Great Expectations — Page 1
My sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery, was more than twenty years older than I, and had established a great reputation with herself and the neighbours because she had brought me up "by hand."
Chị gái tôi, bà Joe Gargery, hơn tôi đến hơn hai mươi tuổi, và đã tạo dựng được danh tiếng lớn trong mắt bản thân và hàng xóm láng giềng vì đã nuôi tôi khôn lớn "bằng tay không."
Having at that time to find out for myself what the expression meant, and knowing her to have a hard and heavy hand, and to be much in the habit of laying it upon her husband as well as upon me, I supposed that Joe Gargery and I were both brought up by hand.
Bấy giờ tôi phải tự mình tìm hiểu xem cái cụm từ đó có nghĩa là gì, và biết rằng chị có bàn tay cứng và nặng, lại hay có thói quen giáng nó xuống cả chồng lẫn tôi, tôi đoán rằng cả Joe Gargery lẫn tôi đều được nuôi dưỡng bằng tay không.
She was not a good-looking woman, my sister; and I had a general impression that she must have made Joe Gargery marry her by hand.
Chị tôi không phải là người phụ nữ có nhan sắc; và tôi có cảm giác chung rằng hẳn chị đã buộc Joe Gargery lấy mình bằng tay không.
Joe was a fair man, with curls of flaxen hair on each side of his smooth face, and with eyes of such a very undecided blue that they seemed to have somehow got mixed with their own whites.
Joe là người đàn ông sáng nước da, với những lọn tóc vàng hoe xõa hai bên khuôn mặt nhẵn nhụi, và đôi mắt xanh lam nhạt nhòa đến mức trông chừng như màu xanh ấy đã hòa lẫn vào tròng trắng của chính chúng.
He was a mild, good-natured, sweet-tempered, easy-going, foolish, dear fellow,—a sort of Hercules in strength, and also in weakness.
Anh ấy là một người hiền lành, tốt bụng, dịu dàng, dễ tính, ngờ nghệch, đáng mến — một thứ Hercules về sức mạnh, và cả về sự yếu đuối nữa.
My sister, Mrs. Joe, with black hair and eyes, had such a prevailing redness of skin that I sometimes used to wonder whether it was possible she washed herself with a nutmeg-grater instead of soap.
Chị tôi, bà Joe, với mái tóc và đôi mắt đen, có làn da đỏ ửng đến mức tôi đôi khi tự hỏi liệu có thể nào chị tắm rửa bằng cái bào hạt nhục đậu khấu thay vì xà phòng hay không.
She was tall and bony, and almost always wore a coarse apron, fastened over her figure behind with two loops, and having a square impregnable bib in front, that was stuck full of pins and needles.
Chị cao và gầy xương xẩu, và hầu như lúc nào cũng mặc một chiếc tạp dề thô, được buộc vào người phía sau bằng hai vòng khuyên, và phía trước có một tấm yếm vuông vức kiên cố, cắm đầy ghim và kim khâu.
Vocabulary
- Chị
- Older sister or respectful term for older woman
- gái
- Girl or female person
- tôi
- I, me; first-person singular pronoun
- bà
- Grandmother or respectful term for older woman
- hơn
- More than; comparative particle in Vietnamese
- đến
- To arrive at; up to; reaching a point
- hai
- The number two
- mươi
- Tens unit in numbers, e.g., twenty
- tuổi
- Age; years old
- và
- And; connecting conjunction between elements
- đã
- Past tense marker indicating completed action
- tạo
- To create, form, or build something
- dựng
- To establish, erect, or set up
- được
- To achieve, obtain; passive or resultative marker
- danh
- Name, reputation, fame
- tiếng
- Fame, reputation; also language or sound
- lớn
- Large, big, great in size or degree
- trong
- In, inside, within a space or context
- mắt
- Eye; the organ of sight
- bản
- Self, own; copy or version of something
- thân
- Body, self; close or intimate
- hàng
- Row, line; goods; neighbor (in compound)
- xóm
- Hamlet, small neighborhood community
- láng
- Smooth; neighboring (in compound láng giềng)
- giềng
- Neighbor (used in compound láng giềng)
- vì
- Because, for the reason that
- nuôi
- To raise, nurture, or feed someone
- khôn
- Clever, wise, smart
- bằng
- By means of, using; equal to
- tay
- Hand; arm
- không
- No, not; negation word
- Bấy
- That, such (used in time expressions)
- giờ
- Hour; now; time
- phải
- Must, have to; right, correct
- tự
- Self, by oneself, independently
- mình
- Oneself; body; intimate first/second person pronoun
- tìm
- To search for, look for something
- hiểu
- To understand, comprehend something
- xem
- To see, watch; let's see (softening particle)
- cái
- Classifier for objects; thing
- cụm
- Cluster, group; phrase (in grammar)
- từ
- Word; from (preposition)
- đó
- That, there; demonstrative pronoun
- có
- To have; there is/are
- nghĩa
- Meaning, sense of a word
- là
- To be; linking verb
- gì
- What; question word for things
- biết
- To know, be aware of something
- rằng
- That; complementizer introducing a clause
- chị
- Older sister; respectful term for older woman
