(单词翻译:单击)
名著阅读
'Pardon me, Madam,' he continued, 'if in my perplexity, I presume to take counsel with you, and to consult your pleasure. I think I have observed that you are greatly interested in Miss Florence?'
What was there in her he had not observed, and did not know? Humbled and yet maddened by the thought, in every new presentment of it, however faint, she pressed her teeth upon her quivering lip to force composure on it, and distantly inclined her head in reply.
'This interest, Madam - so touching an evidence of everything associated with Mr Dombey being dear to you - induces me to pause before I make him acquainted with these circumstances, which, as yet, he does not know. It so shakes me, if I may make the confession, in my allegiance, that on the intimation of the least desire to that effect from you, I would suppress them.'
Edith raised her head quickly, and starting back, bent her dark glance upon him. He met it with his blandest and most deferential smile, and went on.
'You say that as I describe them, they are perverted. I fear not - I fear not: but let us assume that they are. The uneasiness I have for some time felt on the subject, arises in this: that the mere circumstance of such association often repeated, on the part of Miss Florence, however innocently and confidingly, would be conclusive with Mr Dombey, already predisposed against her, and would lead him to take some step (I know he has occasionally contemplated it) of separation and alienation of her from his home. Madam, bear with me, and remember my intercourse with Mr Dombey, and my knowledge of him, and my reverence for him, almost from childhood, when I say that if he has a fault, it is a lofty stubbornness, rooted in that noble pride and sense of power which belong to him, and which we must all defer to; which is not assailable like the obstinacy of other characters; and which grows upon itself from day to day, and year to year.
She bent her glance upon him still; but, look as steadfast as she would, her haughty nostrils dilated, and her breath came somewhat deeper, and her lip would slightly curl, as he described that in his patron to which they must all bow down. He saw it; and though his expression did not change, she knew he saw it.
'Even so slight an incident as last night's,' he said, 'if I might refer to it once more, would serve to illustrate my meaning, better than a greater one. Dombey and Son know neither time, nor place, nor season, but bear them all down. But I rejoice in its occurrence, for it has opened the way for me to approach Mrs Dombey with this subject to-day, even if it has entailed upon me the penalty of her temporary displeasure. Madam, in the midst of my uneasiness and apprehension on this subject, I was summoned by Mr Dombey to Leamington. There I saw you. There I could not help knowing what relation you would shortly occupy towards him - to his enduring happiness and yours. There I resolved to await the time of your establishment at home here, and to do as I have now done. I have, at heart, no fear that I shall be wanting in my duty to Mr Dombey, if I bury what I know in your breast; for where there is but one heart and mind between two persons - as in such a marriage - one almost represents the other. I can acquit my conscience therefore, almost equally, by confidence, on such a theme, in you or him. For the reasons I have mentioned I would select you. May I aspire to the distinction of believing that my confidence is accepted, and that I am relieved from my responsibility?'
He long remembered the look she gave him - who could see it, and forget it? - and the struggle that ensued within her. At last she said:
'I accept it, Sir You will please to consider this matter at an end, and that it goes no farther.'
He bowed low, and rose. She rose too, and he took leave with all humility. But Withers, meeting him on the stairs, stood amazed at the beauty of his teeth, and at his brilliant smile; and as he rode away upon his white-legged horse, the people took him for a dentist, such was the dazzling show he made. The people took her, when she rode out in her carriage presently, for a great lady, as happy as she was rich and fine. But they had not seen her, just before, in her own room with no one by; and they had not heard her utterance of the three words, 'Oh Florence, Florence!'
