第43章 傲慢与偏见 (1)

　　Pride and Prejudice

　　傲慢与偏见

　　小乡绅班纳特有五个待字闺中的千金，班纳特太

　　太整天操心着为女儿物色称心如意的丈夫。 新来的邻

　　居彬格莱在一次舞会上，对班纳特家的大女儿简一见

　　钟情，班纳特太太为此欣喜若狂。彬格莱的好友达西

　　对伊丽莎白产生了好感，在另一次舞会上主动请她同

　　舞，却遭到伊丽莎白的拒绝，达西狼狈不堪。经过了

　　一系列的变化后，伊丽莎白对达西的偏见转化成了真

　　诚之爱。 一对曾因傲慢和偏见而延搁婚事的有情人终

　　成了眷属。

　　[ 英] 简·奥斯汀（Jane Austen）

　　This was enough to prove that her approbation need not be

　　doubted: and Elizabeth，rejoicing that such an effusion was heard

　　only by herself，soon went away. But before she had been three

　　minutes in her own room，her mother followed her.

　　“My dearest child，”she cried，“I can think of nothing else!

　　Ten thousand a year，and very likely more! Tis as good as a Lord!

　　And a special licence. You must and shall be married by a special

　　licence. But my dearest love，tell me what dish Mr. Darcy is

　　particularly fond of，that I may have it tomorrow.”

　　This was a sad omen of what her mother’s behaviour to the

　　gentleman himself might be ；and Elizabeth found that，though

　　in the certain possession of his warmest affection，and secure

　　of her relations’consent，there was still something to be wished

　　for. But the morrow passed off much better than she expected ；

　　for Mrs. Bennet luckily stood in such awe of her intended sonin-

　　law that she ventured not to speak to him，unless it was in her

　　power to offer him any attention，or mark her deference for his

　　opinion.

　　Elizabeth had the satisfaction of seeing her father taking

　　pains to get acquainted with him ；and Mr. Bennet soon assured

　　her that he was rising every hour in his esteem.

　　“I a dmi r e a l l my t h r e e s o n s - i n - l a w h i g h l y，”s a i d

　　he.“Wickham，perhaps，is my favourite ；but I think I shall like

　　your husband quite as well as Jane’s.”

　　Elizabeth’s spirits soon rising to playfulness again，she

　　wanted Mr. Darcy to account for his having ever fallen in love with

　　her.“How could you begin?”said she.“I can comprehend your

　　going on charmingly，when you had once made a beginning ；but

　　what could set you off in the first place?”

　　“I cannot fix on the hour，or the spot，or the look，or the

　　words，which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the

　　middle before I knew that I had begun .”

　　“My beauty you had early withstood，and as for my

　　manners — my behaviour to you was at least always bordering

　　on the uncivil，and I never spoke to you without rather wishing to

　　give you pain than not. Now be sincere ；did you admire me for

　　my impertinence?”

　　“For the liveliness of your mind，I did.”

　　“You may as well call it impertinence at once. It was very little

　　less. The fact is，that you were sick of civility，of deference，of

　　officious attention. You were disgusted with the women who were

　　always speaking and looking，and thinking for your approbation

　　alone. I roused，and interested you，because I was so unlike them.

　　Had you not been really amiable，you would have hated me for

　　it ；but in spite of the pains you took to disguise yourself，your

　　feelings were always noble and just ；and in your heart，you

　　thoroughly despised the persons who so assiduously courted you.

　　There — I have saved you the trouble of accounting for it ；and really，

　　all things considered，I begin to think it perfectly reasonable. To

　　be sure，you knew no actual good of me — but nobody thinks of

　　that when they fall in love.”

　　“Was there no good in your affectionate behaviour to Jane，

　　while she was ill at Netherfield?”

　　“Dearest Jane! Who could have done less for her? But

　　make a virtue of it by all means. My good qualities are under your

　　protection，and you are to exaggerate them as much as possible ；

　　and，in return，it belongs to me to find occasions for teasing and

　　quarrelling with you as often as may be ；and I shall begin directly

　　by asking you what made you so unwilling to come to the point

　　at last.What made you so shy of me，when you first called，and

　　afterwards dined here? Why，especially，when you called，did

　　you look as if you did not care about me?”

　　“Because you were grave and silent，and gave me no

　　encouragement.”

　　“But I was embarrassed.”

　　“And so was I.”

　　“You might have talked to me more when you came to

　　dinner.”

　　“A man who had felt less，might.”

　　“How unlucky that you should have a reasonable answer

　　to give，and that I should be so reasonable as to admit it! But I

　　wonder how long you would have gone on，if you had been left

　　to yourself. I wonder when you would have spoken，if I had not

　　asked you! My resolution of thanking you for your kindness to

　　Lydia had certainly great effect. Too much，I am afraid ；for what

　　becomes of the moral，if our comfort springs from a breach of

　　promise? for I ought not to have mentioned the subject. This will

　　never do.”