双语小说连载:《董贝父子》第四章 Part 2

It is half-past five o'clock, and an autumn afternoon, when the reader and Solomon Gills become acquainted. Solomon Gills is in the act of seeing what time it is by the unimpeachable chronometer. The usual daily clearance has been making in the City for an hour or more; and the human tide is still rolling westward. 'The streets have thinned,' as Mr Gills says, 'very much.' It threatens to be wet to-night. All the weather glasses in the shop are in low spirits, and the rain already shines upon the cocked hat of the wooden Midshipman.

读者与所罗门·吉尔斯认识是在一个秋天下午的五点半钟。所罗门·吉尔斯那时正在看他那只完美无缺的精密计时表，看看是什么时候了。城市照常每天一次向外疏散人群，已经进行了一个小时或更长久一些；人的浪潮仍然向西滚滚流动着。就像吉尔斯先生所说的，“街上的人已经稀少得多了。”今天晚上好像要下雨。店铺里所有的晴雨表都呈现出垂头丧气的神态。雨滴已经在木制海军军官候补生的三角帽上闪耀着亮光。

'Where's Walter, I wonder!' said Solomon Gills, after he had carefully put up the chronometer again. 'Here's dinner been ready, half an hour, and no Walter!'
Turning round upon his stool behind the counter, Mr Gills looked out among the instruments in the window, to see if his nephew might be crossing the road. No. He was not among the bobbing umbrellas, and he certainly was not the newspaper boy in the oilskin cap who was slowly working his way along the piece of brass outside, writing his name over Mr Gills's name with his forefinger.

“不知道沃尔特在哪里！”吉尔斯把精密计时表重新小心地藏好以后，说道，“晚饭已经准备好半个小时了，可是却不见沃尔特！”
吉尔斯先生在柜台后面的凳子上转过身子，通过橱窗中的仪器往外看，看看他的外甥是不是正在穿越马路。没有。他没有在那些摆动的雨伞中间。他也决不是那个戴油布帽子、卖报的男孩子，那男孩子正沿着外面的铜牌慢吞吞地走过去，并且用食指把自己的姓名写在吉尔斯先生的姓名上面。

'If I didn't know he was too fond of me to make a run of it, and go and enter himself aboard ship against my wishes, I should begin to be fidgetty,' said Mr Gills, tapping two or three weather-glasses with his knuckles. 'I really should. All in the Downs, eh! Lots of moisture! Well! it's wanted.'

“如果我不知道，他太爱我了，不会逃跑，也不会违反我的意愿，自己跑到船上去的话，那么我真要开始坐立不安了，”吉尔斯先生用指关节轻轻敲打着两、三个晴雨表。“我真会的！全都在很低的度数①，啊！湿气真大！唔，是需要下雨了。”

I believe,' said Mr Gills, blowing the dust off the glass top of a compass-case, 'that you don't point more direct and due to the back parlour than the boy's inclination does after all. And the parlour couldn't bear straighter either. Due north. Not the twentieth part of a point either way.'

“我觉得，”吉尔斯先生把一个罗盘匣子玻璃顶上的灰尘吹去，说道，“孩子总是喜欢跑到后客厅里去，你毕竟不能比他更直接更准确地指向后客厅。后客厅的方向是不能更正确的了。正北，不向其他方向偏离二十分之一度！”

' Halloa, Uncle Sol!'
'Halloa, my boy!' cried the Instrument-maker, turning briskly round. 'What! you are here, are you?'
“喂，所尔舅舅！”
“喂，我的孩子！”仪器制造商轻快地转过身去，喊道，“啊，你回来了，是吗？”
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①原文为AllintheDowns，吉尔斯这样说是指晴雨表中的度数很低，但这又是英国剧作家和诗人约翰·盖伊（JohnGay，1685—1732年）著名叙事诗《温存的威廉和黑眼睛的苏珊告别》（SweetWiliam’sFarewelltoBlack－eyedSusan）中开头的诗句，意为“船队全都在唐斯”。唐斯（theDowns）是英法之间多佛海峡的一部分，为船舶停泊处。狄更斯采用这种文字表现方法，是为了使读者感到幽默有趣。