- bàn
- Table; to discuss or deliberate
- cứng
- Hard, stiff, rigid
- nặng
- Heavy in weight or severity
- lại
- Again; moreover; to come back
- hay
- Or; interesting; often, frequently
- thói
- Habit, custom, tendency
- quen
- Accustomed to, familiar with
- giáng
- To strike down, deal a blow
- nó
- It, he, she (informal third person)
- xuống
- Down, downward; to go down
- cả
- Both, all, even; inclusive particle
- chồng
- Husband; to stack up
- lẫn
- Along with, as well as; mixed
- đoán
- To guess, surmise, predict
- đều
- All, both, equally, evenly
- dưỡng
- To nourish, nurture, raise
- người
- Person, people, human being
- phụ
- Female; auxiliary, secondary
- nữ
- Woman, female gender
- nhan
- Appearance, looks (in nhan sắc)
- sắc
- Beauty, color; sharp
- cảm
- To feel, sense; emotion (in compound)
- giác
- Sensation, feeling (in cảm giác)
- chung
- General, common, shared
- hẳn
- Certainly, clearly, definitely
- buộc
- To force, compel; to tie
- lấy
- To take; to marry someone
- đàn
- Group of; musical instrument
- ông
- Grandfather; respectful term for older man
- sáng
- Bright, light; morning
- nước
- Water; country, nation
- da
- Skin; leather
- với
- With, together with; and
- những
- Plural marker for nouns
- lọn
- Lock, strand of hair
- tóc
- Hair (on the head)
- vàng
- Gold; yellow color
- hoe
- Bright yellow; golden hue (of hair)
- xõa
- Loose, flowing down (of hair)
- bên
- Side, beside, next to
- khuôn
- Frame, mold; face (in khuôn mặt)
- mặt
- Face; surface
- nhẵn
- Smooth, sleek surface
- đôi
- Pair, couple; two of something
- xanh
- Blue or green color
- lam
- Blue, indigo shade of color
- nhạt
- Pale, faint, light in color
- nhòa
- Blurred, faded, indistinct
- mức
- Level, degree, extent
- trông
- To look, appear; to watch over
- chừng
- About, approximately; it seems
- như
- Like, as, as if
- màu
- Color, hue
- ấy
- That, those (demonstrative pronoun)
- hòa
- To blend, merge, harmonize
- vào
- Into, to enter; directional particle
- tròng
- Eyeball; the orb of the eye
- trắng
- White color
- của
- Of, belonging to; possessive particle
- chính
- Exactly, precisely; main, principal
- chúng
- They, them; plural pronoun
- Anh
- Older brother; England/English; respectful pronoun
- một
- One; the number one
- hiền
- Gentle, kind, meek in character
- lành
- Good, wholesome, harmless
- tốt
- Good, fine, kind-hearted
- bụng
- Stomach; heart, inner feelings
- dịu
- Gentle, soft, mild in manner
- dàng
- Easy; graceful (in dễ dàng or dịu dàng)
- dễ
- Easy, simple, not difficult
- tính
- Personality, temperament, nature
- ngờ
- To suspect; naive (in ngờ nghệch)
- nghệch
- Simple-minded, naive, awkward
- đáng
- Worthy of, deserving of
- mến
- To be fond of, likable, endearing
- thứ
- Type, kind; ordinal number marker
- về
- About, regarding; to return home
- sức
- Strength, physical force, power
- mạnh
- Strong, powerful, vigorous
- sự
- Nominalizer for abstract nouns and concepts
- yếu
- Weak, feeble, lacking strength
- đuối
- Exhausted, overwhelmed; drowning
- nữa
- More, also, anymore, in addition
- mái
- Roof; female (of animals); long hair
- đen
- Black color
- làn
- Thin layer, strip; lane
- đỏ
- Red color
- ửng
- To flush, blush, turn slightly red
- khi
- When, at the time of
- hỏi
- To ask, inquire, question
- liệu
- Whether; to manage, handle carefully
- thể
- Can, be able to; body, form
- nào
- Which, what, any (question word)
- tắm
- To bathe, take a bath
- rửa
- To wash, rinse something
- hạt
- Seed, grain, small round object
- nhục
- Flesh; shame; nutmeg (in compound)
- đậu
- Bean, legume; to land, perch
- thay
- To replace, substitute; instead of
- xà
- Bar, beam; soap (in xà phòng)
- phòng
- Room; soap (in xà phòng)
- cao
- Tall, high; cream or paste
- gầy
- Thin, skinny, lean
- xương
- Bone; bony, skeletal
- hầu
- Almost, nearly; to serve someone
- lúc
- Time, moment, when
- cũng
- Also, too, as well
- mặc
- To wear, put on clothing
- chiếc
- Classifier for single items like clothing
- tạp
- Mixed, miscellaneous; apron (in tạp dề)
- dề
- Apron (in tạp dề)
- thô
- Rough, coarse in texture
- phía
- Side, direction, toward
- sau
- After, behind, later
- vòng
- Ring, loop, circle; around
- khuyên
- To advise; earring (in vòng khuyên)
- trước
- Before, in front, previous
- tấm
- Classifier for flat objects like cloth
- yếm
- Traditional Vietnamese bib or bodice garment
- vuông
- Square shape
- kiên
- Firm, steadfast (in kiên cố)
- cố
- Solid, firm; to try hard
- cắm
- To stick into, insert, pin
- đầy
- Full, filled with
- ghim
- Pin, brooch; to pin something
- kim
- Needle; gold (literary)
- khâu
- To sew, stitch; sewing needle
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