小说原文
In those days immediately before the holidays, in short, when the other young gentlemen were labouring for dear life through a general resumption of the studies of the whole half—year, Paul was such a privileged pupil as had never been seen in that house before. He could hardly believe it himself; but his liberty lasted from hour to hour, and from day to day; and little Dombey was caressed by everyone. Doctor Blimber was so particular about him, that he requested Johnson to retire from the dinner—table one day, for having thoughtlessly spoken to him as 'poor little Dombey;' which Paul thought rather hard and severe, though he had flushed at the moment, and wondered why Johnson should pity him. It was the more questionable justice, Paul thought, in the Doctor, from his having certainly overheard that great authority give his assent on the previous evening, to the proposition(stated by Mrs Blimber) that poor dear little Dombey was more old—fashioned than ever. And now it was that Paul began to think it must surely be old—fashioned to be very thin, and light, and easily tired, and soon disposed to lie down anywhere and rest; for he couldn't help feeling that these were more and more his habits every day.
总之，在那些最接近假期的日子里，当其他年轻的先生们正拼命地复习整整半年来的功课的时候，保罗是在那座房屋中前所未有的享受特权的学生；他本人也难以相信这一点；可是他的自由一个小时又一个小时、一天又一天地持续着；小董贝被每一个人爱抚着。布林伯博士对他特别照顾，有一天约翰逊缺乏考虑地向保罗说了一声“可怜的小董贝”，博士就请他离开餐桌；保罗虽然当时曾经脸红了一阵，奇怪约翰逊为什么会怜悯他，但觉得处分有些严厉与苛刻。前一天晚上他清清楚楚地偷听到这位伟大的权威人物曾同意布林伯夫人提出这种看法：可怜的、亲爱的小董贝比过去更老气了，所以他认为博士对约翰逊的处理是否公正就更有问题了。现在保罗开始想，如果很消瘦，虚弱，容易疲倦，很快就想在任何地方躺下休息，那一定是老气无疑了；因为他不由自主地感到，这些愈来愈成为他每天的习惯了。
At last the party—day arrived; and Doctor Blimber said at breakfast, 'Gentlemen, we will resume our studies on the twenty—fifth of next month.' Mr Toots immediately threw off his allegiance, and put on his ring: and mentioning the Doctor in casual conversation shortly afterwards, spoke of him as 'Blimber'! This act of freedom inspired the older pupils with admiration and envy; but the younger spirits were appalled, and seemed to marvel that no beam fell down and crushed him.
举行晚会的日子终于来临了；布林伯博士在早餐时说道，“先生们，我们将在下个月的二十五日重新开始学习。”图茨先生立刻扔掉了恭敬顺从的枷锁，戴上了戒指，在不久以后随随便便的谈话中提到博士的时候，竟居然把他叫做“布林伯”！这种自由放任的行动在年龄较大的学生中间引起了钦佩与羡慕，但却把年龄较小的学生吓得毛骨悚然，他们似乎感到奇怪，梁木居然没有掉下来把他压得粉身碎骨。
Not the least allusion was made to the ceremonies of the evening, either at breakfast or at dinner; but there was a bustle in the house all day, and in the course of his perambulations, Paul made acquaintance with various strange benches and candlesticks, and met a harp in a green greatcoat standing on the landing outside the drawing—room door. There was something queer, too, about Mrs Blimber's head at dinner—time, as if she had screwed her hair up too tight; and though Miss Blimber showed a graceful bunch of plaited hair on each temple, she seemed to have her own little curls in paper underneath, and in a play—bill too; for Paul read 'Theatre Royal' over one of her sparkling spectacles, and 'Brighton' over the other.
在早餐或午餐时，丝毫也没有提到晚间的仪式；但屋子里整天都在忙乱着，保罗在漫步的过程中，看到了各种奇怪的长凳和烛台，还看到竖立在客厅门外梯台上的罩着绿色大外套的竖琴。午餐时布林伯夫人的头也有些变得奇怪，仿佛她把头发卷得太紧了；布林伯小姐虽然每个鬓角各有一根雅致的辫子，可是她自己的短短的卷发似乎下面也用纸卷扎，而且还用剧场节目单卷扎；因为保罗在她的闪闪发亮的眼镜一边的上方看到“皇家剧院”几个字，在另一边的上方看到“布赖顿”几个字。
There was a grand array of white waistcoats and cravats in the young gentlemen's bedrooms as evening approached; and such a smell of singed hair, that Doctor Blimber sent up the footman with his compliments, and wished to know if the house was on fire. But it was only the hairdresser curling the young gentlemen, and over—heating his tongs in the ardour of business.
