"(It is after dinner on a January night, in the library in Lady Britomart Undershaft's house in Wilton Crescent. A large and comfortable settee is in the middle of the room, upholstered in dark leather. A person sitting on it (it is vacant at present) would have, on his right, Lady Britomart's writing table, with the lady herself busy at it; a smaller writing table behind him on his left; the door behind him on Lady Britomart's side; and a window with a window seat directly on his left. Near the window is an armchair.
（这是一月某天的晚餐后，事情发生在薄丽托玛·安德谢夫太太的威尔顿新月区住宅的书房里。在书房中间有一张宽大而又舒适的长沙发，表面还包着暗色的皮革。要是有人坐上去——现在是空着的——就会看见薄丽托玛太太坐在右边的书桌前，正专心写着什么；在左后方有一张小一点的书桌；他的背后，即太太的侧面则是房门；而在正左方有一扇窗，窗下是可以坐的窗台。窗户旁边是一把扶手椅。
"Lady Britomart is a woman of fifty or thereabouts, well dressed and yet careless of her dress, well bred and quite reckless of her breeding, well mannered and yet appallingly outspoken and indifferent to the opinion of her interlocutory, amiable and yet peremptory, arbitrary, and high-tempered to the last bearable degree, and withal a very typical managing matron of the upper class, treated as a naughty child until she grew into a scolding mother, and finally settling down with plenty of practical ability and worldly experience, limited in the oddest way with domestic and class limitations, conceiving the universe exactly as if it were a large house in Wilton Crescent, though handling her corner of it very effectively on that assumption, and being quite enlightened and liberal as to the books in the library, the pictures on the walls, the music in the portfolios, and the articles in the papers.
薄丽托玛太太是一位五十岁左右的女士，她衣着得体，但好像又不注意个人服饰；她有良好的教养，但好像对培养孩子又漫不经心；她举止得体，但又直言不讳，对谈话者的意见也不理不睬。她为人亲切，却又独断专行、随心所欲，脾气倔得让人无法忍受。她是上流社会那种喜欢指手画脚的贵妇人，孩提时就任意妄为，终于变成一位苛刻严厉的母亲。如今她阅历丰富、老于世故。说来也奇怪，由于局限于自己的家庭和本阶层之内，她认为宇宙好像就只是威尔顿新月区的一栋大房子，正是基于这种想法，她有效地管理着她的这个角落；而书房里的书籍、墙上的画、收藏的乐谱以及报纸上的那些文章，这些无一不表明她很有见识，而且宽宏大度。
"Her son, Stephen, comes in. He is a gravely correct young man under 25, taking himself very seriously, but still in some awe of his mother, from childish habit and bachelor shyness rather than from any weakness of character.);
她的儿子斯蒂芬走了进来。他是个行为端正、严肃正统的年轻人，还不满二十五岁，却自命不凡，但对母亲还依然有些敬畏。这并不是他性格软弱，而是自童年时代就养成的习惯，以及单身男子的腼腆。）
"STEPHEN: What's the matter?
斯蒂芬：有事吗？
"LADY BRITOMART: Presently, Stephen.
薄丽托玛太太：斯蒂芬，稍等。
"(Stephen submissively walks to the settee and sits down. He takes up The Speaker.);
（斯蒂芬顺从地走到长沙发边坐下。他拿起《演讲者》来。）
"LADY BRITOMART: Don't begin to read, Stephen. I shall require all your attention.
薄丽托玛太太：不要看，斯蒂芬。我要求你全神贯注。
"STEPHEN: It was only while I was waiting—;
斯蒂芬：只有等候的时候，我才——
"LADY BRITOMART: Don't make excuses, Stephen. (He puts down The Speaker.); Now! (She finishes her writing; rises; and comes to the settee.); I have not kept you waiting very long, I think.
薄丽托玛太太：别找借口了，斯蒂芬。（他放下了《演讲者》。）行了！（她终于写完，站起来，朝长沙发走去。）我想，我没让你等很久吧？
"STEPHEN: Not at all, mother.
斯蒂芬：当然没有，母亲。
"LADY BRITOMART: Bring me my cushion. (He takes the cushion from the chair at the desk and arranges it for her as she sits down on the settee.); Sit down. (He sits down and fingers his tie nervously.); Don't fiddle with your tie, Stephen: there is nothing the matter with it.
薄丽托玛太太：帮我把靠垫拿来。（他从书桌旁的椅子上取来靠垫，在她要坐到沙发上时为她铺好垫子。）坐吧。（他坐了下来，紧张地拨弄着自己的领带。）别乱动你的领带了，斯蒂芬，领带没有问题。
"STEPHEN: I beg your pardon. (He fiddles with his watch chain instead.);
斯蒂芬：对不起。（他又玩起他的表链。）
"LADY BRITOMART: Now are you attending to me, Stephen?
薄丽托玛太太：斯蒂芬，你现在在听我讲话吗？
"STEPHEN: Of course, mother.
斯蒂芬：当然，母亲。
"LADY BRITOMART: No: it's not of course. I want something much more than your everyday matter-of-course attention. I am going to speak to you very seriously, Stephen. I wish you would let that chain alone.
薄丽托玛太太：不行，不能想当然。我要你比平时更专注，不要像往常那样的理所当然。我得认真地跟你谈一谈，斯蒂芬。我希望你别碰那条表链了。
"STEPHEN: (hastily relinquishing the chain) Have I done anything to annoy you, mother? If so, it was quite unintentional.
斯蒂芬：（赶紧松开表链）母亲，我惹您生气了吗？要是有，那的确不是存心的。
"LADY BRITOMART: (astonished) Nonsense! (With some remorse) My poor boy, did you think I was angry with you?
薄丽托玛太太：（吓了一跳）胡说！（有点后悔）我可怜的儿子，你以为我生你的气了？
"STEPHEN: What is it, then, mother? You are making me very uneasy.
斯蒂芬：那到底怎么了，母亲？您让我深感不安。
"LADY BRITOMART: (squaring herself at him rather aggressively) Stephen: may I ask how soon you intend to realize that you are a grown-up man, and that I am only a woman?
薄丽托玛太太：（朝他摆出一副咄咄逼人的架势）斯蒂芬，我想问你，到底要多久你才知道自己已经长大成人，而我只是一个妇人？
"STEPHEN: (amazed) Only a—;
斯蒂芬：（惊讶地）只是一个——
"LADY BRITOMART: Don't repeat my words, please: It is a most aggravating habit. You must learn to face life seriously, Stephen. I really cannot bear the whole burden of our family affairs any longer. You must advise me: you must assume the responsibility.
薄丽托玛太太：请不要重复我说过的话，这是个很讨人厌的习惯。你要学会认真地面对生活，斯蒂芬。我真的不能再忍受独自承担家庭重担了。你得给我出谋划策，必须承担起责任来。
"STEPHEN: I!
斯蒂芬：我！
"LADY BRITOMART: Yes, you, of course. You were 24 last June. You've been at Harrow and Cambridge. You've been to India and Japan. You must know a lot of things now; unless you have wasted your time most scandalously. Well, advise me.
薄丽托玛太太：对，你，当然了。去年六月你就二十四岁了。你在哈罗公学和剑桥大学学习过。你去过印度、日本。如今你应该很懂事了，除非这么多年以来你一直都在可耻地虚度光阴。好了，给我些建议吧。
"STEPHEN: (much perplexed) You know I have never interfered in the household—;
斯蒂芬：（茫然不知所措）您明白，我从不过问家务事——
"LADY BRITOMART: No: I should think not. I don't want you to order the dinner.
薄丽托玛太太：当然，我知道本不该让你过问，我又没让你安排每顿的饮食。
"STEPHEN: I mean in our family affairs.
斯蒂芬：我的意思是，我们家族里的事。
"LADY BRITOMART: Well, you must interfere now; for they are getting quite beyond me.
薄丽托玛太太：好吧，眼下你必须得管管了，因为我实在没有办法了。
"STEPHEN: (troubled) I have thought sometimes that perhaps I ought; but really, mother, I know so little about them; and what I do know is so painful—it is so impossible to mention some things to you—(He stops, ashamed.);
斯蒂芬：（左右为难）我有时也曾想，或许我应该过问一下；然而，母亲，我确实对家务事知之甚少；而我所知道的，实在是说不出口——而有些事跟您说，也不大可能——（他戛然而止，面露愧色）
"LADY BRITOMART: I suppose you mean your father.
薄丽托玛太太：我想，你说的是你父亲吧。
"STEPHEN: (almost inaudibly) Yes.
斯蒂芬：（很轻微地）嗯。
"LADY BRITOMART: My dear: we can't go on all our lives not mentioning him. Of course you were quite right not to open the subject until I asked you to; but you are old enough now to be taken into my confidence, and to help me to deal with him about the girls.
薄丽托玛太太：亲爱的，我们总不能一辈子都不提他吧。当然了，在我问你之前，你没谈及这个话题是完全正确的。但现在，你也长大了，我相信你能帮我想办法，就你妹妹的问题与他周旋。
"STEPHEN: But the girls are all right. They are engaged.
斯蒂芬：但是姑娘们都还不错。她们都已订婚。
"LADY BRITOMART: (complacently) Yes: I have made a very good match for Sarah. Charles Lomax will be a millionaire at 35. But that is ten years ahead; and in the meantime his trustees cannot under the terms of his father's will allow him more than 800 pounds a year.
薄丽托玛太太：（沾沾自喜地）是啊，我为萨拉安排了一门很不错的亲事。查尔斯·洛马克斯在三十五岁时就会成为百万富翁。但那是十年以后的事了，在此期间，按照他父亲的遗嘱，他的受托人每年最多就拿八百英镑给他。
"STEPHEN: But the will says also that if he increases his income by his own exertions, they may double the increase.
斯蒂芬：但遗嘱也说，要是他靠个人奋斗而使收入增加，他们要另外给他一笔钱，相当于增加额的一倍。
"LADY BRITOMART: Charles Lomax's exertions are much more likely to decrease his income than to increase it. Sarah will have to find at least another 800 pounds a year for the next ten years; and even then they will be as poor as church mice. And what about Barbara? I thought Barbara was going to make the most brilliant career of all of you. And what does she do? Joins the Salvation Army; discharges her maid; lives on a pound a week; and walks in one evening with a professor of Greek whom she has picked up in the street, and who pretends to be a Salvationist, and actually plays the big drum for her in public because he has fallen head over ears in love with her.
