雙語小說連載:《董貝父子》第11章 Part 7大綱
Miss Blimber, too, although a slim and graceful maid, did no soft violence to the gravity of the house. There was no light nonsense about Miss Blimber. She kept her hair short and crisp, and wore spectacles. She was dry and sandy with working in the graves of deceased languages. None of your live languages for Miss Blimber. They must be dead - stone dead - and then Miss Blimber dug them up like a Ghoul.
Mrs Blimber, her Mama, was not learned herself, but she pretended to be, and that did quite as well. She said at evening parties, that if she could have known Cicero, she thought she could have died contented. It was the steady joy of her life to see the Doctor's young gentlemen go out walking, unlike all other young gentlemen, in the largest possible shirt-collars, and the stiffest possible cravats. It was so classical, she said.
她的媽媽布林伯夫人本人並沒有學問，但是她卻裝出有學問的樣子，而且裝得還不壞。她在一些晚會上說，如果她能認識西塞羅①的話，那麼她想她就能甘心滿意地死去了。她的永不改變的生活樂趣就是看着博士手下的年輕的先生們，與其他年輕人不一樣，敞開大得不能再大的襯衫領子，佩戴着硬得不能再硬的領帶，出去散步。她說，那是古典式的。As to Mr Feeder, B.A., Doctor Blimber's assistant, he was a kind of human barrel-organ, with a little list of tunes at which he was continually working, over and over again, without any variation. He might have been fitted up with a change of barrels, perhaps, in early life, if his destiny had been favourable; but it had not been; and he had only one, with which, in a monotonous round, it was his occupation to bewilder the young ideas of Doctor Blimber's young gentlemen. The young gentlemen were prematurely full of carking anxieties. They knew no rest from the pursuit of stony-hearted verbs, savage noun-substantives, inflexible syntactic passages, and ghosts of exercises that appeared to them in their dreams. Under the forcing system, a young gentleman usually took leave of his spirits in three weeks. He had all the cares of the world on his head in three months. He conceived bitter sentiments against his parents or guardians in four; he was an old misanthrope, in five; envied Curtius that blessed refuge in the earth, in six; and at the end of the first twelvemonth had arrived at the conclusion, from which he never afterwards departed, that all the fancies of the poets, and lessons of the sages, were a mere collection of words and grammar, and had no other meaning in the world.
至於布林格博士的助手、文學士菲德先生，他是一個人爲的手搖風琴；他根據一份小小的曲調目錄，一遍又一遍、毫無變化地演奏着。如果他的命運好的話，那麼他可能在早年就裝備好一個備用的手搖風琴；但是他的命運不好，他只有他本人這個手搖風琴，他的職業就是用這個單調的圓筒來迷糊博士手下的這些年輕的先生們的年輕的思想。這些年輕的先生們過早地操心、憂慮。鐵石心腸的動詞、殘暴粗野的名詞、毫不通融的句法，以及出現在他們夢中的練習的魔鬼在追趕着他們，使他們得不到休息；在催熟的制度下，一位年輕的先生通常在三個星期以後就失去了朝氣；他在三個月以後就爲世界上各種事情操心；他在四個月以後對他的父母和監護人懷着怨恨的情緒；他在五個月以後成了個老厭世者；他在六個月以後羨慕庫爾提烏斯②幸運地遁身在地中；他在頭十二個月末尾的時候得出結論：詩篇中的幻想和聖人的教訓只不過是詞與語法的彙集，在世界上沒有其他意義；從此以後他就再也沒有拋棄過這個結論。
But he went on blow, blow, blowing, in the Doctor's hothouse, all the time; and the Doctor's glory and reputation were great, when he took his wintry growth home to his relations and friends.
可是他在博士的溫室中一直繼續生長着，生長着，生長着。當他把他冬天生長出的產品帶回家中，呈現在他的親友面前時，博士就得到了極大的光榮與聲譽。Upon the Doctor's door-steps one day, Paul stood with a fluttering heart, and with his small right hand in his father's. His other hand was locked in that of Florence. How tight the tiny pressure of that one; and how loose and cold the other!
