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聪明的消遣：毛姆谈英国文学

简·奥斯汀与《傲慢与偏见》 2|Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice 2

属类： 双语小说 【分类】其他读物 -[作者: 毛姆] 阅读：[22338]
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据说简·奥斯汀长相动人，“她的身材颀长苗条，步履轻盈坚定，整个人显得健康、有活力。她的肤色是健康的浅黑色。她的脸蛋圆鼓鼓的，鼻子嘴巴小巧标致，眼睛是明亮的浅褐色，头发是褐色的，自然拳曲，垂在脸颊两侧。”但我看到过的唯一一张简·奥斯汀的肖像，却展示出一个五官毫无特色、眼睛又大又圆、胸部高耸的胖脸年轻女子。当然也可能是画家没画好。

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Jane Austen is said to have been in person very attractive: “Her figure was rather tall and slender, her step light and firm, and her whole appearance expressive of health and animation. In complexion she was a clear brunette with a rich colour; she had full round cheeks with mouth and nose small and well-formed, bright hazel eyes, and brown hair forming natural curls close round her face.”The only portrait of her I have seen shows a fat-faced young woman with undistinguished features, large round eyes and an obtrusive bust; but it may be that the artist did her less than justice.

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简和她姐姐感情很深。从女孩到女人，她们俩总在一起。直到简去世，她们俩都睡同一个卧室。卡桑德拉被送去上学的时候，简也跟着一起去了。哪怕她年纪还太小，还无法从女校教育中受益，但她还是跟着去了，因为离开姐姐她会非常难过。她们的妈妈说：“如果卡桑德拉要被砍头，简也会坚持和她有难同当。”“卡桑德拉比简漂亮，性情更冷淡沉静，不爱公开表露感情，不如简开朗，但她的优点是总能控制住自己的脾气。不过简天生脾气好，她的脾气永远不需要控制。”现存大多数简的信，都是简在两姐妹分离时写给卡桑德拉的。很多简·奥斯汀最热情的崇拜者认为这些信价值不高，认为它们表明简·奥斯汀是个冷淡、没感情的人，认为她的兴趣平凡琐碎。我对此感到吃惊，我认为这些信非常自然。简·奥斯汀绝不会想到除了卡桑德拉以外，还会有其他人读到这些信，因此她告诉姐姐的是她认为姐姐会感兴趣的事。比如人们的衣着如何，自己买的那块印花的平纹细布多少钱，自己新认识了什么人，遇到了哪些老友，以及听到了什么闲话。

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Jane was greatly attached to her sister. As girls and women they were very much together and, indeed, shared the same bedroom till Jane’s death. When Cassandra was sent to school, Jane went with her because, though too young to profit by such instruction as the seminary for young ladies provided, she would have been wretched without her.“If Cassandra were going to have her head cut off, ”said her mother, “Jane would insist on sharing her fate.”“Cassandra was handsomer than Jane, of a colder and calmer disposition, less demonstrative and of a less sunny nature; but she had the merit of always having her temper under command, but Jane had the happiness of a temper that never required to be commanded.”Most of Jane’s letters that have remained were written to Cassandra when one or other of the sisters was staying away. Many of her warmest admirers have found them paltry, and have thought they showed that she was cold and unfeeling and that her interests were trivial. I am surprised. They are very natural. Jane Austen never imagined that anyone but Cassandra would read them, and she told her just the sort of things that she knew would interest her. She told her what people were wearing, and how much she had paid for the flowered muslin she had bought, what acquaintances she had made, what old friends she had met and what gossip she had heard.

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近年来出版了一些名作家的书信集。我展卷拜读时，时不时会产生一种怀疑：在这些作家的脑海中是不是想过将来有一天自己的通信会被出版。当我知道他们还留有信的副本时，我的怀疑就变成了确信。安德烈·纪德想出版他和克洛岱尔(3)的通信，克洛岱尔可能不想出，就说他手里纪德的信都毁了，纪德却说没关系，他还有副本。纪德还告诉我们，当他发现妻子把他写给她的情书都烧了时，他哭了一星期，因为他认为这些情书是他文学成就的巅峰之作，是他能否吸引后世注意的主要凭证。狄更斯更是每遇外出旅行，就会给朋友写长信，洋洋洒洒地描写他所见到的风景。正如他的第一个传记作者约翰·福斯特所说的那样，这些信一字不改就可直接出版。那时的人似乎更有耐心。可是，如果你收到朋友来信，信里诗情画意地给你描写山川峰峦和纪念碑，可你更想知道的却是他是否遇到了什么有趣的人，是否参加了什么聚会，是否给你买了你希望他捎回来的书、领带或手绢，那么收到这样信的你只会失望。

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Of late years, several collections of letters by eminent authors have been published, and for my part, when I read them, I am now and then disposed to suspect that the writers had at the back of their minds the notion that one day they might find their way into print. And when I learn that they had kept copies of their letters, the suspicion is changed into certainty. When André Gide wished to publish his correspondence with Claudel, and Claudel, who perhaps didn’t wish it to be published, told him that Gide’s letters had been destroyed, Gide answered that it was no matter as he had kept copies of them. André Gide has told us himself that when he discovered that his wife had burned his love letters to her, he cried for a week, since he had looked upon them as the summit of his literary achievement and his chief claim on the attention of posterity. Whenever Dickens went on a journey, he wrote long letters to his friends in which he described eloquently the sights he had seen; and which, as John Forster, his first biographer, justly observes, might well have been printed without the alteration of a single word. People were more patient in those days; still, one would have thought it a disappointment to receive a letter from your friend, who gave you word pictures of mountains and monuments when you would have been glad to know whether he had run across anyone of interest, what parties he had been to and whether he had been able to get you the books, neck-cloths or handkerchiefs you had asked him to bring home.

