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'You run round to the office, first of all, and see if he's there,' said Captain Cuttle, clapping him on the back. 'Quick!'
“你首先跑到公司的办公室里去，看他是不是在那里，”卡特尔船长拍拍他的背，说道，“快！”
Walter felt he must not dispute the command - a glance at his Uncle would have determined him if he had felt otherwise- and disappeared to execute it. He soon returned, out of breath, to say that Mr Dombey was not there. It was Saturday, and he had gone to Brighton.
沃尔特觉得他不应当违抗这个命令，——如果他不是这样想的话，那么只要向他舅舅看一眼也就可以使他下定这个决心了——，所以就立刻离开家里前去执行任务。不久他气喘吁吁地回来了，说董贝先生不在那里。今天是星期六，他到布赖顿去了。
'I tell you what, Wal'r!' said the Captain, who seemed to have prepared himself for this contingency in his absence.'We'll go to Brighton. I'll back you, my boy. I'll back you, Wal'r. We'll go to Brighton by the afternoon's coach.'
“我跟你说，沃尔！”船长说道；他似乎在沃尔特离开的时候已经为这种意外情况作好了准备。“我们到布赖顿去。我支持你，我的孩子。我支持你，沃尔。我们搭乘下午的公共马车到布赖顿去。”
If the application must be made to Mr Dombey at all, which was awful to think of, Walter felt that he would rather prefer it alone and unassisted, than backed by the personal influence of Captain Cuttle, to which he hardly thought Mr Dombey would attach much weight. But as the Captain appeared to be of quite another opinion, and was bent upon it, and as his friendship was too zealous and serious to be trifled with by one so much younger than himself, he forbore to hint the least objection. Cuttle, therefore, taking a hurried leave of Solomon Gills, and returning the ready money, the teaspoons, the sugar-tongs, and the silver watch, to his pocket - with a view, as Walter thought, with horror, to making a gorgeous impression on Mr Dombey - bore him off to the coach-office, with- out a minute's delay, and repeatedly assured him, on the road, that he would stick by him to the last.
如果真要向董贝先生提出请求的话——想到这一点都是可怕的——，那么沃尔特觉得，他宁肯自己单枪匹马、不要别人帮助去做，而不要在卡特尔船长的个人影响支持下去做；他预料董贝先生对卡特尔船长不会很重视。可是船长似乎有着另外不同的看法，十分坚决，毫不动摇，而且他的友谊是那么热诚、真挚，一个年纪比他小许多的人是决不应该藐视的，所以沃尔特克制着自己，丝毫没有作出反对的暗示。因此，卡特尔船长匆匆忙忙地告别了所罗门·吉尔斯，把现钱、茶匙、方糖箝子和银表装回到衣袋里——沃尔特惊恐地想到，他的目的是想使董贝先生留下一个豪华的印象——，片刻也不迟延地领着他向公共马车营业处走去，一路上再三对他保证说，他一定会支持他，直到最后。
Major Bagstock, after long and frequent observation of Paul, across Princess's Place, through his double-barrelled opera-glass; and after receiving many minute reports, daily, weekly, and monthly, on that subject, from the native who kept himself in constant communication with Miss Tox's maid for that purpose; came to the conclusion that Dombey,Sir, was a man to be known, and that J. B. was the boy to make his acquaintance.
白格斯托克少校通过他的看戏用的双筒小望远镜，越过公主广场对保罗进行了长久与频繁的观察之后，在每天、每周、每月从本地人（他为了这个目的与托克斯小姐的女仆经常交往）那里得到有关这个问题的许多详细的报告之后，得出结论说，董贝先生是一位值得结识的人，乔·白是一位设法要与他结识的后生。
Miss Tox, however, maintaining her reserved behaviour, and frigidly declining to understand the Major whenever he called (which he often did) on any little fishing excursion connected with this project, the Major, in spite of his constitutional toughness and slyness, was fain to leave the accomplishment of his desire in some measure to chance,'which,' as he was used to observe with chuckles at his club, 'has been fifty to one in favour of Joey B., Sir, ever since his elder brother died of Yellow Jack in the West Indies.'
可是托克斯小姐一直保持着疏远的态度，少校每次为了这个目的对她进行摸底，想从她那里哄骗出一些有关的情况（他时常这样做）时，她都冷淡地表示她不想弄明白他的意思，所以少校虽然生性坚强不屈，非常狡猾，也不得不把实现他的愿望这件事多少听随机会去摆布了。“先生，”他常常在俱乐部里谈到他的机会时，吃吃地笑着说，“自从他的哥哥在西印度群岛因为黄热病死了之后，五十比一的机会是对乔埃·白有利的。” |
