“How much, methinks, I could despise this man Were I not bound in charity against it! —
“我觉得，如果不是出于怜悯之心束缚，我会多么鄙视这个人啊！ —

–SHAKESPEARE: Henry VIII.
–莎士比亚：《亨利八世》

One of the professional calls made by Lydgate soon after his return from his wedding-journey was to Lowick Manor, in consequence of a letter which had requested him to fix a time for his visit.
莱德盖特婚礼归来后不久，专业访问之一就是前往洛威克庄园，因为收到一封邀请他确定访问时间的信函。

Mr. Casaubon had never put any question concerning the nature of his illness to Lydgate, nor had he even to Dorothea betrayed any anxiety as to how far it might be likely to cut short his labors or his life. —
卡瑟邦先生从未向莱德盖特询问过他病情的性质，也从未对多萝西娅透露过对自己的工作或生命可能会有多大影响的忧虑。 —

On this point, as on all others, he shrank from pity; —
在这一点上，他回避怜悯; —

and if the suspicion of being pitied for anything in his lot surmised or known in spite of himself was embittering, the idea of calling forth a show of compassion by frankly admitting an alarm or a sorrow was necessarily intolerable to him. —
即使心中隐约感知或已知的事情让他遭受怜悯，直截了当地承认恐惧或悲伤以引起同情的想法对他来说是不可忍受的。 —

Every proud mind knows something of this experience, and perhaps it is only to be overcome by a sense of fellowship deep enough to make all efforts at isolation seem mean and petty instead of exalting.
每一个骄傲的心灵都会经历这种经历，也许只有通过足够深厚的同伴情谊才能克服一切尝试孤立自己的行为显得卑劣和琐碎而不值得颂扬。

But Mr. Casaubon was now brooding over something through which the question of his health and life haunted his silence with a more harassing importunity even than through the autumnal unripeness of his authorship. —
但卡瑟邦先生此刻忧心重重地沉思着某件事，使得健康和生命的问题比秋日般未成熟的作者身份更加困扰他的沉默。 —

It is true that this last might be called his central ambition; —
虽然他的中心抱负或许可以被称为他的中心野心； —

but there are some kinds of authorship in which by far the largest result is the uneasy susceptibility accumulated in the consciousness of the author–one knows of the river by a few streaks amid a long-gathered deposit of uncomfortable mud. —
但有一些作品，其最大的产物是作者意识中积累的不安感–就像人们通过大量难看的泥沙中的一小撮深浅颜色凝聚物来了解河流。 —

That was the way with Mr. Casaubon’s hard intellectual labors. —
卡瑟邦先生艰难的智力劳动就是这种情况。 —

Their most characteristic result was not the “Key to all Mythologies,” but a morbid consciousness that others did not give him the place which he had not demonstrably merited–a perpetual suspicious conjecture that the views entertained of him were not to his advantage– a melancholy absence of passion in his efforts at achievement, and a passionate resistance to the confession that he had achieved nothing.
其最典型的结果不是《万物神话之钥》，而是别人没有给予他未必应得的位置而在意受伤–一直怀疑别人的看法不利于自己–在争取成就时缺乏激情，却热切地抵制对没有取得任何成就的承认。

Thus his intellectual ambition which seemed to others to have absorbed and dried him, was really no security against wounds, least of all against those which came from Dorothea. —
因此，他看似吸收并抹杀他的智识野心，实际上无法防范受伤，尤其是来自多萝西娅的伤害。 —

And he had begun now to frame possibilities for the future which were somehow more embittering to him than anything his mind had dwelt on before.
他现在开始构想对未来的可能性，这些可能性对他而言比之前任何事情都更加苦涩。

Against certain facts he was helpless: against Will Ladislaw’s existence, his defiant stay in the neighborhood of Lowick, and his flippant state of mind with regard to the possessors of authentic, well-stamped erudition: —
他无法抗拒某些事实：无法抗拒威尔·拉迪斯劳的存在，他固执地留在洛威克附近，以及他对真正的、印有鲜明印记的博学者的态度所产生的轻率心态。 —

against Dorothea’s nature, always taking on some new shape of ardent activity, and even in submission and silence covering fervid reasons which it was an irritation to think of: —
违背多萝西娅的天性，总是充满热情地投身于各种新的活动形式，即使在顺从和沉默中也隐藏着激烈的理由，令人不安地想起。 —

against certain notions and likings which had taken possession of her mind in relation to subjects that he could not possibly discuss with her. —
对于一些已经占据她心灵的观念和喜好，涉及到他无法与她讨论的主题。 —

“There was no denying that Dorothea was as virtuous and lovely a young lady as he could have obtained for a wife; —
毫无疑问，多萝西娅是一位贤德可爱的年轻女士，是他可以娶为妻子的理想人选； —

but a young lady turned out to be something more troublesome than he had conceived. —
但是一个年轻女士却变得比他设想的更加麻烦。 —

She nursed him, she read to him, she anticipated his wants, and was solicitous about his feelings; —
她护理他，给他读书，提前满足他的需要，并关心他的感受； —

but there had entered into the husband’s mind the certainty that she judged him, and that her wifely devotedness was like a penitential expiation of unbelieving thoughts–was accompanied with a power of comparison by which himself and his doings were seen too luminously as a part of things in general. —
但是丈夫心中已经产生了肯定，她在评判他，并且她对他的妻子般的忠诚如同忏悔一样，伴随着一种可以将他自己和他的行为看得太明晰作为整体事物的能力。 —

