Idle reader: thou mayest believe me without any oath that I would this book, as it is the child of my brain, were the fairest, gayest, and cleverest that could be imagined. —
懒散的读者：毋需我发誓，你可相信我，这本书若真如我所说，即是我的心血结晶，当是可想象之中最美丽、最快乐、最聪明的。 —

But I could not counteract Nature’s law that everything shall beget its like; —
但我无法抵御自然法则，即一切将生其类； —

and what, then, could this sterile, illtilled wit of mine beget but the story of a dry, shrivelled, whimsical offspring, full of thoughts of all sorts and such as never came into any other imagination — just what might be begotten in a prison, where every misery is lodged and every doleful sound makes its dwelling? —
于是，我这贫瘠、荒芜的才情究竟能孕育出什么呢？除了这个干燥、枯槁、古怪的产物，充满各种思绪，任何其他想象也从未涌入——宛如在囚牢中所能产生的，每一种苦难都安放其中，每一声哀怨的响声皆安家于此。 —

Tranquillity, a cheerful retreat, pleasant fields, bright skies, murmuring brooks, peace of mind, these are the things that go far to make even the most barren muses fertile, and bring into the world births that fill it with wonder and delight. —
宁静、愉快的隐居、美丽的田野、明亮的天空、潺潺的小溪、心灵的平静，这些元素可使即使最荒凉的启示丰满，为世界带来充满惊奇和喜悦的诞生。 —

Sometimes when a father has an ugly, loutish son, the love he bears him so blindfolds his eyes that he does not see his defects, or, rather, takes them for gifts and charms of mind and body, and talks of them to his friends as wit and grace. —
有时候，一个父亲若有丑陋、愚拙的儿子，他对他的爱会如此蒙蔽双眼，以至于无法看到他的缺陷，或者更确切地说，将其视为精神和身体的天赋和魅力，并向朋友夸耀说这些都是智慧和魅力。 —

I, however — for though I pass for the father, I am but the stepfather to “Don Quixote” — have no desire to go with the current of custom, or to implore thee, dearest reader, almost with tears in my eyes, as others do, to pardon or excuse the defects thou wilt perceive in this child of mine. —
然而，我——虽然被视作父亲，但实际上只是“堂屋”——并不愿随波逐流，也不愿像其他人那样流下眼泪，几乎恳求你，亲爱的读者，原谅或包容你将在我这孩子身上发现的缺陷。 —

Thou art neither its kinsman nor its friend, thy soul is thine own and thy will as free as any man’s , whate’er he be, thou art in thine own house and master of it as much as the king of his taxes and thou knowest the common saying, “Under my cloak I kill the king; —
你既非它的亲戚，也不是它的朋友，你的灵魂归你所有，你的意志和任何人一样自由，无论他是谁，你在自己的房子里，像国王征税一样也是自己的主人，而你知道那句俗语，“居中暗杀君王”。 —

” all which exempts and frees thee from every consideration and obligation, and thou canst say what thou wilt of the story without fear of being abused for any ill or rewarded for any good thou mayest say of it.
这一切都让你摆脱了任何考虑和义务的束缚，你可以对这个故事说任何你想说的话，无需担心因为说了坏话而遭到谴责，也不用因说了好话而受到奖赏。

My wish would be simply to present it to thee plain and unadorned, without any embellishment of preface or uncountable muster of customary sonnets, epigrams, and eulogies, such as are commonly put at the beginning of books. —
我的愿望只是简单而真诚地呈现给你，没有任何前言的修饰或一大堆习惯上放在书的开头的十四行诗，讽刺诗和颂词。 —

For I can tell thee, though composing it cost me some labour, I found none greater than the making of this Preface thou art now reading. —
虽然创作它花费了我一些精力，但我发现做这个你现在正在阅读的前言比写故事本身更费力。 —

