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'Mrs Pipchin,' said Mr Dombey, 'How do you do?'
“皮普钦太太，”董贝先生说道，“您好吗？”
'Thank you, Sir,' said Mrs Pipchin, 'I am pretty well, considering.'
“谢谢您，先生，”皮普钦太太说道，“从多方面考虑来说，我还不错。”
Mrs Pipchin always used that form of words. It meant, considering her virtues, sacrifices, and so forth.
皮普钦太太经常使用这样的措词。它的意思是，考虑到她的品德、牺牲等等。
'I can't expect, Sir, to be very well,' said Mrs Pipchin, taking a chair and fetching her breath; 'but such health as I have, I am grateful for.'
“我不能指望我的身体非常好，先生，”皮普钦太太坐到一张椅子里，缓一口气；“但我能像现在这样的健康，我是感谢天主的。”
Mr Dombey inclined his head with the satisfied air of a patron, who felt that this was the sort of thing for which he paid so much a quarter. After a moment's silence he went on to say:
董贝先生露出顾主满意的神情，低下了头，他觉得这正是他每个季度付出这么多的钱所要得到的。在片刻的沉默之后，他往下说道：
'Mrs Pipchin, I have taken the liberty of calling, to consult you in reference to my son. I have had it in my mind to do so for some time past; but have deferred it from time to time, in order that his health might be thoroughly re-established. You have no misgivings on that subject, Mrs Pipchin?'
“皮普钦太太，我冒昧地前来拜访，是想跟您商量一下我儿子的事。过去好些时候我就有意这样做了，但却一次又一次地推迟，为的是让他的健康完全恢复过来。您在这个问题上没有什么顾虑吧，皮普钦太太？”
'Brighton has proved very beneficial, Sir,' returned Mrs Pipchin. 'Very beneficial, indeed.'
“布赖顿看来是个有益于健康的地方，先生，”皮普钦太太回答道。“确实很有益。”
'I purpose,' said Mr Dombey, 'his remaining at Brighton.'
“我打算，”董贝先生说道，“让他继续留在布赖顿。”
Mrs Pipchin rubbed her hands, and bent her grey eyes on the fire.
皮普钦太太搓搓手，灰色的眼睛注视着炉火。
'But,' pursued Mr Dombey, stretching out his forefinger, 'but possibly that he should now make a change, and lead a different kind of life here. In short, Mrs Pipchin, that is the object of my visit. My son is getting on, Mrs Pipchin. Really, he is getting on.'
“但是，”董贝先生伸出食指，继续说道，“但是可能他现在应当有一点变化，在这里过一种完全不同的生活。总而言之，皮普钦太太，这就是我这次拜访的目的。我的儿子在成长，皮普钦太太。他确实在成长。”
There was something melancholy in the triumphant air with which Mr Dombey said this. It showed how long Paul's childish life had been to him, and how his hopes were set upon a later stage of his existence. Pity may appear a strange word to connect with anyone so haughty and so cold, and yet he seemed a worthy subject for it at that moment.
董贝先生说这些话时的得意神情中有一些令人伤感的东西。它表明，保罗的童年生活对他是显得多么长久，同时他的希望是怎样寄托在他生命的较后阶段的。对于任何一位像这样傲慢这样冷酷的人来说，怜悯可能是一个无法与他联系起来的字眼，然而在目前这个时刻，他似乎正好是怜悯的很好的对象。
'Six years old!' said Mr Dombey, settling his neckcloth - perhaps to hide an irrepressible smile that rather seemed to strike upon the surface of his face and glance away, as finding no resting-place, than to play there for an instant. 'Dear me, six will be changed to sixteen, before we have time to look about us.'
“六岁了！”董贝先生说道，一边整整领饰——也许是为了掩藏一个控制不住的微笑，那微笑似乎片刻也不想在他的脸上展现开来，而只是想在脸的表面一掠而过就消失不见，但却没有找到一个停落的地方。“哎呀！当我们还来不及向四周看看的时候，六岁就将转变成十六岁了。”
