(单词翻译:单击)
"Oh, it's a poor little place. My relations despise it. But at any rate it's less gloomy than the van der Luydens'."
“噢，这是个可怜的小地方，我的亲戚们瞧不起它。但不管怎样，它不像范德卢顿家那样阴沉。”
The words gave him an electric shock,
这话使他无比震惊，
for few were the rebellious spirits who would have dared to call the stately home of the van der Luydens gloomy.
因为很少有人敢无法无天地说范德卢顿家宏伟的住宅阴沉。
Those privileged to enter it shivered there, and spoke of it as "handsome."
那些获得特权进去的人在里面战战兢兢，并且都称它“富丽堂皇”。
But suddenly he was glad that she had given voice to the general shiver.
猛然间，他为她说出了令众人不寒而栗的话而变得很开心。
"It's delicious--what you've done here," he repeated.
“这儿你拾掇得——很怡人，”他重复说。
"I like the little house," she admitted;
“我喜欢这个小房子，”她承认道。
"but I suppose what I like is the blessedness of its being here, in my own country and my own town; and then, of being alone in it."
“不过我想，我喜欢的是它是在这里，在我自己的国家、我自己的城市，并且是我一个人住在里面。”
She spoke so low that he hardly heard the last phrase; but in his awkwardness he took it up.
她说得声音很低，他几乎没听清最后几个字，不过却在尴尬中理解了其要点。
"You like so much to be alone?"
“你很喜欢一个人生活？”
"Yes; as long as my friends keep me from feeling lonely."
“是的，只要朋友们别让我感到孤单就行。”
She sat down near the fire, said: "Nastasia will bring the tea presently,"
她在炉火旁边坐下，说：“纳斯塔西娅马上就送茶过来。”
and signed to him to return to his armchair, adding: "I see you've already chosen your corner."
她示意让他坐回到扶手椅里，又说：“我看你已经选好坐的位置了。”
Leaning back, she folded her arms behind her head, and looked at the fire under drooping lids.
她身子向后一仰，两只胳膊交叉放在脑后，眼睑垂下，望着炉火。
"This is the hour I like best--don't you?"
“这是我最喜欢的时间了——你呢？”
A proper sense of his dignity caused him to answer:
一种体面的自尊使他回答说：
"I was afraid you'd forgotten the hour. Beaufort must have been very engrossing."
“刚才我还担心你已经忘掉了时间呢。博福特一定很有趣吧。”
She looked amused.
她看上去很高兴，
"Why--have you waited long?
说：“怎么——你等了很久了吗？
Mr. Beaufort took me to see a number of houses-- since it seems I'm not to be allowed to stay in this one."
博福特先生带我去看了几处房子——因为看来是不会允许我继续住在这儿了。”
She appeared to dismiss both Beaufort and himself from her mind, and went on:
她好像把博福特和他都给忘了似地接着说：
"I've never been in a city where there seems to be such a feeling against living in des quartiers excentriques.
“我从没见过哪个城市像这儿一样，认为住在偏远地区不妥。
What does it matter where one lives? I'm told this street is respectable."
住得偏远不偏远，有什么关系吗？听人说这条街是很体面的呢。”
"It's not fashionable."
“这儿不够时髦。”
"Fashionable! Do you all think so much of that? Why not make one's own fashions?
“时髦！你们都很看重这个问题吗？为什么不创造自己的时尚呢？
But I suppose I've lived too independently; at any rate, I want to do what you all do--I want to feel cared for and safe."
不过我想，我过去生活得太无拘无束了，不管怎样，你们大家怎么做，我就要怎么做——我希望得到关心，得到安全感。”
