对于富人和时尚人士来说,19世纪70年代的纽约社交界充斥着各种规矩:何时应该打黑领带,或者何时适宜进行下午拜访;可以邀请谁参加晚上的聚会,或者听歌剧时可以挨着谁坐;哪些人受欢迎,哪些人不受欢迎。 埃伦·奥兰斯卡伯爵夫人是一位波兰伯爵的妻子,曾在欧洲生活多年,现在孤身一人回到了她在纽约的家。她希望摆脱自己不幸婚姻带来的痛苦,但她不了解纽约社交界的各种规矩。而纽兰·阿彻则深谙于此;他的未婚妻——年轻的梅·韦兰——也按照这些规矩生活着,因为她无法想象还有其他的生活方式。 纽兰、梅和埃伦陷入了一场爱情、名誉和责任的战斗之中。在这场战斗中,礼貌的微笑背后隐藏着强烈的情感,一切尽在不言中,而那穿过拥挤房间的意味深长的一瞥,更是胜过千言万语。 For the rich and the fashionable, New York society in the 1870s was a world full of rules: rules about when to wear a black tie, or the correct time to pay an afternoon visit; rules about who you could invite to your evening parties or sit next to at the opera; rules about who was an acceptable person, and who was not. Countess Ellen Olenska, who has lived for many years in Europe as the wife of a Polish Count, returns alone to her family in New York. She hopes to leave the pain of her unhappy marriage behind her, but she does not understand the rules of New York society. Newland Archer, however, understands them only too well, and the girl he is engaged to marry, young May Welland, lives her life by the rules, because she cannot imagine any other way of living. Newland, May, and Ellen are caught in a battle between love, honour, and duty – a battle where strong feelings hide behind polite smiles, where much is left unsaid, and where a single expressive look across a crowded room can carry more meaning than a hundred words.
《
字+字-页+页-字+字-页+页-
》
1
-
在纽约,人们普遍认为奥兰斯卡伯爵夫人“红颜已衰”。
读书笔记
是否公开
1
-
It was generally agreed in New York that the Countess Olenska had "lost her looks."
She had appeared there first, in Newland Archer’s boyhood, as a brilliantly pretty little girl of nine or ten, of whom people said that she "ought to be painted." Her parents had been continental wanderers, and after a roaming babyhood she had lost them both, and been taken in charge by her aunt, Medora Manson, also a wanderer, who was herself returning to New York to "settle down."
Poor Medora, repeatedly widowed, was always coming home to settle down (each time in a less expensive house), and bringing with her a new husband or an adopted child; but after a few months she invariably parted from her husband or quarrelled with her ward, and, having got rid of her house at a loss, set out again on her wanderings. As her mother had been a Rushworth, and her last unhappy marriage had linked her to one of the crazy Chiverses, New York looked indulgently on her eccentricities; but when she returned with her little orphaned niece, whose parents had been popular in spite of their regrettable taste for travel, people thought it a pity that the pretty child should be in such hands.
Every one was disposed to be kind to little Ellen Mingott, though her dusky red cheeks and tight curls gave her an air of gaiety that seemed unsuitable in a child who should still have been in black for her parents. It was one of the misguided Medora’s many peculiarities to flout the unalterable rules that regulated American mourning, and when she stepped from the steamer her family were scandalised to see that the crape veil she wore for her own brother was seven inches shorter than those of her sisters-in-law, while little Ellen was in crimsonmerino and amber beads, like a gipsy foundling.
But New York had so long resigned itself to Medora that only a few old ladies shook their heads over Ellen’s gaudy clothes, while her other relations fell under the charm of her high colour and high spirits. She was a fearless and familiar little thing, who asked disconcerting questions, made precocious comments, and possessed outlandish arts, such as dancing a Spanish shawl dance and singing Neapolitan love-songs to a guitar. Under the direction of her aunt (whose real name was Mrs. Thorley Chivers, but who, having received a Papal title, had resumed her first husband’s patronymic, and called herself the Marchioness Manson, because in Italy she could turn it into Manzoni) the little girl received an expensive but incoherent education, which included "drawing from the model," a thing never dreamed of before, and playing the piano in quintets with professional musicians.
