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名利场|Vanity Fair

第九章　克劳莱一家的写照|CHAPTER IX Family Portraits

属类： 双语小说 【分类】世界名著 -[作者: 萨克雷] 阅读：[45881]
聪明漂亮的利蓓加出身于贫穷的画师家庭，从小父母双亡，在平克顿女子学校受尽歧视。离校后她凭着美貌和机智，不择手段地猎取金钱，通过投机和冒险，力图挤进上流社会。几经坎坷，几度荣辱，在英国社会的名利场中，她最终还是默默无闻地度日。围绕利蓓加，小说成功地塑造了爱米丽亚、乔治、罗登、乔瑟夫、克劳莱小姐、都宾等人物的形象。[5]原作副题是《没有主角的小说》，这里的人物不是简单化的或好或坏，他们都有着复杂而深刻的内心活动。利蓓加已成为十九世纪初期英国社会的一个女冒险家的典型
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毕脱·克劳莱爵士为人豁达，喜欢所谓下层阶级的生活。他第一次结婚的时候，奉父母之命娶了一位贵族小姐，是平葛家里的女儿。克劳莱夫人活着的时候，他就常常当面说她是个讨人嫌的婆子，礼数又足，嘴巴子又碎；并且说等她死了之后，死也不愿意再娶这么一个老婆了。他说到做到；妻子去世以后，他就挑了墨特白莱铁器商人约翰·汤姆士·道生的女儿露丝·道生做填房。露丝真是好福气，居然做了克劳莱爵士夫人。

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Sir Pitt Crawley was a philosopher with a taste for what is called low life. His first marriage with the daughter of the noble Binkie had been made under the auspices of his parents; and as he often told Lady Crawley in her lifetime she was such a confounded quarrelsome high-bred jade that when she died he was hanged if he would ever take another of her sort, at her ladyship’s demise he kept his promise, and selected for a second wife Miss Rose Dawson, daughter of Mr. John Thomas Dawson, ironmonger, of Mudbury. What a happy woman was Rose to be my Lady Crawley!

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咱们且来算算她福气何在。第一，她和本来的朋友彼德·勃脱断绝了关系。这小伙子失恋伤心，从此干些走私、偷野味和其他许许多多不好的勾当。第二，她和小时候的朋友和熟人一个个都吵翻了；这好像是她的责任，因为这些人是没有资格给请到女王的克劳莱大厦来作客的。同时新环境里和她地位相等的人又不高兴理她。谁高兴呢？

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Let us set down the items of her happiness. In the first place, she gave up Peter Butt, a young man who kept company with her, and in consequence of his disappointment in love, took to smuggling, poaching, and a thousand other bad courses. Then she quarrelled, as in duty bound, with all the friends and intimates of her youth, who, of course, could not be received by my Lady at Queen’s Crawley—nor did she find in her new rank and abode any persons who were willing to welcome her. Who ever did?

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赫特尔斯顿·弗特尔斯顿爵士有三个女儿都想做克劳莱夫人。杰尔斯·活泊夏脱爵士全家的人也因为本家的姑娘没有当选而觉得丢面子。区里其余的从男爵认为同伴玷辱了门楣，大家气不愤。至于没有头衔的人呢，不必提名道姓，让他们唠叨去吧。

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Sir Huddleston Fuddleston had three daughters who all hoped to be Lady Crawley. Sir Giles Wapshot’s family were insulted that one of the Wapshot girls had not the preference in the marriage, and the remaining baronets of the county were indignant at their comrade’s misalliance. Never mind the commoners, whom we will leave to grumble anonymously.

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毕脱爵士一点不在乎，正是他说的，他瞧着这些人一个小钱也不值。他娶了漂亮的露丝，得意得很，别的全不在心上。因此他每晚喝得醉醺醺，有时揍揍他那漂亮的露丝，每逢上伦敦到国会开会的时候，把她孤身一人扔在汉泊郡。可怜她连一个朋友也没有，连牧师夫人别德·克劳莱太太也因为她是买卖人家的女儿，不愿意去拜会她。

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Sir Pitt did not care, as he said, a brass farden for any one of them. He had his pretty Rose, and what more need a man require than to please himself? So he used to get drunk every night: to beat his pretty Rose sometimes: to leave her in Hampshire when he went to London for the parliamentary session, without a single friend in the wide world. Even Mrs. Bute Crawley, the Rector’s wife, refused to visit her, as she said she would never give the pas to a tradesman’s daughter.

