Thus arrested on the threshold as he was following his wife out of the room, Toodle returned and confronted Mr Dombey alone. He was a strong, loose, round-shouldered, shuffling, shaggy fellow, on whom his clothes sat negligently: with a good deal of hair and whisker, deepened in its natural tint, perhaps by smoke and coal-dust: hard knotty hands: and a square forehead, as coarse in grain as the bark of an oak. A thorough contrast in all respects, to Mr Dombey, who was one of those close-shaved close-cut moneyed gentlemen who are glossy and crisp like new bank-notes, and who seem to be artificially braced and tightened as by the stimulating action of golden showerbaths.
当图德尔跟着他的妻子正要走出房间的时候,他就这样在门口被喊住了。他走回来,单独面对着董贝先生。他是个身强力壮、自由散漫、后背驼曲 、行动笨拙、毛发蓬松的人,他的衣服随随便便地搭在身上;头发和连鬓胡子又长又密,也许由于烟与煤粉的关系,比自然的颜色更为浓黑;手上 长着厚茧和好多疖疤;方方的前额,上面的纹理就像树皮一样粗糙。他与董贝先生在所有方面都形成了鲜明的对照:董贝先生是位胡子刮得干干净净、头发剪得整整齐齐、钱财富有的上流社会人士,像崭新的钞票一样富有光泽,清脆有声;他似乎经过黄金淋浴这个使人激励精神的行动之后, 已经被人为地绷紧和振奋起来了。
'You have a son, I believe?' said Mr Dombey.
'Four on 'em, Sir. Four hims and a her. All alive!'
'Why, it's as much as you can afford to keep them!' said Mr Dombey.
'I couldn't hardly afford but one thing in the world less, Sir.'
'What is that?'
'To lose 'em, Sir.'
'Can you read?' asked Mr Dombey.
“我想您有一个儿子吧?”董贝先生问道。
“有四个,先生。四个小子,一个闺女,全都活着!”
“唔,您把他们全养下来了,总算还经受得起!”董贝先生说道。
“在这世界上我有一件事经受不起,先生。”
“什么事?”
“失去他们,先生。”
“您能念书吗?”董贝先生问道。
'Why, not partickler, Sir.'
'Write?'
'With chalk, Sir?'
'With anything?'
'I could make shift to chalk a little bit, I think, if I was put to it,' said Toodle after some reflection.
'And yet,' said Mr Dombey, 'you are two or three and thirty, I suppose?'
'Thereabouts, I suppose, Sir,' answered Toodle, after more reflection.
“唔,勉勉强强能念一点儿,先生。”
“写字呢?”
“用粉笔吗,先生?”
“不论用什么。”
“我想,如果非要我写不行的话,那么我也能用粉笔对付着写一点儿,”图德尔沉思了一会儿,说道。
“不过,”董贝先生说道,“我想,您今年已有三十二、三岁了吧?”
“我想,大概是这么个岁数,先生,”图德尔比刚才沉思得长久一些之后,说道。
'Then why don't you learn?' asked Mr Dombey.
'So I'm a going to, Sir. One of my little boys is a going to learn me, when he's old enough, and been to school himself.'
'Well,' said Mr Dombey, after looking at him attentively, and with no great favour, as he stood gazing round the room (principally round the ceiling) and still drawing his hand across and across his mouth. 'You heard what I said to your wife just now?'
“那么您为什么不学习呢?”董贝先生问道。
“是的,我准备学,先生。我有一个小男孩,等他长大上学以后,他将会教我。”
“唔,”董贝先生聚精会神地对他注视之后说道;他对他没有产生很大的好感,因为他站在那里,眼睛在房间里四处张望(主要是在天花板上溜来溜去),同时依旧不时抽出手来捂着嘴巴哈气。
“我刚才对您妻子说的话,您听到了吗?”
注释:a good deal of: 大量的;很多的
例句:
1. I have given this matter a good deal of think but we cannot promise you 3 million dollars loan.
我已再三考虑过这件事,但是我们不能答应给您三百万美元贷款。
2. He chose to spend a good deal of that money building his home in North Carolina.
他决定在北卡罗来纳州,花巨资建一所房子。