亨利詹姆斯中文译本（詹姆斯使节的故事梗概）

Synopsis of HenryJames’ The Ambassadors

亨利·詹姆斯的小说《使节》，1903年出版。

兰伯特·斯特雷特（Lambert Stretcher）是一位有智慧、认真负责的美国编辑，他富有的未婚妻纽瑟姆夫人（Mrs.Newsome）是一名严格守旧的马萨诸塞州寡妇。斯特雷特被纽瑟姆夫人派往巴黎把她的儿子查德带回家。查德在欧洲生活了几年，现在被要求负责家族的商业利益。纽瑟姆夫人一直无法了解查德为什么选择留在国外。当斯特雷特到达时，他发现这个年轻人的旧世界环境和他与迷人、有教养的德维奥内伯爵夫人（Countess de Vionnet）的关系发生了很大变化，后者后来似乎成了查德的情妇。渐渐地，斯特雷特开始意识到巴黎的生活比老家马萨诸塞州的伍利特（Woollett），更具有魅力和满足感，而使得他实际上放弃了自己的使命。随后，继斯特雷特之后，一组新的使节又被派往巴黎，其中包括查德咄咄逼人的妹妹波科克夫人和她的丈夫吉姆；还有吉姆迷人但缺乏经验的妹妹玛米，玛米预计将嫁给查德。他们的争论得到了斯特雷特的美国朋友韦马什（Waymarsh）的补充证实。他们觉得整个情况变得太滑稽可笑了，因为他们任何人都无法理解到底是什么东西教坏了查德和斯特雷特。查德留在巴黎的决心毫不动摇，但斯特雷特良心发现，最终被说服返回美国，尽管这将结束他对温文尔雅的玛丽亚·戈斯特雷（Maria Gostrey）的恋情。玛丽亚·戈斯特雷是一名侨民，她一直目睹了斯特雷特的文化冒险并对其所经历的喜剧性的文化反差深表同情。

The Ambassadors

The Ambassadors, novel by HenryJames ， published in 1903.

Lambert Strether, an inteligent, conscientious American editor, is sent by his wealthy fiancée, Mrs.Newsome, a rigorously conventional Massachusetts widow, to Paris to bring home her son Chad, who has spent several years in Europe and is now required to take charge of the family's business interests.She has been unable to learn why Chad chooses to remain abroad, and when Strether arrives he discovers the young man much changed by his Old World environment and his relations with the charming, cultured Countess de Vionnet, who later appears to be Chad's mistress. Gradually Strether comes to realize the fascinations and satisfactions that life offers in Paris but not in Woollett,Massachusetts, and he virtually gives up his mission. Then a new group of ambassadors is sent after him, including Chad's aggressively proper sister, Mrs.Pocock; her husband, Jim; and Jim's appealing but inexperienced young sister, Mamie, who has been expected to marry Chad. Their arguments are supplemented by those of Strether’s American friend, Waymarsh, and the situation becomes comic, for none of these people can comprehend the education that has reformed Chad and Strether.Chad's determination to remain in Paris is unmoved, but Strether's conscience is reawakened, and he is persuaded to return to America, even though this will end his attachment to the quiet, kindly Maria Gostrey, an expatriate who has been a sympathetic spectator of his cultural adventure and the comedy of contrasted manners it has involved.

声明：本文根据《牛津美国文学指南》整理而成。如有侵权，联系删除。