雙語小說連載:《董貝父子》第六章 Part 10大綱

Mr. Clark stood rapt in amazement: observing under his breath, I never saw such a start on this wharf before. Walter picked up the shoe, and put it on the little foot as the Prince in the story might have fitted Cinderella's slipper on. He hung the rabbit-skin over his left arm; gave the right to Florence; and felt, not to say like Richard Whittington - that is a tame comparison - but like Saint George of England, with the dragon lying dead before him.

克拉克先生驚異得目瞪口呆，低聲說道，“?我在這碼頭上還從沒見過這樣的怪事。”沃爾特撿起鞋子，把它穿在那隻小小的腳上，就像故事中的王子給灰姑娘試穿舞鞋一樣①。他把兔皮掛在左胳膊上，又把右胳膊伸給弗洛倫斯，覺得自己不是像理查德?惠廷頓（那樣的比方太陳腐無奇了），而是像腳下躺着一條死龍的英格蘭的聖徒喬治②。

'Don't cry, Miss Dombey,' said Walter, in a transport of enthusiasm.'What a wonderful thing for me that I am here! You are as safe now as if you were guarded by a whole boat's crew of picked men from a man-of-war. Oh, don't cry.'

“別哭了，董貝小姐，”沃爾特熱情奔放地說道，“對我來說，我在這裏真是一件多麼好的事啊！您現在非常安全，就像由軍艦上最優秀的一隊海軍保護着一樣！啊，別哭了！”

'I won't cry anymore,' said Florence. 'I am only crying for joy.'

“我不再哭了，”弗洛倫斯 說道，“我現在是因爲快樂才哭的。”

'Crying for joy!' thought Walter, 'and I'm the cause of it! Come along, Miss Dombey. There's the other shoe off now! Take mine, Miss Dombey.'

“因爲快樂才哭的！”沃爾特想道，“而我是她快樂的原因！”“我們 走吧，董貝小姐。現在您的另一隻鞋子掉了！您就穿我的鞋子吧，董貝小姐。”

'No, no, no,' said Florence, checking him in the act of impetuously pulling off his own. 'These do better. These do very well.'

“不，不，不，”他性急地要把自己的鞋子脫下來；弗洛倫斯攔住他，不讓他脫；“我穿這雙鞋子更好。這雙鞋子對我很合適。”

'Why, to be sure,' said Walter, glancing at her foot, 'mine are a mile too large. What am I thinking about! You never could walk in mine! Come along, Miss Dombey. Let me see the villain who will dare molest you now.'

“唔，那倒是真的，”沃爾特向她的腳望了一眼，說道，“我的鞋子太長了，長 出一英里。我剛纔怎麼沒想到這一點呢！您穿了?我?的鞋子就根本沒法走路了！我們走吧，董貝小姐，讓我看有哪個壞蛋敢來欺負您！”

So Walter, looking immensely fierce, led off Florence, looking very happy; and they went arm-in-arm along the streets,perfectly indifferent to any astonishment that their appearance might or did excite by the way.

就這樣，看上去無限勇猛的沃爾特領着看上去十分快樂的弗洛倫斯走了；他們手挽手地沿着街道走去；至於他們的樣子在路上是否可能引起人們的驚奇或者實際上已經引起了，他們都毫不在意。

It was growing dark and foggy, and beginning to rain too; but they cared nothing for this: being both wholly absorbed in the late adventures of Florence, which she related with the innocent good faith and confidence of her years, while Walter listened as if, far from the mud and grease of Thames Street, they were rambling alone among the broad leaves and tall trees of some desert island in the tropics - as he very likely fancied, for the time, they were.

天色愈來愈黑，霧愈來愈濃，而且也開始下雨了；但是他們對這些絲毫也不理會，因爲兩人都全神貫注在弗洛倫斯新近的奇遇中了；弗洛倫斯以她那種年齡所特有的天真無邪的真誠與信任敘述着這次奇遇，沃爾特則聽着，彷彿他們根本不是在泰晤士大街上的泥漿與污油中行走，而是單獨在熱帶某個荒島中長着闊葉的高大樹林中散步——當時他很可能想象，他們就是在那樣的情況下散步的。

'Have we far to go?' asked Florence at last, lilting up her eyes to her companion's face.

“我們要走很遠嗎？”弗洛倫斯終於擡起眼睛，望着她的同伴的臉孔，問道。

'Ah! By-the-bye,' said Walter, stopping, 'let me see; where are we? Oh! I know. But the offices are shut up now, Miss Dombey. There's nobody there. Mr. Dombey has gone home long ago. I suppose we must go home too? or, stay. Suppose I take you to my Uncle's, where I live - it's very near here - and go to your house in a coach to tell them you are safe, and bring you back some clothes. Won't that be best?'

“啊！順便說說，”沃爾特停下腳步，說道，“讓我看看，我們在哪裏了？哦，我知道了。不過辦公室都關閉了，董貝小姐。那裏沒有任何人了。董貝先生好久以前就回家去了。我 想我們是不是也應該回家了？要不就留在這裏過夜。要是我把您領到我舅舅的家裏去——他家離這裏不遠，我就住在那裏——，然後我乘馬車到您家裏，告訴他們您安然無恙，再給您帶回一些衣服；那樣是不是最好？”

'I think so,' answered Florence. 'Don't you? What do you think?'

“我想那樣最好，”弗洛倫斯回答道。“您呢？您以爲怎麼樣？”

--------①這是歐洲著名的童話。有一位美麗的姑娘爲後母及異母姐姐 虐待，終日與煤渣爲伴，所以被稱爲灰姑娘。有一天她在仙靈的幫助下，化裝前去參加舞會，被王子愛上了；她在匆忙回家途中掉了一隻鞋子；王子爲了尋找她，就拿着這隻鞋子去讓許多姑娘試穿；她試穿正合適，最後與王子結了婚。②聖徒喬治（Saint George）：英格蘭的保護聖徒，活動時期約在三世紀；據傳說，他曾與一條惡龍搏鬥，殺死了它，並從它的腳爪下救出一位女郎。

註釋：1. pull off 贏得；脫下；努力實現例句：(1). She pull off a great coup in get the president to agree to an interview.她竟然辦到了讓總統同意接受採訪。(2). make [pull off] a great coup獲得大成功(3). He boasts of his ability to pull off a speculation.他得意地說他善於搞投機。(4). There were plenty of places to pull off the highway and be unobserved.有許多地方是遠離公路而不受人注意的。(5). Whatever you do, do not pull off this cap .千萬別把這帽子拉掉。(6). Tell the children not to pull off the bark of the tree.告訴孩子們不要剝樹皮。

2. shut up 住口；關閉；妥藏起來(1). Shut up! I've had enough of that!住嘴!我受夠了。(2). I want this to catch the morning mail, so I must shut up now.我要這信趕上早晨的郵班，所以只得擱筆了。(3). He managed a circus, but when the war came he had to shut up shop.他經營一家馬戲團，戰爭開始後，他只好停止營業了。(4). I think it's about time we shut up shop. We've been at work for six hours.我想我們該停一下，我們已經幹了6個小時了。(5). He's been speaking now for nearly an hour. When is be going to shut up?他現在已講了近一個小時了。他準備什麼時候閉嘴呢？