(单词翻译:单击)
But, in the first place, New York was a metropolis, and perfectly aware that in metropolises it was "not the thing" to arrive early at the opera.
但是，首先，纽约是一个大都市，要清楚地知道，在大都市里，早早到达歌剧院是“不合适的”。
The second reason for his delay was a personal one.
他迟到的第二个原因是个人原因。
He had dawdled over his cigar because he was at heart a dilettante, and thinking over a pleasure to come often gave him a subtler satisfaction than its realisation.
他慢吞吞地抽着雪茄，因为他本质上是个艺术爱好者，思考即将到来的快乐往往比实现它会给他带来更微妙的满足感。
This was especially the case when the pleasure was a delicate one, as his pleasures mostly were;
尤其是当这种快乐是一种精妙的快乐时，他的快乐也大多都是精妙的；
and on this occasion the moment he looked forward to was so rare and exquisite in quality that
这一次，他所期待的时刻是如此珍惜和精妙，以至于——
--well, if he had timed his arrival in accord with the prima donna's stage-manager, he could not have entered the Academy at a more significant moment than just as she was singing: "He loves me--he loves me not--HE LOVES ME!“
如果他是根据首席女演员的舞台监督来计算他到达的时机，他就不可能在另一个更重要的时刻进入歌剧院，而应该是在她唱着“他爱我，他不爱我，他爱我”的时候进入，
--and sprinkling the falling daisy petals with notes as clear as dew.
--并伴着如露水般清亮的音符撒下飘落的雏菊花瓣。
She sang, of course, "M'ama!" and not "he loves me,"
当然，她唱的是“姆啊吗”而不是“他爱我”，
since an unalterable and unquestioned law of the musical world required that the German text of French operas sung by Swedish artists should be translated into Italian for the clearer understanding of English-speaking audiences.
因为音乐界有一个不可更改、毋庸置疑的法律，要求瑞典艺术家演唱的德语文本的法语歌剧必须翻译成意大利语，以便说英语的观众更清楚地理解。
This seemed as natural to Newland Archer as all the other conventions on which his life was moulded:
对于纽兰·阿切尔来说，这似乎是很自然的，就像塑造他生活的所有其他习俗一样：
such as the duty of using two silver-backed brushes with his monogram in blue enamel to part his hair,
比如用两把由蓝色珐琅镶嵌他姓名首字母的银背梳子来分开他的头发，
and of never appearing in society without a flower (preferably a gardenia) in his buttonhole.
以及纽扣孔上没有花(最好是一朵栀子花)时永远不要出现在社交场合。
"M'ama...Non m'ama." the prima donna sang, and "M'ama!",
首席女演员唱道：“姆啊吗……哝姆啊吗……姆啊吗！”
with a final burst of love triumphant, as she pressed the dishevelled daisy to her lips and lifted her large eyes to the sophisticated countenance of the little brown Faust-Capoul,
随着爱的最后一次爆发，她把蓬乱的雏菊放在嘴唇上，抬起大眼睛看着棕色的小浮士德-卡普尔那张老练的面孔，
who was vainly trying, in a tight purple velvet doublet and plumed cap, to look as pure and true as his artless victim.
他穿着一件紧身的紫色天鹅绒短上衣，戴着羽毛帽子，徒劳地试图看起来像他纯真的受害者一样纯洁和真诚。