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克劳莱夫人最高的天赋是她的白皮肤和红喷喷的脸蛋儿。她没有才干，没有主见，性格又软弱，不但不会做事，而且也不会寻欢作乐。有些蠢得一窍不通的女人往往脾气暴，精力足，她连这点儿能耐都没有，所以不大抓得住丈夫的心。

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As the only endowments with which Nature had gifted Lady Crawley were those of pink cheeks and a white skin, and as she had no sort of character, nor talents, nor opinions, nor occupations, nor amusements, nor that vigour of soul and ferocity of temper which often falls to the lot of entirely foolish women, her hold upon Sir Pitt’s affections was not very great.

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她的红颜渐渐消褪，生过两个孩子之后，身段也不像以前那么苗条好看，到末了只成了丈夫家里的一架机器，和死去的克劳莱夫人的横丝大钢琴一般是多余的废物。她和所有黄头发蓝眼睛的女人一样，因为皮色白，总爱浅颜色的衣服，拖拖拉拉，不整不齐的穿着水绿天蓝的袍儿褂儿。她一天到晚织绒线，或是做类似的活计。几年之内，克劳莱大厦里所有的床上都添了新床毯了。

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Her roses faded out of her cheeks, and the pretty freshness left her figure after the birth of a couple of children, and she became a mere machine in her husband’s house of no more use than the late Lady Crawley’s grand piano. Being a light-complexioned woman, she wore light clothes, as most blondes will, and appeared, in preference, in draggled sea-green, or slatternly sky-blue. She worked that worsted day and night, or other pieces like it. She had counterpanes in the course of a few years to all the beds in Crawley.

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她辟了一个小花园；这花园她很有些喜欢，除此以外也就说不上什么爱憎。丈夫开口骂她，她木头木脑；丈夫伸手打她，她就哭。她连喝酒解愁的勇气都没有，只是成天趿拉着鞋，头发包在卷发纸条儿里，唧唧啾啾的过日子。

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She had a small flower-garden, for which she had rather an affection; but beyond this no other like or disliking. When her husband was rude to her she was apathetic: whenever he struck her she cried. She had not character enough to take to drinking, and moaned about, slipshod and in curl-papers all day.

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唉，名利场！名利场！要不是你，她也许可以过得很乐意。彼德·勃脱和露丝可能是很好的一对儿，带着一家快快乐乐的孩子住在舒服的小屋里，享受自己份内的福气，担当自己份内的烦难，纵然辛苦，却也有希望。可是在我们的名利场上，一个头衔，一辆四匹马拉的马车，比一身的幸福还重要呢。如果亨利第八①和蓝胡子现在还活着，要娶第十个太太，还怕娶不着本年初进交际场的最美丽的小姐吗？

①英王亨利第八（Henry　Ⅷ，1509—47），伊丽莎白女王的父亲，曾娶过六个妻子。
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O Vanity Fair—Vanity Fair! This might have been, but for you, a cheery lass—Peter Butt and Rose a happy man and wife, in a snug farm, with a hearty family; and an honest portion of pleasures, cares, hopes and struggles—but a title and a coach and four are toys more precious than happiness in Vanity Fair: and if Harry the Eighth or Bluebeard were alive now, and wanted a tenth wife, do you suppose he could not get the prettiest girl that shall be presented this season?

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做妈妈的无精打采，痴痴癔癔，两个女儿当然不怎么爱她。女孩儿们倒是在马厩和下房里得到不少快活。好在那苏格兰花匠的妻子儿女都很好，因此她们两个在他家里学得一些规矩，交的伴侣也像样。夏泼小姐到这里来以前，她们的教育不过如此。

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The languid dulness of their mamma did not, as it may be supposed, awaken much affection in her little daughters, but they were very happy in the servants’ hall and in the stables; and the Scotch gardener having luckily a good wife and some good children, they got a little wholesome society and instruction in his lodge, which was the only education bestowed upon them until Miss Sharp came.

