Mr. Bennet saw that her whole heart was in the subject; and affectionately taking her hand, said in reply,
班納特先生看到她鉆進(jìn)了牛角尖,便慈祥地握住她扔手說(shuō):
"Do not make yourself uneasy, my love. Wherever you and Jane are known, you must be respected and valued; and you will not appear to less advantage for having a couple of -- or I may say, three -- very silly sisters. We shall have no peace at Longbourn if Lydia does not go to Brighton. Let her go then. Colonel Forster is a sensible man, and will keep her out of any real mischief; and she is luckily too poor to be an object of prey to any body. At Brighton she will be of less importance, even as a common flirt, than she has been here. The officers will find women better worth their notice. Let us hope, therefore, that her being there may teach her her own insignificance. At any rate, she cannot grow many degrees worse without authorizing us to lock her up for the rest of her life."
“好孩子,放心好了。你和吉英兩個(gè)人,隨便走到什么有熟人的地方,人家都會(huì)尊敬你們,器重你們;你們決不會(huì)因?yàn)橛辛藘蓚€(gè)──甚至三個(gè)傻妹妹,就失掉了體面。這次要是不讓麗迪雅到白利屯去,我們?cè)诶瞬骶托菹氚察o。還是讓她去吧。弗斯脫上校是個(gè)有見(jiàn)識(shí)的人,不會(huì)讓她闖出什么禍?zhǔn)聛?lái)的;幸虧她又太窮,誰(shuí)也不會(huì)看中她。白利屯跟這兒的情形兩樣,她即使去做一個(gè)普通的浪蕩女子,也不夠資格。軍官們會(huì)找到更中意的對(duì)象。因此,我們但愿她到了那兒以后,可以得到些教訓(xùn),知道她自己沒(méi)有什么了不起。無(wú)論如何,她再壞也壞不到哪里去,我們總不能把她一輩子關(guān)在家里?!?/div>
With this answer Elizabeth was forced to be content; but her own opinion continued the same, and she left him disappointed and sorry. It was not in her nature, however, to increase her
vexations by dwelling on them. She was confident of having performed her duty, and to
fret over unavoidable evils, or augment them by anxiety, was no part of her disposition.
伊麗莎白聽(tīng)到父親這樣回答,雖然并沒(méi)有因此改變主張,卻也只得表示滿意,悶悶不樂(lè)地走開(kāi)了。以她那樣性格的人,也不會(huì)盡想著這些事自尋煩惱。她相信她已經(jīng)盡了自己的責(zé)任,至于要她為那些無(wú)法避免的害處去憂悶,或者是過(guò)分焦慮,那她可辦不到。
Had Lydia and her mother known the substance of her conference with her father, their
indignation would hardly have found expression in their united
volubility. In Lydia's imagination, a visit to Brighton comprised every possibility of earthly happiness. She saw, with the creative eye of fancy, the streets of that gay bathing place covered with officers. She saw herself the object of attention to tens and to scores of them at present unknown. She saw all the glories of the camp; its tents stretched forth in
beauteous uniformity of lines, crowded with the young and the gay, and dazzling with
scarlet; and to complete the view, she saw herself seated beneath a tent, tenderly flirting with at least six officers at once.
倘若麗迪雅和她母親知道她這次跟父親談話的內(nèi)容,她們一定要?dú)馑懒?,即使她們兩張利嘴同時(shí)夾攻,滔滔不絕地大罵一陣,也還消不了她們的氣。在麗迪雅的想象中,只要到白利屯去一次,人間天上的幸福都會(huì)獲得。她幻想著在那華麗的浴場(chǎng)附近,一條條街道上都擠滿了軍官。她幻想著幾十個(gè)甚至幾百個(gè)素昧生平的軍官,都對(duì)她獻(xiàn)殷勤。她幻想著堂皇富麗的營(yíng)帳,帳幕整潔美觀,里面擠滿了血?dú)夥絼偟那嗄晷』镒?,都穿著燦爛奪目的大紅軍服。她還幻想到一幅最美滿的情景,幻想到自己坐在一個(gè)帳篷里面,同時(shí)跟好多個(gè)軍官在柔情密意地賣(mài)弄風(fēng)情。
Had she known that her sister sought to tear her from such prospects and such realities as these, what would have been her sensations? They could have been understood only by her mother, who might have felt nearly the same. Lydia's going to Brighton was all that consoled her for the
melancholy conviction of her husband's never intending to go there himself.
倘若她知道了她姐姐竟要妨害她,不讓她去享受到這些美妙的遠(yuǎn)景和美妙的現(xiàn)實(shí),那叫她怎么受得了?只有她母親才能體諒她這種心境,而且?guī)缀鹾退型?。她相信丈夫決不打算到白利屯去,她感到很痛苦,因此,麗迪雅能夠去一次,對(duì)她這種痛苦實(shí)在是莫大的安慰。
But they were entirely ignorant of what had passed; and their raptures continued, with little
intermission, to the very day of Lydia's leaving home.
可是她們母女倆完全不知道這回事,因此,到麗迪雅離家的那一天為止,她們一直都是歡天喜地,沒(méi)有受到半點(diǎn)兒磨難。