The author’s love of his country. He makes a proposal of much advantage to the king, which is rejected. —
作者对自己的国家充满爱意。他提出了一项对国王非常有利的建议，却遭到了拒绝。 —

The king’s great ignorance in politics. —
国王在政治方面非常无知。 —

The learning of that country very imperfect and confined. —
那个国家的学问非常不完善和受限。 —

The laws, and military affairs, and parties in the state.
法律、军事事务和政党在这个国家中的地位。

Nothing but an extreme love of truth could have hindered me from concealing this part of my story. —
除非对真理极度热爱，否则我是不会隐瞒我故事中的这一部分的。 —

It was in vain to discover my resentments, which were always turned into ridicule; —
揭示我的怨恨是徒劳的，因为它们总是被嘲笑所取代； —

and I was forced to rest with patience, while my noble and beloved country was so injuriously treated. —
我被迫忍耐，而我的高贵和心爱的国家受到如此不公正的对待。 —

I am as heartily sorry as any of my readers can possibly be, that such an occasion was given: —
我非常遗憾，就像我所有的读者一样，出现了这样的机会： —

but this prince happened to be so curious and inquisitive upon every particular, that it could not consist either with gratitude or good manners, to refuse giving him what satisfaction I was able. —
但是这位王子对每一个细节都非常好奇和探究，拒绝给他我所能提供的满足，既不符合感激之情，也不符合良好的礼仪。 —

Yet thus much I may be allowed to say in my own vindication, that I artfully eluded many of his questions, and gave to every point a more favourable turn, by many degrees, than the strictness of truth would allow. —
然而，我可以被允许在自我辩护中说一点，我巧妙地回避了许多他的问题，并把每个问题都比严格的真相更有利的一面表现出来。 —

For I have always borne that laudable partiality to my own country, which Dionysius Halicarnassensis, with so much justice, recommends to an historian: —
因为我一直对我自己的国家有着值得称赞的偏爱，正如迪奥尼修斯·哈利卡纳萨斯公正地推荐给历史学家的那样。 —

I would hide the frailties and deformities of my political mother, and place her virtues and beauties in the most advantageous light. —
我希望隐藏我政治母亲的弱点和丑陋之处，将她的美德和美丽展现在最有利的光线下。 —

This was my sincere endeavour in those many discourses I had with that monarch, although it unfortunately failed of success.
这是我在与那位君主的众多对话中真诚的努力，尽管不幸地没有成功。

But great allowances should be given to a king, who lives wholly secluded from the rest of the world, and must therefore be altogether unacquainted with the manners and customs that most prevail in other nations: —
但是应该给予一个完全与世隔绝的国王很大的宽容，他必须完全不了解在其他国家中最为盛行的举止和习俗。 —

the want of which knowledge will ever produce many prejudices, and a certain narrowness of thinking, from which we, and the politer countries of Europe, are wholly exempted. —
缺乏某种知识将会产生许多偏见，以及一种特定的狭隘思维，而我们和欧洲那些更文明的国家则完全没有这种问题。 —

And it would be hard indeed, if so remote a prince’s notions of virtue and vice were to be offered as a standard for all mankind.
如果远在边远国度的君主对于善恶的看法被提供作为全人类的标准，那将会是很不公平的。

To confirm what I have now said, and further to show the miserable effects of a confined education, I shall here insert a passage, which will hardly obtain belief. —
为了证实我刚才所说的，并且进一步展示受限教育的悲惨效果，我在这里插入一段很难被人们相信的话。 —

In hopes to ingratiate myself further into his majesty’s favour, I told him of “an invention, discovered between three and four hundred years ago, to make a certain powder, into a heap of which, the smallest spark of fire falling, would kindle the whole in a moment, although it were as big as a mountain, and make it all fly up in the air together, with a noise and agitation greater than thunder. —
为了进一步赢得他陛下的青睐，我告诉他关于“一种发明，发现于三四百年前，可以将某种粉末聚集在一起，只需一点点火星坠落其中，整个粉末堆都会瞬间燃起，就算它像座山一样巨大，也会整体飞向空中，伴随着比雷声还要大的嘈杂。” —

That a proper quantity of this powder rammed into a hollow tube of brass or iron, according to its bigness, would drive a ball of iron or lead, with such violence and speed, as nothing was able to sustain its force. —
这种粉末根据管子的大小压入黄铜或铁质的空心管中，可以使铁或铅制成的子弹以极高的速度和力量射出，能够对任何物体产生毁灭性的破坏。 —

