🔊 However, properly speaking, he lived in the Rue Plumet, and he had arranged his existence there in the following fashion:-- Cosette and the servant occupied the pavilion; she had the big sleeping-room with the painted pier-glasses, the boudoir with the gilded fillets, the justice's drawing-room furnished with tapestries and vast armchairs; she had the garden. Jean Valjean had a canopied bed of antique damask in three colors and a beautiful Persian rug purchased in the Rue du Figuier-Saint-Paul at Mother Gaucher's, put into Cosette's chamber, and, in order to redeem the severity of these magnificent old things, he had amalgamated with this bric-a-brac all the gay and graceful little pieces of furniture suitable to young girls, an étagère, a bookcase filled with gilt-edged books, an inkstand, a blotting-book, paper, a worktable incrusted with mother of pearl, a silver-gilt dressing-case, a toilet service in Japanese porcelain. Long damask curtains with a red foundation and three colors, like those on the bed, hung at the windows of the first floor. On the ground floor, the curtains were of tapestry. All winter long, Cosette's little house was heated from top to bottom. Jean Valjean inhabited the sort of porter's lodge which was situated at the end of the back courtyard, with a mattress on a folding-bed, a white wood table, two straw chairs, an earthenware water-jug, a few old volumes on a shelf, his beloved valise in one corner, and never any fire. He dined with Cosette, and he had a loaf of black bread on the table for his own use.

不过,说得准确些,他住在普吕梅街,他的生活是这样安排的:珂赛特和女仆住那幢小楼；她有一间带彩绘玻璃镜的大卧室、一间带金边饰的小客厅、一间挂着壁毯并摆着大扶手椅的法官会客厅；还有那座花园。冉阿让将一张带华盖的、三种颜色的古色古香的花缎床和一块在圣保罗无花果树街的高歇老妈店里买的漂亮波斯地毯,放进了珂赛特的房间；为了冲淡这些古老华丽家具的严肃气氛,他又在这些零碎古玩中掺进了所有适合年轻姑娘的欢快优雅的小件家具:一个搁架、一个装满烫金边书的书柜、一个墨水瓶、一本吸墨纸、一些纸张、一张镶着珍珠母的写字台、一个镀银的化妆盒、一套日本瓷器做的梳妆用具。楼上窗户挂着长条的花缎窗帘,底色是红的,和床上的帘子一样有三种颜色。底层窗户则挂着挂毯窗帘。整个冬天,珂赛特的小楼从上到下都生着炉火。冉阿让住在后院尽头那种看门人住的小屋里,有一张折叠床,床上铺着床垫,一张白木桌子,两把草垫椅子,一个陶制水罐,搁板上放着几本旧书,角落里放着他心爱的手提箱,并且从不生火。他和珂赛特一起吃饭,桌上为他放着一块黑面包。

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magnificent /mæɡˈnɪfɪsənt/

adj. 壮丽的；极好的➕

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antique /ænˈtiːk/

adj. 古老的；古董的➕

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porcelain /ˈpɔːrsəlɪn/

n. 瓷器➕

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beloved /bɪˈlʌvd/

adj. 深爱的➕

🔊 When Toussaint came, he had said to her: "It is the young lady who is the mistress of this house."-- "And you, monsieur?" Toussaint replied in amazement.--"I am a much better thing than the master, I am the father."

杜桑来了以后,他对她说:“是这位小姐当家。”“那您呢,先生？”杜桑惊讶地回答。“我比主人要好得多,我是父亲。”