薄丽托玛太太：要是靠查尔斯·洛马克斯的奋斗，只有可能使其收入减少，而非增加。在接下来的十年，萨拉每年至少还需要八百英镑，即使如此，他们也会像教堂的老鼠一样过着贫困潦倒的生活。而巴巴拉呢？我还以为巴巴拉将会是你们三个当中最有成就的。但她做了什么呢？加入救世军，解雇女仆，一周就用一英镑，还有一天晚上往家里带回一个希腊语教授，说什么在街上结识的，那人佯称自己是一名救世军，却在公众面前为她击大鼓，那不过就是因为他无可救药地爱上了巴巴拉。
"STEPHEN: I was certainly rather taken aback when I heard they were engaged. Cusins is a very nice fellow, certainly: nobody would ever guess that he was born in Australia; but—;
斯蒂芬：当我听到他们订婚时，真的吓了一跳。库森斯是个多好的人啊，真的；没有人会料到他出生于澳大利亚，但是——
"LADY BRITOMART: Oh, Adolphus Cusins will make a very good husband. After all, nobody can say a word against Greek: it stamps a man at once as an educated gentleman. And my family, thank Heaven, is not a pig-headed Tory one. We are Whigs, and believe in liberty. Let snobbish people say what they please: Barbara shall marry, not the man they like, but the man I like.
薄丽托玛太太：嗯，阿道弗斯·库森斯会是个很不错的丈夫。毕竟，没有人会对希腊语有微词，而且马上会让人觉得这是一位受过教育的绅士。感谢上帝，我们家可不是顽固的保守分子。我们都是辉格党人，相信自由。就让势利鬼说他们的去吧，巴巴拉要跟一个他们不喜欢的人结婚，但这个人却是我喜欢的。
"STEPHEN: Of course I was thinking only of his income. However, he is not likely to be extravagant.
斯蒂芬：当然，我想到的只是他的收入。不过呢，他也不太可能铺张浪费。
"LADY BRITOMART: Don't be too sure of that, Stephen. I know your quiet, simple, refined, poetic people like Adolphus—quite content with the best of everything! They cost more than your extravagant people, who are always as mean as they are second rate. No: Barbara will need at least 2000 pounds a year. You see it means two additional households. Besides, my dear, you must marry soon. I don't approve of the present fashion of philandering bachelors and late marriages; and I am trying to arrange something for you.
薄丽托玛太太：对这一点别太肯定了，斯蒂芬。我知道像阿道弗斯这样安静纯朴、又斯文得体的读书人——只要每件事都做到最好就满足了。他们花钱比你说的那种人还要铺张浪费，你口中那种人一般都像二流货色那样小气吝啬。不对，巴巴拉每年需要至少两千英镑。你懂了吧，这就是说要添两个新家。另外，亲爱的，你也该结婚了。我就不赞成现在那些单身汉过着灯红酒绿的生活，还时兴晚婚；我正在想法儿给你张罗呢。
"STEPHEN: It's very good of you, mother; but perhaps I had better arrange that for myself.
斯蒂芬：母亲，您真是太好了，但或许让我自己准备要好些吧。
"LADY BRITOMART: Nonsense! You are much too young to begin matchmaking: you would be taken in by some pretty little nobody. Of course I don't mean that you are not to be consulted: you know that as well as I do. (Stephen closes his lips and is silent.); Now don't sulk, Stephen.
薄丽托玛太太：荒唐！你年龄还太小，对说媒的事情还不懂，你会被长得漂亮的无名小丫头骗的。当然，我并不是说不跟你商量，你知道我不会那样的。（斯蒂芬闭上嘴唇，无言以对了。）不要绷着张脸，斯蒂芬。
"STEPHEN: I am not sulking, mother. What has all this got to do with—with—with my father?
斯蒂芬：我没绷着脸，母亲。所有这些事与——与我父亲又有何关系呢？
"LADY BRITOMART: My dear Stephen: where is the money to come from? It is easy enough for you and the other children to live on my income as long as we are in the same house; but I can't keep four families in four separate houses. You know how poor my father is: he has barely seven thousand a year now; and really, if he were not the Earl of Stevenage, he would have to give up society. He can do nothing for us: he says, naturally enough, that it is absurd that he should be asked to provide for the children of a man who is rolling in money. You see, Stephen, your father must be fabulously wealthy, because there is always a war going on somewhere.
薄丽托玛太太：我亲爱的斯蒂芬，钱从哪来呢？要是我们都住在一起，你和其他孩子靠我的收入生活是足够了，但我可负担不起分住在四处的四家人啊。你是知道我父亲有多穷的。如今他每年收入仅仅只有七千英镑，说真的，如果他不是斯蒂芬尼奇伯爵的话，那就只有停止一切社交活动了。而对我们，他也帮不上什么，这其实也很在理，要让他来供养一个大富翁的孩子，那真是太荒谬了。你明白吧，斯蒂芬，你父亲肯定非常有钱，因为总是有什么地方爆发战争。
"STEPHEN: You need not remind me of that, mother. I have hardly ever opened a newspaper in my life without seeing our name in it. The Undershaft torpedo! The Undershaft quick firers! The Undershaft ten inch! the Undershaft disappearing rampart gun! the Undershaft submarine! and now the Undershaft aerial battleship! At Harrow they called me the Woolwich Infant. At Cambridge it was the same. A little brute at King's who was always trying to get up revivals, spoilt my Bible—your first birthday present to me—by writing under my name, "Son and heir to Undershaft and Lazarus, Death and Destruction Dealers: address, Christendom and Judea.”; But that was not so bad as the way I was kowtowed to everywhere because my father was making millions by selling cannons.
斯蒂芬：母亲，这一点，您大可不必提醒我。有生以来，我几乎没有哪一次翻开报纸时，在上面看不到我们家的名字。安德谢夫水雷！安德谢夫速射枪！安德谢夫十英寸口径炮！安德谢夫隐显兰帕特枪！安德谢夫潜艇！如今还有安德谢夫空中战舰！在哈罗公学时，同学都叫我“伍利奇的孩子”。在剑桥也是如此。在国王学院时，一个捣蛋鬼老是无端生事，还弄脏了我的《圣经》——那是您送我的第一份生日礼物——他在我姓名下方这样写道：“安德谢夫与拉扎勒斯的子嗣，死亡与毁灭的贩徒；地址：基督教世界和犹太教区”。但更令人不快的是，我无论在哪里都受人追捧，原因就在于我的父亲靠贩卖军火而发了大财。
"LADY BRITOMART: It is not only the cannons, but the war loans that Lazarus arranges under cover of giving credit for the cannons. You know, Stephen, it's perfectly scandalous. Those two men, Andrew Undershaft and Lazarus, positively have Europe under their thumbs. That is why your father is able to behave as he does. He is above the law. Do you think Bismarck or Gladstone or Disraeli could have openly defied every social and moral obligation all their lives as your father has? They simply wouldn't have dared. I asked Gladstone to take it up. I asked The Times to take it up. I asked the Lord Chamberlain to take it up. But it was just like asking them to declare war on the Sultan. They WOULDN'T. They said they couldn't touch him. I believe they were afraid.
薄丽托玛太太：不仅仅是军火，还有拉扎勒斯以筹备军火贷款为借口而发放的战时公债。斯蒂芬，你也知道，这真是叫人深恶痛绝啊。那两个男人，安德鲁·安德谢夫和拉扎勒斯，完全把欧洲置于他们的掌控之下了。正因为如此，你父亲才能够这样为所欲为。他凌驾于法律之上了。你觉得，俾斯麦、格拉德斯通以及迪斯雷利，他们谁能够像你父亲一样，终生都公然反抗一切社会义务和道德责任？他们肯定不敢。我向格拉德斯通提出过，要求他处理。我也向《泰晤士报》提出要求干预。我还向内侍大臣提出过。但是这简直就像让他们对苏丹宣战一样。他们不肯啊。他们说他们对付不了他。我想呢，他们是害怕。
"STEPHEN: What could they do? He does not actually break the law.
斯蒂芬：他们又能干什么呢？实际上，他并没有触犯法律。
"LADY BRITOMART: Not break the law! He is always breaking the law. He broke the law when he was born: his parents were not married.
薄丽托玛太太：没触犯法律！他一直都在触犯法律。他一出生就犯法了，他父母都没结婚呢。
"STEPHEN: Mother! Is that true?
斯蒂芬：母亲！此话当真？
"LADY BRITOMART: Of course it's true: that was why we separated.
薄丽托玛太太：自然是当真了，这就是我们分开的原因。
"STEPHEN: He married without letting you know this!
斯蒂芬：他结婚时都没让你知道此事！
"LADY BRITOMART: (rather taken aback by this inference) Oh no. To do Andrew justice, that was not the sort of thing he did. Besides, you know the Undershaft motto: Unashamed. Everybody knew.
薄丽托玛太太：（诧异于这种推断）噢，不是这样的。说实在的，这可不是安德鲁行事的风格。更何况了，你也知道安德谢夫的座右铭“问心无愧”。众所周知了吧。
"STEPHEN: But you said that was why you separated.
斯蒂芬：但是您说这是您们分开的原因啊。
"LADY BRITOMART: Yes, because he was not content with being a foundling himself: he wanted to disinherit you for another foundling. That was what I couldn't stand.
薄丽托玛太太：是的，因为他不满足于自己是个弃儿，他还想剥夺你的继承权，而把它拱手让给另一个弃儿。这就是我无法忍受的。
"STEPHEN: (ashamed) Do you mean for—for—for—;
斯蒂芬：（惭愧地）您的意思是，为了——为了——为了——
"LADY BRITOMART: Don't stammer, Stephen. Speak distinctly.
薄丽托玛太太：别结结巴巴的，斯蒂芬。说清楚。
"STEPHEN: But this is so frightful to me, mother. To have to speak to you about such things!
斯蒂芬：但这实在让我烦透了，母亲。竟然要跟您谈这种事！
"LADY BRITOMART: It's not pleasant for me, either, especially if you are still so childish that you must make it worse by a display of embarrassment. It is only in the middle classes, Stephen, that people get into a state of dumb helpless horror when they find that there are wicked people in the world. In our class, we have to decide what is to be done with wicked people; and nothing should disturb our self possession. Now ask your question properly.
薄丽托玛太太：对我来说也不是什么高兴的事，尤其是如果你依然这么孩子气，动不动就弄得自己很难堪，那你反而会把事情弄得更糟。斯蒂芬，只有中产阶级发现这世上还有坏人时，才会吓得哑然失神、无能为力。在我们这个阶层，我们得决定如何对付坏人；没有什么能够扰乱我们的自制力。行啦，提点像样的问题吧。
"STEPHEN: Mother: you have no consideration for me. For Heaven's sake either treat me as a child, as you always do, and tell me nothing at all; or tell me everything and let me take it as best I can.
