but her own vision of her task was radically different.

但是她本人寫作的用意可是大相徑庭。

She was an ambitious and stern moralist.

她是位有野心而且嚴苛的道德家。

She was acutely conscious of human failings and wanted, through her novels,

她意識到人類在走下坡，並且希望透過她的小說。

to make people less selfish and more reasonable.

讓人們更有關懷心也更通情達理。

More dignified, and sensitive to the needs of others.

更加有尊嚴，並顧及他者的需要。

Born in 1775, Austen grew up in a small village in Hampshire, where her father was the Anglican rector.

奧斯丁出生於 1775 年，她成長於漢普夏的一個小鎮，她的爸爸是位英國國教派的教區牧師。

They had high social status, but were not well off.

他們有高社會階級，但是並不富裕。

She did much of her writing at a tiny octagonal table.

她多半的著作都是在一張小小的八角形桌子完成的。

She never married, though on a couple of occasions she was tempted.

雖然她有過幾次念頭，但她未曾結婚。

Mostly, she lived in the country with her sister, Cassandra.

大多時候，她和姐姐卡珊卓一起住在鄉間。

The novel was her chosen weapon in the struggle to reform humanity.

小說則是她選擇用以奮鬥、喚醒人性的利器。

She completed six: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion.

她完成了六本書：《理性與感性》、《傲慢與偏見》、《曼斯菲爾德莊園》、《艾瑪》、《諾桑覺寺》和《勸導》。

Some of the main things she wants to teach you are.

一些她主要想教導你的事情如下。

1. Let your lover educate you.

讓你的愛人教導你。

In Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet start off heartily disliking each other and then gradually realize they're in love.

在《傲慢與偏見》中，達西先生和伊麗莎白班內特一開始厭惡對方，但接著逐漸意識到他們愛上彼此了。

They make one of the great romantic couples.

他們是十分速配的一對情侶。

But why actually are they right for one another?

但到底為什麼他們會適合彼此？

Austen is very clear: it's for a reason we tend not to think of very much today.

奧斯丁清楚點出：那是因為一個我們今日不會多想的原因。

Each can educate and improve the other.

雙方能互相教育，讓彼此成為更好的人。

Darcy starts of feeling superior, because he has more money and higher status.

達西一開始覺得自己高高在上，因為他有較多的錢和較高的聲望。

Then, at a key moment, Elizabeth condemns his arrogance and pride to his face.

然後，就在關鍵時刻，伊麗莎白當面譴責了他的傲慢和自矜。

It sounds offensive, but later he admits:

聽起來有些冒犯，但後來他也坦誠：

Your reproof so well applied, I shall never forget.

妳的譴責如當頭棒喝，我永遠不會忘懷。

You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous.

妳教會了我一課，雖然起先很難接受，但實則助益良多。

By you, I was properly humbled.

因為有妳，我學會了謙卑。

They suit each other because by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved.

他們之所以登對，是因為藉著她的安逸、活潑的性情，他的心腸得以軟化，舉止也有所進步。

And from his judgment, information and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance.

而藉由他的評判與對於世界的知識和掌握，她必定也得到了更多重要的助益。

In other words, they balance each other out.

換句話說，他們彼此達到了一個平衡。

We tend to think of love as liking someone for who they are already - total acceptance.

我們傾向於認為愛一個人就是喜歡他現在的狀態——全然接受。

But Austen is saying that the right person has got to be able to help us overcome our failings.

但是奧斯丁指出，對的人該是幫助我們改善自身缺點。

And become more mature, honest, and kind; and we need to do something similar for them.

幫助我們變得更成熟、誠實、和善的人；同樣的，我們也要替對方做到這點。

Darcy and Elizabeth improve one another, and then the novelist lets them get engaged.

達西和伊麗莎白改善了彼此，於是小說家讓他們訂婚。

The story rewards them because they have developed well.

故事嘉獎了他們，因為他們一路走來進展許多。

That's why the novel feels so beautifully constructed, and it illustrates a basic truth:

這也是為什麼這部小說令人感覺它架構如此美好，同時它也陳述了一項基本真理：

marriage depends on maturity and education.