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利蓓加怎么会给请去的呢？那全是克劳莱先生力争的结果。全家只他一个人关心克劳莱爵士夫人，时常保护她。她呢，除了自己的孩子之外，就是对他还稍微有一点儿感情。毕脱先生究竟是尊贵的平葛的后代，所以像外婆家的人一样，是个守礼的君子。

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Her engagement was owing to the remonstrances of Mr. Pitt Crawley, the only friend or protector Lady Crawley ever had, and the only person, besides her children, for whom she entertained a little feeble attachment. Mr. Pitt took after the noble Binkies, from whom he was descended, and was a very polite and proper gentleman.

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他成年之后，从牛津耶稣堂大学毕业回家，便着手整顿下房松懈的纪律。他父亲虽然反对，他也不理会，何况他父亲见他也有些怕。他的规矩真大，宁可饿死，不换上干净的白领巾是决不肯吃饭的。

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When he grew to man’s estate, and came back from Christchurch, he began to reform the slackened discipline of the hall, in spite of his father, who stood in awe of him. He was a man of such rigid refinement, that he would have starved rather than have dined without a white neckcloth.

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有一回，他刚从大学回家，佣人头儿霍洛克斯递给他一封信，可是没有把信用托盘托到他面前，他对那佣人瞅了一眼，把他责备了一顿，眼光那么锋利，说话那么严厉，霍洛克斯从此看见他战战兢兢。全家的人没有不服他的。只要他在家，克劳莱夫人的卷发纸条儿早早拿掉了；毕脱爵士的泥污的绑腿也脱去了。不长进的老头儿虽然仍旧保持其余的老习惯，在儿子面前从来不敢尽着喝甜酒喝得烂醉；跟佣人说话的时候，态度也变得很文雅，很检点。大家看得出，只要儿子在屋里，毕脱爵士向来不咒骂妻子。

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Once, when just from college, and when Horrocks the butler brought him a letter without placing it previously on a tray, he gave that domestic a look, and administered to him a speech so cutting, that Horrocks ever after trembled before him; the whole household bowed to him: Lady Crawley’s curl-papers came off earlier when he was at home: Sir Pitt’s muddy gaiters disappeared; and if that incorrigible old man still adhered to other old habits, he never fuddled himself with rum-and-water in his son’s presence, and only talked to his servants in a very reserved and polite manner; and those persons remarked that Sir Pitt never swore at Lady Crawley while his son was in the room.

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克劳莱先生教导佣人头儿每逢吃饭以前报一声“太太，开饭了”。他再三要扶着克劳莱夫人进饭厅。他不大和她说话，不过开口的时候总是必恭必敬。每逢她离开房间的时候，一定要正正经经站起来给她开门，很文雅的躬着身子送她出去。

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It was he who taught the butler to say, "My lady is served," and who insisted on handing her ladyship in to dinner. He seldom spoke to her, but when he did it was with the most powerful respect; and he never let her quit the apartment without rising in the most stately manner to open the door, and making an elegant bow at her egress.

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他在伊顿中学读书的时候，大家叫他克劳莱小姐，而且——我说出来不好意思——常挨他弟弟罗登毒打。他虽然不聪明，可是非常用功，这样就把短处补救过来，实在是值得称赞的。在学校读书的八年里头，他从来没有给老师打过屁股。普通说起来，只有天使才躲得过这种处罚①。

①天使是没有屁股的，十九世纪英国散文家兰姆（Lamb）在《母校回忆录》一文中就曾提到“只有头部和翅膀的小天使”。
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At Eton he was called Miss Crawley; and there, I am sorry to say, his younger brother Rawdon used to lick him violently. But though his parts were not brilliant, he made up for his lack of talent by meritorious industry, and was never known, during eight years at school, to be subject to that punishment which it is generally thought none but a cherub can escape.

