In the course of these remarks, delivered with great majesty and grandeur, Mr Dombey had truly revealed the secret feelings of his breast. An indescribable distrust of anybody stepping in between himself and his son; a haughty dread of having any rival or partner in the boy's respect and deference; a sharp misgiving, recently acquired, that he was not infallible in his power of bending and binding human wills; as sharp a jealousy of any second check or cross; these were, at that time the master keys of his soul. In all his life, he had never made a friend. His cold and distant nature had neither sought one, nor found one. And now, when that nature concentrated its whole force so strongly on a partial scheme of parental interest and ambition, it seemed as if its icy current, instead of being released by this influence, and running clear and free, had thawed for but an instant to admit its burden, and then frozen with it into one unyielding block.

在这极为庄严、极为郑重的谈话过程中，董贝先生真实地透露了他心中秘密的感情。他对介入他与他儿子之间的任何人都怀着难以形容的不信任。他傲慢地害怕有任何一个人与他争夺或与他分享孩子的尊敬与服从；他最近产生出一种深深的忧虑，就是他在改变和约束人们的意志方面并没有无限的能力；他同样强烈猜疑的是，他会遭遇到新的挫折与不幸；这些就是在这段时间中支配他心灵的主要思想感情。在他的这一生中，他从没有结交过一位朋友。他那对人冷淡、与人疏远的性格既没有寻求过一位朋友，也没有找到过一位朋友。现在，当这性格把它的全部力量有力地集中在体现父亲的关怀与野心的一部分计划上的时候，看来它那冰流仿佛并没有在这种影响下完全解冻，清澈地、自由地奔流，而只是融化了一会儿，以便容纳它的重荷，然后连它一起冻结成一个坚硬的大冰块。

Elevated thus to the godmothership of little Paul, in virtue of her insignificance, Miss Tox was from that hour chosen and appointed to office; and Mr Dombey further signified his pleasure that the ceremony, already long delayed, should take place without further postponement. His sister, who had been far from anticipating so signal a success, withdrew as soon as she could, to communicate it to her best of friends; and Mr Dombey was left alone in his library.

托克斯小姐凭着她低微的身份被这样提升为小保罗的教母，从这个时候起就被选定并任命就职；董贝先生还进一步表示了他的愿望：这个拖延已久的仪式应该很快举行，不再推迟。他的妹妹原先没有指望能取得这样辉煌的成功，于是赶快离开，把这个消息告诉给她最好的朋友；董贝先生则独自留在他的图书室中。

注释： indescribable adj. 难以形容的；莫名其妙的；不能用语言表达的
例句：
1. The scene was one of indescribable beauty.
那真是无法描绘的绮丽风光。
2. It has an indescribable romantic charm.
它具有一种难以形容的神韵。

He had already laid his hand upon the bellrope to convey his usual summons to Richards, when his eye fell upon a writing-desk, belonging to his deceased wife, which had been taken, among other things, from a cabinet in her chamber. It was not the first time that his eye had lighted on it He carried the key in his pocket; and he brought it to his table and opened it now having previously locked the room door - with a well-accustomed hand.

From beneath a leaf of torn and cancelled scraps of paper, he took one letter that remained entire. Involuntarily holding his breath as he opened this document, and 'bating in the stealthy action something of his arrogant demeanour, he s at down, resting his head upon one hand, and read it through.

He read it slowly and attentively, and with a nice particularity to every syllable. Otherwise than as his great deliberation seemed unnatural, and perhaps the result of an effort equally great, he allowed no sign of emotion to escape him. When he had read it through, he folded and refolded it slowly several times, and tore it carefully into fragments. Checking his hand in the act of throwing these away, he put them in his pocket, as if unwilling to trust them even to the chances of being reunited and deciphered; and instead of ringing, as usual, for little Paul, he sat solitary, all the evening, in his cheerless room.

（翻译部分不是很全，敬请谅解！）

注释：attentive adj. 留意的，注意的
例句：
1. He is attentive to his little brother.
他很关心他的小弟弟。
2. You should be attentive to what your parents have said.
你应该注意倾听父母所说的话。

There was anything but solitude in the nursery; for there, Mrs Chick and Miss Tox were enjoying a social evening, so much to the disgust of Miss Susan Nipper, that that young lady embraced every opportunity of making wry faces behind the door. Her feelings were so much excited on the occasion, that she found it indispensable to afford them this relief, even without having the comfort of any audience or sympathy whatever. As the knight-errants of old relieved their minds by carving their mistress's names in deserts, and wildernesses, and other savage places where there was no probability of there ever being anybody to read them, so did Miss Susan Nipper curl her snub nose into drawers and wardrobes, put away winks of disparagement in cupboards, shed derisive squints into stone pitchers, and contradict and call names out in the passage.