His discontent passed vapor-like through all her gentle loving manifestations, and clung to that inappreciative world which she had only brought nearer to him.
他的不满穿越了她所有的温柔爱意，黏附在那个她只把他带得更接近的无法理解的世界上。

Poor Mr. Casaubon! This suffering was the harder to bear because it seemed like a betrayal: —
可怜的卡索邦先生！这种痛苦更难以忍受，因为它似乎是一种背叛； —

the young creature who had worshipped him with perfect trust had quickly turned into the critical wife; —
早前对他怀有完全信任的年轻女子很快就转变成了苛刻的妻子； —

and early instances of criticism and resentment had made an impression which no tenderness and submission afterwards could remove. —
而早期的批评和怨恨留下的印记，任何之后的温柔和顺从也无法消除。 —

To his suspicious interpretation Dorothea’s silence now was a suppressed rebellion; —
在他多疑的解读下，多萝西娅的沉默现在是一种被抑制的叛逆； —

a remark from her which he had not in any way anticipated was an assertion of conscious superiority; her gentle answers had an irritating cautiousness in them; —
她未曾预料到的一句话成了对自我优越意识的肯定；她温和的回答中有着令人懊恼的谨慎； —

and when she acquiesced it was a self-approved effort of forbearance. —
当她默许时，这是一种经得起自我认可的忍耐努力。 —

The tenacity with which he strove to hide this inward drama made it the more vivid for him; as we hear with the more keenness what we wish others not to hear.
他竭力试图掩饰这场内心戏，却让它对他而言更加生动；当我们不希望别人听到某事时，我们反而更加敏锐地听到了。

Instead of wondering at this result of misery in Mr. Casaubon, I think it quite ordinary. —
我认为对卡索邦的这种痛苦的结果并不奇怪。 —

Will not a tiny speck very close to our vision blot out the glory of the world, and leave only a margin by which we see the blot? —
不会一点微小的污点非常靠近我们的视野就遮蔽住世界的光辉，只留下一小部分让我们看清这个污点吗？ —

I know no speck so troublesome as self. And who, if Mr. Casaubon had chosen to expound his discontents– his suspicions that he was not any longer adored without criticism– could have denied that they were founded on good reasons? —
我知道没有什么东西比自己更烦人。如果卡索邦先生选择解释他的不满——怀疑别人不再毫无保留地崇拜他，谁又能否认这些怀疑是有根据的呢？ —

On the contrary, there was a strong reason to be added, which he had not himself taken explicitly into account–namely, that he was not unmixedly adorable. —
事实恰好恰好情何以堪，他本人却没有明确考虑到的一个重要原因——即他并非无可挑剔。 —

He suspected this, however, as he suspected other things, without confessing it, and like the rest of us, felt how soothing it would have been to have a companion who would never find it out.
然而，他怀疑这一点，就像怀疑其他事情一样，没有承认而是像我们其他人一样，深知有一个永远不会发现这一点的伴侣会是多么安慰。

This sore susceptibility in relation to Dorothea was thoroughly prepared before Will Ladislaw had returned to Lowick, and what had occurred since then had brought Mr. Casaubon’s power of suspicious construction into exasperated activity. —
在威尔·拉迪斯劳回到洛威克之前，他已经在与多萝西娅的关系中准备好了这种敏感，而自那时以来发生的事情已经激起了卡索邦先生的怀疑构想的激烈活动。 —

To all the facts which he knew, he added imaginary facts both present and future which became more real to him than those because they called up a stronger dislike, a more predominating bitterness. —
除了他所知道的所有事实，他还加入了一些他想象出来的事实，既有现在又有将来，因为这些事实比真实的事实更真实，因为它们唤起了更强烈的反感和更主导的苦涩。 —

Suspicion and jealousy of Will Ladislaw’s intentions, suspicion and jealousy of Dorothea’s impressions, were constantly at their weaving work. —
对威尔·拉迪斯劳的意图和多萝西娅的印象怀有怀疑和嫉妒的情绪一直在持续着。 —

It would be quite unjust to him to suppose that he could have entered into any coarse misinterpretation of Dorothea: —
如果他干涉多萝西娅，就会对他太不公正； —

his own habits of mind and conduct, quite as much as the open elevation of her nature, saved him from any such mistake. —
他的思想和行为习惯以及她的高尚本性保护着他不至于犯那种错误。 —

What he was jealous of was her opinion, the sway that might be given to her ardent mind in its judgments, and the future possibilities to which these might lead her. —
他所嫉妒的是她的看法，是她那热烈头脑在判断时可能给予的影响和这可能导致的未来可能性。 —

As to Will, though until his last defiant letter he had nothing definite which he would choose formally to allege against him, he felt himself warranted in believing that he was capable of any design which could fascinate a rebellious temper and an undisciplined impulsiveness. —
至于威尔，虽然在他最后那封挑衅性的信之前他没有任何具体的指控要提出，但他觉得自己有理由相信他可能会有令未受管束的脾气和冲动行为者着迷的任何计划。 —

He was quite sure that Dorothea was the cause of Will’s return from Rome, and his determination to settle in the neighborhood; —
他十分确定多萝西娅是威尔从罗马回来，并决定在附近定居的原因； —

and he was penetrating enough to imagine that Dorothea had innocently encouraged this course. —
他也很敏锐地想象到多萝西娅是如何无意中鼓励这一举动的。 —

