《傲慢与偏见》第 12 期

“I would wish not to be hasty in censuring anyone; but I always speak what I think.”

“我不愿仓促地责难任何人；但我总是说出自己的想法。”

“I know you do: and it is _that_ which makes the wonder. With _your_ good sense, to be so honestly blind to the follies and nonsense of others! Affectation of candour is common enough; one meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design,--to take the good of everybody’s character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad,--belongs to you alone. And so, you like this man’s sisters, too, do you? Their manners are not equal to his.”

“我知道你一向如此；而正是这一点才令人惊讶。凭你的良好判断力，竟会如此诚实地看不见别人的愚蠢和无聊！假装坦率十分常见；到处都能遇到这种人。可是，既不炫耀也无所图谋地坦率待人——只取每个人性格中的优点，并把它说得更好，对缺点只字不提——却唯独属于你。那么，你也喜欢这个人的姐妹，是吗？她们的举止可比不上他。”

“Certainly not, at first; but they are very pleasing women when you converse with them. Miss Bingley is to live with her brother, and keep his house; and I am much mistaken if we shall not find a very charming neighbour in her.”

“起初当然不是；但和她们交谈之后，你会发现她们是非常讨人喜欢的女士。宾利小姐要和她哥哥住在一起，替他料理家务；如果我没有看错，我们一定会发现她是一个十分迷人的邻居。”

Elizabeth listened in silence, but was not convinced: their behaviour at the assembly had not been calculated to please in general; and with more quickness of observation and less pliancy of temper than her sister, and with a judgment, too, unassailed by any attention to herself, she was very little disposed to approve them. They were, in fact, very fine ladies; not deficient in good-humour when they were pleased, nor in the power of being agreeable where they chose it; but proud and conceited. They were rather handsome; had been educated in one of the first private seminaries in town; had a fortune of twenty thousand pounds; were in the habit of spending more than they ought, and of associating with people of rank; and were, therefore, in every respect entitled to think well of themselves and meanly of others. They were of a respectable family in the north of England; a circumstance more deeply impressed on their memories than that their brother’s fortune and their own had been acquired by trade.

伊丽莎白默默听着，却并未被说服：她们在舞会上的表现并不能使人普遍感到愉快；而她比姐姐观察得更敏锐，性情也不那么随和，加之她的判断并未受到对方对自己的任何关注所左右，因此几乎没有意愿去赞赏她们。事实上，她们是十分讲究的淑女；高兴时并不缺乏好脾气，愿意讨人喜欢时也颇有讨人喜欢的本领；但她们骄傲而自负。她们相貌颇为漂亮；曾在城里最优秀的私立学校之一接受教育；拥有两万英镑的财产；一向花销超过应有的限度，并且惯于同有身份的人来往；所以，无论从哪方面看，她们都有理由高看自己而轻视他人。她们出身于英格兰北部一个体面的家族；只是，比起她们兄弟姐妹的财富是靠经商得来的这一点，这件事在她们记忆中留下的印象更为深刻。