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Chapter IV A Visit to an Old Bachelor
第四章 去拜访一位年老的单身汉
A few days after, a note came from Mr Holbrook, asking us—impartially asking both of us—in a formal, old-fashioned style, to spend a day at his house—a long June day—for it was June now.
几天后，霍尔布鲁克先生来了一封便条，用正式、老式的风格邀请我们——不偏不倚地邀请我们俩——去他家做客一天——一个漫长的白天，因为现在是六月了。
He named that he had also invited his cousin, Miss Pole; so that we might join in a fly, which could be put up at his house.
他说他还邀请了他的表妹波尔小姐，这样我们就可以一起乘马车去，马车可以停在他家里。
I expected Miss Matty to jump at this invitation; but, no!
我本以为马蒂小姐会欣然接受这个邀请；但是，没有！
Miss Pole and I had the greatest difficulty in persuading her to go.
波尔小姐和我费了好大的劲才说服她去。
She thought it was improper; and was even half annoyed when we utterly ignored the idea of any impropriety in her going with two other ladies to see her old lover.
她认为这不合适；当我们完全忽略了她和另外两位女士一起去看她的老情人有任何不当之处时，她甚至有点生气。
Then came a more serious difficulty.
接着出现了一个更严重的困难。
She did not think Deborah would have liked her to go.
她觉得黛博拉不会希望她去。
This took us half a day’s good hard talking to get over;
这花了我们半天的时间，好说歹说才让她转变心意；
but, at the first sentence of relenting, I seized the opportunity, and wrote and despatched an acceptance in her name—fixing day and hour, that all might be decided and done with.
不过，她刚一松口，我就抓住机会，以她的名义写了封信表示接受邀请——并确定了日期和时间，这样一切就都定下来了。
The next morning she asked me if I would go down to the shop with her;
第二天早上，她问我是否愿意和她一起去商店；
and there, after much hesitation, we chose out three caps to be sent home and tried on, that the most becoming might be selected to take with us on Thursday.
在那里，我们犹豫了很久，挑选了三顶帽子送回家试戴，以便选出最合适的一顶，周四戴着外出。
She was in a state of silent agitation all the way to Woodley.
去伍德利的一路上，她沉默不语，内心却十分激动。
She had evidently never been there before; and, although she little dreamt I knew anything of her early story, I could perceive she was in a tremor at the thought of seeing the place which might have been her home, and round which it is probable that many of her innocent girlish imaginations had clustered.
她显然以前从未到过那里；尽管她做梦也没想到我对她早年的经历略知一二，但我看得出，一想到要看到那个可能是她的家的地方，她就激动地颤抖，而且很可能她许多天真的少女幻想都围绕着那个地方。
It was a long drive there, through paved jolting lanes.
那是一段漫长的车程，要穿过铺好的颠簸小路。
Miss Matilda sat bolt upright, and looked wistfully out of the windows as we drew near the end of our journey.
玛蒂尔达小姐坐得笔直，当我们接近旅程终点时，她惆怅地望着车窗外。
The aspect of the country was quiet and pastoral.
乡村的景色静谧，充满田园风味。
Woodley stood among fields; and there was an old-fashioned garden where roses and currant-bushes touched each other, and where the feathery asparagus formed a pretty background to the pinks and gilly-flowers; there was no drive up to the door.
伍德利庄园矗立在田野之间；那里有一个老式的花园，玫瑰和醋栗灌木丛比肩而立，羽毛般的芦笋为石竹和紫罗兰构成了美丽的背景；没有通向门口的车道。
We got out at a little gate, and walked up a straight box-edged path.
我们从一个小门出去，走上一条笔直的、边沿种着黄杨的小路。
“My cousin might make a drive, I think,” said Miss Pole, who was afraid of ear-ache, and had only her cap on.
“我想，我表哥可能会做一条车道的。”波尔小姐说，她害怕耳朵疼，只戴着帽子。
“I think it is very pretty,” said Miss Matty, with a soft plaintiveness in her voice, and almost in a whisper, for just then Mr Holbrook appeared at the door, rubbing his hands in very effervescence of hospitality.
“我觉得这里非常漂亮，”马蒂小姐说，声音里带着一种柔和的哀怨，几乎是在耳语，因为就在这时霍尔布鲁克先生出现在门口，搓着双手，显得非常热情。
He looked more like my idea of Don Quixote than ever, and yet the likeness was only external.
他看起来比以往任何时候都更像我心目中的堂吉诃德，然而这种相似仅仅是表面上的。
His respectable housekeeper stood modestly at the door to bid us welcome; and, while she led the elder ladies upstairs to a bedroom, I begged to look about the garden.
他那体面的管家端庄地站在门口，欢迎我们的到来；当她把年长的女士们带到楼上的卧室时，我请求去花园看看。
My request evidently pleased the old gentleman, who took me all round the place and showed me his six-and-twenty cows, named after the different letters of the alphabet.
我的请求显然让这位老绅士很高兴，他带我参观了整个地方，并向我展示了他的二十六头奶牛，它们是以字母表中的不同字母命名的。
As we went along, he surprised me occasionally by repeating apt and beautiful quotations from the poets, ranging easily from Shakespeare and George Herbert to those of our own day.
我们一路走着，他偶尔会背诵一些贴切而优美的引文，从莎士比亚和乔治·赫伯特到当代作品无不信手拈来，这让我很是惊讶。
He did this as naturally as if he were thinking aloud, and their true and beautiful words were the best expression he could find for what he was thinking or feeling.
他引用这些名句的时候，自然得就好像他在自言自语，这些真实而美丽的语句是他能找到的表达他所思所感的最佳语言。
To be sure he called Byron “my Lord Byrron,” and pronounced the name of Goethe strictly in accordance with the English sound of the letters—“As Goethe says, ‘Ye ever-verdant palaces,’” &c.
当然，他称呼拜伦为“我的拜伦勋爵”，并且严格按照英语字母的发音来读歌德的名字——“正如歌德所说，‘你们这永远翠绿的宫殿’”等等。
Altogether, I never met with a man, before or since, who had spent so long a life in a secluded and not impressive country, with ever-increasing delight in the daily and yearly change of season and beauty.
总之，在此之前或之后，我从未遇到过这样一个人，他在幽静而平淡无奇的乡村度过了如此漫长的一生，却对每日和每年的季节变化和美景越来越感到欣喜。
When he and I went in, we found that dinner was nearly ready in the kitchen—for so I suppose the room ought to be called, as there were oak dressers and cupboards all round, all over by the side of the fireplace, and only a small Turkey carpet in the middle of the flag-floor.
当我和他进去的时候，我们发现晚餐已经在厨房里准备好了——我想这个房间应该被称为厨房，因为那里四周都是橡木备餐桌和橱柜，壁炉边也都是，只有一小块土耳其地毯铺在石板地上。
The room might have been easily made into a handsome dark oak dining-parlour by removing the oven and a few other appurtenances of a kitchen, which were evidently never used, the real cooking-place being at some distance.
只要把炉灶和其他几件显然从未用过的厨房用具搬走，这个房间就很容易改成一间漂亮的深色橡木餐厅，真正的厨房与这里有一段距离。