Many times did I take up my pen to write it, and many did I lay it down again, not knowing what to write. —
我多次拿起笔来写它，又多次放下，不知道该写些什么。 —

One of these times, as I was pondering with the paper before me, a pen in my ear, my elbow on the desk, and my cheek in my hand, thinking of what I should say, there came in unexpectedly a certain lively, clever friend of mine, who, seeing me so deep in thought, asked the reason; —
在其中的一次，当我在桌前思索着，耳边插着笔，手肘靠在桌上，脸颊托着手，想着我应该写些什么时，一位活泼聪明的朋友突然进来了，看到我陷入深思，问我原因； —

to which I, making no mystery of it, answered that I was thinking of the Preface I had to make for the story of “Don Quixote,” which so troubled me that I had a mind not to make any at all, nor even publish the achievements of so noble a knight.
我毫不保密地回答说，我在考虑为“堂吉诃德”故事做的前言，这使我如此烦恼，以至于我几乎不想做任何前言，甚至不想出版这样一位高尚骑士的业绩。

“For, how could you expect me not to feel uneasy about what that ancient lawgiver they call the Public will say when it sees me, after slumbering so many years in the silence of oblivion, coming out now with all my years upon my back, and with a book as dry as a rush, devoid of invention, meagre in style, poor in thoughts, wholly wanting in learning and wisdom, without quotations in the margin or annotations at the end, after the fashion of other books I see, which, though all fables and profanity, are so full of maxims from Aristotle, and Plato, and the whole herd of philosophers, that they fill the readers with amazement and convince them that the authors are men of learning, erudition, and eloquence. —
“因为，你怎么能指望我不担心那个被称为公众的古老立法者，在看到我在沉寂多年后，带着那些年迈的成就出现，还携带一本像芦苇一样干燥、缺乏想象力、风格平庸、思想单薄、完全缺少学识和智慧的书，页面中没有亚里士多德、柏拉图和所有哲学家概念的引用，也没有末尾注释，如其他我见过的书那样，虽然都是寓言和亵渎的，但充满亚里士多德、柏拉图和整群哲学家的格言，使读者感到惊讶，并使他们相信作者是有学识、博识和雄辩才华的人。 —

And then, when they quote the Holy Scriptures! —
然后，当他们引用圣经时！ —

— anyone would say they are St. Thomases or other doctors of the Church, observing as they do a decorum so ingenious that in one sentence they describe a distracted lover and in the next deliver a devout little sermon that it is a pleasure and a treat to hear and read. —
—— 任何人都会说他们是圣托马斯或其他教会学者，因为他们保持着一种如此巧妙的规矩，一个句子中描述了一个心烦意乱的情人，下一个句子里又述说了娓娓道来的小布道，让人愉悦而赏心悦目。 —

Of all this there will be nothing in my book, for I have nothing to quote in the margin or to note at the end, and still less do I know what authors I follow in it, to place them at the beginning, as all do, under the letters A, B, C, beginning with Aristotle and ending with Xenophon, or Zoilus, or Zeuxis, though one was a slanderer and the other a painter. —
我的书中将没有任何这一切，因为我在边缘没有什么可以引用，在末尾也没有什么可以注释，更不用说我在书中追随的是什么作者了，将它们排在开头，像所有人那样，从亚里士多德开始，以赋有学识和智慧的作者结束，尤其没有在边缘引用亚里士多德和柏拉图之众哲人之后的行为。 —

Also my book must do without sonnets at the beginning, at least sonnets whose authors are dukes, marquises, counts, bishops, ladies, or famous poets. —
此外，我的书必须没有开头的十四行诗，至少没有公爵、侯爵、伯爵、主教、女士或著名诗人的十四行诗。 —

Though if I were to ask two or three obliging friends, I know they would give me them, and such as the productions of those that have the highest reputation in our Spain could not equal.
虽然，如果我请求两三个乐意帮忙的朋友，我知道他们会给我，而且是那些在我们西班牙享有最高声誉的制作，无法和他们相提并论的。