斯蒂芬：母亲，您没有为我设想过。看在上帝的份上，要么就当我是小孩，一如您一贯的做法，什么都别对我说；要么就告诉我一切，由我自己来处理吧。
"LADY BRITOMART: Treat you as a child! What do you mean? It is most unkind and ungrateful of you to say such a thing. You know I have never treated any of you as children. I have always made you my companions and friends, and allowed you perfect freedom to do and say whatever you liked, so long as you liked what I could approve of.
薄丽托玛太太：当你是小孩！什么意思？你真是又残忍，又没良心，居然说出这种话来。你知道的，我从未把你们任何一个当成小孩。我一直当你们是我的同伴、我的朋友，给你们绝对自由去做想做的，说想说的，只要获得我的批准就行了。
"STEPHEN: (desperately) I daresay we have been the very imperfect children of a very perfect mother; but I do beg you to let me alone for once, and tell me about this horrible business of my father wanting to set me aside for another son.
斯蒂芬：（绝望地）我敢说，我们一直都是满身缺点的孩子，却有一位十全十美的母亲；但我求您别管我了，仅此一次，给我说说吧，居然还有这么恐怖的事，我父亲为了别的儿子，要对我不管不顾。
"LADY BRITOMART: (amazed) Another son! I never said anything of the kind. I never dreamt of such a thing. This is what comes of interrupting me.
薄丽托玛太太：（感到惊讶）别的儿子！我根本就没这么说。我做梦也没想过这种事。这就是你打断我讲话的结果。
"STEPHEN: But you said—;
斯蒂芬：但是您刚才说——
"LADY BRITOMART: (cutting him short) Now be a good boy, Stephen, and listen to me patiently. The Undershafts are descended from a foundling in the parish of St. Andrew Undershaft in the city. That was long ago, in the reign of James the First. Well, this foundling was adopted by an armorer and gun-maker. In the course of time the foundling succeeded to the business; and from some notion of gratitude, or some vow or something, he adopted another foundling, and left the business to him. And that foundling did the same. Ever since that, the cannon business has always been left to an adopted foundling named Andrew Undershaft.
薄丽托玛太太：（打断他的话）斯蒂芬，行了，你要乖，耐心听我把话说完吧。安德谢夫家族是城里圣安德鲁·安德谢夫教区的一个弃儿传下来的。那是很久以前，詹姆斯一世统治时期了。这个弃儿呢，被一位制造武器和枪械的人所收养。后来这位弃儿就接替了这份产业；大概是出于感恩的想法，或立下了誓言什么的，他也收养了一个弃儿，最后把产业留给了他。而这个弃子也照做了。从此以后，军火生意一直都由一名收养来的弃儿接管，都叫做安德鲁·安德谢夫。
"STEPHEN: But did they never marry? Were there no legitimate sons?
斯蒂芬：可是他们就永不娶妻？就没有合法的儿子么？
"LADY BRITOMART: Oh yes: they married just as your father did; and they were rich enough to buy land for their own children and leave them well provided for. But they always adopted and trained some foundling to succeed them in the business; and of course they always quarrelled with their wives furiously over it. Your father was adopted in that way; and he pretends to consider himself bound to keep up the tradition and adopt somebody to leave the business to. Of course I was not going to stand that. There may have been some reason for it when the Undershafts could only marry women in their own class, whose sons were not fit to govern great estates. But there could be no excuse for passing over my son.
薄丽托玛太太：哦，不是这样的。他们也结婚，就跟你父亲一样；他们很富有，能给自己的亲生子女买地，让他们过上很富裕的生活。但他们总是要收养一个弃儿，栽培他并把产业交给他；当然啦，他们为此也老是与自己的太太大吵大闹。你父亲也是这样被人收养的；如今他假装说自己有责任把这一传统坚持下去，要领养一个人来接替这份产业呢。对此，我当然是无法忍受的。以前安德谢夫家族的人只能娶他们自己阶层的女人，所生的儿子当然没资格管理如此庞大的产业，这样做还是情有可原的。但现在没有理由忽视我的儿子啊。
"STEPHEN: (dubiously) I am afraid I should make a poor hand of managing a cannon foundry.
斯蒂芬：（犹豫地）我担心，我也不擅于管理军火制造厂。
"LADY BRITOMART: Nonsense! you could easily get a manager and pay him a salary.
薄丽托玛太太：荒唐！你可以毫不费力地找到一名经理，付他薪水就行了。
"STEPHEN: My father evidently had no great opinion of my capacity.
斯蒂芬：很明显，我父亲认为我的能力不行呢。
"LADY BRITOMART: Stuff, child! you were only a baby: it had nothing to do with your capacity. Andrew did it on principle, just as he did every perverse and wicked thing on principle. When my father remonstrated, Andrew actually told him to his face that history tells us of only two successful institutions: one the Undershaft firm, and the other the Roman Empire under the Antonines. That was because the Antonine emperors all adopted their successors. Such rubbish! The Stevenages are as good as the Antonines, I hope; and you are a Stevenage. But that was Andrew all over. There you have the man! Always clever and unanswerable when he was defending nonsense and wickedness: always awkward and sullen when he had to behave sensibly and decently!
薄丽托玛太太：孩子，胡说八道！你当时不过是个小孩子，这与你的才能没有任何关系。安德鲁是根据原则才这样做的，如同他所做的每件荒唐的坏事一样，都是根据自己的原则。当初我父亲表示反对，安德鲁竟然当面对他说，历史告诉我们，成功的机构只有两家：一家是安德谢夫的企业，另一家就是安东尼王朝统治下的罗马帝国。那是因为安东尼王朝的每位皇帝的继承人都是收养的。真是一派胡言！我坚信，斯蒂芬尼奇家族的人与安东尼家族的人一样优秀；而你就是斯蒂芬尼奇家族的一员。但安德鲁就是这种脾气。现在你该了解他了吧！当他为他的愚蠢和恶毒辩解时，总是显得聪明又机智，让人无以辩驳；而当他必须表现得明智像样一点时，又总是显得很笨拙、闷闷不乐的！
"STEPHEN: Then it was on my account that your home life was broken up, mother. I am sorry.
斯蒂芬：母亲，那么，都是因为我的缘故才导致了你的家庭生活的破裂。我很抱歉。
"LADY BRITOMART: Well, dear, there were other differences. I really cannot bear an immoral man. I am not a Pharisee, I hope; and I should not have minded his merely doing wrong things: we are none of us perfect. But your father didn't exactly do wrong things: he said them and thought them: that was what was so dreadful. He really had a sort of religion of wrongness just as one doesn't mind men practising immorality so long as they own that they are in the wrong by preaching morality; so I couldn't forgive Andrew for preaching immorality while he practised morality. You would all have grown up without principles, without any knowledge of right and wrong, if he had been in the house. You know, my dear, your father was a very attractive man in some ways. Children did not dislike him; and he took advantage of it to put the wickedest ideas into their heads, and make them quite unmanageable. I did not dislike him myself: very far from it; but nothing can bridge over moral disagreement.
薄丽托玛太太：唉，亲爱的，我们之间还有其他分歧呢。我真的不能忍受一个放荡的人。我想，我并不是一个伪善的人；我本也不该介意的，他不过就是做错了事而已，我们谁都不是完人嘛。而确切地说，你的父亲也没有做错什么事，他口中说的，心里想的，却都是这些事，这才是最可怕的。他完全就是在拿错误当信仰了。人们不会介意别人做点伤风败俗的事，只要这些人能鼓吹道义，承认自己干了坏事就行了；而我呢，却无法原谅安德鲁，因为他嘴里说着不道德，同时又做着仁义之事。如果他一直住在这个家里，你们长大后就会不讲原则，一点是非观念都没有了。亲爱的，你要知道，在某些方面，你父亲还是个很有魅力的人。孩子们都喜欢他；凭这一点，他就把最邪恶的思想灌输给了他们，结果这些孩子都变得难以管教。我呢，也并不讨厌他，一点都不讨厌他；但是，无论如何道德上的分歧是不能妥协的。
"STEPHEN: All this simply bewilders me, mother. People may differ about matters of opinion, or even about religion; but how can they differ about right and wrong? Right is right; and wrong is wrong; and if a man cannot distinguish them properly, he is either a fool or a rascal: that's all.
斯蒂芬：这一切真把我弄糊涂了，母亲。人与人互相有分歧，有可能是观念上的，甚至是信仰上的，可是，人们又怎么会在大是大非的问题上存在分歧呢？对就是对，错就是错；一个人要是不能正确地辨别是非，那他要么是傻子，要么就是无赖，我是这么看的。
"LADY BRITOMART: (touched) That's my own boy (She pats his cheek!); Your father never could answer that: he used to laugh and get out of it under cover of some affectionate nonsense. And now that you understand the situation, what do you advise me to do?
薄丽托玛太太：（感动）这才是我的好儿子！（她轻轻地拍他的脸颊。）你父亲绝对回答不了这种问题，他过去就只是发笑，说些甜言蜜语就敷衍过去了。既然你对情况都了解了，那你建议我怎么办？
"STEPHEN: Well, what can you do?
斯蒂芬：唉，您能做什么吗？
"LADY BRITOMART: I must get the money somehow.
薄丽托玛太太：我必须设法要到钱。
"STEPHEN: We cannot take money from him. I had rather go and live in some cheap place like Bedford Square or even Hampstead than take a farthing of his money.
斯蒂芬：我们不能要他的钱。我宁愿到一个便宜的地方去住，比如贝德福德广场啊，甚至是汉普斯特德，也不愿拿他的一分钱。
"LADY BRITOMART: But after all, Stephen, our present income comes from Andrew.
薄丽托玛太太：不过话说回来，斯蒂芬，我们如今的收入都来源于安德鲁啊。
"STEPHEN: (shocked) I never knew that.
斯蒂芬：（惊呆了）我一直都不知情啊。
"LADY BRITOMART: Well, you surely didn't suppose your grandfather had anything to give me. The Stevenages could not do everything for you. We gave you social position. Andrew had to contribute something. He had a very good bargain, I think.
薄丽托玛太太：那么，你不会认为钱还是你外公给的吧。斯蒂芬尼奇家不可能满足你的一切要求。我们给予你社会地位。安德鲁也必须贡献点什么。我想，他这桩买卖是相当划算的。
"STEPHEN: (bitterly) We are utterly dependent on him and his cannons, then!
斯蒂芬：（痛苦地）也就是说，我们全都是靠他和他的军火养活的！
"LADY BRITOMART: Certainly not: the money is settled. But he provided it. So you see it is not a question of taking money from him or not: it is simply a question of how much. I don't want any more for myself.
薄丽托玛太太：才不是，钱的问题是早就定好了的。不过，是他给的钱而已。现在你明白了吧，不是要不要拿他钱的问题，而是要拿他多少钱的问题。我自己呢，也不会再问他要了。
"STEPHEN: Nor do I.