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在写给卡桑德拉的一封信中，简说：“我现在已经掌握了真正的书信艺术。我们总是被告知，书信艺术就是用笔把你想当面说的话写下来。我在这封信里已经尽我所能地和你用最快的速度说话了。”她当然是对的，这就是写信的艺术。她轻松完美地掌握了这门艺术。既然她说她谈话就如她写信一般，而她的信中又充满了机智幽默、辛辣讽刺、诙谐刻薄的妙语，那么我们就可以肯定她的谈话也是令人愉快的。她的每一封信都有引人发笑的趣语。以下我将举例说明她的风格，以博诸君一笑：

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In one of her letters to Cassandra, Jane said: “I have now attained the true art of letter-writing, which we are always told is to express on paper exactly what one would say to the same person by word of mouth. I have been talking to you almost as fast as I could the whole of this letter.”Of course she was quite right; that is the art of letter-writing. She attained it with consummate ease, and since she says that her conversation was exactly like her letters, and her letters are full of witty, ironical and malicious remarks, we may be pretty sure that her conversation was delightful. She hardly ever wrote a letter that had not a smile or a laugh in it, and for the delectation of the reader I will give some examples of her manner:

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贫穷是单身女子容易有的一种可怕倾向，可这也正是她需要结婚的强大理由。

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Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor, which is one very strong argument in favour of matrimony.

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想想吧，赫德太太死了！可怜的女人，她做了这世界上唯一一件她能做而不让人骂的事。

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Only think of Mrs. Holder being dead! Poor woman, she has done the only thing in the world she could possibly do to make one cease to abuse her.

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谢尔本镇的黑尔太太昨晚因惊吓产下了一名死婴，生产时间比预产期早了数周。我猜这是因为她一不留神看了她丈夫一眼。

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Mrs. Hale, of Sherborne, was brought to bed yesterday of a dead child, some weeks before she expected, owing to a fright. I suppose she happened unawares to look at her husband.

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我们目睹了W．K．太太的死。我不知道有谁喜欢她，因此对她的“未亡人”也不抱同情，但是现在，我正为她丈夫的缘故感伤，觉得他还不如娶夏普小姐。

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The death of Mrs. W. K. we had seen. I had no idea that anybody liked her, and therefore felt nothing for any survivor, but I am now feeling away on her husband’s account and think he had better marry Miss Sharpe.

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我钦佩张伯伦太太头发做得好，但是比这更亲切的情感，我就感受不到了。朗利小姐就好像所有宽鼻大嘴、衣着时髦、袒胸露乳的矮个女孩一样。斯坦赫普上将颇具绅士风度，只不过他的腿太短，尾巴(4)又太长。

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I respect Mrs. Chamberlayne for doing her hair well, but cannot feel a more tender sentiment. Miss Langley is like any other short girl with a broad nose and wide mouth, fashionable dress and exposed bosom. Admiral Stanhope is a gentlemanlike man, but then his legs are too short and his tail too long.

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伊莱莎(5)在巴顿见到了克雷文爵爷，这会儿可能又在坎特伯雷见了他一次，因为据说本周某天他们约好了他会去那里。她觉得他的风度非常怡人，唯一不怡人的一点似乎是他现今有个情人和他同住在艾什顿庄园。

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Eliza has seen Lord Craven at Barton, and probably by this time at Kentbury, where he was expected for one day this week. She found his manners very pleasing indeed. The little flaw of having a mistress now living with him at Ashdown Park seems to be the only unpleasing circumstance about him.

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W．先生大约二十五六岁年纪，长得不难看，但也不讨人喜欢。当然他也没有头衔。他有种冷静的绅士做派，可是非常沉默。他们说他叫亨利，这说明命运的赐予是多么不公。我见过很多约翰和托马斯，都比他讨人喜欢。

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Mr. W. is about five or six and twenty, not ill-looking and not agreeable. He is certainly no addition. A sort of cool, gentlemanlike manner, but very silent. They say his name is Henry, a proof how unequally the gifts of fortune are bestowed. I have seen many a John and Thomas much more agreeable.

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理查德·哈维太太要结婚了，这可是个大秘密，只有一半街坊知道，你千万别说。

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Mrs. Richard Harvey is going to be married, but as it is a great secret, and only known to half the neighbourhood, you must not mention it.

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黑尔医生的哀悼如此深切，一定是他母亲、他妻子或他本人死了。

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Dr. Hale is in such very deep mourning that either his mother, his wife or himself must be dead.

