注册
正文 目录 文库目录 文库收藏 中文百科 Wiki百科
五镇故事|STORIES FROM THE FIVE TOWNS

订婚消息|News of the Engagement

属类： 双语小说 【分类】双语小说 阅读：[1000]
伯斯利、汉桥、克尼普、朗肖、特恩希尔——这就是本书所说的五镇。这些故事发生在20世纪初的英格兰中部地区。如今的五镇已经成为斯托克城，不过这个地方仍然因为陶瓷和阿诺德·贝内特故事中的人物而闻名。
Bursley, Hanbridge, Knype, Longshaw, Turnhill — these are the Five Towns of Arnold Bennett’s stories, set in the English Midlands in the early 1900s. Today the Five Towns are the city of Stoke-on-Trent, but the place is still famous for its pottery... and for the people in Arnold Bennett’s stories.
这些人既不是名人，也不是什么大人物。他们在商店和工厂工作;他们恋爱又失恋;他们会拌嘴，会争吵。他们有时头脑聪明而且事业成功，他们有时的所作所为又极其愚蠢。菲利普有个重要消息要告诉母亲，不过他自己也将得到一个大大的惊喜……杰先生讨厌自己的画像，但又能怎么办呢?这可是五镇人送给他的礼物……在克尼普站，托比·霍尔突然决定乘火车去特恩希尔，不过这是为什么呢?然后出场的是约翰和罗伯特。他们是亲兄弟，住在同一屋檐下，在同一张桌子上吃饭——但十年来他们没和对方说过一个字……
They are not famous or important people. They work in shops and factories; they fall in, and out of, love; they argue and they quarrel. Sometimes they are clever and successful, and sometimes they do very stupid things. Philip has some important news to tell his mother, but he is also going to get a big surprise... Sir Jee hates his portrait, but what can he do about it? It was a present from the people of the Five Towns... At Knype station, Toby Hall suddenly decides to take the train to Turnhill, but why? Then there are John and Robert. They are brothers, they live in the same house, they eat meals together — and neither has said a single word to the other for ten years...
字+字- 页+页- 字+字- 页+页- 》
1
-

每次我从伦敦回五镇，母亲都不会来伯斯利车站接我。她总有别的事要做：她是在为我回家做准备。因此我总是沿着特拉法尔加大街，经过工厂和足球场，一个人走回家。所以，今晚我有时间好好想想。我要告诉母亲一条重大消息，却不知该如何开口。

1
-

My mother never came to meet me at Bursley station when I arrived in the Five Towns from London. She always had other things to do; she was getting ready for me. So I always walked alone up Trafalgar Road, between the factories and past the football field. And so tonight, I had time to think. I had some very important news for my mother, and I didn’t know how to tell her.

2
-

我每周都给母亲写信，告诉她我在忙些什么。她知道我所有朋友的名字。我经常提到阿格尼丝和她的家人。但在信中写不出这样的话：“我觉得阿格尼丝喜欢我”，“我爱上她了”，“我肯定她喜欢我”，“我觉得她爱我”，“我要向她求婚”。你没法这么写。反正，我是写不出来。12月20日我向阿格尼丝求婚，她答应了。但我母亲对此还一无所知。而今天，12月22日，我回来和母亲共度圣诞。

2
-

I wrote to my mother every week, to tell her what I was doing. She knew the names of all my friends. I often wrote about Agnes and her family. But it’s difficult to write in a letter: ’I think Agnes likes me,’ ’I’m in love with her,’ ’I’m sure she likes me,’ ’I think she loves me,’ ’I’m going to ask her to marry me.’ You can’t do that. Well, I couldn’t do it. And on the 20th December I asked Agnes to marry me, and Agnes said yes. But my mother didn’t know anything about it. And now, on the 22nd December, I was coming to spend Christmas with my mother.

3
-

我的母亲是个寡妇。我是她的独子——而现在我已经订婚可她还不知道。我担心她会不大高兴，我准备好要过个难捱的晚上。

3
-

My mother was a widow. I was her only son — and now I was engaged and she didn’t know. I was afraid she was going to be a little unhappy, and I was ready for a difficult evening.