“In short, my friend,” I continued, “I am determined that Senor Don Quixote shall remain buried in the archives of his own La Mancha until Heaven provide some one to garnish him with all those things he stands in need of; —
“简而言之，我的朋友，”我继续说，“我决定让堂吉诃德先生一直躺在自己拉曼恰的档案里，直到上天派来一个能完善他所需一切的人； —

because I find myself, through my shallowness and want of learning, unequal to supplying them, and because I am by nature shy and careless about hunting for authors to say what I myself can say without them. —
为我发现自己因为浅薄和缺乏学识，无法为他补充这些，而且我天生害羞，懒得去寻找作者来说出我本人可以自己说的话。 —

Hence the cogitation and abstraction you found me in, and reason enough, what you have heard from me.”
以你发现我在进行的是深思和沉思，这就是你从我这里听到的原因。”

Hearing this, my friend, giving himself a slap on the forehead and breaking into a hearty laugh, exclaimed, “Before God, Brother, now am I disabused of an error in which I have been living all this long time I have known you, all through which I have taken you to be shrewd and sensible in all you do; —
到这个，我的朋友拍了一下额头，哈哈大笑，大声说道，“上帝面前，兄弟，我现在意识到一个错误，这个错误一直持续了很长时间，我认识你后一直以为你在做的一切都十分精明和理智； —

but now I see you are as far from that as the heaven is from the earth. —
是现在我明白你离这还有很大距离，就像天空离大地一样。 —

It is possible that things of so little moment and so easy to set right can occupy and perplex a ripe wit like yours, fit to break through and crush far greater obstacles? —
你这样成熟的才智，难道会被这种微小且容易解决的事情困扰和迷惑吗？ —

By my faith, this comes, not of any want of ability, but of too much indolence and too little knowledge of life. —
发誓，这并不是因为缺乏能力，而是出于太过懒惰和对生活认识过少。 —

Do you want to know if I am telling the truth? —
想知道我是不是说实话吗？ —

Well, then, attend to me, and you will see how, in the opening and shutting of an eye, I sweep away all your difficulties, and supply all those deficiencies which you say check and discourage you from bringing before the world the story of your famous Don Quixote, the light and mirror of all knight-errantry.”
吧，那么，听着我说，你会看到，一眨眼的功夫，我就能消除你所有的困难，并补充那些你所说阻碍并使你灰心，不愿将你那位著名的堂吉诃德带到世人面前，骑士道的光辉和骑士的镜子。”

“Say on,” said I, listening to his talk; —
说吧，”我听着他的话说； —

“how do you propose to make up for my diffidence, and reduce to order this chaos of perplexity I am in?”
你打算如何弥补我的胆怯，整理我所陷入的困惑之乱？”

To which he made answer, “Your first difficulty about the sonnets, epigrams, or complimentary verses which you want for the beginning, and which ought to be by persons of importance and rank, can be removed if you yourself take a little trouble to make them; —
此，他回答说，“你的第一个困难涉及到歌颂诗、讽刺诗或赞美诗，这些应该作为开始，而且应该是由重要和高贵的人所作，如果你自己不介意劳动一下就可以解决； —

you can afterwards baptise them, and put any name you like to them, fathering them on Prester John of the Indies or the Emperor of Trebizond, who, to my knowledge, were said to have been famous poets: —
之后可以为它们命名，并随意给它们一些名字，将它们推到印度的约翰将军或特雷比松的皇帝头上，至少根据我所知，他们被说成是着名的诗人： —

and even if they were not, and any pedants or bachelors should attack you and question the fact, never care two maravedis for that, for even if they prove a lie against you they cannot cut off the hand you wrote it with.
使他们不是，如果有任何书呆子或学士攻击你，质疑事实，不要在乎这点，即使他们证明你说谎，也无法割断你写这篇文章的手。

