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Mrs. Pontellier's eyes were quick and bright; they were a yellowish brown, about the color of her hair. She had a way of turning them swiftly upon an object and holding them there as if lost in some inward maze of contemplation or thought.
蓬迪里埃夫人的眼睛灵动而闪亮，棕黄的颜色接近于她的发色。她看东西时常常眼睛很快地转到这个东西上，然后又盯住它不动，好像陷入了内心的千思万绪之中。
Her eyebrows were a shade darker than her hair. They were thick and almost horizontal, emphasizing the depth of her eyes. She was rather handsome than beautiful. Her face was captivating by reason of a certain frankness of expression and a contradictory subtle play of features. Her manner was engaging.
她眉毛的颜色比发色深些。这又浓又直的眉毛使她的眼睛显得格外深邃。与其说她长得美丽，还不如说她长得俊俏。她有一张迷人的面庞，这是由于她表情坦率，神情难以捉摸而又微妙地变化着。她的确有着动人的风韵。
Robert rolled a cigarette. He smoked cigarettes because he could not afford cigars, he said. He had a cigar in his pocket which Mr. Pontellier had presented him with, and he was saving it for his after-dinner smoke.
罗伯特卷了一支烟。他抽自己卷的纸烟，他说这是因为他抽不起雪茄。他兜里有一支雪茄，是蓬迪里埃先生送给他的，他准备留着饭后抽。
This seemed quite proper and natural on his part. In coloring he was not unlike his companion. A clean-shaved face made the resemblance more pronounced than it would otherwise have been. There rested no shadow of care upon his open countenance. His eyes gathered in and reflected the light and languor of the summer day.
这对于他似乎是很正当且自然的事。在肤色上，他和他的同伴颇为相像。他的脸修得干干净净，使这种相像更加鲜明。从他那明朗的面容看他没有任何忧愁。他的眼睛聚集和反射着夏日的光辉与沉闷。
Mrs. Pontellier reached over for a palm-leaf fan that lay on the porch and began to fan herself, while Robert sent between his lips light puffs from his cigarette. They chatted incessantly: about the things around them; their amusing adventure out in the water-it had again assumed its entertaining aspect; about the wind, the trees, the people who had gone to the Cheniere; about the children playing croquet under the oaks, and the Farival twins, who were now performing the overture to "The Poet and the Peasant. "
蓬迪里埃夫人伸手拿起放在门廊上的棕榈叶扇子扇了起来。罗伯特则抽着烟，口吐阵阵轻烟。他们一直在聊天：谈到他们周围的琐事；谈到他们在水里的趣事--这件事现在好像又变得有意思起来；谈到风和树，还有那些去谢尼的人；谈到水栎树下玩槌球的孩子们，以及正在弹奏《诗人和农夫》序曲的法里瓦尔家的双胞胎。
Robert talked a good deal about himself. He was very young, and did not know any better. Mrs. Pontellier talked a little about herself for the same reason. Each was interested in what the other said. Robert spoke of his intention to go to Mexico in the autumn, where fortune awaited him. He was always intending to go to Mexico, but some way never got there. Meanwhile he held on to his modest position in a mercantile house in New Orleans, where an equal familiarity with English, French and Spanish gave him no small value as a clerk and correspondent.
罗伯特讲了很多他自己的事。他还相当年轻，懂得并不多。蓬迪里埃夫人出于同样的原因也只是讲了一点儿关于自己的事。他们彼此对对方说的都颇感兴趣。罗伯特讲到秋天他打算去墨西哥，在那儿他有发财的机会。他一直都想去墨西哥，但因为种种原因一直没去成。他现在在新奥尔良的一家商号拥有一个小职位，由于对英语、法语和西班牙语都同样精通，所以在那儿无论作为书记员还是联络员他都很受重视。
He was spending his summer vacation, as he always did, with his mother at Grand Isle. In former times, before Robert could remember, "the house" had been a summer luxury of the Lebruns. Now, flanked by its dozen or more cottages, which were always filled with exclusive visitors from the "Quartier Francais, " it enabled Madame Lebrun to maintain the easy and comfortable existence which appeared to be her birthright.
目前他像往常一样正在格兰德岛他母亲这里度暑假。以前，尚在罗伯特记事前，这座 “宅子” 曾是专门供勒布伦家来消夏的地方。现在它的两侧盖起了十几栋别墅，总是住满了只从法国居住区来的游客，因此勒布伦夫人仍然可以维持她安逸舒服的生活，过这种生活似乎是她与生俱来的权利。
Mrs. Pontellier talked about her father's Mississippi plantation and her girlhood home in the old Kentucky bluegrass country. She was an American woman, with a small infusion of French which seemed to have been lost in dilution. She read a letter from her sister, who was away in the East, and who had engaged herself to be married. Robert was interested, and wanted to know what manner of girls the sisters were, what the father was like, and how long the mother had been dead.
蓬迪里埃夫人讲起了她父亲在密西西比河上的庄园和她少女时期在熟悉的肯塔基州早熟禾草原地区的家。她是个美国女人，融入了一点法国血统，后来好像也被冲淡并消失了。她读了她妹妹从东方给她寄来的信。她的妹妹已经订婚了，并打算结婚。罗伯特很感兴趣，想知道她的姐妹们是什么样的女孩子，她的父亲又是什么样子，她的母亲去世多长时间了。
When Mrs. Pontellier folded the letter it was time for her to dress for the early dinner.
蓬迪里埃夫人把信收起来的时候，已经是该换衣服吃午饭的时间了。
"I see Leonce isn't coming back, " she said, with a glance in the direction whence her husband had disappeared. Robert supposed he was not, as there were a good many New Orleans club men over at Klein's.
“我看莱翁斯不会回来了。” 她边说边朝她丈夫离开的方向看了一眼。罗伯特也觉得他不会回来了，因为有很多新奥尔良俱乐部的男人都在克莱恩旅馆那儿。
When Mrs. Pontellier left him to enter her room, the young man descended the steps and strolled over toward the croquet players, where, during the half-hour before dinner, he amused himself with the little Pontellier children, who were very fond of him.
当蓬迪里埃夫人离开他进屋时，这个年轻人就下了台阶，踱步走到玩槌球的孩子们那儿。就在那儿，趁着午饭前的半个小时，他和蓬迪里埃家的小孩们玩了一会儿，孩子们都很喜欢他。
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