Mrs Skewton, reposing on her sofa, and sipping her chocolate, had heard nothing but the low word business, for which she had a mortal aversion, insomuch that she had long banished it from her vocabulary, and had gone nigh, in a charming manner and with an immense amount of heart, to say nothing of soul, to ruin divers milliners and others in consequence. Therefore Mrs Skewton asked no questions, and showed no curiosity. Indeed, the peach-velvet bonnet gave her sufficient occupation out of doors; for being perched on the back of her head, and the day being rather windy, it was frantic to escape from Mrs Skewton's company, and would be coaxed into no sort of compromise. When the carriage was closed, and the wind shut out, the palsy played among the artificial roses again like an almshouse-full of superannuated zephyrs; and altogether Mrs Skewton had enough to do, and got on but indifferently.
She got on no better towards night; for when Mrs Dombey, in her dressing-room, had been dressed and waiting for her half an hour, and Mr Dombey, in the drawing-room, had paraded himself into a state of solemn fretfulness (they were all three going out to dinner), Flowers the Maid appeared with a pale face to Mrs Dombey, saying:
'If you please, Ma'am, I beg your pardon, but I can't do nothing with Missis!'
'What do you mean?' asked Edith.
“夫人,”他继续说道,”在我感到十分为难的情况下,如果我大胆地前来跟您商量,看看您是否高兴的话,那么我请您原谅我这样做,我想,我已注意到,您对弗洛伦斯小姐极感兴趣吧?”
她有哪一点他没有注意到和不知道的呢?这个想法每次出现的时候,不论它是多么微弱,都使她感到屈辱,同时却又感到极为愤怒;她牙齿紧咬着颤抖的嘴唇,竭力保持镇静,同时冷淡地点了一下头,作为回答。
“夫人,您的这个兴趣令人感动地证明了一点:凡是跟董贝先生有关的一切,对您来说,都是宝贵的;您的这个兴趣使我迟疑不决,没有把那些具体情况告诉他,因此他至今还不知道它们。如果允许我坦白承认的话,那么我应当说,您的这个兴趣使我对他的忠诚发生了动摇;您哪怕只要稍稍暗示一下您的愿望,我就会把这些事实向他瞒住不说的。”
伊迪丝迅速地抬起头,吃惊地向后退缩,并把阴沉的眼光投射到他的身上。他用他最温顺、最恭敬的微笑回答了她的眼光,继续说下去:
“您说我在叙述这些具体情况时歪曲了真相。恐怕不是这样!可是让我们假定确实如此吧。这个问题有时曾使我感到不安,这是由于以下情况引起的:弗洛伦斯小姐经常不断地保持着那些联系,不论她是多么天真和轻信,可是单就这一件事情来说,它对于本来就早已嫌恶她的董贝先生来说就具有决定性的意义,就会促使他采取步骤(我知道他有时已在考虑这一点),让她离开这个家,跟她疏远。夫人,请记得我几乎从小孩子的时候起就跟董贝先生交往,我了解他,我尊敬他。请恕我直言,如果他有什么缺点的话,那就是高傲的固执,这根源于他对属于他的权力的高贵的自豪与意识,我们全都必须服从他的权力。他的固执跟其他人的固执不同,它是刚毅不屈的,它是一天又一天,一年又一年地成长起来的。”
她的眼光依旧没有离开他;可是当他叙述到他们全都必须服从他的权力时,她的眼光尽量地坚定不移,她的傲慢的鼻孔张开来了,她的呼吸变得更加深沉,她的嘴唇稍稍地歪着。他看到了这些情形;虽然他的表情没有改变,但她知道他已看到了。
“甚至像昨天夜间这样无足轻重的小事(如果我可以再一次提到它的话),”他说道,”也可以比更重大的事情更好地阐明我的意思。董贝父子公司不知道时间、地点和季节,它把它们全部压倒。但是发生了这件小事情使我感到高兴,因为它使我今天有可能跟董贝夫人谈到这个问题,哪怕它必须使我遭到她暂时的不满也罢。夫人,我就是在对这个问题感到极为不安与忧虑的时候被董贝先生召唤到莱明顿去的。我在那里见到了您。我在那里无法不了解到您不久就要跟他结成什么样的关系,这种关系将会给他和您带来持久的幸福。我在那里作出决定,等您在这里安下家以后再来做我现在已经做了的事情。如果我把我知道的事情向您吐露了,那么我在心里就不用担心我对董贝先生没有尽到我的责任了,因为在这样的婚姻中,两人之间只有一颗心,一个灵魂,他们当中的一位几乎就代表着另一位。因此,我把这个问题的真情向您或向他吐露,我几乎可以同样安心。由于我已提到过的理由,我愿意选择您。我是不是可以荣幸地相信:我所吐露的真情已被接受,我已尽到了我的责任了?”
