Dr. Bonnet, my old friend—one sometimes has friends older than one’s self—had often invited me to spend some time with him at Riom, and, as I did not know Auvergne, I made up my mind to visit him in the summer of 1876.
Dr. Bonnet，我的老朋友——有时候人的朋友比自己年长——经常邀请我去Riom和他一起度过一段时间，而且因为我不了解奥弗涅，所以我决定在1876年夏天去拜访他。

I arrived by the morning train, and the first person I saw on the platform was the doctor.
我乘坐早班火车到达，我在站台上看到的第一个人就是医生。 —

He was dressed in a gray suit, and wore a soft, black, wide-brimmed, high-crowned felt hat, narrow at the top like a chimney pot, a hat which hardly any one except an Auvergnat would wear, and which reminded one of a charcoal burner.
他穿着一套灰色的衣服，戴着一顶软软的，黑色的，宽檐，高顶的毡帽，顶部狭窄像烟囱一样，几乎没有人会戴这样的帽子，让人想起了一个炭烧工人。 —

Dressed like that, the doctor had the appearance of an old young man, with his spare body under his thin coat, and his large head covered with white hair.
穿着那样的服装，医生看起来像一个年轻的老人，瘦削的身材裹在瘦薄的外套里，他那留着白发的大头被帽子覆盖着。

He embraced me with that evident pleasure which country people feel when they meet long-expected friends, and, stretching out his arm, he said proudly:
他热情地拥抱着我，显然是乡下人遇到久违的朋友时常有的高兴，伸出胳膊，他骄傲地说道:

“This is Auvergne!” I saw nothing before me except a range of mountains, whose summits, which resembled truncated cones, must have been extinct volcanoes.
“这是奥弗涅！”我面前只有一片山脉，其峰顶好像是灭活的火山，呈被截断的圆锥形。

Then, pointing to the name of the station, he said:
然后，他指着车站的名字说：

“Riom, the fatherland of magistrates, the pride of the magistracy, and which ought rather to be the fatherland of doctors.”
“黎昂，法官的故乡，法官的骄傲，其实更应该是医生的故乡。”

“Why?” I, asked.
我问，“为什么呢？”

“Why?” he replied with a laugh.
他笑着回答说，“为什么呢？ —

“If you transpose the letters, you have the Latin word ‘mori’, to die.
因为如果你把字母换位，就得到了拉丁语的单词’mori’，意思是死亡。” —

That is the reason why I settled here, my young friend.”
这就是为什么我选择在这里定居，我的年轻朋友。”

And, delighted at his own joke, he carried me off, rubbing his hands.
他对自己的笑话感到非常高兴，携我一同离去，摩擦着他的双手。

As soon as I had swallowed a cup of coffee, he made me go and see the town.
我喝完一杯咖啡后，他带我去看城市。 —

I admired the druggist’s house, and the other noted houses, which were all black, but as pretty as bric-a-brac, with their facades of sculptured stone.
我赞美了药剂师的房子，还有其他家喻户晓的房子，它们都是黑色的，但却像古董一样漂亮，拥有雕刻的石头立面。 —

I admired the statue of the Virgin, the patroness of butchers, and he told me an amusing story about this, which I will relate some other time, and then Dr. Bonnet said to me:
我对那座圣母雕像感到钦佩，她是屠夫们的守护神，他给我讲了一个有趣的故事，以后我会跟你说，然后邦内医生对我说：

“I must beg you to excuse me for a few minutes while I go and see a patient, and then I will take you to Chatel-Guyon, so as to show you the general aspect of the town, and all the mountain chain of the Puy-de-Dome before lunch.
“请原谅我离开片刻去看一位病人，然后我将带你去查特尔吉翁，好让你在午餐前看看这座城市的整体景色以及德姆山脉。 —

You can wait for me outside;
你可以在外面等我； —

I shall only go upstairs and come down immediately.”
我只是去楼上马上就会下来。”

