But when at last I met Charles Strickland, it was under circumstances which allowed me to do no more than just make his acquaintance. —
但最后我终于遇到了查理斯·斯特里克兰德，那时的情况只允许我认识他。 —

One morning Mrs. Strickland sent me round a note to say that she was giving a dinner-party that evening, and one of her guests had failed her. —
一天早晨，斯特里克兰夫人给我寄来一张便条，说她当晚将举办一场晚宴，她的一位客人爽约了。 —

She asked me to stop the gap. She wrote:
她请我来填补空缺。她写道：

“It’s only decent to warn you that you will be bored to extinction. —
“你要注意，你很可能会无聊得要死。 —

It was a thoroughly dull party from the beginning, but if you will come I shall be uncommonly grateful. —
从一开始这个晚会就相当乏味，但如果你愿意来，我将感激不尽。 —

And you and I can have a little chat by ourselves. “
而且你和我可以独自聊一会儿。”

It was only neighbourly to accept.
接受邀请只是相互邻居间的礼貌。

When Mrs. Strickland introduced me to her husband, he gave me a rather indifferent hand to shake. —
斯特里克兰德太太把我介绍给她的丈夫，他握手时显得相当冷淡。 —

Turning to him gaily, she attempted a small jest.
她转身开朗地对他说了一个小笑话。

“I asked him to show him that I really had a husband. I think he was beginning to doubt it. “
“我请他来，是想让他看看我确实有个丈夫。我觉得他开始怀疑了。”

Strickland gave the polite little laugh with which people acknowledge a facetiousness in which they see nothing funny, but did not speak. —
斯特里克兰德发出礼貌的笑声，表示理解了一个他觉得并不好笑的幽默，但没有说话。 —

New arrivals claimed my host’s attention, and I was left to myself. —
新来的客人占去了我的主人的注意，我被独自留下。 —

When at last we were all assembled, waiting for dinner to be announced, I reflected, while I chatted with the woman I had been asked to “take in, ” that civilised man practises a strange ingenuity in wasting on tedious exercises the brief span of his life. —
最终我们都齐聚一堂，等待宣布就餐时，我反思道，文明的人类在浪费生命短暂时光上展现出了一种奇特的巧妙。 —

It was the kind of party which makes you wonder why the hostess has troubled to bid her guests, and why the guests have troubled to come. —
这种晚宴让你不禁想知道为什么女主人费心邀请客人，客人又为何费心赴约。 —

There were ten people. They met with indifference, and would part with relief. —
总共有十人。他们相遇时感到漠不关心，分别时松了口气。 —

It was, of course, a purely social function. —
当然，这只是一个纯粹的社交场合。 —

The Stricklands “owed” dinners to a number of persons, whom they took no interest in, and so had asked them; —
斯特里克兰德夫妇“欠”了许多他们不感兴趣的人一个晚餐，于是邀请了他们； —

these persons had accepted. Why? To avoid the tedium of dining tete-a-tete, to give their servants a rest, because there was no reason to refuse, because they were “owed” a dinner.
这些人都接受了邀请。为什么？为了避免两人临桌时的乏味，给仆人一个休息，因为没有理由拒绝，因为他们“欠”了一个晚餐。

The dining-room was inconveniently crowded. —
餐厅里拥挤得不方便。 —

There was a K. C. and his wife, a Government official and his wife, Mrs. Strickland’s sister and her husband, Colonel MacAndrew, and the wife of a Member of Parliament. —
有一个律师和他的妻子，一个政府官员和他的妻子，斯特里克兰太太的妹妹和她的丈夫，麦克安德鲁上校，和一位国会议员的妻子。 —

It was because the Member of Parliament found that he could not leave the House that I had been invited. —
正是因为国会议员发现他不能离开议会，所以我被邀请了。 —

The respectability of the party was portentous. —
这个聚会的尊严感很明显。 —

The women were too nice to be well dressed, and too sure of their position to be amusing. —
这些女士们穿着太好看以至于打扮得不那么精致，过于自信于他们的地位以至于不够有趣。 —

The men were solid. There was about all of them an air of well-satisfied prosperity.
这些男士们很稳重。他们每个人身上都透露着满足的繁荣感。

Everyone talked a little louder than natural in an instinctive desire to make the party go, and there was a great deal of noise in the room. —
每个人都不自觉地说话比平时大声一些，希望这个聚会顺利进行，房间里噪音很大。 —

But there was no general conversation. Each one talked to his neighbour; —
但没有普遍的对话。每个人与他的邻人说话； —

to his neighbour on the right during the soup, fish, and entree; —
在汤、鱼和前菜时与右邻交谈； —

to his neighbour on the left during the roast, sweet, and savoury. —
在主菜、甜点和酥食时与左邻交谈。 —

