马斯格雷夫礼典05

“Reginald Musgrave sat down opposite to me, and lit the cigarette which I had  pushed towards him.

“‘You must know,’ said he, ‘that though I am a bachelor, I have to keep up a  considerable¹ staff of servants at Hurlstone, for it is a rambling² old place, and  takes a good deal of looking after. I preserve, too, and in the pheasant months  I usually have a house-party, so that it would not do to be short-handed.  Altogether there are eight maids, the cook, the butler, two footmen, and a boy.  The garden and the stables of course have a separate staff.

“‘Of these servants the one who had been longest in our service was Brunton  the butler. He was a young school-master out of place when he was first taken up  by my father, but he was a man of great energy and character, and he soon became  quite invaluable³ in the household. He was a well-grown, handsome man, with a  splendid forehead, and though he has been with us for twenty years he cannot be  more than forty now. With his personal advantages and his extraordinary gifts— for he can speak several languages and play nearly every musical instrument—it  is wonderful that he should have been satisfied so long in such a position, but  I suppose that he was comfortable, and lacked energy to make any change. The  butler of Hurlstone is always a thing that is remembered by all who visit us.

“‘But this paragon⁴ has one fault. He is a bit of a Don Juan, and you can  imagine that for a man like him it is not a very difficult part to play in a  quiet country district. When he was married it was all right, but since he has  been a widower⁵ we have had no end of trouble with him. A few months ago we were  in hopes that he was about to settle down again for he became engaged to Rachel  Howells, our second house-maid; but he has thrown her over since then and taken  up with Janet Tregellis, the daughter of the head game-keeper. Rachel—who is a  very good girl, but of an excitable Welsh temperament—had a sharp touch of  brain-fever, and goes about the house now—or did until yesterday—like a  black-eyed shadow of her former self. That was our first drama at Hurlstone; but  a second one came to drive it from our minds, and it was prefaced by the  disgrace⁶ and dismissal⁷ of butler Brunton.

“雷金纳德-马斯格雷夫在我对面坐下来，把我递给他的香烟点着。

“‘你要知道，’他说，‘我虽然是一个单身汉，但是我在赫尔斯通庄园仍然拥有相当多的 仆人，因为那是一座偏僻凌一乱的旧庄园，需要很多人照料。我也不愿辞退他们，而且在猎 野鸡的季节，我经常在别墅举行家宴，留客人小住，缺乏人手是不成的。我共有八个女仆， 一个厨师，一个管家，两个男仆和一个小听差。花园和马厩当然另有一班子人。

“‘仆人中当差最久的是管家布伦顿。我父亲当初雇他时，他是一个不称职的小学教师。但 他一精一力旺盛，个一性一很强，很快就受到全家的器重。他身材适中，眉目清秀，前额俊 美，虽然和我们相处已二十年，但年龄还不满四十。由于他有许多优点和非凡的才能（因为 他能说几国语言，几乎能演奏所有乐器），长期处于仆役地位而竟然很满足，这实在令人费 解。不过我看他是安于现状，没有一精一力去作任何改变。凡是拜访过我们的人都记得这位 管家。

“‘可是这个完人也有瑕疵，就是有一点唐璜［唐璜：西班牙传奇人物，是一个风一流一浪 一荡贵族，西方诗歌、戏剧中多引用——译者注］的作风，你可以设想，象他这样的人在穷 乡僻壤扮演风一流荡子是毫不困难的。他初结婚时倒也不错，但自妻子亡故，我们就在他身 上碰到无穷无尽的麻烦。几个月以前因为他已经与我们的二等使女雷切尔-豪厄尔斯订了婚 ，我们本希望他再一次收敛些，可是他又把雷切尔抛弃了，与猎场看守班头的女儿珍妮特- 特雷杰丽丝搅在一起。雷切尔是一个很好的姑一娘一，可是具有威尔士人那种容易激动的一 性一格。她刚闹了一场脑膜炎，现在，或者说直到昨天才开始能够行走。与她过去相比，简 直成了一个黑眼睛的幽灵。这是我们赫尔斯通的第一出戏剧一性一事件。可是接着又发生了 第二出戏剧一性一事件，这使我们把第一件忘在脑后，那第二出戏剧一性一事件，是由管家 布伦顿的失一宠一和解雇引起的。

1 considerable   

a.相当多的，相当大的，相当重要的

参考例句：

• He saved the child at considerable risk to himself. 他冒着极大的生命危险救了那个孩子。
• The flood resulted in a considerable reduction in production. 这次水灾造成相当大的减产。

2 rambling   

adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的

参考例句：

• We spent the summer rambling in Ireland. 我们花了一个夏天漫游爱尔兰。
• It was easy to get lost in the rambling house. 在布局凌乱的大房子里容易迷路。

3 invaluable   

adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的

参考例句：

• A computer would have been invaluable for this job.一台计算机对这个工作的作用会是无法估计的。
• This information was invaluable to him.这个消息对他来说是非常宝贵的。

4 paragon   

n.模范，典型

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• Man is the paragon of animals.人是万物之灵。

5 widower   

n.鳏夫

参考例句：

• George was a widower with six young children.乔治是个带著六个小孩子的鳏夫。
• Having been a widower for many years,he finally decided to marry again.丧偶多年后，他终于决定二婚了。

6 disgrace   

n.耻辱，不光彩，丢脸的人（或事）；vt.使丢脸

参考例句：

• You will bring disgrace on yourself by doing this.你这样做会给自己带来耻辱。
• He is a disgrace to our school.他是我们学校的耻辱。

7 dismissal   

n.解雇，免职；撤退；解雇通知；[法]驳回，拒绝受理

参考例句：

• He still hopes to win his claim against unfair dismissal . 他声称遭无理解雇，仍然希望赢得申诉。
• She decided to sue her employer for wrongful dismissal. 她决定起诉雇主非法解雇她。