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amazement /əˈmeɪzmənt/

n. 惊讶➕

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mistress /ˈmɪstrɪs/

n. 女主人➕

🔊 Cosette had been taught housekeeping in the convent, and she regulated their expenditure, which was very modest. Every day, Jean Valjean put his arm through Cosette's and took her for a walk. He led her to the Luxembourg, to the least frequented walk, and every Sunday he took her to mass at Saint-Jacques-du-Haut-Pas, because that was a long way off. As it was a very poor quarter, he bestowed alms largely there, and the poor people surrounded him in church, which had drawn down upon him Thénardier's epistle: "To the benevolent gentleman of the church of Saint-Jacques-du-Haut-Pas." He was fond of taking Cosette to visit the poor and the sick. No stranger ever entered the house in the Rue Plumet. Toussaint brought their provisions, and Jean Valjean went himself for water to a fountain nearby on the boulevard. Their wood and wine were put into a half-subterranean hollow lined with rock-work which lay near the Rue de Babylone and which had formerly served the chief-justice as a grotto; for at the epoch of follies and "Little Houses" no love was without a grotto.

珂赛特在修道院里学过料理家务,她掌管着开支,数目很小。每天,冉阿让都挽着珂赛特的胳膊带她去散步。他带她去卢森堡公园,走游人最少的小径,每个星期天他带她去圣雅克-上-帕教堂做弥撒,因为那地方很远。那是一个很穷的街区,他在那里大量施舍,穷人们因此在教堂围住他,这引来了德纳第的信:“致圣雅克-上-帕教堂的仁慈绅士。”他喜欢带珂赛特去探望穷人和病人。普吕梅街那幢房子里从没有陌生人进来。杜桑购买日常用品,冉阿让自己到附近林荫大道上的一个喷泉去打水。他们的木柴和酒存放在一个半地下的岩洞里,那岩洞靠近巴比伦街,以前是首席法官用以作岩洞的；因为在“小楼阁”和荒唐的时代,没有爱是没有岩洞的。

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expenditure /ɪkˈspendɪtʃər/

n. 开支；支出➕

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benevolent /bəˈnevələnt/

adj. 仁慈的；慈善的➕

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grotto /ˈɡrɒtoʊ/

n. 洞穴；人工洞室➕

🔊 In the door opening on the Rue de Babylone, there was a box destined for the reception of letters and papers; only, as the three inhabitants of the pavilion in the Rue Plumet received neither papers nor letters, the entire usefulness of that box, formerly the go-between of a love affair, and the confidant of a lovelorn lawyer, was now limited to the tax-collector's notices, and the summons of the guard. For M. Fauchelevent, independent gentleman, belonged to the national guard; he had not been able to escape through the fine meshes of the census of 1831. The municipal information collected at that time had even reached the convent of the Petit-Picpus, a sort of impenetrable and holy cloud, whence Jean Valjean had emerged in venerable guise, and, consequently, worthy of mounting guard in the eyes of the town-hall.

在通往巴比伦街的那扇门里,有一个专门用来收信件和报纸的信箱；只是,由于住在普吕梅街小楼里的三个人既不收报纸也不收信,这个信箱--以前曾是爱情的中介,是一个失恋律师的知心人--的全部用途,如今仅限于收税员的催缴单和国民自卫军的召集令。因为福施勒旺先生,这位独立绅士,属于国民自卫军；他没能逃脱1831年人口普查的细网。当时收集的市政情报甚至传到了小比克布斯的修道院,那是一个难以穿透的圣洁云层,冉阿让正是从那里以可敬的面目走了出来,因此,在市政府的眼里,他值得站岗放哨。

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inhabitants /ɪnˈhæbɪtənts/

n. (pl.). 居民➕

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go-between /ˈɡoʊ bɪˌtwiːn/

n. 中间人；媒人➕

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confidant /ˈkɒnfɪdænt/

n. 知己；心腹➕

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census /ˈsensəs/

n. 人口普查➕

🔊 Three or four times a year, Jean Valjean donned his uniform and mounted guard; he did this willingly, however; it was a correct disguise which mixed him with everyone, and yet left him solitary. Jean Valjean had just attained his sixtieth birthday, the age of legal exemption; but he did not appear to be over fifty; moreover, he had no desire to escape his sergeant-major nor to quibble with Comte de Lobau; he possessed no civil status, he was concealing his name, he was concealing his identity, so he concealed his age, he concealed everything; and, as we have just said, he willingly did his duty as a national guard; the sum of his ambition lay in resembling any other man who paid his taxes. This man had for his ideal, within, the angel, without, the bourgeois.