That the largest balls thus discharged, would not only destroy whole ranks of an army at once, but batter the strongest walls to the ground, sink down ships, with a thousand men in each, to the bottom of the sea, and when linked together by a chain, would cut through masts and rigging, divide hundreds of bodies in the middle, and lay all waste before them. —
最大的子弹可以一次性摧毁整个军队的阵线，撞倒最坚固的城墙，让装载着上千人的船只沉入海底，当以链条串联在一起时，可以切断桅杆和绳索，将数百个人从中间劈成两半，并使一片土地变得荒芜。 —

That we often put this powder into large hollow balls of iron, and discharged them by an engine into some city we were besieging, which would rip up the pavements, tear the houses to pieces, burst and throw splinters on every side, dashing out the brains of all who came near. —
我们经常将这种粉末装入大型铁制空心球中，并通过一种机器将其发射进攻打的城市，能够撕裂人行道、撕碎房屋，爆裂并四散飞溅木屑，砸出路上接近的人的脑浆。 —

That I knew the ingredients very well, which were cheap and common; —
我非常了解这种粉末的成分，它们很便宜且常见。 —

I understood the manner of compounding them, and could direct his workmen how to make those tubes, of a size proportionable to all other things in his majesty’s kingdom, and the largest need not be above a hundred feet long; —
我理解了制造这些管子的方法，并可以指导他的工人如何制作与王国中其他事物成比例的管子，最大的管子长度也不会超过一百英尺； —

twenty or thirty of which tubes, charged with the proper quantity of powder and balls, would batter down the walls of the strongest town in his dominions in a few hours, or destroy the whole metropolis, if ever it should pretend to dispute his absolute commands. —
二三十根充满适量火药和子弹的管子，只需几个小时就能摧毁他领土上最坚固的城墙，或者如果有哪座都敢对他的绝对命令提出挑战的话，摧毁整个首都； —

” This I humbly offered to his majesty, as a small tribute of acknowledgment, in turn for so many marks that I had received, of his royal favour and protection.
“这是我谦卑地向陛下献上的一小份感谢，作为我已经收到的他皇家恩宠和保护的成果；

The king was struck with horror at the description I had given of those terrible engines, and the proposal I had made. —
国王对我描述的这些可怕的武器和我提出的建议感到震惊。 —

“He was amazed, how so impotent and grovelling an insect as I” (these were his expressions) “could entertain such inhuman ideas, and in so familiar a manner, as to appear wholly unmoved at all the scenes of blood and desolation which I had painted as the common effects of those destructive machines; —
“他很惊讶，如此无力和低微的昆虫像我一样，竟然能够持有这样不人道的观念，并以如此熟悉的方式表达，对于我描绘的那些杀戮和毁灭场景，他竟然完全无动于衷； —

whereof,” he said, “some evil genius, enemy to mankind, must have been the first contriver. —
为此，”他说，“一定是一些恶魔，敌对于人类的邪恶天才首先设计了这些毁灭性的机器。 —

As for himself, he protested, that although few things delighted him so much as new discoveries in art or in nature, yet he would rather lose half his kingdom, than be privy to such a secret; —
于他自己，他发誓，尽管他对于艺术或自然中的新发现充满了喜爱，但他宁愿失去他王国的一半，也不愿知晓这样的秘密； —

which he commanded me, as I valued any life, never to mention any more.”
命令我，如果我重视任何生命，就永远不要再提及这个事情。”

A strange effect of narrow principles and views! —
隘的原则和观点的奇怪影响！ —

that a prince possessed of every quality which procures veneration, love, and esteem; —
个拥有每一种能赢得尊敬、爱和尊重的素质的王子，竟然会有这样的心态。 —

of strong parts, great wisdom, and profound learning, endowed with admirable talents, and almost adored by his subjects, should, from a nice, unnecessary scruple, whereof in Europe we can have no conception, let slip an opportunity put into his hands that would have made him absolute master of the lives, the liberties, and the fortunes of his people! —
有着坚强的勇气、伟大的智慧和深厚的学识，具备令人赞叹的才能，几乎受到臣民的崇拜。然而，因为一种我们在欧洲无法理解的微小而不必要的顾虑，他错失了一个能让他成为统治百姓的生死福祸的绝佳机会！ —