“As to references in the margin to the books and authors from whom you take the aphorisms and sayings you put into your story, it is only contriving to fit in nicely any sentences or scraps of Latin you may happen to have by heart, or at any rate that will not give you much trouble to look up; —
于在边距中关于你从哪本书和哪位作者引用格言和名言的参考资料，只需安排好你可能记住的拉丁语句或碎片，或者至少不需要花太多努力去查找的，即可解决；” —

so as, when you speak of freedom and captivity, to insert
所以当你谈到自由和囚禁时，要插入

Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro;
非善用黄金出售自由；

and then refer in the margin to Horace, or whoever said it; —
然后在旁注希望莱士等人的名字； —

or, if you allude to the power of death, to come in with —
或者，如果你提到死亡的力量，引用 —

Pallida mors Aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas,
苍白的死神平等地踏着贫穷人的小屋，

Regumque turres.
和国王的堡垒。

If it be friendship and the love God bids us bear to our enemy, go at once to the Holy Scriptures, which you can do with a very small amount of research, and quote no less than the words of God himself: —
如果是友谊和神吩咐我们对敌人怀有的爱，立即去圣经，只需少量的查找，引用上帝自己的话： —

Ego autem dico vobis: diligite inimicos vestros. If you speak of evil thoughts, turn to the Gospel: —
我告诉你们：爱你们的仇敌。如果谈到恶念，查找福音： —

De corde exeunt cogitationes malae. If of the fickleness of friends, there is Cato, who will give you his distich:
坏念头是从心里发出的。如果谈到朋友的反复无常，有卡托，他会给你他的两行诗：

Donec eris felix multos numerabis amicos,
直到你幸福你会数出很多朋友，

Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris.
如果时光阴沉暗，你将孤独。

With these and such like bits of Latin they will take you for a grammarian at all events, and that now-a-days is no small honour and profit.
有了这些以及类似的拉丁文段落，他们至少会把你视为一名语法学家，而那如今不是小小的荣誉和利益。

“With regard to adding annotations at the end of the book, you may safely do it in this way. —
“关于在书末添加注释，你可以放心这样做。 —

If you mention any giant in your book contrive that it shall be the giant Goliath, and with this alone, which will cost you almost nothing, you have a grand note, for you can put — The giant Golias or Goliath was a Philistine whom the shepherd David slew by a mighty stone-cast in the Terebinth valley, as is related in the Book of Kings — in the chapter where you find it written.
如果你在书中提到任何巨人，确保它是巨人歌利亚，仅仅用这个，几乎不用花费什么，你就有了一个重要的注解，你可以写 — 巨人高利亚或歌利亚是非利士人，牧羊人大卫用石头在橡树谷杀死的，就像在列王记中所记载的那样 — 在你找到这句写的那一章。

“Next, to prove yourself a man of erudition in polite literature and cosmography, manage that the river Tagus shall be named in your story, and there you are at once with another famous annotation, setting forth — The river Tagus was so called after a King of Spain: —
“接下来，为了证明你是有教养的文学和地理学家，让塔加 斯河在你的故事中提及，你立刻就有了另一个著名的注解，写着 — 塔加 斯河之名来自西班牙的一位国王： —

it has its source in such and such a place and falls into the ocean, kissing the walls of the famous city of Lisbon, and it is a common belief that it has golden sands, etc. —
它的源头位于某个地方，流经众所周知的里斯本城墙，注入大海，传说中拥有金色的沙滩等等。 —

