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| Chapter 41 (Vol. II, Chap. XVIII) | 第四十一章 |
| The first week of their return was soon gone. The second began. It was the last of the regiment's stay in Meryton, and all the young ladies in the neighbourhood were drooping apace. The dejection was almost universal. The elder Miss Bennets alone were still able to eat, drink, and sleep, and pursue the usual course of their employments. Very frequently were they reproached for this insensibility by Kitty and Lydia, whose own misery was extreme, and who could not comprehend such hard-heartedness in any of the family. | 她们回得家来，眨下眼睛就过了一个星期，现 在已经开始过第二个星期。过了这个星期，驻 扎在麦里屯的那个民兵团就要开拔了，附近的 年轻小姐们立刻一个个垂头丧气起来。几乎处 处都是心灰意冷的气象。只有班纳特家的两位 大小姐照常饮食起居，照常各干各的事。可是 吉蒂和丽迪雅已经伤心到极点，便不由得常常 责备两位姐姐冷淡无情。她们真不明白，家里 怎么竟会有这样没有心肝的人！ |
| "Good Heaven! What is to become of us! What are we to do!" would they often exclaim in the bitterness of woe. "How can you be smiling so, Lizzy?" | 她们老是无限悲痛地嚷道："老天爷呀！我们 这一下还成个什么样子呢？你还好意思笑得出 来，丽萃？" |
| Their affectionate mother shared all their grief; she remembered what she had herself endured on a similar occasion, five and twenty years ago. | 她们那位慈祥的母亲也跟了她们一块儿伤心； 她记起二十五年以前，自己也是为着差不多同 样的事情，忍受了多少苦痛。 |
| "I am sure," said she, "I cried for two days together when Colonel Millar's regiment went away. I thought I should have broke my heart." | 她说："我一点儿没记错，当初米勒上校那一 团人调走的时候，我整整哭了两天。我简直似 碎了。" |
| "I am sure I shall break mine," said Lydia. | "我相信我的心是一定要碎的，"丽迪雅说。 |
| "If one could but go to Brighton!" observed Mrs. Bennet. | "要是我们能上白利屯去，那多么好！"班纳 特太太说。 |
| "Oh, yes! -- if one could but go to Brighton! But papa is so disagreeable." | "对啊───如果能上白利屯去多么好！可是 爸爸偏偏要作对。" |
| "A little sea-bathing would set me up for ever." | "洗一洗海水浴就会使我一辈子身体健康。" |
| "And my aunt Philips is sure it would do me a great deal of good," added Kitty. | "腓力普姨母也说，海水浴一定会对我的身体 大有好处。"吉蒂接着说。 |
| Such were the kind of lamentations resounding perpetually through Longbourn-house. Elizabeth tried to be diverted by them; but all sense of pleasure was lost in shame. She felt anew the justice of Mr. Darcy's objections; and never had she before been so much disposed to pardon his interference in the views of his friend. | 浪搏恩这家人家的两位小姐，就是这样没完没 结地长吁短叹。伊丽莎白想把她们笑话一番， 可是羞耻心打消了她一切的情趣。她重新又想 到达西先生的确没有冤枉她们，他指出她们的 那些缺陷确是事实，她深深感觉到，实在难怪 他要干涉他朋友和吉英的好事。 |
| But the gloom of Lydia's prospect was shortly cleared away; for she received an invitation from Mrs. Forster, the wife of the Colonel of the regiment, to accompany her to Brighton. This invaluable friend was a very young woman, and very lately married. A resemblance in good humour and good spirits had recommended her and Lydia to each other, and out of their three months' acquaintance they had been intimatetwo. | 但是丽迪雅的忧郁不多一会就烟消云散，因为 弗斯脱团长的太太请她陪她一块儿到白利屯去 。这位贵友是位很年轻的夫人新近才结婚的。 她跟丽迪雅都是好兴致，好精神，因此意气相 投：虽然才只三个月的友谊，却已经做了两个 月的知已。 |
| The rapture of Lydia on this occasion, her adoration of Mrs. Forster, the delight of Mrs. Bennet, and the mortification of Kitty, are scarcely to be described. Wholly inattentive to her sister's feelings, Lydia flew about the house in restless ecstacy, calling for everyone's congratulations, and laughing and talking with more violence than ever; whilst the luckless Kitty continued in the parlour repining at her fate in terms as unreasonable as her accent was peevish. | 丽迪雅这时候是怎样欢天喜地，她对于弗斯脱 太太是怎样敬慕，班纳特太太又是怎样高兴， 吉蒂又是怎样难受，这些自然不在话下。在屋 子里跳来蹦去，叫大家都来祝贺她，大笑大叫 ，比往常闹得越发厉害；倒运的吉蒂却只能继 续在小客厅里怨天尤命，怪三怪四。 |
| "I cannot see why Mrs. Forster should not ask me as well as Lydia," said she, "though I am not her particular friend. I have just as much right to be asked as she has, and more too, for I am two years older." | "我不明白弗斯脱太太为什么不叫我和丽迪雅 一同去，"她说，"即使我不是她特别要好的 朋友，又何妨也邀我一同去。照说我比她大两 岁，面子也得大些呢。" |
