讀點好英文:Pride and Prejudice 傲慢與偏見

Pride and Prejudice 傲慢與偏見

[英]簡·奧斯?。↗ane Austen）

小鄉(xiāng)紳班納特有五個待字閨中的千金，班納特太太整天操心著為女兒物色稱心如意的丈夫。新來的鄰居彬格萊在一次舞會上，對班納特家的大女兒簡一見鐘情，班納特太太為此欣喜若狂。彬格萊的好友達西對伊麗莎白產(chǎn)生了好感，在另一次舞會上主動請她同舞，卻遭到伊麗莎白的拒絕，達西狼狽不堪。經(jīng)過了一系列的變化后，伊麗莎白對達西的偏見轉(zhuǎn)化成了真誠之愛。一對曾因傲慢和偏見而延擱婚事的有情人終成了眷屬。

This was enough to prove that her approbation need not be doubted:and Elizabeth, rejoicing that such an effusion was heard only by herself, soon went away. But before she had been three minutes in her own room, her mother followed her.

“My dearest child,”she cried,“I can think of nothing els e!Ten thousand a year, and very likely mor e!'Tis as good as a Lor d!And a special licence. You must and shall be married by a special licence.But my dearest love, tell me what dish Mr.Darcy is particularly fond of, that I may have it tomorrow.”

This was a sad omen of what her mother's behaviour to the gentleman himself might be;and Elizabeth found that, though in the certain possession of his warmest affection, and secure of her relations'consent, there was still something to be wished for. But the morrow passed off much better than she expected;for Mrs.Bennet luckily stood in such awe of her intended son-in-law that she ventured not to speak to him, unless it was in her power to offer him any attention, or mark her deference for his opinion.

Elizabeth had the satisfaction of seeing her father taking pains to get acquainted with him;and Mr. Bennet soon assured her that he was rising every hour in his esteem.

“I admire all my three sons-in-law highly,”said he.“Wickham, perhaps, is my favourite;but I think I shall like your husband quite as well as Jane's.”

Elizabeth's spirits soon rising to playfulness again, she wanted Mr. Darcy to account for his having ever fallen in love with her.“How could you begin?”said she.“I can comprehend your going on charmingly, when you had once made a beginning;but what could set you off in the first place?”

“I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago.I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”

“My beauty you had early withstood, and as for my manners—my behaviour to you was at least always bordering on the uncivil, and I never spoke to you without rather wishing to give you pain than not. Now be sincere;did you admire me for my impertinence?”

“For the liveliness of your mind, I did.”

“You may as well call it impertinence at once. It was very little less.The fact is, that you were sick of civility, of deference, of officious attention.You were disgusted with the women who were always speaking and looking, and thinking for your approbation alone.I roused, and interested you, because I was so unlike them.Had you not been really amiable, you would have hated me for it;but in spite of the pains you took to disguise yourself, your feelings were always noble and just;and in your heart, you thoroughly despised the persons who so assiduously courted you.There—I have saved you the trouble of accounting for it;and really, all things considered, I begin to think it perfectly reasonable.To be sure, you knew no actual good of me—but nobody thinks of that when they fall in love.”

“Was there no good in your affectionate behaviour to Jane, while she was ill at Netherfield?”

“Dearest Jan e!Who could have done less for her?But make a virtue of it by all means. My good qualities are under your protection, and you are to exaggerate them as much as possible;and, in return, it belongs to me to find occasions for teasing and quarrelling with you as often as may be;and I shall begin directly by asking you what made you so unwilling to come to the point at last.What made you so shy of me, when you first called, and afterwards dined here?Why, especially, when you called, did you look as if you did not care about me?”

“Because you were grave and silent, and gave me no encouragement.”

“But I was embarrassed.”

“And so was I.”

“You might have talked to me more when you came to dinner.”

“A man who had felt less, might.”

“How unlucky that you should have a reasonable answer to give, and that I should be so reasonable as to admit i t!But I wonder how long you would have gone on, if you had been left to yourself. I wonder when you would have spoken, if I had not asked yo u!My resolution of thanking you for your kindness to Lydia had certainly great effect.Too much, I am afraid;for what becomes of the moral, if our comfort springs from a breach of promise?for I ought not to have mentioned the subject.This will never do.”

“You need not distress yourself. The moral will be perfectly fair.Lady Catherine's unjustifiable endeavours to separate us were the means of removing all my doubts.I am not indebted for my present happiness to your eager desire of expressing your gratitude.I was not in a humour to wait for any opening of yours.My aunt's intelligence had given me hope, and I was determined at once to know everything.”