If you should have anything to do with robbers, I will give you the story of Cacus, for I have it by heart; —
如果你与强盗有所关联，我会给你讲述Cacus的故事，因为我能倒背如流； —

if with loose women, there is the Bishop of Mondonedo, who will give you the loan of Lamia, Laida, and Flora, any reference to whom will bring you great credit; —
如果你与轻浪之辈有所交往，有蒙多内多主教，他会借给你兰米亚，莱达和弗洛拉，与她们相关的任何参考都会给你带来极好的声誉； —

if with hard-hearted ones, Ovid will furnish you with Medea; —
如果你与铁石心肠者打交道，奥维德将为你提供梅狄亚； —

if with witches or enchantresses, Homer has Calypso, and Virgil Circe; —
如果你与女巫或魔法师有牵扯，荷马有卡利普索，维吉尔有西尔凯； —

if with valiant captains, Julius Caesar himself will lend you himself in his own ‘Commentaries,’ and Plutarch will give you a thousand Alexanders. —
如果你与勇敢的军官打交道，凯撒大帝亲自在他自己的《凯撒战记》中将借给你他自己，普鲁塔克会给你成千上万的亚历山大； —

If you should deal with love, with two ounces you may know of Tuscan you can go to Leon the Hebrew, who will supply you to your heart’s content; —
如果你与爱情有关，只需花两两银币，你可以去找托斯卡纳的里昂希伯来，他会满足你的内心需要； —

or if you should not care to go to foreign countries you have at home Fonseca’s ‘Of the Love of God,’ in which is condensed all that you or the most imaginative mind can want on the subject. —
如果你不愿去外国，你也可以在家里找到丰塞卡的《上帝之爱》，在其中概括了你或是最富想象力的头脑对这个主题所需的一切。 —

In short, all you have to do is to manage to quote these names, or refer to these stories I have mentioned, and leave it to me to insert the annotations and quotations, and I swear by all that’s good to fill your margins and use up four sheets at the end of the book.
总之，你所需做的只是设法引用这些名字，或提及我提到的这些故事，然后把插注和引文的工作交给我，我发誓要填满你的页边空白，让末尾四页印满。

“Now let us come to those references to authors which other books have, and you want for yours. —
“现在让我们来谈谈其他书籍所具有的作者参考，以及你想要为你的书引用的那些。 —

The remedy for this is very simple: You have only to look out for some book that quotes them all, from A to Z as you say yourself, and then insert the very same alphabet in your book, and though the imposition may be plain to see, because you have so little need to borrow from them, that is no matter; —
治疗这个问题非常简单：你只需要找一本引述了所有这些作者的书，从A到Z正如你所说的，然后在你的书中插入同样的字母表，尽管这种欺骗显而易见，因为你几乎不需要从中借鉴，但这不要紧； —

there will probably be some simple enough to believe that you have made use of them all in this plain, artless story of yours. —
可能会有一些人简单到相信你在你这篇简单、朴实的故事中确实使用了所有这些作者。 —

At any rate, if it answers no other purpose, this long catalogue of authors will serve to give a surprising look of authority to your book. —
无论如何，即使它没有其他用途，这份作者长篇目录将会使你的书看起来具有惊人的权威性。 —

Besides, no one will trouble himself to verify whether you have followed them or whether you have not, being no way concerned in it; —
此外，没有人会费心去核实你是否遵循了他们的引文，是否没有，因为这对他们无关紧要； —

especially as, if I mistake not, this book of yours has no need of any one of those things you say it wants, for it is, from beginning to end, an attack upon the books of chivalry, of which Aristotle never dreamt, nor St. Basil said a word, nor Cicero had any knowledge; —
尤其是，如果我没有误解，你的这本书根本不需要你所说它需要的这些东西，因为从一开始到结束，它都是对骑士小说的攻击，亚里士多德从未梦到过，圣巴辛格尔也没有提到，西塞罗也不知情； —

nor do the niceties of truth nor the observations of astrology come within the range of its fanciful vagaries; —
也不受真理之美好，也不受占星学的观察范围内其幻想般的禅意； —

nor have geometrical measurements or refutations of the arguments used in rhetoric anything to do with it; —
也不受几何测量或修辞论证的驳斥有关； —

nor does it mean to preach to anybody, mixing up things human and divine, a sort of motley in which no Christian understanding should dress itself. —
也不意味着要向任何人讲道，混合人间和神圣的事物，这种绚丽，没有基督教理解应该装扮自己。 —

