双语小说连载:纯真年代 The Age of Innocence(2)

"After all," he heard one of the younger men begin behind him (everybody talked through the Mephistopheles- and-Martha scenes), "after all, just WHAT happened?"
“究竟——”他听到身后一个年轻人开口说（在靡菲斯特与玛莎的几场戏中，大家自始至终都在交谈），“究竟发生了什么事？”

"Well--she left him; nobody attempts to deny that."
“哦——她离开了他；谁也不想否认这一点。”

"He's an awful brute, isn't he?" continued the young enquirer, a candid Thorley, who was evidently preparing to enter the lists as the lady's champion.
“他是个可怕的畜牲，不是吗？”年轻人接着说，他是索利家族中一位直率的人，显然准备加入那位女士的护花使者之列。

"The very worst; I knew him at Nice," said Lawrence Lefferts with authority. "A half-paralysed white sneering fellow--rather handsome head, but eyes with a lot of lashes. Well, I'll tell you the sort: when he wasn't with women he was collecting china. Paying any price for both, I understand."
“一个糟糕透了的家伙；我在尼斯见过他，”劳伦斯·莱弗茨以权威的口气说。“老喝得半醉，苍白的面孔上露出讥笑——但脑袋倒很漂亮，不过眼睫毛太多。噢，我来告诉你他那德行：他不是跟女人在一起，就是去收集瓷器。据我所知，他对两者都不惜任何代价。”

There was a general laugh, and the young champion said: "Well, then----?"
这话引出一阵哄堂大笑，那位年轻的护花使者说：“唔，可是——”

"Well, then; she bolted with his secretary."
“唔，可是，她跟他的秘书逃跑了。”

"Oh, I see." The champion's face fell.
“噢，我明白了。”护花使者的脸沉了下来。

"It didn't last long, though: I heard of her a few months later living alone in Venice. I believe Lovell Mingott went out to get her. He said she was desperately unhappy. That's all right--but this parading her at the Opera's another thing."
“可是，这并没有持续多久：我听说她几个月后就独自住在威尼斯，我相信洛弗尔·明戈特那次出国是去找她的。他曾说她非常地不快活。现在没事了——不过在歌剧院里这样炫耀她却另当别论。”