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The immense accretion of flesh which had descended on her in middle life like a flood of lava on a doomed city
脂肪的激增在她中年时期突然降临，就像火山熔岩降临一个行将覆没的城市那样凶猛，
had changed her from a plump active little woman with a neatly-turned foot and ankle
使她由一位丰满好动、步伐灵活的小巧女人
into something as vast and august as a natural phenomenon.
变成如自然奇观般的庞然大物。
She had accepted this submergence as philosophically as all her other trials,
她像对待其他一切磨难一样达观地接受了这一大灾大难。
and now, in extreme old age, was rewarded by presenting to her mirror an almost unwrinkled expanse of firm pink and white flesh,
如今，她在耄耋之年终于得到了报偿：镜子里的她，是一堆几乎没有皱纹的白里透红的结实肌肤，
in the centre of which the traces of a small face survived as if awaiting excavation.
在其中央，一张小小的面孔形迹犹存，仿佛在等待着挖掘；
A flight of smooth double chins led down to the dizzy depths of a still-snowy bosom veiled in snowy muslins
光溜溜的双下巴下方，是掩映在雪白的麦斯林纱底下令人眩目的雪白的胸膛，
that were held in place by a miniature portrait of the late Mr. Mingott;
一枚已故明戈特先生的微形像章固定其间；
and around and below, wave after wave of black silk surged away over the edges of a capacious armchair,
四周及以下部位，一波接一波的黑丝绸在大扶手椅的边棱上流泻而下，
with two tiny white hands poised like gulls on the surface of the billows.
两只雪白的小手摆在那里犹如海面上的两只海鸥。
The burden of Mrs. Manson Mingott's flesh had long since made it impossible for her to go up and down stairs,
曼森·明戈特太太脂肪的负担早已使她无法上下楼梯，
and with characteristic independence she had made her reception rooms upstairs and established herself
她以特有的独立精神将客厅设在楼上，
(in flagrant violation of all the New York proprieties) on the ground floor of her house;
并且（公然违背纽约的所有行为规范）在住宅的一楼居住；
so that, as you sat in her sitting-room window with her, you caught
因此，与她一起坐在起居室的窗口，
(through a door that was always open, and a looped-back yellow damask portiere)
（透过始终开着的门和卷起的打环黄锦缎门帘）
the unexpected vista of a bedroom with a huge low bed upholstered like a sofa,
就能意外地看到卧室，里面有一张装饰得像沙发一样的特大矮床，
and a toilet-table with frivolous lace flounces and a gilt-framed mirror.
一张梳妆台，上面摆着花哨的丝带荷叶边，还有一面镀金框架的镜子。
Her visitors were startled and fascinated by the foreignness of this arrangement,
客人们对这种布置的异国情调既惊讶又为之倾倒。
which recalled scenes in French fiction,
它使人想起法国小说中的那些场景，
and architectural incentives to immorality such as the simple American had never dreamed of.
以及单纯的美国人做梦也不会想到的那些伤风败俗行径的建筑学诱因。
That was how women with lovers lived in the wicked old societies, in apartments with all the rooms on one floor,
在旧时不道德的上流社会里，那些偷情的女人其住所都是如此。在她们居住的公寓里，所有的房间都在同一层，
and all the indecent propinquities that their novels described.
从而可以使她们能像小说中描写的那样轻而易举地暗度陈仓。
