The poet Longfellow - or was it Confucius, the inventor of wisdom? - remarked:
诗人朗费罗 - 或者是孔子，智慧的创造者？ – 道：“生活是真实的，生活是认真的；事物并非表面所见。”

“Life is real, life is earnest; And things are not what they seem.”
跟数学一样 - 或者说：谢谢老读者，这是唯一公正的规则，通过它我们可以衡量生活的问题，让我们坚持正直与平衡、以及伟大女神“二加二等于四”的排整和计算方法。数字 - 无可辩驳的加法总和 - 将与任何对立因素对立。

As mathematics are - or is: thanks, old subscriber! —
数学家看完上面的两行诗后会说：“咳！年轻绅士们，如果我们假设X加上 - 也就是说生活是真实的 - 那么事物（生活所包括的一切）就是真实的。 —

• the only just rule by which questions of life can be measured, let us, by all means, adjust our theme to the straight edge and the balanced column of the great goddess Two-and-Two-Makes-Four. Figures - unassailable sums in addition - shall be set over against whatever oposing element there may be.
  任何真实的东西都是表面所见的。因此，如果我们考虑“事物并非表面所见”的主张，那么 -”
  

A mathematician, after scanning the above two lines of poetry, would say: “Ahem! —
但这是离经叛道，而非真正的诗意。我们向甜美的女神代数求爱； —

young gentlemen, if we assume that X plus - that is, that life is real - then things (all of which life includes) are real. —
唯一处女，受过千年的尊崇，她穿得整整齐齐，优雅地坐在桌子上。 —

Anything that is real is what it seems. Then if we consider the proposition that ‘things are not what they seem,’ why -”
叙述她的事迹，描写她的美貌是不言自明的，她以音乐的方式四处飞舞。

But this is heresy, and not poesy. We woo the sweet nymph Algebra; —
因而，我们必须拥抱这位谦逊而美丽的女神，远离那些离她而去的普通姑娘。 —

we would conduct you into the presence of the elusive, seductive, pursued, satisfying, mysterious X.
我们将会带您进入神秘、诱人、追寻、满足、神秘的X的面前。

Not long before the beginning of this century, Septimus Kinsolving, an old New Yorker, invented an idea. —
就在这个世纪开始之前不久，纽约老人塞普蒂摩斯·金斯奥林发明了一个创意。 —

He originated the discovery that bread is made from flour and not from wheat futures. —
他发现面包是由面粉制成的，而不是由小麦期货制成的。 —

Perceiving that the flour crop was short, and that the Stock Exchange was having no perceptible effect on the growing wheat, Mr. Kinsolving cornered the flour market.
意识到面粉产量不足，而股票交易所对于小麦的影响几乎没有，金斯奥林先生独揽了面粉市场。

The result was that when you or my landlady (before the war she never had to turn her hand to anything; —
结果就是当你或者我的房东（战前她从未需要做任何事情； —

Southerners accomodated) bought a five-cent load of bread you laid down an additional two cents, which went to Mr. Kinsolving as a testimonial to his perspicacity.
南方人适应了）购买五分钱的面包时，你还需要额外支付两分钱，这两分钱就是送给金斯奥林先生的敏锐洞察力的奖金。

A second result was that Mr. Kinsolving quit the game with $2,000,000 prof - er - rake-off.
第二个结果是金斯奥林先生以2,000,000美元的利润脱离了这个游戏。

Mr. Kinsolving’s son Dan was at college when the mathematical experiment in breadstuffs was made. —
金斯奥林先生的儿子丹在面粉实验进行时正在上大学。 —

Dan came home during vacation, and found the old gentleman in a red dressing-gown reading “Little Dorrit” on the porch of his estimable red brick mansion in Washington Square. —
丹在度假期间回到家，发现那位老绅士穿着红色睡袍，坐在华盛顿广场他那座值得称道的红砖宅邸的门廊上读着《小多丽》。 —

He had retired from business with enough extra two-cent pieces from bread buyers to reach, if laid side by side, fifteen times around the earth and lap as far as the public debt of Paraguay.
他已经从生意中退休，从面包买家那里得到了足够多的两分钱，如果排成一排，足够绕地球十五圈，甚至超过巴拉圭的公共债务。

Dan shook hands with his father, and hurried over to Greenwich Village to see his old high-school friend, Kenwitz. —
丹和他的父亲握手后，匆忙跑到格林威治村去见他的老高中朋友肯维兹。 —