Of course no good could come of this; and when, a few years later, poor Chivers finally died in a mad- house, his widow (draped in strange weeds) again pulled up stakes and departed with Ellen, who had grown into a tall bony girl with conspicuous eyes. For some time no more was heard of them; then news came of Ellen’s marriage to an immensely rich Polish nobleman of legendary fame, whom she had met at a ball at the Tuileries, and who was said to have princely establishments in Paris, Nice and Florence, a yacht at Cowes, and many square miles of shooting in Transylvania. She disappeared in a kind of sulphurousapotheosis, and when a few years later Medora again came back to New York, subdued, impoverished, mourning a third husband, and in quest of a still smaller house, people wondered that her rich niece had not been able to do something for her. Then came the news that Ellen’s own marriage had ended in disaster, and that she was herself returning home to seek rest and oblivion among her kinsfolk.
These things passed through Newland Archer’s mind a week later as he watched the Countess Olenska enter the van der Luyden drawing-room on the evening of the momentous dinner. The occasion was a solemn one, and he wondered a little nervously how she would carry it off. She came rather late, one hand still ungloved, and fastening a bracelet about her wrist; yet she entered without any appearance of haste or embarrassment the drawing-room in which New York’s most chosen company was somewhat awfully assembled.
In the middle of the room she paused, looking about her with a grave mouth and smiling eyes; and in that instant Newland Archer rejected the general verdict on her looks. It was true that her early radiance was gone. The red cheeks had paled; she was thin, worn, a little older-looking than her age, which must have been nearly thirty. But there was about her the mysterious authority of beauty, a sureness in the carriage of the head, the movement of the eyes, which, without being in the least theatrical, struck his as highly trained and full of a conscious power. At the same time she was simpler in manner than most of the ladies present, and many people (as he heard afterward from Janey) were disappointed that her appearance was not more "stylish" --for stylishness was what New York most valued. It was, perhaps, Archer reflected, because her early vivacity had disappeared; because she was so quiet--quiet in her movements, her voice, and the tones of her low- pitched voice. New York had expected something a good deal more reasonant in a young woman with such a history.
The dinner was a somewhat formidable business. Dining with the van der Luydens was at best no light matter, and dining there with a Duke who was their cousin was almost a religious solemnity. It pleased Archer to think that only an old New Yorker could perceive the shade of difference (to New York) between being merely a Duke and being the van der Luydens’ Duke. New York took stray noblemen calmly, and even (except in the Struthers set) with a certain distrustfulhauteur; but when they presented such credentials as these they were received with an old-fashioned cordiality that they would have been greatly mistaken in ascribing solely to their standing in Debrett. It was for just such distinctions that the young man cherished his old New York even while he smiled at it.
The van der Luydens had done their best to emphasise the importance of the occasion. The du Lac Sevres and the Trevenna George II plate were out; so was the van der Luyden "Lowestoft" (East India Company) and the Dagonet Crown Derby. Mrs. van der Luyden looked more than ever like a Cabanel, and Mrs. Archer, in her grandmother’s seed-pearls and emeralds, reminded her son of an Isabey miniature. All the ladies had on their handsomest jewels, but it was characteristic of the house and the occasion that these were mostly in rather heavy old-fashioned settings; and old Miss Lanning, who had been persuaded to come, actually wore her mother’s cameos and a Spanish blondeshawl.
The Countess Olenska was the only young woman at the dinner; yet, as Archer scanned the smooth plump elderly faces between their diamond necklaces and towering ostrich feathers, they struck him as curiously immature compared with hers. It frightened him to think what must have gone to the making of her eyes.
The Duke of St. Austrey, who sat at his hostess’s right, was naturally the chief figure of the evening. But if the Countess Olenska was less conspicuous than had been hoped, the Duke was almost invisible. Being a well-bred man he had not (like another recent ducal visitor) come to the dinner in a shooting-jacket; but his evening clothes were so shabby and baggy, and he wore them with such an air of their being homespun, that (with his stooping way of sitting, and the vast beard spreading over his shirt-front) he hardly gave the appearance of being in dinner attire. He was short, round-shouldered, sunburnt, with a thick nose, small eyes and a sociable smile; but he seldom spoke, and when he did it was in such low tones that, despite the frequent silences of expectation about the table, his remarks were lost to all but his neighbours.