与儿室里一点也不寂寞，因为奇克夫人与托克斯小姐正在那里亲密愉快地一起度过那个晚上；她们使苏珊•尼珀姑娘感到极为讨厌，因此这姑娘一有机会就在门后撇嘴做怪脸。在这个场合下她的感情是十分激动的，所以她觉得有必要采用这种方法使它们轻松一下，即使没有任何观众在场，她得不到任何同情的安慰也罢。就像古代的游侠骑士把他们情人的名字刻写在沙漠、旷野和没有任何人可能读到它们的其他荒野的地方来安慰心中的悬念一样，苏珊•尼珀向柜子和衣橱皱皱狮子鼻，向碗柜轻蔑地眨眨眼睛，向有柄的大石水罐嘲笑地斜眼瞅一瞅，并在走廊里反驳和谩骂。

The two interlopers, however, blissfully unconscious of the young lady's sentiments, saw little Paul safe through all the stages of undressing, airy exercise, supper and bed; and then sat down to tea before the fire. The two children now lay, through the good offices of Polly, in one room; and it was not until the ladies were established at their tea-table that, happening to look towards the little beds, they thought of Florence.

不过，那两位侵犯他人权利的人却很有福气，对这位姑娘的情绪一无所知；她们看着小保罗被脱掉衣服，到户外散步，吃晚饭，上床睡觉，平安顺利地经过了所有这些阶段，然后在壁炉前面坐下来喝茶。由于波利作出善意努力的结果，两个孩子现在睡在同一个房间里；两位女士坐着喝茶的桌子正巧面对着两张小床，所以直到这时候她们才想起了弗洛伦斯。

'How sound she sleeps!' said Miss Tox.
'Why, you know, my dear, she takes a great deal of exercise in the course of the day,' returned Mrs Chick, 'playing about little Paul so much.'
'She is a curious child,' said Miss Tox.
'My dear,' retorted Mrs Chick, in a low voice: 'Her Mama, all over!'

“她睡得多熟啊！”托克斯小姐说道。
“是呀，您知道，我亲爱的，这一整天她搞了那么多的活动，”奇克夫人回答道，“一直在小保罗身边玩耍。”
“她是个奇怪的孩子，”托克斯小姐说道。
“我亲爱的，”奇克夫人低声回答道，“跟她妈妈一模一样！”

注释：retort n. 反驳，顶嘴；曲颈瓶
vt. 反驳，反击 vi. 反驳，回嘴
例句：
1. He would not annoy her by such a cheap retort.
他并没有用那种肤浅无聊的话怄她。
2. He made a rude sign by way of retort.
他做出粗鲁动作表示反驳。

'In deed!' said Miss Tox. 'Ah dear me!'
A tone of most extraordinary compassion Miss Tox said it in, though she had no distinct idea why, except that it was expected of her.
'Florence will never, never, never be a Dombey,'said Mrs Chick, 'not if she lives to be a thousand years old.'
Miss Tox elevated her eyebrows, and was again full of commiseration.

“真的吗？”托克斯小姐说道，“哎呀！”
托克斯小姐是用一种非常怜悯的声调说的，虽然她并不清楚为什么要用这样的声调，她只知道奇克夫人期望她这样说。
“弗洛伦斯永远、永远、永远也不会像董贝家里的人，”奇克夫人说道，“即使她活一千岁，也不会。”
托克斯小姐扬起眉毛，再次充满了怜悯。

'I quite fret and worry myself about her,' said Mrs Chick, with a sigh of modest merit. 'I really don't see what is to become of her when she grows older, or what position she is to take. She don't gain on her Papa in the least. How can one expect she should, when she is so very unlike a Dombey?'

“我为她感到很焦急，很烦恼，”奇克夫人端庄、贤惠地叹了一口气，说道，“我实在不知道她长大了会变成一个什么样的人，或者她将会有什么样的地位。她丝毫没能使她爸爸喜欢她。她这样不像董贝家里的人，谁又能指望她能使她爸爸喜欢她呢？”

Miss Tox looked as if she saw no way out of such a cogent argument as that, at all.

