“He had catched a great cold, had he had no other clothes to wear than the skin of a bear not yet killed.”–FULLER.
“他得了重感冒，如果没有其他衣服可穿，只能穿一只尚未杀死的熊的皮。” ——富勒。

Young Ladislaw did not pay that visit to which Mr. Brooke had invited him, and only six days afterwards Mr. Casaubon mentioned that his young relative had started for the Continent, seeming by this cold vagueness to waive inquiry. —
年轻的拉迪斯劳没有参加布鲁克先生邀请他参加的那次访问，仅仅六天之后，卡索邦先生提到他的年轻亲戚已经启程去了欧洲大陆，凭借着这种冷漠的含糊来回避询问。 —

Indeed, Will had declined to fix on any more precise destination than the entire area of Europe. —
事实上，威尔拒绝确定比整个欧洲地区更具体的目的地。 —

Genius, he held, is necessarily intolerant of fetters: —
他认为，天才必然不能容忍束缚： —

on the one hand it must have the utmost play for its spontaneity; —
一方面，它必须给予其自发性最大的发挥； —

on the other, it may confidently await those messages from the universe which summon it to its peculiar work, only placing itself in an attitude of receptivity towards all sublime chances. —
另一方面，它可以自信地等待来自宇宙的那些召唤它进行其独特工作的信息，只需对所有崇高的机遇保持一种开放的态度。 —

The attitudes of receptivity are various, and Will had sincerely tried many of them. —
接受的态度是各种各样的，威尔曾真诚地尝试过其中的许多。 —

He was not excessively fond of wine, but he had several times taken too much, simply as an experiment in that form of ecstasy; —
他并不特别喜欢酒，但他几次饮酒过量，只是作为一种陶醉的实验； —

he had fasted till he was faint, and then supped on lobster; —
他曾经绝食到虚脱，然后吃龙虾晚餐； —

he had made himself ill with doses of opium. —
他曾用阿片剂使自己生病。 —

Nothing greatly original had resulted from these measures; —
这些措施并没有产生什么特别原创的结果； —

and the effects of the opium had convinced him that there was an entire dissimilarity between his constitution and De Quincey’s. —
阿片的影响让他确信，他的体质与德昆西的体质之间存在着完全的不同。 —

The superadded circumstance which would evolve the genius had not yet come; —
那个能够释放天才的额外情况还没有出现； —

the universe had not yet beckoned. Even Caesar’s fortune at one time was, but a grand presentiment. —
宇宙还没有招手。即使凯撒的运气一度也只是一个伟大的预感。 —

We know what a masquerade all development is, and what effective shapes may be disguised in helpless embryos. —
我们知道发展的全部都是伪装，而形形色色的有效形状可能隐藏在无助的胎儿中。 —

–In fact, the world is full of hopeful analogies and handsome dubious eggs called possibilities. —
实际上，世界充满了充满希望的类比和美丽但可疑的可能性的蛋。 —

Will saw clearly enough the pitiable instances of long incubation producing no chick, and but for gratitude would have laughed at Casaubon, whose plodding application, rows of note-books, and small taper of learned theory exploring the tossed ruins of the world, seemed to enforce a moral entirely encouraging to Will’s generous reliance on the intentions of the universe with regard to himself. —
威尔清楚地看到了长时间孵化却没有孵化出任何结果的可怜例子，如果不是出于感激，他本可以笑话卡索邦，他那种艰苦的应用、一排排笔记本、以及探索世界的废墟的理论小蜡烛，似乎完全鼓励了威尔对自己依赖于宇宙意图的慷慨信心。 —

He held that reliance to be a mark of genius; and certainly it is no mark to the contrary; —
他认为这种信心是天才的标志；而当然也不是相反； —

genius consisting neither in self-conceit nor in humility, but in a power to make or do, not anything in general, but something in particular. —
天才既不在于自负也不在于谦卑，而在于有能力创造或做出一些特别的事情。 —

Let him start for the Continent, then, without our pronouncing on his future. —
让他启程前往欧洲大陆吧，而我们不预言他的未来。 —

Among all forms of mistake, prophecy is the most gratuitous.
在所有错误中，预言是最无偿的。

But at present this caution against a too hasty judgment interests me more in relation to Mr. Casaubon than to his young cousin. —
但目前这种对于过快做出判断的警告对我而言更有意义，与卡索邦先生而不是他的年轻表弟有关。 —

If to Dorothea Mr. Casaubon had been the mere occasion which had set alight the fine inflammable material of her youthful illusions, does it follow that he was fairly represented in the minds of those less impassioned personages who have hitherto delivered their judgments concerning him? —
如果对于多萝西娅来说，卡索邦先生只是引发她年轻幻想的优秀燃料，那么这是否意味着他在先前对他进行评判的那些不那么激动的人们心目中得到公正的代表呢？ —

I protest against any absolute conclusion, any prejudice derived from Mrs. Cadwallader’s contempt for a neighboring clergyman’s alleged greatness of soul, or Sir James Chettam’s poor opinion of his rival’s legs,–from Mr. Brooke’s failure to elicit a companion’s ideas, or from Celia’s criticism of a middle-aged scholar’s personal appearance. —
我反对任何绝对的结论，任何源自凯德沃拉德夫人对邻居牧师所谓高尚灵魂的轻蔑，或者查塔姆爵士对他的对手腿的差评，布鲁克先生未能引出同伴思想的失败，或者西丽亚对中年学者容貌的批评。 —

