傲慢与偏见

精读《傲慢与偏见》27：玛丽为什么越努力越尴尬？

玛丽急于展示才艺，反而暴露卖弄气；达西看着跳舞的人群，也把自己的傲慢说得更直接。

这一段来自《傲慢与偏见》第六章。这一段把两种“自以为高级”并排放在一起：玛丽用才艺证明自己，达西用蔑视证明品味。

English Text: Mary’s Pedantic Performance and Darcy’s Disdain

Her performance was pleasing, though by no means capital. After a song or two, and before she could reply to the entreaties of several that she would sing again, she was eagerly succeeded at the instrument by her sister Mary, who having, in consequence of being the only plain one in the family, worked hard for knowledge and accomplishments, was always impatient for display.

Mary had neither genius nor taste; and though vanity had given her application, it had given her likewise a pedantic air and conceited manner, which would have injured a higher degree of excellence than she had reached. Elizabeth, easy and unaffected, had been listened to with much more pleasure, though not playing half so well; and Mary, at the end of a long concerto, was glad to purchase praise and gratitude by Scotch and Irish airs, at the request of her younger sisters, who with some of the Lucases, and two or three officers, joined eagerly in dancing at one end of the room.

Mr. Darcy stood near them in silent indignation at such a mode of passing the evening, to the exclusion of all conversation, and was too much engrossed by his own thoughts to perceive that Sir William Lucas was his neighbour, till Sir William thus began:--

“What a charming amusement for young people this is, Mr. Darcy! There is nothing like dancing, after all. I consider it as one of the first refinements of polished societies.”

“Certainly, sir; and it has the advantage also of being in vogue amongst the less polished societies of the world: every savage can dance.”

中文翻译：玛丽的卖弄与达西的傲慢

她的演奏虽说不上顶好，但也悦耳动听。唱了一两支歌后，还没来得及回应众人请她再唱一曲的恳求，她的妹妹玛丽就迫不及待地接替坐到了琴前。玛丽因为是家里唯一长相平平的姑娘，所以发愤苦读，以此博取学识才艺，总是急于表现自己。

玛丽既无天赋，又无品味；虽因虚荣心作祟而勤学苦练，却也因此养成了一副卖弄学问、自以为是的派头，即便她造诣再高些，也会因此大打折扣，何况她并未达到那种高度。伊丽莎白从容大方，虽然琴技不及玛丽的一半，但人们听起来却感到愉快得多。玛丽弹完一首冗长的协奏曲后，应妹妹们的要求，弹起了苏格兰和爱尔兰小调，这才赢得了些许赞扬和感激。妹妹们正和卢卡斯家的几位，还有两三位军官，在屋子的一头兴致勃勃地跳起舞来。

达西先生站在旁边，默不作声，对这种只顾跳舞、完全排斥交谈的消遣方式感到愤慨。他沉浸在自己的思绪中，直到威廉·卢卡斯爵士开口说话，才发现爵士就在身旁：——

“达西先生，这对年轻人来说真是种迷人的娱乐啊！毕竟没有什么比跳舞更棒的了。我认为这是上流社会最高雅的才艺之一。”

“当然，爵士；而且这种娱乐在世上那些不那么开化的社会里也很流行：就连野蛮人都会跳舞。”

阅读提示：才艺展示，也可能变成人物暴露

这一段把两种“自以为高级”并排放在一起：玛丽用才艺证明自己，达西用蔑视证明品味。

奥斯汀的厉害之处，是她常常用社交动作写人物心理。一次拜访、一句玩笑、一个拒绝，表面是礼节，里面却有判断、阶层意识、自尊和误会。

这一段也可以当作阅读训练：先看谁在说话，再看这句话想达成什么效果，最后再回到具体英文词句。

重点词汇

entreaty /ɪnˈtriːti/ noun — 恳求，乞求
原文例句：She ignored his entreaties for forgiveness.

pedantic /pɪˈdæntɪk/ adj. — 卖弄学问的，迂腐的
原文例句：His lecture was so pedantic that the students fell asleep.

conceited /kənˈsiːtɪd/ adj. — 自负的，骄傲自大的
原文例句：He is too conceited to admit he was wrong.

engrossed /ɪnˈɡrəʊst/ adj. — 全神贯注的，专心致志的
原文例句：She was so engrossed in the book that she didn't hear the bell.

vogue /vəʊɡ/ noun/adj. — 流行，时髦
原文例句：Short hair is currently in vogue.

长难句解析

1. Mary, who having, in consequence of being the only plain one in the family, worked hard for knowledge and accomplishments, was always impatient for display.

说明：这是一个包含复杂插入语的长句。主语是Mary，谓语是was。Who引导非限制性定语从句修饰Mary。在从句中，having worked hard是现在分词完成式，中间插入了in consequence of...短语来解释她努力的原因。

结构：主语(Mary) + 定语从句[who + 分词短语(having... worked hard...) + 插入语(in consequence of...)] + 系动词(was) + 表语(impatient for display)

2. It had given her likewise a pedantic air and conceited manner, which would have injured a higher degree of excellence than she had reached.

说明：这里使用了which引导的非限制性定语从句，修饰前面的pedantic air and conceited manner。从句中使用了虚拟语气would have injured，表示“本会损害...”，暗示这种态度甚至会破坏比她实际拥有的更高的才华。

结构：主语(It) + 谓语(had given) + 间接宾语(her) + 直接宾语(a pedantic air...) + 定语从句(which would have injured...)

今日测验

Q1. Why did Mary Bennet work so hard to acquire knowledge and accomplishments?

A. She had a natural genius for music.
B. She wanted to compensate for being the only plain sister.
C. She was forced by her mother.
D. She wanted to become a music teacher.

Q2. How does Mr. Darcy respond to Sir William Lucas's praise of dancing?

A. He agrees politely and praises the dancers.
B. He remains silent and ignores him.
C. He sarcastically remarks that savages can also dance.
D. He asks Elizabeth to dance with him.