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The first week of their return was soon gone. The second began. It was the last of the regiment’s stay in Meryton, and all the young ladies in the neighbourhood were drooping apace. The dejection was almost universal.
姐妹俩回来的头一个星期就这样很快地过去了。第二个星期开始了。这是民团在麦里屯停留的最后日子，邻近的姑娘们一个个都变得垂头丧气。这种沮丧几乎到处可见。
The elder Miss Bennets alone were still able to eat, drink, and sleep, and pursue the usual course of their employments.
唯有班纳特家的两位大小姐还仍然能够照常饮食起居，做她们平常爱做的事。
Very frequently were they reproached for this insensibility by Kitty and Lydia, whose own misery was extreme, and who could not comprehend such hard-heartedness in any of the family.
她们俩的这一无动于衷常常受到吉蒂和丽迪雅的责备，她们自己已经伤心到了极点，不能容忍家里任何成员的这种铁石心肠。
“Good Heaven! What is to become of us? What are we to do?” would they often exclaim in the bitterness of woe. “How can you be smiling so, Lizzy?”
“天啊！我们这一下可完了！我们以后该怎么办呢？”吉蒂和丽迪雅常常在她们无尽的懊恼中发出这样的感叹，“丽萃，你现在怎么还能笑得出来呢？”
Their affectionate mother shared all their grief; she remembered what she had herself endured on a similar occasion, five-and-twenty years ago.
多愁善感的班纳特太太同情她的两个小女儿，记得二十五年前她自己就曾遭受过一回类似的痛苦。
“I am sure,” said she, “I cried for two days together when Colonel Miller’s regiment went away. I thought I should have broken my heart.”
“那一次，”班纳特太太说，“当米勒上校的那个团调离的时候，我整整哭了两天两夜。我想我就要哭得心碎了。”
“I am sure I shall break mine,” said Lydia.
“我相信我会痛苦得心碎的。”丽迪雅说。
“If one could but go to Brighton!” observed Mrs. Bennet.
“要是能去布利屯就好啦！”班纳特太太说。
“Oh, yes!--if one could but go to Brighton! But papa is so disagreeable.”
“噢，是的！如果能去布利屯就好啦！但爸爸一直不同意。”
“A little sea-bathing would set me up forever.”
“一个海水澡就能叫我的精神永远好起来。”
“And my aunt Phillips is sure it would do me a great deal of good,” added Kitty.
“菲利浦姨妈也说，海水浴对我的身体很有好处。”吉蒂接着说。
Such were the kind of lamentations resounding perpetually through Longbourn House. Elizabeth tried to be diverted by them; but all sense of pleasure was lost in shame.
在浪博恩家里整天长吁短叹的就是这样的一些话题。伊丽莎白想从心里对她们取笑一番，可是所有的愉悦之情都被羞耻感给淹没了。
She felt anew the justice of Mr. Darcy’s objections; and never had she been so much disposed to pardon his interference in the views of his friend.
她重新觉得达西先生对她家人的反对是有道理的，她现在第一次能原谅他对他朋友婚事上的干涉了。
But the gloom of Lydia’s prospect was shortly cleared away; for she received an invitation from Mrs. Forster, the wife of the colonel of the regiment, to accompany her to Brighton.
不过，丽迪雅的忧虑很快就消失了。她接到民团上校的妻子弗斯特太太的邀请，要丽迪雅陪她到布利屯。
This invaluable friend was a very young woman, and very lately married. A resemblance in good humour and good spirits had recommended her and Lydia to each other, and out of their three months’ acquaintance they had been intimate two.
这位丽迪雅的要好的朋友是个非常年轻的女子，最近刚结了婚。性情和精神上的酷似使她和丽迪雅很投合，经过三个月的相识，她们早已是一对密友了。
The rapture of Lydia on this occasion, her adoration of Mrs. Forster, the delight of Mrs. Bennet, and the mortification of Kitty, are scarcely to be described.
丽迪雅此时的狂喜，她对弗斯特太太的赞美、班纳特太太的喜悦以及吉蒂的沮丧，自然是谁都可以想见的。
Wholly inattentive to her sister’s feelings, Lydia flew about the house in restless ecstasy, calling for everyone’s congratulations, and laughing and talking with more violence than ever; whilst the luckless Kitty continued in the parlour repining at her fate in terms as unreasonable as her accent was peevish.
丝毫不顾及吉蒂的心情，丽迪雅在屋子里高兴得乱蹦乱跳，让大家都来向她祝贺，谈笑的劲头比以往任何时候都大。而倒霉的吉蒂则一直在客厅里怨天尤人，发着脾气。
“I cannot see why Mrs. Forster should not ask me as well as Lydia,” said she, “Though I am not her particular friend. I have just as much right to be asked as she has, and more too, for I am two years older.”
“我不明白弗斯特太太为什么不能邀请我也去，”吉蒂说，“虽说我不是她的好朋友，我也一样有权利受到邀请，更何况我比丽迪雅还大两岁呢。”
In vain did Elizabeth attempt to make her reasonable, and Jane to make her resigned.
