39天，《傲慢与偏见》女主母女6人期待什么？

文/liangchaoxford 广东凉茶煲牛津
一
这是第39篇阅读随笔。
继续阅读英文版《傲慢与偏见》。
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.
我把这段文字里陌生词汇给予简洁注释：
attacked：“攻击”，这里是“追问”。
various：“各种各样的”。
barefaced：“直白的、露骨的”。
ingenious：“巧妙的、机灵的”。
surmises：“猜测、推测”。
eluded：“躲避、回避”。
obliged：“被迫的、不得不的”。
intelligence：“信息、情报”。
neighbour：“邻居”。
favourable：“赞许的、有利的”。
delighted：“高兴的、愉快的”。
extremely：“极其、非常”。
crown：“为……加冕、圆满完成”。
assembly：“集会、聚会”。
这段英语文字比较长，生词较多，我读一遍是理解不来的，我先逐句拆解开给出对应的翻译，先把这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;
她们用尽各种方式对他展开“攻势”：直白的追问、巧妙的猜测，还有旁敲侧击的推断。
2. but he eluded the skill of them all;
可他却一一化解了她们的这些小伎俩。
3.and they were at last obliged to accept the second-hand intelligence of their neighbour Lady Lucas.
最后，母女们不得不接受邻居卢卡斯夫人带来的二手消息。
4. Her report was highly favourable. Sir William had been delighted with him.
她的评价全是溢美之词，威廉爵士对宾利先生赞不绝口。
5. He was quite young, wonderfully handsome, extremely agreeable,
说他年纪轻轻，相貌英俊非凡，为人又极其随和。
6. and to crown the whole, he meant to be at the next assembly with a large party.
更妙的是，他还打算带一大帮人去参加下一场舞会。
二
为了更好的理解这段文字，我逐句拆解做个赏读：
1. They attacked him in various ways;
“they”是贝内特一家，“attacked”原意是“攻击”，这里是“追问、打探”。
用“attacked”显示贝内特一家对宾利先生很好奇，把追问的程度具象化。
2. with barefaced questions, ingenious suppositions, and distant surmises;
介词短语作方式状语，列举三种打探手段：“barefaced questions”（直白的提问）、“ingenious suppositions”（巧妙的假设）、“distant surmises”（间接的猜测）。
三个并列短语显现贝内特一家的急切心态，为获取信息“挖空心思”。
3. but he eluded the skill of them all;
“eluded”，“躲避、回避”，“the skill of them all”指贝内特一家的打探技巧。
贝内特先生“eluded”的动作，显其冷静幽默，与前文“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“间接信息”。
5. Her report was highly favourable.
“favourable”意为“赞许的”。
“highly favourable”为宾利先生的形象增添正面色彩。
6. Sir William had been delighted with him.
过去完成时，强调威廉爵士对宾利的欣赏发生在“报告之前”。
通过第三方的“delighted”，印证宾利的魅力，增强信息可信度。
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）强调最后一点。
从年龄、外貌、性格到社交安排，全面勾勒宾利的“正面形象”，满足贝内特一家的好奇心。
可以看出这段文字的语言特点：
在用词上是精准的：
通过“attacked”“eluded”“favourable”等词，在幽默与讽刺中推进情节。
在结构上是多变的：
长短句结合，有列举的紧凑感，有转折的节奏感。
三
这段文字的阅读，我读出一个英文单词“Anticipation”（期待）。
1. They attacked him in various ways; with barefaced questions, ingenious suppositions, and distant surmises;
期待萌芽：客厅里，空气里飘着一丝若有若无的Anticipation（期待），缠在贝内特家母女的每一句话里。
这份anticipation，推着她们对着贝内特先生一阵输出：直白的追问（“宾利先生年收入多少？”）、巧妙的猜测（“他会不会喜欢简这样温顺的姑娘？”）……
2. but he eluded the skill of them all;
期待僵持：贝内特先生对着妻女的追问，用干巴巴的俏皮话和躲躲闪闪的笑来应对（he eluded the skill of them all）。
可anticipation这东西，贝内特太太和女儿们，想听贝内特先生多讲点，即使敷衍的回应都当成一根稻草似的有价值。
3. and they were at last obliged to accept the second-hand intelligence of their neighbour Lady Lucas. Her report was highly favourable.
期待爆发：卢卡斯夫人带来二手资讯时，Anticipation拉得满满，贝内特太太几乎是拉着她的手等答案。“Her report was highly favourable”（她的评价全是溢美之词），这话一出口，客厅里的人喜笑颜开。
4. Sir William had been delighted with him. He was quite young, wonderfully handsome, extremely agreeable,
期待升温：威廉爵士的赞赏、宾利的年轻、英俊、随和（he was quite young, wonderfully handsome, extremely agreeable），期待先是一股暖意，接着成了雀跃。
5. and to crown the whole, he meant to be at the next assembly with a large party.
期待沸腾：最后那笔是“锦上添花”，anticipation燃了起来：他要带一大帮人去下一场舞会（he meant to be at the next assembly with a large party）。贝内特家的姑娘们在舞会上，能亲眼看见宾利先生，还有机会说上话，有可能跳上一支舞呢。