斯蒂芬：我也不要。
"LADY BRITOMART: But Sarah does; and Barbara does. That is, Charles Lomax and Adolphus Cusins will cost them more. So I must put my pride in my pocket and ask for it, I suppose. That is your advice, Stephen, is it not?
薄丽托玛太太：但是萨拉要，巴巴拉也需要。也就是说，查尔斯·洛马可斯和阿道弗斯·库森斯要多花她们的钱呢。因此，我想，我必须放下自尊，去找他要吧。这就是你的建议，对吗，斯蒂芬？
"STEPHEN: No.
斯蒂芬：不。
"LADY BRITOMART: (sharply) Stephen!
薄丽托玛太太：（发怒地）斯蒂芬！
"STEPHEN: Of course if you are determined—;
斯蒂芬：当然了，您要是决定——
"LADY BRITOMART: I am not determined: I ask your advice; and I am waiting for it. I will not have all the responsibility thrown on my shoulders.
薄丽托玛太太：我还没有决定，我需要你的建议，我在等你说呢。我不要一个人承担所有责任。
"STEPHEN: (obstinately) I would die sooner than ask him for another penny.
斯蒂芬：（固执地）我宁肯去死，也不再要他一分钱。
"LADY BRITOMART: (resignedly) You mean that I must ask him. Very well, Stephen: It shall be as you wish. You will be glad to know that your grandfather concurs. But he thinks I ought to ask Andrew to come here and see the girls. After all, he must have some natural affection for them.
薄丽托玛太太：（顺从地）你的意思是，得我去求他咯。好啊，斯蒂芬，那就如你所愿吧。你要是知道了你外公跟你看法一致，你会感到很高兴的。不过，他认为我该不该把安德鲁请过来，看看姑娘们。归根到底，他对她们还有一点亲情吧。
"STEPHEN: Ask him here!!!
斯蒂芬：把他请过来!!!
"LADY BRITOMART: Do not repeat my words, Stephen. Where else can I ask him?
薄丽托玛太太：斯蒂芬，别重复我说的话。那我还能请他上哪儿？
"STEPHEN: I never expected you to ask him at all.
斯蒂芬：我绝对没料到你要叫他来。
"LADY BRITOMART: Now don't tease, Stephen. Come! you see that it is necessary that he should pay us a visit, don't you?
薄丽托玛太太：别奚落我了，斯蒂芬。得啦！你知道，他来拜访我们是有必要的，不是吗？
"STEPHEN: (reluctantly) I suppose so, if the girls cannot do without his money.
斯蒂芬：（不情愿地）我看是吧，要是姑娘们真离不开他的钱的话。
"LADY BRITOMART: Thank you, Stephen: I knew you would give me the right advice when it was properly explained to you. I have asked your father to come this evening. (Stephen bounds from his seat.) Don't jump, Stephen: it fidgets me.
薄丽托玛太太：谢谢，斯蒂芬，我就知道你会给我不错的建议，只要我把事情原委给你说清楚了。我已经约了你父亲，今晚就过来。（斯蒂芬从座位上跳了起来。）别突然一下跳起来，斯蒂芬，这弄得我心烦。
"STEPHEN: (in utter consternation) Do you mean to say that my father is coming here tonight—that he may be here at any moment?
斯蒂芬：（完全惊慌失措）您的意思是，父亲今晚就要过来——他随时都有可能到？
"LADY BRITOMART: (looking at her watch) I said nine. (He gasps. She rises.); Ring the bell, please. (Stephen goes to the smaller writing table; presses a button on it; and sits at it with his elbows on the table and his head in his hands, outwitted and overwhelmed.); It is ten minutes to nine yet; and I have to prepare the girls. I asked Charles Lomax and Adolphus to dinner on purpose that they might be here. Andrew had better see them in case he should cherish any delusions as to their being capable of supporting their wives. (The butler enters: Lady Britomart goes behind the settee to speak to him.); Morrison: go up to the drawingroom and tell everybody to come down here at once. (Morrison withdraws. Lady Britomart turns to Stephen.); Now remember, Stephen, I shall need all your countenance and authority. (He rises and tries to recover some vestige of these attributes.); Give me a chair, dear. (He pushes a chair forward from the wall to where she stands, near the smaller writing table. She sits down; and he goes to the armchair, into which he throws himself.); I don't know how Barbara will take it. Ever since they made her a major in the Salvation Army she has developed a propensity to have her own way and order people about which quite cows me sometimes. It's not ladylike: I'm sure I don't know where she picked it up. Anyhow, Barbara shan't bully me; but still it's just as well that your father should be here before she has time to refuse to meet him or make a fuss. Don't look nervous, Stephen, it will only encourage Barbara to make difficulties. I am nervous enough, goodness knows; but I don't show it.
薄丽托玛太太：（看着她的手表）我约的九点。（他深深地吸了一口气。她站起身来。）请按铃吧。（斯蒂芬走到小书桌前，按了按上面的一颗按钮，接着就在旁边坐了下来，胳膊肘支在桌面上，两手抱着头，表现出一副被哄骗之后倍受打击的样子。）八点五十了，我得叫姑娘们准备准备。我特意邀请了查尔斯·洛马克斯和阿道弗斯来吃晚餐，是为了让他们也在这里。安德鲁最好跟他们见见面，免得他痴心妄想，还以为他们有能力养得活自己的妻子。（男仆走了进来，薄丽托玛太太来到长沙发后面，跟他说话。）莫里森，去楼上客厅，叫所有人都下楼到这里来，马上。（莫里森退了出去。薄丽托玛太太转向斯蒂芬这边。）斯蒂芬，给我记住，我需要你全部的支持和权威。（他站了起来，想要重新找回一点这些品质的痕迹。）亲爱的，给我一把椅子。（他把靠墙的一把椅子推到母亲所站的位置，就在小书桌旁边。她坐下来，而他朝扶手椅走去，一屁股就坐了上去。）我不知道巴巴拉对此会怎么想。自从她当上了救世军少校以后，就变得越来越我行我素了，还对周围的人发号施令，连我有时候都觉得好害怕。这哪里像个淑女，我真是搞不懂，她是在哪里学来的。无论如何，巴巴拉都吓不倒我；不过，她还没来得及拒绝跟他见面，或是大发牢骚时，你父亲就已经到了。斯蒂芬，不要那么紧张；这样只会让巴巴拉横生枝节。上天作证，我也够紧张的，但我却不会表现出来。
"(Sarah and Barbara come in with their respective young men, Charles Lomax and Adolphus Cusins. Sarah is slender, bored, and mundane. Barbara is robuster, jollier, much more energetic. Sarah is fashionably dressed: Barbara is in Salvation Army uniform. Lomax, a young man about town, is like many other young men about town. He is affected with a frivolous sense of humor which plunges him at the most inopportune moments into paroxysms of imperfectly suppressed laughter. Cusins is a spectacled student, slight, thin haired, and sweet voiced, with a more complex form of Lomax's complaint. His sense of humor is intellectual and subtle, and is complicated by an appalling temper. The lifelong struggle of a benevolent temperament and a high conscience against impulses of inhuman ridicule and fierce impatience has set up a chronic strain which has visibly wrecked his constitution. He is a most implacable, determined, tenacious, intolerant person who by mere force of character presents himself as—and indeed actually is—considerate, gentle, explanatory, even mild and apologetic, capable possibly of murder, but not of cruelty or coarseness. By the operation of some instinct which is not merciful enough to blind him with the illusions of love, he is obstinately bent on marrying Barbara. Lomax likes Sarah and thinks it will be rather a lark to marry her. Consequently he has not attempted to resist Lady Britomart's arrangements to that end.
（萨拉与巴巴拉走了进来，还带着她们各自的男友，查尔斯·洛马克斯和阿道弗斯·库森斯。萨拉体型修长，无趣而平庸。而巴巴拉长得更健壮，更乐观，也更有活力。萨拉打扮得比较时尚，而巴巴拉穿的却是救世军制服。洛马克斯是个习惯于出入社交场合的男人，跟很多其他这类人都差不多。他有幽默感却又很轻浮，由于这个毛病，他常常在最不适宜的时候，忍不住突然爆发出一阵阴阳怪气的笑声。库森斯则是戴眼镜的学者，他身体瘦弱，头发稀疏，声音婉转，但他比洛马克斯的毛病更复杂。他的幽默感充满了智慧，令人难以捉摸，其中夹杂着暴躁的脾气，这让别人对他更是琢磨不透。他生性仁慈，富有良知，但行事冲动，时而无情地嘲弄他人，时而又焦急万分，这两种性情一生都在纠缠着他，长期的积压已经使他的身体受到了明显地损伤。他做事坚决果断，固执己见，一旦认定就不屈不挠，毫不容忍别人的不同意见；但天性又使他成为这样的人——确实如此——能替人着想、有绅士风度、善于解释问题、而且性情温和，对人总带三分歉意、虽有实施谋杀的能力，可对人绝不会凶残或者粗俗。由于某种不太宽厚的本能，他不会因为爱情的幻觉而迷失，而又是这种本能使他一心想要娶巴巴拉为妻。而洛马克斯喜欢萨拉，觉得要是能与她结婚，肯定非常有趣。所以，他没有反对薄丽托玛太太为此而进行的安排。
"All four look as if they had been having a good deal of fun in the drawingroom. The girls enter first, leaving the swains outside. Sarah comes to the settee. Barbara comes in after her and stops at the door.);
四人好像在客厅里玩得非常开心。姑娘们先进来，把男友们都留在了外边。萨拉朝长沙发走了过来。巴巴拉紧随其后，在门边停了下来。）
"BARBARA: Are Cholly and Dolly to come in?
巴巴拉：查理和多利要进来吗？
"LADY BRITOMART: (forcibly) Barbara: I will not have Charles called Cholly: the vulgarity of it positively makes me ill.
薄丽托玛太太：（严肃地）巴巴拉，查尔斯不叫查理，叫得这么粗俗，真让我倒胃口啊。
"BARBARA: It's all right, mother. Cholly is quite correct nowadays. Are they to come in?
巴巴拉：没关系，母亲。查理现在表现得很不错了。他们要进来吗？
"LADY BRITOMART: Yes, if they will behave themselves.
薄丽托玛太太：可以，叫他们都规矩点。
"BARBARA: (through the door) Come in, Dolly, and behave yourself.