I am not sure that the greatest man of his age, if ever that solitary superlative existed, could escape these unfavorable reflections of himself in various small mirrors; —
我不确定即使是某个时代最伟大的人，如果这种孤立的最佳确实存在过的话，也能逃脱这些小镜子中对他的不利反映； —

and even Milton, looking for his portrait in a spoon, must submit to have the facial angle of a bumpkin. —
甚至弥尔顿在勺子里找自己的肖像时，也必须接受一个乡巴佬的脸部角度。 —

Moreover, if Mr. Casaubon, speaking for himself, has rather a chilling rhetoric, it is not therefore certain that there is no good work or fine feeling in him. —
此外，如果卡索邦先生说话有些冷淡，这并不意味着他没有优秀的工作或高尚的感情。 —

Did not an immortal physicist and interpreter of hieroglyphs write detestable verses? —
难道一位不朽的物理学家和象形文字解释者就不能写出令人反感的诗句吗？ —

Has the theory of the solar system been advanced by graceful manners and conversational tact? —
太阳系的理论是通过优美的举止和谈吐技巧发展起来的吗？ —

Suppose we turn from outside estimates of a man, to wonder, with keener interest, what is the report of his own consciousness about his doings or capacity: —
假设我们从外界对一个人的评价转向更加关注地想知道他自己对自己的行为或能力有怎样的意识. —

with what hindrances he is carrying on his daily labors; —
他在日常劳作中承受着什么困难； —

what fading of hopes, or what deeper fixity of self-delusion the years are marking off within him; —
岁月在他身上留下了希望的褪色，或者更深的自欺； —

and with what spirit he wrestles against universal pressure, which will one day be too heavy for him, and bring his heart to its final pause. —
他以何种精神与普遍的压力对抗，这种压力终有一天会对他太过沉重，使他的心脏最终停止跳动； —

Doubtless his lot is important in his own eyes; —
毫无疑问，在他自己眼中，他的命运是重要的； —

and the chief reason that we think he asks too large a place in our consideration must be our want of room for him, since we refer him to the Divine regard with perfect confidence; —
我们认为他索要我们过多的关注主要是因为我们对他没有空间，我们完全信任将他归属于上帝的怀抱； —

nay, it is even held sublime for our neighbor to expect the utmost there, however little he may have got from us. —
事实上，他的邻居指望从我们那里得到最大的帮助，尽管我们对他给予的很少，这被认为很崇高； —

Mr. Casaubon, too, was the centre of his own world; —
卡索本先生也是自己世界的中心； —

if he was liable to think that others were providentially made for him, and especially to consider them in the light of their fitness for the author of a “Key to all Mythologies,” this trait is not quite alien to us, and, like the other mendicant hopes of mortals, claims some of our pity.
尽管他会认为别人是为他而存在的，特别是考虑到他们是否适合成为《万神殿解秘》的作者，这一特质并不完全与我们格格不入，而且像其他凡人的渴望一样，它也值得我们的怜悯；

Certainly this affair of his marriage with Miss Brooke touched him more nearly than it did any one of the persons who have hitherto shown their disapproval of it, and in the present stage of things I feel more tenderly towards his experience of success than towards the disappointment of the amiable Sir James. For in truth, as the day fixed for his marriage came nearer, Mr. Casaubon did not find his spirits rising; —
毋庸置疑，他与布鲁克小姐的婚事对他的影响比迄今表示反对的任何人都要深刻，就当前形势而言，我对他成功的经历更富同情心，而不是对可爱的詹姆斯爵士的失望； —

nor did the contemplation of that matrimonial garden scene, where, as all experience showed, the path was to be bordered with flowers, prove persistently more enchanting to him than the accustomed vaults where he walked taper in hand. —
随着婚礼日期的临近，卡索本先生并未感到精神振奋； —

He did not confess to himself, still less could he have breathed to another, his surprise that though he had won a lovely and noble-hearted girl he had not won delight,–which he had also regarded as an object to be found by search. —
他也没有被那家庭花园场景的沉思所持续的更具魅力，如同一切经验都表明的那样，那里的道路将被花朵边缘环绕； —

It is true that he knew all the classical passages implying the contrary; —
他并没有向自己承认，甚至更不可能向别人吐露，虽然他赢得了一个可爱高尚的女孩，但他没有赢得快乐，–他也曾将这视为需要追寻的目标； —

but knowing classical passages, we find, is a mode of motion, which explains why they leave so little extra force for their personal application.
他确实熟知表达相反意义的各种经典段落；

Poor Mr. Casaubon had imagined that his long studious bachelorhood had stored up for him a compound interest of enjoyment, and that large drafts on his affections would not fail to be honored; —
可是事实上，我们发现熟知经典段落只是一种动作方式，这解释了为什么它们留下的额外力量很少用于个人应用； —

for we all of us, grave or light, get our thoughts entangled in metaphors, and act fatally on the strength of them. —
可怜的卡索本先生想象，他长期沉思的单身生活已为自己积累了享乐的复利，相信他对感情的大笔提取一定会得到批准； —

And now he was in danger of being saddened by the very conviction that his circumstances were unusually happy: —
而现在，他却面临一个令人难过的危险，即他深信自己的境况异常幸福： —

there was nothing external by which he could account for a certain blankness of sensibility which came over him just when his expectant gladness should have been most lively, just when he exchanged the accustomed dulness of his Lowick library for his visits to the Grange. —
没有外在因素可以解释他感觉到的某种敏感度的空虚，正当他内心兴奋之际，当他从Lowick的图书馆换成访问Grange时，这种空虚感尤为强烈。 —

