39天，《傲慢與偏見》女主母女6人期待什么？

文/liangchaoxford 廣東涼茶煲牛津
一
這是第39篇閱讀隨筆。
繼續(xù)閱讀英文版《傲慢與偏見》。
They attacked him in various ways; with barefaced questions, ingenious suppositions, and distant surmises; but he eluded the skill of them all; and they were at last obliged to accept the second-hand intelligence of their neighbour Lady Lucas. Her report was highly favourable. Sir William had been delighted with him. He was quite young, wonderfully handsome, extremely agreeable, and to crown the whole, he meant to be at the next assembly with a large party.
我把這段文字里陌生詞匯給予簡潔注釋：
attacked：“攻擊”，這里是“追問”。
various：“各種各樣的”。
barefaced：“直白的、露骨的”。
ingenious：“巧妙的、機靈的”。
surmises：“猜測、推測”。
eluded：“躲避、回避”。
obliged：“被迫的、不得不的”。
intelligence：“信息、情報”。
neighbour：“鄰居”。
favourable：“贊許的、有利的”。
delighted：“高興的、愉快的”。
extremely：“極其、非常”。
crown：“為……加冕、圓滿完成”。
assembly：“集會、聚會”。
這段英語文字比較長，生詞較多，我讀一遍是理解不來的，我先逐句拆解開給出對應的翻譯，先把這段文字描述的是什么弄明白。
1.They attacked him in various ways; with barefaced questions, ingenious suppositions, and distant surmises;
她們用盡各種方式對他展開“攻勢”：直白的追問、巧妙的猜測，還有旁敲側(cè)擊的推斷。
2. but he eluded the skill of them all;
可他卻一一化解了她們的這些小伎倆。
3.and they were at last obliged to accept the second-hand intelligence of their neighbour Lady Lucas.
最后，母女們不得不接受鄰居盧卡斯夫人帶來的二手消息。
4. Her report was highly favourable. Sir William had been delighted with him.
她的評價全是溢美之詞，威廉爵士對賓利先生贊不絕口。
5. He was quite young, wonderfully handsome, extremely agreeable,
說他年紀輕輕，相貌英俊非凡，為人又極其隨和。
6. and to crown the whole, he meant to be at the next assembly with a large party.
更妙的是，他還打算帶一大幫人去參加下一場舞會。
二
為了更好的理解這段文字，我逐句拆解做個賞讀：
1. They attacked him in various ways;
“they”是貝內(nèi)特一家，“attacked”原意是“攻擊”，這里是“追問、打探”。
用“attacked”顯示貝內(nèi)特一家對賓利先生很好奇，把追問的程度具象化。
2. with barefaced questions, ingenious suppositions, and distant surmises;
介詞短語作方式狀語，列舉三種打探手段：“barefaced questions”（直白的提問）、“ingenious suppositions”（巧妙的假設(shè)）、“distant surmises”（間接的猜測）。
三個并列短語顯現(xiàn)貝內(nèi)特一家的急切心態(tài)，為獲取信息“挖空心思”。
3. but he eluded the skill of them all;
“eluded”，“躲避、回避”，“the skill of them all”指貝內(nèi)特一家的打探技巧。
貝內(nèi)特先生“eluded”的動作，顯其冷靜幽默，與前文“attacked”形成反差。
4. and they were at last obliged to accept the second-hand intelligence of their neighbour Lady Lucas.
“obliged to”，“被迫”，“second-hand intelligence”指“間接信息”。
5. Her report was highly favourable.
“favourable”意為“贊許的”。
“highly favourable”為賓利先生的形象增添正面色彩。
6. Sir William had been delighted with him.
過去完成時，強調(diào)威廉爵士對賓利的欣賞發(fā)生在“報告之前”。
通過第三方的“delighted”，印證賓利的魅力，增強信息可信度。
7. He was quite young, wonderfully handsome, extremely agreeable, and to crown the whole, he meant to be at the next assembly with a large party.
并列句，用“and to crown the whole”（更重要的是）強調(diào)最后一點。
從年齡、外貌、性格到社交安排，全面勾勒賓利的“正面形象”，滿足貝內(nèi)特一家的好奇心。
可以看出這段文字的語言特點：
在用詞上是精準的：
通過“attacked”“eluded”“favourable”等詞，在幽默與諷刺中推進情節(jié)。
在結(jié)構(gòu)上是多變的：
長短句結(jié)合，有列舉的緊湊感，有轉(zhuǎn)折的節(jié)奏感。
三
這段文字的閱讀，我讀出一個英文單詞“Anticipation”（期待）。
1. They attacked him in various ways; with barefaced questions, ingenious suppositions, and distant surmises;
期待萌芽：客廳里，空氣里飄著一絲若有若無的Anticipation（期待），纏在貝內(nèi)特家母女的每一句話里。
這份anticipation，推著她們對著貝內(nèi)特先生一陣輸出：直白的追問（“賓利先生年收入多少？”）、巧妙的猜測（“他會不會喜歡簡這樣溫順的姑娘？”）……
2. but he eluded the skill of them all;
期待僵持：貝內(nèi)特先生對著妻女的追問，用干巴巴的俏皮話和躲躲閃閃的笑來應對（he eluded the skill of them all）。
可anticipation這東西，貝內(nèi)特太太和女兒們，想聽貝內(nèi)特先生多講點，即使敷衍的回應都當成一根稻草似的有價值。
3. and they were at last obliged to accept the second-hand intelligence of their neighbour Lady Lucas. Her report was highly favourable.
期待爆發(fā)：盧卡斯夫人帶來二手資訊時，Anticipation拉得滿滿，貝內(nèi)特太太幾乎是拉著她的手等答案。“Her report was highly favourable”（她的評價全是溢美之詞），這話一出口，客廳里的人喜笑顏開。
4. Sir William had been delighted with him. He was quite young, wonderfully handsome, extremely agreeable,
期待升溫：威廉爵士的贊賞、賓利的年輕、英俊、隨和（he was quite young, wonderfully handsome, extremely agreeable），期待先是一股暖意，接著成了雀躍。
5. and to crown the whole, he meant to be at the next assembly with a large party.
期待沸騰：最后那筆是“錦上添花”，anticipation燃了起來：他要帶一大幫人去下一場舞會（he meant to be at the next assembly with a large party）。貝內(nèi)特家的姑娘們在舞會上，能親眼看見賓利先生，還有機會說上話，有可能跳上一支舞呢。