It was as clear as possible that she was ready to be attached to Will and to be pliant to his suggestions: —
很清楚她愿意和威尔结为依靠，听从他的建议； —

they had never had a tete-a-tete without her bringing away from it some new troublesome impression, and the last interview that Mr. Casaubon was aware of (Dorothea, on returning from Freshitt Hall, had for the first time been silent about having seen Will) had led to a scene which roused an angrier feeling against them both than he had ever known before. —
他们从未在没有别人的情况下私下交谈过而不留下一些新麻烦的印象，而卡索邦先生意识到的最后一次交谈（多萝西娅从弗雷希特庄园回来，第一次对威尔的见面保持了沉默）引发了一场比以往更为愤怒的对他们俩的愤怒情绪。 —

Dorothea’s outpouring of her notions about money, in the darkness of the night, had done nothing but bring a mixture of more odious foreboding into her husband’s mind.
多萝西娅在夜晚暗处倾诉自己对金钱的看法，这只是让她丈夫的心头更多地涌现出令人厌恶的预感。

And there was the shock lately given to his health always sadly present with him. —
而最近给他的健康带来的震惊总是让他感到悲伤。 —

He was certainly much revived; he had recovered all his usual power of work: —
他的身体明显恢复了很多; 他恢复了他平时的工作能力： —

the illness might have been mere fatigue, and there might still be twenty years of achievement before him, which would justify the thirty years of preparation. —
疾病可能只是简单的疲劳，在他面前可能还有二十年的成就，这足以证明之前的三十年的准备。 —

That prospect was made the sweeter by a flavor of vengeance against the hasty sneers of Carp & Company; —
那种前景增加了一种对卡普公司匆促讽刺的甜蜜复仇的味道； —

for even when Mr. Casaubon was carrying his taper among the tombs of the past, those modern figures came athwart the dim light, and interrupted his diligent exploration. —
因为即使卡索邦先生在过去的坟墓中辛苦寻找，那些现代人物依然在昏暗的灯光中挡在他的探求前面。 —

To convince Carp of his mistake, so that he would have to eat his own words with a good deal of indigestion, would be an agreeable accident of triumphant authorship, which the prospect of living to future ages on earth and to all eternity in heaven could not exclude from contemplation. —
为了说服卡普他的错误，使他被迫包下自己的话语，让他消化得很艰难，这会是一次愉快的获胜之事，这种可能性使他对地上未来时代的生活和天堂永恒生活一并思考。 —

Since, thus, the prevision of his own unending bliss could not nullify the bitter savors of irritated jealousy and vindictiveness, it is the less surprising that the probability of a transient earthly bliss for other persons, when he himself should have entered into glory, had not a potently sweetening effect. —
因此，尽管他预见着自己无尽的幸福，却不能抹去激怒的嫉妒和复仇心中的苦涩滋味，也就不足为奇，随着他进入光荣，其他人过渡短暂的世俗幸福并未具有明显的甜化作用。 —

If the truth should be that some undermining disease was at work within him, there might be large opportunity for some people to be the happier when he was gone; —
如果事实是他体内正在发作着一种潜在疾病，那么当他离开时，一些人也许会更快乐； —

and if one of those people should be Will Ladislaw, Mr. Casaubon objected so strongly that it seemed as if the annoyance would make part of his disembodied existence.
如果那个人之一是威尔·莱迪斯劳，卡索邦先生强烈反对，以至于令人觉得这种烦恼将成为他的灵体存在的一部分。

This is a very bare and therefore a very incomplete way of putting the case. —
这是一种非常简单，因此非常不完整的描述方式。 —

The human soul moves in many channels, and Mr. Casaubon, we know, had a sense of rectitude and an honorable pride in satisfying the requirements of honor, which compelled him to find other reasons for his conduct than those of jealousy and vindictiveness. —
人类的灵魂活跃在许多渠道中，我们知道，卡索邦先生具有公正感和对满足荣誉要求的崇高自豪感，这使他不得不找到其他比嫉妒和复仇更好的理由来解释自己的行为。 —

The way in which Mr. Casaubon put the case was this: —
卡索邦先生通常这样解释这种情况： —

–“In marrying Dorothea Brooke I had to care for her well-being in case of my death. —
- “嫁给多萝西娅·布鲁克是为了在我去世的情况下照顾她的幸福。 —

But well-being is not to be secured by ample, independent possession of property; —
但幸福并不是通过充足独立的财产来保证的； —

on the contrary, occasions might arise in which such possession might expose her to the more danger. She is ready prey to any man who knows how to play adroitly either on her affectionate ardor or her Quixotic enthusiasm; —
相反的情况可能会出现，这种持有可能会让她面临更大的危险。她是任何懂得如何巧妙地玩弄她慈爱热情或堂吉诃德狂热的男人的猎物； —

and a man stands by with that very intention in his mind–a man with no other principle than transient caprice, and who has a personal animosity towards me– I am sure of it–an animosity which is fed by the consciousness of his ingratitude, and which he has constantly vented in ridicule of which I am as well assured as if I had heard it. —
一个人怀着那种意图站在一旁–一个除了短暂的反复无常之外没有其他原则的人，一个对我怀有个人仇恨–我确信–一种被他的忘恩负义意识所养育的仇恨，他一直以来通过我清楚得知，并在我的讽刺中不断发泄。 —

Even if I live I shall not be without uneasiness as to what he may attempt through indirect influence. —
即使我活着，我也会对他可能通过间接影响而尝试的事情感到不安。 —