Dan had always admired Kenwitz. Kenwitz was pale, curly-haired, intense, serious, mathematical, studious, altruistic, socialistic, and the natural foe of oligarchies. —
丹一直很钦佩肯维兹。肯维兹苍白，卷发，一本正经，认真，善于数学，勤奋好学，为他所信仰的社会主义以及与寡头政治作斗争天生战士。 —

Kenwitz had foregone college, and was learning watch-making in his father’s jewelry store. —
肯维兹放弃了大学，正学习在父亲的珠宝店学制表。 —

Dan was smiling, jovial, easy-tempered and tolerant alike of kings and ragpickers. —
丹面带微笑，活泼开朗，性情随和，无论对国王还是拾荒者都一样宽容。 —

The two foregathered joyously, being opposites. —
这两个人兴高采烈地聚在一起，因为他们彼此截然相反。 —

And then Dan went back to college, and Kenwitz to his mainsprings - and to his private library in the rear of the jewelry shop.
然后丹回到了大学，肯维茨回到了他的发条上 - 还有他在珠宝店后面的私人图书馆。

Four years later Dan came back to Washington Square with the accumulations of B. A. and two years of Europe thick upon him. —
四年后，丹带着学士学位和两年的欧洲之旅回到了华盛顿广场身上累积的财富。 —

He took a filial look at Septimus Kinsolving’s elaborate tombstone in Greenwood and a tedious excursion through typewritten documents with the family lawyer; —
他顺便看了一眼格林伍德的塞普蒂姆斯·金索尔文石墓碑，与家族律师一起翻阅了一些枯燥的打字文件； —

and then, feeling himself a lonely and hopeless millionaire, hurried down to the old jewelry store across Sixth Avenue.
然后，感到自己孤独而绝望的百万富翁，匆匆走到六大道对面的那家旧珠宝店。

Kenwitz unscrewed a magnifying glass from his eye, routed out his parent from a dingy rear room, and abandoned the interior of watches for outdoors. —
肯维茨从眼睛上取下放大镜，从肮脏的后房间里叫出了他的父亲，放弃了手表的内部装修。 —

He went with Dan, and they sat on a bench in Washington Square. Dan had not changed much; —
他和丹一起去了，他们坐在华盛顿广场的一条长椅上。丹并没有太大变化； —

he was stalwart, and had a dignity that was inclined to relax into a grin. —
他身材魁梧，具有一种倾向于放松成笑容的尊严。 —

Kenwitz was more serious, more intense, more learned, philosophical and socialistic.
肯维茨更加认真、更加强烈、更有学问、哲学家和社会主义者。

“I know about it now,” said Dan, finally. —
“我现在明白了。”丹最后说道。 —

“I pumped it out of the eminent legal lights that turned over to me poor old dad’s collections of bonds and boodle. —
“我从这些著名的法律人那里获得了贫困的老爸的债券和金钱。” —

It amounts to $2,000,000, Ken. And I am told that he squeezed it out of the chaps that pay their pennies for loaves of bread at little bakeries around the corner. —
据说这笔钱总共有200万美元，肯。我听说他是从那些在街角的小面包店为面包付钱的人那里榨取出来的。 —

You’ve studied economics, Dan, and you know all about monopolies, and the masses, and octopuses, and the rights of laboring people. —
你学过经济学，丹，你对垄断、群众、章鱼和劳动人民的权利都很了解。 —

I never thought about those things before. —
我以前从来没想过这些事情。 —

Football and trying to be white to my fellowman were about the extent of my college curriculum.
足球和努力让我成为我的同胞的白人是我大学课程的要点。

“But since I came back and found out how dad made his money I’ve been thinking. —
但是自从我回来发现爸爸是怎么赚钱的，我一直在思考。 —

I’d like awfully well to pay back those chaps who had to give up too much money for bread. —
我真的很想偿还那些为面包付出太多钱的人。 —

I know it would buck the line of my income for a good many yards; —
我知道这会对我的收入造成一定的压力； —

but I’d like to make it square with ‘em. —
但我想向他们做个交代。 —

Is there any way it can be done, old Ways and Means?”
老细，有办法能做到吗？

Kenwitz’s big black eyes glowed fierily. His thin, intellectual face took on almost a sardonic cast. —
肯维茨的大黑眼睛燃烧着火焰般的光芒。他那瘦削的、聪明的脸上带着一丝嘲弄的神情。 —