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简·奥斯汀喜欢跳舞，以下是她向卡桑德拉描述的她去过的一些舞会：

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Miss Austen was fond of dancing and she gave Cassandra an account of the balls she went to:

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只有十二支舞，我跳了九支，只因为缺少舞伴才没跳剩下那三支。

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There were only twelve dances, of which I danced nine, and was merely prevented from dancing the rest by want of a partner.

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有一位绅士，是个柴郡的军官，人年轻，长得还帅。有人跟我说，他很想让人介绍跟我认识。但是因为他的愿望还没有强烈到不怕麻烦去采取行动的地步，因此我们最终也没能认识。

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There was one gentleman, an officer of the Cheshire, a very good-looking young man, who, I was told, wanted very much to be introduced to me; but as he did not want it quite enough to take much trouble in effecting it, we never could bring it about.

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美人不多，有也不美。艾尔蒙格(6)小姐看起来气色不佳，布兰特(7)太太是唯一比较受人欣赏的。她还和九月的时候一样，还是大脸、肥颈、钻石束发带、白鞋，有个皮色粉红的丈夫。

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There were few beauties, and such as there were, were not very handsome. Miss Iremonger did not look well and Mrs. Blunt was the only one much admired. She appeared exactly as she did in September, with the same broad face, diamond bandeau, white shoes, pink husband and fat neck.

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查尔斯·波莱特周四开了个舞会，让他所有的邻居都大感不安。你知道他们当然都对他的经济状况无比感兴趣，都巴不得他赶紧破产。他妻子正如所有人希望的那样：愚蠢、易怒、放肆。

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Charles Powlett gave a dance on Thursday to the great disturbance of all his neighbours, of course, who you know take a most lively interest in the state of his finances, and live in hopes of his being soon ruined. His wife is discovered to be everything that the neighbourhood would wish her to be, silly and cross as well as extravagant.

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一次，简的一个亲戚让人传了闲话。事情牵扯到一位芒特博士，因为他的所作所为，他妻子回了娘家。奥斯汀对此写道：“但是因为芒特博士是个牧师，因此他俩的感情哪怕再不道德，也有一种端庄的姿态。”

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A relation of the Austens seems to have given occasion to gossip owing to the behaviour of a certain Dr. Mant, behaviour such that his wife retired to her mother’s, whereupon Jane wrote: “But as Dr. M. is a clergyman their attachment, however immoral, has a decorous air.”

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奥斯汀牙尖嘴利，幽默感惊人。她喜欢笑，也喜欢惹人发笑。一个幽默家想到一件趣事憋着不说是不可能的。而且，老天知道，想要幽默而有时又没点恶毒也是不行的。人类的恻隐之心很难让人感到兴奋。简对他人的荒唐、自负、做作和虚伪有一种敏锐的感知力，他们使她感到好笑而不是恼怒，这是她令人称道之处。她太善良，不会当面对人说一些使人痛苦的话，但她当然也觉得拿他们开开玩笑，让自己和卡桑德拉乐一乐也没什么不好。我即使在她最刻薄的话里也没听出居心不良，她的幽默是建立在观察和天赋的基础上的，幽默本该如此。可是如有需要，她也可以严肃。她哥哥爱德华·奥斯汀虽然从托马斯·奈特那里继承了肯特郡和汉普郡的产业，但大多数时候都住在坎特伯雷附近的哥德莫山姆庄园，简和卡桑德拉经常来此轮流小住，有时一住就是三个月。爱德华的长女范妮是简最喜欢的侄女，她后来嫁给了爱德华·纳奇布尔爵士，生的儿子受封为贵族，成了布雷伯恩爵爷，就是他第一个出版了奥斯汀的通信集。集子里有两封信是简写给范妮的，范妮那时还年轻，正在考虑如何应对一个想求娶她的年轻人。这两封信写得很好，既有冷静的理智也有温柔的情感。

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Miss Austen had a sharp tongue and a prodigious sense of humour. She liked to laugh, and she liked to make others laugh. It is asking too much of the humorist to expect him—or her—to keep a good thing to himself when he thinks of it. And, heaven knows, it is hard to be funny without being sometimes a little malicious. There is not much kick in the milk of human kindness. Jane had a keen appreciation of the absurdity of others, their pretensions, their affectations and their insincerities; and it is to her credit that they amused rather than annoyed her. She was too amiable to say things to people that would pain them, but she certainly saw no harm in amusing herself at their expense with Cassandra. I see no ill nature even in the most biting of her remarks; her humour was based, as humour should be, on observation and mother-wit. But when there was occasion for it, Miss Austen could be serious. Though Edward Austen inherited from Thomas Knight estates in Kent and in Hampshire, he lived for the most part at Godmersham Park, near Canterbury, and here Cassandra and Jane came in turn to stay, sometimes for as long as three months. His eldest daughter, Fanny, was Jane’s favourite niece. She eventually married Sir Edward Knatchbull, whose son was raised to the peerage and assumed the title of Lord Brabourne. It was he who first published Jane Austen’s letters. There are two which she wrote to Fanny, when that young person was considering how to cope with the attentions of a young man who wanted to marry her. They are admirable both for their cool sense and their tenderness.

