The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby(尼古拉斯·尼克尔贝)
Charles Dickens
Chapter 1Introduces all the Rest
There once lived, in a sequestered part of the county of
Devonshire, one Mr Godfrey Nickleby: a worthy gentleman, who,
taking it into his head rather late in life that he must get
married, and not being young enough or rich enough to aspire to the
hand of a lady of fortune, had wedded an old flame out of mere
attachment, who in her turn had taken him for the same reason. Thus
two people who cannot afford to play cards for money, sometimes sit
down to a quiet game for love.
Some ill-conditioned persons who sneer at the life-matrimonial,
may perhaps suggest, in this place, that the good couple would be
better likened to two principals in a sparring match, who, when
fortune is low and backers scarce, will chivalrously set to, for
the mere pleasure of the buff…