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Presently the door was thrown wide open; Carlo started to his feet, with a loud snapping bark, and Mrs Jamieson awoke:
这时门被猛地推开；卡罗跳了起来，汪汪地大声叫着，贾米森夫人也醒了：
or, perhaps, she had not been asleep—as she said almost directly, the room had been so light she had been glad to keep her eyes shut, but had been listening with great interest to all our amusing and agreeable conversation.
或者，也许她根本就没睡着——她几乎立刻就这样说了，房间里太亮了，她想闭上眼睛，但她很有兴趣地听了我们所有有趣和愉快的谈话。
Peggy came in once more, red with importance.
佩吉又进来了，因为某些重要的事情而面红耳赤。
Another tray!
又是一个茶盘！
“Oh, gentility!” thought I, “can you endure this last shock?”
“哦，文雅的规矩！”我想，“你能承受这最后的打击吗？”
For Miss Barker had ordered (nay, I doubt not, prepared, although she did say, “Why, Peggy, what have you brought us?” and looked pleasantly surprised at the unexpected pleasure) all sorts of good things for supper—
因为巴克小姐已经吩咐（不，虽然她确实说“哎呀，佩吉，你给我们端了什么来啊？”并对这意外到来的美食感到又惊又喜，但我怀疑她不是吩咐，而是准备好了）用作晚餐的各种好东西——
scalloped oysters, potted lobsters, jelly, a dish called “little Cupids” (which was in great favour with the Cranford ladies, although too expensive to be given, except on solemn and state occasions—macaroons sopped in brandy, I should have called it, if I had not known its more refined and classical name).
扇贝牡蛎、罐煨龙虾、果冻，还有一道叫做“小丘比特”的菜(这道菜深受克兰福德女士们的喜爱，尽管它太贵了，除了在庄严的正式场合，否则是不会上桌的——如果我不知道它这个更精致、更有古典韵味的名字，我应该会称之为白兰地浸蛋白杏仁饼干)。
In short, we were evidently to be feasted with all that was sweetest and best; and we thought it better to submit graciously, even at the cost of our gentility—which never ate suppers in general, but which, like most non-supper-eaters, was particularly hungry on all special occasions.
总之，我们显然要享用所有最甜美、最好吃的东西；我们认为最好还是优雅地屈服，即使是以我们的文雅为代价——文雅人士通常不吃晚餐，但像大多数不吃晚餐的人一样，在所有特殊场合都尤其感到饥饿。
Miss Barker, in her former sphere, had, I daresay, been made acquainted with the beverage they call cherry-brandy.
我敢说，巴克小姐在她以前的圈子里一定很熟悉她们叫做樱桃白兰地的饮料。
We none of us had ever seen such a thing, and rather shrank back when she proffered it us—“just a little, leetle glass, ladies; after the oysters and lobsters, you know.
我们谁也没见过这种东西，她把这饮料递给我们时，我们都有点退缩——“就一点点，一小玻璃杯，女士们；你们知道的，吃完牡蛎和龙虾后要喝点。
Shell-fish are sometimes thought not very wholesome.”
贝类有时被认为是不太健康的。”
We all shook our heads like female mandarins; but, at last, Mrs Jamieson suffered herself to be persuaded, and we followed her lead.
我们都像内务女官一样摇了摇头；但是最后，贾米森夫人还是接受了劝说，我们也就跟着她也喝了点。
It was not exactly unpalatable, though so hot and so strong that we thought ourselves bound to give evidence that we were not accustomed to such things by coughing terribly—almost as strangely as Miss Barker had done, before we were admitted by Peggy.
这酒并不难喝，但又烫又浓，我们觉得有必要通过剧烈咳嗽来证明我们不习惯喝这种酒——我们的咳嗽几乎和佩吉让我们进门之前巴克小姐的咳嗽一样奇怪。
“It’s very strong,” said Miss Pole, as she put down her empty glass; “I do believe there’s spirit in it.”
“这酒劲儿很大，”波尔小姐说着放下了空杯子，“我相信里面真的有酒精。”
“Only a little drop—just necessary to make it keep,” said Miss Barker.
“只有一小滴酒——只要能让它保质期长点就够了。”巴克小姐说，
“You know we put brandy-pepper over our preserves to make them keep.
“你知道我们会在果酱上撒浸了白兰地的胡椒，这样可以让果酱保存更久。
I often feel tipsy myself from eating damson tart.”
我吃了李子馅饼后常常感到晕乎乎的。”
I question whether damson tart would have opened Mrs Jamieson’s heart as the cherry-brandy did; but she told us of a coming event, respecting which she had been quite silent till that moment.
我怀疑李子馅饼是否能像樱桃白兰地那样打开贾米森夫人的心扉；但她告诉了我们一件即将发生的事情，在此之前她一直对此保持沉默。
“My sister-in-law, Lady Glenmire, is coming to stay with me.”
“我的嫂子，格伦米尔夫人，要来和我住在一起。”
There was a chorus of “Indeed!” and then a pause.
众人齐声说“真的吗！”，然后是一阵沉默。
Each one rapidly reviewed her wardrobe, as to its fitness to appear in the presence of a baron’s widow;
每个人都迅速审视了一下自己的衣橱，看看是否适合穿着出现在一位男爵遗孀面前；
for, of course, a series of small festivals were always held in Cranford on the arrival of a visitor at any of our friends’ houses.
因为，当然，只要我们的朋友家里来了访客，克兰福德就会举行一系列小型庆祝活动。
We felt very pleasantly excited on the present occasion.
我们当时感到非常愉快和兴奋。
Not long after this the maids and the lanterns were announced.
不久之后，女仆和灯笼被传来了。
Mrs Jamieson had the sedan-chair, which had squeezed itself into Miss Barker’s narrow lobby with some difficulty, and most literally “stopped the way.”
贾米森夫人有一顶轿子，费了好大的劲才挤进巴克小姐狭窄的前厅，而且是字面意义上完全“堵住了路”。
It required some skilful manoeuvring on the part of the old chairmen (shoemakers by day, but when summoned to carry the sedan dressed up in a strange old livery—long great-coats, with small capes, coeval with the sedan, and similar to the dress of the class in Hogarth’s pictures) to edge, and back, and try at it again, and finally to succeed in carrying their burden out of Miss Barker’s front door.
这需要几位老练的轿夫（白天是鞋匠，但当被召去抬轿子时，他们会穿上一套奇怪的旧制服——长长的大衣，配有小披肩，与轿子同时代，类似于贺加斯画作中仆人的服装）施展一些巧妙的技巧，才能挪动、后退，然后再来一次，最终才成功地将轿子抬出了巴克小姐的前门。
Then we heard their quick pit-a-pat along the quiet little street as we put on our calashes and pinned up our gowns; Miss Barker hovering about us with offers of help, which, if she had not remembered her former occupation, and wished us to forget it, would have been much more pressing.
接着，我们戴上折篷兜帽，扣好长袍的时候，听到轿夫们沿着安静的小街匆匆离去的脚步声；巴克小姐在我们身边转来转去，提出要帮忙，要是她不记得自己以前的职业，也希望我们忘记的话，她想要帮忙的态度会更加急切。