He left me outside one of those old, gloomy, silent, melancholy houses, which one sees in the provinces, and this one appeared to look particularly sinister, and I soon discovered the reason.
他将我留在了一座老旧、阴暗、寂静、忧郁的房子外面，就像在这个省份常见的一样，这栋房子显得格外阴森可怖，我很快就发现了原因。 —

All the large windows on the first floor were boarded half way up.
所有一楼的大窗户上面都被板住了一半。 —

The upper part of them alone could be opened, as if one had wished to prevent the people who were locked up in that huge stone box from looking into the street.
只有上半部分可以打开，好像是有人想阻止那些被关在这座巨大的石盒子里的人看向街道。

When the doctor came down again, I told him how it struck me, and he replied:
当医生再次下来时，我告诉他我的感受，他回答说：

“You are quite right; the poor creature who is living there must never see what is going on outside.
“你说得很对；生活在那里的可怜人绝不能看到外面的事情。 —

She is a madwoman, or rather an idiot, what you Normans would call a Niente.
“她是一个疯女人，或者更准确地说，是个白痴，你们诺曼人会称之为‘无能者’。 —

It is a miserable story, but a very singular pathological case at the same time.
“这是一个悲惨的故事，同时也是一个非常特殊的病理案例。 —

Shall I tell you?”
我要告诉你吗？

I begged him to do so, and he continued:
我请求他这么做，他接着说道：

“Twenty years ago the owners of this house, who were my patients, had a daughter who was like all other girls, but I soon discovered that while her body became admirably developed, her intellect remained stationary.
“二十年前，这座房子的主人是我的病人，他们有一个女儿，跟其他女孩一样，但我很快发现她的身体发育得很好，智力却停滞不前。

“She began to walk very early, but she could not talk.
“她很早就会走路，但却不会说话。 —

At first I thought she was deaf, but I soon discovered that, although she heard perfectly, she did not understand anything that was said to her.
起初，我以为她是聋子，但很快我发现，虽然她听得很清楚，但对她说的话却一无所知。 —

Violent noises made her start and frightened her, without her understanding how they were caused.
“响亮的声音让她惊跳，使她感到害怕，但她不明白声音是怎么产生的。

“She grew up into a superb woman, but she was dumb, from an absolute want of intellect.
“她长成了一位绝世美女，却因为智力的绝对缺失而成了一个哑巴。” —

I tried all means to introduce a gleam of intelligence into her brain, but nothing succeeded.
我尽各种办法想在她的脑海里灌输点智慧，但是没有任何成功。 —

I thought I noticed that she knew her nurse, though as soon as she was weaned, she failed to recognize her mother.
我觉得她认识她的保姆，尽管一断奶后就没能认出她的母亲。 —

She could never pronounce that word which is the first that children utter and the last which soldiers murmur when they are dying on the field of battle.
她从来不会发音，那是孩子们学会的第一个词，也是士兵们临死前私语的最后一个词。 —

She sometimes tried to talk, but she produced nothing but incoherent sounds.
她有时试图说话，但只发出一些毫无意义的声音。

“When the weather was fine, she laughed continually, and emitted low cries which might be compared to the twittering of birds;
“天气好的时候，她不停地笑，发出低低的声响，犹如鸟儿的鸣叫； —

when it rained she cried and moaned in a mournful, terrifying manner, which sounded like the howling of a dog before a death occurs in a house.
下雨的时候，她会发出哭泣和悲伤的声音，像是狗在房子里有人丧命前的嚎叫。

“She was fond of rolling on the grass, as young animals do, and of running about madly, and she would clap her hands every morning, when the sun shone into her room, and would insist, by signs, on being dressed as quickly as possible, so that she might get out.
“她喜欢在草地上翻滚，就像小动物一样，疯狂地奔跑。每天早上，当阳光照进她的房间时，她会拍手，通过手势坚持尽快穿好衣服，以便出去。

“She did not appear to distinguish between people, between her mother and her nurse, or between her father and me, or between the coachman and the cook.
“她似乎没有区分人，无论是她的母亲和她的护士，还是她的父亲和我，或者是教练和厨师之间。 —