Neither do I say this, with the least intention to detract from the many virtues of that excellent king, whose character, I am sensible, will, on this account, be very much lessened in the opinion of an English reader: —
我这么说并不是有意贬低那位优秀国王的众多优点，我明白这样会在英国读者眼中大大削弱他的形象。 —

but I take this defect among them to have risen from their ignorance, by not having hitherto reduced politics into a science, as the more acute wits of Europe have done. —
然而，我认为这个缺陷源于他们对政治的无知，因为他们迄今为止还没有将政治纳入科学的范畴，而欧洲更聪明的头脑已经做到了。 —

For, I remember very well, in a discourse one day with the king, when I happened to say, “there were several thousand books among us written upon the art of government,” it gave him (directly contrary to my intention) a very mean opinion of our understandings. —
我还记得有一天与国王进行对话时，我不经意地说道：“我们这里有几千本关于政府治理的书籍”，这使他对我们的智慧产生了非常低下的看法，这与我的本意完全相反。 —

He professed both to abominate and despise all mystery, refinement, and intrigue, either in a prince or a minister. —
他公开表示厌恶和鄙视在君主或部长身上的任何神秘主义、狡猾和政治诡计。 —

He could not tell what I meant by secrets of state, where an enemy, or some rival nation, were not in the case. —
他无法理解我所指的国家机密，如果没有敌人或某个竞争国家的情况。 —

He confined the knowledge of governing within very narrow bounds, to common sense and reason, to justice and lenity, to the speedy determination of civil and criminal causes; —
他将治理的知识局限在很狭窄的范围内，仅为常识和理性、公正和仁慈、对民事和刑事案件的迅速判决； —

with some other obvious topics, which are not worth considering. —
还有其他一些显而易见的话题，不值一提。 —

And he gave it for his opinion, “that whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.”
而他的观点是，任何能够使一块地上原本只长出一根麦穗或两片草叶的人，都比整个政治家群体为国家做出更多实质性贡献，对人类更有帮助。

The learning of this people is very defective, consisting only in morality, history, poetry, and mathematics, wherein they must be allowed to excel. —
这个民族的学问非常有限，仅仅包括道德、历史、诗歌和数学，不过在这些领域他们确实很出色。 —

But the last of these is wholly applied to what may be useful in life, to the improvement of agriculture, and all mechanical arts; —
不过最后一个领域完全应用于生活的实用性，用于改进农业和所有的机械技艺； —

so that among us, it would be little esteemed. —
所以在我们这里，它将被很小心翼翼地看待。 —

And as to ideas, entities, abstractions, and transcendentals, I could never drive the least conception into their heads.
至于观念、实体、抽象和超验的东西，我无法在他们的脑海中建立一点概念。

No law in that country must exceed in words the number of letters in their alphabet, which consists only of two and twenty. —
他们的国家法律的字数不得超过他们的字母表中字母的数量，字母表只有二十二个。 —

But indeed few of them extend even to that length. —
不过实际上，其中很少有法律能够达到那个长度。 —

They are expressed in the most plain and simple terms, wherein those people are not mercurial enough to discover above one interpretation: —
他们用最简单明了的措辞表达，那些人并不反复无常到能够发掘出多重解释。 —

and to write a comment upon any law, is a capital crime. —
而对任何法律进行评论则是一项重罪。 —

As to the decision of civil causes, or proceedings against criminals, their precedents are so few, that they have little reason to boast of any extraordinary skill in either.
至于民事案件的判决或对罪犯的诉讼程序，类似案例极其有限，他们没有多少理由夸口自己在这方面有非凡的技巧。

They have had the art of printing, as well as the Chinese, time out of mind: —
他们，和中国人一样，早已掌握了印刷术的技艺。 —

but their libraries are not very large; for that of the king, which is reckoned the largest, does not amount to above a thousand volumes, placed in a gallery of twelve hundred feet long, whence I had liberty to borrow what books I pleased. —
但是他们的图书馆并不是很大；国王的图书馆被认为是最大的，书籍数量也不过千余卷，摆放在长达1200英尺的走廊中，我有自由选借其中任何一本书。 —