他长久地记得她向他投来的眼光--谁看到这个眼光能忘记呢?--以及她随后在内心所进行的斗争。最后,她说道:
“我接受它,先生。这件事情您到这里就告一结束,不用再讲什么了。”
他深深地鞠了个躬,并站起身来。她也站起来,然后他毕恭毕敬地告辞了。但是威瑟斯在楼梯上遇见他,看见他漂亮的牙齿和喜气洋洋的微笑时,惊愕地站住了;当他骑着白腿的马离开时,路上的人们都以为他是一位牙科医生,因为他显露出的牙齿是多么晃眼睛啊!当她不久之后乘着马车出去游逛的时候,路上的人们都把她看成是一位不仅富有、美丽而且又是幸福的贵妇人。但是他们没有看到她刚才一个人在自己房间里时的情景,他们也没有听到她是怎样喊着:”啊,弗洛伦斯,弗洛伦斯!”这几个字的!
斯丘顿夫人躺在沙发上休息,并一点一点地喝着巧克力饮料,除了听到”业务”这个粗俗的词儿外,什么也没有听进去。她对这个词有一种不共戴天的嫌恶,早就把它从她的词汇中驱除了,并因此用一种可爱的方式,并以大量善良的心意(就别提善良的心灵了)让各种妇女服饰商和其他商人都陷于破产。因此,斯丘顿夫人没有提任何问题,也没有表示任何好奇心。说实在的,桃红色的丝绒帽子在相当大的程度上占去了她在户外的注意力,因为它被放在她的后脑壳上,而这天风很大。它发疯似地想从斯丘顿夫人头上逃走,不跟她在一起,不管怎么哄它,它也丝毫不肯妥协。当把马车门关上,风被挡在外面的时候,由于神经麻痹症引起的颤抖又开始像济贫院中年迈的西风老人那样,跟假玫瑰花闹着玩儿;总之,斯丘顿夫人有不少事情要做,她对其他事情都漠不关心。
到了晚间她不见好转。因为董贝夫人在化妆室里穿好衣服,已等了她半个小时;董贝先生在客厅里踱着方步,变得神色阴沉严肃、烦躁不安(他们三人要出去吃晚饭);这时,侍女弗劳尔斯脸色苍白地走到董贝夫人跟前,说道:
“对不起,夫人,请您原谅,可是我对老夫人一点办法也没有!”