This man has gained Dorothea’s ear: he has fascinated her attention; —
这个人赢得了Dorothea的耳朵；他迷住了她的注意力； —

he has evidently tried to impress her mind with the notion that he has claims beyond anything I have done for him. —
显然他试图让她相信，他有比我为他所做的任何事情更多的要求。 —

If I die–and he is waiting here on the watch for that– he will persuade her to marry him. —
如果我死–而他正等在这里等待着–他将说服她嫁给他。 —

That would be calamity for her and success for him. She would not think it calamity: —
对她来说那将是灾难，对他来说将是成功。她不认为那是灾难： —

he would make her believe anything; she has a tendency to immoderate attachment which she inwardly reproaches me for not responding to, and already her mind is occupied with his fortunes. —
他会让她相信任何事情；她有一种对我没有作出回应而内心责备我的过度依恋的倾向，而且她的心已经被他的财富给吸引了。 —

He thinks of an easy conquest and of entering into my nest. That I will hinder! —
他想轻易地征服她，并进入我的窝。我会阻止！ —

Such a marriage would be fatal to Dorothea. —
这样的婚姻对Dorothea将是致命的。 —

Has he ever persisted in anything except from contradiction? —
他除了出于矛盾外，曾经坚持过什么？ —

In knowledge he has always tried to be showy at small cost. —
在知识方面，他总是试图以很小的代价卖弄。 —

In religion he could be, as long as it suited him, the facile echo of Dorothea’s vagaries. —
在宗教方面，只要符合他的利益，他可以作为Dorothea幻想的轻松回音。 —

When was sciolism ever dissociated from laxity? —
学究琐知何时与放纵脱钩？ —

I utterly distrust his morals, and it is my duty to hinder to the utmost the fulfilment of his designs.”
我完全不信任他的道德，阻止他的设计的实现是我的责任。

The arrangements made by Mr. Casaubon on his marriage left strong measures open to him, but in ruminating on them his mind inevitably dwelt so much on the probabilities of his own life that the longing to get the nearest possible calculation had at last overcome his proud reticence, and had determined him to ask Lydgate’s opinion as to the nature of his illness.
卡索邦先生在婚姻上的安排留下了很强的措施，但在深思熟虑后，他的思绪不可避免地更多地停留在自己生命的可能性上，对最接近可能的计算的渴望终于克服了他引以为傲的含蓄，决定询问利德盖特关于他疾病性质的意见。

He had mentioned to Dorothea that Lydgate was coming by appointment at half-past three, and in answer to her anxious question, whether he had felt ill, replied,–“No, I merely wish to have his opinion concerning some habitual symptoms. —
他告诉多萝西娅，利德盖特将在下午三点半按照预约赶来，对她关切的问题是否感觉不适，答道，“不，我只是希望他给我意见关于一些习惯上的症状。 —

You need not see him, my dear. I shall give orders that he may be sent to me in the Yew-tree Walk, where I shall be taking my usual exercise.”
亲爱的，你不必见他。我会下令让他送到紫杉树步道，在那里我会进行我的日常锻炼。”

When Lydgate entered the Yew-tree Walk he saw Mr. Casaubon slowly receding with his hands behind him according to his habit, and his head bent forward. —
当利德盖特进入紫杉树步道时，他看到卡索邦先生缓缓后退，手后握着，头前俯着，这是他的习惯。 —

It was a lovely afternoon; the leaves from the lofty limes were falling silently across the sombre evergreens, while the lights and shadows slept side by side: —
这是一个美好的下午；高大的椴树叶子静静地落在阴郁的常绿植物上，而光影并排着睡着： —

there was no sound but the cawing of the rooks, which to the accustomed ear is a lullaby, or that last solemn lullaby, a dirge. —
除了乌鸦的咯咯声外，这里没有别的声音，对习以为常的耳朵来说，那是一首摇篮曲，或者那最后庄严的安魂曲。 —

Lydgate, conscious of an energetic frame in its prime, felt some compassion when the figure which he was likely soon to overtake turned round, and in advancing towards him showed more markedly than ever the signs of premature age–the student’s bent shoulders, the emaciated limbs, and the melancholy lines of the mouth. —
利德盖特，意识到自己处在巅峰状态的有活力的身体，当他即将追上的身影转过身来时，感到一些同情，更明显地显示出超前衰老的迹象–学者的驼背，消瘦的肢体和忧郁的嘴角。 —

“Poor fellow,” he thought, “some men with his years are like lions; —
“可怜的家伙，”他想，“有些与他同年龄的人就像狮子； —

one can tell nothing of their age except that they are full grown.”
一个能感觉不出他们的年龄，除了他们已经是成年的这一点。”

“Mr. Lydgate,” said Mr. Casaubon, with his invariably polite air, “I am exceedingly obliged to you for your punctuality. —
“利德盖特先生，”卡索邦先生以他一贯的礼貌态度说，“我非常感谢您的准时赴约。 —

We will, if you please, carry on our conversation in walking to and fro.”
如果您不介意的话，我们说话边走边谈。”

“I hope your wish to see me is not due to the return of unpleasant symptoms,” said Lydgate, filling up a pause.
“我希望您想见我不是因为不舒服的症状再次出现，”利德盖特填补了一个停顿。

“Not immediately–no. In order to account for that wish I must mention– what it were otherwise needless to refer to–that my life, on all collateral accounts insignificant, derives a possible importance from the incompleteness of labors which have extended through all its best years. —
“目前不是–不是。为了解释这一愿望，我必须提及–否则是无需提到的–我的生命，在所有相关方面都微不足道，从中得分可能重要性的是我所有最美好年华都延伸到的劳作的不完整。 —

