地下墓穴（8）

 

“Hold on, old fellow,” said he; “I think you are behaving in a most ridiculous fashion; but still; if this is your condition, I suppose that I must submit to it. I hate saying anything about a girl, but, as you say, it is all over Rome, and I don’t suppose I can tell you anything which you do not know already. What was it you wanted to know?”

The German came back to the stove, and, laying down his basket, he sank into his chair once more.

“May I have another cigar?” said he. “Thank you very much! I never smoke when I work, but I enjoy a chat much more when I am under the influence of tobacco. Now, as regards this young lady, with whom you had this little adventure. What in the world has become of her?”

“She is at home with her own people.”

“Oh, really—in England?”

“Yes.”

“What part of England—London?”

“No, Twickenham.”

“You must excuse my curiosity, my dear Kennedy, and you must put it down to my ignorance¹ of the world. No doubt it is quite a simple thing to persuade a young lady to go off with you for three weeks or so, and then to hand her over to her own family at—what did you call the place?”

“Twickenham.”

“Quite so—at Twickenham. But it is something so entirely² outside my own experience that I cannot even imagine how you set about it. For example, if you had loved this girl your love could hardly disappear in three weeks, so I presume³ that you could not have loved her at all. But if you did not love her why should you make this great scandal⁴ which has damaged you and ruined her?”

Kennedy looked moodily⁵ into the red eye of the stove.

“等一下，老伙计，”他说，“我觉得你简直太荒唐了，不过，如果你坚持这样的条件，我也只好听从了。我讨厌把有关一位姑娘的事情说出去，但正如你所说，此事已经传遍了罗马，我能告诉你的一切恐怕你也已经都知道了。你究竟想了解什么？”

德国人回到炉边，放下篮子，重新坐到椅子上。

“我能再吸一支雪茄吗9"他问道。“啊，非常感谢！我在工作时绝对不吸烟，不过在聊天的时候，吸上一支烟会大大提高兴致的。现在说说那个与你有过一番小小的冒险经历的姑娘吧。她现在怎么样”

“她在自己家里，和她的家人在一起，”

“哦，真的吗？在英国？”

“是的。”

“英国什么地方？伦敦？”

“不，在特威肯汉，请原谅我的好奇心，亲爱的肯尼迪，也请你谅解我对世事的无知。劝一位年轻的女士和你一起出走大约三个星期，然后把她交给她的家人，这无疑是一件非常简单的事，是什么地方？”

"特威肯汉。”

“对，对，是特威肯汉。不过有些事情超出了我的理解范围，我甚至无法想像你是怎么开始做这件事的。警如，如果你爱上了这个姑娘，你的爱不会在三个星期内就消失的，所以我觉得你根本不可能爱上她。但是，如果你不爱她，为什么要制造这样一桩丑闻把你和她都毁掉呢？“肯尼迪阴郁地望着炉火。

1 ignorance   

n.无知，愚昧，不了解，（of，about）不知道

参考例句：

• The relation of disease to poverty and ignorance is easy to see.疾病与贫穷、无知之间的关系是显而易见的。
• Maybe it is all due to my own ignorance.也许是我少见多怪。

2 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

3 presume   

vt.姑且认定，假定，推测，认为是理所当然；vi.假设，越权行事

参考例句：

• We mustn't presume too much upon the reliability of such sources.我们不应过分指望这类消息来源的可靠性。
• You had better presume no such thing.你最好不要这样设想。

4 scandal   

n.丑事，丑闻，流言蜚语，反感，愤慨

参考例句：

• Scandal and gossip are meat and drink to him.各种丑闻和流言蜚语是他最感兴趣的事。
• His theft from the shop caused scandal in the village.他因偷商店的东西引起全村的公愤。

5 moodily   

adv.喜怒无常地；情绪多变地；心情不稳地；易生气地

参考例句：

• Pork slipped from the room as she remained staring moodily into the distance. 阿宝从房间里溜了出来，留她独个人站在那里瞪着眼睛忧郁地望着远处。 来自辞典例句
• He climbed moodily into the cab, relieved and distressed. 他忧郁地上了马车，既松了一口气，又忧心忡忡。 来自互联网