雙語小說連載:《董貝父子》第8章 Part 2大綱

Mrs Wickam was a waiter's wife - which would seem equivalent to being any other man's widow - whose application for an engagement in Mr Dombey's service had been favourably considered, on account of the apparent impossibility of her having any followers, or anyone to follow; and who, from within a day or two of Paul's sharp weaning, had been engaged as his nurse. Mrs Wickam was a meek woman, of a fair complexion, with her eyebrows always elevated, and her head always drooping; who was always ready to pity herself, or to be pitied, or to pity anybody else; and who had a surprising natural gift of viewing all subjects in an utterly forlorn and pitiable light, and bringing dreadful precedents to bear upon them, and deriving the greatest consolation from the exercise of that talent.

威肯姆大嫂是一位侍者的妻子——那似乎就等於是任何其他男子的寡婦——；因爲顯然不可能有任何人會去追求她或她會去追求任何人，所以她到董貝先生家裏求職的申請受到了有利的考慮。在保羅突然斷奶以後的一兩天之內，她就被僱用當他的保姆。威肯姆大嫂是一位溫順的女人，皮膚白嫩，眉毛總是向上揚起，頭總是向下低垂；她總是隨時準備憐憫自己或受人憐憫或憐憫其他任何人。她有一份驚人的天賦，就是從極爲絕望與可憐的角度來觀察一切事物，又援引一些可怕的先例來與它們比較，並從這個才能的發揮中得到極大的安慰。

It is hardly necessary to observe, that no touch of this quality ever reached the magnificent knowledge of Mr Dombey. It would have been remarkable, indeed, if any had; when no one in the house - not even Mrs Chick or Miss Tox - dared ever whisper to him that there had, on any one occasion, been the least reason for uneasiness in reference to little Paul. He had settled, within himself, that the child must necessarily pass through a certain routine of minor maladies, and that the sooner he did so the better. If he could have bought him off, or provided a substitute, as in the case of an unlucky drawing for the militia, he would have been glad to do so, on liberal terms. But as this was not feasible, he merely wondered, in his haughty-manner, now and then, what Nature meant by it; and comforted himself with the reflection that there was another milestone passed upon the road, and that the great end of the journey lay so much the nearer. For the feeling uppermost in his mind, now and constantly intensifying, and increasing in it as Paul grew older, was impatience. Impatience for the time to come, when his visions of their united consequence and grandeur would be triumphantly realized.

不需要指出，莊嚴的董貝先生絲毫也不知道她有這個優良的品質。如果他知道了，那才真是令人驚異的，因爲公館裏從來沒有一個人——連奇剋夫人或托克斯小姐也包括在內——敢借任何口實向他低聲說出小保羅有使人感到不安的一丁點理由。他認爲，孩子總難免要通過某些小病小痛的例行過程，通過得愈快就愈好。如果他能出錢使他免受這些病痛，或者可以買一個替身，就像不幸被抽中服兵役時的情形一樣，那麼他就會毫不吝嗇，十分樂意地這樣去做。但由於這是行不通的，所以他只是不時傲慢地心中納悶，大自然這樣安排是什麼意思；並聊以自慰地想，道路上的一個里程碑又走過了，偉大的旅程終點又接近好多了。因爲在他心中壓倒一切的情緒就是急不可耐，這種情緒不斷地變得愈來愈強烈，並隨着保羅年齡的增長愈來愈加深。他曾經夢想他們父子聯合起來就會創建宏偉的業績；他急不可耐地等待着勝利實現這一夢想的時候來到。

Some philosophers tell us that selfishness is at the root of our best loves and affections.' Mr Dombey's young child was, from the beginning, so distinctly important to him as a part of his own greatness, or (which is the same thing) of the greatness of Dombey and Son, that there is no doubt his parental affection might have been easily traced, like many a goodly superstructure of fair fame, to a very low foundation. But he loved his son with all the love he had. If there were a warm place in his frosty heart, his son occupied it; if its very hard surface could receive the impression of any image, the image of that son was there; though not so much as an infant, or as a boy, but as a grown man - the 'Son' of the Firm. Therefore he was impatient to advance into the future, and to hurry over the intervening passages of his history. Therefore he had little or no anxiety' about them, in spite of his love; feeling as if the boy had a charmed life, and must become the man with whom he held such constant communication in his thoughts, and for whom he planned and projected, as for an existing reality, every day.

有些哲學家告訴我們，自私植根於我們最熱烈的愛與最深厚的感情之中。董貝先生年幼的兒子從一開始就作爲他自己的偉大的一部分，或作爲董貝父子公司的偉大的一部分（二者實際上是一回事），對他顯然十分重要，所以他所懷的父愛可以像許多享有盛譽的華麗建築一樣，很容易就能追溯到它的埋得很深的基礎。但他用他所有的愛去愛他的兒子。如果在他的冰冷的心中有一個溫暖的地方，那麼這個地方就被他的兒子佔據着；如果在它的十分堅硬的表面上可以銘刻什麼形象的話，那麼銘刻出來的就是他兒子的形象，雖然這形象與其說是一個嬰兒或是一個小孩，還不如說是一位成年人——董貝父子公司中的“子”。因此，他急不可耐地進入未來，匆匆地跳過了他歷史中的中間階段。因此，他雖然很愛他，但卻很少或根本不替他擔憂；他覺得彷彿這孩子具有驅惡避邪的魔力，?一?定能成長爲他在思想上經常與他進行相互交談的那一位成年人，彷彿這位成年人是個已經存在的實體似的，他每天都爲他制訂計劃，作出打算。