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在大学里，他的作为当然非常叫人敬重。他有外公平葛勋爵提携，可以在官场里找事，因此他事先准备，努力不懈的攻读古今演说家的讲稿，又不断的在各个辩论社里演说。

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At college his career was of course highly creditable. And here he prepared himself for public life, into which he was to be introduced by the patronage of his grandfather, Lord Binkie, by studying the ancient and modern orators with great assiduity, and by speaking unceasingly at the debating societies.

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他可以滔滔不绝的讲好些文话儿，他那小声音演说起来也很神气活现，他自己听着十分得意。他的见解感情没一样不是陈腐的老套，而且最爱引经据典的掉拉丁文。按理说，他这样的庸才，正该发迹才是，可是不知怎么，只是不得意。他写了诗投到校刊上，所有的朋友都说他准会得奖，结果也落了空。

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But though he had a fine flux of words, and delivered his little voice with great pomposity and pleasure to himself, and never advanced any sentiment or opinion which was not perfectly trite and stale, and supported by a Latin quotation; yet he failed somehow, in spite of a mediocrity which ought to have insured any man a success. He did not even get the prize poem, which all his friends said he was sure of.

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大学毕业之后，他当了平葛勋爵的私人秘书，后来又做本浦聂格尔①领事馆的参赞，成绩非常出众。回国的时候，带给当时的外交部长好些斯德拉斯堡出产的鹅肝馅儿的饼。当了十年参赞之后（那时平葛勋爵已经死了好几年），他觉得升官的机会很少，不高兴当外交官了，辞了职回到乡下做寓公。

①是个虚构的小公国。原文Pumpernickel本是德文字，是黑麦面包的意思。
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After leaving college he became Private Secretary to Lord Binkie, and was then appointed Attache to the Legation at Pumpernickel, which post he filled with perfect honour, and brought home despatches, consisting of Strasburg pie, to the Foreign Minister of the day. After remaining ten years Attache (several years after the lamented Lord Binkie’s demise), and finding the advancement slow, he at length gave up the diplomatic service in some disgust, and began to turn country gentleman.

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回国以后，他写了一本关于麦芽的小册子，并且竭力在解放黑奴的问题上发表了许多主张，因为他本性要强，喜欢有点儿名气。他佩服威尔勃福斯先生的政见①，跟他交了朋友。他和沙勒斯·霍恩泊洛牧师讨论亚香低传教团的问题，来往的信札是有名的。他虽然不到国会去开会，可是每逢五月，一定到伦敦去开宗教会议。

①威尔勃福斯（WilliamWilberforce，1759—1832），竭力主张解放黑奴的英国政治家。
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He wrote a pamphlet on Malt on returning to England (for he was an ambitious man, and always liked to be before the public), and took a strong part in the Negro Emancipation question. Then he became a friend of Mr. Wilberforce’s, whose politics he admired, and had that famous correspondence with the Reverend Silas Hornblower, on the Ashantee Mission. He was in London, if not for the Parliament session, at least in May, for the religious meetings.

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在本乡，他算判事，常常去拜访那些听不见教理的乡下人，按时给他们讲道。据说他正在追求莎吴塞唐勋爵的三女儿吉恩·希伯香克斯小姐。这位姑娘的姐姐爱密莲小姐，曾经写过好几本动人的传教小册子，像《水手的罗盘箱》和《芬却莱广场的洗衣妇》。

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In the country he was a magistrate, and an active visitor and speaker among those destitute of religious instruction. He was said to be paying his addresses to Lady Jane Sheepshanks, Lord Southdown’s third daughter, and whose sister, Lady Emily, wrote those sweet tracts, ”The Sailor’s True Binnacle,” and ”The Applewoman of Finchley Common.”

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夏泼小姐描写他在克劳莱大厦的工作，倒并没有夸张过度。前面已经说过，他命令全家的佣人参加晚祷，而且再三请父亲同去，倒是有益的事情。

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Miss Sharp’s accounts of his employment at Queen’s Crawley were not caricatures. He subjected the servants there to the devotional exercises before mentioned, in which (and so much the better) he brought his father to join.