I particularly liked her parents, who were very unhappy on her account, and went to see them nearly every day.
“我特别喜欢她的父母，他们因为她而非常不开心，几乎每天都去看望他们。 —

I dined with them quite frequently, which enabled me to remark that Bertha (they had called her Bertha) seemed to recognize the various dishes, and to prefer some to others.
“我经常和他们一起吃饭，这让我观察到贝尔塔（他们叫她贝尔塔）似乎能辨认出各种菜肴，并且更喜欢其中一些。 —

At that time she was twelve years old, but as fully formed in figure as a girl of eighteen, and taller than I was.
“那时她十二岁了，身材已经像一个十八岁的女孩一样成熟，比我还高。 —

Then the idea struck me of developing her greediness, and by this means of cultivating some slight power of discrimination in her mind, and to force her, by the diversity of flavors, if not to reason, at any rate to arrive at instinctive distinctions, which would of themselves constitute a kind of process that was necessary to thought.
“然后我想到了培养她贪婪心理的想法，通过这种方式在她的思想中培养一些轻微的辨别力，并通过不同的味道迫使她，即使不是通过理性，至少也能达到本能的区分，这本身就构成了思考所必需的一种过程。 —

Later on, by appealing to her passions, and by carefully making use of those which could serve our purpose, we might hope to obtain a kind of reaction on her intellect, and by degrees increase the unconscious action of her brain.
后来，通过吸引她的激情，并巧妙地利用那些有助于我们目的的激情，我们可能希望在她的智力上产生某种反应，并逐渐增加她大脑的无意识行动。

“One day I put two plates before her, one of soup, and the other of very sweet vanilla cream.
“有一天，我在她面前放了两个盘子，一个是汤，另一个是非常甜的香草奶油。 —

I made her taste each of them successively, and then I let her choose for herself, and she ate the plate of cream.
我让她依次尝了每个盘子，然后让她自己选择，她选择了奶油盘子。 —

In a short time I made her very greedy, so greedy that it appeared as if the only idea she had in her head was the desire for eating.
很快，我让她非常贪婪，如此贪婪，以至于她脑子里唯一的想法似乎就是吃东西。 —

She perfectly recognized the various dishes, and stretched out her hands toward those that she liked, and took hold of them eagerly, and she used to cry when they were taken from her.
她完全认出了各种菜肴，并伸出手指向她喜欢的那些，并迫不及待地拿起它们，当它们被拿走时她会哭。 —

Then I thought I would try and teach her to come to the dining-room when the dinner bell rang.
然后我想尝试教她在晚饭铃响时来到餐厅。虽然花了很长时间， —

It took a long time, but I succeeded in the end.
但最终成功了。 —

In her vacant intellect a vague correlation was established between sound and taste, a correspondence between the two senses, an appeal from one to the other, and consequently a sort of connection of ideas—if one can call that kind of instinctive hyphen between two organic functions an idea—and so I carried my experiments further, and taught her, with much difficulty, to recognize meal times by the clock.
在她空虚的智力中，建立了声音和味觉之间的模糊联系，两种感觉之间的对应关系，一个对另一个的吸引，因此产生了一种思维上的联系，如果可以称之为那种本能的有机功能的连字符为思想，所以我进一步进行了实验，并费了很大的努力教她按照钟表来辨认用餐时间。

“It was impossible for me for a long time to attract her attention to the hands, but I succeeded in making her remark the clockwork and the striking apparatus.
“很长一段时间里，我无法引起她对指针的注意，但我成功地让她注意到了钟表机芯和敲击装置。 —

The means I employed were very simple;
我采取的方法非常简单； —

I asked them not to have the bell rung for lunch, and everybody got up and went into the dining-room when the little brass hammer struck twelve o’clock, but I found great difficulty in making her learn to count the strokes.
我要求他们午餐时不用敲钟，当小铜锤敲响十二点的时候，大家就起身进餐厅，但是我发现让她学会数敲钟的次数非常困难。 —