Here was a weary experience in which he was as utterly condemned to loneliness as in the despair which sometimes threatened him while toiling in the morass of authorship without seeming nearer to the goal. —
这是一种令人疲倦的经历，他在其中被彻底地判定为孤独，就像在写作的泥潭中挣扎时那种绝望一样，而又似乎距离目标更远。 —

And his was that worst loneliness which would shrink from sympathy. —
他遭遇的是那种最坏的孤独，宁愿远离同情。 —

He could not but wish that Dorothea should think him not less happy than the world would expect her successful suitor to be; —
他不得不希望多丽丝会认为他比世人期望她成功的求婚者更快乐； —

and in relation to his authorship he leaned on her young trust and veneration, he liked to draw forth her fresh interest in listening, as a means of encouragement to himself: —
就在写作方面，他依赖她年轻的信任和崇敬，他喜欢借此唤起她对听讲的新鲜兴趣，以激励自己： —

in talking to her he presented all his performance and intention with the reflected confidence of the pedagogue, and rid himself for the time of that chilling ideal audience which crowded his laborious uncreative hours with the vaporous pressure of Tartarean shades.
在与她交谈时，他以教师的自信向她展示他的作品和意图，并暂时摆脱了那种让他在辛勤无果的时刻感到寒意的理想听众，使其在魔界的阴影中受到压力。

For to Dorothea, after that toy-box history of the world adapted to young ladies which had made the chief part of her education, Mr. Casaubon’s talk about his great book was full of new vistas; —
对于多丽丝来说，经常听到关于其宏大著作的讲解，是一种新的视界； —

and this sense of revelation, this surprise of a nearer introduction to Stoics and Alexandrians, as people who had ideas not totally unlike her own, kept in abeyance for the time her usual eagerness for a binding theory which could bring her own life and doctrine into strict connection with that amazing past, and give the remotest sources of knowledge some bearing on her actions. —
这种启示之感，这种更亲近研究斯多嘉派和亚历山德派的惊喜，暂时将她平时迫切追求严谨理论，能将她自己的生活和信条与那悠远的过去严密联系起来的渴望搁置，让奥秘的知识源头与她的行动有着某种联系。 —

That more complete teaching would come–Mr. Casaubon would tell her all that: —
更完整的教诲会到来——卡索本先生会告诉她所有这些； —

she was looking forward to higher initiation in ideas, as she was looking forward to marriage, and blending her dim conceptions of both. —
她期待在思想上获得更高的启蒙，就像她期待婚姻一样，将她朦胧的概念结合起来。 —

It would be a great mistake to suppose that Dorothea would have cared about any share in Mr. Casaubon’s learning as mere accomplishment; —
如果以为多丽丝会将对卡索本先生学识的分享看作一种纯粹的技能，那就大错特错； —

for though opinion in the neighborhood of Freshitt and Tipton had pronounced her clever, that epithet would not have described her to circles in whose more precise vocabulary cleverness implies mere aptitude for knowing and doing, apart from character. —
虽然弗雷希特和蒂普顿地区的舆论认定她聪明，但那个形容词并不能描述她，对于那些更加严谨的词汇表达，聪明意味着纯粹的适应知识和行动，而不涉及性格。 —

All her eagerness for acquirement lay within that full current of sympathetic motive in which her ideas and impulses were habitually swept along. —
她对获取的渴望全部来源于那股充满同情动机的洪流，她的思想和冲动通常沿着这股洪流被带动。 —

She did not want to deck herself with knowledge–to wear it loose from the nerves and blood that fed her action; —
她不想用知识来装饰自己——将其与滋养她行动的神经和血液分离开来； —

and if she had written a book she must have done it as Saint Theresa did, under the command of an authority that constrained her conscience. —
如果她写过一本书，那必定像圣特蕾莎一样，是在被约束她良心的权威下完成的。 —

But something she yearned for by which her life might be filled with action at once rational and ardent; —
但她渴望着一种让生活充满理性和热情的行动； —

and since the time was gone by for guiding visions and spiritual directors, since prayer heightened yearning but not instruction, what lamp was there but knowledge? —
由于引导的幻境和灵性导师的时间已经过去，因为祈祷只增加了渴望而不能提供指导，除了知识还有什么光亮呢？ —

Surely learned men kept the only oil; and who more learned than Mr. Casaubon?
学者们肯定掌握着唯一的油；谁比卡绍本先生更有学问呢？

Thus in these brief weeks Dorothea’s joyous grateful expectation was unbroken, and however her lover might occasionally be conscious of flatness, he could never refer it to any slackening of her affectionate interest.
因此，在这短暂的几周里，多萝西娅快乐的感激的期待没有间断，尽管她的爱人偶尔感到平淡，但他从来没有将它归因于她深情的关注减弱。

The season was mild enough to encourage the project of extending the wedding journey as far as Rome, and Mr. Casaubon was anxious for this because he wished to inspect some manuscripts in the Vatican.
这个季节温和得足以鼓励延长婚礼之旅的计划，而卡绍本先生也急于这样做，因为他想查阅梵蒂冈的一些手稿。

“I still regret that your sister is not to accompany us,” he said one morning, some time after it had been ascertained that Celia objected to go, and that Dorothea did not wish for her companionship. —
“我仍然很遗憾你妹妹不会和我们一起去。”几周后，已经确定西莉亚反对去，而多萝西娅也不想要她的陪伴之后，他早晨说道。 —