It has only to avail itself of truth to nature in its composition, and the more perfect the imitation the better the work will be. —
它只需要在构成中利用自然的真理，模仿越完美，作品就越好。 —

And as this piece of yours aims at nothing more than to destroy the authority and influence which books of chivalry have in the world and with the public, there is no need for you to go a-begging for aphorisms from philosophers, precepts from Holy Scripture, fables from poets, speeches from orators, or miracles from saints; —
既然你的作品的目的无非是毁灭骑士小说在世界和公众中所拥有的权威和影响，所以你无需向哲学家乞求箴言，向圣经要教诲，从诗人那里取寓言，从演说家那里取演讲，也不要从圣徒那里获得奇迹； —

but merely to take care that your style and diction run musically, pleasantly, and plainly, with clear, proper, and well-placed words, setting forth your purpose to the best of your power, and putting your ideas intelligibly, without confusion or obscurity. —
而只需注意你的风格和措辞是否韵律动听、愉快明了，用清晰的、恰当的、巧妙地布置的词语阐述你的目的，以最大的努力表达你的思想，不混淆或模糊。 —

Strive, too, that in reading your story the melancholy may be moved to laughter, and the merry made merrier still; —
努力让读者在阅读故事时，忧郁的人被感动到开怀大笑，快乐的人更加开心； —

that the simple shall not be wearied, that the judicious shall admire the invention, that the grave shall not despise it, nor the wise fail to praise it. —
使纯朴的人不觉得厌倦，明智的人赞赏创作，庄重的人不会蔑视，智者不会不赞美。 —

Finally, keep your aim fixed on the destruction of that ill-founded edifice of the books of chivalry, hated by some and praised by many more; —
最后，把你的目标放在消灭那本无稽之谈的骑士小说上，这本小说有些人痛恨，但有更多人赞赏。 —

for if you succeed in this you will have achieved no small success.”
因为如果你成功了，你将取得了一项不小的成就。”

In profound silence I listened to what my friend said, and his observations made such an impression on me that, without attempting to question them, I admitted their soundness, and out of them I determined to make this Preface; —
我静静地听着朋友说的话，他的观察给我留下了深刻的印象，以至于我没有试图质疑，我承认它们的合理性，并决定以此作序； —

wherein, gentle reader, thou wilt perceive my friend’s good sense, my good fortune in finding such an adviser in such a time of need, and what thou hast gained in receiving, without addition or alteration, the story of the famous Don Quixote of La Mancha, who is held by all the inhabitants of the district of the Campo de Montiel to have been the chastest lover and the bravest knight that has for many years been seen in that neighbourhood. —
在这里，亲爱的读者，你将会感受到我朋友的明智，我在紧要关头找到这样一位指导者的幸运，以及你在接受，未经增减地，帕恰地区着名的唐·吉克索特的故事中所获得的东西，他被曼查区的所有居民认为是多年来在该地区曾见过的最贞节的恋人和最勇敢的骑士。 —

I have no desire to magnify the service I render thee in making thee acquainted with so renowned and honoured a knight, but I do desire thy thanks for the acquaintance thou wilt make with the famous Sancho Panza, his squire, in whom, to my thinking, I have given thee condensed all the squirely drolleries that are scattered through the swarm of the vain books of chivalry. —
我并不想夸大我向你提供的介绍如此著名和受尊敬的骑士所带来的服务，但我期待着你对认识著名的桑丘·潘萨的感谢，他是他的侍从，我认为我已经在他身上压缩了四散在虚荣的骑士小说群体中的一切侍从滑稽。 —

And so — may God give thee health, and not forget me. Vale.
因此——愿上帝赐你健康，不要忘记我。告别。