The queen’s joiner had contrived in one of Glumdalclitch’s rooms, a kind of wooden machine five-and-twenty feet high, formed like a standing ladder; —
女王的木匠在格温达尔克利奇的房间里设计了一种二十五英尺高的木制机械，形状像一个倒放的梯子。 —

the steps were each fifty feet long. It was indeed a moveable pair of stairs, the lowest end placed at ten feet distance from the wall of the chamber. —
这些台阶的长度都是50英尺。这确实是一对可以移动的楼梯，最低端距离墙壁有10英尺的距离。 —

The book I had a mind to read, was put up leaning against the wall: —
我想读的那本书斜靠在墙上。 —

I first mounted to the upper step of the ladder, and turning my face towards the book, began at the top of the page, and so walking to the right and left about eight or ten paces, according to the length of the lines, till I had gotten a little below the level of mine eyes, and then descending gradually till I came to the bottom: —
我先爬上梯子的最上层，然后把脸朝向书本，从页面的顶部开始，左右走动大约八到十步，根据行的长度而定，直到眼睛略微低于页面的水平线，然后逐渐下降直到到达底部。 —

after which I mounted again, and began the other page in the same manner, and so turned over the leaf, which I could easily do with both my hands, for it was as thick and stiff as a pasteboard, and in the largest folios not above eighteen or twenty feet long.
然后我再次爬上去，以同样的方式开始翻阅另一页，然后翻动页码，这个动作我可以用双手轻松完成，因为书页又粗又硬，就像纸板一样，而且即便是最大的大钞也不超过18到20英尺长。

Their style is clear, masculine, and smooth, but not florid; —
他们的风格干净、男性化、流畅，但不华丽。 —

for they avoid nothing more than multiplying unnecessary words, or using various expressions. —
因为他们尽量避免使用不必要的词语或使用不同的表达方式。 —

I have perused many of their books, especially those in history and morality. —
我已经浏览了他们的许多书，尤其是那些关于历史和道德的。 —

Among the rest, I was much diverted with a little old treatise, which always lay in Glumdalclitch’s bed chamber, and belonged to her governess, a grave elderly gentlewoman, who dealt in writings of morality and devotion. —
在其他的书中，我对一本小小的老著最感兴趣，它一直放在格兰达尔奇的卧室里，属于她的女导师，一位庄重的老太太，专门经营道德和虔诚的著作。 —

The book treats of the weakness of human kind, and is in little esteem, except among the women and the vulgar. —
这本书讲述了人类的脆弱，除了妇女和底层人民，很少受到重视。 —

However, I was curious to see what an author of that country could say upon such a subject. —
然而，我很好奇这个国家的作者在这个主题上能说些什么。 —

This writer went through all the usual topics of European moralists, showing “how diminutive, contemptible, and helpless an animal was man in his own nature; —
这个作家涵盖了所有欧洲道德学家常用的话题，展示了“人类本质上是多么渺小、可鄙和无助； —

how unable to defend himself from inclemencies of the air, or the fury of wild beasts: —
他如何无力保护自己免受恶劣天气和猛兽的袭击； —

how much he was excelled by one creature in strength, by another in speed, by a third in foresight, by a fourth in industry. —
他在力量上被其他生物超越，在速度上被另一个超越，在预见上被第三个超越，在工作上被第四个超越。 —

” He added, “that nature was degenerated in these latter declining ages of the world, and could now produce only small abortive births, in comparison of those in ancient times. —
“他补充说，世界末世的自然已经堕落了，现在只能生产出与古时相比小而畸形的生物。 —

” He said “it was very reasonable to think, not only that the species of men were originally much larger, but also that there must have been giants in former ages; —
“他说，认为人类的种族最初要大得多是非常合理的，而且在古代一定有巨人存在； —

which, as it is asserted by history and tradition, so it has been confirmed by huge bones and skulls, casually dug up in several parts of the kingdom, far exceeding the common dwindled race of men in our days. —
历史和传统都声称如此，而且在王国各地偶然发现的巨大骨骼和头骨实际证实了这一点，远远超过我们这个时代普通稀疏的人类。 —

” He argued, “that the very laws of nature absolutely required we should have been made, in the beginning of a size more large and robust; —
“他争辩说，自然的规律绝对要求我们在起初应该是更大更壮的； —

not so liable to destruction from every little accident, of a tile falling from a house, or a stone cast from the hand of a boy, or being drowned in a little brook. —
不那么容易因为从房子上掉下来的瓦片，或者小孩子扔出的石头，或者溺水在一个小溪中而丧命。” —

