First Mrs. Parker would show you the double parlours.

首先帕克太太会带你去看那双开间的客厅。

You would not dare to interrupt her description of their advantages and of the merits of the gentleman who had occupied them for eight years.

当她向你描绘屋子的优点和那位曾经住了八年的先生的美德时，你压根儿不敢去打断她的话。

Then you would manage to stammer forth the confession that you were neither a doctor nor a dentist.

接下来，你好不容易才能结结巴巴地坦白，你既不是医生，也不是牙医。

Mrs. Parker' s manner of receiving the admission was such that you could never afterward entertain the same feeling toward your parents,

帕克太太听到这番话时的神态准会叫你对你的父母心生埋怨，

who had neglected to train you up in one of the professions that fitted Mrs. Parker' s parlours.

只怪他们没能把你培养成配得上帕克太太的客厅的专业人才。

Next you ascended one flight of stairs and looked at the second- floor-back at $8.

然后你爬上一层楼梯，去看每周要付八美元租金的二楼后间。

Convinced by her second-floor manner that it was worth the $12

帕克太太摆出到了二楼该有的神情，说你不能不信这儿完全值十二美元的租金。

that Mr. Toosenberry always paid for it until he left to take charge of his brother's orange plantation in Florida near Palm Beach,

还说图森贝里先生一直住在这里，直到他去接管了他的兄弟在佛罗里达州棕榈滩附近的柑橘种植园；

where Mrs. McIntyre always spent the winters that had the double front room with private bath,

麦金泰尔太太也总会到这儿来过冬，这儿还有带独立浴室的双开间起居室。

you managed to babble that you wanted something still cheaper.

你费了好大劲儿才含含糊糊地说你想要间便宜点儿的。

If you survived Mrs. Parker' s scorn, you were taken to look at Mr. Skidder' s large hall room on the third floor.

如果你能经得住帕克太太的嘲笑，你就会被带到三楼去欣赏斯基德先生的大房间。

Mr. Skidder' s room was not vacant. He wrote plays and smoked cigarettes in it all day long.

斯基德先生的房间并没空着，他整天都呆在里面写剧本，抽香烟。

But every room-hunter was made to visit his room to admire the lambrequins.

可每一个来看房间的人总会给带到这儿来欣赏门窗上的垂饰。

After each visit, Mr. Skidder, from the fright caused by possible eviction, would pay something on his rents.

每次参观过后，斯基德先生准会付上一部分租金，生怕会有可能被赶出去。