He caught Dan’s arm with the grip of a friend and a judge.
他朋友和法官的握力使丹无法挣脱。

“You can’t do it!” he said, emphatically. —
“你不能这么做！”他强调地说。 —

“One of the chief punishments of you men of ill-gotten wealth is that when you do repent you find that you have lost the power to make reparation or restitution. —
“你们这些不正当获取财富的人最大的惩罚之一就是，当你们悔过时，你会发现你已经失去了弥补或赔偿的能力。 —

I admire your good intentions, Dan, but you can’t do anything. —
我欣赏你的善意，但你无能为力。 —

Those people were robbed of their precious pennies. —
那些人被抢走了他们宝贵的一分一毫。 —

It’s too late to remedy the evil. You can’t pay them back”
要解救这个邪恶已经为时已晚。你无法偿还他们。

“Of course,” said Dan, lighting his pipe, “we couldn’t hunt up every one of the duffers and hand ‘em back the right change. —
“当然，”丹点燃了烟斗，” 我们不可能找到每一个人然后把正确的找零还给他们。 —

There’s an awful lot of ‘em buying bread all the time. —
总有很多人一直在买面包。 —

Funny taste they have - I never cared for bread especially, except for a toasted cracker with the Roquefort. —
他们有一种奇怪的口味——我从来不特别喜欢面包，除非是配上罗克福特奶酪的烤饼干。 —

But we might find a few of ‘em and chuck some of dad’s cash back where it came from I’d feel better if I could. —
但我们可能会找到其中的几个人，把一些爸爸的钱扔回去，从它们来的地方。如果我能这么做，我会感觉好一些。 —

It seems tough for people to be held up for a soggy thing like bread. —
对于像面包这样湿漉漉的东西，让人难以忍受。 —

One wouldn’t mind standing a rise in broiled lobsters or deviled crabs. —
人们不介意支付升值的龙虾或鲜肉蟹。 —

Get to work and think, Ken. I want to pay back all that money I can.”
做事吧，肯。我想要偿还尽可能多的钱。

“There are plenty of charities,” said Kenwitz, mechanically.
“有很多慈善机构，”肯维茨机械地说道。

“Easy enough,” said Dan, in a cloud of smoke. —
“很容易，”丹在一团烟雾中说道。 —

“I suppose I could give the city a park, or endow an asparagus bed in a hospital. —
“我想我可以给城市建一个公园，或在医院设立一个芦笋床。” —

But I don’t want Paul to get away with the proceeds of the gold brick we sold Peter. It’s the bread shorts I want to cover, Ken.”
“但是我不希望保罗逃脱我们卖给彼得的黄金砖块的所得。我想要弥补面包的不足，肯。”

The thin fingers of Kenwitz moved rapidly.
肯维茨瘦削的手指快速移动着。

“Do you know how much money it would take to pay back the losses of consumers during that corner in flour?” he asked.
“你知道要偿还消费者在面粉炒作中的损失需要多少钱吗？”他问道。

“I do not.” said Dan, stoutly. “My lawyer tells me that I have two millions.”
“我不知道。” 丹坚定地说道，“我的律师告诉我我有两百万。”

“If you had a hundred millions,” said Kenwitz, vehemently, “you couldn’t repair a thousandth part of the damage that has been done. —
“即使你有一亿，”肯维茨愤怒地说道，“也无法修复造成的千分之一的损害。” —

You cannot conceive of the accumulated evils produced by misapplied wealth. —
你无法想象被错误使用的财富所积累产生的累积罪恶。 —

Each penny that was wrung from the lean purses of the poor reacted a thousandfold to their harm. —
每一文千金从贫困人的苦难中被抽去的便会加倍地对他们造成伤害。 —

You do not understand. You do not see how hopeless is your desire to make restitution. —
你不明白。你没有看到你想要赔偿的欲望是多么绝望。 —

Not in a single instance can it be done.”
一次都不可能做到。

“Back up, philosopher!” said Dan. “The penny has no sorrow that the dollar cannot heal.”
后退，哲学家！小钱没有什么伤感，大钱都能弥补。

“Not in one instance,” repeated Kenwitz. “I will give you one, and let us see. —
不可能一次做到，再说一次，”肯威茨重复道。“我给你一个例子，我们来看看。 —

