狄更斯雙語小說:《董貝父子》第34章Part6

'The only care she knew,' returned the daughter, 'was to be beaten, and stinted, and abused sometimes; and she might have done better without that. She lived in homes like this, and in the streets, with a crowd of little wretches like herself; and yet she brought good looks out of this childhood. So much the worse for her. She had better have been hunted and worried to death for ugliness.'
'Go on! go on!' exclaimed the mother.
'I am going on,' returned the daughter. 'There was a girl cAlled Alice Marwood. She was handsome. She was taught too late, and taught all wrong. She was too well cared for, too well trained, too well helped on, too much looked after. You were very fond of her - you were better off then. What came to that girl comes to thousands every year. It was only ruin, and she was born to it.'
'After all these years!' whined the old woman. 'My gal begins with this.'
'She'll soon have ended,' said the daughter. 'There was a criminal called Alice Marwood - a girl still, but deserted and an outcast. And she was tried, and she was sentenced. And lord, how the gentlemen in the Court talked about it! and how grave the judge was on her duty, and on her having perverted the gifts of nature - as if he didn't know better than anybody there, that they had been made curses to her! - and how he preached about the strong arm of the Law - so very strong to save her, when she was an innocent and helpless little wretch! - and how solemn and religious it all was! I have thought of that, many times since, to be sure!'
She folded her arms tightly on her breast, and laughed in a tone that made the howl of the old woman musical.

“她所得到的唯一的照顧，”女兒回答道，”就是有時捱打，捱餓和捱罵；要是沒有這種照顧，她可能反會好一些。她住在這樣家裏和住在街上，跟一羣像她一樣可憐的孩子一起生活；可是儘管度過了這樣的童年時代，她卻還是長成了一個美人兒。這對她更糟了。她寧肯由於長得醜陋而被迫害和虐待一輩子。”
“說下去！說下去！”母親大聲喊道。
“我正在說下去，”女兒回答道，”從前有一個女孩子，名叫艾麗斯?馬伍德。她長得漂亮。她受到教育太晚了，而且受的全是錯誤的教育。她受到了太多的關心，受到了太好的訓練，得到了太多的幫助，受到了太周到的照顧。你很喜歡她--那時你的生活富裕起來了。在這女孩子身上發生的事情，每年在成千個女孩子身上發生。這只是墮落，她是爲這而生下來的。”
“經過這許多年頭以後！”老太婆怨訴道，”我的女兒就這樣開始！”
“她很快就要講完了，”女兒說道。”從前有一個罪犯，名叫艾麗斯?馬伍德--那時她還是個女孩子，可是卻已經被人遺棄了，扔掉了。對她進行了審訊，將她判了刑。天主呀，那些法庭上的大人先生們是怎樣議論這件事情的！法官是怎樣談到她的責任，談到她誤用了天賦的資質，彷彿他不如其他人清楚：這些天賦的資質已成了她的禍根！他又怎樣宣講着法律強有力的臂膀--是的，當她還是個天真爛漫、無依無靠的小可憐蟲的時候，這臂膀是這麼強有力地來拯救她！這一切又是多麼莊嚴與虔誠！真的，從那時候起，我好多次地想到這些！”
她把胳膊緊緊地交叉在胸前，高聲大笑起來；跟她這種笑聲相比，老太婆的嚎啕大哭倒顯得是優美悅耳的音樂了。