In short, I have long had on hand a work which I would fain leave behind me in such a state, at least, that it might be committed to the press by–others. —
简言之，我长期以来一直在手头上有一个工作，我很愿意留下来的工作至少是这样一个状态，能够由其他人提交到出版社。 —

Were I assured that this is the utmost I can reasonably expect, that assurance would be a useful circumscription of my attempts, and a guide in both the positive and negative determination of my course.”
若我被确信这是我能合理期望的最远，这种确认将是对我的努力的有用限制，并且会在我前进和后退的决定中提供指引。”

Here Mr. Casaubon paused, removed one hand from his back and thrust it between the buttons of his single-breasted coat. —
这时卡索邦先生停下来，把一只手从背后取出，插入他的单排扣大衣之间。 —

To a mind largely instructed in the human destiny hardly anything could be more interesting than the inward conflict implied in his formal measured address, delivered with the usual sing-song and motion of the head. —
对于一个对人类命运有相当了解的头脑来说，他正式而枯燥的讲话背后所蕴含的内心挣扎比什么都更有趣，这种讲话通常都是带着一成不变的吟诵和摆动头部的动作。 —

Nay, are there many situations more sublimely tragic than the struggle of the soul with the demand to renounce a work which has been all the significance of its life–a significance which is to vanish as the waters which come and go where no man has need of them? —
哪里还有比灵魂与放弃一生中承载了全部意义的工作抗衡的冲突更为庄严悲壮的处境呢–这种意义将会像流水一样消失，无需任何人加以留恋? —

But there was nothing to strike others as sublime about Mr. Casaubon, and Lydgate, who had some contempt at hand for futile scholarship, felt a little amusement mingling with his pity. —
但在卡索邦先生身上并没有令他人感到庄严的地方，而且莱德格特对于徒劳的学者心怀一些鄙夷，觉得有些许幽默夹杂在他的怜悯中。 —

He was at present too ill acquainted with disaster to enter into the pathos of a lot where everything is below the level of tragedy except the passionate egoism of the sufferer.
直到现在他还颇为鲜少经历过灾难，无法领悟到处境的哀普–其中一切都未到悲剧的程度，除了遭受苦难者的激烈利己主义。

“You refer to the possible hindrances from want of health?” —
“您是指可能由于健康原因而受到阻碍吗?” —

he said, wishing to help forward Mr. Casaubon’s purpose, which seemed to be clogged by some hesitation.
他说，希望帮助卡索邦先生推进他看似受到某种犹豫阻碍的目标。

“I do. You have not implied to me that the symptoms which– I am bound to testify–you watched with scrupulous care, were those of a fatal disease. —
“是的。你未向我表明你所谨慎关注的症状是否是一种致命疾病。 —

But were it so, Mr. Lydgate, I should desire to know the truth without reservation, and I appeal to you for an exact statement of your conclusions: —
但如果是，利德格特先生，我希望您能就此事实毫不保留地告诉我，我请求您出具准确的结论: —

I request it as a friendly service. If you can tell me that my life is not threatened by anything else than ordinary casualties, I shall rejoice, on grounds which I have already indicated. —
我请求这作为一种友好的服务。如果您能告诉我，我的生命并不受到任何比普通意外更大的威胁，我将感到欣喜，基于我已经表达的理由。 —

If not, knowledge of the truth is even more important to me.”
如果不行，对我来说了解真相更为重要。”

“Then I can no longer hesitate as to my course,” said Lydgate; —
“那么我再也不能犹豫我该做什么了，”利德格特说。 —

“but the first thing I must impress on you is that my conclusions are doubly uncertain–uncertain not only because of my fallibility, but because diseases of the heart are eminently difficult to found predictions on. —
“但首先我要强调的是我的结论是双重不确定性的–不确定性不仅是因为我可能会出错，而且因为心脏疾病是极为难以进行预测的。 —

In any ease, one can hardly increase appreciably the tremendous uncertainty of life.”
总之，我们几乎不可能显著增加生命的巨大不确定性。”

Mr. Casaubon winced perceptibly, but bowed.
卡索邦先生明显地略微退缩了一下，但还是点了点头。

“I believe that you are suffering from what is called fatty degeneration of the heart, a disease which was first divined and explored by Laennec, the man who gave us the stethoscope, not so very many years ago. —
“我相信你患的是所谓的心脏脂肪变性，这是几年前拉纳克首次发现和探索的疾病，他也是发明了听诊器的人。 —

A good deal of experience–a more lengthened observation–is wanting on the subject. —
对这个问题还需要更多的经验和更长时间的观察。 —

But after what you have said, it is my duty to tell you that death from this disease is often sudden. —
但根据你所说的，我必须告诉你，这种疾病导致的死亡通常是突然的。 —

At the same time, no such result can be predicted. —
同时，不能预测出这种结果。 —

Your condition may be consistent with a tolerably comfortable life for another fifteen years, or even more. —
你的情况可以维持相当舒适的生活，可能还有十五年甚至更久。 —

I could add no information to this beyond anatomical or medical details, which would leave expectation at precisely the same point.” —
除了关于解剖学或医学细节外，我不能提供更多的信息，这并不改变对未来的期望。 —

Lydgate’s instinct was fine enough to tell him that plain speech, quite free from ostentatious caution, would be felt by Mr. Casaubon as a tribute of respect.
莱德盖特的直觉足够敏锐，告诉他，直率的言语，没有炫耀的谨慎，会被卡索本先生视为对他的尊重。

