双语小说连载:《董贝父子》第四章 Part 3

      'Oh! it's true,' said Solomon, 'I forgot her. Two persons.'

      'To be sure, they didn't buy anything,' cried the boy.

      'No. They didn't buy anything,' said Solomon, quietly.

      'Nor want anything,' cried the boy.

      “噢！不错，”所罗门说道，“我把她给忘了。总共两个人。”

      “当然，他们什么也没有买，”孩子喊道。

      “是的，他们什么也没有买，”所罗门平静地说道。

      “他们也不想买什么东西，”孩子喊道。

      'No. If they had, they'd gone to another shop,' said Solomon, in the same tone.

      'But there were two of 'em, Uncle,' cried the boy, as if that were a great triumph. 'You said only one.'

      “是的。如果他们想买的话，那么他们会到别的店铺里去买的，”所罗门用同样的声调说道。
      “不过他们是两个人呀，舅舅，”孩子喊道，仿佛那是个很大的胜利似的。“你刚才却说只有一个人。”

      'Well, Wally,' resumed the old man, after a short pause: 'not being like the Savages who came on Robinson Crusoe's Island, we can't live on a man who asks for change for a sovereign, and a woman who inquires the way to Mile-End Turnpike. As I said just now, the world has gone past me. I don't blame it; but I no longer understand it. Tradesmen are not the same as they used to be, apprentices are not the same, business is not the same, business commodities are not the same. Seven-eighths of my stock is old-fashioned. I am an old-fashioned man in an old-fashioned shop, in a street that is not the same as I remember it. I have fallen behind the time, and am too old to catch it again. Even the noise it makes a long way ahead, confuses me.'

      “唔，沃利，”老人在短时间的沉默之后继续说道，“我们不像到鲁滨孙·克鲁索①荒岛上去的野人那样，不能靠一位请求把一镑换成零钱的男子和一位问到迈尔·恩德收税栅的路怎么走法的女人来生活。我刚才说过，这世界已经从我身边走过去了。我不责怪它；但我不再了解它了。商人和过去的不一样了；徒弟和过去的不一样了；商业和过去的不一样了，商品和过去的不一样了。我的存货八分之七都是老式的。我们这条街和我记得的过去的那一条街已经不一样了；我是这条街上一个老式的店铺中的一位老式的人。我已经落在时间的后面了，我太老了，不能再赶上它了。甚至它在前面很远的地方所发出的声音也把我搞糊涂了。”

注释：apprentice n. 学徒；生手  vt. 使…当学徒  vi. 当学徒
例句：
1. The shop is taking on two new apprentices.
这个商店新收了两个学徒。
2. The new apprentices are doing quite well.
新艺徒们进步很快。

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①鲁滨孙·克鲁索（RobinsonCrusoe）：是英国作家丹尼尔·笛福（DanielDefoe，1660—1731年）所著小说《鲁滨孙漂流记》中的主人翁，他在一个杳无人烟的荒岛上度过了二十八年。