Bleak House — Page 2
爱丝特叙述的结尾
The Close of Esther's Narrative
前言
PREFACE
一位大法院法官曾好意告知我，当时在场的是约一百五十名男女，没有一个被怀疑有精神问题，
A Chancery judge once had the kindness to inform me, as one of a company of some hundred and fifty men and women not labouring under any suspicions of lunacy,
说大法院虽然是许多民间偏见的热门话题（说到这里，我觉得法官的眼神朝我这边瞟了一下），却几乎是无可指摘的。
that the Court of Chancery, though the shining subject of much popular prejudice (at which point I thought the judge's eye had a cast in my direction), was almost immaculate.
他承认，在诉讼进展速度方面确实存在一些微不足道的瑕疵，
There had been, he admitted, a trivial blemish or so in its rate of progress,
但这是被夸大了的，而且完全是由于"公众的吝啬"所致——
but this was exaggerated and had been entirely owing to the "parsimony of the public,"
这个有罪的公众，据说直到最近还以最坚决的态度，拒绝增加大法院法官的人数——
which guilty public, it appeared, had been until lately bent in the most determined manner on by no means enlarging the number of Chancery judges appointed—
我相信那是理查二世任命的，不过换成别的哪位国王也无妨。
I believe by Richard the Second, but any other king will do as well.
在我看来，这个笑话意味太深，不宜插入本书正文，否则我应当把它还给肯吉先生或沃尔斯先生，
This seemed to me too profound a joke to be inserted in the body of this book or I should have restored it to Conversation Kenge or to Mr. Vholes,
我认为这个笑话必定出自他们两人中的某一位之口。
with one or other of whom I think it must have originated.
借助这样的人物，我或许可以将它与莎士比亚十四行诗中的一段恰当引文相配：
In such mouths I might have coupled it with an apt quotation from one of Shakespeare's sonnets:
「我的本性已被驯服，如同染工的手，沦为劳作之物的奴隶：那么，请怜悯我，但愿我能焕然一新！」
"My nature is subdued To what it works in, like the dyer's hand: Pity me, then, and wish I were renewed!
Vocabulary
- Close
- 接近的；结束
- Narrative
- 叙述；故事；讲述的艺术形式
- PREFACE
- 前言；序言；介绍性的说明
- judge
- 法官；评判；判断某事
- once
- 一次；曾经；从前
- kindness
- 善良；好意；体贴和关心他人
- inform
- 告知；通知；提供信息
- as
- 作为；当...时候；像...一样
- company
- 公司；陪伴；一群人的陪伴
- some
- 一些；某些；大约
- hundred
- 一百；数字100
- men
- 男人；人类；man的复数形式
- women
- 女人；woman的复数形式
- labouring
- 劳动；工作；费力地进行
- under
- 在...下面；在...之下
- any
- 任何；一些；用于否定句
- suspicions
- 怀疑；猜疑；不信任
- Court
- 法庭；宫廷；法院
- though
- 虽然；尽管；但是
- shining
- 闪闪发光；杰出；光彩照人
- subject
- 主题；科目；对象；受...影响
- popular
- 受欢迎的；流行的；大众的
- prejudice
- 偏见；歧视；不公平的想法
- thought
- 思想；想法；过去式think
- eye
- 眼睛；视力；注视
- cast
- 投掷；选角；铸造
- direction
- 方向；指导；说明
- almost
- 几乎；差不多；接近
- immaculate
- 洁净的；无污点；完美无缺的
- There
- 那里；存在；用作引导词
- admitted
- 承认；允许进入；容纳
- trivial
- 琐碎的；不重要的；微不足道
- blemish
- 瑕疵；污点；损害
- progress
- 进步；进展；前进
- exaggerated
- 夸大的；言过其实的
- entirely
- 完全地；彻底地；全部
- owing
- 由于；因为；欠债
- public
- 公众；公共的；大众的
- guilty
- 有罪的；内疚的；犯有...罪
- appeared
- 出现；似乎；显得
- lately
- 最近；近来；最后
- bent
- 弯曲的；倾向；决心
- determined
- 坚定的；有决心的；确定
- manner
- 方式；态度；礼仪
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