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Just then Fanny came along the passage with the tray full of dinner-things in her hands.
就在那时，范妮沿着走廊走来，手里端着装满晚餐用品的托盘。
When she had put them down, she stood at the door of the dining-room taking a distant view of the article.
当她把托盘放下时，她站在餐厅门口，远远地看着那件物品。
“Please, ma'am, it looks like a petticoat without any stuff in it; indeed it does, if I'm to be whipped for saying it.”
“太太，它看起来就像一条没有衬里的衬裙；真的，就算我这么说要被鞭子打，我也要说。”
But she only drew down upon herself a fresh objurgation from the cook; and sorry and annoyed, I seized the opportunity of taking the thing out of cook's hand, and carrying it upstairs, for it was full time to get ready for dinner.
但是她只是又从厨娘那里引来了一顿申斥，我感到既难过又生气，于是趁此机会从厨娘手里接过那东西，拿到楼上去了，因为是时候该准备吃晚餐了。
But we had very little appetite for our meal, and kept constantly making suggestions, one to the other, as to the nature and purpose of this Paris “cage,” but as constantly snubbing poor little Fanny's reiteration of “Please, ma'am, I do believe it's a kind of petticoat—indeed I do.”
但是我们吃饭的时候没什么胃口，一直在互相猜测这个巴黎“笼子”的性质和用途，但是完全不理会可怜的小范妮不停地重复说“太太，我真的相信这是一种衬裙，真的。”
At length Miss Pole turned upon her with almost as much vehemence as cook had done, only in choicer language.
最后，波尔小姐几乎像厨娘那样激烈地训斥她，只是用词更文雅些。
“Don't be so silly, Fanny.
“别这么傻，范妮。
Do you think ladies are like children, and must he put in go-carts; or need wire guards like fires to surround them; or can get warmth out of bits of whalebone and steel; a likely thing indeed!
你认为女士们就像孩子一样，必须被放在婴儿车里，或者像炉火一样需要用铁丝网围起来，或者可以从鲸骨和钢铁中获得温暖吗？怎么可能！
Don't keep talking about what you don't understand.”
不要一直谈论你不理解的事情。”
So our maiden was mute for the rest of the meal.
于是这位女仆在剩下的用餐时间里一直沉默不语。
After dinner we had Polly brought upstairs in her old cage, and I held out the new one, and we turned it about in every way.
晚饭后，我们把旧笼子里的波利带上楼，我拿出新笼子，我们把它翻来覆去地摆弄着。
At length Miss Pole said: “Put Polly-Cockatoo back, and shut him up in his cage.
最后波尔小姐说：“把凤头鹦鹉波利放回去吧，把它关在旧笼子里。
You hold this French thing up” (alas I that my present should be called a “thing”), “and I'll sew a bottom on to it.
你拿着这个法国玩意儿（唉，我的礼物竟然被叫做“玩意儿”），我来给它缝个底。
I'll lay a good deal, they've forgotten to sew in the bottom before sending it off.”
我敢打赌，他们在寄走之前忘了把底部缝好。”
So I held and she sewed; and then she held and I sewed, till it was all done.
于是我拿着笼子，她缝着，然后她拿着笼子，我缝着，直到全部缝完。
Just as we had put Polly-Cockatoo in, and were closing up the top with a pretty piece of old yellow ribbon—and, indeed, it was not a bad-looking cage after all our trouble—Mr Hoggins came up-stairs, having been seen by Fanny before he had time to knock at the door.
正当我们把凤头鹦鹉波利放进去，并用一段漂亮的旧黄丝带把笼子顶部扎起来的时候——的确，经过我们一番折腾，这笼子看起来还真不错——霍金斯先生上楼来了，他还没来得及敲门，就被范妮看见了。
“Hallo!” said he, almost tumbling over us, as we were sitting on the floor at our work. “What's this?”
“你们好！”他说，差点被我们绊倒，因为我们正坐在地板上缝笼子，“这是什么？”
“It's this pretty present for Polly-Cockatoo,” said Miss Pole, raising herself up with as much dignity as she could, “that Mary has had sent from Paris for me.”
“这是给凤头鹦鹉波利的漂亮礼物，”波尔小姐说，尽可能庄重地挺直身子，“玛丽从巴黎给我找人寄来的。”
Miss Pole was in great spirits now we had got Polly in; I can't say that I was.
波尔小姐现在情绪很高，因为我们把波利弄进来了，我可能不是情绪很好。
Mr Hoggins began to laugh in his boisterous vulgar way.
霍金斯先生开始以他那喧闹、粗俗的方式大笑起来。
“For Polly - ha! Ha! It's meant for you, Miss Pole - ha! Ha! It's a new invention to hold your gowns out - ha! Ha!”
