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At home they prepared the food and the mother tidied the front room before the visitors arrived. Without a word she carried all her gifts to her daughter and put them in the front room alongside the books and some pencil drawings.
回到家以后，她们开始准备晚餐，母亲在客人来之前收拾了一下前厅。她什么都没说就 径自把她给女儿带来的所有礼物都挪到了前厅，把它们与书籍和几张铅笔画并排放在一起。
"They are nicer in here," the mother said, apologizing for doing it, and at the same time criticizing the drawing of the nude.
“它们放到这儿显得更好看，”母亲说，算是对自己这么做表示一点歉意，但同时又批评起一张裸体画来。
"I'd get rid of some of those things if I were you," she said in a serious tone.
“要是我，就把那样的东西扔了，”她用严肃的口吻说。
Claire kept silent, and sipped the whiskey she felt she needed badly.
克莱尔什么也没有说，她只抿了点此刻她急需的威士忌。
The mother had changed into a blue blouse, Claire into velvet pants, and they sat before the fire with a blue-shaded lamp casting a restful light on their faces.
母亲已换上了一件蓝色的衬衫，克莱尔则穿上了一条平绒裤子，她们坐在炉火前，静谧的灯光透过蓝色的灯罩洒在母女的脸上。
"You have a tea-leaf on your eye-lid," she said to Claire, putting up her hand to brush it away. It was mascara which got so smeared that Claire had to go upstairs to repair it.
“你的眼皮上有片茶叶，”母亲对克莱尔说，抬起手来想把那片茶叶擦掉，没想到原来是女儿把睫毛膏画坏了，克莱尔只好上楼去补妆。
At that precise moment the visitors came.
就在这时客人到了。
"They are here," the mother said when the hall bell shrieked.
“他们来了，”门铃响起来的时候，母亲说道。
"Open the door," Claire called down. She was quite relieved that they would have to muddle through their own set of introductions.
“你去开门吧，”克莱尔向楼下喊道。她松了口气，这样客人就要设法自己介绍自己了。
