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At last she put her apron down, and looking me earnestly in the face, asked, “Was that the reason Miss Matty wouldn’t order a pudding to-day?
最后她放下围裙，认真地看着我的脸，问道：“这就是马蒂小姐今天不点布丁的原因吗？
She said she had no great fancy for sweet things, and you and she would just have a mutton chop.
她说她不太想吃甜食，您和她吃一份羊排就够了。
But I’ll be up to her.
但是我来安排吧。
Never you tell, but I’ll make her a pudding, and a pudding she’ll like, too, and I’ll pay for it myself; so mind you see she eats it.
你不要说出去，不过我会给她做一个布丁，一个她也会喜欢的布丁，我自己掏钱；所以你要注意看着她吃下去。
Many a one has been comforted in their sorrow by seeing a good dish come upon the table.”
许多人在悲伤时看到一道好菜上桌就会感到安慰。”
I was rather glad that Martha’s energy had taken the immediate and practical direction of pudding-making, for it staved off the quarrelsome discussion as to whether she should or should not leave Miss Matty’s service.
我很高兴玛莎的精力立刻投入到了做布丁这个实用的事，因为这样一来，关于她是否应该离开马蒂小姐家的争论就被搁置了。
She began to tie on a clean apron, and otherwise prepare herself for going to the shop for the butter, eggs, and what else she might require.
她开始系上一条干净的围裙，为去商店买黄油、鸡蛋以及其他可能需要的东西做准备。
She would not use a scrap of the articles already in the house for her cookery, but went to an old tea-pot in which her private store of money was deposited, and took out what she wanted.
她不会用家里已有的任何东西来做布丁，而是走到一个旧茶壶前，她的私人积蓄就放在里面，然后取出她想要的钱。
I found Miss Matty very quiet, and not a little sad; but by-and-by she tried to smile for my sake.
我发现马蒂小姐非常安静，而且有点悲伤；但渐渐地，她为了我而试着微笑。
It was settled that I was to write to my father, and ask him to come over and hold a consultation, and as soon as this letter was despatched we began to talk over future plans.
已经决定了，我要给我父亲写信，请他过来商量一下，这封信一寄出，我们就开始讨论未来的计划。
Miss Matty’s idea was to take a single room, and retain as much of her furniture as would be necessary to fit up this, and sell the rest, and there to quietly exist upon what would remain after paying the rent.
马蒂小姐的想法是租一个单间，只保留需要的家具来布置房间，其余的卖掉，然后靠支付租金后剩下的钱安静地生活。
For my part, I was more ambitious and less contented.
就我而言，我更有野心，也更不容易满足。
I thought of all the things by which a woman, past middle age, and with the education common to ladies fifty years ago, could earn or add to a living without materially losing caste; but at length I put even this last clause on one side, and wondered what in the world Miss Matty could do.
一个过了中年、接受过五十年前淑女们普遍接受的教育的女性，有什么事可以让她在不失去社会地位的情况下挣钱或增加收入，我把可能的事都想了一遍；但最后我甚至把不失去社会地位的条件也放在了一边，想知道马蒂小姐到底能做什么。
Teaching was, of course, the first thing that suggested itself.
教学，当然，是我首先想到的事。
If Miss Matty could teach children anything, it would throw her among the little elves in whom her soul delighted.
如果马蒂小姐能教孩子们什么东西，那也能让她置身于她的灵魂喜爱的小精灵之中。
I ran over her accomplishments.
我历数她的才艺。
Once upon a time I had heard her say she could play “Ah! Vous dirai-je, maman?” on the piano, but that was long, long ago; that faint shadow of musical acquirement had died out years before.
从前我曾听她说过她会弹钢琴曲《啊！妈妈，请听我说？》，但那是很久很久以前的事了；那微弱的音乐素养的影子多年前就消失了。
She had also once been able to trace out patterns very nicely for muslin embroidery, by dint of placing a piece of silver paper over the design to be copied, and holding both against the window-pane while she marked the scollop and eyelet-holes.
她曾经也能很好地描出用于细布刺绣的图案，方法是将一张锡纸放在要复制的纸样上，然后将两张纸都贴在窗玻璃上，同时标记出扇形和小孔。
But that was her nearest approach to the accomplishment of drawing, and I did not think it would go very far.
但是那就是她最接近绘画的才艺，我觉得这才艺不会有太大的用处。
Then again, as to the branches of a solid English education—fancy work and the use of the globes—such as the mistress of the Ladies’ Seminary, to which all the tradespeople in Cranford sent their daughters, professed to teach.
其次，还有扎实的英式教育的分支——刺绣和地球仪的使用——比如女子学院的女校长自称会教授的那些内容，克兰福德的所有商人都把女儿送到女子学院。
Miss Matty’s eyes were failing her, and I doubted if she could discover the number of threads in a worsted-work pattern, or rightly appreciate the different shades required for Queen Adelaide’s face in the loyal wool-work now fashionable in Cranford.
但马蒂小姐的视力正在衰退，我怀疑她是否能数清精纺毛织图案中有几股线，或者能否正确分辨出正在克兰福德流行的忠诚羊毛绣中，阿德莱德女王脸上需要用的不同颜色。
As for the use of the globes, I had never been able to find it out myself, so perhaps I was not a good judge of Miss Matty’s capability of instructing in this branch of education;
至于地球仪的使用，我自己从来都没能弄明白，所以也许我不能很好地评判马蒂小姐在这一教育分支上的教学能力。
but it struck me that equators and tropics, and such mystical circles, were very imaginary lines indeed to her, and that she looked upon the signs of the Zodiac as so many remnants of the Black Art.
但我想到，赤道、回归线以及诸如此类的神秘圆圈，对她而言确实是非常虚幻的线条，而且她把黄道十二宫的星座视为黑魔法的残余。
What she piqued herself upon, as arts in which she excelled, was making candle-lighters, or “spills” (as she preferred calling them), of coloured paper, cut so as to resemble feathers, and knitting garters in a variety of dainty stitches.
她引以为傲的技艺，也就是她擅长的技艺，是用彩纸制作点蜡烛的东西，也叫“火引子”（她更喜欢这个名称），把纸剪成羽毛形状，以及用各种精致的针法编织袜带。
I had once said, on receiving a present of an elaborate pair, that I should feel quite tempted to drop one of them in the street, in order to have it admired;
我曾经收到过一双作为礼物的精致袜带，我说我真想把其中一只掉落到街上，好让人们欣赏一下；
but I found this little joke (and it was a very little one) was such a distress to her sense of propriety, and was taken with such anxious, earnest alarm, lest the temptation might some day prove too strong for me, that I quite regretted having ventured upon it.
但我发现这个小玩笑（这确实是个很小的玩笑）让她因为觉得不合礼仪而非常痛苦，她非常焦虑，真的担心有一天这种强烈诱惑会让我做出这种事来，这让我很后悔冒险开了这个玩笑。
