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Miss Matty, as I ought to have mentioned before, had had some scruples of conscience at selling tea when there was already Mr Johnson in the town, who included it among his numerous commodities;
马蒂小姐因为镇上已经有了约翰逊先生，他的店里除了其他商品也卖茶叶（我之前应该提到过），所以她对于自己卖茶叶这件事有些过意不去，
and, before she could quite reconcile herself to the adoption of her new business, she had trotted down to his shop, unknown to me, to tell him of the project that was entertained, and to inquire if it was likely to injure his business.
在她完全接受自己的新生意之前，她瞒着我，一路小跑到约翰逊先生的店里，告诉他自己的茶叶计划，并询问这是否会影响他的生意。
My father called this idea of hers “great nonsense,” and “wondered how tradespeople were to get on if there was to be a continual consulting of each other’s interests, which would put a stop to all competition directly.”
我父亲称她的这个想法是“胡闹”，而且“如果人们为了彼此的利益不断地商量来商量去，从而直接导致所有竞争停止，那商人还要怎么做生意”。
And, perhaps, it would not have done in Drumble, but in Cranford it answered very well;
也许这在德拉姆布尔是行不通的，但在克兰福德却有很好的效果；
for not only did Mr Johnson kindly put at rest all Miss Matty’s scruples and fear of injuring his business, but I have reason to know he repeatedly sent customers to her, saying that the teas he kept were of a common kind, but that Miss Jenkyns had all the choice sorts.
因为约翰逊先生不仅好心地打消了马蒂小姐的所有顾虑和对影响他生意的担忧，而且我有理由知道，他还多次把顾客推荐到她那里，说他店里的茶叶都是普通货，而詹金斯小姐那里有各种精选茶叶。
And expensive tea is a very favourite luxury with well-to-do tradespeople and rich farmers’ wives, who turn up their noses at the Congou and Souchong prevalent at many tables of gentility, and will have nothing else than Gunpowder and Pekoe for themselves.
高档茶叶是富裕商人和富裕农民的妻子们非常喜爱的奢侈品，她们对许多上流社会餐桌上流行的工夫茶和小种茶嗤之以鼻，除了珠茶和白毫茶之外，什么都不要。
But to return to Miss Matty.
但还是回到马蒂小姐身上来吧。
It was really very pleasant to see how her unselfishness and simple sense of justice called out the same good qualities in others.
看到她的无私品格和朴素的正义感如何唤起他人身上同样的优秀品质，真是令人愉快。
She never seemed to think any one would impose upon her, because she should be so grieved to do it to them.
她似乎从来没有想到过会有人欺负她，因为要让她这样对待别人，她会感到非常难过的。
I have heard her put a stop to the asseverations of the man who brought her coals by quietly saying, “I am sure you would be sorry to bring me wrong weight;” and if the coals were short measure that time, I don’t believe they ever were again.
我曾听到她制止送煤工人的郑重发誓，她只是轻声说：“我相信如果送来的煤分量不足，你会过意不去的。”如果那次送来的煤分量不足，我相信以后再也不会出现这种事了。
People would have felt as much ashamed of presuming on her good faith as they would have done on that of a child.
人们会觉得，利用她的好心就像利用孩子的好心一样，是非常可耻的。
But my father says “such simplicity might be very well in Cranford, but would never do in the world.”
但是我父亲说：“这种单纯在克兰福德也许很好，但在世界上永远行不通。”
And I fancy the world must be very bad, for with all my father’s suspicion of every one with whom he has dealings, and in spite of all his many precautions, he lost upwards of a thousand pounds by roguery only last year.
我想世界一定非常险恶，因为尽管我父亲对与他打交道的每个人都心存疑虑，尽管他采取了许多防范措施，但仅去年一年，他还是因为其他人的无赖行为而损失了一千多英镑。
I just stayed long enough to establish Miss Matty in her new mode of life, and to pack up the library, which the rector had purchased.
等马蒂小姐适应了她的新生活，并打包好了教区长买下的藏书，我就离开了克兰福德。
He had written a very kind letter to Miss Matty, saying “how glad he should be to take a library, so well selected as he knew that the late Mr Jenkyns’s must have been, at any valuation put upon them.”
教区长给马蒂小姐写了一封非常亲切的信，信中说“他很高兴能买下这批藏书，他知道已故的詹金斯先生的藏书一定是精心挑选的，无论出价多少他都会买”。
And when she agreed to this, with a touch of sorrowful gladness that they would go back to the rectory and be arranged on the accustomed walls once more, he sent word that he feared that he had not room for them all, and perhaps Miss Matty would kindly allow him to leave some volumes on her shelves.
马蒂小姐同意这一点，藏书将再次回到教区长的住宅，并再次被摆放在之前的墙壁上，这让她又高兴又有些许感伤，教区长传话来说，他担心没有足够的空间容纳所有书，也许马蒂小姐可以允许他把一些书留在她的书架上。
But Miss Matty said that she had her Bible and “Johnson’s Dictionary,” and should not have much time for reading, she was afraid; still, I retained a few books out of consideration for the rector’s kindness.
但是马蒂小姐说她已经有《圣经》和《约翰生博士词典》了，而且恐怕不会有太多时间读书；不过，考虑到教区长的好意，我还是留下了几本书。
The money which he had paid, and that produced by the sale, was partly expended in the stock of tea, and part of it was invested against a rainy day—i.e. old age or illness.
他所付的钱以及变卖家具所得的钱，一部分用于购买茶叶库存，另一部分用于未雨绸缪——也就是为了年老或生病时使用。
It was but a small sum, it is true; and it occasioned a few evasions of truth and white lies (all of which I think very wrong indeed—in theory—and would rather not put them in practice), for we knew Miss Matty would be perplexed as to her duty if she were aware of any little reserve-fund being made for her while the debts of the bank remained unpaid.
这确实只是一笔小数目，而且还导致了一些隐瞒真相和善意谎言的情况（我认为所有这些在理论上都是非常错误的，不如不这样做），因为我们知道，如果马蒂小姐发觉在银行债务未还清的情况下，人们为她设立了哪怕只是小额的储备基金，她都会对自己有没有尽到义务而感到困惑不安。
Moreover, she had never been told of the way in which her friends were contributing to pay the rent.
而且从来没有人告诉她，她的朋友们是如何给她凑齐付房租的钱。
I should have liked to tell her this, but the mystery of the affair gave a piquancy to their deed of kindness which the ladies were unwilling to give up;
我本想把这事告诉她，可这件事的神秘色彩让女士们的善举更添了几分趣味，她们都不愿失去这种趣味。
and at first Martha had to shirk many a perplexed question as to her ways and means of living in such a house, but by-and-by Miss Matty’s prudent uneasiness sank down into acquiescence with the existing arrangement.
起初，马蒂小姐很困惑如何能在这样一所房子里维持生活，玛莎不得不回避了许多这种问题，但渐渐地，马蒂小姐出于谨慎的不安情绪平息了下来，默认了目前的安排。