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几年前，彼得·昆纳在《康希尔杂志》发表了一封那时已是纳奇布尔夫人的范妮很多年后写给她妹妹莱斯太太的信，信中提到她们著名的姑妈，这封信着实令奥斯汀的很多崇拜者吃了一惊。它既令人吃惊，又极具那个时代的特色，因此在获得了已故布雷伯恩爵爷的许可后，我把信附在了此处。信中的画线处(8)是原作者所为。因为爱德华·奥斯汀一八一二年改姓了奈特，因此此处须指出，纳奇布尔夫人信中所指的奈特太太是托马斯·奈特的遗孀。从这封信的开头可以判断，关于她们的姑姑是否“文雅”，莱斯太太听到了一些议论，她感到不安，于是写信向姐姐询问传言是否为实。纳奇布尔夫人如此回复：

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It was a shock to Jane Austen’s many admirers when, a few years ago, Mr. Peter Quennell published in The Cornhill a letter which Fanny, by this time Lady Knatchbull, many years later wrote to her younger sister, Mrs. Rice, in which she spoke of her famous aunt. It is so surprising, but so characteristic of the period that, having received permission from the late Lord Brabourne to do so, I here reprint it. The italics mark the words the writer underlined. Since Edward Austen in 1812 changed his name to Knight, it may be worth while to point out that the Mrs. Knight Lady Knatchbull refers to is the widow of Thomas Knight. From the way the letter begins, it is evident that Mrs. Rice was uneasy about some things she had heard that reflected on her Aunt Jane’s gentility, and had written to enquire whether they were by any frightful chance true. Lady Knatchbull replied as follows:

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是的，我的爱，简姑姑因为诸多条件所限，没能达到她的才能所应达到的文雅。假如她能多活五十年，她将在很多方面更加符合我们更为文雅的品味。她们没有钱，身边与之交往的人也绝不高贵，或者简言之，只是些平庸之辈。她们自己虽然智力和学识超群，但在文雅方面，却和这些平庸之辈处于同一水平。不过我认为，她们后来与奈特太太的交往提升了她们的素质，奈特太太很喜欢她们，对她们很友善。简姑姑那么聪明，不会不知道要撇开自身所有那些可能让人觉得“平庸”（如果可以用这个词的话）的迹象，教会自己至少在与人交往时要更文雅些。两位姑姑（卡桑德拉和简）都是在对上流社会及其方式（我指时尚等）毫不知情的情况下被抚养长大的。如果不是因为爸爸的婚姻把她们带到了肯特，给她们带来了奈特太太的善良——奈特太太是会经常轮流请她们做客的——她们将会远远低于上流社会的标准，哪怕她们本人仍然聪明亲切。如果你讨厌这一切，我请你原谅，但我感到这一切涌到我的笔端，似乎自动前来，告知真相。现在差不多是更衣时间了……

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Yes my love it is very true that Aunt Jane from various circumstances was not so refined as she ought to have been from her talent, and if she had lived fifty years later she would have been in many respects more suitable to our more refined tastes. They were not rich＆the people around with whom they chiefly mixed, were not at all high bred, or in short anything more than mediocre＆they of course tho’ superior in mental powers＆cultivation were on the same level as far as refinement goes—but I think in later life their intercourse with Mrs. Knight (who was very fond＆kind to them) improved them both＆Aunt Jane was too clever not to put aside all possible signs of“commonness”(if such an expression is allowable)＆teach herself to be more refined at least in intercourse with people in general. Both the aunts (Cassandra and Jane) were brought up in the most complete ignorance of the World＆its ways (I mean as to fashion etc.)＆if it had not been for Papa’s marriage which brought them into Kent, ＆the kindness of Mrs. Knight, who used often to have one or other of the sisters staying with her, they would have been, tho’ not less clever and agreeable in themselves, very much below par as to good society and its ways. If you hate all this I beg yr’ pardon, but I felt it at my pen’s end＆it chose to come along＆speak the truth. It is now nearly dressing time…

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我是你永远亲爱的、最友爱的

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…I am ever beloved Sister yours most affec.

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姐姐F．C．K．

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F.C.K.

