The most notable thing about Time is that it is so purely relative. —
关于时间最引人注目的是它是如此纯粹的相对性。 —

A large amount of reminiscence is, by common consent, conceded to the drowning man; —
一般公认，人在溺水时会产生大量的回忆; —

and it is not past belief that one may review an entire courtship while removing one’s gloves.
人们不难相信，在脱去手套的同时，可以回顾整个求爱过程。

That is what Trysdale was doing, standing by a table in his bachelor apartments. —
这就是特赛尔德所做的，他站在自己的单身公寓里的一张桌子旁。 —

On the table stood a singular-looking green plant in a red earthen jar. —
桌子上摆着一个看起来很奇特的绿色植物，放在一个红色陶器花瓶里。 —

The plant was one of the species of cacti, and was provided with long, tentacular leaves that perpetually swayed with the slightest breeze with a peculiar beckoning motion.
这棵植物是仙人掌的一种，长有长长的触角状叶子，轻微的微风会使它们随之摇摆，具有独特的招手动作。

Trysdale’s friend, the brother of the bride, stood at a sideboard complaining at being allowed to drink alone. —
特赛尔德的朋友，新娘的兄弟站在一个餐柜旁，抱怨自己被允许独自喝酒。 —

Both men were in evening dress. —
两个人都穿着晚礼服。 —

White favors like stars upon their coats shone through the gloom of the apartment.
他们礼服上像星星一样的白色饰带在屋子的黑暗中闪烁着。

As he slowly unbuttoned his gloves, there passed through Trysdale’s mind a swift, scarifying retrospect of the last few hours. —
当他慢慢解开手套时，特赛尔德的脑海中闪过了最近几个小时的回忆。 —

It seemed that in his nostrils was still the scent of the flowers that had been banked in odorous masses about the church, and in his ears the lowpitched hum of a thousand well-bred voices, the rustle of crisp garments, and, most insistently recurring, the drawling words of the minister irrevocably binding her to another.
他似乎还能嗅到教堂周围堆积成一大团香气的花朵，在他的鼻孔中徘徊。他的耳朵里还回荡着成千上万个有教养声音的低沉嗡鸣，衣物的脆响声，还有那个牧师轻声念出，一次次无可挽回地把她与另一个人联系在一起的话语。

From this last hopeless point of view he still strove, as if it had become a habit of his mind, to reach some conjecture as to why and how he had lost her. —
从这种绝望的角度来看，他依然努力地试图推测出他为什么以及如何失去了她，仿佛这已经成为了他思绪的一种习惯。 —

Shaken rudely by the uncompromising fact, he had suddenly found himself confronted by a thing he had never before faced –his own innermost, unmitigated, arid unbedecked self.
这个毫不妥协的事实毫不客气地揭示出他面对的某个他从未曾面对过的事情——那个他最内心、最沙漠且未装饰的自我。

He saw all the garbs of pretence and egoism that he had worn now turn to rags of folly. —
他看到自己穿着的虚伪和自我主义的外衣如今已变成愚蠢的破烂。 —

He shuddered at the thought that to others, before now, the garments of his soul must have appeared sorry and threadbare. —
他为自己的灵魂在别人眼中可能显得可怜而破烂感到颤抖。虚荣和自负？ —

Vanity and conceit? —
—

These were the joints in his armor. —
这些是他盔甲上的接缝。 —

And how free from either she had always been–But why–As she had slowly moved up the aisle toward the altar he had felt an unworthy, sullen exultation that had served to support him. —
而她总是如此自由–但为什么–当她缓慢地走向祭坛时，他感到一种不值得的、愠怒的兴奋，这使他得以支撑自己。 —

He had told himself that her paleness was from thoughts of another than the man to whom she was about to give herself. —
他告诉自己，她的苍白是因为她在想别的男人，而不是她即将嫁给的男人。 —

But even that poor consolation had been wrenched from him. —
但是，即使这种可怜的安慰也被他抹去了。 —

For, when he saw that swift, limpid, upward look that she gave the man when he took her hand, he knew himself to be forgotten. —
因为当他看到她将手递给那个男人时，她那敏捷、清澈的上扬眼神，他知道自己被遗忘了。 —