“I thank you, Mr. Lydgate,” said Mr. Casaubon, after a moment’s pause. —
“谢谢你，莱德盖特先生。”卡索本先生停顿片刻后说。 —

“One thing more I have still to ask: did you communicate what you have now told me to Mrs. Casaubon?”
“我还有一件事要问：你把现在告诉我的事情告诉了卡索本夫人吗？”

“Partly–I mean, as to the possible issues.” —
“部分告诉了，我是指可能的结果。” —

Lydgate was going to explain why he had told Dorothea, but Mr. Casaubon, with an unmistakable desire to end the conversation, waved his hand slightly, and said again, “I thank you,” proceeding to remark on the rare beauty of the day.
莱德盖特本来想解释为什么告诉了多丽西亚，但卡索本先生明显希望结束这段对话，微微挥手，再次说道“谢谢你”，然后开始评论这美好的一天。

Lydgate, certain that his patient wished to be alone, soon left him; —
莱德盖特确信他的病人想要独处，很快就离开了他； —

and the black figure with hands behind and head bent forward continued to pace the walk where the dark yew-trees gave him a mute companionship in melancholy, and the little shadows of bird or leaf that fleeted across the isles of sunlight, stole along in silence as in the presence of a sorrow. —
那身穿黑衣的身影，双手背后，低头前行，继续在林荫小道上徘徊，逝去的紫杉树为他带来无言的忧郁伴侣，而飞过阳光岛屿的鸟影或树叶的小影子，静静地溜过，仿佛在悲伤中的存在。 —

Here was a man who now for the first time found himself looking into the eyes of death– who was passing through one of those rare moments of experience when we feel the truth of a commonplace, which is as different from what we call knowing it, as the vision of waters upon the earth is different from the delirious vision of the water which cannot be had to cool the burning tongue. —
在这里有一个人，他第一次发现自己正在凝视死亡的眼睛――正经历着我们会感到一个陈词变成深刻体悟的那种罕见时刻，那种体悟与我们称之为知晓是不同的，就像对地上的泪水的视觉不同于无法得到滋润干燥舌头的痴迷视觉一样。 —

When the commonplace “We must all die” transforms itself suddenly into the acute consciousness “I must die– and soon,” then death grapples us, and his fingers are cruel; —
当寻常的“我们终将死去”突然变成强烈的意识“我必将死去――而且很快”，死亡就紧握着我们，他的手指是残酷的；” —

afterwards, he may come to fold us in his arms as our mother did, and our last moment of dim earthly discerning may be like the first. —
在那之后，他可能会像我们的母亲一样把我们抱在怀里，我们朦胧的最后一刻可能会像初次一样。 —

To Mr. Casaubon now, it was as if he suddenly found himself on the dark river-brink and heard the plash of the oncoming oar, not discerning the forms, but expecting the summons. —
对于卡索本先生来说，就好像他突然发现自己站在黑暗的河岸上，听到前来的桨声，看不清形态，但期待着召唤。 —

In such an hour the mind does not change its lifelong bias, but carries it onward in imagination to the other side of death, gazing backward– perhaps with the divine calm of beneficence, perhaps with the petty anxieties of self-assertion. —
在这样一个时刻，思想并没有改变一生的偏见，而是在想象中将其带向死亡的另一边，或许带着慈善的神圣宁静，或许带着自我主张的琐碎焦虑。 —

What was Mr. Casaubon’s bias his acts will give us a clew to. —
卡索本先生的偏见会通过他的行为向我们展示线索。 —

He held himself to be, with some private scholarly reservations, a believing Christian, as to estimates of the present and hopes of the future. —
他认为自己是一个有信仰的基督徒，至少在对现在的评估和未来的希望上是这样。 —

But what we strive to gratify, though we may call it a distant hope, is an immediate desire: —
但我们努力满足的东西，即使我们可能称之为遥远的希望，实际上是一种即刻的欲望： —

the future estate for which men drudge up city alleys exists already in their imagination and love. —
现存在于他们的想象和爱之中的城市胡同的未来庄园。 —

And Mr. Casaubon’s immediate desire was not for divine communion and light divested of earthly conditions; —
卡索本先生的即刻欲望并不是为了神圣的交流和脱离尘世条件的光明； —

his passionate longings, poor man, clung low and mist-like in very shady places.
他的热切渴望，可怜的人，低低地、迷雾般地执着在阴暗的角落。

Dorothea had been aware when Lydgate had ridden away, and she had stepped into the garden, with the impulse to go at once to her husband. —
多萝西娅意识到利德盖特骑马离去的时候，她走进花园，怀着立即去找丈夫的冲动。 —

But she hesitated, fearing to offend him by obtruding herself; —
但她犹豫了，担心通过强行涌入而得罪他； —

for her ardor, continually repulsed, served, with her intense memory, to heighten her dread, as thwarted energy subsides into a shudder; —
因为她的热情一直被拒绝，加之她强烈的记忆，在被阻挠的活力消退时变成了颤栗； —

and she wandered slowly round the nearer clumps of trees until she saw him advancing. —
她慢慢地绕过更近的树丛，直到看见他走过来。 —

Then she went towards him, and might have represented a heaven-sent angel coming with a promise that the short hours remaining should yet be filled with that faithful love which clings the closer to a comprehended grief. —
然后她走向他，可能像是一个天使被派来带来的承诺，即剩下的短暂时光仍将充满那种对理解的悲伤更为坚忠的爱。 —