婚姻立基於成熟和教育。

2. We shouldn't stop judging people ; but we have to judge more carefully.

我們不應該停止評斷他人，但我們必須更加小心評斷。

Mansfield Park starts when quiet, shy Fanny Price goes to live with her much richer cousins, the Bertrams.

《曼斯菲爾德莊園》的一開始，安靜、害羞的芬妮普萊斯前去住在她較富有的親戚家——博川一家。

In social terms, the Bertrams are stars, and Fanny is a very minor character indeed.

從社會角度而言，博川一家當屬主角，而芬妮肯定是一個非常次要的角色。

But Austen judges by a completely different standard.

但是奧斯丁從一個完全不同的觀點評斷。

She exchanges the normal lens through which people are viewed in society, a lens which magnifies wealth and power, for a moral lens, which magnifies qualities of character.

她調換了社會評價人的觀點，換掉了那個強調財富和權勢的世俗觀點，改為強調個人特質的道德觀點。

Certainly, Fanny has no elegant dresses or money and can't speak French.

的確，芬妮既沒有華服也沒財富，也不會說法語。

But by the end of Mansfield Park, she is revealed as the noble one.

但是在故事結尾，她卻被認為是最高尚的一位。

While the Bertrams, despite their titles and accomplishments, have fallen into moral confusion.

而博川一家縱使擁有頭銜和顯赫的功績，卻落入了道德混亂。

3. Take money seriously.

重視財務。

Austen is quite frank about money.

論及財務，奧斯丁還頗直接的。

In Pride and Prejudice, she explains that Mr. Bingley has an income of 4000 pounds a year - that's rather a lot - while Darcy has more than twice that.

在《傲慢與偏見》中，她說明賓利先生年收入 4000 英鎊，那可是一筆大數目，然而達西的收入是賓利的兩倍以上。

Rather than feeling it's impolite to discuss money, Austen thinks it's an eminently suitable topic for highbrow literature.

奥斯丁並不覺得談論收入是不禮貌的，她反而認為那對於士紳文學來說是個特別適合的題材。

Because how we handle our finances has a huge effect on our lives.

因為我們理財的方式會大大影響我們的生活。

She takes aim at two big mistakes people make around money.

她集中闡述論及錢財時，人們會犯的兩個大錯誤。

The first is to get over impressed by it. In Mansfield Park, Julia Bertram gets married to Mr. Rushworth, the richest character in all of Austen's novels.

第一個是太過受金錢迷惑。在《曼斯菲爾德莊園》裡，茱莉亞博川嫁給了勞斯沃先生，也就是在奧斯丁所有小說中最有錢的角色。

But they are miserable together, and their marriage rapidly falls apart.

但他們相處得非常不愉快，婚姻很快就分崩離析了。

But equally, Austen is convinced that it's a serious error to get married without enough money.

但同樣地奧斯丁也相信，沒有足夠的經濟基礎就結婚也是一大錯誤。

At one point in Sense and Sensibility, it looks like Elinor Dashwood and Edward Ferrars - who are otherwise well suited - won't be able to get married.

在《理性與感性》的某部分，艾麗諾達士伍和愛德華菲若斯，這對看來登對的佳偶，看似無法結婚。

She writes, "They were neither of them quite enough in love to think that 350 pounds a year would supply them with the comforts of life."

她寫道，「他們任一方的熱戀程度都還不及讓他們覺得，一年 350 英鎊足夠讓他們擁有舒適的生活。」

Elinor takes the view that wealth has much to do with happiness.

艾麗諾認為財富和幸福息息相關。

Though, by wealth, she doesn't mean great luxury, just enough to live carefully in moderate comfort.

雖然她所謂的財富也並非意味著奢華，而只是足夠過得簡單舒適。

And Austen agrees.

奧斯丁同意了這點。

Marriage without a reasonable economic basis is just a folly.

