ONE day when I was busy with my books and Mr Pocket, I received a note by the post, the mere outside of which threw me into a great flutter; —
有一天，当我忙于研究我的书和Mr. Pocket时，我收到了一封邮件，光是信封外面就让我感到心潮起伏； —

for, though I had never seen the handwriting in which it was addressed, I divined whose hand it was. It had no set beginning, as Dear Mr Pip, or Dear Pip, or Dear Sir, or Dear Anything, but ran thus:
因为虽然我从未见过信封上的字迹，但我猜到了是谁的手笔。它没有开始语，比如亲爱的皮普先生，亲爱的皮普，亲爱的先生，或者亲爱的任何人，而是这样写道：

`I am to come to London the day after to-morrow by the mid-day coach. —
“后天中午的马车我将到伦敦去。 —

I believe it was settled you should meet me? —
我相信已经安排好你会来接我了吧？ —

At all events Miss Havisham has that impression, and I write in obedience to it. —
无论如何，哈维夏小姐有这个印象，我是照她的命令写信的。 —

She sends you her regard.
她向你问好。

Yours, ESTELLA.’
你的 ESTELLA。”

If there had been time, I should probably have ordered several suits of clothes for this occasion; —
如果有时间的话，我可能会为这个场合定制几套衣服； —

but as there was not, I was fain to be content with those I had. —
但因为没有时间，我只能满足于我已有的那些。 —

My appetite vanished instantly, and I knew no peace or rest until the day arrived. —
我的食欲立刻消失，直到那一天来临之前我都找不到平静和休息。 —

Not that is arrival brought me either; for, then I was worse than ever, and began haunting the coach-office in wood-street, Cheapside, before the coach had left the Blue Boar in our town. —
然而到达并没有带给我任何好处；因为那时我比以往任何时候都更糟糕，开始在我们镇上蓝野猪酒店的驿站——伦敦 Cheap side 木制街上的驿站周围徘徊。 —

For all that I knew this perfectly well, I still felt as if it were not safe to let the coach-office be out of my sight longer than five minutes at a time; —
尽管我心里明白情况，但我还是觉得驿站离开我视线超过五分钟是不安全的； —

and in this condition of unreason I had performed the first half-hour of a watch of four or five hours, when Wemmick ran against me.
在这种不理智的状态下，我已经度过了四五小时的守望中的头半小时，当温米克撞到我身上时。

Halloa, Mr Pip,' said he;how do you do? I should hardly have thought this was your beat.’
“喂，皮普先生，”他说，“你好吗？我几乎没想到你会在这里。”

I explained that I was waiting to meet somebody who was coming up by coach, and I inquired after the Castle and the Aged.
我解释说我在等待一个要乘马车到来的人，然后问起城堡和老年人。

Both flourishing thankye,' said Wemmick,and particularly the Aged. He’s in wonderful feather. —
两位老人都很茁壮，'韦密克说，尤其是老人。他很精神。 —

He’ll be eighty-two next birthday. I have a notion of firing eighty-two times, if the neighbourhood shouldn’t complain, and that cannon of mine should prove equal to the pressure. —
`他下一个生日就82岁了。我想打82响，如果附近的人没有抱怨的话，那么我的大炮应该能承受得住。 —

However, this is not London talk. where do you think I am going to?’
`不过，这不是伦敦话。你觉得我要去哪儿?’

To the office?' said I, for he was tending in that direction. <span><tang1>去办公室吗?‘我问，因为他正朝那个方向走去。

Next thing to it,' returned Wemmick,I am going to Newgate. —
差不多了，'韦密克回答。我要去纽盖特。 —

We are in a banker’s-parcel case just at present, and I have been down the road taking as squint at the scene of action, and thereupon must have a word or two with our client.’
`我们目前正处于一起银行包裹案件中，所以我已经下了路去看看事发现场，然后需要和我们的客户交谈几句。

Did your client commit the robbery?' I asked <span><tang1>你的客户犯下了抢劫吗?‘我问。

Bless your soul and body, no,' answered Wemmick, very drily.But he is accused of it. —
天哪，亲爱的，不是的，'韦密克干巴巴地回答。但他被指控犯了。 —

So might you or I be. Either of us might be accused of it, you know.’
`而我们中的任何一个都可能被指控的。你知道，你我中的任何一个都可能。