在临近晚上的时候，在年轻的先生们的卧室里，展现出一片白色的背心与领带，十分富丽，同时散发出头发末梢被烫了的气味；由于气味十分强烈，因此布林伯博士派男仆上楼来，一边向大家问候，一边想了解一下房屋是不是着火了。但实际上只是理发员在给年轻的先生们做卷发，他在热情工作中把火钳子烧得太热了。
When Paul was dressed — which was very soon done, for he felt unwell and drowsy, and was not able to stand about it very long — he went down into the drawing—room; where he found Doctor Blimber pacing up and down the room full dressed, but with a dignified and unconcerned demeanour, as if he thought it barely possible that one or two people might drop in by and by. Shortly afterwards, Mrs Blimber appeared, looking lovely, Paul thought; and attired in such a number of skirts that it was quite an excursion to walk round her. Miss Blimber came down soon after her Mama; a little squeezed in appearance, but very charming.
保罗穿好衣服——这件事做得很快，因为他觉得不舒服，昏昏欲睡，而且不能很久站着——以后，走到楼下客厅里；他在那里看到布林伯博士穿着礼服，正在房间里踱着步子，但是他的神态威严，漫不经心，仿佛他认为不久会有一两个人进来看看，这是完全可能的。不一会儿，布林伯夫人进来了，保罗觉得她看上去美丽可爱；她穿了那么多的裙子，因此在她周围走一圈，就有些像是进行一次小小的旅行似的。布林伯小姐在她妈妈之后不久就下来了，她看去衣服穿得有点过于紧窄，但很娇媚。
Mr Toots and Mr Feeder were the next arrivals. Each of these gentlemen brought his hat in his hand, as if he lived somewhere else; and when they were announced by the butler, Doctor Blimber said, 'Ay, ay, ay! God bless my soul!' and seemed extremely glad to see them. Mr Toots was one blaze of jewellery and buttons; and he felt the circumstance so strongly, that when he had shaken hands with the Doctor, and had bowed to Mrs Blimber and Miss Blimber, he took Paul aside, and said, 'What do you think of this, Dombey?'
接着来到的是图茨先生和菲德先生。这两位先生每人手里都拿着礼帽，仿佛他们是住在其他地方似的；当男管家通报他们来到的时候，布林伯博士说道，“是啊，是啊，是啊！上帝保佑我的灵魂！”并似乎非常高兴见到他们。图茨先生闪耀着珠宝饰物和钮扣，而且他把这个情况看得很重要；当他跟布林伯博士握过手，并向布林伯夫人和布林伯小姐鞠过躬之后，他把保罗拉到一旁，问道，“您对这有什么想法，董贝？”
重点解释

注释：propositionn. [数] 命题；提议；主题；议题
vt. 向…提议；向…求欢
词组：
value proposition 价值主张；价值定位；价值命题
make someone a proposition ◎[口语]向某人提出一项办法(或提议)
unique selling proposition 独特的销售主张
例句：
(1) Do you favor her proposition ?
你赞成她的主张吗？
(2) Not a bad proposition if you ask me.
如果你问我，这是个不错的提议。
(3) A basic proposition of economics is that talk is cheap.
经济学的一个基本命题是，言语是廉价的。
(4) There are three problems with this proposition.
关于这个提议，有三个问题需要考虑。
(5) That idea has some merit, but is still a risky proposition.
这种想法部分正确，但仍是一个危险的主张。
(6) It is also a risky proposition.
这同样是一个冒险的提议。
(7) Career change can sometimes be an expensive proposition.
有时转行可能是一个昂贵的议题。
(8) But the proposition elicited an immediate if predictable response from another quarter.
然而这一命题立刻引起了别人预料之中的反应。
(9) It is not an attractive proposition.
这可不是什么有吸引力的主张。
(10) Their proposition clearly is simplicity and good value and very good design.
很明显，他们的主张那就是简单、花得值，并且设计美观。

approachn. 方法；途径；接近
vt. 接近；着手处理
vi. 靠近
[ 第三人称单数approaches 过去式approached 过去分词approached 现在分词approaching ]
词组：
new approach 新方案；新做法
an approach to 学习...的入门；学习...的途径
basic approach 基本方法
approach with 以…方式处理；向…提出建议
design approach 设计方法；设计方式
例句：
(1) So, which approach should you use?
那么，应该使用哪种方法呢？
(2) This seems, therefore, to be an approach worth exploring.
因此，这似乎是一个值得探索的方法。
(3) How to maintain consistency of approach and delivery?
如何保持方法和交付的一致性？
(4) While I still like this approach, it also has flaws.
尽管我仍然很喜欢这个方法，但它还是有缺陷的。
(5) This approach represents the next level of rigor in modeling.
此方法表现出建模中的下一个精确级别。
(6) I know that not everyone will be able or willing to use this approach.
我知道不是所有的人都能或者都愿意去使用这个方法。
(7) All this is very nice, but there are some problems with this approach.
虽然所有的内容都非常简单，但是这种方法存在一些问题。
(8) In the US, we like to take the "all or nothing" approach to weight loss.
在美国我们喜欢采用“全部都要或什么都不要”的方法去减肥。
(9) However, we find that there are some issues with such as approach.
不过，我们发现使用这样的方法存在一些问题。
(10) But for this approach to work, there should be a message correlation mechanism.
但是要使此方法正常工作，应该存在消息相关性机制。