有一天，保羅懷着一顆忐忑不安的心，由他父親握着小小的右手，站立在博士的門階上。他的另一隻手由弗洛論斯緊緊地握在她的手中。那隻小手是握得多麼緊，而另一隻手是多麼鬆馳與冷淡呵！Mrs Pipchin hovered behind the victim, with her sable plumage and her hooked beak, like a bird of ill-omen. She was out of breath - for Mr Dombey, full of great thoughts, had walked fast - and she croaked hoarsely as she waited for the opening of the door.
皮普欽太太像只兇鳥，長着烏黑的羽毛和鉤狀的喙，在他的犧牲品後面盤旋。因爲董貝先生腦子裏在思考重大的事情，走得很快，所以她走得上氣不接下氣；當等着開門的時候，她嘶啞地發出了哭喪的聲音。'Now, Paul,' said Mr Dombey, exultingly. 'This is the way indeed to be Dombey and Son, and have money. You are almost a man already.'
“保羅，”董貝先生喜不自勝地說道。“這就是真正通向董貝父子和有錢的道路。你幾乎已成爲一個大人了。”'Almost,' returned the child.
“幾乎，”孩子回答道。--------①西塞羅（MarcusTulliusCicero）（公元前106—43年）：古羅馬政治家、雄辯家和著作家。②庫爾提烏斯（MarcusCurtius）：據古羅馬神話傳說，公元前362年，羅馬廣場裂開一條無底深溝；預言師說，只有把羅馬最寶貴的東西扔下去，裂縫才能重新合攏。這時年輕人庫爾提烏斯宣稱，沒有什麼能比一個勇敢的公民更可寶貴的了，於是他全副武裝跳下了深溝。他剛一跳下，裂縫就立即重新合攏。後來這處地方變成了一片池塘，稱爲庫爾提烏斯湖（LacusCurtius）。
註釋：spectacle n. 景象，奇觀；眼鏡；引人羨慕的人
spectacle frame 眼鏡架；雙孔構架
例句：
(1) This is a moving spectacle.
這是一個感人的場面。
(2) It was a moving spectacle.
這是個另人感動的景象。
(3) She stand there and survey the spectacle.
她站在那兒，看着這壯觀的景象。
(4) Ordinary citizens had to watch the spectacle on television.
普通公民只能在電視上觀看慶典。
(5) The spectacle is viewed by other patrons of the restaurant.
飯店的其他顧客都會嘲笑這種情況。
(6) She did not scream or shout or otherwise make a spectacle of herself.
她沒有尖叫和大叫，否則她會出自己的洋相的。
(7) A magnificent spectacle spread itself out before the eyes of the travellers.
在旅行者們的眼前，展開一幅多麼美妙的圖畫呀！
(8) The stranger paused a moment in revery before this tender and calming spectacle.
這個異鄉人在那種溫柔寧靜的景物前出了一會神。
conceive vt. 懷孕；構思；以爲；持有
vi. 懷孕；設想；考慮
[ 過去式conceived 過去分詞conceived 現在分詞conceiving ]
conceive of 設想；想象
例句：
(1) James Bond:Oh, I conceive you.
詹姆斯·邦德：哦，我相信。
(2) Conceive it first in your own mind.
在你自己的腦海裏設想一下。
(3) How do you conceive we got here?
“你覺得我們是怎麼到這裏的？”
(4) No one could conceive of his hard work.
沒人能設想他工作的辛苦。
(5) When did scientists conceive of space travel?
科學家們什麼時候設想出太空旅行的?。
(6) I simply refuse to conceive of such a solution.
這樣的解決辦法，我是絕對不考慮的。
(7) It's difficult to conceive of living on the moon.
很難想像在月球上生活。
(8) I can't conceive where he came up with that idea.
我想不出他是怎麼想到這個主意的。
(9) How could you conceive of his granting the demand?
你怎麼竟會認爲他可能批准這個要求呢？
(10) I cannot conceive of such a thing happening again.
我不能想像這種事會再發生。
