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Seeing that he was employing familiar maneuvers to extricate himself from unpleasant conversation, she slipped her arm through his and said: “I was waiting for you. I didn’t know you would be so late. I just wondered if you had bought Dilcey.”

她看到父亲在玩弄他惯用的手法来回避眼前一次不愉快的谈话，便轻轻挽住他的胳臂，一边说：“我在等你呢！没想到你会这么晚才回来。我还以为你把迪尔茜买下来了。”

　
“Bought her I did, and the price has ruined me. Bought her and her little wench, Prissy. John Wilkes was for almost giving them away, but never will I have it said that Gerald O’Hara used friendship in a trade. I made him take three thousand for the two of them.”

“买是买下来了，可价钱真要了我的命。买了她和她的小女儿百里茜。约翰·威尔克斯几乎想把她们送掉，可我决不让人家说杰拉尔德·奥哈拉在买卖中凭友情占了便宜。我叫他把两人共卖了三千。”
　
“In the name of Heaven, Pa, three thousand! And you didn’t need to buy Prissy!”

“爸爸，我的天，三千哪！再说，你也用不着买百里茜呀！”
　
“Has the time come when me own daughters sit in judgment on me?” shouted Gerald rhetorically. “Prissy is a likely little wench and so—”

“难道该让我自己的女儿公然来评判我？"杰拉尔德用幽默的口吻喊道：“百里茜是个蛮可爱的小女儿，所以----”
　
“I know her. She’s a sly, stupid creature,” Scarlett rejoined calmly, unimpressed by his uproar. “And the only reason you bought her was because Dilcey asked you to buy her.”

“我知道。她是个又鬼又笨的小家伙，”思嘉不顾父亲的吼叫，只平静地接下去说。“而且，你买下她的主要理由是，迪尔茜央求你买她。”
　
Gerald looked crestfallen and embarrassed, as always when caught in a kind deed, and Scarlett laughed outright at his transparency.

杰拉尔德似乎倒了威风，显得很尴尬，就像他平常做好事时给抓住了那样，这时思嘉便乐呵呵地笑话其他那伪装的坦率来了。
　
“Well, what if I did? Was there any use buying Dilcey if she was going to mope about the child? Well, never again will I let a darky on this place marry off it. It’s too expensive. Well, come on, Puss, let’s go in to supper.”
　　
“不过，就算我这样做了又怎么样？只买来迪尔茜，要是她整天惦记孩子，又有什么用呢？好了，从此我再也不让这里的黑小子跟别处的女人结婚了。那太费钱。来吧，淘气包，咱们进屋去吃晚饭。"

词汇释义

1.maneuver n. 演习，调遣，策略

There is enough space for maneuver.
还有回旋余地。

2.rhetorically adv. 在修辞学上，讲究修辞地

Rhetorically, Mr Murdoch hit all the right notes.
默多克先生说起话来头头是道。

3.wench n. 少妇，乡下姑娘

A serving wench brought us our ale.
一个女仆给我们端来了麦芽酒。

4.unimpressed adj. 无印记的，没有印象的，未受感动的

Arnold kept telling her how attractive she was, but he spread the butter too thick and she was unimpressed.
阿诺德不断对她说她如何有吸引力，但他的诌媚过头了，其实她相貌平平。

5.crestfallen adj. 垂头丧气的，意气沮丧的，气馁的

Elaine looked crestfallen.
伊莱恩看上去很沮丧。

6.transparency n. 透明度，幻灯片

seawater transparency
海水透明度