She ran to the door each time she heard the clock strike, but by degrees she learned that all the strokes had not the same value as far as regarded meals, and she frequently fixed her eyes, guided by her ears, on the dial of the clock.
每次她听到钟声敲响时，她都会跑向门口，但她逐渐明白了所有钟声并不都对饭点一样重要，她经常通过耳朵引导她的眼睛看钟表的指针。

“When I noticed that, I took care every day at twelve, and at six o’clock, to place my fingers on the figures twelve and six, as soon as the moment she was waiting for had arrived, and I soon noticed that she attentively followed the motion of the small brass hands, which I had often turned in her presence.
当我注意到这一点时，我每天十二点和六点的时候，都会把手指放在数字十二和六上，一旦她等待的时刻到了，我立刻注意到她专注地跟随着我在她面前频繁转动的钟表的小铜指针。

“She had understood! Perhaps I ought rather to say that she had grasped the idea.
她明白了！也许我应该说她理解了这个概念。 —

I had succeeded in getting the knowledge, or, rather, the sensation, of the time into her, just as is the case with carp, who certainly have no clocks, when they are fed every day exactly at the same time.
我成功地让她知道了时间，或者更确切地说，让她感受到了时间，就像喂养鲤鱼一样，它们显然没有钟表，但每天都在准确的时间喂食。

“When once I had obtained that result all the clocks and watches in the house occupied her attention almost exclusively.
一旦我获得了这个结果，整个房子里的所有钟表和手表几乎完全吸引了她的注意力。 —

She spent her time in looking at them, listening to them, and in waiting for meal time, and once something very funny happened.
她把时间花在观察他们、倾听他们并等待用餐时间，有一次发生了非常有趣的事情。 —

The striking apparatus of a pretty little Louis XVI clock that hung at the head of her bed having got out of order, she noticed it.
她的床头挂着一个漂亮的路易十六式小钟，敲击装置出了故障，她注意到了。 —

She sat for twenty minutes with her eyes on the hands, waiting for it to strike ten, but when the hands passed the figure she was astonished at not hearing anything;
她凝视着时钟的指针，等了二十分钟，等待它敲十点，但当指针越过这个数字时，她惊讶地发现没有听到任何声音。 —

so stupefied was she, indeed, that she sat down, no doubt overwhelmed by a feeling of violent emotion such as attacks us in the face of some terrible catastrophe.
她如此震惊，以至于坐下来，毫无疑问是被一种强烈的情感所压倒，就像我们面对一场可怕的灾难时袭击我们一样。 —

And she had the wonderful patience to wait until eleven o’clock in order to see what would happen, and as she naturally heard nothing, she was suddenly either seized with a wild fit of rage at having been deceived and imposed upon by appearances, or else overcome by that fear which some frightened creature feels at some terrible mystery, and by the furious impatience of a passionate individual who meets with some obstacle;
她有耐心等到十一点才看看会发生什么，自然听不到任何声音，她突然要么被欺骗和被外表欺骗感到愤怒，要么被某个可怕的谜团感到恐惧，以及一个遇到障碍的激情个体的愤怒不耐烦； —

she took up the tongs from the fireplace and struck the clock so violently that she broke it to pieces in a moment.
她从壁炉拿起火钳，猛烈地击打时钟，结果把它摔成碎片。

“It was evident, therefore, that her, brain did act and calculate, obscurely it is true, and within very restricted limits, for I could never succeed in making her distinguish persons as she distinguished the time;
“所以显然她的大脑进行了某种含糊的思考和计算，并且在非常有限的范围内，因为我无法让她区分人与她区分时间一样准确； —

and to stir her intellect, it was necessary to appeal to her passions, in the material sense of the word, and we soon had another, and alas!
要激发她的智力，就必须呼应她的激情，以物质意义上的激情，我们很快就得到了另一个，可悲的是！ —

a very terrible proof of this!
这极为可怕的证据！

“She had grown up into a splendid girl, a perfect type of a race, a sort of lovely and stupid Venus. She was sixteen, and I have rarely seen such perfection of form, such suppleness and such regular features.
“她长大成了一个华丽的女孩，是一个种族的完美代表，一个可爱而愚蠢的维纳斯。她十六岁了，我很少见过如此完美的体形，如此柔软和如此规则的面容。” —

