第49课

旁白 neutral

It is a good thing my aunt Harriet died years ago.

幸好我姑妈哈里特在多年前就去世了。

旁白 neutral

If she were alive today she would not be able to air her views on her favourite topic of conversation: domestic servants.

如果她今天还活着，她就不能再对她最喜欢的话题——佣人——发表意见了。

旁白 neutral

Aunt Harriet lived in that leisurely age when servants were employed to do housework.

哈里特姑妈生活在那个悠闲的时代，那时人们雇佣仆人来做家务。

旁白 neutral

She had a huge, rambling country house called 'The Gables'.

她有一幢名叫“山墙”的巨大而凌乱的乡村别墅。

旁白 neutral

She was sentimentally attached to this house,

她对这所房子感情深厚，

旁白 neutral

for even though it was far too big for her needs, she persisted in living there long after her husband's death.

因为尽管它对她来说太大了，但在她丈夫去世后很久，她仍然坚持住在那里。

旁白 neutral

Before she grew old, aunt Harriet used to entertain lavishly.

在她变老之前，哈里特姑妈经常大摆宴席。

旁白 neutral

I often visited The Gables when I was a boy.

我小时候经常去“山墙”探望。

旁白 neutral

No matter how many guests were present, the great house was always immaculate.

无论有多少客人，这幢大房子总是 immaculate（一尘不染的）。

旁白 neutral

The parquet floors shone like mirrors;

镶木地板擦得像镜子一样亮；

旁白 neutral

highly polished silver was displayed in gleaming glass cabinets;

擦得锃亮的银器摆放在闪闪发光的玻璃橱柜里；

旁白 neutral

even my uncle's huge collection of books was kept miraculously free from dust.

甚至我叔叔那一大批藏书也奇迹般地没有沾上一点灰尘。

旁白 neutral

Aunt Harriet presided over an invisible army of servants that continuously scrubbed, cleaned, and polished.

哈里特姑妈统管着一支无形的仆人队伍，他们不停地擦洗、清洁、打磨。

旁白 neutral

She always referred to them as 'the shifting population',

她总是称他们为“流动人口”，

旁白 neutral

for they came and went with such frequency that I never even got a chance to learn their names.

因为他们来去匆匆，我甚至都没机会记住他们的名字。

旁白 neutral

Though my aunt pursued what was, in those days an enlightened policy,

尽管我姑妈在那时实行着一项开明的政策，

旁白 neutral

in that she never allowed her domestic staff to work more than eight hours a day, she was extremely difficult to please.

即她从不允许她的家政人员每天工作超过八小时，但她还是非常难以取悦。

旁白 neutral

While she always criticized the fickleness of human nature,

虽然她总是批评人性的反复无常，

旁白 neutral

she carried on an unrelenting search for the ideal servant to the end of her days,

但她毕生都在不懈地寻找理想的仆人，

旁白 neutral

even after she had been sadly disillusioned by Bessie.

即使在她被贝茜伤透了心之后也是如此。

旁白 neutral

Bessie worked for aunt Harriet for three years.

贝茜为哈里特姑妈工作了三年。

旁白 neutral

During that time she so gained my aunt's confidence, that she was put in charge of the domestic staff.

在此期间，她深得姑妈的信任，被任命为家政人员的负责人。

旁白 neutral

Aunt Harriet could not find words to praise Bessie's industriousness and efficiency.

哈里特姑妈对贝茜的勤劳和效率赞不绝口。

旁白 neutral

In addition to all her other qualifications, Bessie was an expert cook.

除了她所有的其他优点，贝茜还是一位烹饪专家。

旁白 neutral

She acted the role of the perfect servant for three years before Aunt Harriet discovered her 'little weakness'.

她扮演了三年完美仆人的角色，直到哈里特姑妈发现了她的“小缺点”。

旁白 neutral

After being absent from The Gables for a week,

在离开“山墙”一周后，

旁白 neutral

my aunt unexpectedly returned one afternoon with a party of guests and instructed Bessie to prepare dinner.

姑妈在一个下午 unexpectedly（出乎意料地）带着一群客人回来了，并吩咐贝茜准备晚餐。

旁白 neutral

Not only was the meal well below the usual standard, but Bessie seemed unable to walk steadily.

晚餐不仅远低于平时的水准，而且贝茜似乎无法稳稳地走路。

旁白 neutral

She bumped into the furniture and kept mumbling about the guests.

她撞到了家具，嘴里不停地咕哝着关于客人的话。

旁白 neutral

When she came in with the last course--a huge pudding--she tripped on the carpet

当她端着最后一道菜——一个巨大的布丁——进来时，她在地毯上绊了一跤，

旁白 neutral

and the pudding went flying through the air, narrowly missed my aunt, and crashed on the dining table with considerable force.

布丁飞了起来，险些砸到我姑妈，然后重重地摔在了餐桌上。

旁白 neutral

Though this caused great mirth among the guests, Aunt Harriet was horrified.

尽管这让客人们大笑，但哈里特姑妈却吓坏了。

旁白 neutral

She reluctantly came to the conclusion that Bessie was drunk.

她 reluctantly（不情愿地）得出结论：贝茜喝醉了。

旁白 neutral

The guests had, of course, realized this from the moment Bessie opened the door for them and, long before the final catastrophe,

客人们当然从贝茜为他们开门的那一刻起就意识到了这一点，而且早在最后一场灾难发生之前，

旁白 neutral

had had a difficult time trying to conceal their amusement.

他们就一直在努力掩饰自己的 amused（好笑）。

旁白 neutral

The poor girl was dismissed instantly.

这个可怜的女孩被立刻解雇了。

旁白 neutral

After her departure, Aunt Harriet discovered that there were piles of empty wine bottles of all shapes and sizes neatly stacked in what had once been Bessie's wardrobe.

在她离开后，哈里特姑妈发现，曾是贝茜衣柜的地方，整齐地堆放着各种形状和大小的空酒瓶。

旁白 neutral

They had mysteriously found their way there from the wine cellar!

它们神秘地从酒窖里“溜”到了那里！