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“Yes, and I had heard it before. But what is that to me? If there is no other objection to my marrying your nephew, I shall certainly not be kept from it by knowing that his mother and aunt wished him to marry Miss de Bourgh. You both did as much as you could in planning the marriage. Its completion depended on others. If Mr. Darcy is neither by honour nor inclination confined to his cousin, why is not he to make another choice? And if I am that choice, why may not I accept him?”
“是的，我以前听你说过。不过那跟我又有什么关系呢？如果没有别的理由反对我嫁你的姨侄，仅是凭他的母亲和姨妈想让他娶德·包尔小姐的心愿，我肯定是不会放弃的。你们姐妹两个在盘算他俩的婚姻上尽了你们的努力，可到底以后怎么发展，则要看他们自己了。如果达西先生没有义务，也不情愿和他的表妹结婚，那他为什么不可以另做选择呢？如果他选中的是我，那我为什么不可以接受呢？”
“Because honour, decorum, prudence, nay, interest, forbid it. Yes, Miss Bennet, interest; for do not expect to be noticed by his family or friends, if you wilfully act against the inclinations of all. You will be censured, slighted, and despised, by everyone connected with him. Your alliance will be a disgrace; your name will never even be mentioned by any of us.”
“因为名誉、礼节、谨言慎行和利益关系都不允许你这么做。是的，班纳特小姐，利益的关系。如果你要一味地一意孤行得罪所有人的话，你就别指望他的家人和他的朋友们会看得起你。凡是和他有关系的人都会指责你、小看你、鄙视你。你的婚姻将成为你的耻辱。你的名字将永远不会被他的亲友们提起。”
“These are heavy misfortunes,” replied Elizabeth. “But the wife of Mr. Darcy must have such extraordinary sources of happiness necessarily attached to her situation, that she could, upon the whole, have no cause to repine.”
“这真是些大大的不幸，”伊丽莎白回答道，“不过，作为达西先生的妻子，与她这一身份俱来的，必然还有许多莫大的幸福，所以整个来看，她没有抱怨的必要。”
“Obstinate, headstrong girl! I am ashamed of you! Is this your gratitude for my attentions to you last spring? Is nothing due to me on that score? Let us sit down. You are to understand, Miss Bennet, that I came here with the determined resolution of carrying my purpose; nor will I be dissuaded from it. I have not been used to submit to any person’s whims. I have not been in the habit of brooking disappointment.”
“你这个冥顽不化的丫头！我真为你感到羞耻！这就是你对我今年春天招待了你一番的报答吗？你为此不应该对我有所感激吗？让我们坐下来谈吧。班纳特小姐，你应该明白，我到这里来是下了决心的。不达到目的，我是决不肯罢手的。我从未对任何人的妄想屈服过，也从未令自己失望过。”
“That will make your ladyship’s situation at present more pitiable; but it will have no effect on me.”
“这只会使夫人你现在的处境更加难堪，对我可没有丝毫的影响。”
“I will not be interrupted. Hear me in silence. My daughter and my nephew are formed for each other. They are descended, on the maternal side, from the same noble line; and, on the father’s, from respectable, honourable, and ancient—though untitled—families. Their fortune on both sides is splendid. They are destined for each other by the voice of every member of their respective houses; and what is to divide them? The upstart pretensions of a young woman without family, connections, or fortune. Is this to be endured! But it must not, shall not be. If you were sensible of your own good, you would not wish to quit the sphere in which you have been brought up.”
“不许你打断我的话。安静地听我讲。我的女儿和我的姨侄是天生的一对。他们的母系都是高贵的血统，父系虽然没有爵位，可也都是极受尊敬、极为荣耀的名门世家。他们两家的财产都极为可观。两家的亲戚都一致认为，他们是前世注定的姻缘。世上有什么能把他们俩拆散呢？难道是一个出身低贱、没有显贵亲戚、没有财产的痴心妄想的丫头不成。这还成什么体统！这是绝对不能容忍的。你要是为自己着想，脑子放明白一点儿，就不会想着要跳出你成长的这个环境啦。”
“In marrying your nephew, I should not consider myself as quitting that sphere. He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman’s daughter; so far we are equal.”
“我并不认为跟你的姨侄成亲，我就脱离了我现在的环境。他是一位绅士，我是一位绅士的女儿。在这一点上我们是平等的。”
“True. You are a gentleman’s daughter. But who was your mother? Who are your uncles and aunts? Do not imagine me ignorant of their condition.”