His glance in reply to hers was so chill that she felt her timidity increased; —
他对她的目光是如此冷淡，以至于她感到自己的胆怯加重了； —

yet she turned and passed her hand through his arm.
然而，她转过身去，伸手搭在他的胳膊上。

Mr. Casaubon kept his hands behind him and allowed her pliant arm to cling with difficulty against his rigid arm.
卡索邦先生把双手放在背后，让她柔软的胳膊难以紧贴他那僵硬的胳膊。

There was something horrible to Dorothea in the sensation which this unresponsive hardness inflicted on her. —
这种无动于衷的硬度令多罗西娅感到可怕。 —

That is a strong word, but not too strong: —
这是一个强烈的词，但不为过： —

it is in these acts called trivialities that the seeds of joy are forever wasted, until men and women look round with haggard faces at the devastation their own waste has made, and say, the earth bears no harvest of sweetness–calling their denial knowledge. —
在这些被称为微不足道的行为中，快乐的种子永远被浪费，直到男男女女看着自己创造的荒废，面容憔悴地说，大地上没有甜蜜的丰收——称他们的否认为知识。 —

You may ask why, in the name of manliness, Mr. Casaubon should have behaved in that way. —
你也许会问为什么，以男子汉的名义，卡索邦先生会那样行事。 —

Consider that his was a mind which shrank from pity: —
考虑到他是一个厌恶怜悯的人： —

have you ever watched in such a mind the effect of a suspicion that what is pressing it as a grief may be really a source of contentment, either actual or future, to the being who already offends by pitying? —
你是否曾见过在这样一个心灵中的情感被怀疑的效果，即现在所谓的悲伤实际上可能是对正在被怜悯者的悲伤的源泉的满足，无论是实际上还是将来？ —

Besides, he knew little of Dorothea’s sensations, and had not reflected that on such an occasion as the present they were comparable in strength to his own sensibilities about Carp’s criticisms.
此外，他对多罗西娅的感受了解甚少，并且没有想到在这种场合，她的感受与他对卡普批评的感受相比，是同样强烈的。

Dorothea did not withdraw her arm, but she could not venture to speak. —
多罗西娅没有挪开胳膊，但她不敢开口。 —

Mr. Casaubon did not say, “I wish to be alone,” but he directed his steps in silence towards the house, and as they entered by the glass door on this eastern side, Dorothea withdrew her arm and lingered on the matting, that she might leave her husband quite free. —
卡索邦先生没有说：“我想一个人呆会儿”，但他默默地走向房子，进入玻璃门，多罗西娅抽回胳膊，在地垫上逗留，以便让丈夫完全自由。 —

He entered the library and shut himself in, alone with his sorrow.
他走进书房，独自与他的悲伤相伴。

She went up to her boudoir. The open bow-window let in the serene glory of the afternoon lying in the avenue, where the lime-trees cast long shadows. —
她走到她的小卧室。敞开的弓形窗口里倾泻着下午安详的光辉，长榆树投下漫长的影子。 —

But Dorothea knew nothing of the scene. She threw herself on a chair, not heeding that she was in the dazzling sun-rays: —
但多罗西娅对这番景象一无所知。她随意地坐在椅子上，不顾周围晃眼的阳光： —

if there were discomfort in that, how could she tell that it was not part of her inward misery?
如果那带来了不适，她又怎么能知道这不是她内心痛苦的一部分呢？

She was in the reaction of a rebellious anger stronger than any she had felt since her marriage. —
她陷入一种比结婚以来任何时候都更强烈的叛逆愤怒。 —

Instead of tears there came words:–
泪水没有流出，取而代之的是文字：–

“What have I done–what am I–that he should treat me so? —
“我做了什么–我到底是谁–他为什么要这样对待我？ —

He never knows what is in my mind–he never cares. —
他从来不知道我的想法–也从来不在乎。 —

What is the use of anything I do? He wishes he had never married me.”
我做什么有什么用呢？他希望自己从未娶过我。”

She began to hear herself, and was checked into stillness. —
她开始听到自己的声音，停止了下来。 —

Like one who has lost his way and is weary, she sat and saw as in one glance all the paths of her young hope which she should never find again. —
就像一个迷路并感到疲惫的人，她坐在那里一眼看到了自己年轻希望的道路，那是她再也找不回来的道路。 —

And just as clearly in the miserable light she saw her own and her husband’s solitude–how they walked apart so that she was obliged to survey him. —
在悲惨的光线中清晰地看到了她自己和丈夫的孤独–他们彼此疏远，以至于她被迫审视他。 —

If he had drawn her towards him, she would never have surveyed him–never have said, “Is he worth living for?” —
如果他拉着她走向自己，她就不会审视他–也不会问，“他值得为之而活吗？” —

but would have felt him simply a part of her own life. —
而是会觉得他只是她生活中的一部分。 —

Now she said bitterly, “It is his fault, not mine.” —
现在她痛苦地说：“这是他的错，不是我的错。” —

In the jar of her whole being, Pity was overthrown. —
在她整个生命的撞击中，怜悯被推翻了。 —

Was it her fault that she had believed in him– had believed in his worthiness? —
是她的错吗，她相信他–相信他的价值？ —

–And what, exactly, was he?– She was able enough to estimate him–she who waited on his glances with trembling, and shut her best soul in prison, paying it only hidden visits, that she might be petty enough to please him. —
–他到底是谁？–她足够有能力估计他–那位颤抖地等待他的眼神，关起最好的灵魂在监狱里，只偷偷地探访，以便变得卑鄙到可以取悦他。 —

