was Celia’s private luxury to indulge in this dislike. —
西莉亚私下认为这是她纵容的奢侈。 —

She dared not confess it to her sister in any direct statement, for that would be laying herself open to a demonstration that she was somehow or other at war with all goodness. —
她不敢直截了当地向姐姐承认这一点，因为这将暴露她与所有善之间似乎存在某种冲突。 —

But on safe opportunities, she had an indirect mode of making her negative wisdom tell upon Dorothea, and calling her down from her rhapsodic mood by reminding her that people were staring, not listening. —
但在适当的机会，她通过间接方式将自己的消极智慧对多萝西娅产生影响，并提醒她注意别人在看，而非在听。 —

Celia was not impulsive: what she had to say could wait, and came from her always with the same quiet staccato evenness. —
西莉亚并非冲动的人：她要说的话可以等待，总是以相同的安静、刻板的平稳方式表达。 —

When people talked with energy and emphasis she watched their faces and features merely. —
当人们充满活力和强调地说话时，她只看着他们的脸和特征。 —

She never could understand how well-bred persons consented to sing and open their mouths in the ridiculous manner requisite for that vocal exercise.
她永远无法理解有教养的人如何答应唱歌并以进行这种声乐练习所需的荒谬方式张开嘴巴。

It was not many days before Mr. Casaubon paid a morning visit, on which he was invited again for the following week to dine and stay the night. —
不久之后，卡索邦先生前来拜访，被邀请下周再来晚餐并过夜。 —

Thus Dorothea had three more conversations with him, and was convinced that her first impressions had been just. —
因此，多萝西娅与他进行了另外三次对话，确信自己的第一印象是正确的。 —

He was all she had at first imagined him to be: —
他初见之时就是她想象的一切。 —

almost everything he had said seemed like a specimen from a mine, or the inscription on the door of a museum which might open on the treasures of past ages; —
他说的几乎每句话都像是矿藏中的样本，或是博物馆门口的铭文，可能通往过去时代的宝藏； —

and this trust in his mental wealth was all the deeper and more effective on her inclination because it was now obvious that his visits were made for her sake. —
他来访明显是为了她而来，这种对他智慧的信任更加深刻和有效，因为现在显而易见； —

This accomplished man condescended to think of a young girl, and take the pains to talk to her, not with absurd compliment, but with an appeal to her understanding, and sometimes with instructive correction. —
这位博学多才的人竟然愿意想着一个年轻女孩，不遗余力地与她交谈，不是用荒谬的奉承，而是呼唤她的理解，并时而进行指导性的纠正； —

What delightful companionship! Mr. Casaubon seemed even unconscious that trivialities existed, and never handed round that small-talk of heavy men which is as acceptable as stale bride-cake brought forth with an odor of cupboard. —
多么愉快的交谈啊！卡索本先生似乎甚至不知道琐碎的东西存在，从不敷衍而已的沉重男人的闲谈，就像从过期橱柜中端出散发着味道的陈旧的喜糖一样，这样的闲谈与他无关； —

He talked of what he was interested in, or else he was silent and bowed with sad civility. —
他谈论他所感兴趣的事物，或者保持沉默，带着悲伤的礼貌低头； —

To Dorothea this was adorable genuineness, and religious abstinence from that artificiality which uses up the soul in the efforts of pretence. —
对多萝西娅来说，这是了不起的真诚，是对那种消耗灵魂的假装努力的宗教禁欲； —

For she looked as reverently at Mr. Casaubon’s religious elevation above herself as she did at his intellect and learning. —
她装神弄鬼地看待卡索本先生在信仰上的超越，就像看待他在智慧和学识上一样； —

He assented to her expressions of devout feeling, and usually with an appropriate quotation; —
他对她虔诚感情表示赞同，通常还会附以恰当的引用； —

he allowed himself to say that he had gone through some spiritual conflicts in his youth; —
他承认自己在年轻时经历过一些精神冲突； —

in short, Dorothea saw that here she might reckon on understanding, sympathy, and guidance. —
简而言之，多萝西娅看到这里她可以依靠理解、同情和指导； —

On one–only one–of her favorite themes she was disappointed. —
在她最喜欢的话题上，她只有一个空缺。 —

