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Chapter 7
第七章
MR. BENNET'S property consisted almost entirely in an estate of two thousand a year, which, unfortunately for his daughters, was entailed, in default of heirs male, on a distant relation; and their mother's fortune, though ample for her situation in life, could but ill supply the deficiency of his. Her father had been an attorney in Meryton, and had left her four thousand pounds.
班纳特先生的全部家当几乎都在一宗产业上，每年可以借此获得两千磅的收入。说起这宗产业，真是他女儿们的不幸。因为家中没有男性继承人，产业将由一个远亲来继承。至于她们母亲的财产，虽然足够她自己这一生用的，却也弥补不了班纳特先生这方面的不足。班纳特太太的父亲曾经在麦里屯当过律师，给她留下了四千英镑的遗产。
She had a sister married to a Mr. Phillips, who had been a clerk to their father, and succeeded him in the business, and a brother settled in London in a respectable line of trade.
班纳特太太有个妹妹，嫁给了一个姓菲利普的先生，这位先生曾是她父亲手下的一名职员，后来继承了她父亲的行当；班纳特太太还有个兄弟，住在伦敦，做着受人青睐的生意。
The village of Longbourn was only one mile from Meryton; a most convenient distance for the young ladies, who were usually tempted thither three or four times a week, to pay their duty to their aunt, and to a milliner's shop just over the way.
浪博恩这个村子和麦里屯相隔只有一英里路，这么一段距离对于班纳特家的小姐们是再便利不过的了，她们每星期往麦里屯跑三四次，看看她们的姨母，还可以顺便看看那边一家卖女人帽子的商店。
The two youngest of the family, Catherine and Lydia, were particularly frequent in these attentions; their minds were more vacant than their sisters', and when nothing better offered, a walk to Meryton was necessary to amuse their morning hours and furnish conversation for the evening;
两个最小的妹妹凯瑟琳和丽迪雅跑那里跑得最勤。她们比姐姐们心事要少得多，每当没有更好的消遣办法时，就必定到麦里屯走一遭，一则可以消磨白天的时光，二则也给夜晚增添了话题。
and however bare of news the country in general might be, they always contrived to learn some from their aunt. At present, indeed, they were well supplied both with news and happiness by the recent arrival of a militia regiment in the neighbourhood; it was to remain the whole winter, and Meryton was the headquarters.
尽管这村子里通常没有什么新闻可以打听，她们还老是千方百计地从她们姨妈那儿打听到一些。在眼下，因为有部队的一个团新近开到了这附近，她们的生活骤然间平添了许多的新闻和乐趣。这个团要在这里驻扎一个冬天，麦里屯就是他们的司令部。
Their visits to Mrs. Philips were now productive of the most interesting intelligence. Every day added something to their knowledge of the officers' names and connections.
从此她们每次从菲利普太太那边回来都能获得最有趣的消息。每天都有军官们的名字和他们的消息传到她们耳朵里。
Their lodgings were not long a secret, and at length they began to know the officers themselves. Mr. Philips visited them all, and this opened to his nieces a source of felicity unknown before.
不久，他们住的地方对凯瑟琳和丽迪雅来说已不再是个秘密，到后来她们自己便开始与他们相识了。菲利普先生已经拜访了所有的军官，这真是为这姐妹俩打开了一道她们前所未知的幸福之门，
They could talk of nothing but officers; and Mr. Bingley's large fortune, the mention of which gave animation to their mother, was worthless in their eyes when opposed to the regimentals of an ensign.
凯瑟琳和丽迪雅现在整天谈的就是军官。至于宾格莱先生和他的大宗财产，尽管班纳特太太一提起仍是眉飞色舞，在她的两个小女儿眼里却算不上什么了，简直无法和那些军官们的制服相提并论。
After listening one morning to their effusions on this subject, Mr. Bennet coolly observed,
一天早晨，班纳特先生听到她们滔滔不绝地谈到这个问题，他不禁冷言冷语地说：
"From all that I can collect by your manner of talking, you must be two of the silliest girls in the country. I have suspected it some time, but I am now convinced."
“看你们谈话的神气，我觉得你们真是些再蠢不过的女孩子。以前我不过半信半疑，现在我可完全相信了。”
Catherine was disconcerted, and made no answer; but Lydia, with perfect indifference, continued to express her admiration of Captain Carter, and her hope of seeing him in the course of the day, as he was going the next morning to London.
凯瑟琳一听此话，颇感不安，可是并没有回答。丽迪雅却完全没有把爸爸的话当一回事，还是接着说下去，说她自己多么爱慕卡特上尉，还希望当天能够跟他见面，因为他明天上午就要到伦敦去。
"I am astonished, my dear," said Mrs. Bennet, "that you should be so ready to think your own children silly. If I wished to think slightingly of any body's children, it should not be of my own, however."
班纳特太太对她丈夫说：“你太让我吃惊了，亲爱的，你竟然说你自己的孩子蠢。要是我呀，什么人的孩子我都可以看不起，可是我决不会看不起自己的孩子。”
"If my children are silly I must hope to be always sensible of it."
“要是我自己的孩子果真蠢，我决不愿意没有自知之明。”
"Yes — but as it happens, they are all of them very clever."
“你说得不错，可是事实上，她们却一个个都很聪明。”
"This is the only point, I flatter myself, on which we do not agree. I had hoped that our sentiments coincided in every particular, but I must so far differ from you as to think our two youngest daughters uncommonly foolish."