Only neither of us is,' I remarked. <span><tang1>只是我们中的任何一个都没有被指控。’我说。

Yah!' said Wemmick, touching me on the breast with his forefinger; --- <span><tang1>呸!‘韦密克用手指点了点我的胸膛； —

you're a deep one, Mr Pip! Would you like to have a look at Newgate? --- <span><tang1>你真敏锐，皮普先生！你想去看看纽盖特吗？ —

Have you time to spare?’
你有时间吗？’

I had so much time to spare, that the proposal came as a relief, notwithstanding its irreconcilability with my latent desire to keep my eye on the coach-office. —
我有很多时间可以浪费，所以尽管这个提议与我潜在的愿望不符，不想让自己的眼睛离开客运站，但我还是感到一丝解脱。 —

Muttering that I would make the inquiry whether I had time to walk with him, I went into the office, and ascertained from the clerk with the nicest precision and much to the trying of his temper, the earliest moment at which the coach could be expected - which I knew beforehand, quite as well as he. —
小声说要去问问能不能和他一起走，我走进了办公室，并从那位文员那里以最准确的方式，以及极大地考验了他的耐性，确定了侯车的最早时间 -其实我早就知道，和他一样清楚。 —

I then rejoined Mr Wemmick, and affecting to consult my watch and to be surprised by the information I had received, accepted his offer.
於是我和韦密克先生团聚，假装查看手表，并对自己得到的信息感到惊讶，接受了他的提议。

We were at Newgate in a few minutes, and we passed through the lodge where some fetters were hanging up on the bare walls among the prison rules, into the interior of the jail. —
我们很快就到了纽盖特监狱，穿过了有些镣铐悬挂在光秃秃的墙壁上以及监狱规定之间的门房，进入了监狱内部。 —

At that time, jails were much neglected, and the period of exaggerated reaction consequent on all public wrong-doing - and which is always its heaviest and longest punishment - was still far off. —
当时，监狱管理十分荒废，对所有公共错误行为的夸张反应期 - 这总是最严厉和持续时间最长的惩罚 - 还远没有到来。 —

So, felons were not lodged and fed better than soldiers (to say nothing of paupers), and seldom set fire to their prisons with the excusable object of improving the flavour of their soup. —
因此，罪犯们的住宿和伙食条件并不比士兵（更不用说贫困者）好，也很少有人出于可谅解的目的点火烧毁监狱以改善他们的食物口味。 —

It was visiting time when Wemmick took me in; and a potman was going his rounds with beer; —
当韦密克带我进去时正是探监时间，有个送啤酒的酒保正在巡视； —

and the prisoners, behind bars in yards, were buying beer, and talking to friends; and a frouzy, ugly, disorderly, depressing scene it was.
而那些囚犯，则在院子里的围栏后购买啤酒，和朋友们聊天；这是一个肮脏、丑陋、混乱，让人沮丧的场面。

It struck me that Wemmick walked among the prisoners, much as a gardener might walk among his plants. This was first put into my head by his seeing a shoot that had come up in the night, and saying, `What, Captain Tom? —
韦密克走在囚犯中间的样子让我觉得他像园丁走在自己的植物中间。他看着一棵夜里发芽的幼苗，说：“汤姆队长，你也在这儿？啊，确实！”，还有：“那个黑比尔在水箱后面吗？你为什么两个月不露面；你感觉怎么样？” —

Are you there? Ah, indeed!’ and also, `Is that Black Bill behind the cistern? —
当他停在围栏前，听从焦急的耳语者之随想，总是一个一个地，像邮政局里的他在和他们交流时，看着他们，就好像他在特别留意他们在案件审判前所取得的进展。 —

Why I didn’t look for you these two months; how do you find yourself?’ —
他备受欢迎，我发现他分担了雅格尔斯先生业务中熟悉的部分： —

Equally in his stopping at the bars and attending to anxious whisperers - always singly - Wemmick with his post-office in an immovable state, looked at them while in conference, as if he were taking particular notice of the advance they had made, since last observed, towards coming out in full blow at their trial.
尽管韦密克身上也略带雅格尔斯先生的气息，限制了我们的接近。

He was highly popular, and I found that he took the familiar department of Mr Jaggers’s business: —
他对每一个客户的个人认可都表现在一个点头上，然后用双手轻轻地调整帽子的位置，然后紧紧地抓住邮政局，把手插在口袋里。 —

though something of the state of Mr. Jaggers hung about him too, forbidding approach beyond certain limits. —
在一两个案例中，有关费用的提高出现了困难，这时韦密克先生远离提供的不足款项，说，“没用的，小子。 —