Mr. Casaubon apparently did not care about building cottages, and diverted the talk to the extremely narrow accommodation which was to be had in the dwellings of the ancient Egyptians, as if to check a too high standard. —
卡索本先生似乎对修建小屋不感兴趣，将话题转移到古埃及人居住地极为狭窄的住所上，仿佛是为了质疑过高的标准； —

After he was gone, Dorothea dwelt with some agitation on this indifference of his; —
他离开后，多萝西娅对他的这种漠不关心感到有些不安； —

and her mind was much exercised with arguments drawn from the varying conditions of climate which modify human needs, and from the admitted wickedness of pagan despots. —
她的思想被此事搅动不已，从气候的变化条件对人类需求的影响，以及宣示的异教暴君的邪恶，各种论点在她脑海中纷至沓来。 —

Should she not urge these arguments on Mr. Casaubon when he came again? —
当卡索邦再次来时，她是否不应该再次向他提出这些论点呢？ —

But further reflection told her that she was presumptuous in demanding his attention to such a subject; —
但进一步的思考告诉她，在要求他关注这样一个主题上是放肆的； —

he would not disapprove of her occupying herself with it in leisure moments, as other women expected to occupy themselves with their dress and embroidery–would not forbid it when–Dorothea felt rather ashamed as she detected herself in these speculations. —
他应该不会反对她在闲暇时光自己研究这个问题，就像其他女性期望用裙子和刺绣来占据自己的时间一样——当她意识到自己在这些推测中时，多萝西娅感到有些羞愧。 —

But her uncle had been invited to go to Lowick to stay a couple of days: —
但她叔叔被邀请去洛威克住两天： —

was it reasonable to suppose that Mr. Casaubon delighted in Mr. Brooke’s society for its own sake, either with or without documents?
在没有文件的情况下，推测卡索邦是否真的因为享受布鲁克先生的社交而高兴呢？

Meanwhile that little disappointment made her delight the more in Sir James Chettam’s readiness to set on foot the desired improvements. —
然而，这一点小小的失望反而让她更加喜欢詹姆斯·切塔姆爵士乐于展开期望的改善。 —

He came much oftener than Mr. Casaubon, and Dorothea ceased to find him disagreeable since he showed himself so entirely in earnest; —
他频繁来访，多萝西娅自此不再觉得他讨厌，因为他显示出了完全的认真，： —

for he had already entered with much practical ability into Lovegood’s estimates, and was charmingly docile. —
因为他已经凭借他颇具实际才能地介入了洛夫古德的估算，并表现出了极具韧性。 —

She proposed to build a couple of cottages, and transfer two families from their old cabins, which could then be pulled down, so that new ones could be built on the old sites. —
她建议建造两座小屋，迁移两个家庭离开他们的旧木屋，然后原地建造新房屋。 —

Sir James said “Exactly,” and she bore the word remarkably well.
切塔姆爵士说“完全正确”，她卓尔不群地接受了这个词。

Certainly these men who had so few spontaneous ideas might be very useful members of society under good feminine direction, if they were fortunate in choosing their sisters-in-law! —
这些几乎没有原创观念的男人在好的女性指导下或许可以成为社会上非常有用的一员，只要他们能幸运地选择上妹妹。 —

It is difficult to say whether there was or was not a little wilfulness in her continuing blind to the possibility that another sort of choice was in question in relation to her. —
很难说她是否故意假装看不见，在这方面对自己做出的另一种选择是在讨论她。 —

But her life was just now full of hope and action: —
但她的生活现在充满了希望和行动： —

she was not only thinking of her plans, but getting down learned books from the library and reading many things hastily (that she might be a little less ignorant in talking to Mr. Casaubon), all the while being visited with conscientious questionings whether she were not exalting these poor doings above measure and contemplating them with that self-satisfaction which was the last doom of ignorance and folly.
她不仅思考自己的计划，还从图书馆取下深奥的书籍，并匆忙阅读许多东西（以便在与卡索邦先生交谈时少一些无知），同时被良心的质疑所困扰，怀疑自己是不是过分夸赞了这些可怜的行为，并且是否以那种对无知和愚蠢的最终毁灭自以为是的态度来思考它们。