“我自认为，这是我们两个人在认识上的唯一不同点。我曾希望我们的见解在任何方面都是一致的。不过，到目前为止，在对两个小女儿的看法上，我们不得不各持己见了。”
"My dear Mr. Bennet, you must not expect such girls to have the sense of their father and mother. When they get to our age, I dare say they will not think about officers any more than we do.
“亲爱的，你可不能指望这些女孩都跟她们爹妈一样的见识呀。等她们到了我们这么大年纪，她们也许就会跟我们一样，不会再想到什么军官们了。
I remember the time when I liked a red coat myself very well — and indeed, so I do still at my heart; and if a smart young colonel, with five or six thousand a year, should want one of my girls, I shall not say nay to him; and I thought Colonel Forster looked very becoming the other night at Sir William's in his regimentals."
从前有个时期，我也很喜爱‘红制服’——当然，到现在我心里头还喜爱‘红制服’呢；要是有位漂亮的年轻上校，每年有五六千磅的收入，随便向我的哪一个女儿求婚，我决不会拒绝他的；有天晚上在威廉爵士家里，看见弗斯特上校全副军装，真是一表人才！”
"Mama," cried Lydia, "my aunt says that Colonel Forster and Captain Carter do not go so often to Miss Watson's as they did when they first came; she sees them now very often standing in Clarke's library."
“妈妈，”丽迪雅嚷道，“姨妈说，弗斯特上校跟卡特尔上尉去沃特森小姐家里的次数，不像初来的时候那么勤了；姨妈常见他们站在克拉克图书馆里。”
Mrs. Bennet was prevented replying by the entrance of the footman with a note for Miss Bennet; it came from Netherfield, and the servant waited for an answer. Mrs. Bennet's eyes sparkled with pleasure, and she was eagerly calling out, while her daughter read,
班纳特太太正要答话，一个男仆走了进来，手里拿着宾格莱小姐写的一封信。这是尼日斐花园送来的一封信，仆人还等着取回信。班纳特太太高兴得眼睛也闪亮起来。吉英读信的时候，她心急地叫道：
"Well, Jane, who is it from? what is it about? what does he say? Well, Jane, make haste and tell us; make haste, my love."
“嘿，吉英，谁来的信？信上说些什么？是怎么说的？喂，吉英，快告诉我们；快点儿呀，我的宝贝女儿！”
"It is from Miss Bingley," said Jane, and then read it aloud.
“是宾格莱小姐写来的，”吉英说，一面把信读出来：
"My dear Friend, IF you are not so compassionate as to dine today with Louisa and me, we shall be in danger of hating each other for the rest of our lives, for a whole day's tete-a-tete between two women can never end without a quarrel. Come as soon as you can on the receipt of this. My brother and the gentlemen are to dine with the officers. Yours ever, CAROLINE BINGLEY."
我亲爱的的朋友：如果你今天不肯发发善心，来跟露易莎和我一块儿吃晚饭，我们姐妹两个今后可能就会永远地相互怨恨对方啦，因为两个女人成天在一起谈心，到头来没有不吵架的。请接到这封信后就尽快地赶来。我哥哥和他的朋友们都要上军官那里吃晚饭。——你的永远的朋友珈罗琳·宾格莱
"With the officers!" cried Lydia. "I wonder my aunt did not tell us of that."
“上军官们那儿去吃饭！”丽迪雅嚷道，“这件事怎么姨妈没告诉我们呢。”
"Dining out," said Mrs. Bennet, "that is very unlucky."
“你要出门，”班纳特太太说：“这太不凑巧了。”
"Can I have the carriage?" said Jane.
“我可以用车吗？”吉英问。
"No, my dear, you had better go on horseback, because it seems likely to rain; and then you must stay all night."
“不行，亲爱的，你最好骑着马去。天好象要下雨的样子，下了雨你就可以在那儿过夜。”
"That would be a good scheme," said Elizabeth, "if you were sure that they would not offer to send her home."
“这倒是个好办法，”伊丽莎白说。“只要你拿得准他们不会送她回来。”
"Oh! But the gentlemen will have Mr. Bingley's chaise to go to Meryton; and the Hursts have no horses to theirs."
“噢，宾格莱先生的马车要送他的朋友到麦里屯去，赫斯特夫妇又是有车无马。”
"I had much rather go in the coach."
“我倒还是愿意乘着马车去。”
"But, my dear, your father cannot spare the horses, I am sure. They are wanted in the farm, Mr. Bennet, are not they?"
“可是，亲爱的，我想你爸爸肯定是要用马的，农田里的活儿需要它们，班纳特，不是吗？”
"They are wanted in the farm much oftener than I can get them."
“农庄上常常要马用，可惜轮到我用的时候并不多。”
"But if you have got them today," said Elizabeth, "my mother's purpose will be answered."
伊丽莎白说：“可是，如果你今天要用，就如了妈妈的愿了。”
She did at last extort from her father an acknowledgment that the horses were engaged. Jane was therefore obliged to go on horseback, and her mother attended her to the door with many cheerful prognostics of a bad day.
她终于逼得父亲不得不承认，那匹拉车子的马已经有了别的用处。于是吉英只得骑着另外一匹马去，母亲送她到门口，高高兴兴地说了许多预祝天气会变坏的话。
Her hopes were answered; Jane had not been gone long before it rained hard. Her sisters were uneasy for her, but her mother was delighted. The rain continued the whole evening without intermission; Jane certainly could not come back.
结果真如愿了；吉英走了不久，就下起大雨来。妹妹们都替她担忧，只有她妈妈高兴得不得了。大雨一直下到晚上都没停。吉英肯定是回不来了。
