雙語小說連載:《董貝父子》第一章 Part 2
Doctor Parker Peps, one of the Court Physicians, and a man of immense reputation for assisting at the increase of great families, was walking up and down the drawing-room with his hands behind him, to the unspeakable admiration of the family Surgeon, who had regularly puffed the case for the last six weeks, among all his patients, friends, and acquaintances, as one to which he was in hourly expectation day and night of being summoned, in conjunction with Doctor Parker Pep.
帕克•佩普斯大夫是宮廷醫生當中的一位，在幫助重要家族增添人口方面享有很大的聲譽，現在正把雙手抄在背後，在客廳裏走來走去；家庭醫生對他的欽佩是無法用言語形容的；在過去的六個星期中，他一直在他的病人、朋友和熟人中吹噓現在的這個病例，說他日日夜夜、時時刻刻都等待着和帕克•佩普斯大夫一起被請去進行會診。
“Well, Sir,”said Doctor Parker Peps in a round, deep, sonorous voice, muffled for the occasion, like the knocker; “do you find that your dear lady is at all roused by your visit?”
“Stimulated as it were?”said the family practitioner faintly: bowing at the same time to the Doctor, as much as to say, “Excuse my putting in a word, but this is a valuable connexion.”
Mr Dombey was quite discomfited by the question. He had thought so little of the patient, that he was not in a condition to answer it. He said that it would be a satisfaction to him, if Doctor Parker Peps would walk upstairs again.
“唔，先生，”帕克•佩普斯大夫說道，他那清晰、深沉、洪亮的聲音這時候像被布矇住的門鈴一樣，減弱了；“您去看您親愛的夫人時，您是否發現她被驚醒了？”
“她是否好像受到了刺激？”家庭醫生輕聲說道，同時向帕克•佩普斯大夫鞠丁個躬，好像是說，“請原諒我插了一句話，不過這是個有價值的補充。”
董貝先生被這個問題問得很爲難。他在這之前很少想到過病人，所以不知道該怎麼回答纔好。他說，如果帕克•佩普斯大夫肯再上樓去看看的話，那麼他將十分感激。
“Good! We must not disguise from you, Sir,” said Doctor Parker Peps, “that there is a want of power in Her Grace the Duchess - I beg your pardon; I confound names; I should say, in your amiable lady. That there is a certain degree of languor, and a general absence of elasticity, which we would rather not “See,”interposed the family practitioner with another inclination of the head.
“Quite so,”said Doctor Parker Peps, which we would rather not see. It would appear that the system of Lady Cankaby excuse me: I should say of Mrs Dombey: I confuse the names of cases.
“So very numerous,” murmured the family practitioner can't be expected I'm sure quite wonderful if otherwise. Doctor Parker Peps's West-End practice.
“Thank you,”said the Doctor, “quite so. It would appear, I was observing, that the system of our patient has sustained a shock, from which it can only hope to rally by a great and strong”.
“好！我們不應當向您掩飾真情，先生，”帕克•佩普斯大夫說道，“公爵夫人——請原諒，我把姓名給混淆了；我是想說，您的和藹可親的夫人缺乏精力；有一定程度的虛弱，總的說來，沒有靈活應變的能力，這是我們所不願意——”
“看到的，”家庭醫生插嘴道，同時又低了一下頭。
“完全不錯，”帕克•佩普斯大夫說道，“這是我們所不願意看到的。看來，坎卡貝夫人的體質，對不起，我是想說董貝夫人的體質，我把病人的姓名給混淆了。”
“病人很多很多，”家庭醫生低聲說道，“確實，不可能指望他把他們的姓名全都記得清清楚楚——否則倒是不可思議的了——，帕克•佩普斯大夫在倫敦西區的業務——”
“謝謝您，”大夫說道，“完全不錯。我是說，看來，我們病人的體質經受了一次衝擊，要希望恢復元氣就只有作出很大的、有力的——”
註釋: be a satisfaction to: 讓......十分高興
1. The happy news was a satisfaction to us all.
喜訊傳來, 人人高興。
2. It must be a great satisfaction to have achieved such a goal.
能達到這樣的目標，一定是很大的滿足。
“And vigorous,”murmured the family practitioner.
“Quite so, assented the Doctor and vigorous effort. Mr Pilkins here, who from his position of medical adviser in this family no one better qualified to fill that position, I am sure.”
“Oh!”murmured the family practitioner. “Praise from Sir Hubert Stanley!”