His personal recognition of each successive client was comprised in a nod, and in his settling his hat a little easier on his head with both hands, and then tightening the postoffice, and putting his hands in his pockets. —
我只是属下。我不能接受。别以这种方式对待属下。 —

In one or two instances, there was difficulty respecting the raising of fees, and then Mr Wemmick, backing as far as possible from the insufficient money produced, said, `it’s no use, my boy. —
有时缴费出现困难，这时韦密克先生就会尽量远离提供的不足款项，说：“没用的，小子。 —

I’m only a subordinate. I can’t take it. Don’t go on in that way with a subordinate. —
我只是属下。我不能接受。别以这种方式对待属下。 —

If you are unable to make up your quantum, my boy, you had better address yourself to a principal; —
如果你无法做出决断，我的小伙子，最好找一个主要领导商量一下； —

there are plenty of principals in the profession, you know, and what is not worth the while of one, may be worth the while of another; —
在这行业里有很多主要领导，你知道的，对一个人来说不值得的事情，对另一个人可能是值得的； —

that’s my recommendation to you, speaking as a subordinate. —
这就是我给你的建议，作为一个下属。 —

Don’t try on useless measures. Why should you? Now, who’s next?’
不要试一些无用的措施。为什么呢？下一个是谁？’

Thus, we walked through Wemmick’s greenhouse, until he turned to me and said, `Notice the man I shall shake hands with.’ —
于是，我们走进了韦米克的温室，直到他转身对我说，’留意我将要和谁握手。’ —

I should have done so, without the preparation, as he had shaken hands with no one yet.
如果没有这样的准备，我会这样做的，因为他还没有和其他人握手。

Almost as soon as he had spoken, a portly upright man(whom I can see now, as I write) in a well-worn olive-coloured frock-coat, with a peculiar pallor over-spreading the red in his complexion, and eyes that went wandering about when he tried to fix them, came up to a corner of the bars, and put his hand to his hat - which had a greasy and fatty surface like cold broth - with a half-serious and half-jocose military salute.
当他还没有说话的时候，一个体态高挺的男人（我现在写到时候可以看到他）穿着沾满岁月痕迹的橄榄色大衣，面色有些苍白，苍白的脸上泛着红色，试图凝视时眼神漂浮不定。他来到栅栏角落，向帽子伸出手——帽子油腻而油腻，像冷肉汤一样——半认真半玩笑地敬礼。

Colonel, to you!' said Wemmick;how are you, Colonel?’
‘上校，见面了！’韦米克说，’你好，上校？’

`All right, Mr Wemmick.’
‘一切顺利，韦米克先生。’

`Everything was done that could be done, but the evidence was too strong for us, Colonel.’
‘我们已尽心尽力，但证据对我们来说太过确凿，上校。’

`Yes, it was too strong, sir - but I don’t care.’
‘是的，证据确凿，先生——但我不在乎。’

No, no,' said Wemmick, coolly,you don’t care.’ —
‘不，不，在乎。’韦米克冷静地说，’你不在乎。’ —

Then, turning to me, `Served His Majesty this man. —
然后，转向我，’这位先生曾为国王效力， —

Was a soldier in the line and bought his discharge.’
曾是一名普通士兵，后来买断了军籍。’

I said, `Indeed?’ and the man’s eyes looked at me, and then looked over my head, and then looked all round me, and then he drew his hand across his lips and laughed.
我说，’真的吗？’那人的眼睛看着我，然后看着我头顶，然后四处看着我，接着他用手拂过嘴唇笑了笑。

`I think I shall be out of this on Monday, sir,’ he said to Wemmick.
“我想我星期一应该就能出狱了，先生，”他对韦米克说。

Perhaps,' returned my friend,but there’s no knowing.’
“也许吧，”我的朋友回答道，“但谁也说不准。”

`I am glad to have the chance of bidding you good-bye, Mr Wemmick,’ said the man, stretching out his hand between two bars.
“再会，韦米克先生，很高兴有机会向您道别。”那人说着，伸出手在两根铁栏之间握手。

Thankye,' said Wemmick, shaking hands with him.Same to you, Colonel.’
“谢谢你，”韦米克说着，与他握手，“祝您一切顺利，上校。”