Once that same look had been raised to him, and he had gauged its meaning. Indeed, his conceit had crumbled; —
曾经有一次她对他投以同样的眼神，他理解了它的意思。事实上，他的自负已经瓦解了； —

its last prop was gone. Why had it ended thus? —
最后的支撑已经不存在了。为什么会以这种方式结束？ —

There had been no quarrel between them, nothing–
他们之间没有争吵，没有什么–

For the thousandth time he remarshalled in his mind the events of those last few days before the tide had so suddenly turned.
这是他第一千次在脑海中重新安排那些在潮流突然转变之前的最后几天发生的事件。

She had always insisted upon placing him upon a pedestal, and he had accepted her homage with royal grandeur. —
她总是坚持把他捧在神坛上，而他则以王者的威严接受她的敬意。 —

It had been a very sweet incense that she had burned before him; —
那是她在他面前燃烧过的一种非常甜美的香气; —

so modest (he told himself); —
如此谦逊 (他对自己说); —

so childlike and worshipful, and (he would once have sworn) so sincere. —
如此孩子般，崇拜而 (他曾经发誓) 如此真诚。 —

She had invested him with an almost supernatural number of high attributes and excellencies and talents, and he had absorbed the oblation as a desert drinks the rain that can coax from it no promise of blossom or fruit.
她给他赋予了数不清的高尚品质、优秀才能，他接受了这份奉献，就像沙漠吸收那无法期待开花结果的雨水一样。

As Trysdale grimly wrenched apart the seam of his last glove, the crowning instance of his fatuous and tardily mourned egoism came vividly back to him. —
当特耶斯代尔冷酷地扯开他最后一双手套的接缝时，他那愚蠢而迟钝的自我崇拜的巅峰时刻又在他脑海中清晰地浮现出来。 —

The scene was the night when he had asked her to come up on his pedestal with him and share his greatness. —
那个场景是当他邀请她跟他一起站在他的高台上，与他分享伟大的那个晚上。 —

He could not, now, for the pain of it, allow his mind to dwell upon the memory of her convincing beauty that night–the careless wave of her hair, the tenderness and virginal charm of her looks and words. —
现在，因为痛苦，他不能再让自己想起那个夜晚她令人信服的美丽——她的头发随意的波浪，她的外貌和话语中的温柔和处女般的魅力。 —

But they had been enough, and they had brought him to speak. —
但那已足够，并且让他说出了口。 —

During their conversation she had said:
在他们的对话中，她曾说过:

“And Captain Carruthers tells me that you speak the Spanish language like a native. —
“卡鲁瑟斯船长告诉我，你的西班牙语说得像本地人一样。” —

Why have you hidden this accomplishment from me? —
你为什么把这个成就隐藏起来？ —

Is there anything you do not know?”
你有什么不懂的东西吗？

Now, Carruthers was an idiot. —
现在，卡鲁瑟斯是个白痴。 —

No doubt he (Trysdale) had been guilty (he sometimes did such things) of airing at the club some old, canting Castilian proverb dug from the hotchpotch at the back of dictionaries. —
毫无疑问，特赛德尔有时会在俱乐部里透露一些从字典的后部混杂而来的陈旧的、伪善的卡斯蒂利亚谚语。 —

Carruthers, who was one of his incontinent admirers, was the very man to have magnified this exhibition of doubtful erudition.
卡鲁瑟斯是他无节制的崇拜者之一，肯定会夸大这个可疑的博学展示。

But, alas! the incense of her admiration had been so sweet and flattering. —
但是，唉！她的赞赏之情是如此甜蜜和奉承。 —

He allowed the imputation to pass without denial. —
他让这种指责毫无辩驳地通过了。 —

Without protest, he allowed her to twine about his brow this spurious bay of Spanish scholarship. —
没有反对，他让她围绕他的头部编织起这个虚假的西班牙学问的桂冠。 —

He let it grace his conquering head, and, among its soft convolutions, he did not feel the prick of the thorn that was to pierce him later.
他让它优雅地装饰在他征服的头上，而在它柔软的螺旋中，他没有感到后来刺痛他的荆棘。

How glad, how shy, how tremulous she was! —
她是如此高兴、害羞和颤抖！ —

How she fluttered like a snared bird when he laid his mightiness at her feet! —
当他把自己的伟大放在她脚下时，她像一只被困的鸟一样飞舞！ —

He could have sworn, and he could swear now, that unmistakable consent was in her eyes, but, coyly, she would give him no direct answer. —
他可以发誓，他现在可以发誓，她的眼神中显然有同意，但她却婉转地不给他明确的回答。 —