沒有一定經濟基礎的婚姻只是場兒戲。

Austen is showing us an elusive but crucial attitude.

奧斯丁呈現出一個難以捉摸但卻重要至極的觀點。

Money is in some ways extremely important, and in other ways unimportant. We can't just be for it or against it.

金錢在某些方面十分重要，但在其他方面卻也不重要。我們不行全然支持或是否定某一方。

4. Don't be snobbish.

別勢利眼。

In Emma, the heroine - Emma herself - takes Harriett Smith - a pretty girl from the village - under her wing.

在《艾瑪》中，女主角艾瑪將海麗葉史密斯——一個來自小鎮的漂亮女子——收編旗下。

She wants to make her an impressive match with a smart vicar.

她希望幫她和一個聰明的教區牧師牽紅線。

Swept away by Emma's excessive praise, Harriet turns down an offer of marriage from a farmer because she thinks now that he's not good enough.

海麗葉被艾瑪過度的讚美吹捧上天，因而拒絕了來自一個農夫的求婚，因為她認為他不夠好。

Though in fact, he is good-hearted and quietly prosperous.

雖然事實上，他既有一副好心腸而且頗為發達。

Then the vicar turns out to be horrified at Emma's idea and Harriet has her heart broken.

結果教區牧師被艾瑪的意圖驚呆了，海麗葉也因而心碎。

The underlying point is serious, Emma is unwittingly but cruelly snobbish.

其中潛藏的含義是很嚴肅的，艾瑪自己不知覺但她其實勢利眼至極。

She's devoted to the wrong kind of hierarchy.

她遵照了錯誤的階級認知。

The farmer is essentially a better person than the vicar,

農夫這個人其實本質上比教區牧師好上許多。

but social conventions and manners make it easy to ignore this.

但是社會傳統和禮節使得人們忽視了這點。

Jane Austen is careful to give this fault to Emma, who is in many ways an enchanting character.

珍奧斯丁小心翼翼地將這個錯失冠到艾瑪頭上，她其實在很多方面上都是一個迷人的角色。

In other words, Jane Austen doesn't mock snobbery as the behavior of ghastly and contemptible people.

換句話說，珍奧斯丁並不嘲諷勢利為恐怖、卑鄙的人的行為。

Instead, she regards the snob with pity, as someone who's in need of instruction, guidance, and reform.

相反地，她以憐憫的角度看到勢利這種行為，認為這個人只是少了提攜、引導和改進。

As we all are, in our own way.

其實我們所有人在某方面都是如此。

Austen might have written sermons; she wrote novels instead.

比起寫佈道說教，奧斯丁選擇寫小說。

She doesn't tell us why her sense of priorities is important, instead, she shows us in a story

她不直接告訴我們何謂輕重緩急，她反倒透過小說闡述，

which will also make us laugh, which can grip us enough that we want to finish supper early to read on.

小說會使我們歡笑，讓我們想要趕緊吃完飯繼續讀。

Upon finishing one of the novels, we're invited to go back into the world and respond to others as she has taught us.

每當讀完了其中一本，我們就會被帶入當時的世界，透過她教導我們的和人們對話。

To pick up on, and recoil from greed, arrogance, and pride, and to be drawn to goodness within ourselves and others.

熟悉了何謂貪慾、傲慢和自矜後，學會擺脫這些弊病，並且引導存在在我們自身和他人心中的良善。

Sadly, the moral ambition of the novel has largely disappeared in the modern world.

令人難過的是，現今人們閱讀時幾乎不會注意到這種道德企圖。

Yet it's really the best thing that any novel can do.

然而這的確是一本小說能成就的最棒的事。

The satisfaction we feel when reading Jane Austen is really because she wants the world to be a certain way and we find that immensely appealing.

我們閱讀珍．奧斯丁的小說感受到的滿足感，實際來自於她希望世道所能呈現的一種特定風貌，而這種世道非常吸引人。

It's the secret, largely unrecognized reason why she is such a loved writer.

儘管這些特點不易察覺，卻也是她身為一個作者如此受愛戴的原因。