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Chapter 7
第七章
Mrs. Henry van der Luyden listened in silence to her cousin Mrs. Archer's narrative.
亨利·范德卢顿太太默不作声地听着表妹阿切尔太太的叙说。
It was all very well to tell yourself in advance that Mrs. van der Luyden was always silent,
提前做好思想准备是不会错的：范德卢顿太太一向不爱讲话；
and that, though non-committal by nature and training, she was very kind to the people she really liked.
而且，她的性格和所受的训练都使她不肯轻易作出承诺，但她对真心喜欢的人还是很有同情心的。
Even personal experience of these facts was not always a protection from the chill that descended on one in the high-ceilinged white-walled Madison Avenue drawing-room,
但即使亲身体验了这些情况，也难保就能抵御得住麦迪逊大街白壁高顶的客厅里袭来的阵阵寒意。
with the pale brocaded armchairs so obviously uncovered for the occasion,
浅色锦缎的扶手椅显然是为这次接待刚刚揭去盖罩，
and the gauze still veiling the ormolu mantel ornaments and the beautiful old carved frame of Gainsborough's "Lady Angelica du Lac."
一层薄纱依然罩着镀金的壁炉装饰及雕刻精美的盖恩斯巴罗所画的“安吉莉卡·杜拉克小姐”画像的像框。
Mrs. van der Luyden's portrait by Huntington (in black velvet and Venetian point) faced that of her lovely ancestress.
由亨廷顿绘制的范德卢顿太太的画像（身着带威尼斯针绣花边的黑丝绒）面对着她那位可爱的女前辈的像。
It was generally considered "as fine as a Cabanel,"
这张画像被普遍认为“像卡巴内尔的作品一样精致”，
and, though twenty years had elapsed since its execution, was still "a perfect likeness."
虽然已经画了20年，至今仍然显得“维妙维肖”。
Indeed the Mrs. van der Luyden who sat beneath it listening to Mrs. Archer might have been the twin-sister of the fair and still youngish woman drooping against a gilt armchair before a green rep curtain.
的确，坐在画像下面听阿切尔太太讲话的范德卢顿太太，与画框中那位靠在绿布窗帘前那把镀金扶手椅上、眼睛低垂的年轻美女很像一对孪生姐妹。
Mrs. van der Luyden still wore black velvet and Venetian point when she went into society--or rather (since she never dined out) when she threw open her own doors to receive it.
范德卢顿太太参加社交活动——或者不如说她打开自己的家门迎接社交活动（因为她从不外出用餐）的时候，仍然穿着带威尼斯针绣花边的黑丝绒，
Her fair hair, which had faded without turning grey, was still parted in flat overlapping points on her forehead,
她的金发虽然已经褪色，但并未变成灰白，依然从额前的交叠部位平分开。
and the straight nose that divided her pale blue eyes was only a little more pinched about the nostrils than when the portrait had been painted.
两只淡蓝色眼睛中间笔直的鼻子，仅仅在鼻孔附近比画像制作时略显消瘦。
She always, indeed, struck Newland Archer as having been rather gruesomely preserved in the airless atmosphere of a perfectly irreproachable existence,
实际上，她总是让纽兰·阿切尔觉得，仿佛她一直被可怕地保存在一个没有空气的完美实体之中，
as bodies caught in glaciers keep for years a rosy life-in-death.
就像那些被冷冻在冰川中的尸体，好多年还保持着虽死犹生的红润。
