書蟲四級《華盛頓廣場》：1.可憐的凱瑟琳

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1.Poor Catherine

1．可憐的凱瑟琳

In the first half of the nineteenth century there lived in New York a very successful doctor. His success was for two reasons. He was, without doubt, a good doctor, intelligent and honest, but he also knew how to please his patients. He gave long, careful explanations about the illness, and always gave them some medicine to take. Indeed, his patients were fond of saying that they had the best doctor in the country.

19世紀上半葉，紐約住著一位事業(yè)很成功的醫(yī)生。他成功的秘訣有兩條。毫無疑問，他是一個德才兼?zhèn)涞暮冕t(yī)生，此外他還知道怎樣令病人滿意。他對病人所患的疾病總是不厭其煩地詳加解釋，而且也總是給他們開些藥。真的，他的病人都喜歡說給他們看病的是國內(nèi)最棒的醫(yī)生。

By the time he was fifty, Doctor Austin Sloper was quite a famous person in New York. His conversation was clever and amusing, and no fashionable party in the city was complete without him.

到50歲的時候，奧斯汀·斯洛珀醫(yī)生已經(jīng)是紐約響當當?shù)娜宋锪?。他談吐機智風趣，城里上流社會的聚會從來都少不了他。

He was also lucky. In 1820, at the age of twenty-seven, he had married, for love, a very charming girl, who had a fortune of ten thousand dollars a year. For about five years Doctor Sloper was a very happy husband; he continued to work as a doctor and each year became more experienced and more successful.

他運氣也好。1820年他27歲的時候，他為了愛情娶了一位很迷人的姑娘，姑娘每年有1萬美元的進項。有五年左右的時間，斯洛珀醫(yī)生是一個非常幸福的丈夫；他繼續(xù)行醫(yī)，經(jīng)驗越來越豐富，事業(yè)也越來越發(fā)達。

Some of the experience, however, was very unwelcome. His first child, a little boy of great promise, died at three years of age. Neither the mother's love nor the father's medicine could save him. Two years later Mrs Sloper had a second child, a little girl. This disappointed the Doctor, who had wished for another son to take the place of the first, but there was worse news to come. A week after the child was born, the young mother fell ill, and before another week had passed, she was dead.

但有些經(jīng)歷卻很不愉快。他的頭一個孩子，一個前途光明的小男孩兒，三歲的時候不幸夭折了。母親的愛和父親的藥都沒能救活他。兩年后斯洛珀夫人生了第二個孩子，是一個小女孩兒。這讓醫(yī)生很失望，他本來希望再生個兒子來代替長子的位置，不過更糟的事情還在后面。孩子出生一個星期后，年輕的母親就病倒了，才不到一個星期，她就不治而亡。

For a man whose profession was to keep people alive, Austin Sloper had certainly done badly in his own family, but the only person who blamed Doctor Sloper was Doctor Sloper himself. He felt that he had failed, and he carried this private blame for the rest of his life.

對于一個以治病救人為職業(yè)的人來說，奧斯汀·斯洛珀在自己家里確實表現(xiàn)得很糟，不過也只有斯洛珀醫(yī)生會埋怨自己。他覺得自己很失敗，而且終其一生他都這么暗暗地譴責自己。

He still had his little girl, whom he named Catherine after her poor mother. She grew up a strong and healthy child, and her father knew that he would not lose her.

他還有這個小女孩兒，他給她取名凱瑟琳，跟她可憐的母親的名字一樣。她逐漸長成了一個健康結(jié)實的孩子，她的父親知道不會失去她了。

When the child was about ten years old, the Doctor invited his sister, Mrs Lavinia Penniman, to stay with him. He had two sisters and both of them had married early in life. The younger one, Mrs Almond, was the wife of a rich man and the mother of a large family. Elizabeth Almond was a comfortable, reasonable woman and Doctor Sloper preferred her to his sister Lavinia. However, Lavinia's husband had died at the age of thirty-three, leaving his wife without children or fortune, and so Doctor Sloper invited his sister to stay while she looked for rooms to rent. No one really knew if Mrs Penniman ever looked for rooms, but it is certain that she never found them.