巴巴拉：（在门口）多利，进来，表现好点。
"(Barbara comes to her mother's writing table. Cusins enters smiling, and wanders towards Lady Britomart.);
（巴巴拉走到母亲的书桌边。库森斯面带着微笑，慢悠悠地朝薄丽托玛太太走了过来。）
"SARAH: (calling) Come in, Cholly. (Lomax enters, controlling his features very imperfectly, and places himself vaguely between Sarah and Barbara.);
萨拉：（叫着）查理，进来。（洛马克斯走了进来，强忍着自己的表情，显得很别扭，他心不在焉地走到萨拉和巴巴拉的中间。）
"LADY BRITOMART: (peremptorily) Sit down, all of you. (They sit. Cusins crosses to the window and seats himself there. Lomax takes a chair. Barbara sits at the writing table and Sarah on the settee.); I don't in the least know what you are laughing at, Adolphus. I am surprised at you, though I expected nothing better from Charles Lomax.
薄丽托玛太太：（专横地）你们全都坐下。（他们都坐下了。库森斯走向窗边，在那里坐下来。洛马克斯在一把椅子上坐下。巴巴拉就在书桌边坐下，而萨拉坐在了长沙发上。）阿道弗斯，我真是弄不明白，你为什么要发笑。你真让我感到意外啊。查尔斯·洛马克斯如果这样，我还不觉得奇怪呢。
"CUSINS: (in a remarkably gentle voice) Barbara has been trying to teach me the West Ham Salvation March.
库森斯：（声音非常柔和）刚才，巴巴拉正在教我西哈姆救世军进行曲。
"LADY BRITOMART: I see nothing to laugh at in that; nor should you if you are really converted.
薄丽托玛太太：我看那也没什么可笑的，你也该明白这一点啊，要是你真的信奉救世军的话。
"CUSINS: (sweetly) You were not present. It was really funny, I believe.
库森斯：（亲切地）您刚才没在场。我认为真的很好笑。
"LOMAX: Ripping.
洛马克斯：非常好笑。
"LADY BRITOMART: Be quiet, Charles. Now listen to me, children. Your father is coming here this evening. (General stupefaction).
薄丽托玛太太：查尔斯，安静。听我讲，孩子们。你们的父亲今晚要来这里。（所有人都愣住了。）
"LOMAX: (remonstrating) Oh I say!
洛马克斯：（反对）哦，是嘛！
"LADY BRITOMART: You are not called on to say anything, Charles.
薄丽托玛太太：我没请你讲话，查尔斯。
"SARAH: Are you serious, mother?
萨拉：母亲，您是认真的吗？
"LADY BRITOMART: Of course I am serious. It is on your account, Sarah, and also on Charles's. (Silence. Charles looks painfully unworthy.); I hope you are not going to object, Barbara.
薄丽托玛太太：当然是认真的。萨拉，这是为你着想，也是为洛马克斯着想。（一阵沉默。查尔斯摆出一副痛苦而不屑的样子。）巴巴拉，我希望你不要反对。
"BARBARA: I! why should I? My father has a soul to be saved like anybody else. He's quite welcome as far as I am concerned.
巴巴拉：我！我干嘛要反对？我父亲也有一颗需要拯救的灵魂，与其他任何人一样。照我看啊，他相当受欢迎呢。
"LOMAX: (still remonstrant) But really, don't you know! Oh I say!
洛马克斯：（还在反对）但是真的，你们难道不知道！喂！
"LADY BRITOMART: (frigidly) What do you wish to convey, Charles?
薄丽托玛太太：（冷淡地）你有什么要说吗，查尔斯？
"LOMAX: Well, you must admit that this is a bit thick.
洛马克斯：那么，您总要承认，这有点过分吧。
"LADY BRITOMART: (turning with ominous suavity to Cusins) Adolphus: you are a professor of Greek. Can you translate Charles Lomax's remarks into reputable English for us?
薄丽托玛太太：（和颜悦色地转向库森斯，暗藏不悦）阿道弗斯，你是希腊语教授。你能为我们把洛马克斯的话，用规范的英语解释一下吗？
"CUSINS: (cautiously) If I may say so, Lady Brit, I think Charles has rather happily expressed what we all feel. Homer, speaking of Autolycus, uses the same phrase.
库森斯：（小心翼翼地）薄丽托玛太太，请允许我这么说，我认为查尔斯已经恰当地表达了我们每个人的心声。《荷马史诗》在提起奥托吕斯科时，也用到了相同的词。
"LOMAX: (handsomely) Not that I mind, you know, if Sarah don't.
洛马克斯：（慷慨地）我倒是不介意，你们也知道，只要萨拉不介意就行啦。
"LADY BRITOMART: (crushingly) Thank you. Have I your permission, Adolphus, to invite my own husband to my own house?
薄丽托玛太太：（咄咄逼人地）谢谢。阿道弗斯，我邀请自己的丈夫到自己家来，你允许吗？
"CUSINS: (gallantly) You have my unhesitating support in everything you do.
库森斯：（殷勤地）无论您做什么，我都绝对拥护。
"LADY BRITOMART: Sarah: have you nothing to say?
薄丽托玛太太：萨拉，你没有话要说吗？
"SARAH: Do you mean that he is coming regularly to live here?
萨拉：您是说，他来了是要长期住这儿了？
"LADY BRITOMART: Certainly not. The spare room is ready for him if he likes to stay for a day or two and see a little more of you; but there are limits.
薄丽托玛太太：当然不是。要是他想呆上一两天，多了解了解你们，那间客房就给他住好了，不过这也是有限度的。
"SARAH: Well, he can't eat us, I suppose. I don't mind.
萨拉：好吧，我想他也吃不了我们。我不介意。
"LOMAX: (chuckling) I wonder how the old man will take it.
洛马克斯：（轻声一笑）我很想知道，老头儿是怎么看的。
"LADY BRITOMART: Much as the old woman will, no doubt, Charles.
薄丽托玛太太：查尔斯，很可能和老太婆看法一致。
"LOMAX: (abashed) I didn't mean—at least—;
洛马克斯：（窘迫）我不是那个意思——至少——
"LADY BRITOMART: You didn't think, Charles. You never do; and the result is, you never mean anything. And now please attend to me, children. Your father will be quite a stranger to us.
薄丽托玛太太：你没想过，查尔斯。你从来都不想，可最后呢，你自己都不知道要说什么。好了，请专心听我说，孩子们。你们的父亲对我们还很陌生。
"LOMAX: I suppose he hasn't seen Sarah since she was a little kid.
洛马克斯：我想，萨拉还是小屁孩儿时，他就没见过她了吧。
"LADY BRITOMART: Not since she was a little kid, Charles, as you express it with that elegance of diction and refinement of thought that seem never to desert you. Accordingly—er—(impatiently) Now I have forgotten what I was going to say. That comes of your provoking me to be sarcastic, Charles. Adolphus: will you kindly tell me where I was.
薄丽托玛太太：不能说她还是小屁孩儿，查尔斯，谈吐措辞优美、想法不落俗套这些优点从来都跟你沾不上边。因此——嗯——（急躁地）我准备说什么来着，我都忘了。查尔斯，是你惹得我要挖苦你一下，所以才这样了。阿道弗斯，请你给我说说，我讲到哪里了。
"CUSINS: (sweetly) You were saying that as Mr Undershaft has not seen his children since they were babies, he will form his opinion of the way you have brought them up from their behavior tonight, and that therefore you wish us all to be particularly careful to conduct ourselves well, especially Charles.
库森斯：（亲切地）您说到，安德谢夫先生最后一次见到孩子们的时候，他们还都是小孩子，所以他会按照他们今晚的表现，来评价这么多年来您抚养孩子的成绩，所以说，您希望我们大家要特别注意，行为要端正点，尤其是查尔斯。
"LOMAX: Look here: Lady Brit didn't say that.
洛马克斯：注意，薄丽托玛太太可没说这个啊。
"LADY BRITOMART: (vehemently) I did, Charles. Adolphus's recollection is perfectly correct. It is most important that you should be good; and I do beg you for once not to pair off into opposite corners and giggle and whisper while I am speaking to your father.
薄丽托玛太太：（激烈地）我说过，查尔斯。阿道弗斯的记性真不错。你们要守规矩，这是最重要的一点。我这次就算求求你们了，在我与你们父亲谈话时，不要成双成对地躲到两边墙角，咯咯咯地傻笑，或者窃窃私语。
"BARBARA: All right, mother. We'll do you credit.
巴巴拉：好的，母亲。我们一定会为你增光的。
"LADY BRITOMART: Remember, Charles, that Sarah will want to feel proud of you instead of ashamed of you.
薄丽托玛太太：查尔斯，记好了，萨拉所盼望的就是以你为荣，而不是以你为耻。
"LOMAX: Oh I say! There's nothing to be exactly proud of, don't you know.
洛马克斯：哦，我明白！其实没什么引以为荣的，您也知道。
"LADY BRITOMART: Well, try and look as if there was.
薄丽托玛太太：好，试着让别人觉得你有。
"(Morrison, pale and dismayed, breaks into the room in unconcealed disorder.);
（莫里森突然闯了进来，他面色灰白，惊慌失措，显得手足无措。）
"MORRISON: Might I speak a word to you, my lady?
莫里森：太太，能否借一步说话？
"LADY BRITOMART: Nonsense! Show him up.
薄丽托玛太太：荒唐！带他上来。
"MORRISON: Yes, my lady. (He goes.);
莫里森：好的，太太。（他离开了。）
"LOMAX: Does Morrison know who he is?
洛马克斯：莫里森知道他是谁吗？
"LADY BRITOMART: Of course. Morrison has always been with us.
薄丽托玛太太：当然了。莫里森一直都跟着我们的。
"LOMAX: It must be a regular corker for him, don't you know.
洛马克斯：对他来说，这肯定是一件惊天动地的大事，对吧。
"LADY BRITOMART: Is this a moment to get on my nerves, Charles, with your outrageous expressions?
薄丽托玛太太：查尔斯，在我神经非常紧张的时候，你又说些讨厌的话让我心烦。
"LOMAX: But this is something out of the ordinary, really—;
洛马克斯：但这确实不同寻常啊，真的——
"MORRISON: (at the door) The—er—Mr Undershaft. (He retreats in confusion.);
莫里森：（在门边）那位——呃——安德谢夫先生驾到。（他茫然地退下了。）
"(Andrew Undershaft comes in. All rise. Lady Britomart meets him in the middle of the room behind the settee.