In such a crisis as this, some women begin to hate.
在这种危机中，一些女人开始憎恨起来。

The sun was low when Dorothea was thinking that she would not go down again, but would send a message to her husband saying that she was not well and preferred remaining up-stairs. —
当朵洛西娅想着自己不会再下去了，而是会送给丈夫一条消息，告诉他自己不舒服，宁愿留在楼上时，太阳已经很低了。 —

She had never deliberately allowed her resentment to govern her in this way before, but she believed now that she could not see him again without telling him the truth about her feeling, and she must wait till she could do it without interruption. —
以前她从未刻意让自己的愤怒像现在这样支配自己，但她现在相信她不能再见到他，而不告诉他关于自己感受的真相，必须等到可以没有打扰地告诉他。 —

He might wonder and be hurt at her message. It was good that he should wonder and be hurt. —
他可能会感到奇怪和受伤。他感到奇怪和受伤是件好事。 —

Her anger said, as anger is apt to say, that God was with her– that all heaven, though it were crowded with spirits watching them, must be on her side. —
她的愤怒说，因为天怒归天，所有天堂，虽然挤满了看着他们的灵魂，但必定站在她这一边。 —

She had determined to ring her bell, when there came a rap at the door.
当她决定按门铃时，门突然被敲响。

Mr. Casaubon had sent to say that he would have his dinner in the library. —
卡索邦先生派人说他要在书房吃晚餐。 —

He wished to be quite alone this evening, being much occupied.
今晚他希望完全独处，因为非常忙碌。

“I shall not dine, then, Tantripp.”
“那么，我晚餐就不用了，坦特里普。”

“Oh, madam, let me bring you a little something?”
“哦，夫人，我给您拿点东西来吧?”

“No; I am not well. Get everything ready in my dressing room, but pray do not disturb me again.”
“不了，我不舒服。在我的化妆室准备好一切，但请不要再打扰我了。”

Dorothea sat almost motionless in her meditative struggle, while the evening slowly deepened into night. —
当黄昏慢慢深入夜晚时，朵洛西娅几乎一动不动地沉思着挣扎。 —

But the struggle changed continually, as that of a man who begins with a movement towards striking and ends with conquering his desire to strike. —
但是挣扎不断变化，如同一个开始朝着打击的动作而结束于征服自己不打击欲望的人。 —

The energy that would animate a crime is not more than is wanted to inspire a resolved submission, when the noble habit of the soul reasserts itself. —
要激励犯罪的精力远不及要激励决心服从的精力，当灵魂的崇高习惯重新彰显自己时。 —

That thought with which Dorothea had gone out to meet her husband–her conviction that he had been asking about the possible arrest of all his work, and that the answer must have wrung his heart, could not be long without rising beside the image of him, like a shadowy monitor looking at her anger with sad remonstrance. —
那个朵洛西娅走出去迎接丈夫时的思想——她相信他一直在询问他所有工作是否可能受到阻碍的事实，而那个答案必定刺痛了他的心，不会很快消失，必定会和他的形象一起站在她身旁，像一个阴郁的警告者用悲哀的规劝看着她的愤怒。 —

It cost her a litany of pictured sorrows and of silent cries that she might be the mercy for those sorrows– but the resolved submission did come; —
这需要她描绘一幅幅悲伤的画面和默默的呼吁，祈求自己能成为那些悲伤的怜悯——但坚定的服从终于来了; —

and when the house was still, and she knew that it was near the time when Mr. Casaubon habitually went to rest, she opened her door gently and stood outside in the darkness waiting for his coming up-stairs with a light in his hand. —
当房子里一片宁静，她知道这时候通常是卡索本先生睡觉的时间，她轻轻打开门，站在外面的黑暗中等待着他手持灯光上楼的到来。 —

If he did not come soon she thought that she would go down and even risk incurring another pang. —
如果他不快点到来，她觉得她会下去，甚至冒着再次受伤的风险。 —

She would never again expect anything else. —
她再也不会期待别的了。 —

But she did hear the library door open, and slowly the light advanced up the staircase without noise from the footsteps on the carpet. —
但是她确实听到书房的门被打开了，然后慢慢地光亮从楼梯上升而来，步子在地毯上无声。 —

When her husband stood opposite to her, she saw that his face was more haggard. —
当她的丈夫站在她对面时，她看到他的脸更加消瘦。 —

He started slightly on seeing her, and she looked up at him beseechingly, without speaking.
看到她，他稍微一惊，她无言地恳求地抬起头看着他。

“Dorothea!” he said, with a gentle surprise in his tone. “Were you waiting for me?”
“多萝西娅！”他说，语气中带着温和的惊讶，“你在等我吗？”

“Yes, I did not like to disturb you.”
“是的，我不想打扰你。”

“Come, my dear, come. You are young, and need not to extend your life by watching.”
“来吧，亲爱的，来吧。你年轻，不需要通过守候来延长生命。”

When the kind quiet melancholy of that speech fell on Dorothea’s ears, she felt something like the thankfulness that might well up in us if we had narrowly escaped hurting a lamed creature. —
当这句话温和安静忧郁的语调落在多萝西娅耳中时，她感到了一种类似于我们若是刚好避免伤害到受伤的生物时可能涌现的感激之情。 —

She put her hand into her husband’s, and they went along the broad corridor together.
她伸出手握住丈夫的手，他们一起走过宽敞的走廊。