“You are good enough,”returned Doctor Parker Peps, “to say so. Mr Pilkins who, from his position, is best acquainted with the patient's constitution in its normal state (an acquaintance very valuable to us in forming our opinions in these occasions), is of opinion, with me, that Nature must be called upon to make a vigorous effort in this instance; and that if our interesting friend the Countess of Dombey I beg your pardon; Mrs Dombey should not be.”
“Able,”said the family practitioner.
“To make,”said Doctor Parker Peps.
“That effort,”said the family practitioner.
“Successfully,”said they both together.
“Then,” added Doctor Parker Peps, alone and very gravely, a crisis might arise, which we should both sincerely deplore. With that, they stood for a few seconds looking at the ground. Then, on the motion made in dumb show of Doctor Parker Peps, they went upstairs; the family practitioner opening the room door for that distinguished professional, and following him out, with most obsequious politeness.
To record of Mr Dombey that he was not in his way affected by this intelligence, would be to do him an injustice. He was not a man of whom it could properly be said that he was ever startled, or shocked; but he certainly had a sense within him, that if his wife should sicken and decay, he would be very sorry, and that he would find a something gone from among his plate and furniture, and other household possessions, which was well worth the having, and could not be lost without sincere regret. Though it would be a cool ,business-like, gentlemanly, self-possessed regret, no doubt.
His meditations on the subject were soon interrupted, first by the rustling of garments on the staircase, and then by the sudden whisking into the room of a lady rather past the middle age than otherwise but dressed in a very juvenile manner, particularly as to the tightness of her bodice, who, running up to him with a kind of screw in her face and carriage, expressive of suppressed emotion, flung her arms around his neck, and said, in a choking voice,
“My dear Paul! He's quite a Dombey!”
“您這麼說真太客氣了，”帕克•佩普斯大夫說道，“皮爾金斯先生由於擔任這個職務，對病人正常狀態下的體質是最爲了解的（這種瞭解對我們在這種情況下作出診斷是十分寶貴的）；他和我一致的意見是，在目前的情況下，需要求助於生命力來作出勁頭十足的努力；如果我們這位有趣的朋友董貝伯爵夫人——請原諒，董貝夫人真的不——”
“能，”家庭醫生說道。
“成功地作出那樣的努力的話，”帕克•佩普斯大夫說道，“那麼就會出現危急的局面，那是我們兩人都會衷心悲痛的。”
說完之後，他們站在那裏向地上看了幾秒鐘。然後，帕克•佩普斯大夫默不作聲地做了個手勢之後，他們上了樓；家庭醫生巴巴結結、畢恭畢敬地爲那位傑出的專家開了房門，然後跟隨在他後面。
如果說董貝先生聽到這個消息並不感到憂傷的話，那對他是不公道的。可以恰當地說，他不是那種會驚慌失措或感情激動的人；但他內心總是有感覺的；如果他的妻子生了病、倒下去了的話，那麼他是會感到很不愉快的；他會覺得從他的盤子、傢俱和其他家庭用品中間不見了一個什麼東西，而這東西是很值得有的，丟棄它不能不使他感到由衷的惋惜；然而這無疑是冷淡的、照例行事的、紳士式的沉着剋制的惋惜。
不久，首先是樓梯上窸窸窣窣的衣服聲，然後是一位夫人突然急急忙忙地走進了房間，把他在這個問題上的沉思打斷了。這位夫人已經過了中年，但卻穿着得十分年輕，特別是胸衣繃得緊緊的，更顯得這樣；她的面容和姿態中露出一副緊張的神氣，說明她正抑制着內心十分激動的情緒；她跑到他跟前，急忙伸出胳膊，摟住他的脖子，透不過氣來地發出聲音，說道：
“我親愛的保羅！他真正是我們董貝家裏的人哪！”
註釋: be acquainted with: v. 熟悉, 知道, 與...相識
1. Hello, I am very glad to be acquainted with you.
你好，很高興與你認識。
2. You'll need to be acquainted with all the details.
你將需要了解所有的細節。
“Well, well!”returned her brother for Mr Dombey was her brother. I think he is like the family. Don't agitate yourself, Louisa.”
“It's very foolish of me,' said Louisa, sitting down, and taking out her pocket~handkerchief, 'but he's - he's such a perfect Dombey!'
Mr Dombey coughed.
“It's so extraordinary,”said Louisa; smiling through her tears, which indeed were not overpowering, “as to be perfectly ridiculous. So completely our family. I never saw anything like it in my life!”
