She was so thin that she seemed almost transparent , the arms she put round his neck were frail bones that reminded you of chicken bones, and her faded face was oh! so wrinkled. The gray curls which she still wore in the fashion of her youth gave her a queer, pathetic look; and her little withered body was like an autumn leaf, you felt it might be blown away by the first sharp wind. Philip realised that they had done with life, these two quiet little people:
they belonged to a past generation, and they were waiting there patiently, rather stupidly, for death; and he, in his vigour and his youth, thirsting for excitement and adventure, was appalled at the waste. They had done nothing, and when they went it would be just as if they had never been. He felt a great pity for Aunt Louisa, and he loved her suddenly because she loved him.
读书笔记
是否公开
14
-
这时,威尔金森小姐走进屋来。刚才她十分知趣地回避开,好让凯里夫妇有机会同侄儿亲热一会儿。
读书笔记
是否公开
14
-
Then Miss Wilkinson, who had kept discreetly out of the way till the Careys had had a chance of welcoming their nephew, came into the room.
读书笔记
是否公开
15
-
"这是威尔金森小姐,菲利普,"凯里太太说。
读书笔记
是否公开
15
-
‘This is Miss Wilkinson, Philip,’ said Mrs. Carey.
读书笔记
是否公开
16
-
"浪子回家啦,"她边说边伸出手来,"我给浪子带来了一朵玫瑰花,把它别在衣扣上吧。"
读书笔记
是否公开
16
-
‘The prodigal has returned,’ she said, holding out her hand. ‘I have brought a rose for the prodigal’s buttonhole.’
He knew that Miss Wilkinson was the daughter of his Uncle William’s last rector, and he had a wide acquaintance with the daughters of clergymen. They wore ill-cut clothes and stout boots.
They were generally dressed in black, for in Philip’s early years at Blackstable homespuns had not reached East Anglia, and the ladies of the clergy did not favour colours. Their hair was done very untidily, and they smelt aggressively of starched linen .
读书笔记
是否公开
20
-
她们认为女性健力的外露,有失体统,因而无论老妇少女全是千篇一律的打扮。
读书笔记
是否公开
20
-
They considered the feminine graces unbecoming and looked the same whether they were old or young.
They bore their religion arrogantly . The closeness of their connection with the church made them adopt a slightly dictatorial attitude to the rest of mankind.
Miss Wilkinson was very different. She wore a white muslin gown stamped with gay little bunches of flowers, and pointed , high-heeled shoes, with open-work stockings. To Philip’s inexperience it seemed that she was wonderfully dressed; he did not see that her frock was cheap and showy.
She had large black eyes and her nose was slightly aquiline ; in profile she had somewhat the look of a bird of prey , but full face she was prepossessing. She smiled a great deal, but her mouth was large and when she smiled she tried to hide her teeth, which were big and rather yellow. But what embarrassed Philip most was that she was heavily powdered:
Her hair was elaborately dressed, with a neat curl in the middle of the forehead: it was very black, shiny and hard, and it looked as though it could never be in the least disarranged.
he had very strict views on feminine behaviour and did not think a lady ever powdered; but of course Miss Wilkinson was a lady because she was a clergyman’s daughter, and a clergyman was a gentleman.
Philip made up his mind to dislike her thoroughly . She spoke with a slight French accent; and he did not know why she should, since she had been born and bred in the heart of England. He thought her smile affected , and the coy sprightliness of her manner irritated him.
She made him laugh too, and Philip could never resist people who amused him: he had a gift now and then of saying neat things; and it was pleasant to have an appreciative listener.
For two or three days he remained silent and hostile, but Miss Wilkinson apparently did not notice it. She was very affable. She addressed her conversation almost exclusively to him, and there was something flattering in the way she appealed constantly to his sane judgment .
Neither the Vicar nor Mrs. Carey had a sense of humour, and they never laughed at anything he said. As he grew used to Miss Wilkinson, and his shyness left him, he began to like her better;
he found the French accent picturesque ; and at a garden party which the doctor gave she was very much better dressed than anyone else. She wore a blue foulard with large white spots, and Philip was tickled at the sensation it caused.
读书笔记
是否公开
31
-
"我敢肯定,他们准会认为你有失身分,"他笑着对她说。
读书笔记
是否公开
31
-
‘I’m certain they think you’re no better than you should be,’ he told her, laughing.
读书笔记
是否公开
32
-
"让人们看作放荡的野女人,本是我平生夙愿,"她回答说。
读书笔记
是否公开
32
-
‘It’s the dream of my life to be taken for an abandoned hussy,’ she answered.
读书笔记
是否公开
33
-
有一天,菲利普趁威尔金森小姐呆在自己房里的当儿,问路易莎伯母她有多大了。
读书笔记
是否公开
33
-
One day when Miss Wilkinson was in her room he asked Aunt Louisa how old she was.
‘She’s no chicken, Louisa,’ he said. ‘She was nearly grown up when we were in Lincolnshire, and that was twenty years ago. She wore a pigtail hanging down her back.’
读书笔记
是否公开
37
-
"那时她也许还不满十岁吧,"菲利普说。
读书笔记
是否公开
37
-
‘She may not have been more than ten,’ said Philip.
读书笔记
是否公开
38
-
"不止十岁了,"路易莎伯母说。
读书笔记
是否公开
38
-
‘She was older than that,’ said Aunt Louisa.
读书笔记
是否公开
39
-
"我想那时候她快二十了吧,"牧师说。
读书笔记
是否公开
39
-
‘I think she was near twenty,’ said the Vicar.
读书笔记
是否公开
40
-
"哦,不,威廉,至多不过十六七岁。"
读书笔记
是否公开
40
-
‘Oh no, William. Sixteen or seventeen at the outside.’
He did it awkwardly. He felt embarrassed but gallant . Conversation went easily between them now, and as they strolled along they talked of all manner of things.
She told Philip about Berlin, and he told her of his year in Heidelberg. As he spoke, things which had appeared of no importance gained a new interest: