——Happy Days
第二章 幸福的日子
A delightful life commenced for Jeanne, a life in the open air. She wandered along the roads, or into the little winding valleys, their sides covered with a fleece of gorse blossoms, the strong sweet odor of which intoxicated her like the bouquet of wine, while the distant sound of the waves rolling on the beach seemed like a billow rocking her spirit.
让娜开始了愉快的生活,一种户外生活。她时而沿着大路漫步,时而在曲折的山谷中徘徊。谷边长满了金雀花,就像是披着金线的围巾,浓烈而香甜的气味使让娜如同饮了醇酒般地沉醉;远处传来的波涛拍岸的声音,使她感觉心灵好像在波涛中翻滚。
A love of solitude came upon her in the sweet freshness of this landscape and in the calm of the rounded horizon, and she would remain sitting so long on the hill tops that the wild rabbits would bound by her feet.
在这种甜美清新的景致中,这种水天相接的宁静里,她渐渐喜欢起孤独来。她会久久地坐在山冈上,听凭那些野兔在她脚边跳来跳去。
She planted memories everywhere, as seeds are cast upon the earth, memories whose roots hold till death. It seemed to Jeanne that she was casting a little of her heart into every fold of these valleys. She became infatuated with sea bathing. When she was well out from shore, she would float on her back, her arms crossed, her eyes lost in the profound blue of the sky which was cleft by the flight of a swallow, or the white silhouette of a seabird.
她像在土地上播种一样,到处播种记忆。这些记忆就像生了根,永远不会被忘记,直到她死去。在让娜看来,这些山谷的每一个角落,都种下了她的一分心意。她慢慢迷上了海水浴。当她游到离海岸很远的时候,她就仰卧在水面上,双臂交叉放在胸前,双眼凝望着深邃而蔚蓝的天空。空中不时会有一只燕子掠过,或是有海鸟白色的侧影闪过。
After these excursions she invariably came back to the castle pale with hunger, but light, alert, a smile on her lips and her eyes sparkling with happiness.
每次远足之后回到庄园时,她总是饿得面色苍白,但仍然感到轻松、精神。她的唇角带着微笑,眼睛里闪烁着快乐。
The baron on his part was planning great agricultural enterprises. Occasionally, also, he went out to sea with the sailors of Yport. On several occasions he went fishing for mackerel and, again, by moonlight, he would haul in the nets laid the night before. He loved to hear the masts creak, to breathe in the fresh and whistling gusts of wind that arose during the night; and after having tacked a long time to find the buoys, guiding himself by a peak of rocks, the roof of a belfry or the Fecamp lighthouse, he delighted to remain motionless beneath the first gleams of the rising sun which made the slimy backs of the large fan—shaped rays and the fat bellies of the turbots glisten on the deck of the boat.
至于男爵,正在设想农业上的重大举措。偶尔,他也会和伊波尔的船夫们一起出海。好几次,他出海去捕鲭鱼,晚上又要借着月光,去收回前一个晚上撒下的鱼网。他爱听桅杆发出的响声,喜欢呼吸夜间那一阵阵呼啸而过的清新海风。他凭借岩石的背脊、教堂钟楼的屋顶或费康灯塔的塔顶来测定方向。长时间地在海上探寻浮标之后,他喜欢在日出的第一缕阳光中静静坐下来。晨光使得扇形魟滑溜溜的后背和大腹便便的比目鱼在甲板上闪闪发亮。
At each meal he gave an enthusiastic account of his expeditions, and the baroness in her turn told how many times she had walked down the main avenue of poplars.
每次用餐时,他都会兴致勃勃地讲起他的那些探险经历,而轮到男爵夫人时,她则会报告她在白杨道上散了多少次步。
As she had been advised to take exercise she made a business of walking, beginning as soon as the air grew warm. Leaning upon Rosalie's arm and dragging her left foot, which was rather heavier than the right, she wandered interminably up and down from the house to the edge of the wood, sitting down for five minutes at either end. The walking was resumed in the afternoon. A physician, consulted ten years before, had spoken of hypertrophy because she had suffered from suffocation. Ever since, this word had been used to describe the ailment of the baroness. The baron would say "my wife's hypertrophy" and Jeanne "mamma's hypertrophy" as they would have spoken of her hat, her dress, or her umbrella. She had been very pretty in her youth and slim as a reed. Now she had grown older, stouter, but she still remained poetical, having always retained the impression of "Corinne, " which she had read as a girl. She read all the sentimental love stories it was possible to collect, and her thoughts wandered among tender adventures in which she always figured as the heroine. Her new home was infinitely pleasing to her because it formed such a beautiful framework for the romance of her soul, the surrounding woods, the waste land, and the proximity of the ocean recalling to her mind the novels of Sir Walter Scott, which she had been devouring for some months. On rainy days she remained shut up in her room, sending Rosalie in a special manner for the drawer containing her "souvenirs, " which meant to the baroness all her old private and family letters.
因为大家都建议她多做锻炼,所以她经常多走走路。天气稍一暖和,她便开始散步了。她扶着罗莎莉的胳膊,挪动着她那比右脚沉重的左脚,在房舍和林边之间不停地来回走动,每走到一头,便坐下来休息五分钟。下午,她继续散步。十年前,她因为常感到窒息找医生诊断时,医生就提到了心脏肥大症。从那以后,这个词便被用来描述男爵夫人的疾病。男爵会说 “我太太的心脏肥大症” ,让娜会说 “妈妈的心脏肥大症” ,就像在说她的帽子、裙子或是雨伞一样。男爵夫人年轻时很漂亮,而且苗条得像一根芦苇。现在她变老了,长胖了,但是她依然很浪漫,对少女时代读过的《科琳娜》一直留有印象。她读了可能收集到的所有感伤的爱情故事。她的思绪在种种浪漫的故事情节中飘荡,而她总是设想自已就是女主人公。她的新家使她感到无比喜悦,因为这为她浪漫的心灵搭建了一个美丽的框架。这里有环绕的树林、荒芜的土地和近在咫尺的大海,使她想起了沃尔特? 司各特先生的小说,那些她贪婪地读了好几个月的作品。雨天的时候,她便把自已关在房间里,用一种特殊的方式让罗莎莉送来她那装有 “纪念品” 的抽屉。那些东西是男爵夫人个人和家庭的全部陈旧信件。
Occasionally, Jeanne replaced Rosalie in the walks with her mother, and she listened eagerly to the tales of the latter's childhood. The young girl saw herself in all these romantic stories, and was astonished at the similarity of ideas and desires; each heart imagines itself to have been the first to tremble at those very sensations that awakened the hearts of the first beings, and that will awaken the hearts of the last.
让娜偶尔也会代替罗莎莉,扶着母亲去散步,她急切地想听母亲童年的故事。这个年轻的姑娘在这些浪漫的故事中看到了自已,因为和母亲怀有一样的想法和愿望而感到惊奇。每个人都认为自已是第一个经历过那种触动心弦的感情的人,然而那却是最初的人类已经历过的,也是最后一代人将会经历的。
One afternoon as the baroness and Jeanne were resting on the beach at the end of the walk, a stout priest who was moving in their direction greeted them with a bow, while still at a distance. He bowed when within three feet and, assuming a smiling air, cried: "Well, Madame la Baronne, how are you? " It was the village priest. The baroness seldom went to church, though she liked priests, from a sort of religious instinct peculiar to women. She had, in fact, entirely forgotten the Abbe Picot, her priest, and blushed as she saw him. She made apologies for not having prepared for his visit, but the good man was not at all embarrassed. He looked at Jeanne, complimented her on her appearance and sat down, placing his three—cornered hat on his knees. He was very stout, very red, and perspired profusely. He drew from his pocket every moment an enormous checked handkerchief and passed it over his face and neck, but hardly was the task completed when necessity forced him to repeat the process. He was a typical country priest, talkative and kindly.
一天下午,当男爵夫人和让娜坐在白杨道尽头的长凳上休息时,一个肥胖的神父径直走来,远远地鞠躬向她们问好。当距离她们三英尺之遥时,他便行了礼,笑容满面地问道: “男爵夫人,您还好吧?” 他就是村里的神父。男爵夫人很少去教堂。不过由于女性特有的宗教本能,她还是喜欢神父的。事实上,她完全把她的神父皮科忘得一干二净了。所以看到他时,她难免有些羞愧。因为没有事先为他的来访做好准备,男爵夫人表示抱歉,而这个温和的男人并不介意。他打量了一下让娜,称赞她长得漂亮,然后坐下来,把他的三角帽放在膝盖上。他很胖,满脸红光,浑身直冒汗。他时不时地从口袋里掏出一条大幅格子手绢,不停地擦拭他的脸和脖子。但是刚擦完,新的汗珠又流了出来,于是他不得不重复进行这个动作。他是一位地道的乡村神父,健谈而又和蔼。
Presently the baron appeared. He was very friendly to the abbe and invited him to dinner. The priest was well versed in the art of being pleasant, thanks to the unconscious astuteness which the guiding of souls gives to the most mediocre of men who are called by the chance of events to exercise a power over their fellows. Toward dessert he became quite merry, with the gaiety that follows a pleasant meal, and as if struck by an idea he said: "I have a new parishioner whom I must present to you, Monsieur le Vicomte de Lamare. " The baroness, who was at home in heraldry, inquired if he was of the family of Lamares of Eure. The priest answered, "Yes, madame, he is the son of Vicomte Jean de Lamare, who died last year. " After this, the baroness, who loved the nobility above all other things, inquired the history of the young vicomte. He had paid his father's debts, sold the family castle, made his home on one of the three farms which he owned in the town of Etouvent. These estates brought him in an income of five or six thousand livres. The vicomte was economical and lived in this modest manner for two or three years, so that he might save enough to cut a figure in society, and to marry advantageously, without contracting debts or mortgaging his farms. The priest added, "He is a very charming young man, so steady and quiet, though there is very little to amuse him in the country. " The baron said, "Bring him in to see us, Monsieur l 'Abbe, it will be a distraction for him occasionally.” After the coffee the baron and the priest took a turn about the grounds and then returned to say good—night to the ladies.
过了一会儿,男爵来了。他对神父很友好,并邀请他共进晚餐。神父精通于如何讨人欢心,这靠的是他无意识的机敏。哪怕是极其平庸的人,由于偶然机会有了管理别人的权力,能够操纵他们的灵魂,也会养成这种机敏的性格。晚餐快结束的时候,他心情大好,就是一顿愉快的晚餐所带来的那种快乐。像是突然想到了一个主意,他说: “我的教区里新来了一位教民,我正要介绍给你们。他就是德拉马尔子爵先生。男爵夫人对贵族世家一向是了如指掌,便问他是不是厄尔河省的德拉马尔家族的人。神父回答说: “是的,夫人!他就是去年过世的让? 德拉马尔子爵的儿子。” 于是,这位对贵族的兴趣胜过一切的男爵夫人,开始询问起这位年轻子爵的来历。他还了他父亲的债务,卖掉了老家的庄园,他在埃都旺乡拥有三个农庄,如今在其中一个农庄安顿下来。这些产业每年能给他带来五六千里弗赫的收入。子爵以这种生活节俭、做人谦虚的方式生活了两三年,这样他才可能积攒足够的钱到社会上去崭露头角,结一桩好亲,既不用借债,也不用抵押庄园。神父又补充道: “他是一个很有魅力的年轻人,沉稳而冷静,只是他觉得这里没有什么地方可以消遣。” 男爵说: “神父先生,把他带到我们这儿来,偶尔可以让他散散心。” 喝完咖啡后,神父在男爵的陪同下到庄园里转了一圈,然后回来与女士们道别。