孩子10歲左右的時候，醫(yī)生邀請他姐姐拉維尼婭·彭尼曼夫人來和他小住一段時間。他有兩個姐妹，兩人都很早就出嫁了。年紀輕一些的那個，也就是阿爾蒙德夫人，她丈夫是個有錢人，家里有一大群孩子。伊麗莎白·阿爾蒙德的日子過得舒心，人又明白事理，相比他姐姐拉維尼婭，斯洛珀醫(yī)生更喜歡她?？墒?，拉維尼婭的丈夫33歲時就過世了，拋下她一個人，既沒有孩子，也沒有財產(chǎn)，所以斯洛珀醫(yī)生邀請他姐姐和他們小住一段時間，再一邊找房子租住。沒人知道彭尼曼夫人有沒有找過房子，但可以肯定她從未找到過。

After six months the Doctor accepted the fact that his sister was never going to leave. Mrs Penniman told everyone except her brother that she was Catherine's teacher. Doctor Sloper guessed that this was her explanation, and he found the idea laughable since he did not think his sister was very intelligent. In fact, he did not have a good opinion of women at all. The only woman he had ever admired had been his wife.

六個月后，醫(yī)生知道他姐姐永遠不會離開了，也就接受了這個現(xiàn)實。除了對她弟弟，彭尼曼夫人逢人便說她是凱瑟琳的老師。斯洛珀醫(yī)生猜想她是這么向別人解釋的，他感到這種想法很可笑，因為他從來都沒覺得他姐姐有多聰明。實際上，他對女人根本沒什么好感。他惟一崇拜過的女人就是他妻子。

He was always extremely polite to Lavinia, but he had no interest in her opinions or conversation. He only spoke to her to inform her of his wishes for Catherine.

他對拉維尼婭總是彬彬有禮，但對她的想法或她說的話卻毫無興趣。只有在想要告訴她他對凱瑟琳的期望時，他才會跟她說話。

Once, when the girl was about twelve years old, he said to his sister, 'Try to make a clever woman out of her, Lavinia. I should like her to be a clever woman.'

小女孩兒大約12歲的時候，有一次，他對姐姐說：“想辦法讓她變得聰明點兒，拉維尼婭，我希望她成為一個聰明的女人。”

Mrs Penniman looked at him. 'My dear Austin,' she said, 'do you think it is better to be clever than to be good?'

彭尼曼夫人看著他。“我親愛的奧斯汀，”她說，“你覺得聰明比善良更重要嗎？”

Good for what?' asked the Doctor. 'You are good for nothing unless you are clever. Of course I wish Catherine to be good, but it will not make her a better person to be a fool.'

“善良有什么用？”醫(yī)生問道，“人要是不聰明就一點兒用都沒有。我當然希望凱瑟琳做個好人，可是當個傻瓜并不會讓她成為更好的人。”

Mrs Penniman was a tall, thin, fair woman. She was romantic, and her brother knew that she loved little secrets and mysteries.

彭尼曼夫人是位個頭高挑、身材瘦削、面容姣好的女人。她很浪漫，她弟弟知道她喜歡小秘密和神秘的事情。

When Catherine is about seventeen,' he said to himself, 'Lavinia will try and persuade her that some young man with a moustache is in love with her. It will be quite untrue. No young man, with or without a moustache, will ever be in love with Catherine.'

“等到凱瑟琳17歲左右的時候”，他自言自語道，“拉維尼婭就會想法讓她相信某個長著小胡子的年輕人愛上她了。這肯定不會是真的。沒有哪個男人，不管長沒長小胡子，會愛上凱瑟琳。”

Catherine was strong and healthy, but she did not have any of her mother's beauty or her father's cleverness—in fact, there was very little that was interesting about her at all. She was large and well built, with brown hair, a round face, and small, quiet eyes. The more generous friends of Doctor Sloper noticed that she was well behaved and polite; others thought she was just dull. But Catherine was not someone people spent much time talking about.

凱瑟琳健康結(jié)實，可惜她既沒有繼承母親的美貌，也沒有繼承父親的智慧——實際上，她身上幾乎沒有什么吸引人的地方。她個頭大，發(fā)育得很好，長著棕色的頭發(fā)，圓圓的臉和一雙安靜的小眼睛。斯洛珀醫(yī)生那些比較寬厚的朋友們發(fā)現(xiàn)她舉止得當，待人禮貌；別的人卻認為她呆頭呆腦。但凱瑟琳并不是人們樂于談?wù)摰膶ο蟆?/p>

She was extremely fond of her father and very much afraid of him. She wanted to please him more than anything in the world, but although Doctor Sloper was usually kind to Catherine, he was very disappointed in her. He wanted to be proud of his daughter, but there was nothing to be proud of in poor Catherine. She was not elegant or pretty or charming like her mother. And by the age of eighteen Mrs Penniman had still not made her a clever woman.