4
-

我走到家门口，还没按铃，门就开了，母亲站在那儿。她拥抱了我。

4
-

I walked up to the front door, but before I put my hand up to ring, the door opened and there was my mother. She put her arms around me.

5
-

“哦，菲利普！你好吗？”

5
-

Well, Philip! How are you?’

6
-

我说：“哦！我很好，母亲。你怎么样？”

6
-

And I said, ’Oh! I’m all right, mother. How are you?’

7
-

她冲我笑了。她有些激动，看起来不像已经45岁的人。她笑得有点儿奇怪。我想：“她知道我要结婚了。她怎么知道的？”

7
-

She smiled at me. She looked excited and younger than her forty-five years. There was something strange in her smile. I thought: ’She knows I’m going to get married. How does she know?’

8
-

但我什么也没说。和母亲们打交道要小心才是。

8
-

But I said nothing. You have to be careful with mothers.

9
-

“吃晚饭的时候我再告诉她。”我打定主意。

9
-

I’ll tell her at supper,’ I decided.

10
-

我上楼进了自己的卧室，下来的时候，母亲正在厨房忙碌。我走进餐厅，不由得吃了一惊。桌旁摆了三把椅子，桌上是三副杯盘。

10
-

I went upstairs to my bedroom. When I came down, my mother was busy in the kitchen. I went into the dining room, and here I had a surprise. There were three chairs around the table, and three plates and three glasses.

11
-

这么说阿格尼丝真的要来！我不知道母亲是如何得知的，但她肯定已经知道了。母亲和我可爱的阿格尼丝想给我惊喜。阿格尼丝要来伯斯利过圣诞！

11
-

So Agnes was coming! I didn’t know how my mother knew, but she did know. She and my wonderful Agnes were planning a surprise for me. Agnes was coming to Bursley for Christmas!

12
-

门铃响了。“是阿格尼丝！”我这样想着，跑到门口打开了门。

12
-

There was a ring at the door. ’It’s Agnes!’ I thought, and running to the door, I opened it.

13
-

来客是尼克松先生。

13
-

It was Mr Nixon.

14
-

尼克松先生是我家的老朋友。他魁梧健壮，大概49岁或50岁的样子。父亲死后他对母亲很是照顾。

14
-

Mr Nixon was an old friend of the family. He was a large, strong man of about forty-nine or fifty. He was very helpful to my mother after my father’s death.

15
-

“晚上好，年轻人，”他说“很高兴看见你回到伯斯利。”

15
-

Good evening, young man,’ he said. ’It’s good to see you back in Bursley.’

16
-

“尼克松先生来吃晚饭，菲利普。”母亲说。

16
-

Mr Nixon has come for supper, Philip,’ said my mother.

17
-

我以前回伯斯利的时候，尼克松先生也经常来吃晚饭，但从没在我回来的第一个晚上来过。我挺喜欢他，但今晚见到他不是很开心，因为我本打算和母亲谈谈，而如果尼克松先生也在的话，我就不能和母亲谈阿格尼丝的事了。

17
-

Mr Nixon often came to supper during my visits to Bursley, but never on the first night. I liked him, but I wasn’t very happy to see him tonight because I wanted to talk to my mother. I couldn’t talk to her about Agnes with Mr Nixon sitting at the table.

18
-

我们开始吃晚饭。我们东聊西扯，但大家都吃得不多。我一直在想尼克松先生回家以后，我该如何对母亲说。吃完饭后，我告诉母亲我必须去趟邮局，我有一封重要的信要寄。

18
-

We started our supper. We talked about this and that, but nobody ate very much. I was thinking about what to say to my mother when Mr Nixon went home. At the end of the meal I told my mother that I must go to the post office. I had an important letter to post.

19
-

“宝贝儿，不能等明天再寄吗？”母亲问道。

19
-

Can’t it wait until tomorrow, my pet?’ my mother asked.

20
-

“不行。”我回答。

20
-

It can’t,’ I said.

21
-

我的信当然是寄给阿格尼丝的。给阿格尼丝的信可不能等到明天！我向餐厅门口走去。

21
-

My letter, of course, was to Agnes. A letter to Agnes could not wait until tomorrow! I walked over to the dining room door.

22
-

“给一位小姐的信？”尼克松先生笑着问我。

22
-

A letter to a lady?’ asked Mr Nixon, laughing.

