雙語小說連載:《董貝父子》第8章 Part 1

Beneath the watching and attentive eyes of Time - so far another Major - Paul's slumbers gradually changed. More and more light broke in upon them; distincter and distincter dreams disturbed them; an accumulating crowd of objects and impressions swarmed about his rest; and so he passed from babyhood to childhood, and became a talking, walking, wondering Dombey.
在時間（在一定的意義上說，它是另一個少校）的機警與注意的眼光下，保羅的睡眠逐漸地改變着。愈來愈多的亮光妨礙了它們；愈來愈清楚的夢擾亂了它們；愈益增多的事物與印象羣集在他的周圍，使他不得安息；他就這樣從嬰兒時代進入了幼年時代，成爲一位會說話，會走路，會疑慮的董貝。
On the downfall and banishment of Richards, the nursery may be said to have been put into commission: as a Public Department is sometimes, when no individual Atlas can be found to support it The Commissioners were, of course, Mrs Chick and Miss Tox: who devoted themselves to their duties with such astonishing ardour that Major Bagstock had every day some new reminder of his being forsaken, while Mr Chick, bereft of domestic supervision, cast himself upon the gay world, dined at clubs and coffee-houses, smelt of smoke on three different occasions, went to the play by himself, and in short, loosened (as Mrs Chick once told him) every social bond, and moral obligation.
在理查茲犯了罪過、被驅逐出去之後，育兒室可以說已經移交給一個特設委員會來管理了，正像有的公共機構如果找不到一個阿特拉斯①能頂得起它的重擔的話，有時就會發生這種情形一樣。委員會的委員自然是奇剋夫人與托克斯小姐。她們懷着十分驚人的熱忱致力於所擔負的職責，因此白格斯托克少校每天都能看到一些新的跡象提醒他，他已被拋棄了；奇克先生則由於失去了家庭的監督，就委身於消遣玩樂的世界；他在俱樂部和咖啡館用餐；一天之內在三次不同的場合與他相遇，都能從他身上聞到煙味；他獨自一人出去看戲；總而言之，正如奇剋夫人對他說的那樣，他已擺脫一切社會義務與道義責任的束縛了。
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①阿特拉斯（Atlas）：希臘神話中雙肩能掮天的巨神。
Yet, in spite of his early promise, all this vigilance and care could not make little Paul a thriving boy. Naturally delicate, perhaps, he pined and wasted after the dismissal of his nurse, and, for a long time, seemed but to wait his opportunity of gliding through their hands, and seeking his lost mother. This dangerous ground in his steeple-chase towards manhood passed, he still found it very rough riding, and was grievously beset by all the obstacles in his course. Every tooth was a break-neck fence, and every pimple in the measles a stone wall to him. He was down in every fit of the hooping-cough, and rolled upon and crushed by a whole field of small diseases, that came trooping on each other's heels to prevent his getting up again. Some bird of prey got into his throat instead of the thrush; and the very chickens turning ferocious - if they have anything to do with that infant malady to which they lend their name - worried him like tiger-cats.
雖然小保羅從一出生起就大有希望，可是所有這些警惕與護理卻沒有能使他成長爲一個體格健壯的孩子。也許生來體質就嬌弱，在辭退了奶媽之後他就消瘦、虛弱下去，而且似乎長久在等待機會，從她們的手中溜走，前去尋找他失去的母親。在他通向成年的障礙賽馬中，這個危險的地段雖然已經跳過了，但他依舊覺得道路崎嶇不平，乘騎十分艱辛，路程中的所有障礙都使他苦惱不堪。對他來說，每長一顆牙齒都是一道極危險的籬笆，出麻疹中的每一個疹皰都是一道石牆。每一陣百日咳都使他摔倒在地；成羣結隊、接踵而來的各種小病碾壓着他，使他再也不能起來。某種猛禽而不是畫眉鳥鑽進了他的喉嚨①。如果雞雛與那個以它們的名稱來命名的兒童疾病有關的話，②那麼連它們也變得很兇猛，就像豹貓一樣使他惶惶不安。
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①英文thrush這個詞有兩個意義，一是畫眉鳥，一是鵝口瘡。這裏指保羅患了鵝口瘡，喉嚨中像有猛禽在啄咬一樣難受。
②指雞痘（chicken－pox），即水痘。
The chill of Paul's christening had struck home, perhaps to some sensitive part of his nature, which could not recover itself in the cold shade of his father; but he was an unfortunate child from that day. Mrs Wickam often said she never see a dear so put upon.
給保羅施洗禮時的寒冷也許重重地打擊了他機體中某處敏感的部位，在他父親的陰森的冷氣的籠罩下，它不能痊癒，可是從那天開始，他就成了一個不幸的孩子了。威肯姆大嫂時常說，她從沒有見過哪一位小乖乖這樣受罪的。