Thomas Boyne had a little bakery over there in Varick Street. —
托马斯·博伊恩在瓦里克街那边开了一家小面包店。 —

He sold bread to the poorest people. —
他卖面包给最穷的人。 —

When the price of flour went up he had to raise the price of bread. —
当面粉的价格涨上去时，他不得不提高面包的价格。 —

His customers were too poor to pay it, Boyne’s business failed and he lost his $1, 000 capital - all he had in the world.”
他的顾客太穷，付不起。博伊恩的生意失败了，他失去了他的1000美元资本 - 这是他在世上所有的钱。

Dan Kinsolving struck the park bench a mighty blow with his fist.
丹·金索灵用拳头狠狠地击打了公园的长椅。

“I accept the instance,” he cried. “Take me to Boyne. I will repay his thousand dollars and buy him a new bakery.”
“我接受这个例子，”他喊道。“带我去见博恩。我会偿还他的一千美元，并给他买一家新的面包店。”

“Write your check,” said Kenwitz, without moving, “and then begin to write checks in payment of the train of consequences. —
“先写支票，”肯威茨不动地说，” 然后开始写支票偿还一系列的后果。” —

Draw the next one for $50,000. Boyne went insane after his failure and set fire to the building from which he was about to be evicted. —
为了5万美元，博伊恩在他的失败后发疯了，并放火烧掉了即将被驱逐的建筑物。 —

The loss amounted to that much. Boyne died in an asylum.”
损失达到那个数额。博伊恩在一个疯人院里去世了。

“Stick to the instance,” said Dan. “I haven’t noticed any insurance companies on my charity list.”
“按照实例来说吧，”丹说。“我慈善名单上没看到任何保险公司。”

“Draw your next check for $100,000,” went on Kenwitz. —
“画你的下一张支票，金额为10万美元，”肯威兹继续说道。 —

“Boyne’s son fell into bad way after the bakery closed, and was accused of murder. —
面包店关闭后，博伊恩的儿子走上了犯罪道路，并被指控谋杀。 —

he was acquitted last week after a three years’ legal battle, and the state draws upon taxpayers for that much expense.”
经过三年的法律斗争，他上周被宣判无罪，这样花费了纳税人那么多钱。

“Back to the bakery!” exclaimed Dan, impatiently. —
“回到面包店！”丹不耐烦地说道。 —

“The Government doesn’t need to stand in the bread line.”
“政府不需要排队领面包。”

“The last item of the instance is - come and I will show you,” said Kenwitz, rising.
“实例的最后一个项目是——来吧，我带你去看看，”肯威兹站起身来。

The Socialistic watchmaker was happy. He was a millionaire-baiter by nature and a pessimist by trade. Kenwitz would assure you in one breath that money was but evil and corruption, and that your brand-new watch needed cleaning and a new ratchet-wheel.
社会主义的制表师很开心。他天生讨厌百万富翁，职业上则是个悲观主义者。肯维茨会在同一口气中向你保证，金钱只带来邪恶和腐败，而你崭新的手表需要清洁和新的棘轮。

He conducted Kinsolving southward out of the square and into ragged, poverty-haunted Varick Street. —
他带着肯索尔文南走，走进贫穷肆虐的破旧Varick街。 —

Up the narrow stairway of a squalid brick tenement he led the penitent offspring of the Octupus. —
他带着这个八爪鱼的后代走上一座肮脏砖房的狭窄楼梯。 —

He knocked on a door, and a clear voice called to them to enter.
他敲了敲门，一个清脆的声音叫他们进来。

In that almost bare room a young woman sat sewing at a machine. —
在那个几乎空荡荡的房间里，一位年轻女子正在缝纫机前缝制衣物。 —

She nodded to Kenwitz as to a familiar acquaintance. —
她向肯维茨点了点头，表现得像是一个熟悉的熟人。 —

One little stream of sunlight through the dingy window burnished her heavy hair to the color of an ancient Tuscan’s shield. —
一个微弱的阳光从肮脏的窗户照进来，将她浓密的头发照得像一面古老的托斯卡纳盾牌一样。 —

She flashed a rippling smile at Kenwitz and a look of somewhat flustered inquiry.
她对肯维茨露出了一个涟漪般的微笑，同时流露出一丝有些慌乱的询问之意。