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这封信激起了奥斯汀信徒的义愤，他们宣称纳奇布尔夫人写信时已经老迈昏庸了。但是这封信里丝毫没有老迈昏庸的迹象。何况莱斯太太如果觉得她姐姐身体状况无法回答提问，自然也不会写信向她询问。在奥斯汀的信徒看来，范妮简直忘恩负义，简那样宠她，她却这么说简。孩子看父母和长辈，不像父母和长辈看孩子一样怀有同等程度的爱，这很遗憾，但这是事实。父母和长辈如果对此怀有期待的话，那也很不明智。我们都知道简终生未婚，她给范妮的是她如果结婚会给自己孩子的母爱。她很爱孩子，孩子们也最喜欢她。他们喜欢她活泼好玩，喜欢她讲的那些长长的细节详尽的故事。她和范妮成了挚友，范妮可以跟她说可能无法跟父母说的话，因为她父亲已经变成了一名乡绅，整天忙于那些属于乡绅的事，而她母亲则在不断怀孕生产。可是孩子们的眼睛是敏锐的，很容易做出残酷的判断。爱德华·奥斯汀继承了哥德莫山姆和查顿，他就飞黄腾达了，他的婚姻也使他和郡里那些最好的家族建立起了联系。我们不知道简和卡桑德拉如何看待嫂子。查普曼博士还宽容地暗示，妻子的死使爱德华感到“他应该为母亲和妹妹多做点什么，这促使他向她们奉献自己产业上的一幢村舍供她们居住”。而事实上，他很早就拥有了这些产业，有十二年之久了。在我看来，更有可能的情况是，他妻子认为只要他们时不时地请婆家人来住一住，就已经为婆家人做得足够多了，因此并不欢迎她们永久定居在自己家门口。是她的死给了他自由，让他能按自己的意志处理自己的财产。如果情况果真如此，那就逃不过简锐利的眼睛，就有可能启发了简，写下了《理智与情感》中那些描述约翰·达什伍德如何对待继母及继妹的段落。简和卡桑德拉是穷亲戚，如果她们受邀去和有钱的哥嫂常住，去坎特伯雷陪奈特太太常住，去古德尼斯通陪布里奇夫人——她们嫂子的妈妈——常住，那么她们的东道主就不可能对这种善意无知无觉。我们很少有人能在为别人做好事的同时自己却毫无所获。每次简去陪伴奈特老太太，后者总会在陪伴结束时给她点“小费”，而简也总是乐意接受。在一封给卡桑德拉的信中，简说爱德华哥哥给了她和范妮一人五镑。五镑给一个还没长大的女儿是个可爱的小礼物，给家庭女教师是仁慈，给妹妹就是居高临下了。

25
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This letter has excited the indignation of Jane’s devotees, and they have claimed that Lady Knatchbull was senile when she wrote it. There is nothing in the letter to suggest that; nor, surely, would Mrs. Rice have written to make the enquiry had she thought her sister in no condition to answer it. It has seemed to the devotees dreadfully ungrateful that Fanny, whom Jane doted on, should have expressed herself in such terms. There they show themselves ingenuous. It is regrettable, but it is a fact, that children do not look upon their parents, or their relations belonging to another generation, with the same degree of affection as their parents, or relations, look upon them. Parents and relations are very unwise to expect it. Jane, as we know, never married, and she gave Fanny something of the mother-love she would, had she married, have bestowed on her own children. She was fond of children, and was a favourite with them; they liked her playful ways and the long circumstantial stories she told them. She and Fanny became fast friends. Fanny could talk to her in a way that perhaps she couldn’t with her father, occupied with the pursuits of the country squire that he had become, or with her mother, who was continuously giving birth to offspring. But children have sharp eyes, and are apt to judge cruelly. When Edward Austen inherited Godmersham and Chawton, he rose in the world, and his marriage allied him with the best families of the County. We know nothing of what Jane and Cassandra thought of his wife. Dr. Chapman tolerantly suggests that it was her loss which made Edward feel“that he ought to do more for his mother and sisters, and induced him to offer them a cottage on one or other of his estates.”He had been in possession of them for twelve years. It seems to me more likely that his wife thought they did enough for the members of his family if they were asked at intervals to pay them visits, and did not welcome the notion of having them permanently settled on her doorstep; and it was her death that freed him to do what he liked with his own property. If this were so, it cannot have escaped Jane’s sharp eyes, and may well have suggested those passages in Sense and Sensibility in which she describes John Dashwood’s treatment of his stepmother and her daughters. Jane and Cassandra were poor relations. If they were asked to spend long periods with their rich brother and his wife, with Mrs. Knight at Canterbury, with Lady Bridges, Elizabeth Knight’s mother, at Goodnestone, it was a kindness of which their hosts were not improbably conscious. Few of us are so well constituted that we can do others a good turn without taking some credit to ourselves. When Jane went to stay with the elder Mrs. Knight, she always gave her a“tip”at the end of her visit, which Jane accepted with alacrity, and in one of her letters to Cassandra she tells her that her brother Edward had given Fanny and her a present of five pounds. Quite a nice little present to give to a young daughter, kindly to give to a governess, but only patronizing to give to a sister.

26
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我很肯定奈特太太、布里奇夫人、爱德华和他妻子都对简很好，都喜欢她，他们怎么可能不呢，但他们仍有可能觉得这两个妹妹是达不到上流社会的标准的，如此假设并非不合理。姐妹俩都很土气。十八世纪时，那些从没离开过乡村和那些每年至少在伦敦住些时日的人之间仍有很大差距，这个差距给喜剧作家们提供了最丰富的创作素材。《傲慢与偏见》中，宾利姐妹鄙视班尼特姐妹的不时髦；可另一方面，伊丽莎白·班尼特也觉得她们做作，对此很不耐烦。实际上班尼特姐妹比奥斯汀姐妹的社会地位还高一个等级，因为班尼特先生虽不富裕，却拥有土地，而尊敬的乔治·奥斯汀却只是个贫穷的乡村牧师。

26
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I am sure that Mrs. Knight, Lady Bridges, Edward and his wife, were very kind to Jane, and liked her, as how could they fail to, but it is not unreasonable to suppose that they thought the two sisters not quite up to the mark. They were provincial. There was still in the eighteenth century a good deal of difference between the people who lived for at least part of the year in London and those who never left the country. The difference provided the writers of comedy with their most fruitful material. Bingley’s sisters in Pride and Prejudice despised the Misses Bennet for their want of style, and Elizabeth Bennet on the other hand, had little patience for what she considered their affectations. The Misses Bennet were a step higher in the social scale than the Misses Austen, because Mr. Bennet was a landed proprietor, though not a rich one, whereas the Rev. George Austen was a poor country parson.

