A Room with a View — Page 12

那天晚上在威尼斯发生的事，对她来说是一场真正的灾难，绝非小事——她在卧室里发现了某种东西，比跳蚤还糟糕一点，却又比另外某些东西强一点。

It was a real catastrophe, not a mere episode, that evening of hers at Venice, when she had found in her bedroom something that is one worse than a flea, though one better than something else.

「但是您在这里和在英国一样安全。贝尔托利尼太太是非常英国化的。」

"But here you are as safe as in England. Signora Bertolini is so English."

「可是我们的房间有股怪味，」可怜的露西说，「我们都害怕去睡觉。」

"Yet our rooms smell," said poor Lucy. "We dread going to bed."

「啊，那么您的房间朝向院子。」她叹了口气，「要是爱默生先生能更体贴些就好了！我们在晚餐时都很为您感到难过。」

"Ah, then you look into the court." She sighed. "If only Mr. Emerson was more tactful! We were so sorry for you at dinner."

「我想他是好意的。」

"I think he was meaning to be kind."

「他无疑是好意的，」巴特利特小姐说。

"Undoubtedly he was," said Miss Bartlett.

「比伯先生刚刚因为我生性多疑而责备了我。当然，我顾虑到表姐才有所保留的。」

"Mr. Beebe has just been scolding me for my suspicious nature. Of course, I was holding back on my cousin's account."

「当然，」那位小老太太说；她们都低声说，对一个年轻女孩怎么小心都不为过。

"Of course," said the little old lady; and they murmured that one could not be too careful with a young girl.

露西努力装出一副文静的样子，却忍不住觉得自己傻透了。在家里没有人这样处处提防她；或者说，至少她从未察觉过。

Lucy tried to look demure, but could not help feeling a great fool. No one was careful with her at home; or, at all events, she had not noticed it.

「关于爱默生老先生——我实在说不准。不，他确实不够体贴；然而，您有没有注意到，有些人做的事情极不得体，但同时又……美？」

"About old Mr. Emerson—I hardly know. No, he is not tactful; yet, have you ever noticed that there are people who do things which are most indelicate, and yet at the same time—beautiful?"

「美？」巴特利特小姐说，对这个词感到困惑，「美与得体不是同一回事吗？」

"Beautiful?" said Miss Bartlett, puzzled at the word. "Are not beauty and delicacy the same?"

「本来以为是的，」另一位无奈地说，「但我有时觉得，事情真是太复杂了。」

"So one would have thought," said the other helplessly. "But things are so difficult, I sometimes think.