Kinsolving stood regarding her clear and pathetic beauty in heart-throbbing silence. —
金索尔文默默地凝视着她那清澈而可怜的美丽，心中涌动着无尽的感慨。 —

Thus they came into the presence of the last item of the Instance.
于是他们来到了这个例子的最后一项。

“How many this week, Miss Mary?” asked the watchmaker. —
“这个星期有多少，玛丽小姐？”钟表匠问道。 —

A mountain of coarse gray shirts lay upon the floor.
一堆粗糙的灰色衬衫堆在地板上。

“Nearly thirty dozen,” said the young woman cheerfully. “I’ve made almost $4. —
“差不多有三十打，”年轻女人愉快地说道，“我差不多赚了4美元。 —

I’m improving, Mr. Kenwitz. I hardly know what to do with so much money.” Her eyes turned, brightly soft, in the direction of Dan. A little pink spot came out on her round, pale cheek.
我进步了，肯威茨先生。我几乎不知道该怎么花这么多钱。”她的眼睛明亮而温柔地朝丹的方向看去。她圆润的苍白脸颊上冒出一点粉红色。

Kenwitz chuckled like a diabolic raven.
肯威茨像一只恶魔般地咯咯地笑了。

“Miss Boyne,” he said, “let me present Mr. Kinsolving, the son of the man who put bread up five years ago. —
“博因小姐，”他说，“让我介绍一下金索尔文先生，他是五年前提高面包价格的那个人的儿子。 —

He thinks he would like to do something to aid those who where inconvenienced by that act.”
他认为他愿意做点什么来帮助那些受到那个行为影响的人。”

The smile left the young woman’s face. She rose and pointed her forefinger toward the door. —
微笑从年轻女人的脸上消失了。她站起来，用食指指向门口。 —

This time she looked Kinsolving straight in the eye, but it was not a look that gave delight.
这次她直直地看着金索尔文的眼睛，但这并不是一个让人愉快的目光。

The two men went down Varick Street. Kenwitz, letting all his pessimism and rancor and hatred of the Octopus come to the surface, gibed at the moneyed side of his friend in an acrid torrent of words. —
这两个男人走在瓦里克街上。肯威茨让他所有的悲观主义、怨恨和对章鱼的憎恶都涌上心头，用一连串尖刻的话嘲笑了他朋友身上的富有一面。 —

Dan appeared to be listening, and then turned to Kenwitz and shook hands with him warmly.
丹似乎在倾听，然后转向肯威茨热情地与他握手。

“I’m obliged to you, Ken, old man,” he said, vaguely -“a thousand times obliged.”
“肯，老兄，我非常感激你,“他含含糊糊地说道-“万分感激。”

“Mein Gott! you are crazy!” cried the watchmaker, dropping his spectacles for the first time in years.
“天啊！你疯了！”表壳匠哭喊道，这是他多年来第一次摘下眼镜片。

Two months afterward Kenwitz went into a large bakery on lower Broadway with a pair of gold-rimmed eyeglasses that he had mended for the proprietor.
两个月后，肯威茨带着一个给面包店老板修理好的金边眼镜走进一家位于布劳德威下城的大型面包店。

A lady was giving an order to a clerk as Kenwitz passed her.
当肯威茨经过时，一个女士正在给一名店员下订单。

“These loaves are ten cents,” said the clerk.
“这些面包一只要十美分,“店员说道。

“I always get them at eight cents uptown,” said the lady. —
“我总是在市区以八美分买,“女士说道。 —

“You need not fill the order. I will drive by there on my way home.”
“你不用填这个订单了。我回家的路上会经过那儿的。”

The voice was familiar. The watchmaker paused.
声音很熟悉。表壳匠停下来。

“Mr. Kenwitz!” cried the lady, heartily. “How do you do?”
“肯威茨先生！”女士热情地喊道。”您好吗？”

Kenwitz was trying to train his socialistic and economic comprehension on her wonderful fur boa and the carriage waiting outside.
肯威茨试着通过她美丽的毛皮领巾和等在外面的马车来培养他对社会主义和经济的理解能力。

“Why, Miss Boyne!” he began.
“噢，博伊恩小姐！”他开始说道。

“Mrs. Kinsolving,” she corrected. “Dan and I were married a month ago.”
“金索文夫人，”她纠正道。“丹和我一个月前结婚了。”