27
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如果说这样的家教，造成简在肯特郡的贵族淑女们眼中稍微缺了点文雅，那也不算什么稀奇。如果简确实如此，而这又逃过了范妮敏锐的眼睛，我们可以肯定范妮的妈妈也会予以指出。简为人坦率直言，我敢说她经常放纵她率直的幽默感，令那些毫无幽默感的女士无法欣赏。如果她告诉她们她在信里写给卡桑德拉的那些话，说她对谁是通奸女有很强的鉴别能力，那我们大可想象这些女士的尴尬。简生于一七七五年，离《汤姆·琼斯》的出版只不过过去了二十五年，没理由假设在这期间农村的风气就大变了。简的行为举止很可能就像纳奇布尔夫人五十年后说的那样，“远不及上流社会的标准”。从纳奇布尔夫人所说的话进行判断，简去坎特伯雷和奈特太太做伴时，老太太可能暗示过她怎样的行为举止才能让她显得更“文雅”些。很可能正因如此，她才在小说里如此重视良好的教养。今天，像她一样写同一阶层的小说家们可能早就把这点看成理所当然了。就我个人而言，我看不出纳奇布尔夫人的信有何不妥。她的话自笔端“自动前来，告知真相”。这又怎么了？如果有人猜测简说话带有汉普郡口音，举止缺乏某种文雅，穿着家里做的衣服，品味很差，我也丝毫不觉得被冒犯。我们确实从卡罗琳·奥斯汀(9)的《回忆录》中得知，她家人都认为，姐妹俩虽然对穿着很感兴趣，穿得却并不好，但是没说到底是土气还是不合适。写过回忆简·奥斯汀文章的家里人也都小心翼翼地对此赋予比事实更多的社会意义，但这是不必要的。简·奥斯汀一家是值得尊敬的、诚实的好人，属于中上阶层的边缘。如果她家的地位能更稳固些，他们说不定就不那么在意自己的阶层了。正如纳奇布尔夫人所说，奥斯汀姐妹和她们身边最常交往的那些人在一起时很轻松，而那些人在纳奇布尔夫人看来是绝对不属于上层社会的。当姐妹俩面对出身更高的人，比如宾利姐妹这样的时髦女人时，出于自我保护的原因，她们会采取一种批判的态度。我们对乔治·奥斯汀牧师一无所知。他妻子似乎是个好女人，但是有点蠢，还老受疾病困扰，女儿们对她的病看起来既善加照顾，又不乏嘲讽。她活到了差不多九十岁的年纪。儿子们在步入社会前大概沉浸于乡村所能提供的那些享乐之中，如果能借到马，他们会去骑马纵狗打猎。

27
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It would not be strange if, with her upbringing, Jane was a trifle wanting in the elegances valued by the ladies of Kent; and if that were so, and it had escaped the sharp eyes of Fanny, we may be sure that her mother would have remarked on it. Jane was frank and outspoken, and I daresay often indulged in a blunt humour which those humourless females failed to appreciate. We can imagine their embarrassment if she said to them what she wrote to Cassandra, that she had a good eye for an adulteress. She was born in 1775. That is only twenty-five years after the publication of Tom Jones, and there is no reason to suppose that in the interval the manners of the country had greatly changed. Jane’s may well have been such as Lady Knatchbull, fifty years later, considered, “below par as to good society and its ways.”When Jane went to stay with Mrs. Knight at Canterbury, it is probable, from what Lady Knatchbull says, that the elder lady gave her hints on behaviour which made her more“refined.”It may be on that account that in her novels she lays so much stress on good breeding. A novelist to-day, writing of the same class as she did, would take that for granted. For my part, I can see nothing to blame in Lady Knatchbull’s letter. Her pen’s end“chose to come along and speak the truth.”And what of it? It does not offend me in the least to guess that Jane spoke with a Hampshire accent, that her manners lacked a certain polish, and that her home-made dresses were in bad taste. We know, indeed, from Caroline Austen’s Memoir, that the family were agreed that the sisters, notwithstanding their interest in clothes, did not dress well; but whether dowdily or unsuitably is not stated. The members of the family who have written about Jane Austen have been at pains to give it greater social consequence than in point of fact belonged to it. This was unnecessary. The Austens were nice, honest, worthy people, belonging to the fringe of the upper-middle class, and they were perhaps a little more conscious of their position than if it had been more assured. The sisters were at ease, as Lady Knatchbull observed, with the people with whom they chiefly consorted, and they, according to her, were not at all high-bred. When they were confronted with persons of somewhat higher station, like Bingley’s sisters, women of fashion, they were apt to protect themselves by being critical. Of the Rev. George Austen we know nothing. His wife seems to have been a good, rather silly woman, who was constantly troubled with ailments which her daughters appear to have treated with kindness not unmingled with irony. She lived to hard upon ninety. The boys, till they went out into the world, presumably indulged in such sport as the country provided and, when they could borrow a horse, rode to hounds.

