| Chapter iv. — The reader's neck brought into danger by a description; his escape; and the great condescension of Miss Bridget Allworthy. | 第4回——本回中的一段描寫將讀者帶入了險境，足可將其脖子折斷；讀者逃脫險境；萬麗姬小姐極大程度地屈尊俯就。 |
| The Gothic stile of building could produce nothing nobler than Mr Allworthy's house. There was an air of grandeur in it that struck you with awe, and rivalled the beauties of the best Grecian architecture; and it was as commodious within as venerable without. | 萬德全先生的房屋富麗堂皇，世上恐怕再也找不到能與之匹敵的尖拱哥特式建築了。這幢房屋氣勢宏偉，讓人一看便會肅然起敬，堪比美妙絕倫的希臘建築。室內開闊軒敞，室外莊嚴古樸。 |
| It stood on the south-east side of a hill, but nearer the bottom than the top of it, so as to be sheltered from the north-east by a grove of old oaks which rose above it in a gradual ascent of near half a mile, and yet high enough to enjoy a most charming prospect of the valley beneath. | 房屋矗立於一座山丘的東南側，臨近山腳，距離山頂較遠。房屋東北方向是一片古橡樹林，高過屋頂，逐漸朝山頂向上綿延一裏半開外，形成房屋的一道天然保護屏障。但房屋位置較高，人在此處，足以盡情徜徉於下麵山穀中最瑰麗的風景之中。 |
| In the midst of the grove was a fine lawn, sloping down towards the house, near the summit of which rose a plentiful spring, gushing out of a rock covered with firs, and forming a constant cascade of about thirty feet, not carried down a regular flight of steps, but tumbling in a natural fall over the broken and mossy stones till it came to the bottom of the rock, then running off in a pebly channel, that with many lesser falls winded along, till it fell into a lake at the foot of the hill, about a quarter of a mile below the house on the south side, and which was seen from every room in the front. Out of this lake, which filled the center of a beautiful plain, embellished with groups of beeches and elms, and fed with sheep, issued a river, that for several miles was seen to meander through an amazing variety of meadows and woods till it emptied itself into the sea, with a large arm of which, and an island beyond it, the prospect was closed. | 橡樹林中心是一塊草地，芬芳鮮美，順著山坡向下朝著房屋延伸開來。山坡向上快到草地盡頭處，湧出一股泉水，水量頗豐，從一塊岩石中間汩汩流出，岩石上覆蓋著冷杉樹叢，泉水飛流直下，形成一道流淌不息的瀑布，長約十米，瀑布並非沿著整齊的台階往下流淌，而是在長滿苔蘚的碎石上自然滾落，一瀉直到岩底，然後在鵝卵石形成的溝渠中流走，伴隨著許多小瀑布蜿蜒而下，一直掉落到山腳下一潭湖水之中。湖水位於房子南側向下大約四百米處，從房屋正麵的每個房間都可以看到。這潭湖水座落在一片美麗平原的中心位置，湖水充盈，四周點綴著叢叢山毛櫸和榆樹，滋養著一群綿羊。湖水向外延伸出一條河流，順著姿態萬千的芳草地和小樹林，曲折蔓延好幾裏，沿途風景令人歎為觀止，一直注入大海。入海口是一個碩大的海灣，海灣之外有一座海島，風景至此戛然而止。 |
| On the right of this valley opened another of less extent, adorned with several villages, and terminated by one of the towers of an old ruined abby, grown over with ivy, and part of the front, which remained still entire. | 山穀右側是另外一個山穀，規模較小，幾座村莊點綴其中，穀底原有一座古刹，現已廢棄，其中有座塔矗立在山穀盡頭。常青藤爬滿塔身，塔的正門某些部分仍保存完好。 |
| The left-hand scene presented the view of a very fine park, composed of very unequal ground, and agreeably varied with all the diversity that hills, lawns, wood, and water, laid out with admirable taste, but owing less to art than to nature, could give. Beyond this, the country gradually rose into a ridge of wild mountains, the tops of which were above the clouds. | 山穀左側可以看到一座花園，景色非常怡人，園中地勢高低起伏，各種山丘、草地、樹林以及河流變化多樣，煞是可愛，花園布局令人豔羨，這種品味與其說是別具藝術風格，倒不如說是自然造化神秀。花園以外，曠野逐漸向上延伸成為一道山脊，由荒山野嶺組成，山嶺頂部直插雲霄。 |
| It was now the middle of May, and the morning was remarkably serene, when Mr Allworthy walked forth on the terrace, where the dawn opened every minute that lovely prospect we have before described to his eye; and now having sent forth streams of light, which ascended the blue firmament before him, as harbingers preceding his pomp, in the full blaze of his majesty rose the sun, than which one object alone in this lower creation could be more glorious, and that Mr Allworthy himself presented—a human being replete with benevolence, meditating in what manner he might render himself most acceptable to his Creator, by doing most good to his creatures. | 時值五月中旬，這天早晨異常靜謐，萬德全先生在陽台上漫步，曙光初照，他的眼前時刻都綻放出一幅幅可愛的美景，這些美景前文已經備述。道道霞光登上了蔚藍色的蒼穹，如同走在盛大典禮儀式最前麵的先鋒隊一般，威嚴壯麗、絢爛輝煌的光芒中，旭日冉冉升起。而在下界凡間，有可能比太陽更加光輝燦爛的，那就隻有萬德全先生本人了——一個以慈愛為懷之人，總是多行善事，苦思冥想該以何種方式能使自己被造物主接受認可。 |