（安德鲁·安德谢夫入内。全体起立。薄丽托玛太太来到房子中间，站在长沙发后面迎接他。
"Andrew is, on the surface, a stoutish, easygoing elderly man, with kindly patient manners, and an engaging simplicity of character. But he has a watchful, deliberate, waiting, listening face, and formidable reserves of power, both bodily and mental, in his capacious chest and long head. His gentleness is partly that of a strong man who has learnt by experience that his natural grip hurts ordinary people unless he handles them very carefully, and partly the mellowness of age and success. He is also a little shy in his present very delicate situation.);
从外表上看，安德鲁是一位身材略胖、性格随和、上了年纪的人，他为人和善有耐心、个性率真、很讨人喜欢。然而从他脸上又看得出来，他行事缜密，总是在等待和倾听，从他宽广的胸膛和高高的额头又可以看出，他的身心都储藏着令人生畏的力量。他之所以性格随和，一方面是由于多年的经验使他明白，他要是随性而使，不控制好自己的力量，就会使普通人受到伤害，另一方面是由于他年事已高而且事业有成，这使他变得老成起来。此刻，他处境相当微妙，使他稍显害羞。）
"LADY BRITOMART: Good evening, Andrew.
薄丽托玛太太：安德鲁，晚上好。
"UNDERSHAFT: How d'ye do, my dear.
安德谢夫：亲爱的，你好。
"LADY BRITOMART: You look a good deal older.
薄丽托玛太太：你看上去老了很多。
"UNDERSHAFT: (apologetically) I AM somewhat older. (With a touch of courtship) Time has stood still with you.
安德谢夫：（带歉意地）我确实有点老了。（有点恭维地）可你却一点都没变呀。
"LADY BRITOMART: (promptly) Rubbish! This is your family.
薄丽托玛太太：（迅速地）胡说！这就是你的家人。
"UNDERSHAFT: (surprised) Is it so large? I am sorry to say my memory is failing very badly in some things. (He offers his hand with paternal kindness to Lomax.);
安德谢夫：（吓了一跳）这么多人啊？我很抱歉，我的记性在有些事情上真是越来越差了。（他像个仁慈的父亲，对洛马克斯伸出手来。）
"LOMAX: (jerkily shaking his hand) Ahdedoo.
洛马克斯：（忙不迭地与他握手）您好。
"UNDERSHAFT: I can see you are my eldest. I am very glad to meet you again, my boy.
安德谢夫：我看出来了，你是我大儿子。儿子，我很高兴又与你见面了。
"LOMAX: (remonstrating) No but look here don't you know—(Overcome) Oh I say!
洛马克斯：（抗议）不，喂，喂，是这样的——（简直受不了了）我说！
"LADY BRITOMART: (recovering from momentary speechlessness) Andrew: do you mean to say that you don't remember how many children you have?
薄丽托玛太太：（半天说不出话来，好不容易恢复过来）安德鲁，你真不记得自己有几个孩子吗？
"UNDERSHAFT: Well, I am afraid I—. They have grown so much—er. Am I making any ridiculous mistake? I may as well confess: I recollect only one son. But so many things have happened since, of course—er—;
安德谢夫：这个嘛，我恐怕——他们都长这么大了——呃。难道我犯了什么可笑的错吗？我还是坦白了吧，我只记得有一个儿子。不过，那之后发生了好多事情，当然——呃——
"LADY BRITOMART: (decisively) Andrew: you are talking nonsense. Of course you have only one son.
薄丽托玛太太：（果断地）安德鲁，你胡说些什么啊。当然你只有一个儿子。
"UNDERSHAFT: Perhaps you will be good enough to introduce me, my dear.
安德谢夫：亲爱的，恐怕还是得你来作个介绍吧。
"LADY BRITOMART: That is Charles Lomax, who is engaged to Sarah.
薄丽托玛太太：这是查尔斯·洛马克斯，他与萨拉订婚了。
"UNDERSHAFT: My dear sir, I beg your pardon.
安德谢夫：亲爱的先生，真是抱歉。
"LOMAX: Not at all. Delighted, I assure you.
洛马克斯：没关系。挺开心的，真的。
"LADY BRITOMART: This is Stephen.
薄丽托玛太太：这是斯蒂芬。
"UNDERSHAFT: (bowing) Happy to make your acquaintance, Mr Stephen. Then (going to Cusins) you must be my son. (Taking Cusins' hands in his) How are you, my young friend? (To Lady Britomart) He is very like you, my love.
安德谢夫：（点头）斯蒂芬先生，认识你，我很高兴。（走向库森斯）那你肯定是我儿子吧。（握住库森斯的双手）年轻的朋友，你好吗？（又转向薄丽托玛太太）亲爱的，他长得很像你。
"CUSINS: You flatter me, Mr Undershaft. My name is Cusins: engaged to Barbara. (Very explicitly) That is Major Barbara Undershaft, of the Salvation Army. That is Sarah, your second daughter. This is Stephen Undershaft, your son.
库森斯：过奖了，安德谢夫先生。我叫库森斯，是巴巴拉的未婚夫。（清楚明白地）那位是巴巴拉·安德谢夫，救世军的少校。那是萨拉，您的小女儿。而这位是斯蒂芬·安德谢夫，您的儿子。
"UNDERSHAFT: My dear Stephen, I beg your pardon.
安德谢夫：亲爱的斯蒂芬，对不起。
"STEPHEN: Not at all.
斯蒂芬：不要紧。
"UNDERSHAFT: Mr Cusins: I am much indebted to you for explaining so precisely. (Turning to Sarah) Barbara, my dear—;
安德谢夫：库森斯先生，我非常感激你如此清楚向我介绍。（转向萨拉）巴巴拉，亲爱的——
"SARAH: (prompting him) Sarah.
萨拉：（提醒他）萨拉。
"UNDERSHAFT: Sarah, of course. (They shake hands. He goes over to Barbara.) Barbara—I am right this time, I hope.
安德谢夫：当然了，萨拉。（他们互相握手。他又来到巴巴拉面前）巴巴拉——我希望，我这次是对的。
"BARBARA. Quite right. (They shake hands.);
巴巴拉没错。（父女握手。）
"LADT BRITOMART: (resuming command) Sit down, all of you. Sit down, Andrew. (She comes forward and sits on the settle. Cusins also brings his chair forward on her left. Barbara and Stephen resume their seats. Lomax gives his chair to Sarah and goes for another.);
薄丽托玛太太：（继续命令）坐下，全都坐下。安德鲁，你也坐下。（她走上前，在长沙发上坐下。库森斯也往前挪椅子，在她左边坐下。巴巴拉和斯蒂芬还是坐在原处。洛马克斯让萨拉坐他的椅子，自己另找了一把。）
"UNDERSHAFT: Thank you, my love.
安德谢夫：谢谢，亲爱的。
"LOMAX: (conversationally, as he brings a chair forward between the writing table and the settee, and offers it to Undershaft) Takes you some time to find out exactly where you are, don't it?
洛马克斯：（一边给安德谢夫搬了把椅子，放在书桌和沙发中间，一边与他攀谈起来）要搞清楚我们每个人，可得花一点时间，对吧？
"UNDERSHAFT: (accepting the chair) That is not what embarrasses me, Mr Lomax. My difficulty is that if I play the part of a father, I shall produce the effect of an intrusive stranger; and if I play the part of a discreet stranger, I may appear a callous father.
安德谢夫：（接过椅子）洛马克斯先生，让我为难的倒不是这个。我的苦楚在于，我要是作为一个父亲而来，那我最终会变成一个擅自闯入的陌生人；而我要是作为一个谨言慎行的陌生人而来，结果我又成了无情无义的父亲。
"LADY BRITOMART: There is no need for you to play any part at all, Andrew. You had much better be sincere and natural.
薄丽托玛太太：你完全就不用充当什么，安德鲁。你只要真诚、自然就好了。
"UNDERSHAFT: UNDERSHAFT (submissively) Yes, my dear: I daresay that will be best. (Making himself comfortable) Well, here I am. Now what can I do for you all?
安德谢夫：（听从地）好的，亲爱的，这大概就是最好的方法了。（放松下来）好吧，我已经来了。要我为诸位做点什么吗？
"LADY BRITOMART: You need not do anything, Andrew. You are one of the family. You can sit with us and enjoy yourself.
薄丽托玛太太：安德鲁，你什么都不用做。你是这个家的一份子。你可以开开心心地陪大家坐坐。
"(Lomax's too long suppressed mirth explodes in agonized neighings.);
（洛马克斯长时间强忍着笑，现在终于大笑起来，就像拼命挣扎的马在嘶叫。）
"LADY BRITOMART: (outraged) Charles Lomax: if you can behave yourself, behave yourself. If not, leave the room.
薄丽托玛太太：（忍无可忍）查尔斯·洛马克斯，如果你还懂礼貌，就请礼貌一点。否则，就请离开房间。
"LOMAX: I'm awfully sorry, Lady Brit; but really, you know, upon my soul! (He sits on the settee between Lady Britomart and Undershaft, quite overcome.);
洛马克斯：真是对不起，薄丽托玛太太。但是，说真的，天哪！（他显得很无奈，只好坐在薄丽托玛太太和安德谢夫之间的沙发上。）
"BARBARA: Why don't you laugh if you want to, Cholly? It's good for your inside.
巴巴拉：查理，如果你想笑，为什么不笑呢？这样对你身体有好处。
"LADY BRITOMART: Barbara: you have had the education of a lady. Please let your father see that; and don't talk like a street girl.
薄丽托玛太太：巴巴拉，你可是接受过贵族小姐的教育的。这一点，要让你父亲看到呢，说话就别像个街头女孩儿了。
"UNDERSHAFT: Never mind me, my dear. As you know, I am not a gentleman; and I was never educated.
安德谢夫：亲爱的，别在意我。你知道的，我又不是绅士，我可从没受过什么教育。
"LOMAX: (encouragingly) Nobody'd know it, I assure you. You look all right, you know.
洛马克斯：（鼓励地）我保证，没有人晓得。您看上去还不错，真的。
"CUSINS: Let me advise you to study Greek, Mr Undershaft. Greek scholars are privileged men. Few of them know Greek; and none of them know anything else; but their position is unchallengeable. Other languages are the qualifications of waiters and commercial travellers: Greek is to a man of position what the hallmark is to silver.
库森斯：安德谢夫先生，那我提议您学学希腊语吧。希腊语学者可都是享有特权的人。他们当中，只有少数几个人懂希腊语；而他们所有人对其他的知识也是一无所知，但他们的地位却是无法撼动的。要是学其他语言，也就只够资格做餐厅侍者，还有东奔西走的推销员，而希腊语对一位地位显赫的人来说，就如同给银器打上了印记。
"BARBARA: Dolly: don't be insincere. Cholly: fetch your concertina and play something for us.
巴巴拉：多利，别虚情假意了。查理，把你的手风琴拿过来，给我们来一段。
"LOMAX: (doubtfully to Undershaft) Perhaps that sort of thing isn't in your line, eh?
洛马克斯：（迟疑地看着安德谢夫）这种东西您可能不怎么喜欢吧，呃？
"UNDERSHAFT: I am particularly fond of music.