“Lady Catherine has been of infinite use, which ought to make her happy, for she loves to be of use. But tell me, what did you come down to Netherfield for?Was it merely to ride to Longbourn and be embarrassed?Or had you intended any more serious consequence?”

“My real purpose was to see you, and to judge, if I could, whether I might ever hope to make you love me. My avowed one, or what I avowed to myself, was to see whether your sister were still partial to Bingley, and if she were, to make the confession to him which I have since made.”

“Shall you ever have courage to announce to Lady Catherine, what is to befall her?”

“I am more likely to want more time than courage, Elizabeth. But it ought to be done, and if you will give me a sheet of paper, it shall be done directly.”

“And if I had not a letter to write myself, I might sit by you and admire the evenness of your writing, as another young lady once did. But I have an aunt, too, who must not be longer neglected.”

這番話足以表明她已完全同意了這門婚事。令伊麗莎白欣慰的是，只有她一人聽見了母親那些得意忘形的話，然后她便回到自己的房間里，可不到三分鐘，母親又跟來了。

“我的寶貝，”母親大聲叫道，“我真的什么也不奢求了！每年有一萬鎊的收入，還可能比這更多！啊，富比王侯啊，而且還有特許結(jié)婚證！你必須要用特許結(jié)婚證結(jié)婚。不過，我的心肝兒，告訴媽媽，達西先生最愛吃什么菜，我明天好準備啊?！?/p>

這句話可不是什么好兆頭啊，不知道明天母親要在那位先生面前做出什么樣的事來，伊麗莎白心想，現(xiàn)在雖然已經(jīng)確切地得到了他最熱烈的愛，而且家里人也都同意了，但仍然有些美中不足。好在第二天的情形比她想象的要好得多，因為班納特太太對這位未來的女婿太敬畏了，不敢貿(mào)然與他說話，只是偶爾大著膽子向他獻點殷勤，表示她如何尊重他的意見。

伊麗莎白見父親也煞費苦心地和他親近，心中很是高興。而且班納特先生也對她說，他愈來愈器重達西先生了。

“我的三個女婿我都非常欣賞，”父親說道，“或許威克姆是我最欣賞的一位。不過我想，你的丈夫和簡的丈夫我會同樣喜歡的。”

這時，伊麗莎白情緒高漲，變得調(diào)皮起來，她便要求達西先生講一講是怎樣愛上她的。她問：“你最開始是怎樣想的？我知道你一旦決定了，便會堅持下去；可你最初是怎么愛上我的呢？”

“我也說不清究竟是在什么時間，什么地點，看見了你什么樣的神情，或是聽到了你什么樣的談吐，讓我愛上了你。那都是很久以前的事了。當我意識到我是真愛上你的時候，我已經(jīng)愛得無可救藥了?！?/p>

“可之前你并沒有為我的美麗而傾心啊。至于說到我的舉止嘛，我對你從來都是比較粗魯?shù)?；再說，我跟你說話就是存心想讓你難受?，F(xiàn)在你老實說，你是不是因為我的莽撞無禮才愛上我的？”

“我愛你頭腦活躍，思維敏捷。真的。”

“還不如說是無禮呢，而且是相當無禮。事實是你厭倦了彬彬有禮、謙遜恭謹?shù)哪且惶?。你很討厭那些無論是說話、做事，都只為博得你贊許的女人。我之所以會引起你注意，能夠打動你，是因為我跟她們不一樣。如果你不是一個真正和藹可親的人，你一定會討厭我的；可盡管你想盡了辦法來遮掩自己，但你的真實情感一直都是高尚而公正的。其實，你根本就看不起那些一味向你獻媚的人。我都為你解釋清楚了，你就輕松多了；總的來說，我覺得你愛上我完全是合情合理的。毫無疑問，你當時并不知道我有些什么實際的優(yōu)點，不過，凡是墜入情網(wǎng)的人，誰都不會考慮那個問題的。”

“不對，當簡在尼日斐花園生病時，你把她照顧得體貼入微，難道那不算是你的優(yōu)點嗎？”