一年有三四次,冉阿让穿上制服去站岗；不过,他这样做是心甘情愿的；这是一种正确的伪装,使他混迹于众人之中,同时又保持孤独。冉阿让刚满六十岁,是法律规定的免役年龄；但他看上去不超过五十岁；再说,他也不想逃避他的士官长,也不愿跟洛博伯爵纠缠；他没有公民身份,他隐瞒了自己的名字,隐瞒了自己的身份,所以也隐瞒了年龄,他隐瞒了一切；而且,就像我们刚才说的,他心甘情愿地尽着国民自卫军的职责；他全部野心只在于跟任何一个纳税的人一样。这个人,他的理想是在内心做一个天使,在外表做一个有产者。

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donned /dɒnd/

v. (past tense). 穿上➕

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disguise /dɪsˈɡaɪz/

n. 伪装➕

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solitary /ˈsɒlɪtəri/

adj. 孤独的；唯一的➕

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exemption /ɪɡˈzempʃən/

n. 豁免；免除➕

🔊 Let us note one detail, however; when Jean Valjean went out with Cosette, he dressed as the reader has already seen, and had the air of a retired officer. When he went out alone, which was generally at night, he was always dressed in a workingman's trousers and blouse, and wore a cap which concealed his face. Was this precaution or humility? Both. Cosette was accustomed to the enigmatical side of her destiny, and hardly noticed her father's peculiarities. As for Toussaint, she venerated Jean Valjean, and thought everything he did right.

不过,我们得注意一个细节:当冉阿让和珂赛特一起出门时,他总是穿着读者已经见过的那种衣服,带着退伍军官的神气。当他独自出门时--通常是晚上--他总穿着工人的裤子和罩衫,戴着一顶遮住脸的帽子。这是谨慎还是谦卑？两者都有。珂赛特已经习惯了她命运中神秘的一面,几乎不注意她父亲的古怪之处。至于杜桑,她崇拜冉阿让,觉得他做的一切都是对的。

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retired /rɪˈtaɪərd/

adj. 退休的➕

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precaution /prɪˈkɔːʃən/

n. 预防措施➕

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enigmatical /ˌenɪɡˈmætɪkəl/

adj. 神秘的；难以理解的➕

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destiny /ˈdestɪni/

n. 命运➕

🔊 One day, her butcher, who had caught a glimpse of Jean Valjean, said to her: "That's a queer fish." She replied: "He's a saint."

有一天,她的肉铺老板瞥见了冉阿让,对她说:“那是个古怪的家伙。”她回答:“他是个圣人。”

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glimpse /ɡlɪmps/

n. 一瞥；瞥见➕

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queer /kwɪər/

adj. 奇怪的；可疑的➕

🔊 Neither Jean Valjean nor Cosette nor Toussaint ever entered or emerged except by the door on the Rue de Babylone. Unless seen through the garden gate it would have been difficult to guess that they lived in the Rue Plumet. That gate was always closed. Jean Valjean had left the garden uncultivated, in order not to attract attention.

冉阿让、珂赛特和杜桑进出都只走巴比伦街的那扇门。除非透过花园的门看见,否则很难猜到他们住在普吕梅街。那扇门总是关着。冉阿让让花园荒着,免得引人注意。

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uncultivated /ʌnˈkʌltɪveɪtɪd/

adj. 未耕种的；未开化的➕

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attract /əˈtrækt/

v. 吸引➕

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attention /əˈtenʃən/

n. 注意力➕

🔊 In this, possibly, he made a mistake.

在这件事上,他可能错了。

Book III. The House in the Rue Plumet – Chapter two: Jean Valjean as a National Guard (第二章:让·瓦尔让当国民自卫军)

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