| In vain did Elizabeth attempt to reasonable, and Jane to make her resigned. As for Elizabeth herself, this invitation was so far from exciting in her the same feelings as in her mother and Lydia, that she considered it as the death-warrant of all possibility of common sense for the latter; and detestable as such a step must make her were it known, she could not help secretly advising her father not to let her go. She represented to him all the improprieties of Lydia's general behaviour, the little advantage she could derive from the friendship of such a woman as Mrs. Forster, and the probability of her being yet more imprudent with such a companion at Brighton, where the temptations must be greater than at home. He heard her attentively, and then said, | 伊丽莎白把道理讲给她听，吉英也劝她不必生 气，她都不理睬。再说伊丽莎白，她对于这次 邀请，完全不象她母亲和丽迪雅那样兴高采烈 ，她只觉得丽迪雅纵然还没有糊涂到那种地步 ，这一去可算完全给毁了。于是她只得暗地里 叫她父亲不许丽迪雅去，也顾不得事后让丽迪 雅知道了，会把她恨到什么地步。她把丽迪雅 日常行为举止失检的地方，都告诉了父亲，说 明和弗斯脱太太这样一个女人做朋友毫无益处 ，跟这样的一个朋友到白利屯去，也许会变得 更荒唐，因为那边的诱惑力一定比这里大。父 亲用心听她把话讲完，然后说道： |
| "Lydia will never be easy till she has exposed herself in some public place or other, and we can never expect her to do it with so little expense or inconvenience to her family as under the present circumstances." | "丽迪雅非到公共场所之类的地方去出一出丑 ，是决不肯罢休的。她这次要去出丑，既不必 花家里的钱，又用不着家里麻烦，真难得有这 样的机会呢。" |
| "If you were aware," said Elizabeth, "of the very great disadvantage to us all, which must arise from the public notice of Lydia's unguarded and imprudent manner; nay, which has already arisen from it, I am sure you would judge differently in the affair." | 伊丽莎白说："丽迪雅那样轻浮冒失，一定会 引起外人注目，会使我们姐妹吃她的大亏── 事实上已经吃了很大的亏──你要是想到了这 一点，那你对这桩事的看法就会两样了。" |
| "Already arisen!" repeated Mr. Bennet. "What, has she frightened away some of your lovers? Poor little Lizzy! But do not be cast down. Such squeamish youths as cannot bear to be connected with a little absurdity are not worth a regret. Come, let me see the list of the pitiful fellows who have been kept aloof by Lydia's folly." | "已经使你们吃了大亏！"班纳特先生重复了 一遍。"这话怎么说：她把你们的爱人吓跑了 不成？可怜的小丽萃呀，甭担心。那些经不起 一点儿小风浪的挑三剔四的小伙子。因为看见 了丽迪雅的放荡行为，而不敢向你们问津？" |
| "Indeed you are mistaken. I have no such injuries to resent, It is not of peculiar, but of general evils, which I am now complaining. Our importance, our respectability in the world, must be affected by the wild volatility, the assurance and disdain of all restraint which mark Lydia's character. Excuse me -- for I must speak plainly. If you, my dear father, will not take the trouble of checking her exuberant spirits, and of teaching her that her present pursuits are not to be the business of her life, she will soon be beyond the reach of amendment. Her character will be fixed, and she will, at sixteen, be the most determined flirt that ever made herself and her family ridiculous. A flirt, too, in the worst and meanest degree of flirtation; without any attraction beyond youth and a tolerable person; and from the ignorance and emptiness of her mind, whollyunable to ward off any portion of that universalcontempt which her rage for admiration will excite. In this danger Kitty is also comprehended. She will follow wherever Lydia leads. -- Vain, ignorant, idle, and absolutely uncontrolled! Oh! my dear father, can you suppose it possible that they will not be censured and despised wherever they are known, and that their sisters will not be often involved in the disgrace?" | "你完全弄错了我的意思。我并不是因为吃了 亏才来埋怨。我也说不出我究竟是在埋怨哪一 种害处，只觉得害处很多。丽迪雅这种放荡不 羁、无法无天的性格，确实对我们体面攸关， 一定会影响到我们的社会地位。我说话爽直， 千万要请你原谅。好爸爸，你得想办法管教管 教她这种撒野的脾气，叫她明白，不能够一辈 子都这样到处追逐，否则她马上就要无可救药 了。一旦她的性格定型以后，就难得改过来。 她才不过十六岁，就成了一个十足的浪荡女子 ，弄得她自己和家庭都惹人笑话，而且她还轻 佻浪荡到极端下贱无耻的地步。她只不过年纪 还轻，略有几分姿色，此外就一无可取。她愚 昧无知，头脑糊涂，只知道搏得别人爱慕，结 果到处叫人看不起。吉蒂也有这种危险。丽迪 雅要她东就东，西就西。她既无知，又爱虚荣 ，生性又懒惰，完全是没有一点家教的样子！ 哎哟，我的好爸爸呀，她们随便走到什么地方 ，只要有人认识她们，她们就会受人指责，受 人轻视，还时常连累到她们的姐姐们也丢脸， 难道你还以为不会这样吗？" |
| Mr. Bennet saw that her whole heart was in the subject; and affectionatelytaking her hand, said in reply, | 班纳特先生看到她钻进了牛角尖，便慈祥地握 住她扔手说： |
| "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。你和吉英两个人，随便 走到什么有熟人的地方，人家都会尊敬你们， 器生你们；你们决不会因为有了两个──甚至 三个傻妹妹，就失掉了体面。这次要是不让丽 迪雅到白利屯去，我们在浪搏恩就休想安静。 还是让她去吧。弗斯脱上校是个有见识的人， 不会让她闯出什么祸事来的；幸亏她又太穷， 谁也不会看中她。白利屯跟这儿的情形两样， 她即使去做一个普通的浪荡女子，也不够资格 。军官们会找到更中意的对象。因此，我们但 愿她到了那儿以后，可以得到些教训，知道她 自己没有什么了不起。无论如何，她再坏也坏 不到哪里去，我们总不能把她一辈子关在家里 。" |
| 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. | 伊丽莎白听到父亲这样回答，虽然并没有因此 |
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