傲慢与偏见第一章

1 The Bennets'new neighbour

It

is

a

truth

well

known

to

all

the

world

that

an

unmarried

man

in

possession

of

a

large

fortune

must be in need of a wife

．

And when such a man moves into a neighbourhood

，

even if nothing is

known about his

feelings or opinions

，

this truth is so clear to the surrounding families

，

that they think of

him immediately as the future husband of one or other of their daughters.

‘My dear Mr Bennet，’said Mrs Bennet to her husband one day，‘have you heard that someone

is going to rent Netherfield Park at last

？’

‘No，

Mrs Bennet

，

I haven't

，’said her husband．

‘Don't you want to know who is renting it？’cried Mrs Bennet impatiently．

‘You want to tell me，

and I don't mind listening

．’

Mrs

Bennet

needed

no

further

encour agement

．‘Well，

my

dear

，

I

hear

that

he's

a

very

rich

young

man

from

the

north

of

England

．

It

seems

he

came

to

see

Netherfield

on

Monday

and

was

so

delighted

with it that he arranged to rent it at once

．

Of course

，

it is the finest house in the area

，

with the largest gar- dens

．

His servants will be here by the end of the week

，

and he will be

arriving soon afterwards

！’

‘What is his name？’asked Mr Bennet．

‘Bingley．’

‘Is he married or single？’

‘Oh，

single

，

my dear

，

of course

！

A single man of large for- tune

—

he has an income of four

or five thousand pounds a year

．

How wonderdul for our girls

！’

‘Why？

How can it affect them

？’Mr Bennet asked．

‘My

dear

Mr

Bennet，’she

replied，‘how

can

you

be

so

an

-

noying

！

You

must

realize

I'm

thinking

of his marrying one of our daughters

．’

‘Is that his purpose in coming to t

he area

？’

‘His purpose？

No

，

of course not

．

But it's very likely that he’ll fall in love with one of

them

．

And I want him to see the girls as soon as possible

，

before our other neighbours introduce

themselves

．

So you must visit him as soon as he arrives

．’

‘I r

eally don't see why I should

，’said Mr Bennet．‘You and the girls can visit him，

or

perhaps

you

should

send

them

by

themselves

．

Yes

，

that

might

be

better

，

as

you're

as

attractive

as any of them

，

and Mr Bingley might like you best

．’

‘My dear，

you flatter me

，’r

eplied his wife

，‘I certainly have been called beautiful in

the

past

，

but

I

think

a

woman

with

five

adult

daughters

should

stop

thinking

of

her

own

beauty

．

Mr

Bennet

，

I beg you to visit him

．

You know it's cor- rect for the gentleman of the family to visit

new

neighbours

first

．

I

simply

cannot

take

the

girls

to

see

him

unless

you

have

already

met

him

．’

‘Surely you worry too much about the rules of polite society．

I'm sure Mr Bingley will be

delighted to see you all

．And I’ll write him a few lines，

which you can give him

，

agree- ing

gladly to his marrying any of the girls

，

although I must es- pecially recommend my dear little

Lizzy

．’

‘Oh

no，

Mr

Bennet

！’gasped

Mrs

Bennet，

horrified

．‘Please

don't

do

that！

And

Lizzy

is

no

better than the others

，

al- though I know she is your favourite

．’

‘Our

daughters

are

all

very

silly，

ignorant

girls

，

it's

true

．

But

at

least

Lizzy

is

a

little

more intelligent than her sisters

．’

‘Mr Bennet，

how can you speak so unkindly of your own children

？

Oh dear

，

how ill I feel

！

Have you no pity for me

？

Don't you realize how I suffer

？’

‘Indeed，

my

dear

，

I've

suffered

with

you

for

the

last

twentythree

years

．

But

I

think

you

will

recover

，

and live to see many more rich young men come into the neighbourhood

．’