“您这是什么意思?”伊迪丝问道。
背景阅读
本书简介:
《董贝父子》是狄更斯最重要的作品之一,发表于1848年。小说描写了董贝父子公司的盛衰史。董贝是个贪得无厌的大资本家,妻子儿女都成了他追逐利润的工具和摆设。公司经理卡克尔是个奸诈小人,骗取了董贝的信任后又一手造成了他的破产。在现实的教训中,董贝的思想发生了转变。最后,虽然他已无法重整家业,却成全了真正的家庭幸福。
豆瓣热评:永恒的大团圆结局
来自: 阿壳
在读托尔金,C.S.刘易斯和狄更斯的小说前,我很少思想关于大团圆结局的事。而这三位作家是毫不掩饰自己热爱大团圆结局的,他们都是英国人。我不知道英国文学里是否有这一种传承,我读的很少;不过我相信,在信仰上他们确实是一脉相承。刘易斯的《纳尼亚传奇》和《裸颜》是基督教寓言小说,当他有更多更清晰直白的见解时,他就放下寓言,转而将它们变为论述或演讲。托尔金不太赞成他的好朋友那样赤裸裸地谈论信仰,他自己的魔戒系列和精灵宝钻是另一种类型的寓言体,不过依然深深渗透了基督教思想——只要把它们放在圣经面前,就会很容易识别出托尔金的信念是从哪里寻得依傍。他极其喜爱公式化的“从此以后他过着幸福的生活”,狄更斯也一样,甚至有过之而无不及。
在我所读过的《雾都孤儿》、《大卫?科波菲尔》、《圣诞颂歌》和《董贝父子》中,狄更斯不管形势有多严峻,某些人能过上幸福生活的可能性是多么微小——依然坚持到结尾时把他们全部聚拢在一起,使他们苦尽甘来,平平安安,欢欢乐乐,相亲相爱,永不分离。有时候我不由猜想,他是不是想要实现某种人间天国,但很快便打消了这念头。不如说大团圆在他笔下之所以成为可能、那样牢固,正是由他对这个世界以外有天国怀有真切的盼望。他随时描写那看不见的天国,随时使他的故事与人物浸透在那种光芒中。我没见过比他更天真的作家,天真到令人感动的地步,就像他钟爱自己笔下各种各样的“憨人”,不惜亲自出马保护他们,尽管他们傻气,不谙世事,偶尔会因自己的轻信挨近危险边缘——但他们绝不会有真正的危险,真正危险的是那种因聪明而自负的人。狄更斯以他叫人眼花缭乱的幽默手法描写这些傻乎乎的人,用上他最亲切的笔墨,仿佛是在叫喊:在这样的世界里做一个天真的人是可以的!你信上帝吗?上帝保佑你!——这句话的意思其实是“在人这是不能的,在神凡事都能。”(马太福音19:26)从同一个思路出发,因此他也毫不为自己的故事有一个美好结局而感到羞赧或犹疑。
我从娱乐作品中见过同样被称作“团圆”的结局,但它们不是同一种,和狄更斯的作品比起来,那不是真团圆。香港晚间黄金时段的电视剧几乎都有譬如真相大白,破镜重圆,有情人终成眷属,好有好报坏有坏报等等情节,也时常可见“从此以后他们过上幸福的生活”。类似的结尾也出现在给小学生改写的童话里。一本叫《屠猫记?法国文化史钩沉》的书谈到,《小红帽》的最初版本是极其血腥的,在几个世纪间,类似的民间传说大多是为了告诫年轻人这个世界的残酷,要想活下去(甚至不是为了能活得多么好)你就得留神。因此,真团圆首先要面对的问题是在一个残酷世界中得到幸福怎么可能。这其实是个严肃的问题,通常电视剧不负有探讨的责任,言情小说也没有,改写的童话同样不予理会。于是我们不得不遭遇断裂:小时候事情是一个版本,等到我们长大后——它们就无情地改变了。
真团圆必须得迎难而上,否则它就不过是娱乐,演和看的人同样不信。狄更斯信,而且似乎不需要论证。和他相比,雨果不但是个雄辩家,而且简直是个没多大信心的人,他在自己的小说里长篇累牍地辩论,甚至给我一种印象,如果他在每一章的开头不把事情为什么可以那样进行说清楚,事情就真的没法儿那样进行了。而且,即便它如期进行,却充满了暴力的痕迹。就像雨果本人对法国大革命十分推崇,认为人类要想有大团圆结局便无法绕道。他把暴力写得那样激昂,那样美。和他比起来狄更斯真是毫不进取,缺乏光荣,也一点都不浪漫。他只是温和却严肃地看着自己笔下的人物,也看着他的读者,仿佛是说:你应当舍己去爱。为什么?——你信上帝吗?愿上帝保佑你!