伊丽莎白给吉蒂讲道理，吉英劝她不必生气，可吉蒂理也不理。
As for Elizabeth herself, this invitation was so far from exciting in her the same feelings as in her mother and Lydia, that she considered it as the death warrant of all possibility of common sense for the latter; and detestable as such a step must make her were it known, she could not help secretly advising her father not to let her go.
至于伊丽莎白自己，这一邀请在她心中激起的感情可跟她母亲和丽迪雅的完全不同，她担心丽迪雅这一去会把她还有的一点儿德行全给毁了；尽管丽迪雅知道了她这么做一定会恨她，她还是禁不住暗地里劝说父亲阻止丽迪雅。
She represented to him all the improprieties of Lydia’s general behaviour, the little advantage she could derive from the friendship of such a woman as Mrs. Forster, and the probability of her being yet more imprudent with such a companion at Brighton, where the temptations must be greater than at home. He heard her attentively, and then said:
她跟父亲讲了丽迪雅行为举止中许多有失检点的地方，说明跟像弗斯特太太这样的女人交朋友毫无益处，而且让这样的一个朋友陪着，在诱惑力比家里大得多的布利屯，真不知道丽迪雅会干出什么样的蠢事。班纳特先生在认真地听完她的话以后说：
“Lydia will never be easy until she has exposed herself in some public place or other, and we can never expect her to do it with so little expense or inconvenience to her family as under the present circumstances.”
“丽迪雅不让自己在这样或那样的公众场合下露露脸，亮亮相，是永远不会安生的。她这次出去露脸，既不用家里的什么开销，也不会给家里带来什么不便，这正是我们所求之不得的呢。”
“If you were aware,” said Elizabeth, “of the very great disadvantage to us all which must arise from the public notice of Lydia’s unguarded and imprudent manner--nay, which has already arisen from it, I am sure you would judge differently in the affair.”
“你要是知道，”伊丽莎白说，“丽迪雅惹人注目的冒失、轻佻行为会给全家带来多大的损害——其实我们已经受到了影响，我相信你对待这件事的态度就会不同了。”
“Already arisen?” repeated Mr. Bennet. “What, has she frightened away some of your lovers? Poor little Lizzy! But do not be cast down. Such squeamish youths as cannot bear to be connected with a little absurdity are not worth a regret. Come, let me see the list of pitiful fellows who have been kept aloof by Lydia’s folly.”
“已经受到了影响！”班纳特先生重复道，“哦，是不是她已经吓跑了你们的恋人？我的可怜的小丽萃！你不必沮丧。那些一点儿也不能容忍与谬误沾边的脆弱公子哥儿，可不值得你惋惜。来，告诉我由于丽迪雅的愚蠢行为，已经有几个可怜的小伙子打了退堂鼓。”
“Indeed you are mistaken. I have no such injuries to resent. It is not of particular, but of general evils, which I am now complaining.
“你的确是误会了，爸爸，我并没有这样的损害要抱怨。我现在只是就一般而言，没有特别的所指。
Our importance, our respectability in the world must be affected by the wild volatility, the assurance and disdain of all restraint which mark Lydia’s character.
我们在世人面前的尊严以及我们的社会地位，都必定会由于丽迪雅的这种我行我素、放荡不羁和轻佻乖戾的性格受到影响。
Excuse me, for I must speak plainly. If you, my dear father, will not take the trouble of checking her exuberant spirits, and of teaching her that her present pursuits are not to be the business of her life, she will soon be beyond the reach of amendment.
请原谅我的率直。如果你，我亲爱的父亲，不及早想法遏制她的这种狂野性情，不开导她，说她目前的胡乱调情不该是她一生的追求，她很快就会变得无可挽救。
Her character will be fixed, and she will, at sixteen, be the most determined flirt that ever made herself or her family ridiculous; a flirt, too, in the worst and meanest degree of flirtation; without any attraction beyond youth and a tolerable person; and, from the ignorance and emptiness of her mind, wholly unable to ward off any portion of that universal contempt which her rage for admiration will excite.
她的性格很快会成型，她会在十六岁就成为一个十足的放荡女孩，弄得她自己和家人遭人耻笑。她的调情是趣味最低级的那一种。除了年轻和长得像个人样儿外，将一无可取。由于她的愚昧无知和头脑空空，她疯狂地追求别人的爱慕，结果招来的只能是众人的鄙视。
In this danger Kitty also is comprehended. She will follow wherever Lydia leads. Vain, ignorant, idle, and absolutely uncontrolled!
吉蒂也有这种危险，她紧紧追随丽迪雅，爱慕虚荣、无知、怠惰、恣肆放纵！
Oh! my dear father, can you suppose it possible that they will not be censured and despised wherever they are known, and that their sisters will not be often involved in the disgrace?”
噢，我亲爱的父亲！难道你认为有这样的可能：她们走到哪里也不会受到众人的谴责和蔑视，她们的姐姐也不会为此常常丢脸吗？”