I said she was a Venus; yes, a fair, stout, vigorous Venus, with large, bright, vacant eyes, which were as blue as the flowers of the flax plant;
我说她就像一位维纳斯；是的，一位美丽、健壮、活力四射的维纳斯，她有一双大而明亮、茫然空洞的眼睛，像亚麻植物的花朵一样蓝； —

she had a large mouth with full lips, the mouth of a glutton, of a sensualist, a mouth made for kisses.
她有一张宽大的嘴巴，嘴唇丰满，像一位贪吃者的嘴巴，一个感官主义者的嘴巴，为接吻而生的嘴巴。 —

Well, one morning her father came into my consulting room with a strange look on his face, and, sitting down without even replying to my greeting, he said:
好吧，有一天早上，她的父亲带着一副奇怪的表情进入我的诊室，坐下来甚至没有回应我的问候，他说：

“’I want to speak to you about a very serious matter.
“‘我想与您谈谈一个非常严肃的问题。 —

Would it be possible—would it be possible for Bertha to marry?’
Bertha能不能结婚？’

“’Bertha to marry! Why, it is quite impossible!’
“‘Bertha结婚！天哪，这是完全不可能的！’”

“’Yes, I know, I know,’ he replied. ‘But reflect, doctor.
“’是的，我知道，我知道，’他回答道。’但是请想一想， —

Don’t you think—perhaps—we hoped—if she had children—it would be a great shock to her, but a great happiness, and—who knows whether maternity might not rouse her intellect?’
医生。难道你不认为——也许——我们希望——如果她有了孩子——这对她来说会是一个巨大的冲击，但也是一种巨大的幸福，而且谁知道母性会不会唤醒她的智力呢?‘”

“I was in a state of great perplexity. He was right, and it was possible that such a new situation, and that wonderful instinct of maternity, which beats in the hearts of the lower animals as it does in the heart of a woman, which makes the hen fly at a dog’s jaws to defend her chickens, might bring about a revolution, an utter change in her vacant mind, and set the motionless mechanism of her thoughts in motion.
“我感到非常困惑。他是对的，这种新的情况有可能引发一场彻底的变革，那种奇妙的母性本能，它在动物的心脏中激荡，就像在女人的心脏中一样，它让母鸡冲向狗的嘴巴来保护她的小鸡，这可能使她那无神的思维发生纷扰。 —

And then, moreover, I immediately remembered a personal instance.
并且，我立刻想起了一件个人的例子。 —

Some years previously I had owned a spaniel bitch who was so stupid that I could do nothing with her, but when she had had puppies she became, if not exactly intelligent, yet almost like many other dogs who had not been thoroughly broken.
几年前，我养过一只雌性小狗，她如此愚蠢，以至于我对她无能为力。但当她生了小狗之后，她变得几乎和其他没有完全训练过的狗一样聪明，尽管不能说她真的变得聪明。

“As soon as I foresaw the possibility of this, the wish to get Bertha married grew in me, not so much out of friendship for her and her poor parents as from scientific curiosity.
“一旦我预见到这种可能性，我就对让柏莎结婚产生了浓厚的兴趣，不仅仅是出于对她和她那可怜的父母的友情，更是出于科学的好奇心。 —

What would happen? It was a singular problem.
“会发生什么呢？这是一个特殊的问题。 —

I said in reply to her father:
我对她的父亲回答道：

“’Perhaps you are right. You might make the attempt, but you will never find a man to consent to marry her.’
“’也许你是对的。你可以试一试，但你永远不会找到一个愿意娶她的男子。’

“’I have found somebody,’ he said, in a low voice.
“’我已经找到了一个人，’他低声说道。

“I was dumfounded, and said: ‘Somebody really suitable?
“我感到惊讶，说道：’有一个真正合适的？ —

Some one of your own rank and position in society?’
一个社会地位与你相当的人？’