” From this way of reasoning, the author drew several moral applications, useful in the conduct of life, but needless here to repeat. —
“从这种推理方式中，作者得出了一些在生活中有用的道德应用，但此处不需要重复。” —

For my own part, I could not avoid reflecting how universally this talent was spread, of drawing lectures in morality, or indeed rather matter of discontent and repining, from the quarrels we raise with nature. —
就我个人而言，我不禁思考起我们与大自然之争产生的不满和抱怨如何普遍地滋生出道德讲座的才能。 —

And I believe, upon a strict inquiry, those quarrels might be shown as ill-grounded among us as they are among that people.
我相信，在进行严格的调查后，我们的争吵可能会被证明与那个国家一样没有根据。

As to their military affairs, they boast that the king’s army consists of a hundred and seventy-six thousand foot, and thirty-two thousand horse: —
至于他们的军事事务，他们自夸国王的军队由一百七十六千步兵和三万二千骑兵组成： —

if that may be called an army, which is made up of tradesmen in the several cities, and farmers in the country, whose commanders are only the nobility and gentry, without pay or reward. —
如果那可以被称为军队的话，那它是由各个城市的手工业者和农民组成的，他们的指挥官只有贵族和绅士，没有薪水或奖励。 —

They are indeed perfect enough in their exercises, and under very good discipline, wherein I saw no great merit; —
他们的训练确实相当完善，并且遵循着非常好的纪律，但我并未看到太大的功绩。 —

for how should it be otherwise, where every farmer is under the command of his own landlord, and every citizen under that of the principal men in his own city, chosen after the manner of Venice, by ballot?
要不然应该怎样？在那样的情况下，每个农民都受他自己的地主指挥，每个市民都受他所在城市的主要人物指挥，这些人按威尼斯的方式进行选举？

I have often seen the militia of Lorbrulgrud drawn out to exercise, in a great field near the city of twenty miles square. —
我经常看到洛布鲁格的民兵在城市附近的一个占地二十英里正方形的大草原上进行训练。 —

They were in all not above twenty-five thousand foot, and six thousand horse; —
他们总共不到二万五千步兵和六千骑兵。 —

but it was impossible for me to compute their number, considering the space of ground they took up. —
但是考虑到他们占据的地面空间，我无法计算他们的数量。 —

A cavalier, mounted on a large steed, might be about ninety feet high. —
一个骑在高大战马上的骑士可能有九十英尺高。 —

I have seen this whole body of horse, upon a word of command, draw their swords at once, and brandish them in the air. —
我看到整个骑兵队，在一声令下，同时抽出剑来，挥舞在空中。 —

Imagination can figure nothing so grand, so surprising, and so astonishing! —
想象力无法描绘出如此宏伟、令人惊讶和令人震惊的场景！ —

it looked as if ten thousand flashes of lightning were darting at the same time from every quarter of the sky.
看起来仿佛天空每个角落同时闪现出一万道闪电。

I was curious to know how this prince, to whose dominions there is no access from any other country, came to think of armies, or to teach his people the practice of military discipline. —
我很好奇这位王子是如何想到军队，或者是如何教导他的人民进行军事训练的，因为他的领土是无法从其他国家进入的。 —

But I was soon informed, both by conversation and reading their histories; —
但我很快通过对话和阅读他们的历史了解到了真相； —

for, in the course of many ages, they have been troubled with the same disease to which the whole race of mankind is subject; —
因为，在许多世纪以来，他们一直受到了整个人类种族所患的同样的疾病的困扰； —

the nobility often contending for power, the people for liberty, and the king for absolute dominion. All which, however happily tempered by the laws of that kingdom, have been sometimes violated by each of the three parties, and have more than once occasioned civil wars; —
贵族常常争夺权力，人民则争取自由，国王则追求绝对统治。尽管这些情况在该王国的法律的幸运调和下得到了缓解，但每一方都曾经违反过，多次引发内战； —

the last whereof was happily put an end to by this prince’s grand-father, in a general composition; —
最后一次内战是在这位王子的祖父领导下幸运地得到了结束，达成了一项普遍的和解协议； —

and the militia, then settled with common consent, has been ever since kept in the strictest duty.
之后，民兵力量根据共同的共识得到了安排，并一直保持着最严格的纪律。