“You will have many lonely hours, Dorotheas, for I shall be constrained to make the utmost use of my time during our stay in Rome, and I should feel more at liberty if you had a companion.”
“你会度过很多孤独的时光，多萝西娅，因为我们在罗马逗留期间，我将被迫充分利用我的时间，而如果你有一个伴侣，我将感觉更自由。”

The words “I should feel more at liberty” grated on Dorothea. —
“我应该感到更自由”这句话让多萝西娅感到很不舒服。 —

For the first time in speaking to Mr. Casaubon she colored from annoyance.
这是她第一次因为先生的讲话而因为恼怒而脸红。

“You must have misunderstood me very much,” she said, “if you think I should not enter into the value of your time–if you think that I should not willingly give up whatever interfered with your using it to the best purpose.”
“如果你觉得我不会理解你的时间的价值，如果你觉得我不会愿意放弃任何妨碍你充分利用它的事物，那么你一定误解了我很多。”

“That is very amiable in you, my dear Dorothea,” said Mr. Casaubon, not in the least noticing that she was hurt; —
“亲爱的多萝西娅，你的这种态度很可爱。”卡绍本先生毫不注意她受伤了； —

“but if you had a lady as your companion, I could put you both under the care of a cicerone, and we could thus achieve two purposes in the same space of time.”
“但如果你有一位女士作为你的伴侣，我可以把你们两人交给一个导游，这样我们在同样的时间内能实现两个目的。”

“I beg you will not refer to this again,” said Dorothea, rather haughtily. —
“我恳请你不要再提这件事了。”多萝西娅有点高傲地说。 —

But immediately she feared that she was wrong, and turning towards him she laid her hand on his, adding in a different tone, “Pray do not be anxious about me. —
但立刻她害怕自己错了，转过身来她把手放在他的手上，以不同的语气补充说：“请不要为我担心。 —

I shall have so much to think of when I am alone. —
当我独处的时候，我会有很多事情可以思考。 —

And Tantripp will be a sufficient companion, just to take care of me. —
而坦特里普将是一个足够的伴侣，只是为了照顾我。 —

I could not bear to have Celia: she would be miserable.”
我无法容忍希莉亚：她会很痛苦的。”

It was time to dress. There was to be a dinner-party that day, the last of the parties which were held at the Grange as proper preliminaries to the wedding, and Dorothea was glad of a reason for moving away at once on the sound of the bell, as if she needed more than her usual amount of preparation. —
是时候该穿衣服了。那天要举行一个宴会，这是在格兰奇举行的最后一个宴会，是婚礼的合适前奏，多萝西雅很高兴有一个马上走开的理由，好像她需要比平时更多的准备。 —

She was ashamed of being irritated from some cause she could not define even to herself; —
被一些无法定义的原因激怒，她感到羞愧； —

for though she had no intention to be untruthful, her reply had not touched the real hurt within her. —
因为虽然她没有撒谎的打算，但她的回复并没有触及她内心的真正伤痛。 —

Mr. Casaubon’s words had been quite reasonable, yet they had brought a vague instantaneous sense of aloofness on his part.
卡索本先生的话完全合乎情理，但它们给了她一种不明确瞬间的疏离感。

“Surely I am in a strangely selfish weak state of mind,” she said to herself. —
“我肯定我心灵上正陷入一种异常自私的软弱状态，”她对自己说。 —

“How can I have a husband who is so much above me without knowing that he needs me less than I need him?”
“我怎么能有一个远远高于我的丈夫，而不知道他比我更需要我？”

Having convinced herself that Mr. Casaubon was altogether right, she recovered her equanimity, and was an agreeable image of serene dignity when she came into the drawing-room in her silver-gray dress–the simple lines of her dark-brown hair parted over her brow and coiled massively behind, in keeping with the entire absence from her manner and expression of all search after mere effect. —
在自己确信卡索本先生是完全正确之后，她恢复了镇定，当她穿着银灰色连衣裙走进起居室时，她整个人都散发出一种祥和的尊严形象–深棕色头发简单地分在额头上，并精心盘在后面，与她的态度和表情完全没有任何追求纯粹效果的倾向。 —

Sometimes when Dorothea was in company, there seemed to be as complete an air of repose about her as if she had been a picture of Santa Barbara looking out from her tower into the clear air; —
有时候，当多萝西雅在一群人中时，她看起来完全静定，就像是从塔楼向清澈空气中眺望的圣芭芭拉的画像； —

but these intervals of quietude made the energy of her speech and emotion the more remarked when some outward appeal had touched her.
但是，当某种外在的呼应触动她时，她的言语和情感的活力更加引人注目。

She was naturally the subject of many observations this evening, for the dinner-party was large and rather more miscellaneous as to the male portion than any which had been held at the Grange since Mr. Brooke’s nieces had resided with him, so that the talking was done in duos and trios more or less inharmonious. —
今晚她自然成为了众人观察的对象，因为晚宴规模庞大，男性部分相对多样化，比起布鲁克先生的侄女们和他同住的时候更加杂乱，所以谈话局限在一些二三人组里，更或多或少缺乏和谐。 —