They talked of the political situation and of golf, of their children and the latest play, of the pictures at the Royal Academy, of the weather and their plans for the holidays. —
他们谈论政治形势和高尔夫，谈论他们的孩子和最新的戏剧，谈论皇家艺术学院的画作，天气和他们的假期计划。 —

There was never a pause, and the noise grew louder. —
没有停顿，噪音越来越大。 —

Mrs. Strickland might congratulate herself that her party was a success. —
斯特里克兰夫人可以庆幸她的宴会很成功。 —

Her husband played his part with decorum. —
她的丈夫举止得体。 —

Perhaps he did not talk very much, and I fancied there was towards the end a look of fatigue in the faces of the women on either side of him. —
也许他并没有说很多话，我想在最后两侧的女士脸上露出了疲倦的神色。 —

They were finding him heavy. Once or twice Mrs. Strickland’s eyes rested on him somewhat anxiously.
她们觉得他有些沉闷。 斯特里克兰夫人有时注视着他，略显担忧。

At last she rose and shepherded the ladies out of one room. —
最后，她站起来把女士们引导到另一个房间。 —

Strickland shut the door behind her, and, moving to the other end of the table, took his place between the K. C. and the Government official. —
斯特里克兰夫人关上门，走到桌子的另一头，坐在大绅士和政府官员之间。 —

He passed round the port again and handed us cigars. —
他再次端着波特酒，递给我们雪茄。 —

The K. C. remarked on the excellence of the wine, and Strickland told us where he got it. —
大律师赞美酒的品质，而斯特里克兰告诉我们他是在哪里买的。 —

We began to chat about vintages and tobacco. —
我们开始聊起各种年份的葡萄酒和烟草。 —

The K. C. told us of a case he was engaged in, and the Colonel talked about polo. —
大律师告诉我们他正在处理的一个案件，上校谈起马球。 —

I had nothing to say and so sat silent, trying politely to show interest in the conversation; —
我无话可说，只是保持沉默，试图彬彬有礼地表现出对谈话的兴趣； —

and because I thought no one was in the least concerned with me, examined Strickland at my ease. —
因为我觉得没有人对我感兴趣，我就放心地仔细观察斯特里克兰。 —

He was bigger than I expected: I do not know why I had imagined him slender and of insignificant appearance; —
他比我想象的要高大：我不知道为什么我认为他纤细并且外表平凡； —

in point of fact he was broad and heavy, with large hands and feet, and he wore his evening clothes clumsily. —
实际上他身材宽阔沉重，手脚也很大，穿着晚装显得有些笨拙。 —

He gave you somewhat the idea of a coachman dressed up for the occasion. —
他让我有点像是打扮得体的马车夫。 —

He was a man of forty, not good-looking, and yet not ugly, for his features were rather good; —
他是一个四十岁的男人，长相不算帅，但也不难看，因为他的五官还算端正； —

but they were all a little larger than life-size, and the effect was ungainly. —
但它们都略大于实际尺寸，显得有些笨拙。 —

He was clean shaven, and his large face looked uncomfortably naked. —
他是个鬓角分明的男人，他那张大脸看起来令人感到不自在。 —

His hair was reddish, cut very short, and his eyes were small, blue or grey. He looked commonplace. —
他的头发偏红，剪得很短，眼睛小小的，蓝色或灰色。他看起来平凡无奇。 —

I no longer wondered that Mrs. Strickland felt a certain embarrassment about him; —
我不再奇怪斯特里克兰夫人对他感到某种难堪； —

he was scarcely a credit to a woman who wanted to make herself a position in the world of art and letters. —
他对于一个想在艺术和文学界立足的女人来说，绝不是个令人引以为傲的对象。 —

It was obvious that he had no social gifts, but these a man can do without; —
很明显，他没有社交天赋，但这些对一个男人来说并不重要； —

he had no eccentricity even, to take him out of the common run; —
他甚至没有怪僻之处，让他脱颖而出； —

he was just a good, dull, honest, plain man. —
他只是一个乏味、老实、普通的男人。 —

One would admire his excellent qualities, but avoid his company. He was null. —
人们会赞赏他的优秀品质，但会避免和他打交道。他是无足轻重的。 —

He was probably a worthy member of society, a good husband and father, an honest broker; —
他可能是社会中值得尊敬的成员，一个好丈夫和父亲，一名诚实的经纪人； —

but there was no reason to waste one’s time over him.
但没有理由浪费时间在他身上。