不过,即使对狄更斯而言,真团圆的难题也是不容易解决的,因为疑虑多半来自生活中确实没有那么多的幸福美满——果真如此吗?我想起那几本书的结尾,是否有人死亡或奄奄一息呢,是的,有,有两种情况。一种是误入歧途的人,无论他们之前多么坏,此时潘然悔悟,迎接他们的是“当一个忏悔的罪人夹在九十九个正直人中间进入天堂时,天使们的脸上可能出现的就是这种狂喜的神情”。他们离开这个绊倒人和叫人悲伤的世界,去往那真正使人安息的国度。这种结局,是从福音书耶稣基督的口里得来的。另一种情况是悲剧。作恶的人直到最后都不承认自己做了可怕的事,伤害了爱他的人和无辜的人,心里没有半点怜悯和恻隐,而只有无尽的骄傲、欲望和唯我独尊的念头——狄更斯描写这种人也是不遗余力。于是,最后他们被从“好人”中放逐出去,就像狼被从羊群中赶走,免得羊群的苦楚没有尽头。在《董贝父子》里,唯一的悲剧是那个人掉到火车的铁轨中央,狂乱中被火车撞死。然而,最可怕还不在于这种死,而是狄更斯相信有另一种永恒的死如同有永恒的活一样,两者同样出自福音书。狄更斯是节制的。小说里有不少糟糕的人物,只有这一个被“处以死刑”,不是由于他罪孽深重,而是由于他不肯回转。那个人心里有那么多肮脏的欲望和自私自利的念头,几乎等于是自己跳入到死亡之中。
狄更斯坦然书写这两种结局,对他来说那是确切无疑的,他就是那样相信的。通过他的故事,我对真团圆多了一层领悟。原来,疾病不能伤害真团圆,死也不能;贫穷和破产不能伤害真团圆,爱能填补它的空缺,它却不能填补爱的空缺;辛劳、付出得不到回报、爱一个人却眼看她与别人成婚、忍耐、默默承担,以及盼望非常遥远的事情——这一切都不能伤害真团圆,而这一切,不正是我们平常所害怕、以为一旦挨着就再也无能过上幸福生活的东西吗?那么狄更斯以为真团圆是什么呢?
“她念那永恒的书,那是给世上所有疲累的、心情沉重的人,和所有可怜的、堕落的、被忽视的人的书。她念那神圣的历史。失明的、跛腿的、瘫痪的乞丐、罪犯、蒙受耻辱的女人,我们所有正人君子避开的人,都在这历史中占一个部分。在这个世界继续存在的所有纪元里,没有任何人类的骄傲、冷淡或者诡辩能把这个部分除掉,或者减少千分之一格令。她念上帝的恩典,祂对整个人生,从出生到死亡,从婴儿到老年的一切希望和不幸都怀有亲切的同情,对人生中每一个场景、每一个阶段、每一个痛苦和悲哀,都很关心。”以及——
“海浪里的声音总是以它们那不停的喃喃声向弗洛伦斯悄悄谈论爱。那爱是永恒的,无限的,并不被今世和末日所局限,而是扩展开去,越过大海,越过天空,一直到远处那个看不见的地方!”(引自《董贝父子》)
于是,狄更斯在他的故事的结尾,把所有曾经痛苦、误入歧途和懊悔的人聚集在一起,使他们最远不会离开彼此一条街。我曾经疑惑,为什么这些人总是会相聚、相识,相爱,在现实生活中这可能吗?然而,是可能的!因为他们最后总会成为某种相像的人,总是随时乐于给予而将自己的益处置之度外。经过种种磨难后,他们终于在一起,因为信仰,盼望和爱而联合了。这就是作者所相信的大团圆,它们是如此沉甸甸,因为不是不付出代价的。如果疾病,患难,贫穷,痛苦,伤害——这个残酷世界所具有的一切武器——都不能使他们仇恨彼此,不信上帝的恩慈,那么还有什么能阻挡他们,使他们无法过上幸福美满的生活呢?
于是这永恒的大团圆结局仿佛是在说:选择过幸福的生活吧,亲爱的朋友!愿上帝祝福你!