There was the newly elected mayor of Middlemarch, who happened to be a manufacturer; —
有一位刚刚当选的米德尔马奇市市长，碰巧是一位制造商； —

the philanthropic banker his brother-in-law, who predominated so much in the town that some called him a Methodist, others a hypocrite, according to the resources of their vocabulary; —
他的姐夫是慈善银行家，在镇上占据着主导地位，一些人称他是卫理公会教徒，另一些人称他是伪君子，根据他们的词汇表达能力而定。 —

and there were various professional men. —
这里有各种各样的专业人士。 —

In fact, Mrs. Cadwallader said that Brooke was beginning to treat the Middlemarchers, and that she preferred the farmers at the tithe-dinner, who drank her health unpretentiously, and were not ashamed of their grandfathers’ furniture. —
实际上，卡德沃拉夫人说，布鲁克开始对待米德尔马奇的人们得索然无味，她更喜欢那些在土地税酒宴上不傲慢地为她干杯的农民们，他们并不羞于展示祖辈的家具。 —

For in that part of the country, before reform had done its notable part in developing the political consciousness, there was a clearer distinction of ranks and a dimmer distinction of parties; —
因为在那个地区，在改革发挥其引人注目作用而发展政治意识之前，社会阶层的界限更为明显，而政党的区分模糊； —

so that Mr. Brooke’s miscellaneous invitations seemed to belong to that general laxity which came from his inordinate travel and habit of taking too much in the form of ideas.
所以布鲁克先生那些杂乱的邀请似乎属于他无度的旅行和过多接受思想的习惯所带来的那种普遍的放松。

Already, as Miss Brooke passed out of the dining-room, opportunity was found for some interjectional “asides”
当布鲁克小姐走出餐厅时，机会终于来到了一些插科打诨的”旁白”上。

“A fine woman, Miss Brooke! an uncommonly fine woman, by God!” —
“布鲁克小姐是一个漂亮的女人！一个非常漂亮的女人，天呐！” —

said Mr. Standish, the old lawyer, who had been so long concerned with the landed gentry that he had become landed himself, and used that oath in a deep-mouthed manner as a sort of armorial bearings, stamping the speech of a man who held a good position.
说这番话的是老律师斯坦迪什先生，他与地主们打交道时间太长，以至于自己也成了地主，口中的这句誓言就像一种纹章，他用沉稳的嗓音说出来，显得身份显赫。

Mr. Bulstrode, the banker, seemed to be addressed, but that gentleman disliked coarseness and profanity, and merely bowed. —
布尔斯特罗德先生，这位银行家，似乎是在被说话，请了，但那位绅士不喜欢粗鲁和亵渎之词，只是点了点头。 —

The remark was taken up by Mr. Chichely, a middle-aged bachelor and coursing celebrity, who had a complexion something like an Easter egg, a few hairs carefully arranged, and a carriage implying the consciousness of a distinguished appearance.
这句话引起了中年单身汉、狩猎名人奇切利先生的共鸣，他有着像复活节彩蛋一样的肤色，几根精心梳理的头发，一种显得他自负出众外表的举止。

“Yes, but not my style of woman: I like a woman who lays herself out a little more to please us. —
“是的，但不是我喜欢的类型的女人：我喜欢那种为了取悦我们而稍微使出点儿力气的女人。 —

There should be a little filigree about a woman–something of the coquette. —
女人也应该有些装饰–有点儿做作的女人。 —

A man likes a sort of challenge. The more of a dead set she makes at you the better.”
一个男人喜欢一种挑战。

“There’s some truth in that,” said Mr. Standish, disposed to be genial. —
“这有一些道理，”斯廷迪什先生表示友好。 —

“And, by God, it’s usually the way with them. —
“而且，我可以确定，她们通常就是这么做。 —

I suppose it answers some wise ends: Providence made them so, eh, Bulstrode?”
我想这也许符合某些明智的设计：是上帝使她们这样，对吧，布尔斯特罗德先生？”

“I should be disposed to refer coquetry to another source,” said Mr. Bulstrode. —
“我更倾向于将媚态归于另一个源头。”布尔斯特罗德先生说。 —

“I should rather refer it to the devil.”
“我倒愿意将媚态归于魔鬼。”

“Ay, to be sure, there should be a little devil in a woman,” said Mr. Chichely, whose study of the fair sex seemed to have been detrimental to his theology. —
“对，确实，女人中应该有一点恶魔。”奇切利先生说道，他对女性的研究似乎对他的神学有所损伤。 —

“And I like them blond, with a certain gait, and a swan neck. —
“我喜欢他们金发，有着一种特定的步态，天鹅般的颈。 —

Between ourselves, the mayor’s daughter is more to my taste than Miss Brooke or Miss Celia either. —
顺便说一句，要我挑选，市长的女儿比布鲁克小姐或西莉亚小姐更符合我的口味。 —

If I were a marrying man I should choose Miss Vincy before either of them.”
如果我打算结婚，我选择文西小姐而不是她们俩。”

“Well, make up, make up,” said Mr. Standish, jocosely; —
“好了，和好吧，和好吧，”斯坦迪什先生开玩笑说； —

“you see the middle-aged fellows early the day.”
你看见了今早见到中年大叔们。

Mr. Chichely shook his head with much meaning: —
奇切利先生意味深长地摇了摇头： —

he was not going to incur the certainty of being accepted by the woman he would choose.
他不想引起被他选择的女人接受的确定性。

The Miss Vincy who had the honor of being Mr. Chichely’s ideal was of course not present; —
当然，得到奇切利先生青睐的温丝希小姐并不在场； —

for Mr. Brooke, always objecting to go too far, would not have chosen that his nieces should meet the daughter of a Middlemarch manufacturer, unless it were on a public occasion. —
因为布鲁克先生总是反对走得太远，他不希望他的侄女们碰到米德尔马契制造商的女儿，除非是在公开场合。 —