28
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奥斯汀—雷(10)是第一个替简·奥斯汀作传的人。他书里有一段话，再加点想象，我们可以从中得知简在汉普郡度过的漫长安静的岁月是一种什么样的生活。他说：“可以说，当时有一个普遍的情况是，留给仆人去处理和执行的事比现在少，男女主人亲自去做和监督的事比现在多。关于女主人，我相信普遍认为……她们会亲自参与高级些的烹饪，参与家酿葡萄酒，以及蒸馏药草以制作家用药物的活计……女士们不会轻视纺线的营生，因为家用的亚麻布就是这么织出来的。早餐和茶点后，有些女士喜欢亲自动手洗濯她们的高级瓷器。”从书信中也可得知，奥斯汀家有时连一个仆人都没有，有时只能勉强用一个什么都不懂的小丫头。卡桑德拉做饭，不是因为女士们“留给仆人处理和执行的事少”，而是因为根本就没有仆人做饭。奥斯汀家既不穷也不富。奥斯汀太太和女儿们穿的大部分衣服都是自己做的，女儿们还给哥哥做衬衫。她们自己在家做蜂蜜酒，火腿也是奥斯汀太太熏的。快乐很简单，最兴奋的事就是那些有钱的邻居开舞会。在英国，在那遥远的过去，数百个家庭就过着这样安详、单调和朴实的生活，而其中的一个家庭居然就莫名其妙地诞生了一个天赋异禀的小说家，这难道不是奇事一桩吗？

28
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Austen-Leigh was Jane’s first biographer. There is a passage in his book from which, by the exercise of a little imagination, we can get some idea of the sort of life she led during the long quiet years she spent in Hampshire.“It may be asserted as a general truth, ”he writes, “that less was left to the charge and discretion of servants, and more was done, or superintended by the masters and mistresses. With regard to the mistresses, it is, I believe, generally understood that…they took a personal part in the higher branches of cookery, as well as in the concoction of home-made wines, and distilling of herbs for domestic medicine…Ladies did not disdain to spin thread out of which the household linen was woven. Some ladies liked to wash with their own hands their choice china after breakfast and tea.”From the letters one gathers that sometimes the Austens were without a servant at all, and at others had to make do with a slip of a girl who knew nothing. Cassandra did the cooking, not because ladies“left less to the charge and discretion of servants, ”but because there was no servant to do it. The Austens were neither poor nor rich. Mrs. Austen and her daughters made most of their own clothes, and the girls made their brothers’ shirts. They made their mead at home, and Mrs. Austen cured the household hams. Pleasures were simple and the great excitement was a ball given by one of the more affluent neighbours. There were in England, in that long-past time, hundreds of families who lived such quiet, humdrum and decent lives: is it not strange that one of them, without rhyme or reason, should have produced a greatly gifted novelist?

序号 英文/音标 中文解释 更多操作

expressive

[ɪk'spresɪv]

adj.表达的;意味深长的;富于表情的

animation

[ˌænɪ'meɪʃn]

n.活泼;生气;兴奋;动画片;动画片制作

complexion

[kəm'plekʃn]

n.肤色;面色;体质;特性;局面

curl

[kɜːl]

n.卷曲;卷发;年轮;漩涡;【足】曲线球

disposition

[ˌdɪspə'zɪʃn]

n.性情;倾向;安排;处置;控制;【计算机】 配置情况

demonstrative

[dɪ'mɒnstrətɪv]

adj.易流露感情的;论证的;【语法】指示的

admirer

[əd'maɪərə(r)]

n.钦佩者;仰慕者;求爱者

trivial

['trɪviəl]

adj.不重要的;琐碎的

acquaintance

[ə'kweɪntəns]

n.熟人;相识;了解

gossip

['ɡɒsɪp]

n.流言蜚语;爱说长道短的人;闲话

eminent

['emɪnənt]

adj.著名的;卓越的

correspondence

[ˌkɒrə'spɒndəns]

n.通信;信件;相符，相似;一致，相当

eloquent

['eləkwənt]

adj.雄辩的;有口才的;动人的

alteration

[ˌɔːltə'reɪʃn]

n.改变;变更

handkerchief

['hæŋkətʃɪf]

n.手帕;方巾;围巾

conversation

[ˌkɒnvə'seɪʃn]

n.谈话;会话

malicious

[mə'lɪʃəs]

adj.怀恶意的;恶毒的

matrimony

['mætrɪməni]

n.结婚;婚姻

Holder

['həʊldə(r)]

n.持有者;支持物;固定器

fright

[fraɪt]

n.惊骇;惊恐;怪人

felted

['feltɪd]

v. 把 ... 制成毡(使 ... 粘结)

bosom

['bʊzəm]

n.胸部;胸怀;内部;内心

mistress

['mɪstrəs]

n.主妇;女主人;情妇

unequal

[ʌn'iːkwəl]

adj.不相等的;不平等的;不胜任的

bestow

[bɪ'stəʊ]

v.授予;给予;使用;放置

Richard

['ritʃəd]

n.理查德(男子名)

mourning

['mɔːnɪŋ]

n.悲痛;孝服;服丧期

Cassandra

[kə'sændrə]

n.【希神】卡珊多拉(特洛伊女预言家)

