月亮和六便士 第6章(1)

 　　Chapter 6 六

　　But when at last I met Charles Strickland, it was under circumstances which allowed me to do no more than just make his acquaintance.  但是最后我同查理斯·思特里克兰德见面，并不是在思特里克兰德太太说的那种情况下。她请我吃饭的那天晚上，除了她丈夫以外，我还结识了另外几个人。

　　One morning Mrs.Strickland sent me round a note to say that she was giving a dinner-party that evening, and one of her guests had failed her.  这天早上，思特里克兰德太太派人给我送来一张条子，告诉我她当天晚上要请客，有一个客人临时有事不能出席。

　　She asked me to stop the gap.  她请我填补这个空缺。

　　She wrote:It's only decent to warn you that you will be bored to extinction¹.  条子是这么写的：我要预先声明，你将会厌烦得要命。

　　It was a thoroughly² dull party from the beginning, but if you will come I shall be uncommonly³ grateful.  从一开始我就知道这是一次枯燥乏味的宴客。但是如果你能来的话，我是非常感激的。

　　And you and I can have a little chat by ourselves. 咱们两个人总还可以谈一谈。

　　It was only neighbourly to accept. 我不能不帮她这个忙；我接受了她的邀请。

　　When Mrs.Strickland introduced me to her husband, he gave me a rather indifferent hand to shake.  当思特里克兰德太太把我介绍给她丈夫的时候，他不冷不热地同我握了握手。

　　Turning to him gaily⁴, she attempted a small jest. 思特里克兰德太太的情绪很高，转身对他说了一句开玩笑的话。

　　I asked him to show him that I really had a husband. I think he was beginning to doubt it. "我请他来是要叫他看看我真的是有丈夫的。我想他已经开始怀疑了。"

　　Strickland gave the polite little laugh with which people acknowledge a facetiousness⁵ in which they see nothing funny, but did not speak.  思特里克兰德很有礼貌地笑了笑，就象那些承认你说了一个笑话而又不觉得有什么可笑的人一样，他并没有说什么。

　　New arrivals claimed my host's attention, and I was left to myself.  又来了别的客人，需要主人去周旋，我被丢在一边。

　　When at last we were all assembled, waiting for dinner to be announced,  当最后客人都已到齐，只等着宣布开饭的时候，

　　I reflected, while I chatted with the woman I had been asked to "take in," that civilised man practises a strange ingenuity⁶ in wasting on tedious exercises the brief span of his life.  我一边和一位叫我"陪同"的女客随便闲谈，一边思忖：文明社会这样消磨自己的心智，把短促的生命浪费在无聊的应酬上实在令人莫解。

　　It was the kind of party which makes you wonder why the hostess has troubled to bid her guests, and why the guests have troubled to come.  拿这一天的宴会来说，你不能不感到奇怪为什么女主人要请这些客人来，而为什么这些客人也会不嫌麻烦，接受邀请。

　　There were ten people.  当天一共有十位宾客。

　　They met with indifference⁷, and would part with relief.  这些人见面时冷冷淡淡，分手时更有一种如释重负的感觉。

　　It was, of course, a purely⁸ social function.  当然了，这只是完成一次社交义务。

　　The Stricklands "owed" dinners to a number of persons, whom they took no interest in, and so had asked them; these persons had accepted.  思特里克兰德夫妇在人家吃过饭，"欠下"许多人情，对这些人他们本来是丝毫不感兴趣的。但是他们还是不得不回请这些人，而这些人也都应邀而来了。

　　Why? To avoid the tedium⁹ of dining tete-a-tete, to give their servants a rest, because there was no reason to refuse, because they were "owed" a dinner. 为什么这样做？是为了避免吃饭时总是夫妻对坐的厌烦，为了让仆人休息半天，还是因为没有理由谢绝，因为该着吃别人一顿饭？谁也说不清。

　　The dining-room was inconveniently¹⁰ crowded.  餐厅非常拥挤，让人感到很不舒服。

　　There was a K.C.and his wife, a Government official and his wife, Mrs. Strickland's sister and her husband, Colonel MacAndrew, and the wife of a Member of Parliament.  这些人中有一位皇家法律顾问和夫人，一位政府官员和夫人，思特里克兰德太太的姐姐和姐夫麦克安德鲁上校，还有一位议员的妻子。

　　It was because the Member of Parliament found that he could not leave the House that I had been invited.  正是因为议员发现自己不能离开议院我才临时被请来补缺。

　　The respectability of the party was portentous¹¹.  这些客人的身份都非常高贵。

　　The women were too nice to be well dressed, and too sure of their position to be amusing.  女太太们因为知道自己的气派，所以并不太讲究衣着，而且因为知道自己的地位，也不想去讨人高兴。

　　The men were solid.  男人们个个雍容华贵。

　　There was about all of them an air of well-satisfied prosperity. 总之，所有这里的人都带着一种殷实富足、踌躇满志的神色。

1 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

2 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

3 uncommonly   

adv. 稀罕(极，非常)

参考例句：

• an uncommonly gifted child 一个天赋异禀的儿童
• My little Mary was feeling uncommonly empty. 我肚子当时正饿得厉害。

4 gaily   

adv.欢乐地，高兴地

参考例句：

• The children sing gaily.孩子们欢唱着。
• She waved goodbye very gaily.她欢快地挥手告别。

5 facetiousness   

n.滑稽

参考例句：

• Jastrow said, with tremulous facetiousness. 杰斯特罗说着，显出抖抖嗦嗦的滑稽样子。 来自辞典例句

6 ingenuity   

n.别出心裁；善于发明创造

参考例句：

• The boy showed ingenuity in making toys.那个小男孩做玩具很有创造力。
• I admire your ingenuity and perseverance.我钦佩你的别出心裁和毅力。

7 indifference   

n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎

参考例句：

• I was disappointed by his indifference more than somewhat.他的漠不关心使我很失望。
• He feigned indifference to criticism of his work.他假装毫不在意别人批评他的作品。

8 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

9 tedium   

n.单调；烦闷

参考例句：

• We played games to relieve the tedium of the journey.我们玩游戏，来解除旅行的沉闷。
• In myself I could observe the following sources of tedium. 从我自己身上，我所观察到的烦闷的根源有下列一些。

10 inconveniently   

ad.不方便地

参考例句：

• Hardware encrypting resists decryption intensely, but it use inconveniently for user. 硬件加密方法有较强的抗解密性，但用户使用不方便。
• Even implementing the interest-deferral scheme for homeowners has proved inconveniently tricky. 甚至是对房主实行的推迟利息的方案，结果证明也是极不方便的。

11 portentous   

adj.不祥的，可怕的，装腔作势的

参考例句：

• The present aspect of society is portentous of great change.现在的社会预示着重大变革的发生。
• There was nothing portentous or solemn about him.He was bubbling with humour.他一点也不装腔作势或故作严肃，浑身散发着幽默。