The feminine part of the company included none whom Lady Chettam or Mrs. Cadwallader could object to; —
公司中的女性成员中没有一位是切特姆夫人或卡德沃勒夫人会反对的； —

for Mrs. Renfrew, the colonel’s widow, was not only unexceptionable in point of breeding, but also interesting on the ground of her complaint, which puzzled the doctors, and seemed clearly a case wherein the fulness of professional knowledge might need the supplement of quackery. —
因为根特霍罗上校的遗孀伦弗鲁夫人在教养方面无可挑剔，而且因为她的病症而备受关注，医生们对此感到疑惑，似乎明显是一种需要在医学知识充足之外添加些江湖医生的病例。 —

Lady Chettam, who attributed her own remarkable health to home-made bitters united with constant medical attendance, entered with much exercise of the imagination into Mrs. Renfrew’s account of symptoms, and into the amazing futility in her case of all, strengthening medicines.
切特姆夫人，将自己健康的非凡归功于自制的苦艾酒和持续的医疗照料，着实用想像力理解了伦弗鲁夫人的症状描述，以及在她的病例中所有滋补药的令人惊愕的无效性。

“Where can all the strength of those medicines go, my dear?” —
“亲爱的，那些药物的力量都去了哪里呢？” —

said the mild but stately dowager, turning to Mrs. Cadwallader reflectively, when Mrs. Renfrew’s attention was called away.
言辞温和但威严的寡妇转向卡德沃勒夫人反思地说，当伦弗鲁夫人的注意力被转移时。

“It strengthens the disease,” said the Rector’s wife, much too well-born not to be an amateur in medicine. —
“它加强了疾病，”牧师夫人说，出生高贵得太好，以至于成为药物业余爱好者。 —

“Everything depends on the constitution: —
“一切都取决于体质： —

some people make fat, some blood, and some bile–that’s my view of the matter; —
有些人长肉，有些人长血，有些人长胆——这是我对此事的见解； —

and whatever they take is a sort of grist to the mill.”
无论他们服用什么都是给磨坊加料。”

“Then she ought to take medicines that would reduce–reduce the disease, you know, if you are right, my dear. —
“那么，如果你是对的，亲爱的，她就应该服用能减少——减少疾病的药物。 —

And I think what you say is reasonable.”
“我认为你说的很有道理。”

“Certainly it is reasonable. You have two sorts of potatoes, fed on the same soil. —
“当然是合理的。你有两种土豆，都是在同样的土壤里生长。” —

One of them grows more and more watery–”
“其中一种变得越来越水分多–”

“Ah! like this poor Mrs. Renfrew–that is what I think. Dropsy! —
“啊，就像可怜的伦弗鲁太太–我就是这么想的。水肿！ —

There is no swelling yet–it is inward. I should say she ought to take drying medicines, shouldn’t you? —
还没有肿胀–是内部问题。我觉得她应该服用一些干燥的药物，你也这么认为吧？ —

–or a dry hot-air bath. Many things might be tried, of a drying nature.”
–或者可以尝试干热气浴。可以尝试很多具有干燥特性的方法。”

“Let her try a certain person’s pamphlets,” said Mrs. Cadwallader in an undertone, seeing the gentlemen enter. —
“让她试试某个人的小册子,” 卡德沃勒夫人小声说，看到绅士们进来。 —

“He does not want drying.”
“他不需要干燥。”

“Who, my dear?” said Lady Chettam, a charming woman, not so quick as to nullify the pleasure of explanation.
“谁，亲爱的？” 切特姆夫人问道，一个迷人的女人，不那么快速以至于无法解释的乐趣消失。

“The bridegroom–Casaubon. He has certainly been drying up faster since the engagement: —
“新郎–卡索本。自从订婚以来，他确实变得越来越干瘪： —

the flame of passion, I suppose.”
激情的火焰，我猜测。”

“I should think he is far from having a good constitution,” said Lady Chettam, with a still deeper undertone. —
“我认为他的体质远非良好，” 切特姆夫人深沉的声音更甚。 —

“And then his studies–so very dry, as you say.”
“而且他的研究–正如你所说，非常干燥。”

“Really, by the side of Sir James, he looks like a death’s head skinned over for the occasion. —
“真的，和詹姆士爵士站在一起，他看起来就像一个为这个场合剥皮的死亡之头。 —

Mark my words: in a year from this time that girl will hate him. —
记住我的话：从现在起一年后，那个女孩会憎恨他。” —

She looks up to him as an oracle now, and by-and-by she will be at the other extreme. All flightiness!”
她现在把他视为一个神谕，而以后她会走向另一个极端。全是轻狂！

“How very shocking! I fear she is headstrong. —
“这真是太令人震惊了！我担心她很固执。 —

But tell me–you know all about him–is there anything very bad? —
但告诉我–你对他了解很多–有没有什么很糟糕的？ —

What is the truth?”
真相是什么？”

“The truth? he is as bad as the wrong physic–nasty to take, and sure to disagree.”
“真相？他就像错误的药物一样糟糕–难以接受，而且肯定会导致不适。”

“There could not be anything worse than that,” said Lady Chettam, with so vivid a conception of the physic that she seemed to have learned something exact about Mr. Casaubon’s disadvantages. —
“没有比那更糟糕的了，”恰特姆夫人如此生动地想象着药物，以至于她仿佛已经对卡索本先生的缺点有了确切的了解。 —