安德谢夫：我尤其爱好音乐。
"LOMAX: (delighted) Are you? Then I'll get it. (He goes upstairs for the instrument.);
洛马克斯：（欣喜若狂）真的？那我这就去拿来。（他上楼拿乐器去了。）
"UNDERSHAFT: Do you play, Barbara?
安德谢夫：你会乐器吗，巴巴拉？
"BARBARA: Only the tambourine. But Cholly's teaching me the concertina.
巴巴拉：就会手鼓。可查理在教我拉手风琴哩。
"UNDERSHAFT: Is Cholly also a member of the Salvation Army?
安德谢夫：查理也是救世军成员吗？
"BARBARA: No: he says it's bad form to be a dissenter. But I don't despair of Cholly. I made him come yesterday to a meeting at the dock gates, and take the collection in his hat.
巴巴拉：不是，他说当一个异教徒有失体统。但我对查理还没失去信心。昨天我们在码头门口有个集会，我让他参加，他还拿着他的帽子去收募捐款了呢。
"LADY BRITOMART: It is not my doing, Andrew. Barbara is old enough to take her own way. She has no father to advise her.
薄丽托玛太太：安德鲁，那可不关我的事啊。巴巴拉长大了，有她自己的主张了。她没有父亲来给她提意见。
"BARBARA: Oh yes she has. There are no orphans in the Salvation Army.
巴巴拉：噢不，她有父亲。在救世军里面，是没有孤儿的。
"UNDERSHAFT: Your father there has a great many children and plenty of experience, eh?
安德谢夫：你那边的父亲有很多孩子吧，他还有很多经历，对吗？
"BARBARA: (looking at him with quick interest and nodding) Just so. How did you come to understand that? (Lomax is heard at the door trying the concertina.);
巴巴拉：（突然饶有兴致地看着他，点了点头）没错。您是怎么知道这个的？（大家听到洛马克斯在门边试拉手风琴。）
"LADY BRITOMART: Come in, Charles. Play us something at once.
薄丽托玛太太：洛马克斯，进来。立刻为我们拉一曲吧。
"LOMAX: Righto! (He sits down in his former place, and preludes.);
洛马克斯：好嘞！（他坐到刚才的地方，开始拉序曲。）
"UNDERSHAFT: One moment, Mr Lomax. I am rather interested in the Salvation Army. Its motto might be my own: Blood and Fire.
安德谢夫：稍等，洛马克斯先生。我对救世军非常感兴趣。其格言也可以用在我身上：血与火。
"LOMAX: (shocked) But not your sort of blood and fire, you know.
洛马克斯：（震惊地）这哪里是您说的那种血与火啊，这您也知道。
"UNDERSHAFT: My sort of blood cleanses: my sort of fire purifies.
安德谢夫：我的那种血可以让人的心灵纯洁；我的那种火可以使人的灵魂净化。
"BARBARA: So do ours. Come down tomorrow to my shelter—the West Ham shelter—and see what we're doing. We're going to march to a great meeting in the Assembly Hall at Mile End. Come and see the shelter and then march with us: it will do you a lot of good. Can you play anything?
巴巴拉：我们的也是。明天，来我的收容所吧——西哈姆收容所——看看我们所做的事情。我们打算游行到迈尔恩德的会议厅去举行一场大会。来吧，看看收容所，再跟我们一起去游行，您会受益匪浅的。您会什么乐器吗？
"UNDERSHAFT: In my youth I earned pennies, and even shillings occasionally, in the streets and in public house parlors by my natural talent for stepdancing. Later on, I became a member of the Undershaft orchestral society, and performed passably on the tenor trombone.
安德谢夫：我天生就会跳踢踏舞，就凭这个，我年轻的时候，在街上、小酒馆儿里，可赚了不少便士，有时候还能赚到几个先令呢。那之后，我还加入了安德谢夫管弦乐队，演奏次中音长号，还算行吧。
"LOMAX: (scandalized) Oh I say!
洛马克斯：（震惊）哦，我知道了！
"BARBARA: Many a sinner has played himself into heaven on the trombone, thanks to the Army.
巴巴拉：多亏了救世军，许多罪人都是凭借吹长号而步入天堂的。
"LOMAX: (to Barbara, still rather shocked) Yes; but what about the cannon business, don't you know? (To Undershaft) Getting into heaven is not exactly in your line, is it?
洛马克斯：（对巴巴拉，还是一脸的震惊）对，但他是做军火生意的，你不知道吗？（转向安德谢夫）进天堂这种事，也不是您所感兴趣的吧，对吗？
"LADY BRITOMART: Charles!
薄丽托玛太太：查尔斯！
"LOMAX: Well; but it stands to reason, don't it? The cannon business may be necessary and all that: we can't get on without cannons; but it isn't right, you know. On the other hand, there may be a certain amount of tosh about the Salvation Army—I belong to the Established Church myself—but still you can't deny that it's religion; and you can't go against religion, can you? At least unless you're downright immoral, don't you know.
洛马克斯：唉，是这个理儿嘛，难道不是吗？做军火生意是必不可少的，这个是肯定的，我们不能没有枪啊炮啊的，但你也知道，这又是不对的。另一方面，救世军是有些胡说八道的地方——我自己信仰的是英国国教——但你不能否认，救世军终归也是宗教啊，你总不能反对宗教，是吧？除非你完全就没有道德可言，是这样吧？
"UNDERSHAFT: You hardly appreciate my position, Mr Lomax—;
安德谢夫：洛马克斯先生，你可能还不太理解我的立场——
"LOMAX: (hastily) I'm not saying anything against you personally, you know.
洛马克斯：（仓促地）您知道，我说些话不是要对您本人进行攻击。
"UNDERSHAFT: Quite so, quite so. But consider for a moment. Here I am, a manufacturer of mutilation and murder. I find myself in a specially amiable humor just now because, this morning, down at the foundry, we blew twenty-seven dummy soldiers into fragments with a gun which formerly destroyed only thirteen.
安德谢夫：知道，我都知道。但是再仔细想想。我呢，是个制造商，制造的东西有破坏性，还能置人于死地。现在我情绪特别好，因为就在今天早上，我们在铸工车间里，用一炮就把二十七个士兵模型炸成了碎片，可是以前，一炮就只能炸掉十三个。
"LOMAX: (leniently) Well, the more destructive war becomes, the sooner it will be abolished, eh?
洛马克斯：（温和地）是啊，战争越具有毁灭性，就越能被尽快消除，是么？
"UNDERSHAFT: Not at all. The more destructive war becomes the more fascinating we find it. No, Mr Lomax, I am obliged to you for making the usual excuse for my trade; but I am not ashamed of it. I am not one of those men who keep their morals and their business in watertight compartments. All the spare money my trade rivals spend on hospitals, cathedrals and other receptacles for conscience money, I devote to experiments and researches in improved methods of destroying life and property. I have always done so; and I always shall. Therefore your Christmas card moralities of peace on earth and goodwill among men are of no use to me. Your Christianity, which enjoins you to resist not evil, and to turn the other cheek, would make me a bankrupt. My morality—my religion—must have a place for cannons and torpedoes in it.
安德谢夫：完全不对。战争越具有毁灭性，我们就越为之神魂颠倒。不，洛马克斯先生，你以惯用的理由来为我的行业进行辩解，我很感激你；但我并不因此而感到羞愧。我不像有些人，将自己的道德标准与所经营的事业彻底分开来。我那些生意上的对手把所有闲钱都花在了医院、教堂以及其他慈善组织上，以慰藉自己的良心，而我呢，却把闲钱都用在了实验、科研方面，以完善各种摧毁生命与破坏财产的手段。我一向如此，今后还要坚持。所以说，你们在圣诞卡上写的世界和平、人类友善，这些道德准则对我来说，简直是毫无用处。你们的基督教，号召你们要宽恕恶人，要容忍他们，但我如果信了，那就只有破产了。我的道德准则——我的信仰——必须为枪炮和水雷留出一席之地。
"STEPHEN: (coldly—almost sullenly) You speak as if there were half a dozen moralities and religions to choose from, instead of one true morality and one true religion.
斯蒂芬：（冷淡地——几近阴沉地）照您所说，似乎有很多道德准则和宗教信仰可以供人挑选，而非只有一种真正的道德准则和宗教信仰。
"UNDERSHAFT: For me there is only one true morality; but it might not fit you, as you do not manufacture aerial battleships. There is only one true morality for every man; but every man has not the same true morality.
安德谢夫：在我看来，真正的道德准则只有一个，但不一定适合你，这是因为你不制造空中战舰。对每个人而言，真正的道德准则都只有一个；但人与人的道德准则不尽相同。
"LOMAX: (overtaxed) Would you mind saying that again? I didn't quite follow it.
洛马克斯：（脑筋没有转过弯来）麻烦您再说一下吧？我实在没听懂您说的。
"CUSINS: It's quite simple. As Euripides says, one man's meat is another man's poison morally as well as physically.
库森斯：这很简单。正如欧里庇得斯说的，一个人眼中的肉，在别人眼里却是毒药，无论对身体还是精神来说，都是如此。
"UNDERSHAFT: Precisely.
安德谢夫：正是如此。
"LOMAX: Oh, that. Yes, yes, yes. True. True.
洛马克斯：噢，原来是这样。对，对，对。正确。正确。
"STEPHEN: In other words, some men are honest and some are scoundrels.
斯蒂芬：换而言之，有些人很诚实，有些人却是恶棍。
"BARBARA: Bosh. There are no scoundrels.
巴巴拉：胡扯。这里没有恶棍。
"UNDERSHAFT: Indeed? Are there any good men?
安德谢夫：真的？难道还有好人？
"BARBARA: No. Not one. There are neither good men nor scoundrels: there are just children of one Father; and the sooner they stop calling one another names the better. You needn't talk to me: I know them. I've had scores of them through my hands: scoundrels, criminals, infidels, philanthropists, missionaries, county councillors, all sorts. They're all just the same sort of sinner; and there's the same salvation ready for them all.
巴巴拉：没有，都没有。没有好人，也没有恶棍，大家不过是同一天父的孩子；大家越早停止这种相互谩骂的行为，就越好。您不必对我说，我明白他们。我跟好多人都打过交道，各种各样的人都有：恶棍、犯人、异教徒、慈善者、教士，还有县议员之类的。他们犯的罪其实是一样的，他们都能得到救赎。
"UNDERSHAFT: May I ask have you ever saved a maker of cannons?
安德谢夫：恕我冒昧地问问，你拯救过军火制造商吗？
"BARBARA: No. Will you let me try?