注释：knuckles n. 压关节，指关节（knuckle复数形式）
v. 以指节打；以手指射（knuckle的第三人称单数形式）
例句：
1. Even the knuckles on his hands.
甚至手指关节。
2. This is what hate looks like, you realized—white knuckles on a chair.
你知道，这就是恨的表现——“坐椅上的白色关节”。

A cheerful looking, merry boy, fresh with running home in the rain; fair-faced, bright-eyed, and curly-haired.
这是个兴致勃勃、快快活活的男孩子，由于冒雨回家来，显得十分精神；他的脸白嫩、漂亮，眼睛明亮，头发卷曲。

'Well, Uncle, how have you got on without me all day? Is dinner ready? I'm so hungry.'
“唔，舅舅，我不在，你整天是怎么过的？晚饭好了吗？我饿极了。

'Come along then, Uncle!' cried the boy. 'Hurrah for the admiral!'
“那么来吧，舅舅！”孩子喊道，“海军上将万岁！”

'Confound the admiral!' returned Solomon Gills. 'You mean the Lord Mayor.'
“去你的海军上将！”所罗门·吉尔斯回答道。“你是想说市长先生吧。”

'No I don't!' cried the boy. 'Hurrah for the admiral! Hurrah for the admiral! For-ward!'
“不，我不是想说他！”孩子喊道。“海军上将万岁！海军上将万岁！前——进！”

' As to getting on,' said Solomon good-naturedly, 'it would be odd if I couldn't get on without a young dog like you a great deal better than with you. As to dinner being ready, it's been ready this half hour and waiting for you. As to being hungry, I am!'

“说到这一天怎么过嘛，”所罗门和颜悦色地说道，“如果像你这样一条小狗不在，我不能过得比你在的时候好得多，那就怪了。说到晚饭好了没有嘛，它已经准备好半个钟头了，正在等着你呢。说到饿嘛，·我也一样！”

At this word of command, the Welsh wig and its wearer were borne without resistance into the back parlour, as at the head of a boarding party of five hundred men; and Uncle Sol and his nephew were speedily engaged on a fried sole with a prospect of steak to follow.

这道命令一下，威尔士假发和它的佩戴者就立刻毫无抵抗地被带领到后客厅去，就好像走在由五百人组成的攻入敌船的队伍的最前面似的；然后所尔舅舅和他的外甥很快就开始吃起煎箬鳎鱼来；旁边摆着的牛排是他们的下一道菜。

'The Lord Mayor, Wally,' said Solomon, 'for ever! No more admirals. The Lord Mayor's your admiral.'
“永远是市长，沃利，”所罗门说道，“不要再提海军上将了。市长就是·你·的海军上将。”

'Oh, is he though!' said the boy, shaking his head. 'Why, the Sword Bearer's better than him. He draws his sword sometimes.
“哦，难道是这样吗？”孩子摇摇头，说道，“唔，捧剑侍从也比市长强些。捧剑侍从有时还能抽出·他·们的剑来。”

'And a pretty figure he cuts with it for his pains,' returned the Uncle. 'Listen to me, Wally, listen to me. Look on the mantelshelf.'
“尽管他费尽力气，但还是显出一副愚蠢的样子，”舅舅回答道。“听我说，沃利，听我说。看那壁炉架。”

'Why who has cocked my silver mug up there, on a nail?' exclaimed the boy.
I have,' said his Uncle. 'No more mugs now. We must begin to drink out of glasses to-day, Walter. We are men of business. We belong to the City. We started in life this morning.

