狄更斯雙語小說:《董貝父子》第14章Part17

From his nest among the pillows, Paul could see and hearalmosteverything that passed as if the whole were being done for his amusement. Among other little incidents that he observed, he observed Mr Baps the dancing-master get into conversation with Sir Barnet Skettles, and very soon ask him, as he had asked Mr Toots, what you were to do with your raw materials, when they came into your ports in return for your drain of gold—which was such a mystery to Paul that he was quite desirous to know what ought to be done with them. Sir Barnet Skettles had much to say upon the question, and said it; but it did not appear to solve the question, for Mr Baps retorted, Yes, but supposing Russia stepped in with her tallows; which struck Sir Barnet almost dumb, for he could only shake his head after that, and say, Why then you must fall back upon your cottons, he supposed.

保羅從坐墊中間她休息的地方可以看見和聽見幾乎所發生的每一件事情，彷彿一切都是爲了他的娛樂而安排的。在他注意觀察到的一些小事情中，他注意到舞蹈教師巴普斯跟巴尼特·斯克特爾斯爵士交談，就像他曾間過圖茨先生那樣，很快就問他，當別人把原料運到您的港口來交換您的金子的時候，您將怎樣處理您的原料——保羅覺得這是一件神祕莫測的事情，很想弄個明白，究竟應該怎麼辦呢。巴尼特·斯克特爾斯爵士在這個問題上有許多話要說，他也就說了，但好像沒有解決問題，因爲巴普斯先生反駁說，是的，但是假設俄國人用牛脂來干預，那該怎麼辦，它使巴尼特爵士幾乎啞口無言，因爲在這之後他只能搖搖頭說，他想，那麼您就必須求助於您的棉花了。

Sir Barnet Skettles looked after Mr Baps when he went to cheer up Mrs Baps (who, being quite deserted, was pretending to look over the music-book of the gentleman who played the harp), as if he thought him a remarkable kind of man; and shortly afterwards he said so in those words to Doctor Blimber, and inquired if he might take the liberty of asking who he was, and whether he had ever been in the Board of Trade. Doctor Blimber answered no, he believed not; and that in fact he was a Professor of.

巴普斯先生走到巴普斯夫人那裏去，讓她高興起來（她因爲被冷落在一旁，正假裝在看那位演奏豎琴的先生的樂譜），這時巴尼特·斯克特爾斯爵士目送着他，彷彿他認爲他是一位超羣出衆的人物似的。不久，他向布林伯博士說了這些話，並問道，他是否可以冒昧地問一下他是誰，他是否曾經在商業部工作過。布林伯博士回答說，沒有，他相信沒有；實際上他是一位教授。

Of something connected with statistics, I'll swear? observed Sir Barnet Skettles.

“我敢肯定，是教與統計有關的什麼學科的吧？”巴尼特·斯克特爾斯爵士說道。

Why no, Sir Barnet, replied Doctor Blimber, rubbing his chin. No, not exactly.

“啊，不，巴尼特爵士，”布林伯博士擦擦下巴，回答道。“不，準確地說不是。”

Figures of some sort, I would venture a bet, said Sir Barnet Skettles.

“我敢打賭，是教某種數字計算的，”巴尼特·斯克特爾斯爵士說道。

Why yes,said Doctor Blimber, yes, but not of that sort. Mr Baps is a very worthy sort of man, Sir Barnet, and—in fact he's our Professor of dancing.

“啊不錯，”布林伯博士說，“不錯，不過不是您所說的那種。巴普斯先生是一位很值得尊敬的人，巴尼特爵士——實際上他是我們的舞蹈教授。”

Paul was amazed to see that this piece of information quite altered Sir Barnet Skettles's opinion of Mr Baps, and that Sir Barnet flew into a perfect rage, and glowered at Mr Baps over on the other side of the room. He even went so far as to D Mr Baps to Lady Skettles, in telling her what had happened, and tosaythat it was like his most con-sum-mate and con-foun-ded impudence.

保羅吃驚地看到，這個信息大大改變了巴尼特·斯克特爾斯爵士對巴普斯先生的看法，巴尼特爵士火冒三丈，怒視着在房間的另一邊的巴普斯先生。他們經過的情形告訴斯克特爾斯夫人時，甚至當她的面咒罵巴普斯先生該死，說他真是無比的、十足的厚顏無恥。

一st：adv.幾乎, 差不多 adj.相近的
【語法用法】
almost no，almost nothing和almost never都指“幾乎沒有”，屬美國英語，而英國人更習慣說scarcely/hardly any，scarcely/hardly anything和scarcely/hardly ever。不過兩國人都不說almost not，因almost不可被not修飾，可以說nearly not；
almost與nearly意思相近，不過美國人習慣用almost。
有時，almost只是比nearly更近了那麼“一點點”。
It's nearly ten o'clock. (= perhaps 9.45)
It's almost ten o'clock. (= perhaps 9.57)
當描述即將達到目標或者接近於某數據等時，人們更習慣於用almost去表達“接近，但不完全一樣”的意思，使得陳述的內容沒有那麼精確，明確。
Jake is almost like a father to me.
通常nearly不用在否定詞前，如never，nobody，nothing，any等，習慣與almost連用。
【詞義辨析】
almost, nearly, about, approximately, around, roughly
這些副詞均有“大約，差不多”之意。
almost指在程度上相差很小，差不多。
nearly與almost含義基本相同，側重指數量、時間或空間上的接近。
about常可分almost和nearly換用，但about用於表示時間、數量的“大約”時，實際數量可能多也可能少。
approximately多用於書面語，指精確度接近某個標準以致誤差可忽略不計。
around多用於非正式場合，常見於美國英語。
roughly指按粗略估計，常代替about。
【例句用法】
He slipped and almost fell.
他腳下一滑，險些跌倒。
Dinner's almost ready.
飯差不多準備好了。
He's almost six feet tall.
他差不多有六英尺高。
She fell and almost/nearly broke her neck.
她跌倒了，險些跌斷了脖子。
It's a mistake they almost always make.
那是他們幾乎總要犯的錯誤。
二：v.說, 講, 比如說, 表明 n.發言權, 意見
【詞義辨析】
say, speak, state, talk, tell, utter
這些動詞均有“說、講”之意。
say最普通常用詞，指用語言表達思想，着重所說的內容。
speak側重於說話動作的本身，着重說話的能力而不在內容，比如能說某種語言。
state較正式用詞，通常指用明確的語言或文字着重地敘述事實，既強調內容又注重語氣。
talk普通用詞，側重指與人交談時的連續說話，可指單方面較長談話，和speak一樣，着重說活動作而不側重內容。
tell指告訴或講述。
utter着重說話的行爲，常指聲音的使用，突出用噪子發聲。
【例句用法】
Just what is the artist trying to say in her work?
那藝術家在她的作品中究竟想表達什麼？
Don't interrupt her: let her have her say.
別打斷她的話，讓她把意見說出來。
She said nothing to me about it.
關於這一點，她什麼也沒有對我講。
We are considering giving them greater say in such matters.
我們正考慮在這樣的事情上給他們更多的發言權。
It's hard to say who it was.
很難說那是誰。