Blunt

[blʌnt]

adj.钝的;迟钝的;直率的

disturbance

[dɪ'stɜːbəns]

n.扰乱;骚动

extravagant

[ɪk'strævəɡənt]

adj.奢侈的;浪费的;过度的;大量的

behaviour

[bɪˈheɪvɪə]

n.行为

attachment

[ə'tætʃmənt]

n.附件;附属物

immoral

[ɪ'mɒrəl]

adj.不道德的

pretension

[prɪ'tenʃn]

n.声称;自命;要求;自负;狂妄;炫耀

affectation

[ˌæfek'teɪʃn]

n.假装;虚饰;做作

Knight

[naɪt]

n.骑士;爵士;武士

Kent

[kent]

n.肯特(英国东南部州名)

Canterbury

[ˈkæntəbrɪ]

n.坎特伯雷(地名)

tenderness

['tendənɪs]

n.温柔;娇嫩;柔软

uneasy

[ʌn'iːzi]

adj.不自在的 ；心神不安的 ；不稳定的;不舒服的

frightful

['fraɪtfl]

adj.可怕的;吓人的

chiefly

['tʃiːfli]

adv.主要地

cultivation

[ˌkʌltɪ'veɪʃn]

n.教化;培养;耕作

refinement

[rɪ'faɪnmənt]

n.精致;文雅;改良;精炼;提炼

intercourse

['ɪntəkɔːs]

n.交往;交流;性交

ignorance

['ɪɡnərəns]

n.无知;愚昧

beloved

[bɪ'lʌvd]

adj.心爱的

excite

[ɪk'saɪt]

vt.使兴奋;使激动;刺激;激起

senile

['siːnaɪl]

adj.年老的;衰老的;年老所致的

devotee

[ˌdevə'tiː]

n.爱好者;献身者;虔诚的宗教信徒

dreadful

['dredfl]

adj.可怕的;糟糕的

ungrateful

[ʌn'ɡreɪtfl]

adj.忘恩负义的;不领情的

dote

[dəʊt]

v.溺爱

playful

['pleɪfl]

adj.爱玩耍的;嬉戏的;开玩笑的

offspring

['ɒfsprɪŋ]

n.后代;子孙;产物

Chapman

['tʃæpmən]

n.叫卖小贩;商人

tolerant

['tɒlərənt]

adj.宽容的;容忍的

Sensibility

[ˌsensə'bɪləti]

n.感情;感受能力;感性;敏感

kindly

['kaɪndli]

adj.和蔼的;温和的;爽快的

patronize

['pætrənaɪz]

vt.以高人一等的态度对待;经常光顾;资助

unreasonable

[ʌn'riːznəbl]

adj.不合理的;过度的;不切实际的

provincial

[prə'vɪnʃl]

adj.省的;地方的;偏狭的

fruitful

['fruːtfl]

adj.多产的;富有成效的

despise

[dɪ'spaɪz]

vt.轻视

whereas

[ˌweər'æz]

conj.然而;鉴于

frank

[fræŋk]

a. 坦白；率直;

blunt

[blʌnt]

adj.钝的;迟钝的;直率的

novelist

['nɒvəlɪst]

n.小说家

Caroline

[ˈkærəlaɪn]

n.卡洛琳(女子名)

fringe

[frɪndʒ]

n.流苏;边缘;次要;额外补贴

consort

['kɒnsɔːt]

n. 配偶(尤指君王之夫或妻);

ailment

['eɪlmənt]

n.小病;疾病

hound

[haʊnd]

n.猎狗;可鄙之人;追踪者;迷

discretion

[dɪ'skreʃn]

n.谨慎;慎重;自行决定

superintend

[ˌsuːpərɪn'tend]

v.管理;监督;指挥

linen

['lɪnɪn]

n.亚麻布;亚麻线;亚麻制品

Ham

[hæm]

n.火腿

rhyme

[raɪm]

n.韵;押韵;韵文

biographer

[baɪ'ɒɡrəfə(r)]

n.传记作家

cookery

['kʊkəri]

n.烹调法;烹调术

concoction

[kən'kɒkʃən]

n.混合;调合;调合物;捏造

distill

[dɪs'tɪl]

v.蒸馏;滴下;吸取;提炼

disdain

[dɪs'deɪn]

n.轻蔑

Cassandra

[kə'sændrə]

n.【希神】卡珊多拉(特洛伊女预言家)

mead

[miːd]

n.蜂蜜酒;草地

affluent

['æfluənt]

adj.富裕的

humdrum

['hʌmdrʌm]

adj.单调的;乏味的

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