《傲慢与偏见》第 14 期

The manner in which they spoke of the Meryton assembly was sufficiently characteristic. Bingley had never met with pleasanter people or prettier girls in his life; everybody had been most kind and attentive to him; there had been no formality, no stiffness; he had soon felt acquainted with all the room; and as to Miss Bennet, he could not conceive an angel more beautiful. Darcy, on the contrary, had seen a collection of people in whom there was little beauty and no fashion, for none of whom he had felt the smallest interest, and from none received either attention or pleasure. Miss Bennet he acknowledged to be pretty; but she smiled too much.

他们谈论梅里顿舞会的方式，十分能说明各自的性情。宾利一生中从未遇见过更令人愉快的人，也从未见过更漂亮的姑娘；每个人都对他十分友善、殷勤；那里没有拘谨，也没有僵硬的礼节；他很快便觉得自己和全场的人都熟识了；至于班纳特小姐，他简直无法想象世上还有比她更美丽的天使。达西却相反，他所见到的只是一群既无美貌又无时尚品味的人，其中没有一个引起他丝毫兴趣，也没有一个给过他关注或愉悦。班纳特小姐，他承认是漂亮的；不过，她笑得太多了。

Mrs. Hurst and her sister allowed it to be so; but still they admired her and liked her, and pronounced her to be a sweet girl, and one whom they should not object to know more of. Miss Bennet was therefore established as a sweet girl; and their brother felt authorized by such commendation to think of her as he chose.

赫斯特太太和她的妹妹承认确实如此；但她们仍然欣赏她，也喜欢她，称她是个可爱的姑娘，并且说，她是一个她们不介意进一步结识的人。于是，班纳特小姐便被确定为一个可爱的姑娘；而她们的兄弟也因这样的赞美，觉得自己有充分理由随意看待她。

CHAPTER V.

第五章

Within a short walk of Longbourn lived a family with whom the Bennets were particularly intimate. Sir William Lucas had been formerly in trade in Meryton, where he had made a tolerable fortune, and risen to the honour of knighthood by an address to the king during his mayoralty. The distinction had, perhaps, been felt too strongly. It had given him a disgust to his business and to his residence in a small market town; and, quitting them both, he had removed with his family to a house about a mile from Meryton, denominated from that period Lucas Lodge; where he could think with pleasure of his own importance, and, unshackled by business, occupy himself solely in being civil to all the world. For, though elated by his rank, it did not render him supercilious; on the contrary, he was all attention to everybody. By nature inoffensive, friendly, and obliging, his presentation at St. James’s had made him courteous.

离朗伯恩不远处，住着一家人与班纳特一家尤其亲密。威廉·卢卡斯爵士过去曾在梅里顿经商，挣得了一笔还算可观的财富，并在担任市长期间向国王致辞，因而获得了爵士头衔。这一荣誉也许让他感受得过于强烈了。它使他厌恶自己的生意，也厌恶住在一个小小的集镇上；于是，他放弃了这两者，带着全家搬到梅里顿一英里左右以外的一所房子里。从那时起，这所房子便被称为卢卡斯庄园。在那里，他可以愉快地想着自己的重要身份，并且摆脱了生意的束缚，专心致志地对全世界的人彬彬有礼。因为，尽管他的地位使他兴高采烈，却没有使他变得傲慢；恰恰相反，他对每个人都体贴周到。他天性无害、友善而乐于助人，在圣詹姆斯宫觐见国王之后，更养成了礼貌周全的举止。