“说得不错。你是一位绅士的女儿。可你的母亲是什么样的人呢，你的姨父、舅父和舅母又是什么样的人呢？不要以为我不知道他们的情况。”
“Whatever my connections may be,” said Elizabeth, “if your nephew does not object to them, they can be nothing to you.”
“不管我的亲戚们怎么样，”伊丽莎白说，“只要你的姨侄他自己不反对他们，他们与你又有什么关系呢。”
“Tell me once for all, are you engaged to him?”
“请你实话告诉我。你到底与达西订婚了没有？”
Though Elizabeth would not, for the mere purpose of obliging Lady Catherine, have answered this question, she could not but say, after a moment’s deliberation:
尽管伊丽莎白不愿意只是为了顺从凯瑟琳夫人而回答这个问题，不过，在斟酌了片刻之后，她还是说了实话：
“I am not.”
“没有。”
Lady Catherine seemed pleased.
凯瑟琳夫人似乎大大地松了一口气。
“And will you promise me, never to enter into such an engagement?”
“你愿意答应我，永远不跟达西订婚吗？”
“I will make no promise of the kind.”
“我不愿做任何这样的承诺。”
“Miss Bennet I am shocked and astonished. I expected to find a more reasonable young woman. But do not deceive yourself into a belief that I will ever recede. I shall not go away till you have given me the assurance I require.”
“班纳特小姐，你真让我感到震惊了。我原以为你是一个明理的姑娘。不过，你也不要打错了算盘，以为我会妥协。如果你不给予我所要的保证，我是不会离开这里的。”
“And I certainly never shall give it. I am not to be intimidated into anything so wholly unreasonable. Your ladyship wants Mr. Darcy to marry your daughter; but would my giving you the wished-for promise make their marriage at all more probable? Supposing him to be attached to me, would my refusing to accept his hand make him wish to bestow it on his cousin? Allow me to say, Lady Catherine, that the arguments with which you have supported this extraordinary application have been as frivolous as the application was ill-judged. You have widely mistaken my character, if you think I can be worked on by such persuasions as these. How far your nephew might approve of your interference in his affairs, I cannot tell; but you have certainly no right to concern yourself in mine. I must beg, therefore, to be importuned no farther on the subject.”
“我永远也不会给予你什么保证。我是不会被你这样一种完全无理的要求吓住的。你想叫达西先生娶你的女儿，难道你认为只要我答应了你的要求，他们的婚姻就有实现的可能了吗？如果他真的爱上了我，就是我现在拒绝了他，他就会去找他的表妹了吗？请允许我冒昧地说，凯瑟琳夫人，你向我提出这一非常之请求的理由，就是既无聊浅薄又没有道理的。你大大地错看了我的人格，如果你认为你能让我屈服的话。你的姨侄会在多大程度上赞同你对他的干涉，我不知道；不过你显然没有权利来过问我的。所以我请求你不要再在这件事情上继续纠缠了。”
“Not so hasty, if you please. I have by no means done. To all the objections I have already urged, I have still another to add. I am no stranger to the particulars of your youngest sister’s infamous elopement. I know it all; that the young man’s marrying her was a patched-up business, at the expence of your father and uncles. And is such a girl to be my nephew’s sister? Is her husband, who is the son of his late father’s steward, to be his brother? Heaven and earth!—of what are you thinking? Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?”
“请你耐点性子。我的话还没讲完呢。除了我刚才提到的那些个反对的理由，我还要再加上一条。有关你最小的妹妹跟人私奔的那桩不名誉的事，我并不是不知情。我知道所有的细节，那位年轻人跟她结婚，完全是你爸爸和舅舅花钱买来的，是一桩凑合成的婚姻。这样的姑娘也配做我姨侄的小姨吗？她的丈夫，达西父亲生前的管家的儿子，也配和达西做连襟吗？真是天理不容！——你究竟打的什么主意？彭伯利的门第难道能被这样的践踏吗？”
“You can now have nothing further to say,” she resentfully answered. “You have insulted me in every possible method. I must beg to return to the house.”
“现在，你不会有什么再可拿来指责我的了，”伊丽莎白愤愤地回答，“对我，你已经极尽了能事进行侮辱。现在我必须回家去了。”
And she rose as she spoke. Lady Catherine rose also, and they turned back. Her ladyship was highly incensed.
