Within a short walk of Longbourn lived a family with whom the Bennets were particularly intimate. Sir William Lucas had been formerly in trade in Meryton, where he had made a tolerable fortune and risen to the honour of knighthood by an address to the King, during his mayoralty. The distinction had perhaps been felt too strongly. It had given him a disgust to his business and to his residence in a small market town; and quitting them both, he had removed with his family to a house about a mile from Meryton, denominated from that period Lucas Lodge, where he could think with pleasure of his own importance, and unshackled by business, occupy himself solely in being civil to all the world. For though elated by his rank, it did not render him supercilious; on the contrary, he was all attention to every body. By nature inoffensive, friendly and obliging, his presentation at St. James’s had made him courteous.
Lady Lucas was a very good kind of woman, not too clever to be a valuable neighbour to Mrs. Bennet.—They had several children. The eldest of them, a sensible, intelligent young woman, about twenty-seven, was Elizabeth’s intimate friend.
That the Miss Lucases and the Miss Bennets should meet to talk over a ball was absolutely necessary; and the morning after the assembly brought the former to Longbourn to hear and to communicate.
"Oh!—you mean Jane, I suppose—because he danced with her twice. To be sure that did seem as if he admired her—indeed I rather believe he did —I heard something about it—but I hardly know what—something about Mr. Robinson."
"Perhaps you mean what I overheard between him and Mr. Robinson; did not I mention it to you? Mr. Robinson’s asking him how he liked our Meryton assemblies, and whether he did not think there were a great many pretty women in the room, and which he thought the prettiest? and his answering immediately to the last question—Oh! the eldest Miss Bennet beyond a doubt, there cannot be two opinions on that point."
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8
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“一定的!说起来,那的确成了定论啦──看上去的确象是──不过,也许会全部落空呢,你知道。”
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8
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"Upon my word!—Well, that was very decided indeed—that does seem as if——but however, it may all come to nothing you know."
" My overhearings were more to the purpose than yours , Eliza," said Charlotte. "Mr. Darcy is not so well worth listening to as his friend, is he?—Poor Eliza!—to be only just tolerable ."
"I beg you would not put it into Lizzy’s head to be vexed by his ill-treatment; for he is such a disagreeable man that it would be quite a misfortune to be liked by him. Mrs. Long told me last night that he sat close to her for half an hour without once opening his lips."
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11
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“你的话靠得住吗,妈妈?──一点儿没说错吗?”吉英说。“我清清楚楚看到达西先生跟她说话的。”
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11
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"Are you quite sure, Ma’am?—is not there a little mistake?" said Jane.—"I certainly saw Mr. Darcy speaking to her."
"Aye—because she asked him at last how he liked Netherfield, and he could not help answering her;—but she said he seemed very angry at being spoke to."
"I do not believe a word of it, my dear. If he had been so very agreeable he would have talked to Mrs. Long. But I can guess how it was; every body says that he is ate up with pride, and I dare say he had heard somehow that Mrs. Long does not keep a carriage, and had come to the ball in a hack chaise."
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15
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“他没跟郎格太太说话,我倒不计较,”卢卡斯小姐说,“我只怪他当时没跟伊丽莎跳舞。”
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15
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"I do not mind his not talking to Mrs. Long," said Miss Lucas, "but I wish he had danced with Eliza."
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16
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“丽萃,假如我是你,”她母亲说,“我下次偏不跟他跳舞。”
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16
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"Another time, Lizzy," said her mother, "I would not dance with him , if I were you."
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17
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“妈妈,我相信我可以万无一失地向你保证,我怎么也不跟他跳舞呢。”
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17
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"I believe, Ma’am, I may safely promise you never to dance with him."
"His pride," said Miss Lucas, "does not offend me so much as pride often does, because there is an excuse for it. One cannot wonder that so very fine a young man, with family, fortune, every thing in his favour, should think highly of himself. If I may so express it, he has a right to be proud."
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19
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“这倒是真话,”伊丽莎白回答道,“要是他没有触犯我的骄傲,我也很容易原谅他的骄傲。”
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19
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"That is very true," replied Elizabeth, "and I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine ."
"Pride," observed Mary, who piqued herself upon the solidity of her reflections, "is a very common failing I believe. By all that I have ever read, I am convinced that it is very common indeed, that human nature is particularly prone to it, and that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality or other, real or imaginary. Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonimously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us."
"If I were as rich as Mr. Darcy," cried a young Lucas who came with his sisters, "I should not care how proud I was. I would keep a pack of foxhounds, and drink a bottle of wine every day."
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22
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班纳特太太说:“那你就喝得太过分啦,要量给我看见了,我就马上夺掉你的酒瓶。”
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22
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"Then you would drink a great deal more than you ought," said Mrs. Bennet; "and if I were to see you at it I should take away your bottle directly."
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23
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那孩子抗议道,她不应该那样做;她接着又宣布了一遍,说她一定要那样,一场辩论直到客人告别时方才结束。
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23
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The boy protested that she should not; she continued to declare that she would, and the argument ended only with the visit.