短篇小说可以说是浓缩的精华，这篇小说描写了一个窘迫的青年作家受到一个所谓的忠实女读者的奉承，在她的要求下，不得不请她去福伊约餐馆用餐，这远远超过了他的经济承受能力。吃饭时那位女士一边一遍又一遍地说她从来只吃一道菜，却一边装作很随便的样子点了一道又道最昂贵最稀缺的菜。可怜的青年作家从硬充好汉热情好客到惴惴不安以致最后对账单已漠不关心，一顿饭的工夫就深深领教了虚伪外表下的贪婪与狡诈。方寸之间见世界，作者功底深厚，同时一些修辞手法的运用也功不可莫。

make it of any consequence to a woman使这个对女人来说很重要；
it 指代what they say
too old to make it…太老了以至于无法…
翻译：
我这里插一句，男人们不到衰老得所说的话对女人完全无足轻重时，很少有人学会这个。

The Luncheon_百度翻译
The Luncheon
网络 午餐; 午宴;
luncheon_百度翻译
luncheon 英[ˈlʌntʃən] 美[ˈlʌntʃən]
n. 午餐; 午宴; 午餐会; 两餐之间吃的一点食物;
[例句]Earlier this month, a luncheon for former UN staff was held in Vienna.

Portrait of a Lady
Henry James
Isabel Archer is an American young woman brought to Europe by her aunt, Mrs. Touchette. She meets her uncle, Mr. Touchette, and cousin, Ralph, and lives with the Touchette family in their home at Gardencourt.
As she stays with the Touchettes, a neighbor, Lord Warburton, falls in love with her and proposes. She turns him down. Her friend from America, Henrietta Stackpole, also comes to England and spends some time with Isabel. Henrietta is more outspoken and opinionated than Isabel and tries to guide her friend before she leaves Isabel at Gardencourt. Ralph Touchette stands back and watches all of them with a bit of cynicism.
Mrs. Touchette is planning to take Isabel to her residence in Europe. First she must stay in England while family matters conclude. While Ralph and his parents are tied up, another visitor comes to Gardencourt. Madame Merle is the most fascinating person Isabel has ever met. She seems to be her own person and very accomplished.
This synopsis barely gets the story started. Isabel comes into a great deal of money and is now independent. She goes to Europe with Mrs. Touchette and meets yet another suitor, Gilbert Osmond, and his daughter, Pansy. Lord Warburton meets her in Rome. An American suitor comes over to see her in Europe. Isabel makes choices that affect the rest of her life, and then has to deal with the consequences.
The Portrait of a Lady is a classic, first published in England in 1881 and in the United States in 1901. James takes us through Isabel's life, never apologizing for her actions. James also is not known for happy endings. Unfortunately, he also is known for being wordy. I found him very wordy. And boring by the middle of the book. By the time Isabel was is Florence and meeting Gilbert Osmond I was tired of reading the droning paragraphs. I liked his characters' interactions and development. But those were not enough to keep me awake. Too often I found this book to be a good sleeping tool. While there are others who agree with me, this book is still considered a masterpiece. Many a student will have to study it in school. Thank goodness for those people with my temperament there are Cliff notes.
The simple story here is of a brilliant, sensitive young woman who is given a fortune by a cousin's intervention with the goal of helping her find her destiny. The story is beautifully designed to lead inexorably to a tragic ending, affirming at the same time an unbreakable adherence to moral codes between individuals, and only incidentally the product of church or state.
The plot is developed solely upon the heroine's character. All others are tools of her fulfillment or destruction. Her lofty intellect, in the end, gives her an awareness of the inevitable conclusion to her own decisions and the need to accept them, and to hopefully await a better situation. All the characters are deeply drawn and faulted, and even the heroine has the self esteem to warn her of the trap that has been set against her.
There are slow spots, as in any 700 page novel, but I am greatly looking forward to my book club discussion of this next month. It will be followed by high tea at the Ritz Carlton. A month later this discussion will lead to luncheon and a movie excursion to see the perfect Nicole Kidman in the role of Isabel Archer. There is a great deal of wonderful information on line to enhance understanding and enrich pleasure. It is, in spite of its length, a book to read at least once again. It is not dirtied by frog princes. If you require this, I recommend Hans Christian Anderson!
再给你一个英文简介
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/portraitlady/summary.html