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克劳莱教区里有一个独立教徒的派别受他照顾，常到他们会堂里去讲道，使他那做牧师的叔叔大不受用。毕脱爵士因为这缘故高兴得了不得，甚至于听了儿子的话去参加过一两次集会。为这件事牧师在克劳莱教堂讲道的时候恶毒地攻击他，直指着他那哥德式的包座痛骂。这些有力的演说对于老实的毕脱爵士并没有影响，因为讲道的时候他照例在打瞌睡。

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He patronised an Independent meeting-house in Crawley parish, much to the indignation of his uncle the Rector, and to the consequent delight of Sir Pitt, who was induced to go himself once or twice, which occasioned some violent sermons at Crawley parish church, directed point-blank at the Baronet’s old Gothic pew there. Honest Sir Pitt, however, did not feel the force of these discourses, as he always took his nap during sermon-time.

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克劳莱先生为国家着想，为文明世界里的人着想，急煎煎的希望老头儿把国会议员的位子让给他，可是老的不愿意。另外一个代表的位子，目前由一位阔特隆先生占去了，关于黑奴问题，他有任意发言的全权。卖掉了这位子一年可以多一千五百镑的进账。父子两个对银钱看得很重，不肯放弃这笔收入。不瞒你说，庄地上的经济拮据得很，这笔钱在女王的克劳莱很可以一用了。

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Mr. Crawley was very earnest, for the good of the nation and of the Christian world, that the old gentleman should yield him up his place in Parliament; but this the elder constantly refused to do. Both were of course too prudent to give up the fifteen hundred a year which was brought in by the second seat (at this period filled by Mr. Quadroon, with carte blanche on the Slave question); indeed the family estate was much embarrassed, and the income drawn from the borough was of great use to the house of Queen’s Crawley.

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第一代从男爵华尔泊尔·克劳莱在照例行文局舞弊之后，罚掉一大笔钱，至今没有发还，华尔泊尔爵士兴致很高，爱捞钱，也爱花钱。克劳莱先生掉着拉丁文说他“贪求别人的，浪费自己的”①，说着便叹气。华尔泊尔爵士活着的时候，女王的克劳莱大厦里常常酒天酒地的请客，因此他在区里人缘很好。

①罗马历史家萨勒斯特（Sallust）所著《卡的琳传》一书第五节中描写卡的琳的话。
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It had never recovered the heavy fine imposed upon Walpole Crawley, first baronet, for peculation in the Tape and Sealing Wax Office. Sir Walpole was a jolly fellow, eager to seize and to spend money (alieni appetens, sui profusus, as Mr. Crawley would remark with a sigh), and in his day beloved by all the county for the constant drunkenness and hospitality which was maintained at Queen’s Crawley.

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他的酒窖里满是勃根第酒，养狗场上有猎狗，马房里有好马。现在女王的克劳莱所有的马不是用来耕田，便去拉脱拉法尔格驿车。夏泼小姐坐了到乡下来的车子，正是这队马拉的，那天它们恰巧不下地，所以有空。毕脱爵士虽然是个老粗，在本乡很讲究规矩，普通出门总要四匹马拉车子。他吃的不过是煮羊肉，可是非要三个当差的伺候着不可。

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The cellars were filled with burgundy then, the kennels with hounds, and the stables with gallant hunters; now, such horses as Queen’s Crawley possessed went to plough, or ran in the Trafalgar Coach; and it was with a team of these very horses, on an off-day, that Miss Sharp was brought to the Hall; for boor as he was, Sir Pitt was a stickler for his dignity while at home, and seldom drove out but with four horses, and though he dined off boiled mutton, had always three footmen to serve it.

