Therefore when a friendly summons came from Mrs. Archer, Mr. Jackson, who was a true eclectic, would usually say to his sister:
因此,当阿切尔太太发来友好的召唤时,喜欢兼收并蓄的杰克逊先生往往会对妹妹说:
"I've been a little gouty since my last dinner at the Lovell Mingotts'--it will do me good to diet at Adeline's."
“上次在洛弗尔·明戈特家吃饭以后我一直有点痛风——到艾德琳家忌忌口对我会有好处的。”
Mrs. Archer, who had long been a widow, lived with her son and daughter in West Twenty-eighth Street.
寡居多年的阿切尔太太与儿子、女儿住在西28街。
An upper floor was dedicated to Newland, and the two women squeezed themselves into narrower quarters below.
二楼全部归纽兰专用,两个女人挤在楼下的小房间里。
In an unclouded harmony of tastes and interests they cultivated ferns in Wardian cases, made macrame lace and wool embroidery on linen,
一家人兴趣爱好和谐一致,他们在沃德箱内种蕨类植物,织花边饰带,用亚麻布做毛绣,
collected American revolutionary glazed ware, subscribed to "Good Words," and read Ouida's novels for the sake of the Italian atmosphere.
收藏独立战争时期上釉的器皿,订阅《名言》杂志,并为了追求意大利情调而读韦达的小说。
(They preferred those about peasant life, because of the descriptions of scenery and the pleasanter sentiments,
(由于风景描写与情调欢快的缘故,他们更爱读反映农民生活的小说,
though in general they liked novels about people in society, whose motives and habits were more comprehensible,
尽管总体上他们是喜欢描写上流社会人物的作品,因为这些人的动机与习惯容易理解。
spoke severely of Dickens, who "had never drawn a gentleman,"
他们不喜欢狄更斯,因为此人从未刻画过一位绅士。
and considered Thackeray less at home in the great world than Bulwer--who, however, was beginning to be thought old-fashioned.)
他们还认为,对贵族社会萨克雷不及布尔沃通晓,不过人们已开始觉得后者已经过时。)
Mrs. and Miss Archer were both great lovers of scenery.
阿切尔太太与阿切尔小姐都极爱秀丽的风光,
It was what they principally sought and admired on their occasional travels abroad;
这是她们在偶尔进行的国外旅行中主要的追求与憧憬。
considering architecture and painting as subjects for men, and chiefly for learned persons who read Ruskin.
她们认为,建筑与绘画是属于男人的课题,而且主要属于那些读过拉斯金著作的有学问的人。
Mrs. Archer had been born a Newland,
阿切尔太太天生是纽兰家的一员,
and mother and daughter, who were as like as sisters, were both, as people said, "true Newlands";
母女俩像姐妹般相像,如人们说的,她们都属于纯正的“纽兰家族”:
tall, pale, and slightly round-shouldered, with long noses,
身材高大,脸色苍白,肩膀略圆,长长的鼻子,
sweet smiles and a kind of drooping distinction like that in certain faded Reynolds portraits.
甜甜的笑容,还有一种目光低垂的特征,就像雷诺兹某些褪了色的画像里画的那样。
Their physical resemblance would have been complete if an elderly embonpoint had not stretched Mrs. Archer's black brocade,
她们形体上的相似本可以说是维妙维肖了,不过年迈发福已使阿切尔太太身上的黑色缎服绷得紧而又紧,
while Miss Archer's brown and purple poplins hung, as the years went on, more and more slackly on her virgin frame.
而阿切尔小姐穿的棕紫色的毛织衣服,却在她那处女的身架上一年比一年宽松。