“簡是那么討人喜歡！誰都會好好待她的。你姑且把它當作我的一個優(yōu)點吧。不過我的所有美德都靠你來夸獎，你愛怎么說就怎么說吧。不過，我會反過來盡量找機會跟你打趣，跟你爭辯。我現(xiàn)在就要開始了，聽好了：你為什么總是不愿意直截了當、開門見山地表示你喜歡我呢？在你第一次來訪時，以及后來的吃飯，為什么總是見到我就覺得害臊呢？尤其是你來拜訪的那一次，你為什么要擺出一副對我一點都不感興趣的樣子呢？”

“因為你那時看起來很嚴肅，而且一句話也不說，我根本沒有勇氣跟你說話?！?/p>

“那時我也覺得難為情呀?！?/p>

“我還不是一樣啊。”

“那么，你來吃飯的那一次，為什么不跟我多談?wù)?？?/p>

“要是不那么愛你，話就可以說得多些了。”

“你的解釋總是那么合情合理，而我偏偏又這樣懂道理，那我就接受你這個解釋吧！但我在想，要是當時我不理你，不知你要拖到什么時候；要是我不和你說話，不知你什么時候才肯開口。幸好我拿定了主意，要來感謝你對莉迪亞的幫助，這毫無疑問起了很大的作用。如果說，我們是因為違背了當初的諾言，才獲得了目前的慰藉，那我的道德品質(zhì)是不是有問題?。课覍嵲诓粦?yīng)該提起那件事的，那事本不該提的。”

“你不用自責。你的道德品質(zhì)一丁點兒問題都沒有。凱瑟琳夫人蠻不講理地想拆散我們，倒是幫了我們的大忙，使我們徹底消除了一切疑慮。別以為我會因為現(xiàn)在的幸福，而對你當初說的那些話表示感激。我本來就不打算等你先開口。我姨媽帶來的那個消息給了我希望，于是我決定立刻把事情弄個水落石出?！?/p>

“凱瑟琳夫人確實幫了大忙，她自己也應(yīng)該為此感到高興，因為她總是喜歡幫人家的忙。不過，請你告訴我，你這次來尼日斐花園究竟是要干什么？難道就只是為了騎著馬到浪搏恩來讓自己難堪嗎？還是打算正兒八經(jīng)地做件大事呢？”

“我到這兒來的真正目的就是為了看你。如果可能的話，我還想知道，是否有希望讓你也愛上我?？晌铱偸亲云燮廴说卣f，到這里來主要是為了看看你姐姐是否對賓利仍然一往情深，要是她還深愛著他的話，我就老老實實地將實情告訴賓利，把這事的原委向他講明?！?/p>

“那你是否有勇氣向凱瑟琳夫人說明這一切呢？”

“我并不是沒有勇氣，而是沒有時間，伊麗莎白?？墒沁@件事是應(yīng)該要做的。如果你給我一張紙，我馬上就做?！?/p>

“要不是我自己也有信要寫，我一定會像其他小姐一樣，坐在你身旁欣賞你那工整的書法。可惜我要給舅媽回信，不能再拖了?！?/p>

實戰(zhàn)提升

作者介紹

簡·奧斯汀（1775—1817），出生于鄉(xiāng)村小鎮(zhèn)斯蒂文頓，父親是當?shù)亟虆^(qū)牧師。奧斯汀沒有上過正規(guī)學校，但接受了很好的家庭教育，主要教材就是父親的文學藏書。她20歲左右開始寫作，共發(fā)表了六部長篇小說。《理智與情感》是她的處女作，隨后又接連發(fā)表了《傲慢與偏見》《曼斯菲爾德花園》和《愛瑪》。簡·奧斯汀是世界上為數(shù)不多的著名女性作家之一，介于新古典主義和浪漫運動的抒情主義之間的“小幅畫家”和“家庭小說”家。她在英國小說的發(fā)展史上有承上啟下的作用，被譽為地位“可與莎士比亞平起平坐”的作家。

單詞注解

licence[5laisEns]n.許可，特許

deference[5defErEns]n.服從；遵從

charmingly['tFa:minli]adv.迷人地；愉悅地

approbation[7AprE5beiFEn]n.許可，認可；核準

protection[prE5tekFEn]n.保護，防護；警戒

reasonable[5ri:zEnEbl]adj.通情達理的，講道理的

avowed[E5vaud]adj.公然宣稱的；公開承認的；公然的

名句大搜索

當我意識到我是真愛上你的時候，我已經(jīng)愛得無可救藥了。

你的解釋總是那么合情合理，而我偏偏又這樣懂道理，那我就接受你這個解釋吧！

我到這兒來的真正目的就是為了看你。如果可能的話，我還想知道，是否有希望讓你也愛上我。