When the men joined the ladies after dinner the Duke went straight up to the Countess Olenska, and they sat down in a corner and plunged into animated talk. Neither seemed aware that the Duke should first have paid his respects to Mrs. Lovell Mingott and Mrs. Headly Chivers, and the Countess have conversed with that amiablehypochondriac, Mr. Urban Dagonet of Washington Square, who, in order to have the pleasure of meeting her, had broken through his fixed rule of not dining out between January and April. The two chatted together for nearly twenty minutes; then the Countess rose and, walking alone across the wide drawing-room, sat down at Newland Archer’s side.
It was not the custom in New York drawing-rooms for a lady to get up and walk away from one gentleman in order to seek the company of another. Etiquette required that she should wait, immovable as an idol, while the men who wished to converse with her succeeded each other at her side. But the Countess was apparently unaware of having broken any rule; she sat at perfect ease in a corner of the sofa beside Archer, and looked at him with the kindest eyes.
读书笔记
是否公开
15
-
“我想让你对我讲讲梅的事,”她说。
读书笔记
是否公开
15
-
"I want you to talk to me about May," she said.
读书笔记
是否公开
16
-
他没有回答,反而问道:“你以前认识公爵吗?”
读书笔记
是否公开
16
-
Instead of answering her he asked: "You knew the Duke before?"
"Oh, yes--we used to see him every winter at Nice. He’s very fond of gambling--he used to come to the house a great deal." She said it in the simplest manner, as if she had said: "He’s fond of wild-flowers"; and after a moment she added candidly: "I think he’s the dullest man I ever met."
This pleased her companion so much that he forgot the slight shock her previous remark had caused him. It was undeniably exciting to meet a lady who found the van der Luydens’ Duke dull, and dared to utter the opinion. He longed to question her, to hear more about the life of which her careless words had given him so illuminating a glimpse; but he feared to touch on distressing memories, and before he could think of anything to say she had strayed back to her original subject.
读书笔记
是否公开
19
-
“梅非常可爱,我发现纽约没有哪个年轻姑娘像她那样漂亮、聪明。你很爱她吧?”
读书笔记
是否公开
19
-
"May is a darling; I’ve seen no young girl in New York so handsome and so intelligent. Are you very much in love with her?"
读书笔记
是否公开
20
-
纽兰·阿切尔红了脸,笑道:“男人对女人的爱能有多深,我对她的爱就有多深。”
读书笔记
是否公开
20
-
Newland Archer reddened and laughed. "As much as a man can be."
读书笔记
是否公开
21
-
她继续着有所思地打量着他,仿佛不想漏掉他话中的任何一点含义似的。“这么说,你认为还有个极限?”
读书笔记
是否公开
21
-
She continued to consider him thoughtfully, as if not to miss any shade of meaning in what he said, "Do you think, then, there is a limit?"
读书笔记
是否公开
22
-
“你是说爱的极限?假如有的话,我现在还没有发现呢!”
读书笔记
是否公开
22
-
"To being in love? If there is, I haven’t found it!"
读书笔记
是否公开
23
-
她深受感动地说:“啊——那一定是真实的。忠诚的爱情了?”
读书笔记
是否公开
23
-
She glowed with sympathy. "Ah--it’s really and truly a romance?"
读书笔记
是否公开
24
-
“是最最热烈的爱情!”
读书笔记
是否公开
24
-
"The most romantic of romances!"
读书笔记
是否公开
25
-
“太好了!这爱完全是由你们自己找到的——丝毫不是别人为你们安排的吧?”
读书笔记
是否公开
25
-
"How delightful! And you found it all out for yourselves--it was not in the least arranged for you?"
读书笔记
是否公开
26
-
阿切尔奇怪地看着她,面带笑容地问:“难道你忘了——在我们国家,婚姻是不允许由别人安排的?”