When

he

was

young

，

Mr

Bennet

had

made

the

mistake

of

falling

in

love

with

a

pretty

but

foolish

young

woman

．

During

the

long

years

of

their

marriage

，

he

had

had

time

to

regret

his

mistake

．

He

soon realized that his wife had little intelligence or common sense

，

and was only interested

in

talking

，

shopping

and

finding

husbands

for

her

daughters

．

His

experience

had

made

him

rather

bitter

，

and

he

could

not

stop

himself

mocking

his

wife

，

who

never

understood

her

husband's

sense

of

humour

．

So

when

，

a

week

later

，

Mrs

Bennet

discovered

that

her

hus-

band

had

in

fact

visited

Mr Bingley at Netherfield

，

she was surprised and very pleased

．

But she and her daughters tried

in vain to persuade Mr Bennet to describe the wealthy stranger

，

and in the end they had to rely

on another neighbour's description

．

‘He

sounds

wonderful，

Mama

！

’

cried

Lydia

，

the

youngest

and

noisiest

of

the < /p>

sisters

．

‘Charlotte

Lucas's

father

has

been

to

see

him

，

and

says

he's

quite

young

，

very

handsome

，

and

ex-

tremely

charming

！

And even better

，

he loves dancing

！

Every- body knows that means he's very likely to

fall in love

！’

As politeness required

，

Mr Bingley came to visit Mr Bennet a few days later

．

He was not

，

however

，

fortunate enough to see the Bennet girls

，

who were hiding behind the curtains in an

up- stairs room in order to catch sight of the handsome stranger

．

Mrs Bennet planned to invite

him to dinner

，

but in fact they met him at another social event first

．

The Bennets lived in the

small Hertfordshire village of Longbourn

，

and public dances were regularly held in the nearest

town

，

Meryton

．

The girls were greatly looking forward to this particular dance

，

because they

had heard that Mr Bingley would be attending

，

with a group of friends from London

．

On

the

night

of

the

dance

，

all

eyes

were

on

Mr

Bingley

as

he

entered

the

room

．

He

had

brought

his

two

sisters

，

with

the

husband

of

the

elder

，

Mr

Hurst

，

and

another

young

man

，

Mr-

Darcy

．

Mr

Bingley was indeed good-looking and gentleman- like

，

and his sisters were fine

，

fashionable

women

．

However

，

ev- erybody was soon talking about Mr Darcy

，

a tall

，

handsome man

，

who

，

it was said

，

had an income of ten thousand pounds a year

．

The ladies in the room gazed at him

in admiration for about half the evening

，

until they became aware of his constant frown and his

unwillingness

to

talk

or

dance

．

Then

there

was

general

agreement

that

he

was

proud

and

disagreeable

，

and

considered

himself

superior

to

country

people

．

Mr

Bingley

，

on

the

other

hand

，

made himself popular with the ladles by danc- ing every dance and talking to everybody

．

As there were not as many gentlemen as ladies

，

Elizabeth Bennet did not have a partner for one

of the dances

，

and was sitting watching the dancing

．

Mr Darcy was standing near her

，

and when

Mr

Bingley

came

up

to

speak

to

his

friend

，

Elizabeth

could

not

avoid

hearing

their

conversation

．

‘Come，

Darcy

，’said

Bingley，‘I

hate

to

s

ee

you

looking

so

cross

！

Why

don't

you

dance

with

one of these lovely girls

？’

‘Certainly

not，’replied

Darcy．‘You

know

how

I

hate

dancing

with

a

partner

I

don't

know．

I

would

particularly

dis-

like

it

at

a

village

dance

like

this

．

Apart

from

your

sisters

，

there

isn't

a

woman

in

the

room

I

would

even

consider

dancing

with

．

You

are

dancing

with

the

only

attractive

girl here

．’He was looking at Mrs Bennet's eldest daughter Jane，

who was waiting for Bingley

to join her for the next dance

．

‘Oh yes！

She's the most beautiful creature I've ever seen

！

But just behind you is one of her

sisters

．

She's

very

pretty

，

and

I'm

sure

she's

very

pleasant

．

My

partner

could

introduce

you

．’