“’Decidedly,’ he replied.
“’当然，’他回答说。

“’Oh! And may I ask his name?’
“’哦！那么我可以问他叫什么名字吗？’

“’I came on purpose to tell you, and to consult you.
“’我特地来告诉你，并征求你的意见。 —

It is Monsieur Gaston du Boys de Lucelles.’
他叫加斯东·迪·卢塞尔的伯爵。’

“I felt inclined to exclaim: ‘The wretch!’ but I held my tongue, and after a few moments’ silence I said:
“我感到想要大叫一声‘混蛋！’但我忍住了，沉默了几分钟后，我说道：

“’Oh! Very good. I see nothing against it.’
“’哦！非常好。我对此没有异议。’

“The poor man shook me heartily by the hand.
“这可怜的人热情地握住了我的手。

“’She is to be married next month,’ he said.
“’她将在下个月结婚，’他说道。

“Monsieur Gaston du Boys de Lucelles was a scapegrace of good family, who, after having spent all that he had inherited from his father, and having incurred debts in all kinds of doubtful ways, had been trying to discover some other means of obtaining money, and he had discovered this method.
“迦斯顿·杜波伊·德吕斯勒先生是一个来自好家庭的败家子，他继承父亲的遗产后花光了所有钱，并通过各种可疑的方式欠下债务。他一直在寻找其他获得金钱的方法，而他找到了这个办法。 —

He was a good-looking young fellow, and in capital health, but fast;
他是个相貌俊俏、身体健康的年轻人，但生活放荡不羁； —

one of that odious race of provincial fast men, and he appeared to me to be as suitable as anyone, and could be got rid of later by making him an allowance.
他是那种十分讨厌的乡下纨绔子弟之一，对我来说，他似乎是最合适的人选，待以后再给他一些生活费解决问题。 —

He came to the house to pay his addresses and to strut about before the idiot girl, who, however, seemed to please him.
他来到家里向那个傻瓜女孩示好，并在她面前摇摆不定，然而女孩似乎对他很感兴趣。 —

He brought her flowers, kissed her hands, sat at her feet, and looked at her with affectionate eyes;
他给她带来鲜花，亲吻她的手，坐在她脚边，眼神充满柔情； —

but she took no notice of any of his attentions, and did not make any distinction between him and the other persons who were about her.
然而她对他的关心毫不理会，对他和其他围绕她的人没有任何区别对待。

“However, the marriage took place, and you may guess how my curiosity was aroused.
“不过婚姻还是发生了，你可以猜到我的好奇心被激起了。” —

I went to see Bertha the next day to try and discover from her looks whether any feelings had been awakened in her, but I found her just the same as she was every day, wholly taken up with the clock and dinner, while he, on the contrary, appeared really in love, and tried to rouse his wife’s spirits and affection by little endearments and such caresses as one bestows on a kitten.
第二天我去见贝莎，试图从她的样子中发现她是否有任何感情的觉醒，但我发现她跟往常一样，完全专注于钟表和晚餐，而他却似乎真的恋爱了，通过亲昵的举动和抚摸来激发妻子的情绪和爱意，就像对待小猫一样。 —

He could think of nothing better.
他想不出更好的方法。

“I called upon the married couple pretty frequently, and I soon perceived that the young woman knew her husband, and gave him those eager looks which she had hitherto only bestowed on sweet dishes.
“我经常去拜访这对已婚夫妇，很快我就觉察到这位年轻女人了解她的丈夫，她对他投以了那些她之前只对美食投以的热切目光。

“She followed his movements, knew his step on the stairs or in the neighboring rooms, clapped her hands when he came in, and her face was changed and brightened by the flames of profound happiness and of desire.
“她紧随他的脚步，能听出他上楼梯或在隔壁房间里，他一进门她就会拍手，而她的脸也因为深深的幸福和渴望而改变和明亮起来。”

“She loved him with her whole body and with all her soul to the very depths of her poor, weak soul, and with all her heart, that poor heart of some grateful animal.
她用她整个身体和灵魂来爱他，深深地爱着她那可怜而虚弱的灵魂，以及她那动物一样感激的心。 —

