Caroline: You write uncommonly1 fast, Mr. Darcy.
Darcy: You re mistaken. I write rather slowly.
Caroline: How many letters you must have occasion to write, Mr. Darcy. Letters of business, too. How odious2 I should think them.
Darcy: It is fortunate, then, they fall to my lot instead of yours.
Caroline: Do tell your sister that I long to see her.
Darcy: I ve already told her once, by your desire.
Caroline: I do dote on her. I was quite in raptures3 at her beautiful little design for a table.
Darcy: Perhaps you will give me leave to defer4 your raptures till I write again. At present I have not room enough to do them justice.
Bingley: Well I think it s amazing that you young ladies have the patience to be so accomplished5.
Caroline: What do you mean, Charles?
Bingley: You all paint tables and play the piano and embroider6 cushions. I never heard of a young lady, but people say she s accomplished.
Darcy: The word is indeed applied7 too liberally. I cannot boast of knowing more than half a dozen women in all my acquaintance that are truly accomplished.
Caroline: Nor I, to be sure.
Elizabeth: Goodness, you must comprehend a great deal in the idea.
Darcy: I do.
Caroline: Absolutely. She must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing and the modern languages to deserve the word. And something in her air and manner of walking.
Darcy: And, of course she must improve her mind by extensive reading.
Elizabeth: I m no longer surprised at your knowing only six accomplished women. I rather wonder now at your knowing any.
Darcy: Are you so severe on your own sex?
Elizabeth: I never saw such a woman. She would certainly be a fearsome thing to behold8.
Caroline: Miss Elizabeth, let us take a turn about the room. It s refreshing9, is it not, after sitting so long in one attitude?
Elizabeth: It is a small kind of accomplishment10, I suppose.
Caroline: Will you not join us, Mr. Darcy?
Darcy: You can only have two motives11, Caroline, and I would interfere12 with either.
Caroline: What can he mean?
Elizabeth: The surest way of disappointing him will be to ask him nothing about it.
Caroline: But do tell us, Mr. Darcy.
Darcy: Either you are in each other s confidence and you have secret affairs to discuss, or you are conscious that your figures appear to the greatest advantage by walking. If the first, I should get in your way. If the second,
I can admire you much better from here.
Caroline: Shocking. How shall we punish him for such a speech?
Elizabeth: We could always laugh at him.
Caroline: Oh no. Mr. Darcy is not to be teased.
Elizabeth: Are you too proud, Mr. Darcy? And would you consider pride a fault or a virtue13?
Darcy: That I couldn t say.
Elizabeth: Because we re doing our best to find a fault in you.
Darcy: Maybe it s that I find it hard to forgive the follies14 and vices15 of others, or their offences against me. My good opinion, once lost, is lost forever.
Elizabeth: Oh, dear. I cannot tease you about that. What a shame, for I dearly love to laugh.
Caroline: A family trait, I think.
妙词佳句，活学活用
1. it falls to sb. s lot to do sth. / the lot falls to sb. to do sth. / it falls to sb. as sb. s lot to do sth. 是"某人命中注定要做某事；某人有责任做某事"的意思。
e.g. It falls to my lot to join the army.
参军是我有责任要做的事。
It falls to the young girl s lot to marry this old man.
嫁给这个老头是这个女孩命里注定的。
2. dote on
If you say you dote on a person or a thing, it means you love or care about them very much and ignore any faults they may have. 中文里就是"宠爱，溺爱；过分喜爱"。比如"她溺爱她的儿子"就可以说成 She dotes on her youngest son.
3. accomplished 多才多艺的；熟练的；完成的
说到“多才多艺”，大家马上想到词的可能是 versatile16，accomplished 这个词比 versatile 还要高一个等级，差不多到了专家的程度，而 versatile 多用来指“能胜任……”。例如：
an accomplished lady 一个才女
an accomplished pianist 有造诣的钢琴家
an accomplished facts 不容争辩的事实
4. get/stand in one s way / be in the way
这是口语里特别常用的词组，意思是“挡路，妨碍”。我们来看两个例子：
e.g.
1) Keep on going with your reading. Don t let me stand in your way.
2) You re in the way, would you please move aside?