托克斯小姐表露出一副神情，仿佛她觉得根本无法反驳这样令人信服的论断似的。

'And the child, you see,' said Mrs Chick, in deep confidence, 'has poor dear Fanny's nature. She'll never make an effort in after-life, I'll venture to say. Never! She'll never wind and twine herself about her Papa's heart like - '

“您知道，这孩子的性格跟可怜的范妮一样，”奇克夫人满有信心地说道，“我敢说，她在今后的生活中永远也不会作出努力。永远不会！她永远不会曲曲弯弯，缠绕住她爸爸的心，就像那——”

'Like the ivy?' suggested Miss Tox.
'Like the ivy,' Mrs Chick assented. 'Never! She'll never glide and nestle into the bosom of her Papa's affections like - the - '
'Startled fawn?' suggested Miss Tox.
'Like the startled fawn,' said Mrs Chick. 'Never! Poor Fanny! Yet, how I loved her!'

“就像那常春藤一样？”托克斯小姐提示道。
“就像那常春藤一样，”奇克夫人同意道，“永远不会！她永远不会悄悄地藏到她爸爸慈爱的心窝中，安卧在那里，就像那——”
“就像那受惊的小鹿一样？”托克斯小姐提示道。
“就像那受惊的小鹿一样，”奇克夫人说道，“永远不会！可怜的范妮！可是，我是多么爱她啊！”

注释：cogent adj. 强有力的；使人信服的
例句：
1. The lawyer's cogent arguments convince the jury.
这位律师强有力的争辩博得陪审团之信服。
2. The result is a cogent explanation of inflation.
结果令人信服地解释了通货膨胀问题。

'You must not distress yourself, my dear,' said Miss Tox, in a soothing voice. 'Now really! You have too much feeling.'
'We have all our faults,' said Mrs Chick, weeping and shaking her head. 'I daresay we have. I never was blind to hers. I never said I was. Far from it. Yet how I loved her!'

“您自己可别太伤心了，我亲爱的，”托克斯小姐用安慰的声调说道。“唔，真是这样的！您太富于感情了！”
“我们人人都有自己的缺点，”奇克夫人哭泣着，摇着头，说道，“我敢说，我们人人都有。我决不能看不到她的缺点。我决不能说我没有看到。远不是这样。可是我是多么爱她啊！”

What a satisfaction it was to Mrs Chick a common place piece of folly enough, compared with whom her sister-in-law had been a very angel of womanly intelligence and gentleness - to patronise and be tender to the memory of that lady: in exact pursuance of her conduct to her in her lifetime: and to thoroughly believe herself, and take herself in, and make herself uncommonly comfortable on the strength of her toleration! What a mighty pleasant virtue toleration should be when we are right, to be so very pleasant when we are wrong, and quite unable to demonstrate how we come to be invested with the privilege of exercising it!

奇克夫人是一位平庸的、愚蠢的女人；与她相比，她的嫂子倒是一位具有女性智慧与温柔的天使；当奇克夫人回忆起那位夫人的时候，她采取了保护的、亲切的态度——与她生前时她对待她的态度完全一样——，并且完全相信她自己，欺骗她自己；由于宽大为怀而让她自己感到异常愉快，对她来说，这是多么使她感到满意的事啊！当我们是正确的时候，宽容是多么非凡愉快的美德！当我们是错误，而又完全不能证明我们是如何取得行使宽容的权利的时候，宽容也是使人很愉快的呀！

Mrs Chick was yet drying her eyes and shaking her head, when Richards made bold to caution her that Miss Florence was awake and sitting in her bed. She had risen, as the nurse said, and the lashes of her eyes were wet with tears. But no one saw them glistening save Polly. No one else leant over her, and whispered soothing words to her, or was near enough to hear the flutter of her beating heart.

当奇克夫人还正在擦眼泪、摇着头的时候，理查兹大胆地提醒她注意，弗洛伦斯小姐醒来了，正坐在床上。这位奶妈说，她起来了，眼睫毛都被泪水沾湿了。但是除了波利以外，没有其他任何人看到它们正闪着光。没有其他任何人向她弯下身去，低声地对她说些安慰的话，或跟她挨得很近，可以听到她颤动的心房正在怦怦地跳动。

'Oh! dear nurse!' said the child, looking earnestly up in her face, 'let me lie by my brother!'
'Why, my pet?' said Richards.
'Oh! I think he loves me,' cried the child wildly. 'Let me lie by him. Pray do!'

“啊！亲爱的奶妈！”孩子恳切地仰望着她的脸，说道，“让我躺在弟弟的身旁吧！”
“为什么，我的宝贝？”理查兹问道。
“啊！我觉得他爱我，”女孩子放声大哭起来。“让我躺在他的身旁吧。求求您！”

注释：flutter vi. 飘动；鼓翼；烦扰 vt. 拍；使焦急；使飘动
n. 摆动；鼓翼；烦扰
例句：
1. Mother is all of a flutter because of thunder and lightning.
由于电闪雷鸣，妈妈感到十分不安。
2. She had found it well to flutter ahead.
她发觉最好的办法是曲线前进。