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如果一个人一毛不拔就能够有钱，毕脱爵士一定成了大财主。如果他是乡镇上的穷律师，除了自己的本事之外什么资本都没有，他也许能够好好利用自己的聪明，锻炼成一个有能力的人，渐渐爬上有权有势的地位。不幸他家世太好，庄地虽大，却欠着许多债，对他都是有害无利的。

25
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If mere parsimony could have made a man rich, Sir Pitt Crawley might have become very wealthy—if he had been an attorney in a country town, with no capital but his brains, it is very possible that he would have turned them to good account, and might have achieved for himself a very considerable influence and competency. But he was unluckily endowed with a good name and a large though encumbered estate, both of which went rather to injure than to advance him.

26
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他对法律很有兴趣，每年为此花费数千美元；他自以为精明，不肯把事务全部委托给一个账房，免得上当，所以同时用了十来个账房，而这些人他一个都不相信，结果事情办得一团糟。他是个刻薄的地主，在他手下的佃户，差不多没有一个不是一贫如洗。种地的时候，他吝啬得舍不得多下种子，哪知天地造化也爱报复，只把好收成给器量大的农夫，毕脱爵士田地上从来得不到好收成。

26
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He had a taste for law, which cost him many thousands yearly; and being a great deal too clever to be robbed, as he said, by any single agent, allowed his affairs to be mismanaged by a dozen, whom he all equally mistrusted. He was such a sharp landlord, that he could hardly find any but bankrupt tenants; and such a close farmer, as to grudge almost the seed to the ground, whereupon revengeful Nature grudged him the crops which she granted to more liberal husbandmen.

27
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投机的事情，他一件都不错过：开矿，买运河股票，把马匹供给驿车站，替政府包工。在他区里，他算得上最忙的人，最忙的官。他采办花岗石，不肯多出钱请规规矩矩的工头，结果有四个工头卷了一大笔钱溜到美国去了。

27
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He speculated in every possible way; he worked mines; bought canal-shares; horsed coaches; took government contracts, and was the busiest man and magistrate of his county. As he would not pay honest agents at his granite quarry, he had the satisfaction of finding that four overseers ran away, and took fortunes with them to America.

28
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他的煤矿没有正常的设备，被水淹没了。他卖给政府的牛肉是坏的，政府便把合同掷还给他。至于他的马匹呢，全国的驿车老板都知道他损失的马匹比什么人都多，因为他贪便宜买有毛病的马，又不给它们吃饱。

28
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For want of proper precautions, his coal-mines filled with water: the government flung his contract of damaged beef upon his hands: and for his coach-horses, every mail proprietor in the kingdom knew that he lost more horses than any man in the country, from underfeeding and buying cheap.

29
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他的脾气很随和，全无虚骄之气。说实话，他宁可跟种地的卖马的在一块儿混，不喜欢和他儿子一般的大老爷上等人打交道。他爱喝酒，爱赌神罚誓，爱跟乡下大姑娘说笑话。他一毛不拔，向来不肯做善事，不过嘻嘻哈哈，有些小聪明，人是很有趣的。他今天跟佃户嘻嘻哈哈一块儿喝酒，明天就能出卖他；把偷野味的小贼驱逐出境以前，也能拿出同样的诙谐和犯事的人一起说笑。

29
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In disposition he was sociable, and far from being proud; nay, he rather preferred the society of a farmer or a horse-dealer to that of a gentleman, like my lord, his son: he was fond of drink, of swearing, of joking with the farmers’ daughters: he was never known to give away a shilling or to do a good action, but was of a pleasant, sly, laughing mood, and would cut his joke and drink his glass with a tenant and sell him up the next day; or have his laugh with the poacher he was transporting with equal good humour.

30
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在夏泼小姐说的话里面，我们看得出他对于女人很客气。总而言之，英国所有的从男爵里面，所有的贵族和平民里面，再也找不出比他更狡猾、卑鄙、自私、糊涂、下流的老头儿了。毕脱·克劳莱爵士血红的手①在随便什么人的口袋里都想捞一把，只有他自己的口袋是不能碰的。说来伤心，我们虽然佩服英国的贵族，可是不得不承认，毕脱爵士的名字虽然在特白莱脱的贵族名册里，却的确有那么许多短处。

①红手是从男爵的纹章。
30
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His politeness for the fair sex has already been hinted at by Miss Rebecca Sharp—in a word, the whole baronetage, peerage, commonage of England, did not contain a more cunning, mean, selfish, foolish, disreputable old man. That blood-red hand of Sir Pitt Crawley’s would be in anybody’s pocket except his own; and it is with grief and pain, that, as admirers of the British aristocracy, we find ourselves obliged to admit the existence of so many ill qualities in a person whose name is in Debrett.