“However, James will hear nothing against Miss Brooke. —
“然而，詹姆斯对布鲁克小姐百般宠爱。 —

He says she is the mirror of women still.”
他说她仍然是女人的楷模。”

“That is a generous make-believe of his. Depend upon it, he likes little Celia better, and she appreciates him. —
“这是他慷慨的假装。可以肯定，他更喜欢小希利亚，而她也欣赏他。 —

I hope you like my little Celia?”
我希望你喜欢我的小希利亚？”

“Certainly; she is fonder of geraniums, and seems more docile, though not so fine a figure. —
“当然；她更喜欢天竺葵，看起来更加顺从，尽管身材不如人。 —

But we were talking of physic. Tell me about this new young surgeon, Mr. Lydgate. —
但我们在谈论药物。告诉我关于这位新的年轻外科医生，李德盖特先生。 —

I am told he is wonderfully clever: he certainly looks it–a fine brow indeed.”
有人告诉我他非常聪明：他的外表确实如此–一张出色的额头。”

“He is a gentleman. I heard him talking to Humphrey. He talks well.”
“他是一个绅士。我听到他和汉弗莱在谈话。他讲话很好。

“Yes. Mr. Brooke says he is one of the Lydgates of Northumberland, really well connected. —
“是的。布鲁克先生说他是来自诺森伯兰的利德盖特家族，真的很有关联。 —

One does not expect it in a practitioner of that kind. —
在这种医生身上，人们是意想不到的。 —

For my own part, I like a medical man more on a footing with the servants; —
就我个人而言，我更喜欢医生和仆人打成一片； —

they are often all the cleverer. I assure you I found poor Hicks’s judgment unfailing; —
他们往往更聪明。我向你保证，希克斯的判断从未出错； —

I never knew him wrong. He was coarse and butcher-like, but he knew my constitution. —
我从未见过他犯过错误。他虽然粗鲁和像屠夫一样，但是他了解我的体质。 —

It was a loss to me his going off so suddenly. —
他突然离去对我来说是一个损失。 —

Dear me, what a very animated conversation Miss Brooke seems to be having with this Mr. Lydgate!”
天啊，Miss Brooke似乎与这位Lydgate先生正在进行一场非常活跃的谈话！

“She is talking cottages and hospitals with him,” said Mrs. Cadwallader, whose ears and power of interpretation were quick. —
“她正在跟他谈论小屋和医院，” Mrs. Cadwallader说，她的耳朵和解释能力很敏锐。 —

“I believe he is a sort of philanthropist, so Brooke is sure to take him up.”
“我相信他是一位慈善家，所以布鲁克肯定会接纳他。”

“James,” said Lady Chettam when her son came near, “bring Mr. Lydgate and introduce him to me. —
“詹姆斯，” Chettam夫人当她的儿子靠近时说，“带来Lydgate先生并介绍他给我。 —

I want to test him.”
我想测试他一下。”

The affable dowager declared herself delighted with this opportunity of making Mr. Lydgate’s acquaintance, having heard of his success in treating fever on a new plan.
这位和蔼的寡妇表示非常高兴有机会认识Lydgate先生，听说他在采用新方案治疗热病方面取得了成功。

Mr. Lydgate had the medical accomplishment of looking perfectly grave whatever nonsense was talked to him, and his dark steady eyes gave him impressiveness as a listener. —
Lydgate先生具备一种医学技能，即无论对他说些什么废话，他都能看起来很严肃，他那双深沉稳定的眼睛让他在倾听时给人留下深刻印象。 —

He was as little as possible like the lamented Hicks, especially in a certain careless refinement about his toilet and utterance. —
他在某种程度上与可悼念的希克斯不同，尤其是在穿着和言辞方面有一种漫不经心的精致感。 —

Yet Lady Chettam gathered much confidence in him. —
然而，Chettam夫人对他充满了信心。 —

He confirmed her view of her own constitution as being peculiar, by admitting that all constitutions might be called peculiar, and he did not deny that hers might be more peculiar than others. —
他承认所有体质都可以称为独特，他没有否认她的体质可能比其他人更为独特。 —

He did not approve of a too lowering system, including reckless cupping, nor, on the other hand, of incessant port wine and bark. —
他不赞同过于降低的系统，包括鲁莽的拔罐，也不赞同不断喝波尔图葡萄酒和树皮药剂。 —

He said “I think so” with an air of so much deference accompanying the insight of agreement, that she formed the most cordial opinion of his talents.
他说：“我想是这样”时，带着一种十分恭顺的态度表示同意，让她对他的才能形成最热诚的看法。

“I am quite pleased with your protege,” she said to Mr. Brooke before going away.
“在离开之前，她对布鲁克先生说：“我对你的门徒感到非常满意。”

“My protege?–dear me!–who is that?” said Mr. Brooke.
“我的门徒？–天啊!–那是谁？”布鲁克先生说。

“This young Lydgate, the new doctor.-He seems to me to understand his profession admirably.”
“这位年轻的莱德盖特，这位新医生–他对我来说非常出色地理解了他的职业。”

“Oh, Lydgate! he is not my protege, you know; —
“哦，莱德盖特！他并不是我的门徒，你知道的； —

only I knew an uncle of his who sent me a letter about him. —
只是有一个叔叔给我写过一封关于他的信。 —

However, I think he is likely to be first-rate–has studied in Paris, knew Broussais; —
然而，我认为他很可能会非常出色–曾在巴黎学习，熟悉了布鲁塞。 —

has ideas, you know–wants to raise the profession.”
有主意，你知道–希望提高这个行业。”