It was really a delightful and innocent picture of simple passion, of carnal and yet modest passion, such as nature had implanted in mankind, before man had complicated and disfigured it by all the various shades of sentiment.
这是一个可爱而无辜的画面，简单的激情，肉欲而又淑女般的激情，这是自然在人类身上植入的，而在人类用各种情感的各种色调将其复杂化和变形之前。 —

But he soon grew tired of this ardent, beautiful, dumb creature, and did not spend more than an hour during the day with her, thinking it sufficient if he came home at night, and she began to suffer in consequence.
但他很快对这位热情、美丽而无言的生物厌倦了，并且白天只和她待上一个小时，他觉得晚上回家就足够了，而她开始因此而受苦。 —

She used to wait for him from morning till night with her eyes on the clock;
她从早到晚都用目光注视着时钟等他。 —

she did not even look after the meals now, for he took all his away from home, Clermont, Chatel-Guyon, Royat, no matter where, as long as he was not obliged to come home.
她甚至不再做饭了，因为他把所有的饭都在外面吃，无论是在克莱蒙，夏特尔-吉翁，罗亚特还是其他地方，只要他不必回家。

“She began to grow thin; every other thought, every other wish, every other expectation, and every confused hope disappeared from her mind, and the hours during which she did not see him became hours of terrible suffering to her.
她开始变得苗条。其他的一切思想，愿望，期待和混乱的希望都从她的脑海中消失了，她不见他的时候就成了可怕的痛苦。 —

Soon he ceased to come home regularly of nights;
很快他就不再规律地回家晚上了， —

he spent them with women at the casino at Royat and did not come home until daybreak.
他和女人们在罗亚特的赌场里度过了那些夜晚，直到天亮才回来。 —

But she never went to bed before he returned.
但她从不会在他回来之前上床睡觉。 —

She remained sitting motionless in an easy-chair, with her eyes fixed on the hands of the clock, which turned so slowly and regularly round the china face on which the hours were painted.
她静坐在舒适的椅子上，眼睛盯着时钟上的指针，那些指针在盘面上缓慢而有规律地转动。

“She heard the trot of his horse in the distance and sat up with a start, and when he came into the room she got up with the movements of an automaton and pointed to the clock, as if to say: ‘Look how late it is!’
她听到他马儿的脚步声从远处传来，吓得坐直了身子，当他走进房间时，她像个机械人一样站了起来，指着时钟，好像在说：“看看多晚了！”

“And he began to be afraid of this amorous and jealous, half-witted woman, and flew into a rage, as brutes do;
他开始害怕这个爱情和嫉妒心作祟，半疯狂的女人，如同畜生一样发飙起来。 —

and one night he even went so far as to strike her, so they sent for me.
有一天晚上甚至还有一次他打了她，所以他们找到了我。 —

When I arrived she was writhing and screaming in a terrible crisis of pain, anger, passion, how do I know what?
当我到达时，她在极度痛苦、愤怒、激情中扭动着、尖叫着，我怎么知道是怎么回事？ —

Can one tell what goes on in such undeveloped brains?
有人能说出这样不发达大脑中发生了什么吗？

“I calmed her by subcutaneous injections of morphine, and forbade her to see that man again, for I saw clearly that marriage would infallibly kill her by degrees.
“我用皮下注射吗啡来平息她，禁止她再见那个男人，因为我清楚地看到，婚姻肯定会逐渐杀死她。

“Then she went mad! Yes, my dear friend, that idiot went mad. She is always thinking of him and waiting for him;
“后来她发疯了！是的，亲爱的朋友，那个傻子发疯了。她总是想着他，等着他； —

she waits for him all day and night, awake or asleep, at this very moment, ceaselessly.
她整日整夜地等待着，醒着或睡着，在这个时刻，一直不停地等待。 —

