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Chapter VI Poor Peter
第六章 可怜的彼得
Poor Peter’s career lay before him rather pleasantly mapped out by kind friends, but Bonus Bernardus non videt omnia, in this map too.
可怜的彼得的职业前途摆在他面前，善良的朋友们把它描绘得相当光明，但在这张地图上，“善人伯纳德并非无所不见”。
He was to win honours at the Shrewsbury School, and carry them thick to Cambridge, and after that, a living awaited him, the gift of his godfather, Sir Peter Arley.
他将在什鲁斯伯里学校赢得荣誉，然后满载荣誉去剑桥大学，在那之后，一份生计等待着他，这是他教父彼得·阿利爵士送他的礼物。
Poor Peter! His lot in life was very different to what his friends had hoped and planned.
可怜的彼得！他的人生境遇与他朋友们所希望和规划的大不相同。
Miss Matty told me all about it, and I think it was a relief when she had done so.
马蒂小姐把一切都告诉了我，我觉得她讲完后如释重负。
He was the darling of his mother, who seemed to dote on all her children, though she was, perhaps, a little afraid of Deborah’s superior acquirements.
他是母亲的宠儿，母亲似乎宠溺所有的孩子，尽管她也许有点畏惧黛博拉的卓越才能。
Deborah was the favourite of her father, and when Peter disappointed him, she became his pride.
黛博拉是她父亲的最爱，当彼得让他失望时，黛博拉就成了他的骄傲。
The sole honour Peter brought away from Shrewsbury was the reputation of being the best good fellow that ever was, and of being the captain of the school in the art of practical joking.
彼得从什鲁斯伯里学校毕业时，唯一的荣誉是被誉为有史以来最好的好人，以及在恶作剧方面他是学校的领袖。
His father was disappointed, but set about remedying the matter in a manly way.
他的父亲很失望，但还是以男子汉的方式着手补救这个问题。
He could not afford to send Peter to read with any tutor, but he could read with him himself;
他请不起家庭教师教彼得读书，但他可以亲自教彼得。
and Miss Matty told me much of the awful preparations in the way of dictionaries and lexicons that were made in her father’s study the morning Peter began.
马蒂小姐告诉我，彼得开始学习的那天早上，她父亲的书房里做了许许多多的准备，比如准备字典和词典等等。
“My poor mother!” said she.
“我可怜的母亲！”她说，
“I remember how she used to stand in the hall, just near enough the study-door, to catch the tone of my father’s voice.
“我记得她过去常常站在大厅里，离书房门很近，以便能听到我父亲的声音。
I could tell in a moment if all was going right, by her face.
我可以立刻从她脸上看出学习是否顺利。
And it did go right for a long time.”
并且有很长时间学习是顺利的。”
“What went wrong at last?” said I. “That tiresome Latin, I dare say.”
“最后出了什么问题？”我说，“我敢说是讨厌的拉丁语。”
“No! It was not the Latin.
“不！不是拉丁语。
Peter was in high favour with my father, for he worked up well for him.
彼得很受我父亲的宠爱，因为他学得很好。
But he seemed to think that the Cranford people might be joked about, and made fun of, and they did not like it; nobody does.
但是他似乎认为可以对克兰福德的人们开玩笑、取笑他们，但人们不喜欢被取笑；没有人喜欢。
He was always hoaxing them; ‘hoaxing’ is not a pretty word, my dear, and I hope you won’t tell your father I used it, for I should not like him to think that I was not choice in my language, after living with such a woman as Deborah.
他总是对人们扯谎；“扯谎”可不是个好词，亲爱的，希望你不要告诉你父亲我用过这个词，因为我不希望他认为我和黛博拉这样的女性一起生活后，说话还是不讲究。
And be sure you never use it yourself.
并且，你自己也绝对不要用这个词。
I don’t know how it slipped out of my mouth, except it was that I was thinking of poor Peter and it was always his expression.
我不知道它是怎么从我嘴里溜出来的，只是我当时在想可怜的彼得，这一直是他的表述用词。
But he was a very gentlemanly boy in many things.
但是在很多事情上，他是一个非常有绅士风度的男孩。
He was like dear Captain Brown in always being ready to help any old person or a child.
他就像亲爱的布朗上尉一样，总是乐于帮助老人和小孩。
Still, he did like joking and making fun; and he seemed to think the old ladies in Cranford would believe anything.
不过，他确实喜欢开玩笑和寻开心；而且他似乎认为克兰福德的老太太们什么都信。
There were many old ladies living here then; we are principally ladies now, I know, but we are not so old as the ladies used to be when I was a girl.
那时有许多老太太住在这里；我知道，现在我们这里主要也是女士，但我们不像我小时候的那些女士们那么老。
I could laugh to think of some of Peter’s jokes.
我一想到彼得的一些笑话就忍不住发笑。
No, my dear, I won’t tell you of them, because they might not shock you as they ought to do, and they were very shocking.
不，亲爱的，我不会告诉你的，因为这些笑话可能不会像过去那样让你感到震惊，这些笑话过去非常令人震惊。
He even took in my father once, by dressing himself up as a lady that was passing through the town and wished to see the Rector of Cranford, ‘who had published that admirable Assize Sermon.’
他甚至还把我父亲骗了一次，他把自己打扮成一位路过小镇的女士，说想要见见‘那位发表了令人钦佩的巡回布道词’的克兰福德教区长。
Peter said he was awfully frightened himself when he saw how my father took it all in, and even offered to copy out all his Napoleon Buonaparte sermons for her—him, I mean—no, her, for Peter was a lady then.
彼得说，他看到父亲完全上当，甚至主动提出为那位女士——我是说彼得——不，为女士，因为彼得当时是个女士，为她抄写他所有关于拿破仑·波拿巴的布道词的时候，彼得自己也很惶恐。
He told me he was more terrified than he ever was before, all the time my father was speaking.
彼得告诉我，在我父亲说话的整个过程中，他比以往任何时候都更加害怕。
He did not think my father would have believed him; and yet if he had not, it would have been a sad thing for Peter.
他觉得父亲不会相信他；但如果他不相信，对彼得来说就不好玩了。
As it was, he was none so glad of it, for my father kept him hard at work copying out all those twelve Buonaparte sermons for the lady—that was for Peter himself, you know.
事实上，他对这个玩笑并不感到开心，因为父亲让他拼命工作，让他为那位女士抄写所有十二篇波拿巴布道词——其实就是为彼得自己抄写，你知道的。
He was the lady.
他就是那位女士。
And once when he wanted to go fishing, Peter said, ‘Confound the woman!’—very bad language, my dear, but Peter was not always so guarded as he should have been;
还有一次，彼得想去钓鱼，他说“该死的女人！”这是非常粗俗的语言，亲爱的，但是彼得并不总是像他应该的那样说话谨慎；
my father was so angry with him, it nearly frightened me out of my wits: and yet I could hardly keep from laughing at the little curtseys Peter kept making, quite slyly, whenever my father spoke of the lady’s excellent taste and sound discrimination.”
我父亲对他非常生气，几乎把我吓得魂不附体：但每当我父亲谈到那位女士的卓越品味和敏锐的鉴别力时，彼得总是偷偷地、非常狡猾地行一个屈膝礼，于是我还是忍不住笑了起来。”