“But what is this about Fanny, herself?” said Mr Dombey. “How is Fanny?”
“My dear Paul, ”returned Louisa, “it's nothing whatever. Take my word, it's nothing whatever. There is exhaustion, certainly, but nothing like what I underwent myself, either with George or Frederick. An effort is necessary. That's all. If dear Fanny were a Dombey! But I daresay she'll make it; I have no doubt she'll make it. Knowing it to be required of her, as a duty, of course she'll make it. My dear Paul, it's very weak and silly of me, I know, to be so trembly and shaky from head to foot; but I am so very queer that I must ask you for a glass of wine and a morsel of that cake.”
Mr Dombey promptly supplied her with these refreshments from a tray on the table.
“I shall not drink my love to you, Paul,”said Louisa: 'I shall drink to the little Dombey. Good gracious me! - it's the most astonishing thing I ever knew in all my days, he's such a perfect Dombey.'
Quenching this expression of opinion in a short hysterical laugh which terminated in tears, Louisa cast up her eyes, and emptied her glass.
'I know it's very weak and silly of me,' she repeated, 'to be so trembly and shaky from head to foot, and to allow my feelings so completely to get the better of me, but I cannot help it. I thought I should have fallen out of the staircase window as I came down from seeing dear Fanny, and that tiddy ickle sing.' These last words originated in a sudden vivid reminiscence of the baby.
They were succeeded by a gentle tap at the door.
'Mrs Chick,' said a very bland female voice outside, 'how are you now, my dear friend?'
'My dear Paul,' said Louisa in a low voice, as she rose from her seat, 'it's Miss Tox. The kindest creature! I never could have got here without her! Miss Tox, my brother Mr Dombey. Paul, my dear, my very particular friend Miss Tox.'
“唔，唔！”她的哥哥回答道，——因爲董貝先生是她的哥哥——“我覺得他•確•實•是像我們家裏的人。你別太激動了，路易莎。”
“我是很傻，”路易莎坐下，掏出一塊手絹，說道，“不過，不過，他是這麼完完全全地是我們董貝家裏的人呵！我這一輩子還從沒有見到過像這樣的事！”
“可是範妮本人呢？”董貝先生問道，“範妮怎麼樣了？”
“我親愛的保羅，”路易莎回答道，“什麼問題也沒有。請相信我的話，什麼問題也沒有。當然，她筋疲力竭了，不過根本不能跟我生喬治或弗雷德裏克的時候相比。必須作出努力。那樣就行，沒有別的了。如果親愛的範妮像我們董貝家裏的人的話！——不過我想她將會作出努力的；我毫不懷疑，她將會作出努力的。她知道，我們要求她盡這個責任，因此她當然是會作出努力的。我親愛的保羅，我從頭到腳都在哆嗦、搖晃，我知道，我這樣是很軟弱很傻氣的，可是我頭昏眼花得厲害，因此我得求你給我一杯酒和一小塊餅才行。當我下樓來看到親愛的範妮和那個小東西的時候，我想我一定要從樓梯的窗口摔到外面去了。”她最後講到小東西那幾個字時，彷彿是回憶起那個小嬰孩就在眼前而說出來的。
在這之後，聽到了輕輕的敲門聲。
“奇剋夫人，”門外一個很溫柔的女性的聲音說道，“您好嗎，我親愛的朋友？”
“我親愛的保羅，”路易莎從坐位上站起來，低聲說道，“這是托克斯小姐。她是一位善良的人兒！沒有她我怎麼也到不了這裏！托克斯小姐，這是我的哥哥董貝先生。保羅，我親愛的，這是我最要好的朋友托克斯小姐。”
註釋: cannot help: 禁不住; 不得不
1.I cannot help doing so now.
現在我不得不這麼做了。
2.I cannot help doing so under these circumstances.
在這樣的情況下我不得不這樣做。
The lady thus specially presented, was a long lean figure, wearing such a faded air that she seemed not to have been made in what linen-drapers call 'fast colours' originally, and to have, by little and little, washed out. But for this she might have been described as the very pink of general propitiation and politeness. From a long habit of listening admiringly to everything that was said in her presence, and looking at the speakers as if she were mentally engaged in taking off impressions of their images upon her soul, never to part with the same but with life, her head had quite settled on one side. Her hands had contracted a spasmodic habit of raising themselves of their own accord as in involuntary admiration. Her eyes were liable to a similar affection. She had the softest voice that ever was heard; and her nose, stupendously aquiline, had a little knob in the very centre or key-stone of the bridge, whence it tended downwards towards her face, as in an invincible determination never to turn up at anything.