“给波莉，哈哈！这是给你的，波尔小姐，哈！哈！这是一种新发明，可以把你的长裙撑起来，哈！哈！”
“Mr Hoggins! You may be a surgeon, and a very clever one, but nothing—not even your profession—gives you a right to be indecent.”
“霍金斯先生！你可能是一名医生，而且是一名非常聪明的医生，但没有任何东西——包括你的职业——赋予你没礼貌的权利。”
Miss Pole was thoroughly roused, and I trembled in my shoes.
波尔小姐彻底被激怒了，我吓得浑身发抖。
But Mr Hoggins only laughed the more.
但是霍金斯先生笑得更厉害了。
Polly screamed in concert, but Miss Pole stood in stiff rigid propriety, very red in the face.
波利也跟着尖叫起来，而波尔小姐则站在那里，端庄得体，身体僵硬，满脸通红。
“I beg your pardon, Miss Pole, I am sure.
“请您原谅，波尔小姐，真的请您原谅。
But I am pretty certain I am right.
但是我相当确定我是对的。
It's no indecency that I can see; my wife and Mrs Fitz-Adam take in a Paris fashion-book between 'em, and I can't help seeing the plates of fashions sometimes—ha! Ha! Ha! Look, Polly has got out of his queer prison—ha! ha! Ha!”
我看到的也不是什么下流的东西，我妻子和菲茨-亚当夫人一起看一本巴黎的时装书，我有时也会忍不住看几眼时装图片，哈哈！看，波利已经从他那奇怪的监狱里出来了，哈哈哈！”
Just then Mr Peter came in; Miss Matty was so curious to know if the expected present had arrived.
就在这时，彼得先生走了进来，马蒂小姐非常好奇，想知道期待的礼物是否已经送到。
Mr Hoggins took them by the arm, and pointed to the poor thing lying on the ground, but could not explain for laughing.
霍金斯先生抓住他俩的胳膊，指着躺在地上的那个可怜东西，但笑得说不出话来。
Miss Pole said: “Although I am not accustomed to give an explanation of my conduct to gentlemen, yet, being insulted in my own house by—by Mr Hoggins, I must appeal to the brother of my old friend—my very oldest friend.
波尔小姐说：“虽说我不习惯向先生们解释我的行为，但是，既然在我自己家里受到了……受到了霍金斯先生的侮辱，我就必须向我老朋友——我最最老的朋友——的弟弟求助。
Is this article a lady's petticoat, or a bird's cage?”
这件物品是女士的衬裙，还是鸟笼？”
She held it up as she made this solemn inquiry.
她一边提起笼子，一边提出了这个严肃的问题。
Mr Hoggins seized the moment to leave the room, in shame, as I supposed, but, in reality, to fetch his wife's fashion-book;
霍金斯先生趁机离开了房间，我想他是感到羞愧，但实际上他是去拿他妻子的时装书。
and, before I had completed the narration of the story of my unlucky commission, he returned, and, holding the fashion-plate open by the side of the extended article, demonstrated the identity of the two.
我还没讲完我那倒霉的托人买礼物的故事，他就回来了，手里拿着打开的时装书，把书放在那件物品旁边，证明了两者是一样的。
But Mr Peter had always a smooth way of turning off anger, by either his fun or a compliment.
但是彼得先生总是有办法通过他的幽默或赞美来平息愤怒。
“It is a cage,” said he, bowing to Miss Pole; “but it is a cage for an angel, instead of a bird!
“这是笼子，”他对波尔小姐鞠躬说道，“但这是一个关天使的笼子，而不是关鸟的！
Come along, Hoggins, I want to speak to you!”
来吧，霍金斯，我想和你谈谈！”
And, with an apology, he took the offending and victorious surgeon out of Miss Pole's presence.
他道了声抱歉，然后把那个冒犯了波尔小姐，但获得了胜利的医生带走了。
For a good while we said nothing; and we were now rather shy of little Fanny's superior wisdom when she brought up tea.
有好一会儿，我们谁都没说话，而当小范妮端着茶走进来时，我们面对她那高超的智慧都有点不好意思。
But towards night our spirits revived, and we were quite ourselves again, when Miss Pole proposed that we should cut up the pieces of steel or whalebone—which, to do them justice, were very elastic - and make ourselves two very comfortable English calashes out of them with the aid of a piece of dyed silk which Miss Pole had by her.
不过，夜幕降临的时候，我们的情绪又振作起来，我们又变回了原来的自己。这时，波尔小姐提议，我们应该把那些钢丝或者鲸骨剪断——说句公道话，它们非常有弹性，然后用她身边的一块染色丝绸，给我们俩做两顶非常舒适的英国折篷女帽。