“Lydgate has lots of ideas, quite new, about ventilation and diet, that sort of thing,” resumed Mr. Brooke, after he had handed out Lady Chettam, and had returned to be civil to a group of Middlemarchers.
“莱德盖特有很多全新的想法，关于通风和饮食，那种事情，”在送出切塔姆夫人后，布鲁克先生继续说，然后回来对身边的一群明德尔马奇人表示友好。

“Hang it, do you think that is quite sound? —
“拖延时间，你认为这非常可靠吗？ —

–upsetting The old treatment, which has made Englishmen what they re?” said Mr. Standish.
–颠覆了已经让英国人称之为自己的旧疗法？“斯坦迪什先生说。

“Medical knowledge is at a low ebb among us,” said Mr. Bulstrode, who spoke in a subdued tone, and had rather a sickly air. —
“我们中的医学知识有限，”说话声音低沉，有些虚弱的布鲁斯特罗德先生说。 —

“I, for my part, hail the advent of Mr. Lydgate. —
“对于莱德盖特先生的到来，我个人非常高兴。 —

I hope to find good reason for confiding the new hospital to his management.”
我希望找到充分的理由把新医院委托给他管理。”

“That is all very fine,” replied Mr. Standish, who was not fond of Mr. Bulstrode; —
“这一切都很美好，”不喜欢布尔斯特罗德先生的斯坦迪什先生回答道； —

“if you like him to try experiments on your hospital patients, and kill a few people for charity I have no objection. —
“如果你愿意让他在你的医院病人身上进行实验，并出于慈善而杀死一些人，我没有意见。 —

But I am not going to hand money out of my purse to have experiments tried on me. —
但我不打算从我的钱包里掏钱去让人对我试验。 —

I like treatment that has been tested a little.”
我喜欢经过一定检验的治疗方法。”

“Well, you know, Standish, every dose you take is an experiment-an experiment, you know,” said Mr. Brooke, nodding towards the lawyer.
“你知道，斯坦迪什，你服用的每一剂药都是一个实验-一个实验，你知道，”布鲁克先生朝着律师点点头。

“Oh, if you talk in that sense!” said Mr. Standish, with as much disgust at such non-legal quibbling as a man can well betray towards a valuable client.
“哦，如果你用那个意义说！”斯坦迪什先生说，对那种非法律辩词的厌恶程度，几乎能表现出一个人对重要的客户的排斥。

“I should be glad of any treatment that would cure me without reducing me to a skeleton, like poor Grainger,” said Mr. Vincy, the mayor, a florid man, who would have served for a study of flesh in striking contrast with the Franciscan tints of Mr. Bulstrode. —
“我很乐意接受任何不会使我变成骷髅的治疗方法，就像可怜的格兰杰一样，”弗茨尼市长，一个红润的人说，他本可以用来对比布尔斯特罗德先生身上的佛朗西斯肯的色彩。 —

“It’s an uncommonly dangerous thing to be left without any padding against the shafts of disease, as somebody said,–and I think it a very good expression myself.”
“被遗弃在疾病的矢猜之下没有任何填物是一件非常危险的事情，正如有人说的那样-我觉得这是一个很好的表达方式。”

Mr. Lydgate, of course, was out of hearing. —
显然，利德盖特先生并没有听到。 —

He had quitted the party early, and would have thought it altogether tedious but for the novelty of certain introductions, especially the introduction to Miss Brooke, whose youthful bloom, with her approaching marriage to that faded scholar, and her interest in matters socially useful, gave her the piquancy of an unusual combination.
他很早就离开了聚会，他觉得这一切都极其乏味，但除了一些新认识人的介绍外，尤其是与布鲁克小姐的介绍，她将要与那位消瘦学者结婚，以及她对社会有用事物的兴趣，使她具有与众不同的魅力。

“She is a good creature–that fine girl–but a little too earnest,” he thought. —
“她是一个好心的女子-那位优雅的女孩-但有点太认真了，”他想。 —

“It is troublesome to talk to such women. —
“和这样的女性交谈真是麻烦。 —

They are always wanting reasons, yet they are too ignorant to understand the merits of any question, and usually fall hack on their moral sense to settle things after their own taste.”
她们总是想要理由，但又太无知以理解任何问题的优劣，并且通常只依靠自己的道德感来解决事情。”

Evidently Miss Brooke was not Mr. Lydgate’s style of woman any more than Mr. Chichely’s. —
显然，布鲁克小姐不是利德盖特先生喜欢的女性类型，就像奇枇尔先生不是一样。 —

Considered, indeed, in relation to the latter, whose mied was matured, she was altogether a mistake, and calculated to shock his trust in final causes, including the adaptation of fine young women to purplefaced bachelors. —
事实上，与后者相比，后者的思想已经成熟，她完全是一个错误，而且计算错误，会动摇他对包括将优秀年轻女性配对紫面光的终极原因的信任。 —

But Lydgate was less ripe, and might possibly have experience before him which would modify his opinion as to the most excellent things in woman.
但是莱德盖特还不成熟，也许在他看来，女人最卓越的品质可能会有所变化。

Miss Brooke, however, was not again seen by either of these gentlemen under her maiden name. —
但是布鲁克小姐在这两位绅士中再也没有以她的老名字出现过。 —

Not long after that dinner-party she had become Mrs. Casaubon, and was on her way to Rome.
在那次晚宴之后不久，她成为了卡索本夫人，并且正在前往罗马的路上。