读书笔记
是否公开
26
-
Archer looked at her incredulously. "Have you forgotten," he asked with a smile, "that in our country we don’t allow our marriages to be arranged for us?"
读书笔记
是否公开
27
-
一片潮红升上她的面颊,他立即懊悔自己说过的话。
读书笔记
是否公开
27
-
A dusky blush rose to her cheek, and he instantly regretted his words.
"Yes," she answered, "I’d forgotten. You must forgive me if I sometimes make these mistakes. I don’t always remember that everything here is good that was--that was bad where I’ve come from." She looked down at her Viennese fan of eagle feathers, and he saw that her lips trembled.
读书笔记
是否公开
29
-
“非常抱歉,”他冲动地说。“可你知道,你现在是在朋友中间了。”
读书笔记
是否公开
29
-
"I’m so sorry," he said impulsively; "but you ARE among friends here, you know."
"Yes--I know. Wherever I go I have that feeling. That’s why I came home. I want to forget everything else, to become a complete American again, like the Mingotts and Wellands, and you and your delightful mother, and all the other good people here tonight. Ah, here’s May arriving, and you will want to hurry away to her," she added, but without moving; and her eyes turned back from the door to rest on the young man’s face.
The drawing-rooms were beginning to fill up with after-dinner guests, and following Madame Olenska’s glance Archer saw May Welland entering with her mother. In her dress of white and silver, with a wreath of silver blossoms in her hair, the tall girl looked like a Diana just alight from the chase.
读书笔记
是否公开
32
-
“啊,”阿切尔说,“我的竞争者可真多呀;你瞧她已经被包围住了。那边正在介绍那位公爵呢。”
读书笔记
是否公开
32
-
"Oh," said Archer, "I have so many rivals; you see she’s already surrounded. There’s the Duke being introduced."
"Then stay with me a little longer," Madame Olenska said in a low tone, just touching his knee with her plumed fan. It was the lightest touch, but it thrilled him like a caress.
"Yes, let me stay," he answered in the same tone, hardly knowing what he said; but just then Mr. van der Luyden came up, followed by old Mr. Urban Dagonet. The Countess greeted them with her grave smile, and Archer, feeling his host’s admonitory glance on him, rose and surrendered his seat.
读书笔记
是否公开
35
-
奥兰斯卡夫人伸出一只手,仿佛向他告别。
读书笔记
是否公开
35
-
Madame Olenska held out her hand as if to bid him goodbye.
读书笔记
是否公开
36
-
“那么,明天,5点钟以后——我等你,”她说,然后转身为达戈内特先生让出位置。
读书笔记
是否公开
36
-
"Tomorrow, then, after five--I shall expect you," she said; and then turned back to make room for Mr. Dagonet.
读书笔记
是否公开
37
-
“明天——”阿切尔听见自己重复说,尽管事先没有约定,他们交谈时她也没向他暗示想再见他。
读书笔记
是否公开
37
-
"Tomorrow--" Archer heard himself repeating, though there had been no engagement, and during their talk she had given him no hint that she wished to see him again.
As he moved away he saw Lawrence Lefferts, tall and resplendent, leading his wife up to be introduced; and heard Gertrude Lefferts say, as she beamed on the Countess with her large unperceiving smile: "But I think we used to go to dancing-school together when we were children--." Behind her, waiting their turn to name themselves to the Countess, Archer noticed a number of the recalcitrant couples who had declined to meet her at Mrs. Lovell Mingott’s. As Mrs. Archer remarked: when the van der Luydens chose, they knew how to give a lesson. The wonder was that they chose so seldom.
The young man felt a touch on his arm and saw Mrs. van der Luyden looking down on him from the pure eminence of black velvet and the family diamonds. "It was good of you, dear Newland, to devote yourself so unselfishly to Madame Olenska. I told your cousin Henry he must really come to the rescue."
He was aware of smiling at her vaguely, and she added, as if condescending to his natural shyness: "I’ve never seen May looking lovelier. The Duke thinks her the handsomest girl in the room."