巴巴拉：还没有。您愿意让我试一试吗？
"UNDERSHAFT: Well, I will make a bargain with you. If I go to see you tomorrow in your Salvation Shelter, will you come the day after to see me in my cannon works?
安德谢夫：好吧，我来与你谈一桩买卖。我明天要是去你们救世军收容所看你，你后天是否愿意来我的军火工厂看我呢？
"BARBARA: Take care. It may end in your giving up the cannons for the sake of the Salvation Army.
巴巴拉：小心哦。结果可能是，你为了救世军，而放弃了军火。
"UNDERSHAFT: Are you sure it will not end in your giving up the Salvation Army for the sake of the cannons?
安德谢夫：你能肯定吗？难道结果不会是你为了军火而放弃救世军？
"BARBARA: I will take my chance of that.
巴巴拉：我愿意碰一碰运气。
"UNDERSHAFT: And I will take my chance of the other. (They shake hands on it.); Where is your shelter?
安德谢夫：我也愿意碰一碰运气。（两人握手，把此事定了下来。）你们收容所在哪里？
"BARBARA: In West Ham. At the sign of the cross. Ask anybody in Canning Town. Where are your works?
巴巴拉：在西哈姆。有十字架标记之处。到坎宁镇一问便知。您的工厂在哪里呢？
"UNDERSHAFT: In Perivale St Andrews. At the sign of the sword. Ask anybody in Europe.
安德谢夫：在圣安德鲁的佩里维尔。有刀剑标记之处。在欧洲一问便知。
"LOMAX: Hadn't I better play something?
洛马克斯：要不要我弹奏一曲啊？
"BARBARA: Yes. Give us Onward, Christian Soldiers.
巴巴拉：好。来一曲《基督士兵，向前进》吧。
"LOMAX: Well, that's rather a strong order to begin with, don't you know. Suppose I sing Thou'rt passing hence, my brother. It's much the same tune.
洛马克斯：一开始就弹这首，情绪有点太激昂了吧，你觉得呢？我看，我还是唱一首《我的兄弟，你正走过今生》。调子都差不多。
"BARBARA: It's too melancholy. You get saved, Cholly; and you'll pass hence, my brother, without making such a fuss about it.
巴巴拉：这首让人太伤感了。查理，你会得到救赎的；兄弟，你也将走过今生，但不要这样大惊小怪嘛。
"LADY BRITOMART: Really, Barbara, you go on as if religion were a pleasant subject. Do have some sense of propriety.
薄丽托玛太太：得啦，巴巴拉，你又来了，搞得好像宗教是个令人愉快的话题一样。请注意一下你的言行。
"UNDERSHAFT: I do not find it an unpleasant subject, my dear. It is the only one that capable people really care for.
安德谢夫：亲爱的，我可不觉得这个话题有什么让人不高兴的。只有这个话题，才是有能力的人真正喜欢的。
"LADY BRITOMART: (looking at her watch) Well, if you are determined to have it, I insist on having it in a proper and respectable way. Charles: ring for prayers. (General amazement. Stephen rises in dismay.);
薄丽托玛太太：（看看她的表）好吧，要是你们打定主意要谈论宗教，那我坚决要求在谈论的时候，必须正正经经、体体面面地。查尔斯，去打铃，该祈祷了。（全体愕然。斯蒂芬慌张地站了起来。）
"LOMAX: (rising) Oh I say!
洛马克斯：（站起来）哎哟！
"UNDERSHAFT: (rising) I am afraid I must be going.
安德谢夫：（站起来）抱歉，我要告辞了。
"LADY BRITOMART: You cannot go now, Andrew: it would be most improper. Sit down. What will the servants think?
薄丽托玛太太：安德鲁，现在你还不能走，这太不合礼仪了吧。坐下。仆人们会做何感想？
"UNDERSHAFT: My dear: I have conscientious scruples. May I suggest a compromise? If Barbara will conduct a little service in the drawingroom, with Mr Lomax as organist, I will attend it willingly. I will even take part, if a trombone can be procured.
安德谢夫：亲爱的，我良心会不安的。我提议咱们各退一步吧？如果让巴巴拉在客厅简简单单地主持一个仪式，由洛马克斯先生来当风琴手，我也就乐意参加。要是找得到长号的话，我还可以参与演奏呢。
"LADY BRITOMART: Don't mock, Andrew.
薄丽托玛太太：安德鲁，别开玩笑了。
"UNDERSHAFT: (shocked—to Barbara) You don't think I am mocking, my love, I hope.
安德谢夫：（惊讶——对巴巴拉）亲爱的，我希望，你不会认为我在开玩笑吧？
"BARBARA: No, of course not; and it wouldn't matter if you were: half the Army came to their first meeting for a lark. (Rising) Come along. Come, Dolly. Come, Cholly. (She goes out with Undershaft, who opens the door for her. Cusins rises.);
巴巴拉：不，当然不会；就算是也不要紧，有一半的救世军在第一次参加集会时，都是来找乐子的。（起身）过来吧。多利，来。查理，来呀。（安德谢夫为她打开门，和她一起走了出去。库森斯也站起来。）
"LADY BRITOMART: I will not be disobeyed by everybody. Adolphus: sit down. Charles: you may go. You are not fit for prayers: you cannot keep your countenance.
薄丽托玛太太：每个人都不听从我了，这可不行。阿道弗斯，坐下。查尔斯，你可以离开。你不适合参加祷告，你是根本就坐不住的。
"LOMAX: Oh I say! (He goes out.);
洛马克斯：哦，这我知道！（他走出去了。）
"LADY BRITOMART: (continuing) But you, Adolphus, can behave yourself if you choose to. I insist on your staying.
薄丽托玛太太：（继续）但是，阿道弗斯，只要你愿意，你是能管住自己的。我坚决要求你留下来。
"CUSINS: My dear Lady Brit: there are things in the family prayer book that I couldn't bear to hear you say.
库森斯：亲爱的薄丽托玛太太，您那本家庭祷告书上，有些话听您读起来，我实在不能忍受。
"LADY BRITOMART: What things, pray?
薄丽托玛太太：请问你，是哪些话？
"CUSINS: Well, you would have to say before all the servants that we have done things we ought not to have done, and left undone things we ought to have done, and that there is no health in us. I cannot bear to hear you doing yourself such an unjustice, and Barbara such an injustice. As for myself, I flatly deny it: I have done my best. I shouldn't dare to marry Barbara—I couldn't look you in the face—if it were true. So I must go to the drawingroom.
库森斯：好吧，你就非得在所有仆人面前，说我们做了什么不该做的事情，而该做的事情却又没有做，你还说，我们这些人都不健全。听着你这样不公正地谴责自己，还有巴巴拉，我实在忍受不了。就我自己而言，我断然否认这种谴责，我已经尽力了。要真是如此，我哪里还敢娶巴巴拉——我也不可能去面对您。这样看来，我还是去客厅算了。
"LADY BRITOMART: (offended) Well, go. (He starts for the door.); And remember this, Adolphus (he turns to listen): I have a very strong suspicion that you went to the Salvation Army to worship Barbara and nothing else. And I quite appreciate the very clever way in which you systematically humbug me. I have found you out. Take care Barbara doesn't. That's all.
薄丽托玛太太：（生气的）好，你出去吧。（他走向门口。）不过记住一点，阿道弗斯，（他回头来听）我真的很怀疑，你参加救世军不为别的，就是为了追求巴巴拉而已。不过我也非常欣赏，你敷衍我时所惯用的伎俩。我现在已经把你看透了。小心，巴巴拉也会把你看透的。就这样吧。
"CUSINS: (with unruffled sweetness) Don't tell on me. (He goes out.);
库森斯：（神色平静，显得亲切）不要说出去哦。（他走了出去。）
"LADY BRITOMART: Sarah: if you want to go, go. Anything's better than to sit there as if you wished you were a thousand miles away.
薄丽托玛太太：萨拉，如果你想离开，也离开吧。人是坐在那里，心却跑到千里之外去了，那还不如离开。
"SARAH: (languidly) Very well, mamma. (She goes.);
萨拉：（无精打采地）好吧，妈妈。（她也离开了。）
"(Lady Britomart, with a sudden flounce, gives way to a little gust of tears.);
（薄丽托玛太太身体忽然颤了一下，流出一股热泪。）
"STEPHEN: (going to her) Mother: what's the matter?
斯蒂芬：（朝她走过来）母亲，您没事吧？
"LADY BRITOMART: (swishing away her tears with her handkerchief) Nothing. Foolishness. You can go with him, too, if you like, and leave me with the servants.
薄丽托玛太太：（迅速用手帕擦掉眼泪）没什么。犯傻了。你想走的话，也跟他走吧，留我和仆人在这儿。
"STEPHEN: Oh, you mustn't think that, mother. I—I don't like him.
斯蒂芬：噢，您一定不要那样想，母亲。我——我又不喜欢他。
"LADY BRITOMART: The others do. That is the injustice of a woman's lot. A woman has to bring up her children; and that means to restrain them, to deny them things they want, to set them tasks, to punish them when they do wrong, to do all the unpleasant things. And then the father, who has nothing to do but pet them and spoil them, comes in when all her work is done and steals their affection from her.
薄丽托玛太太：其他人都喜欢。女人的命运就是这样不公平。女人必须抚养孩子；这就意味着要管束他们，对他们想做的事要拒绝，给他们安排任务，他们犯了错你得给他们处罚，所有这些讨厌的事，全都要去做。而父亲呢，什么都不用做，只管宠着他们、哄着他们，在母亲的任务完成之后闯进他们的生活，而孩子们对母亲的感情也被夺走了。
"STEPHEN: He has not stolen our affection from you. It is only curiosity.
斯蒂芬：他并没有夺走我们对你的感情。只不过是好奇而已。
"LADY BRITOMART: (violently) I won't be consoled, Stephen. There is nothing the matter with me. (She rises and goes towards the door.);
薄丽托玛太太：（粗暴地）斯蒂芬，你用不着安慰我。没什么大不了的。（她站起身来，走向门口。）
"STEPHEN: Where are you going, mother?
斯蒂芬：母亲，您要去哪里？
"LADY BRITOMART: To the drawingroom, of course. (She goes out. Onward, Christian Soldiers, on the concertina, with tambourine accompaniment, is heard when the door opens.); Are you coming, Stephen?
薄丽托玛太太：当然是去客厅了。（她走了出去。门一开，就传来手风琴弹奏的《基督士兵》，同时还有手鼓伴奏。）斯蒂芬，你要来吗？
"STEPHEN: No. Certainly not. (She goes. He sits down on the settee, with compressed lips and an expression of strong dislike.);
斯蒂芬：不，当然不来。（她离开了。他坐在长沙发上，嘴唇紧闭，脸上一副十分厌恶的神情。）
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