第十八章（第8/14页）

"Then we can't be together?" she said.

“那么说，咱俩要分开一段时间？”她问。

"Not for six months or so. But I think my divorce will go through in September; then till March." "But the baby will probably be born at the end of February," she said.

“大约六个月左右。但我想离婚的事九月便能被受理，等到明年三月就行。”“可宝宝二月底可能就会降生。”她说。

He was silent.

他默不作声。

"I could wish the Cliffords and Berthas all dead," he said.

“我多希望克利福德和贝莎这号人都死光光。”他说。

"It's not being very tender to them," she said.

“这样对他们可缺乏柔情。”她说。

"Tender to them? Yea, even then the tenderest thing you could do for them, perhaps, would be to give them death. They can't live! They only frustrate life. Their souls are awful inside them. Death ought to be sweet to them. And I ought to be allowed to shoot them.” "But you wouldn't do it," she said.

“对他们报以柔情？是呀，给他们最大的柔情，或许就是送他们去死。他们不可以留在这世上！他们只会成为生活的阻碍。他们的灵魂丑陋无比。死亡已是他们最美妙的结局。真应该让我结束他们的性命。”“可你不会那样做的。”她说。

"I would though! and with less qualms than I shoot a weasel. It anyhow has a prettiness and a loneliness. But they are legion. Oh, I'd shoot them.” "Then perhaps it is just as well you daren't.” "Well." Connie had now plenty to think of. It was evident he wanted absolutely to be free of Bertha Coutts. And she felt he was right. The last attack had been too grim—— This meant her living alone, till spring. Perhaps she could get divorced from Clifford. But how? If Mellors were named, then there was an end to his divorce. How loathsome! Couldn't one go right away, to the far ends of the earth, and be free from it all? One could not. The far ends of the world are not five minutes from Charing Cross, nowadays. While the wireless is active, there are no far ends of the earth. Kings of Dahomey and Lamas of Tibet listen in to London and New York.

“我会的！射杀黄鼠狼或许我还会有所犹豫。毕竟这种动物还拥有某种孤寂的美。可他们确实随处可见的人渣。噢，我要崩了他们。”“或许你不敢这样做。”“呵。”康妮现在有太多事情要费神。很明显，他的的确确想要摆脱贝莎·库茨。她也认同他的想法。最后的斗争总是异常残酷——这意味着她要独自过活，等待春天的来临。或许她也可以跟克利福德离婚。可到底要怎么做呢？如果说出梅勒斯的名字，那么他离婚的事也会随之告吹。真可恶！难道就不能远遁他乡，逃到天涯海角，摆脱这一切吗？不能这么做。今时今日，天涯海角距离查灵街不过五分钟的距离。只要有无线电通讯，天涯不过咫尺。无论达荷美（注：贝宁的旧称）的国王，还是西藏的喇嘛，都听得到伦敦和纽约的电波。

Patience! Patience! The world is a vast and ghastly intricacy of mechanism, and one has to be very wary, not to get mangled by it.

忍耐！忍耐！辽阔的世界就像错综复杂的机械系统，必须谨小慎微，否则就会被碾成齑粉。

Connie confided in her father.

康妮向父亲倾吐心事。

"You see, Father, he was Clifford's game-keeper: but he was an officer in the army in India. Only he is like Colonel C. E. Florence, who preferred to become a private soldier again.”

“听着，爸爸，他是克利福德的守林人，但曾经在印度做过军官。可他就像C.E.弗洛伦斯上校，渴望重新做回二等兵。”

Sir Malcolm, however, had no sympathy with the unsatisfactory mysticism of the famous C. E. Florence. He saw too much advertisement behind all the humility. It looked just like the sort of conceit the knight most loathed, the conceit of self-abasement.

可惜，对于梅勒斯关于那个著名的C.E.弗洛伦斯上校的、不知满足的空想，马尔科姆爵士并无任何好感。他觉得那谦逊外表的背后，藏着的更多是自我标榜。似乎这种自负，名贬实褒的自负，恰恰是老爵士最为厌恶的。

"Where did your game-keeper spring from?" asked Sir Malcolm irritably.

“你的守林人从哪里蹦出来的？”马尔科姆爵士气冲冲地问。

"He was a collier's son in Tevershall. But he's absolutely presentable.” The knighted artist became more angry.

“他父亲在特弗沙尔做矿工。可他绝非平庸之辈。”爵士艺术家简直暴跳如雷。

"Looks to me like a gold-digger," he said. "And you're a pretty easy gold-mine, apparently.” "No, Father, it's not like that. You'd know if you saw him. He's a man. Clifford always detested him for not being humble.” "Apparently he had a good instinct, for once." What Sir Malcolm could not bear was the scandal of his daughter's having an intrigue with a game-keeper. He did not mind the intrigue: he minded the scandal.