被這樣作了特別介紹的女士是一位身材細長、消瘦的人，姿容衰敗，彷彿她當初不是用亞麻布商人所說的“經久不褪色”的染料染成，而是被逐漸洗去了顏色似的。要不是這一點，她真可以稱得上是殷勤與禮貌的鮮麗化身了。她長期以來養成一個習慣，就是對當面對她所說的一切，她都令人欽佩地熱心聽着，而且看着說話的人，彷彿她心裏正在把他的形象刻印在她的心靈上，直到生命停止之前永遠也不與它分離似的；由於這樣一種習慣，她的頭這時已經歪向一邊。她的手得了一種痙攣性的習慣，彷彿出於情不自禁的欽佩而會自動地舉起來。她的眼睛也容易受到類似的影響。她的聲音是最溫柔悅耳的；她的鼻子是個很大的鷹鉤鼻，在鼻樑的正中間長着一個小小的肉瘤，鼻子從這裏往臉上伸下去，彷彿它已下定了不可動搖的決心，不論在什麼情況下也決不再翹起來似的。
Miss Tox's dress, though perfectly genteel and good, had a certain character of angularity and scantiness. She was accustomed to wear odd weedy little flowers in her bonnets and caps. Strange grasses were sometimes perceived in her hair; and it was observed by the curious, of all her collars, frills, tuckers, wristbands, and other gossamer articles - indeed of everything she wore which had two ends to it intended to unite - that the two ends were never on good terms, and wouldn't quite meet without a struggle. She had furry articles for winter wear, as tippets, boas, and muffs, which stood up on end in rampant manner, and were not at all sleek. She was much given to the carrying about of small bags with snaps to them, that went off like little pistols when they were shut up; and when full-dressed, she wore round her neck the barrenest of lockets, representing a fishy old eye, with no approach to speculation in it. These and other appearances of a similar nature, had served to propagate the opinion, that Miss Tox was a lady of what is called a limited independence, which she turned to the best account. Possibly her mincing gait encouraged the belief, and suggested that her clipping a step of ordinary compass into two or three, originated in her habit of making the most of everything. I am sure,' said Miss Tox, with a prodigious curtsey, 'that to have the honour of being presented to Mr Dombey is a distinction which I have long sought, but very little expected at the present moment. My dear Mrs Chick - may I say Louisa!'
托克斯小姐的衣服雖然完全合乎上流社會的風格，質料也是好的，但卻有些難看和單薄。她習慣在有帶的軟帽上和便帽上裝飾一些奇怪的、枯萎了的小花。在她的頭髮中間有時還可以看到一些奇怪的草。那些富於好奇心的人注意到，她的衣領、褶邊、圍巾、袖口以及其他輕而薄的物品——實際上她所穿的凡是兩端可以連接起來的一切東西——，這兩端的關係從來都不和好，它們一相遇決不會沒有一番搏鬥的。她在冬天穿着毛皮的物品——如斗篷、圍巾、手筒——，那些毛全都暴怒似地根根豎立，一點也不光滑柔軟。她十分喜歡攜帶有按扣的小袋子，當把袋子合上的時候，按扣就像小手槍一樣劈啪直響。當她穿禮服的時候，她在脖子上掛了一個極爲質樸的小金盒，它的形狀是一隻沒有光澤、看不出有任何神情的老眼睛。這些以及其他類似的一些現象使得一種看法流傳開來：托克斯小姐是一位所謂資產有限的女士，她把這點資產充分利用了。她用小步走路的步態可能更促使人們相信這一點，並且使人覺得，她把普通跨度的一步分成兩步或三步，就起因於她有充分利用一切事物的習慣。
“這是真的，”托克斯小姐行了一個不同尋常的屈膝禮，說道，“有幸被介紹給董貝先生認識，這是我久已盼望得到的光榮，可是我千萬沒有料想到就在現在。我親愛的奇剋夫人——
我是否可以稱您爲路易莎？”
註釋: turn up: 發現;出現;開大;發生;捲起
gs will turn up right.
情況會好起來的。
't worry. It's bound to turn up soon.
別擔心。不久機會一定會出現。
up a thermostat and there would be heat.
打開自動調溫器就會暖和起來。