23
-

“是的。”我回答。

23
-

Yes,’ I replied.

24
-

我到邮局寄了信。回到家，我不安地发现尼克松先生还没走，他自己待在客厅里抽烟。

24
-

I walked to the post office and posted my letter. When I got back home, I was sorry to see that Mr Nixon was still there. He was alone in the sitting-room, smoking.

25
-

“母亲在哪儿？”我问。

25
-

Where’s mother?’ I asked.

26
-

“她刚出去。”他说，“过来坐下吧，抽支烟。我想和你谈谈，菲利普。”

26
-

She’s just gone out of the room,’ he said. ’Come and sit down. Have a cigarette. I’d like to talk to you, Philip.’

27
-

我接过烟，坐了下来。我希望不会谈太久。

27
-

I took a cigarette and sat down. I hoped the talk was not going to be a long one.

28
-

“哦，孩子，”他说，“你愿意让我做你的继父吗？”

28
-

Well, my boy,’ he said. ’Would you like me as a stepfather?’

29
-

有那么一会儿，我愣住了。

29
-

For a second I could not move or speak.

30
-

“什么？”我说，“你的意思是……你和我母亲……？”

30
-

What?’ I said. ’You mean... you and my mother...?’

31
-

“是的，孩子，是这个意思。昨天我向她求婚，她答应了。我很早就想向她求婚了——我想她也明白。她在信里跟你提过吗？没有？在信里写这个当然挺难的。她写不出这样的话：’我亲爱的菲利普，一个老朋友，尼克松先生爱上了我，而我也爱上了他。我想他很快会向我求婚。’我觉得你母亲写不出这种话，对吗？”

31
-

Yes, my boy, I do. I asked her yesterday, and she said yes. I’ve wanted to ask her for a long time — I think she knew that. Did she tell you in her letters? No? It’s difficult to write in a letter, of course. She couldn’t really write, "My dear Philip, an old friend, Mr Nixon, is falling in love with me and I think I’m falling in love with him. I think he’ll ask me to marry him soon." I don’t think your mother could write that, could she?’

32
-

我笑了。

32
-

I laughed.

33
-

“握个手吧，”我说，“这是个特大的好消息。”

33
-

Shake hands,’ I said. ’This is wonderful news.’

34
-

过了一会儿，母亲进来了，脸颊微微发红。

34
-

After a moment my mother came in, a little red in the face.

35
-

“孩子很开心，萨拉。”尼克松先生说。

35
-

The boy’s very happy, Sarah,’ said Mr Nixon.

36
-

那天晚上我没提自己的事。我以前从未想过母亲也会恋爱，没想过会有一个男人爱上她。她在老屋里很孤独，或许想开始新生活，这也是我没想到过的。大概和所有当儿子的一样，我只想着自己和自己的生活，所以我决定不说自己的事，在那个晚上母亲是最重要的。我可以明天再告诉她阿格尼丝的事。我们活一天就多明白一些事情。

36
-

I said nothing about my own plans that evening. It was something new to me that my mother could fall in love, and that a man could fall in love with her. It was something new to me that she was lonely in our old house and that perhaps she wanted a new life. Perhaps, like all sons, I thought only about myself and my life. So I decided to say nothing about my news, and that evening my mother came first for me. I could tell her about Agnes tomorrow. We live and learn.

序号 英文/音标 中文解释 更多操作

past

[pɑːst]

a. 过去的;

excite

[ɪk’saɪt]

vt.使兴奋;使激动;刺激;激起

supper

[’sʌpə(r)]

n.晚饭

dine

[daɪn]

v.用正餐;进餐

Nixon

[ˈnɪksən]

n.尼克松(姓氏;美国第37任总统【1969-1974】)

stepfather

[’stepfɑːðə(r)]

n.继父

图片译典（一词多图)
我的生词(单词助记)
道德经
论语
孙子兵法
禮記
孟子
尚書
詩經
周易
简典
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

微信小程序

微信公众号

Email:

22745823@qq.com

联系站长：

QQ:22745823

机构翻译

地址翻译

人名翻译

译典登录

译典注册

译典说明

意见反馈

浙ICP备05023696号-8