31
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克劳莱先生能够叫他爸爸喜欢，多半是经济上的关系。从男爵欠他儿子一笔钱；这钱原是克劳莱先生由母亲那里得来的遗产，如果要还的话，对从男爵不很方便。他最怕花钱付账，对于这件事真是深恶痛绝。如果没有人强逼他，他是再也不肯还债的。

31
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One great cause why Mr. Crawley had such a hold over the affections of his father, resulted from money arrangements. The Baronet owed his son a sum of money out of the jointure of his mother, which he did not find it convenient to pay; indeed he had an almost invincible repugnance to paying anybody, and could only be brought by force to discharge his debts.

32
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夏泼替他计算下来（我们过些时候就会知道，这家子的秘密她已经知道了一大半了），只是为躲债，从男爵一年就得花好几百镑讼费。他认为这是无上趣事，不肯割舍。他叫那些可怜的债主等了又等，法庭一个个的换，案子一期期的拖，该付的钱总不拿出来，他就感觉得一种恶意的快乐。他说，进了国会还得付债还做什么议员呢①？这样看来，他这议员的资格对他用处着实不小。

①按照英国1770年施行的法律，法庭可以传审国会议员，但是不能逮捕或监禁他们。
32
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Miss Sharp calculated (for she became, as we shall hear speedily, inducted into most of the secrets of the family) that the mere payment of his creditors cost the honourable Baronet several hundreds yearly; but this was a delight he could not forego; he had a savage pleasure in making the poor wretches wait, and in shifting from court to court and from term to term the period of satisfaction. What’s the good of being in Parliament, he said, if you must pay your debts? Hence, indeed, his position as a senator was not a little useful to him.

33
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好个名利场！我们且看这个人，他别字连篇，不肯读书，行为举止又没有调教，只有村野人那股子刁猾。他一辈子的志向就是包揽诉讼，小小的干些骗人的勾当。他的趣味、感情、好尚，没有一样不是卑鄙龌龊，然而他有爵位，有名气，有势力，尊荣显贵，算得上国家的栋梁。他是地方上的官长，出入坐了金色的马车。大官儿、大政治家，还要对他献殷勤。在名利场上，他比天才和圣人的地位还高呢。

33
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Vanity Fair—Vanity Fair! Here was a man, who could not spell, and did not care to read—who had the habits and the cunning of a boor: whose aim in life was pettifogging: who never had a taste, or emotion, or enjoyment, but what was sordid and foul; and yet he had rank, and honours, and power, somehow: and was a dignitary of the land, and a pillar of the state. He was high sheriff, and rode in a golden coach. Great ministers and statesmen courted him; and in Vanity Fair he had a higher place than the most brilliant genius or spotless virtue.

34
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毕脱爵士有个同父异母的姐姐，她承受了她母亲的一大笔财产，至今是单身。从男爵想问她借钱，愿意把房产抵押给她，可是她宁可安稳拿着公债，回绝了这项交易。她答应死后把财产分成两份，一半给毕脱爵士的小儿子，一半给牧师家的孩子。有一两回，罗登·克劳莱在大学里和军队里欠下了债，全靠克劳莱小姐拿出钱来了事。所以她到女王的克劳莱来作客，大家都尊敬她。她在银行里的存款，足够使她到处受欢迎了。

34
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Sir Pitt had an unmarried half-sister who inherited her mother’s large fortune, and though the Baronet proposed to borrow this money of her on mortgage, Miss Crawley declined the offer, and preferred the security of the funds. She had signified, however, her intention of leaving her inheritance between Sir Pitt’s second son and the family at the Rectory, and had once or twice paid the debts of Rawdon Crawley in his career at college and in the army. Miss Crawley was, in consequence, an object of great respect when she came to Queen’s Crawley, for she had a balance at her banker’s which would have made her beloved anywhere.

