Beneath the watching and attentive eyes of Time - so far another Major - Paul's slumbers gradually changed. More and more light broke in upon them; distincter and distincter dreams disturbed them; an accumulating crowd of objects and impressions swarmed about his rest; and so he passed from babyhood to childhood, and became a talking, walking, wondering Dombey.
在时间（在一定的意义上说，它是另一个少校）的机警与注意的眼光下，保罗的睡眠逐渐地改变着。愈来愈多的亮光妨碍了它们；愈来愈清楚的梦扰乱了它们；愈益增多的事物与印象群集在他的周围，使他不得安息；他就这样从婴儿时代进入了幼年时代，成为一位会说话，会走路，会疑虑的董贝。
On
the
downfall
and
banishment
of
Richards,
the
nursery
may
be
said
to
have
been
put
into
commission:
as
a
Public
Department
is
sometimes,
when
no
individual
Atlas
can
be
found
to
support
it
The
Commissioners
were,
of
course,
Mrs
Chick
and
Miss
Tox:
who
devoted
themselves
to
their
duties
with
such
astonishing
ardour
that
Major
Bagstock
had
every
day
some
new
reminder
of
his
being
forsaken,
while
Mr
Chick,
bereft
of
domestic
supervision,
cast
himself
upon
the
gay
world,
dined
at
clubs
and
coffee-
houses,
smelt
of
smoke
on
three
different
occasions,
went
to
the
play
by
himself,
and
in
short,
loosened
(
as
Mrs
Chick
once
told
him)
every
social
bond,
and
moral
obligation.
在理查兹犯了罪过、被驱逐出去之后，育儿室可以说已经移交给一个特设委员会来管理了，正像有的公共机构如果找不到一个阿特拉斯①能顶得起它的重担的话，有时就会发生这种情形一样。委员会的委员自然是奇克夫人与托克斯小姐。她们怀着十分惊人的热忱致力于所担负的职责，因此白格斯托克少校每天都能看到一些新的迹象提醒他，他已被抛弃了；奇克先生则由于失去了家庭的监督，就委身于消遣玩乐的世界；他在俱乐部和咖啡馆用餐；一天之内在三次不同的场合与他相遇，都能从他身上闻到烟味；他独自一人出去看戏；总而言之，正如奇克夫人对他说的那样，他已摆脱一切社会义务与道义责任的束缚了。
-------- ①阿特拉斯（
Atlas）：希腊神话中双肩能掮天的巨神。
Yet,
in
spite
of
his
early
promise,
all
this
vigilance
and
care
could
not
make
little
Paul
a
thriving
boy.
Naturally
delicate,
perhaps,
he
pined
and
wasted
after
the
dismissal
of
his
nurse,
and,
for
a
long
time,
seemed
but
to
wait
his
opportunity
of
gliding
through
their
hands,
and
seeking
his
lost
mother.
This
dangerous
ground
in
his
steeple-
chase
towards
manhood
passed,
he
still
found
it
very
rough
riding,
and
was
grievously
beset
by
all
the
obstacles
in
his
course.
Every
tooth
was
a
break-
neck
fence,
and
every
pimple
in
the
measles
a
stone
wall
to
him.
He
was
down
in
every
fit
of
the
hooping-
cough,
and
rolled
upon
and
crushed
by
a
whole
field
of
small
diseases,
that
came
trooping
on
each
other's
heels
to
prevent
his
getting
up
again.
Some
bird
of
prey
got
into
his
throat
instead
of
the
thrush;
and
the
very
chickens
turning
ferocious
-
if
they
have
anything
to
do
with
that
infant
malady
to
which
they
lend
their
name
-
worried
him
like
tiger-
cats.
虽然小保罗从一出生起就大有希望，可是所有这些警惕与护理却没有能使他成长为一个体格健壮的孩子。也许生来体质就娇弱，在辞退了奶妈之后他就消瘦、虚弱下去，而且似乎长久在等待机会，从她们的手中溜走，前去寻找他失去的母亲。在他通向成年的障碍赛马中，这个危险的地段虽然已经跳过了，但他依旧觉得道路崎岖不平，乘骑十分艰辛，路程中的所有障碍都使他苦恼不堪。对他来说，每长一颗牙齿都是一道极危险的篱笆，出麻疹中的每一个疹疱都是一道石墙。每一阵百日咳都使他摔倒在地；成群结队、接踵而来的各种小病碾压着他，使他再也不能起来。某种猛禽而不是画眉鸟钻进了他的喉咙①。如果鸡雏与那个以它们的名称来命名的儿童疾病有关的话，②那么连它们也变得很凶猛，就像豹猫一样使他惶惶不安。
-------- ①英文
thrush这个词有两个意义，一是画眉鸟，一是鹅口疮。这里指保罗患了鹅口疮，喉咙中像有猛禽在啄咬一样难受。 ②指鸡痘（
chicken－
pox），即水痘。
The
chill
of
Paul's
christening
had
struck
home,
perhaps
to
some
sensitive
|