说着她站起身来。凯瑟琳夫人随后也站了起来，一块儿往回走。这位贵夫人可真是有点儿气急败坏了。
“You have no regard, then, for the honour and credit of my nephew! Unfeeling, selfish girl! Do you not consider that a connection with you must disgrace him in the eyes of everybody?”
“那么，你对我姨侄的名誉和体面根本不顾及啦！好一个不通人情、自私自利的丫头！你难道不懂得一旦与你结合，他会在所有人的眼里都名誉扫地吗？”
“Lady Catherine, I have nothing further to say. You know my sentiments.”
“凯瑟琳夫人，我没有什么再要说的了。我的意思你都已经明白了。”
“You are then resolved to have him?”
“那么，你是非嫁达西不可了？”
“I have said no such thing. I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me.”
“我并没有这么说，我只是决心要按我自己的意愿和方式建立起我的幸福，而不去考虑你或是任何一个与我毫无关系的人的意愿。”
“It is well. You refuse, then, to oblige me. You refuse to obey the claims of duty, honour, and gratitude. You are determined to ruin him in the opinion of all his friends, and make him the contempt of the world.”
“好啊。你是坚决不肯依从我啦。你是坚决不愿意遵循责任、荣誉和知恩图报的信条啦。你是决心要让达西所有的朋友都看不起他，让世人都取笑他啦。”
“Neither duty, nor honour, nor gratitude,” replied Elizabeth, “have any possible claim on me, in the present instance. No principle of either would be violated by my marriage with Mr. Darcy. And with regard to the resentment of his family, or the indignation of the world, if the former were excited by his marrying me, it would not give me one moment’s concern—and the world in general would have too much sense to join in the scorn.”
“责任和荣誉感，还有知恩图报，”伊丽莎白回答说，“在现在这件事情上，都跟我沾不上边。我和达西先生的婚姻不会违反这里的任何一个信条。至于他家人的不满或是世人的义愤，如果前者是由于我嫁给他而引起的，我根本不会在乎——至于世人，则还是明理识义的多，所以一般来说是不会帮着去嘲讽的。”
“And this is your real opinion! This is your final resolve! Very well. I shall now know how to act. Do not imagine, Miss Bennet, that your ambition will ever be gratified. I came to try you. I hoped to find you reasonable; but, depend upon it, I will carry my point.”
“啊！这就是你的真实想法！这就是你最后下定的决心！很好！现在我知道该如何行动了。不要以为，伊丽莎白小姐，你的妄想和野心能够得逞。我刚才只是在试探你。我本希望发现你是明晓事理的。等着瞧吧，我说得出，便做得到。”
In this manner Lady Catherine talked on, till they were at the door of the carriage, when, turning hastily round, she added, “I take no leave of you, Miss Bennet. I send no compliments to your mother. You deserve no such attention. I am most seriously displeased.”
凯瑟琳夫人这样说着，和伊丽莎白走到了她的车子门前，临上车时她又匆匆地掉转头来说：“恕我不向你告辞，班纳特小姐。我也不问候你的母亲。你们都不配得到这样的对待。我真是太生气啦。”
Elizabeth made no answer; and without attempting to persuade her ladyship to return into the house, walked quietly into it herself. She heard the carriage drive away as she proceeded up stairs. Her mother impatiently met her at the door of the dressing-room, to ask why Lady Catherine would not come in again and rest herself.
伊丽莎白没有搭话，也没有想着再请这位贵夫人到屋里坐坐，只是独自默默地走回去。她上楼的时候听到了马车走远的声音。班纳特太太在梳妆室的门前性急地拦住了伊丽莎白，问凯瑟琳夫人为什么不再进来坐坐。
“She did not choose it,” said her daughter, “she would go.”
“她自己不愿意，”伊丽莎白说，“她想要走嘛。”
“She is a very fine-looking woman! and her calling here was prodigiously civil! for she only came, I suppose, to tell us the Collinses were well. She is on her road somewhere, I dare say, and so, passing through Meryton, thought she might as well call on you. I suppose she had nothing particular to say to you, Lizzy?”
“她长得真漂亮！她能来这儿真是太客气，太给我们家面子啦！我想她来不外乎是告诉我们科林斯夫妇一切都好吧。我敢说，她或许是到别的什么地方，路过麦里屯，想起了顺便来看看你。我想她不会有什么特别的事情跟你说吧，丽萃。”
Elizabeth was forced to give into a little falsehood here; for to acknowledge the substance of their conversation was impossible.
伊丽莎白不得不就势撒了个谎，因为她实在不可能把这次谈话的内容告诉母亲。