If what I had upon me when taken, had been real, Mr Wemmick,' said the man, unwilling to let his hand go,I should have asked the favour of your wearing another ring - in acknowledgment of your attentions.’
“如果我被抓时携带的是真的，韦米克先生，”那人不愿放开手，说道，“那么我本应请求你戴上另一枚戒指，以感谢您的照顾。”

I'll accept the will for the deed,' said Wemmick.By-the-bye; you were quite a pigeon-fancier.’ —
“我接受你的善意，”韦米克说，“顺便问一下，你当时养了一群鸽子。” —

The man looked up at the sky. `I am told you had a remarkable breed of tumblers. —
那人抬头看了看天空，“我听说您当时有一群出色的翻滚者。” —

could you commission any friend of yours to bring me a pair, of you’ve no further use for ‘em?’
“如果你不再需要它们了，你能否委托你的朋友给我带来一对呢？”

`It shall be done, sir?’
“没问题，先生。”

All right,' said Wemmick,they shall be taken care of. Good afternoon, Colonel. Good-bye!’ —
“好的，”韦米克说，“它们会被照料好的。下午好，上校。再见！” —

They shook hands again, and as we walked away Wemmick said to me, `A Coiner, a very good workman. —
他们再次握手，走开时，韦米克对我说，“一个造币工人，十分熟练。 —

The Recorder’s report is made to-day, and he is sure to be executed on Monday. —
“法官今天就会提交报告，他肯定会在星期一被处决。” —

Still you see, as far as it goes, a pair of pigeons are portable property, all the same.’ —
“但你看，就长这样，一对鸽子也算是可以携带的财产。” —

With that, he looked back, and nodded at this dead plant, and then cast his eyes about him in walking out of the yard, as if he were considering what other pot would go best in its place.
说完，他回头看了看这棵枯萎的植物，然后在走出院子时环顾四周，仿佛在考虑哪种花盆会更适合放在那里。

As we came out of the prison through the lodge, I found that the great importance of my guardian was appreciated by the turnkeys, no less than by those whom they held in charge. —
当我们穿过看守所走出监狱时，我发现狱卒们对我监护人的重要性与那些被拘留的人一样理解。 —

Well, Mr Wemmick,' said the turnkey, who kept us between the two studded and spiked lodge gates, and who carefully locked one before he unlocked the other,what’s Mr Jaggers going to do with that waterside murder? —
“嗯，韦密克先生，”看守说着，把我们留在两道布满铁钉和尖刺的门扉之间，小心地在打开其中一道之前锁上了另一道，”杰格斯先生要怎么处理那个水边的谋杀案呢？” —

Is he going to make it manslaughter, or what’s he going to make of it?’
他会将其定性为过失杀人吗，或者他会对此有何评论？

`Why don’t you ask him?’ returned Wemmick.
“你为什么不问他呢？”Wemmick回答道。

`Oh yes, I dare say!’ said the turnkey.
“哦，是啊，我敢说！”看守员说道。

`Now, that’s the way with them here. Mr Pip,’ remarked Wemmick, turning to me with his post-office elongated. —
“这里的人就是这样。皮普先生，”Wemmick转向我说，他那副邮政官的样子更加明显了。 —

`They don’t mind what they ask of me, the subordinate; —
“他们不在乎向下级员工询问什么； —

but you’ll never catch ‘em asking any questions of my principal.’
但你永远也不会看到他们去问我的上司任何问题。”

`Is this young gentleman one of the ‘prentices or articled ones of your office?’ —
“这位年轻绅士是你们办公室的学徒或见习生之一吗？” —

asked the turnkey, with a grin at Mr Wemmick’s humour.
看着梅米克先生的幽默，狱卒问道，露出了笑容。

There he goes again, you see!' cried Wemmick,I told you so! —
你看，他又来了！'梅米克叫道，我早告诉你了！ —

Asks another question of the subordinate before his first is dry!Well, supposing Mr pip is one of them?’
在还未完全干的同时，又向部下提问！好吧，假如皮普先生是其中之一呢？

Why then,' said the turnkey, grinning again,he knows what Mr Jaggers is.’
那么，'狱卒再次咧嘴笑道，他知道杰格斯先生是谁。’

Yah!' cried Wemmick, suddenly hitting out at the turnkey in a facetious way,you’re dumb as one of your own keys when you have to do with my principal, you know you are. —
嘿！'梅米克突然着重打击了狱卒，以一种滑稽的方式说道，在与我的雇主打交道时，你就像你自己的钥匙一样哑巴，你知道你是的。 —

