书城教材教辅新课标英语学习资源库-三万元遗产
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第11章 (2)

No, she hadnt. They must look the market over—which they did. To start with, they considered and discussed Brandish, rising young lawyer, and Fulton, rising young dentistdentist n.牙科医生。 Sally must invite them to dinner. But not right away, there was no hurry, Aleck said. Keep an eye on the pair, and wait, nothing would be lost by going slowly in so important a matter.

没有,她还没有选好。他们必须在市场上巡视一遍——他们就这么办了。他们首先把两个人提上了议事日程,他们是正在崛起的年轻律师布雷迪什和年轻牙医福尔顿。萨利一定要请他们来吃饭。然而不是马上就请;艾莱柯说,这事不急。留意这两个小伙子,等等看;如此重要的大事,要慢慢来才不会有闪失。

It turned out that this was wisdom, too. for inside of three weeks Aleck made a wonderful strike which swelled her imaginary hundred thousand to four hundred thousand of the same quality. She and Sally were in the clouds that evening. For the first time they introduced champagnechampagne n.香槟酒, 香槟色 at dinner. Not real champagne, but plenty real enough for the amount of imagination expended on it. It was Sally that did it, and Aleck weakly submitted. At bottom both were troubled and ashamed, for he was a highup Son of Temperance, and at funerals wore an apron which no dog could look upon and retain his reason and his opinion, and she was a W. C. T. U., with all that that implies of boileriron virtue and unendurableunendurable adj.无法忍受的, 不能忍耐的,不能持久的 holinessholiness n.神圣。 But there is was, the pride of riches was beginning its disintegrating work. They had lived to prove, once more, a sad truth which had been proven many times before in the world: that whereas principle is a great and noble protection against showy and degrading vanities and vices, poverty is worth six of it. More than four hundred thousand dollars to the good. They took up the matrimonial matter again. Neither the dentist nor the lawyer was mentioned, there was no occasion, they were out of the running. Disqualified. They discussed the son of the porkpacker and the son of the village banker. But finally, as in the previous case, they concludedconclude v.结束, 终止, 决定, 作出结论 vt.推断, 断定,缔结, 议定 to wait and think, and go cautiously and sure.

事实证明这一次也很有先见之明;因为在三个星期之内,艾莱柯大发利市,她想像中的那十万块钱又变成了足色足两的四十万块。那天晚上,他们就如腾云驾雾一般。吃晚饭的时候,他们破天荒地上了香按。也不是真有香按,而是运用了充分的想像力弄假成真了。这是萨利提议的,艾莱柯心一软就顺从了。两个人心底里都惴惴不安,羞愧难当,因为萨利是戒酒会的积极分子,参加葬礼时,总是系着一条围裙,连狗都不敢多瞧他一眼。他立场坚定,恪守自己的主张。艾莱柯是基督教妇女戒酒会的会员,该会会员的坚定意志和嫉恶如仇的神圣信念她应有尽有。然而时过境迁,炫耀财富的心理开始挖墙脚了。他们的生活再次证明了一条可悲的真理,这条真理已经在人世间反复证明过:尽管信念是抵御浮华堕落、伤风败德的强大而崇高的力量,但是它的力量远不及贫穷。何况拥有了四十万块钱的财富呢!他们重新审议女儿的婚事。这一次牙医和律师已经名落孙山;他们的机遇已经丧失,退出了候选人之列,不够格了。他们讨论了猪肉批发商的儿子和镇上银行老板的儿子。可是和以往一样,他们最终的结论仍然是:再等等,再考虑考虑,走一步,看一步,力求万无一失。

Luck came their way again. Aleck, ever watchful saw a great and risky chance, and took a daring flyer. A time of trembling, of doubt, of awful uneasiness followed, for nonsuccess meant absolute ruinruin v.(使)破产, (使)堕落, 毁灭 n.毁灭, 崩溃, 废墟, 遗迹 and nothing short of it. Then came the result, and Aleck, faint with joy, could hardly control her voice when she said:“The suspense is over, Sally—and we are worth a cold million!”

他们的运气又来了。密切关注形势的艾莱柯看准了一个绝好的冒险机会,大胆炒了一把股票。紧接着是一段战战兢兢、疑虑重重、忐忑不安的时光,假如不成功,那就倾家荡产了。终于有了结果,艾莱柯激动得晕头转向,说话的声音都走了调:“再不用提心吊胆了,萨利——咱们已经有整整一百万了!”

Sally wept for gratitude, and said:“Oh, Electra, jewel of women, darling of my heart, we are free at last, we roll in wealth, we need never scrimpscrimp vt.过度缩减, 克扣 vi.节省或精打细算 adj.不足的, 吝啬的 again. its a case for Veuve Cliquot!” And he got out a pint of sprucebeer and made sacrifice, he saying “Damn the expense”, and she rebukingrebuke n.指责, 谴责, 非难 vt.斥责, 指责, 非难,成为对……的指摘 him gently with reproachful but humid and happy eyes.

萨利感激涕零地说:“哦,艾莱柯,你是女人尖子,是我的心肝宝贝,咱们终于自由了,咱们财源滚滚,再也不用算计着过日子了。这一回该喝克利廓名酒了!”他拿出一品脱树叶子酒舍命陪君子,一边喝,一边说“真他妈的不便宜”,她的眼睛喜洋洋、水灵灵的,用恨铁不成钢的眼神温柔地指责他。

They shelved the porkpackers son and the bankers son, and sat down to consider the Governors son and the son of the Congressman.

他们把猪肉批发商的儿子和银行老板的儿子束之高阁,然后坐下来考虑州长和众议员的公子了。