“哎呀，谁把我的银杯子挂在钉子上了？”孩子高声喊道。
“我挂的，”他的舅舅说道。“现在不用这种有柄的大杯子了。从今天起我们必须用玻璃杯喝了，沃尔特。我们是做生意的人。我们属于伦敦市。从今天早上起，我们开始过新的生活了。”

注释： engaged adj. 使用中的，忙碌的;
v. 保证；约定；同…订婚（engage的过去分词）
例句：
1. He got engaged to her when working in Xian.
他是在西安工作时和她订婚的。
2. They are engaged in interior trade.
他们从事国内贸易。

'

Well, Uncle,' said the boy, 'I'll drink out of anything you like, so long as I can drink to you. Here's to you, Uncle Sol, and Hurrah for the
'Lord Mayor,' interrupted the old man.

“好吧，舅舅，”孩子说道，“只要我能为你祝福就行，我可以用任何你喜欢的东西来喝。现在，所尔舅舅。为你的健康干杯！我还要为——”
“为市长欢呼。”老人打断他的话。

'For the Lord Mayor, Sheriffs, Common Council, and Livery,' said the boy. 'Long life to 'em!'
The uncle nodded his head with great satisfaction. 'And now,' he said, 'let's hear something about the Firm.'

“为市长，为名誉郡长，为市参议会，为同业工会会员欢呼！”孩子说道，“祝他们万岁！”
舅舅十分满意地点点头。“现在，”他说道，“让我来听你谈谈公司的什么事情吧。”

'Oh! there's not much to be told about the Firm, Uncle,' said the boy, plying his knife and fork.' It's a precious dark set of offices, and in the room where I sit, there's a high fender, and an iron safe, and some cards about ships that are going to sail, and an almanack, and some desks and stools, and an ink bottle, and some books, and some boxes, and a lot of cobwebs, and in one of 'em, just over my head, a shrivelled-up blue-bottle that looks as if it had hung there ever so long.'

“啊！公司的事情没有什么好谈的，舅舅，”孩子使用着刀和叉，说道，“那里有好多非常阴暗的办公室；在我坐的那个房间里，有一个很高的火炉围栏，一个铁的保险柜，一些关于即将启航的商船公告，一个日历，几张写字台和凳子，一个墨水瓶，几本书，几个箱子，还有好多蜘蛛网，其中有一个正好在我的头顶，里面有一只干瘪的青蝇，看上去挂在那里已经好久了。”

'Nothing else?' said the Uncle.
'No, nothing else, except an old birdcage (I wonder how that ever came there!) and a coal-scuttle.'
'No bankers' books, or cheque books, or bills, or such tokens of wealth rolling in from day to day?' said old Sol, looking wistfully at his nephew out of the fog that always seemed to hang about him, and laying an unctuous emphasis upon the words.

“没有别的了吗？”舅舅问道。
“是的，没有别的了，不过还有一只旧的鸟笼子，我不知道它怎么到那里去的！还有一个煤桶。”
“难道就没有银行存折、支票簿、证券或者其他象征着每天滚滚涌进来的财富之类的东西吗？”老所尔说道，一边通过那永远好像笼罩在他的四周的迷雾，渴望了解似地望着他的外甥，并故意讨好地强调那些词儿。

'Oh yes, plenty of that I suppose,' returned his nephew carelessly; 'but all that sort of thing's in Mr Carker's room, or Mr Morfin's, or MR Dombey's.'
'Has Mr Dombey been there to-day?' inquired the Uncle.
'Oh yes! In and out all day.'

“啊是的，我想那会有好多，”他的外甥漫不经心地回答道，“不过所有那些东西都是在卡克先生的房间里，或者在莫芬先生的房间里，或者在董贝先生的房间里。”
“董贝先生今天在那里吗？”舅舅问道。
“啊是的。整天进进出出。”

注释：supposevt. 假设；认为；让（虚拟语气）；推想
vi. 猜想；料想 conj. 假使…结果会怎样
例句：
1. I beg your pardon. I suppose I should have knocked.
请原谅，我想我本该敲门的。
2. I suppose you also have a caste system in your society.
我想你们的社会里也有一种等级制度。