Let us out, you old fox, or I’ll get him to bring an action against you for false imprisonment.’
让我们出去吧，你这老狐狸，否则我会让他对你提起虚假监禁的诉讼。’

The turnkey laughed, and gave us good day, and stood laughing at us over the spikes of the wicket when we descended the steps into the street.
狱卒笑了，向我们道别，当我们走下台阶走进大街时，他站在铁栅栏上笑着看着我们。

Mind you, Mr Pip,' said Wemmick, gravely in my ear, as he took my arm to be more confidential; --- <span><tang1>注意，皮普先生，’梅米克庄严地对我说着，悄声说道，当他挽着我的胳膊增添机密性； —

I don't know that Mr Jaggers does a better thing than the way in which he keeps himself so high. --- <span><tang1>我看不出杰格斯先生比他保持得更高的方式还有更好的事情。 —

He’s always so high. His constant height is of a piece with his immense abilities. —
他总是那么高。他持续的高度与他的巨大才能恰如其分。 —

That Colonel durst no more take leave of him, than that turnkey durst ask him his intentions respecting a case. —
那位上校不敢向他告别，就像那位狱卒不敢询问他关于一个案件的意图。 —

Then, between his height and them, he slips in his subordinate - don’t you see? —
那么，在他的身高和他们之间，他就插入了他的次要人物-你明白了吗？ —

• and so he has ‘em, soul and body.’
  - 所以他拥有了他们，心和体都属于他。’
  

I was very much impressed, and not for the first time, by my guardian’s subtlety. —
我被我监护人的微妙所震撼，而且不是第一次。 —

To confess the truth, I very heartily wished, and not for the first time, that I had had some other guardian of minor abilities.
说实话，我非常诚心地希望，并不是第一次，我有另外一个能力较小的监护人。

Mr Wemmick and I parted at the office in Little Britain, where suppliants for Mr Jaggers’s notice were lingering about as usual, and I returned to my watch in the street of the coach-office, with some three hours on hand. —
我和韦密克先生在小不列颠办公室告别，那里总是有人等待着得到贾杰斯先生的关注，然后我回到了马车站街上，还有大约三个小时的时间。 —

I consumed the whole time in thinking how strange it was that I should be encompassed by all this taint of prison and crime; —
我把整个时间都花在想，觉得很奇怪我竟然被这些关于监狱和犯罪的污秽环绕着； —

that, in my childhood out on our lonely marshes on a winter evening I should have first encountered it; —
在我没有人陪伴的童年时代，在冬天的傍晚，我第一次遇见了它； —

that, it should have reappeared on two occasions, starting out like a stain that was faded but not gone; —
它竟然在两次重新出现，像是褪色但并未消失的污渍； —

that, it should in this new way pervade my fortune and advancement. —
在这种崭新的方式下，它居然如此贯穿了我的命运和进步。 —

While my mind was thus engaged, I thought of the beautiful young Estella, proud and refined, coming towards me, and I thought with absolute abhorrence of the contrast between the jail and her. —
当我心里这么想时，我想到了美丽的年轻Estella，高傲又优雅的向我走来，我绝对感到厌恶监狱和她之间的反差。 —

I wished that Wemmick had not met me, or that I had not yielded to him and gone with him, so that, of all days in the year on this day, I might not have had Newgate in my breath and on my clothes. —
我希望韦密克没有和我碰面，或者我没有屈服于他和跟他走，这样，在一年中最糟的这一天，我就不会闻到新门监狱的气息和身上沾满它的衣服了。 —

I beat the prison dust off my feet as I sauntered to and fro, and I shook it out of my dress, and I exhaled its air from my lungs. —
当我晃晃悠悠地来回走时，我把脚上的监狱灰尘抖掉，摇了摇我的衣服，呼出了我的肺里的空气。 —

So contaminated did I feel, remembering who was coming, that the coach came quickly after all, and I was not yet free from the soiling consciousness of Mr Wemmick’s conservatory, when I saw her face at the coach window and her hand waving to me.
我感到那种被污染的感觉，想着谁会来，以至于马车来得很快，我还没有完全摆脱韦密克先生温室里的那种污秽意识，我就看到她在马车窗口露出脸，挥着手向我。

What was the nameless shadow which again in that one instant had passed?
是什么无名的阴影在那一瞬间又经过了？