雙語小說連載:《董貝父子》第8章 Part 16大綱
'Is your Uncle's child alive?' asked Berry.
'Yes, Miss, she is alive,' returned Mrs Wickam with an air of triumph, for it was evident. Miss Berry expected the reverse; 'and is married to a silver-chaser. Oh yes, Miss, SHE is alive,' said Mrs Wickam, laying strong stress on her nominative case.
“是的，小姐，她活着，”威肯姆大嫂回答道，她露出勝利得意的神態，因爲顯而易見，貝里小姐以爲得到的是相反的回答；“而且嫁給了一位雕刻銀器的藝人。啊是的，她活着。”It being clear that somebody was dead, Mrs Pipchin's niece inquired who it was.
顯然，有什麼人死了，所以皮普欽太太的侄女問誰死了。
'I wouldn't wish to make you uneasy,' returned Mrs Wickam, pursuing her supper. Don't ask me.'
“我不希望使您感到不安，”威肯姆大嫂繼續吃着晚飯，說道，“別問我。”This was the surest way of being asked again. Miss Berry repeated her question, therefore; and after some resistance, and reluctance, Mrs Wickam laid down her knife, and again glancing round the room and at Paul in bed, replied:'She took fancies to people; whimsical fancies, some of them; others, affections that one might expect to see - only stronger than comMon. They all died.'
這是必然會引起再次發問的方式，因此貝里小姐又重複問了她的問題；威肯姆大嫂心中經過一番對抗與躊躇之後，放下刀子，又往房間四處和牀上的保羅 看了一眼，說道： “她對人們都很喜歡，有的是古怪的喜愛，有的是人們可能期望 見到的親熱——只不過比通常強烈一些就是了。他們這些人全都死了。”This was so very unexpected and awful to Mrs Pipchin's niece, that she sat upright on the hard edge of the bedstead, breathing short, and surveying her informant with looks of undisguised alarm.
對皮普欽太太的侄女來說，這是個十分 出乎意料和可怕的事情，因此她直挺挺地坐在堅硬的牀邊上，急促地喘着氣，露 出毫不掩飾的恐怖的神色，仔細地打量着報告這個消息的人。Mrs Wickam shook her left fore-finger stealthily towards the bed where Florence lay; then turned it upside down, and made several emphatic points at the floor; immediately below which was the parlour in which Mrs Pipchin habitually consumed the toast.
威肯姆大嫂朝着弗洛倫斯躺着的牀悄悄地晃了晃左食指，然後從上往下移動，好幾次着重地指了指地板；地板下面就是客廳，皮普欽太太慣常在那裏吃烤麪包片的。'Remember my words, Miss Berry,' said Mrs Wickam, 'and be thankful that Master Paul is not too fond of you. I am, that he's not too fond of me, I assure you; though there isn't much to live for - you'll excuse my being so free - in this jail of a house!'
“記住我的話，貝里小姐，”威肯姆大嫂說道，“保羅少爺不太喜歡您，您該爲此而感到欣慰。我跟您說實話，因爲他也不太喜歡我，所以我也爲此而感到欣慰；雖然——請原諒我這麼放肆——在這個監獄般的房屋裏活着也沒有多大意思！”Miss Berry's emotion might have led to her patting Paul too hard on the back, or might have produced a cessation of that soothing monotony, but he turned in his bed just now, and, presently awaking, sat up in it with his hair hot and wet from the effects of some childish dream, and asked for Florence.
貝里小姐這時的情緒可能使她拍保羅的背拍得太重了，或者可能她在撫慰他的單調動作中突然休止了一下；不管情況怎麼樣，反正這時候他在牀上轉動着身子，不一會兒醒了，就在牀上坐了起來；由於做了什麼孩子的夢的緣故，頭髮又熱又溼；他呼喚着弗洛倫斯。註釋：expect vt. 期望；指望；認爲；預料
vi. 期待；預期
詞組：
expect too much of 對(某人)期望過高
expect of 對…期望（要求）
expect to do 期待去做；期望做某事
例句：
(1) They expect everything to happen fast.
他們希望一切都快速發生。
(2) So can we expect a credit boom in Germany?
那我們能夠指望德國出現信貸繁榮嗎？
(3) But Pickens says no one should expect that to last.
但皮肯斯表示，沒人會希望這狀況持續下去。
(4) Most experts expect the court to issue a narrow ruling.
大多數專家希望法院給予一個限制性裁決。
(5) You expect that the advice will be in your best interest.
你期望這個建議將會對你產生最好的影響。
(6) We cannot expect that all nations will adopt like systems.
我們不能指望所有國家都採納相同的制度。
(7) So you might expect education laws to be different in each state.
因此，可能會以爲美國各州的教育法都是不相同的。
(8) It would be irresponsible to expect the benign conditions of the past to return.
指望過去那些有利條件會重現的想法，是不負責任的。
assure vt. 保證；擔保；使確信；弄清楚
[ 過去式assured 過去分詞assured 現在分詞assuring ]
詞組：
assure oneself 弄清楚，查明
assure of vt. 向...保證）；查明（使相信
例句：
(1)I assure you they will come soon.
我保證他們一會兒就到。
(2) I assure you (that) there's no danger.
我向你擔保不會有危險。
(3) Assure quality of each batch is good and steady.
保證每批供貨質量都穩定。
(4) I assure you that you'll see your mother very soon.
我向你保證你很快就會見到媽媽了。
(5) We can assure you that we are well experienced in this line.
我們可以向你保證，我們可以在這（生產/銷售）線上做得很好。
(6) We can assure you that we are well experienced in this line.
我們可以向你保證，我們可以在這銷售線上做得很好。
