1.But Gerald remained Gerald. His habits of living and his ideas changed, but his manners he would not change, even had he been able to change them.

【难句解析】最后一句had he been able to...是部分倒装，是把谓语动词的一部分（这里是had）放到主语之前，起强调作用；

【句子翻译】然而，杰拉尔德还是杰拉尔德。他的生活习惯和思想变了，但他不愿改变自己的态度，即使他能够改变。

2.He liked the casual grace with which they conducted affairs of importance, risking a fortune, a plantation or a slave on the turn of a card and writing off their losses with careless good humor and no more ado than when they scattered pennies to pickaninnies.

【难句解析】这句话的主干是He liked the casual grace，后面的全部即with which...pickaninnies是定语从句，修饰grace；write off的意思是“勾销”，例句：Far better to write off what will never be paid. 把那些永远不能得以偿还的债务一笔勾销是好得多的一种壮举；

【句子翻译】他们处理重大事务时，在一张牌上赌押一笔财产、一个农场或一个奴隶时，以及像向黑人孩子撒钱币仅的将他们的损失惬意地轻轻勾销时，那种满不在乎地神气是他十分喜爱的。

3.But there was a brisk and restless vitality about the young Irishman, fresh from a country where winds blew wet and chill, where misty swamps held no fevers, that set him apart from these indolent gentle-folk of semi-tropical weather and malarial marshes.

【难句解析】这句话的主干是But there was a vitality that set him apart from...; 中间的fresh from a country...no fevers是非限制性定语从句，修饰the young Irishman；set sb. apart from...“将某人与...区分开来”；

【句子翻译】不过，这位年轻的爱尔兰人身上充满了活泼好动的生机，他是刚刚从一个风冷雾温但多雾的沼泽不产生热病的因家出来的，这便把他同这些出生亚热带气候和瘴气温地中的懒惰绅士们截然分开了。