Adele is a degree better, but still far below the mark;
阿黛勒稍微好一些，但还是远远低于标准。
Mrs. Fairfax ditto.
费尔法克斯太太同样如此。
You, I am persuaded, can suit me if you will.
而你，我相信是合我意的，要是你愿意。
You puzzled me the first evening I invited you down here.
第一天晚上我邀请你下楼到这里来的时候，你就使我迷惑不解。
I have almost forgotten you since.
从那时候起，我已几乎把你忘了。
Other ideas have driven yours from my head.
脑子里尽想着其他事情，顾不上你。
But tonight I am resolved to be at ease.
不过今天晚上我决定安闲自在些，
To dismiss what importunes, and recall what pleases.
忘掉纠缠不休的念头，回忆回忆愉快的事儿。
It would please me now to draw you out — to learn more of you — therefore speak.
现在我乐于把你的情况掏出来，进一步了解你，所以你就说吧.
Instead of speaking, I smiled, and not a very complacent or submissive smile either.
我没有说话，却代之以微笑，既不特别得意，也不顺从。
"Speak," he urged.
"说吧，"他催促着。
What about, sir?
说什么呢，先生。
Whatever you like.
爱说什么就说什么，
I leave both the choice of subject and the manner of treating it entirely to yourself.
说的内容和方式，全由你自己选择吧。
Accordingly I sat and said nothing.
结果我还是端坐着，什么也没有说。

"If he expects me to talk for the mere sake of talking and showing off,
"要是他希望我为说而说，炫耀一番，
he will find he has addressed himself to the wrong person," I thought.
那他会发现他找错了人啦，"我想。
You are dumb, Miss Eyre.
你一声不吭，爱小姐。
I was dumb still.
我依然一声不吭。
He bent his head a little towards me, and with a single hasty glance seemed to dive into my eyes.
他向我微微低下头来，匆匆地投过来一瞥，似乎要探究我的眼睛。
"Stubborn?" he said, "and annoyed. Ah! It is consistent.
"固执？"他说，"而且生气了。噢，这是一致的。
I put my request in an absurd, almost insolent form.
我提出要求的方式，荒谬而近乎蛮横。
Miss Eyre, I beg your pardon.
爱小姐，请你原谅。
The fact is, once for all, I don't wish to treat you like an inferior. That is " (correcting himself) .
实际上，我永远不想把你当作下人看待。那就是（纠正他自己）。
"I claim only such superiority as must result from twenty years' difference in age and a century's advance in experience.
我有比你强的地方，但那只不过是年龄上大二十岁，经历上相差一个世纪的必然结果。
This is legitimate, et j' y tiens, as Adele would say.
这是合理的，就像阿黛勒会说的那样，etj'ytiens。
And it is by virtue of this superiority,
而凭借这种优势，
and this alone, that I desire you to have the goodness to talk to me a little now,
也仅仅如此而已，我想请你跟我谈一会儿，
and divert my thoughts, which are galled with dwelling on one point — cankering as a rusty nail.
转移一下我的思想苦苦纠缠在一点上，像一根生锈的钉子那样正在腐蚀着。