Mr. Bennet saw that her whole heart was in the subject; and affectionately taking her hand, said in reply,
班纳特先生看到她钻进了牛角尖,便慈祥地握住她扔手说:
"Do not make yourself uneasy, my love. Wherever you and Jane are known, you must be respected and valued; and you will not appear to less advantage for having a couple of -- or I may say, three -- very silly sisters. We shall have no peace at Longbourn if Lydia does not go to Brighton. Let her go then. Colonel Forster is a sensible man, and will keep her out of any real mischief; and she is luckily too poor to be an object of prey to any body. At Brighton she will be of less importance, even as a common flirt, than she has been here. The officers will find women better worth their notice. Let us hope, therefore, that her being there may teach her her own insignificance. At any rate, she cannot grow many degrees worse without authorizing us to lock her up for the rest of her life."
“好孩子,放心好了。你和吉英两个人,随便走到什么有熟人的地方,人家都会尊敬你们,器重你们;你们决不会因为有了两个──甚至三个傻妹妹,就失掉了体面。这次要是不让丽迪雅到白利屯去,我们在浪搏恩就休想安静。还是让她去吧。弗斯脱上校是个有见识的人,不会让她闯出什么祸事来的;幸亏她又太穷,谁也不会看中她。白利屯跟这儿的情形两样,她即使去做一个普通的浪荡女子,也不够资格。军官们会找到更中意的对象。因此,我们但愿她到了那儿以后,可以得到些教训,知道她自己没有什么了不起。无论如何,她再坏也坏不到哪里去,我们总不能把她一辈子关在家里。”
With this answer Elizabeth was forced to be content; but her own opinion continued the same, and she left him disappointed and sorry. It was not in her nature, however, to increase her vexations by dwelling on them. She was confident of having performed her duty, and to fret over unavoidable evils, or augment them by anxiety, was no part of her disposition.
伊丽莎白听到父亲这样回答,虽然并没有因此改变主张,却也只得表示满意,闷闷不乐地走开了。以她那样性格的人,也不会尽想着这些事自寻烦恼。她相信她已经尽了自己的责任,至于要她为那些无法避免的害处去忧闷,或者是过分焦虑,那她可办不到。
Had Lydia and her mother known the substance of her conference with her father, their indignation would hardly have found expression in their united volubility. In Lydia's imagination, a visit to Brighton comprised every possibility of earthly happiness. She saw, with the creative eye of fancy, the streets of that gay bathing place covered with officers. She saw herself the object of attention to tens and to scores of them at present unknown.
倘若丽迪雅和她母亲知道她这次跟父亲谈话的内容,她们一定要气死了,即使她们两张利嘴同时夹攻,滔滔不绝地大骂一阵,也还消不了她们的气。在丽迪雅的想象中,只要到白利屯去一次,人间天上的幸福都会获得。她幻想着在那华丽的浴场附近,一条条街道上都挤满了军官。她幻想着几十个甚至几百个素昧生平的军官,都对她献殷勤。