双语小说连载:纯真年代 The Age of Innocence(8)

"May is a darling; I've seen no young girl in New York so handsome and so intelligent. Are you very much in love with her?"
“梅非常可爱，我发现纽约没有哪个年轻姑娘像她那样漂亮、聪明。你很爱她吧？”

Newland Archer reddened and laughed. "As much as a man can be."
纽兰·阿切尔红了脸，笑道：“男人对女人的爱能有多深，我对她的爱就有多深。”

She continued to consider him thoughtfully, as if not to miss any shade of meaning in what he said, "Do you think, then, there is a limit?"
她继续着有所思地打量着他，仿佛不想漏掉他话中的任何一点含义似的。“这么说，你认为还有个极限？”

"To being in love? If there is, I haven't found it!"
“你是说爱的极限？假如有的话，我现在还没有发现呢！”

She glowed with sympathy. "Ah--it's really and truly a romance?"
她深受感动地说：“啊——那一定是真实的。忠诚的爱情了？”

"The most romantic of romances!"
“是最最热烈的爱情！”

"How delightful! And you found it all out for yourselves--it was not in the least arranged for you?"
“太好了！这爱完全是由你们自己找到的——丝毫不是别人为你们安排的吧？”

Archer looked at her incredulously. "Have you forgotten," he asked with a smile, "that in our country we don't allow our marriages to be arranged for us?"
阿切尔奇怪地看着她，面带笑容地问：“难道你忘了——在我们国家，婚姻是不允许由别人安排的？”

A dusky blush rose to her cheek, and he instantly regretted his words.
一片潮红升上她的面颊，他立即懊悔自己说过的话。

"Yes," she answered, "I'd forgotten. You must forgive me if I sometimes make these mistakes. I don't always remember that everything here is good that was--that was bad where I've come from." She looked down at her Viennese fan of eagle feathers, and he saw that her lips trembled.
“是的，”她回答说，“我忘了。如果有时候我犯了这样的错误，你一定得原谅我。在这儿人们看作是好的事情，在我来的那地方却被当成坏事，可我有时候会忘记这一点。”她低头看着那把羽毛扇，他发现她的双唇在颤抖。

"I'm so sorry," he said impulsively; "but you ARE among friends here, you know."
“非常抱歉，”他冲动地说。“可你知道，你现在是在朋友中间了。”

"Yes--I know. Wherever I go I have that feeling. That's why I came home. I want to forget everything else, to become a complete American again, like the Mingotts and Wellands, and you and your delightful mother, and all the other good people here tonight. Ah, here's May arriving, and you will want to hurry away to her," she added, but without moving; and her eyes turned back from the door to rest on the young man's face.
“是的——我知道。我走到哪里都有这种感觉。这正是我回家来的原因。我想把其他的事全部忘掉，重新变成一个彻底的美国人，就像明戈特家和韦兰家的人一样，像你和你令人愉快的母亲，以及今晚在这里的所有其他的好人一样。叮，梅来了，你一定是想立即赶到她身边去了，”她又说，但没有动弹，她的目光从门口转回来，落到年轻人的脸上。