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'I say, Uncle! You musn't really, you know!' urged Walter. 'Don't!'
“我说，舅舅！你真不应该这么说，你知道！”沃尔特劝说道。“别那么说了！”
Old Sol endeavoured to assume a cheery look, and smiled across the little table at him as pleasantly as he could.
老所尔努力装出一副高兴的神色，向桌子对面的他尽量愉快地微笑着。
'There's nothing more than usual the matter; is there, Uncle?' said Walter, leaning his elbows on the tea tray, and bending over, to speak the more confidentially and kindly. 'Be open with me, Uncle, if there is, and tell me all about it.'
“没有发生跟往常不同的什么事吧，是不是，舅舅？”沃尔特把两只胳膊肘支在茶盘上，身子向前弯过去，更加亲密、更加亲切地说道：“别对我瞒什么，舅舅，如果发生了什么事情，那么请把一切都告诉我。”
'No, no, no,' returned Old Sol. 'More than usual? No, no. What should there be the matter more than usual?'
“没有，没有，没有，”老所尔回答道。“跟往常有什么不同的事吗？没有，没有，会发生跟往常不同的什么事情呢？”
Walter answered with an incredulous shake of his head. 'That's what I want to know,' he said, 'and you ask me! I'll tell you what, Uncle, when I see you like this, I am quite sorry that I live with you.'
沃尔特表示不大相信地摇摇头，作为回答。“这就是我想要知道的，”他说道，“可是你却问我！我将告诉你，舅舅，当我看到你这种样子的时候，我就会因为跟你住在一起而感到十分遗憾。”
Old Sol opened his eyes involuntarily.
老所尔不自觉地张开了眼睛。
'Yes. Though nobody ever was happier than I am and always have been with you, I am quite sorry that I live with you, when I see you with anything in your mind.'
“是的，虽然没有什么人能比我现在更幸福，而且我跟你在一起一直是幸福的，可是每当我看到你有什么心事的时候，我就会因为和你住在一起而感到十分遗憾。”
'I am a little dull at such times, I know,' observed Solomon, meekly rubbing his hands.
“我知道，我在这种时候有些沉闷，”所罗门温和地搓着手，说道。
'What I mean, Uncle Sol,' pursued Walter, bending over a little more to pat him on the shoulder, 'is, that then I feel you ought to have, sitting here and pouring out the tea instead of me, a nice little dumpling of a wife, you know, - a comfortable, capital, cosy old lady, who was just a match for you, and knew how to manage you, and keep you in good heart. Here am I, as loving a nephew as ever was (I am sure I ought to be!) but I am only a nephew, and I can't be such a companion to you when you're low and out of sorts as she would have made herself, years ago, though I'm sure I'd give any money if I could cheer you up. And so I say, when I see you with anything on your mind, that I feel quite sorry you haven't got somebody better about you than a blundering young rough-and-tough boy like me, who has got the will to console you, Uncle, but hasn't got the way - hasn't got the way,' repeated Walter, reaching over further yet, to shake his Uncle by the hand.
“我想要说的是，所尔舅舅，”沃尔特把身子往前再弯过去一点，好拍拍他的肩膀，“这种时候我就觉得你应当有一位和善的、矮小的、胖乎乎的妻子，而不是我跟你坐在一起，给你倒茶；你知道，——她是一位贤惠的、能使你感到愉快的、和你情投意合的老太太，跟你正好相配；她知道怎样照顾你，让你心情舒畅。可是现在却是我在这里；我是一个很爱你的外甥（我相信我应当是！），可是我只是一个外甥；当你闷闷不乐，心绪不佳的时候，我就不能成为像她那样几年前就知道怎么做的伴侣了，虽然我相信，如果我能使你高兴起来，那么要我拿出多少钱来我都是愿意的。所以我说，每当我看到你有什么心事，而除了像我这样一个常常出漏子的粗鲁小伙子外，你没有一个更好的人在身旁的时候，我就感到很遗憾。我倒有意安慰安慰你，舅舅，可是我不知道该怎么办才好——不知道怎么办才好。”沃尔特重复说了一句，一边把身子向前再弯过去一些，好和他的舅舅握握手。
'Wally, my dear boy,' said Solomon, 'if the cosy little old lady had taken her place in this parlour five and forty years ago, I never could have been fonder of her than I am of you.'
“沃利，我亲爱的孩子，”所罗门说道，“如果那位和我情投意合的、矮小的老太太在四十五年前就在这客厅里占据了她的位置，那么我也决不会像我现在这样喜欢你一样地喜欢她的。”
'I know that, Uncle Sol,' returned Walter. 'Lord bless you, I know that. But you wouldn't have had the whole weight of any uncomfortable secrets if she had been with you, because she would have known how to relieve you of 'em, and I don't.'
“我知道这一点，所尔舅舅，”沃尔特回答道。“上帝保佑你，我知道这一点。可是如果她跟你在一起，那么你有了不好对外人说的不称心的事情，你就不会承担它的全部负担了，因为她知道怎样让你把它们解脱掉的，而我就不知道了。” |