Thus Paul grew to be nearly five years old. He was a pretty little fellow; though there was something wan and wistful in his small face, that gave occasion to many significant shakes of Mrs Wickam's head, and many long-drawn inspirations of Mrs Wickam's breath. His temper gave abundant promise of being imperious in after-life; and he had as hopeful an apprehension of his own importance, and the rightful subservience of all other things and persons to it, as heart could desire. He was childish and sportive enough at times, and not of a sullen disposition; but he had a strange, old-fashioned, thoughtful way, at other times, of sitting brooding in his miniature arm-chair, when he looked (and talked) like one of those terrible little Beings in the Fairy tales, who, at a hundred and fifty or two hundred years of age, fantastically represent the children for whom they have been substituted. He would frequently be stricken with this precocious mood upstairs in the nursery; and would sometimes lapse into it suddenly, exclaiming that he was tired: even while playing with Florence, or driving Miss Tox in single harness. But at no time did he fall into it so surely, as when, his little chair being carried down into his father's room, he sat there with him after dinner, by the fire. They were the strangest pair at such a time that ever firelight shone upon. Mr Dombey so erect and solemn, gazing at the blare; his little image, with an old, old face, peering into the red perspective with the fixed and rapt attention of a sage. Mr Dombey entertaining complicated worldly schemes and plans; the little image entertaining Heaven knows what wild fancies, half-formed thoughts, and wandering speculations. Mr Dombey stiff with starch and arrogance; the little image by inheritance, and in unconscious imitation. The two so very much alike, and yet so monstrously contrasted.

保羅就這樣長到將近五歲。雖然他小小的臉孔有些缺乏血色，神色有些愁悶，這使得威肯姆大嫂意味深長地搖過好多次頭，長長地嘆過好多次氣；但他是個漂亮的小傢伙。從他的性格來看，他在日後的生活中很有希望變得專橫傲慢。他也很有希望懂得他自己的重要性，懂得所有其他事物與人們都能隨從他的慾望，並理所當然地屈服於它。他是孩子氣的，有時還很愛玩愛鬧，並不是一種憂悶不樂的性情；但在另一些時候，他卻有怪僻地、老氣橫秋地靜坐在小扶手椅子中沉思默想的習慣，在這種時候他看上去（或說起話來）就像是神話故事中那些可怕的小妖精，他們已有一百五十歲或二百歲，但卻荒誕古怪地裝扮成他們所已替換了的小孩子。他在樓上的育兒室中常會露出這種過早成熟的神態；有時甚至是在跟弗洛倫斯玩耍的時候或者把托克斯小姐當作一匹馬驅趕着的時候，也會一邊喊着“我累了”，一邊突然陷入這種狀態。當他的小椅子被搬到樓下他父親的房間裏，他和他晚飯後在壁爐旁邊挨近坐着的時候，他準會陷入這種狀態之中；在任何其他時候都比不上在這時候這樣準定使他陷入這種狀態的。這時候，他們是爐火所曾照耀過的最奇怪的一對人。董貝先生身子畢挺，神情十分莊嚴地凝視着火焰；跟他一模一樣的那位小人兒，臉上露出一副老而又老的神態，像聖人一樣全神貫注、一動不動地注視着那紅色的景象。董貝先生心中懷着複雜的世俗的謀略與計劃；跟他一模一樣的小人兒心中懷着天知道什麼荒誕離奇的幻想、沒有定形的思索和飄忽不定的考慮。董貝先生由於古板與傲慢而木然不動；跟他一模一樣的小人兒則由於遺傳和不自覺的模仿而木然不動。這兩個人是多麼相像，然而又形成了多麼奇異的對照。

註釋：1. complexion n. 膚色；面色；情況；局面vt. 使增添色彩sallow complexion 面色萎黃例句：(1). That color suit my complexion.那顏色適合我的膚色。(2). How pale that girl's complexion!那女孩的臉色多蒼白！(3). A person to eat money to see the computer complexion.一個人吃飯的錢就看電腦的面色。(4). William II, known as William Rufus because of his red complexion.威廉二世因其紅潤的面色而被稱爲“紅臉威廉”。(5). Whether it be you think he is closeted, fat, has a bad complexion, etc.你們是否想過他閉不出戶，肥胖，膚色糟糕等等的樣子。(6). Hair and fair complexion, no pigmentation, dull complexion or chlorosis.皮膚白皙，無色素沉着，膚色萎黃或晦暗。(7). Within two hours his complexion took on colour and his limbs became warm.兩個鐘頭不到，他臉上就有了血色，四肢也暖和起來。(8). The brown of her complexion gave way on the cheek to a perceptible flush.這當兒，她那棕色的臉頰上微微泛起一朵紅雲。

2. fall into(1). 落入，陷入，掉進：The boy fell into water and had to be pulled out at once.男孩掉入了水中，必須馬上拉上來。(2). 盲目或無意中陷入(危險或不愉快的境地或狀態)；進入(身心的某種狀態，如昏迷、麻木等)；逐漸地或被動地進入(某種新的狀態或關係)：例句1： Alone in London,without friends,work,or money,Shelley fell into despair.孤身在倫敦，沒有朋友、工作和金錢，謝利陷於絕望。例句2： After all that wine,Father fell into a deep sleep.父親喝了那麼多酒後，就昏昏入睡了。(3). 分成，分裂爲；歸入，屬於：例句1：These problems may fall into three classes.這些問題可以分成三類。例句2：This book falls into the class of children's stories.這本書歸入兒童故事這一類。