她極愛自己的父親，但又很害怕他。世界上她最樂意做的事情莫過于討父親的歡心了，可是雖然斯洛珀醫(yī)生對凱瑟琳總的來說不錯，心里卻對她頗感失望。他想為女兒感到自豪，但可憐的凱瑟琳身上卻沒有什么值得他自豪的地方。她不像她母親那樣舉止優(yōu)雅，美麗迷人。一直到她18歲，彭尼曼夫人也沒把她培養(yǎng)成一個聰明的女人。

Over the years, however, Doctor Sloper got used to his disappointment. 'I expect nothing from her,' he said to himself. 'If she gives me a surprise, I will be happy. If she doesn't, I shall not lose anything.'

不過，隨著時光的流逝，斯洛珀醫(yī)生也習慣了這種失望。“我對她沒什么指望，”他對自己說，“如果她能給我?guī)眢@喜，我會高興。如果不能，那我也沒什么損失。”

At this time it did not seem possible that Catherine would ever surprise anyone. She was always very quiet, saying so little in conversation that she seemed almost stupid. But she was silent because she was shy, uncomfortably, painfully shy. In fact, she was a very gentle, sensitive girl.

到了這個時候，凱瑟琳似乎已不大可能給任何人帶來驚喜了。她總是安安靜靜的，話很少，顯得有些木訥。她不愛說話是因為害羞，這種羞怯讓她感到不自在而且痛苦。實際上，她是個很溫柔敏感的女孩兒。

Slowly Catherine realized that she was changing from a girl into a young lady. She began wearing expensive clothes in very bright colours—rather too bright for Doctor Sloper. When she was twenty, she bought a red and gold evening dress, and did not seem to realize that it made her look ten years older. Doctor Sloper preferred simple, elegant things, and it annoyed him to think that his child was both ugly and badly dressed, though he kept this opinion private.

慢慢地，凱瑟琳意識到自己正從一個女孩兒變成一個年輕女子。她開始穿價格昂貴、色彩艷麗的服裝——對于斯洛珀醫(yī)生來說，那些顏色實在太艷了。她20歲的時候，買了一件紅色和金色相間的晚裝，而且好像完全沒覺得這條裙子讓她顯得比實際年齡大了十歲。斯洛珀醫(yī)生偏愛簡潔雅致的東西，一想到自己的孩子長得丑，衣服穿得也難看，他就覺得生氣，不過這些想法他從沒表露出來。

It must be added that Catherine was expected to become a very rich woman. She had already inherited some money from her mother, but the Doctor had been making twenty thousand dollars a year by his profession and saving half of it. One day, this growing fortune would pass to Catherine.

必須提到的是，凱瑟琳可能會很有錢。她已經(jīng)從母親那里繼承了一些錢財，不過醫(yī)生每年行醫(yī)的收入有兩萬美元，其中有一半都攢了下來。這筆不斷增長的財富終有一天會傳給凱瑟琳。

In 1835 Doctor Sloper moved his family to a more fashionable address. He built himself a handsome, modern house in Washington Square, which was just around the corner from Fifth Avenue. Across the road from the house, in the centre of the square, was a pretty garden, which was open to everyone though few people ever used it.

1835年，斯洛珀醫(yī)生把家搬到了一個更時尚的地方。他在華盛頓廣場靠近第五大道的地方為自己建了一幢氣派時髦的房子。從房子里出來，穿過一條大道，走到廣場的中間，就是一個漂亮的花園，花園向所有人開放，不過幾乎沒有人光顧。

Mrs Almond lived further out of the city in a house that was almost in the country. She had nine children, and Catherine went with Mrs Penniman to see her cousins every week. The little Almonds were now growing up; the boys had been sent off to college or to work in offices, while the girls looked for suitable husbands.

阿爾蒙德夫人住在遠離城區(qū)的一幢房子里，那里幾乎是鄉(xiāng)下了。她有九個孩子。每周凱瑟琳都會和彭尼曼夫人去看她的堂兄弟姊妹。阿爾蒙德家的孩子現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)長大了；男孩子們要么去上大學，要么就到辦公室上班，而女孩子們則在挑選合適的丈夫。

When Mrs Almond gave a party for her younger daughter Marian, who had become engaged to a promising young man, Catherine, naturally, was invited. At this time she was twenty-one years old, and Mrs Almond's party was the beginning of something very important.

阿爾蒙德夫人的小女兒瑪麗安和一個很有前途的年輕人訂婚了，阿爾蒙德夫人為她舉辦了一個訂婚晚會，凱瑟琳自然在受邀之列。當時她已經(jīng)21歲了，阿爾蒙德夫人的晚會為她揭開了一段重要的人生序幕。