35
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随便什么老太太，银行里有了存款，也就有了身分。如果她是我们的亲戚（我祝祷每个读者都有二十来个这样的亲戚！），我们准会宽恕她的短处，觉得她心肠又软，脾气又好。郝伯斯和陶伯斯律师事务所里的年轻律师准会笑咪咪的扶着她上马车——她的马车上画着斜方形的纹章，车夫是害气喘病的胖子。她来玩儿的时候，你总是找机会让朋友们知道她的地位。

35
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What a dignity it gives an old lady, that balance at the banker’s! How tenderly we look at her faults if she is a relative (and may every reader have a score of such), what a kind good-natured old creature we find her! How the junior partner of Hobbs and Dobbs leads her smiling to the carriage with the lozenge upon it, and the fat wheezy coachman! How, when she comes to pay us a visit, we generally find an opportunity to let our friends know her station in the world!

36
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你说：“可惜不能叫麦克活脱小姐给我签一张五千镑的支票！”你这话真不错。你太太接口道：“她反正不在乎这几个钱。”你的朋友问你说：“麦克活脱小姐是你家亲戚吗？”你做出满不在乎的样子回答道：“是我姨妈。”你的太太不时送些小东西给她，表示亲热。你的女儿不停的为她做绒线刺绣的椅垫、篮子和脚凳罩子。

36
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We say (and with perfect truth) I wish I had Miss MacWhirter’s signature to a cheque for five thousand pounds. She wouldn’t miss it, says your wife. She is my aunt, say you, in an easy careless way, when your friend asks if Miss MacWhirter is any relative. Your wife is perpetually sending her little testimonies of affection, your little girls work endless worsted baskets, cushions, and footstools for her.

37
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她一来，你就在她卧房里生着暖熊熊的火，而你的太太却只能在没火的冷屋子里穿紧身。她住着的时候，你家里收拾得整整齐齐，又舒服，又暖和，一家人都兴致勃发，仿佛在过节。这种空气，在平常是少有的。至于你自己呢，亲爱的先生，饭后也忘了打瞌睡，而且忽然爱玩起纸牌来了，虽然每次打牌你总是输钱。你们吃得多讲究！天天有野味，有西班牙白酒，又不时的到伦敦去定鲜鱼。

37
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What a good fire there is in her room when she comes to pay you a visit, although your wife laces her stays without one! The house during her stay assumes a festive, neat, warm, jovial, snug appearance not visible at other seasons. You yourself, dear sir, forget to go to sleep after dinner, and find yourself all of a sudden (though you invariably lose) very fond of a rubber. What good dinners you have—game every day, Malmsey-Madeira, and no end of fish from London.

38
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因为大家享福，连厨房里的佣人也托赖着沾了光。不知怎的，麦克活脱小姐的胖子马车夫住着的时候，啤酒比往常浓了好些；在孩子的房间里（她的贴身女佣人一天三餐在那儿吃），用去的糖和茶叶也没人计较。我说的对不对呢？不信可以让中等阶级的人帮我说话。

38
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Even the servants in the kitchen share in the general prosperity; and, somehow, during the stay of Miss MacWhirter’s fat coachman, the beer is grown much stronger, and the consumption of tea and sugar in the nursery (where her maid takes her meals) is not regarded in the least. Is it so, or is it not so? I appeal to the middle classes.

39
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哎，老天哪！求你也赏给我一个有年纪的姨妈或是姑妈，没结婚的，马车上有斜方块儿的，头上戴着淡咖啡色的假刘海的；那么我的孩子也能为她做针线袋，我和我的朱丽亚也能把她伺候得舒舒服服。这梦想多么美丽，多么荒唐！

39
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Ah, gracious powers! I wish you would send me an old aunt—a maiden aunt—an aunt with a lozenge on her carriage, and a front of light coffee-coloured hair—how my children should work workbags for her, and my Julia and I would make her comfortable! Sweet—sweet vision! Foolish—foolish dream!

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