When I saw her getting thinner and thinner, and as she persisted in never taking her eyes off the clocks, I had them removed from the house.
当我看到她越来越瘦，而她坚持永远不将目光离开时钟时，我把时钟从屋子里拿走了。 —

I thus made it impossible for her to count the hours, and to try to remember, from her indistinct reminiscences, at what time he used to come home formerly.
这样我使她无法计算时间，也无法根据她模糊的回忆来试图记住他以前什么时候回家。 —

I hope to destroy the recollection of it in time, and to extinguish that ray of thought which I kindled with so much difficulty.
我希望最终能够逐渐遗忘它，熄灭我所费力点燃的那一丝思绪。

“The other day I tried an experiment.
“前几天我做了一个实验。 —

I offered her my watch; she took it and looked at it for some time;
我给了她我的手表，她接过来看了好一会儿； —

then she began to scream terribly, as if the sight of that little object had suddenly awakened her memory, which was beginning to grow indistinct.
然后她突然发出可怕的尖叫，仿佛那个小物件的出现突然唤醒了她那开始模糊的记忆。 —

She is pitiably thin now, with hollow and glittering eyes, and she walks up and down ceaselessly, like a wild beast in its cage;
她现在变得非常瘦弱，眼睛空洞而闪烁，不停地来回走动，就像笼中的野兽； —

I have had gratings put on the windows, boarded them up half way, and have had the seats fixed to the floor so as to prevent her from looking to see whether he is coming.
我给窗户装上了铁栅栏，将一半窗户封住，还将座椅固定在地板上，防止她向窗外张望。

“Oh! her poor parents! What a life they must lead!”
“哦！她可怜的父母！他们一定过得多么艰难！”

We had got to the top of the hill, and the doctor turned round and said to me:
我们已经走到了山顶，医生转过身对我说：

“Look at Riom from here.”
“从这里看看里昂吧。”

The gloomy town looked like some ancient city.
阴沉的小镇看起来像一座古老的城市。 —

Behind it a green, wooded plain studded with towns and villages, and bathed in a soft blue haze, extended until it was lost in the distance.
在它的后面，一片绿色的树木丛生的平原上点缀着城镇和村庄，被柔和的蓝色薄雾笼罩，一直延伸到远处消失不见。 —

Far away, on my right, there was a range of lofty mountains with round summits, or else cut off flat, as if with a sword, and the doctor began to enumerate the villages, towns and hills, and to give me the history of all of them.
远处，我右边有一连串拔地而起的高山，山顶或是圆形，或是平坦得像被一把剑削去，医生开始列举这些村庄、城镇和山丘，并给我讲述它们的历史。 —

But I did not listen to him;
但我没有听他讲话； —

I was thinking of nothing but the madwoman, and I only saw her.
我只想着那个疯女人，我眼中只有她。 —

She seemed to be hovering over that vast extent of country like a mournful ghost, and I asked him abruptly:
她仿佛像一个悲伤的幽灵盘旋在那片广袤的土地上，我突然问道：

“What has become of the husband?”
“丈夫去哪儿了？”

My friend seemed rather surprised, but after a few moments’ hesitation, he replied:
我的朋友似乎有点吃惊，但经过几秒钟的犹豫后，他回答说：

“He is living at Royat, on an allowance that they made him, and is quite happy; he leads a very fast life.”
“他住在罗亚特，靠着他们给的津贴生活得很幸福；他度过着非常放荡的生活。”

As we were slowly going back, both of us silent and rather low-spirited, an English dogcart, drawn by a thoroughbred horse, came up behind us and passed us rapidly.
当我们缓慢地回去的时候，我们两个都沉默寡言且情绪低落，一辆由一匹纯种马拉着的英式狗车迅速从我们身后驶过。 —

The doctor took me by the arm.
医生拉着我的胳膊。

“There he is,” he said.
“他在那儿，”他说。

I saw nothing except a gray felt hat, cocked over one ear above a pair of broad shoulders, driving off in a cloud of dust.
除了一个戴在一只耳朵上方的灰色帽子，还有一双宽肩膀的身影，我什么也没看见，车子飞扬起一片尘土。