“I will send you my answer to-morrow,” she said; and he, the indulgent,
“明天我会给你答复，”她说；而他，宽容的他，会等待。

confident victor, smilingly granted the delay. —
自信的维克托微笑着同意了延迟。 —

The next day he waited, impatient, in his rooms for the word. —
第二天，他在房间里急切地等待着消息。 —

At noon her groom came to the door and left the strange cactus in the red earthen jar. —
中午时分，她的马夫来到门口，把奇怪的仙人掌放在红陶罐里。 —

There was no note, no message, merely a tag upon the plant bearing a barbarous foreign or botanical name. —
没有留言，没有信息，仅有一张标签贴在植物上，上面写着一个野蛮的外国或植物学名字。 —

He waited until night, but her answer did not come. —
他等到了晚上，但是她的回答没有到来。 —

His large pride and hurt vanity kept him from seeking her. —
他那高傲受伤的自尊心让他不愿主动去找她。 —

Two evenings later they met at a dinner. —
两个晚上后，他们在一个晚宴上相遇。 —

Their greetings were conventional, but she looked at him, breathless, wondering, eager. —
他们的问候很普通，但她看着他，屏息、好奇、渴望。 —

He was courteous, adamant, waiting her explanation. —
他很礼貌，坚定，等待她的解释。 —

With womanly swiftness she took her cue from his manner, and turned to snow and ice. —
她立刻从他的态度中捕捉到了信号，变得冷漠无情。 —

Thus, and wider from this on, they had drifted apart. —
从此以后他们越来越疏远。 —

Where was his fault? Who had been to blame? —
问题出在哪里？谁应该负责？ —

Humbled now, he sought the answer amid the ruins of his self-conceit. If–
在自负的废墟中，他谦卑地寻求答案。如果……

The voice of the other man in the room, querulously intruding upon his thoughts, aroused him.
房间里另一个人哀怨地插嘴，打断了他的思绪。

“I say, Trysdale, what the deuce is the matter with you? —
“我说，特里斯代尔，你到底怎么了？ —

You look unhappy as if you yourself had been married instead of having acted merely as an accomplice. —
你看起来不开心，好像你自己结婚了一样，而不仅仅是充当了帮凶的角色。 —

Look at me, another accessory, come two thousand miles on a garlicky, cockroachy banana steamer all the way from South America to connive at the sacrifice–please to observe how lightly my guilt rests upon my shoulders. —
看看我，另一个帮凶，从南美洲坐了两千英里的充斥着大蒜味、蟑螂的香蕉轮船过来，只为了参与这场牺牲-请注意我的罪责是如此轻微地压在我的肩上。 —

Only little sister I had, too, and now she’s gone. Come now! —
她是我唯一的妹妹，现在她走了。来吧！ —

take something to ease your conscience.”
拿点东西让你的良心安宁吧。

“I don’t drink just now, thanks,” said Trysdale.
“我现在不喝，谢谢，”特里斯代尔说。

“Your brandy,” resumed the other, coming over and joining him, “is abominable. —
“你的白兰地，”另一个人接着说，走过去加入他，“真是难喝。 —

Run down to see me some time at Punta Redonda, and try some of our stuff that old Garcia smuggles in. —
下次到Punta Redonda来看看我吧，尝尝我们老加西亚偷运的货物。 —

It’s worth the, trip. Hallo! here’s an old acquaintance. —
值得一试。哈！这是一个熟悉的老朋友。 —

Wherever did you rake up this cactus, Trysdale?”
你从哪里找到这颗仙人掌，特里斯代尔？

“A present,” said Trysdale, “from a friend. Know the species?”
“朋友送的，”特里斯代尔说，“你知道是什么种类吗？”

“Very well. It’s a tropical concern. —
“很好。这是一个热带植物。 —

See hundreds of ‘em around Punta every day. —
在蓬塔周围每天都能看到上百种植物。 —

Here’s the name on this tag tied to it. —
这张牌子上写着这个植物的名字。你会讲西班牙语吗， —

Know any Spanish, Trysdale?”
特里斯代尔？”

“No,” said Trysdale, with the bitter wraith of a smile–“Is it Spanish?”
“不会，”特里斯代尔带着一丝苦涩的微笑说道–“那是西班牙语吗？”

“Yes. The natives imagine the leaves are reaching out and beckoning to you. —
“是的。当地人认为这些叶子就像是在伸出手臂并向你招手。 —

They call it by this name–Ventomarme. —
他们用这个名字称呼它–Ventomarme。 —

Name means in English, ‘Come and take me.’”
这个名字在英语中意思是’过来拿我’。”