FROM Little Britain, I went, with my cheque in my pocket, to Miss Skiffins’s brother, the accountant; and Miss Skiffins’s brother, the accountant, going straight to Clarriker’s and bringing Clarriker to me, I had the great satisfaction of concluding that arrangement. —
从小不列颠出发，带着支票在口袋里，我去找斯基芬斯小姐的哥哥，即会计；斯基芬斯小姐的哥哥直接去找克拉里克，将他带来，我非常满意地完成了那项安排。 —

It was the only good thing I had done, and the only completed thing I had done, since I was first apprised of my great expectations.
那是我从得知大笔遗产以来唯一做得好、也是唯一完成的事情。

Clarriker informing me on that occasion that the affairs of the House were steadily progressing, that he would now be able to establish a small branch-house in the East which was much wanted for the extension of the business, and that Herbert in his new partnership capacity would go out and take charge of it, I found that I must have prepared for a separation from my friend, even though my own affairs had been more settled. —
那次克拉里克告诉我，公司的事务稳步发展，现在他可以在迫切需要扩展业务的东方开设一个小分公司，而赫伯特将以他的新合伙人身份出去负责管辖；我发现，即使我的自己的事务已经更加稳定，我也必须为与朋友分别做好准备。 —

And now indeed I felt as if my last anchor were loosening its hold, and I should soon be driving with the winds and waves.
现在，我感到自己的最后一根锚正在松动，很快就会随风飘荡。

But, there was recompense in the joy with which Herbert would come home of a night and tell me of these changes, little imagining that he told me no news, and would sketch airy pictures of himself conducting Clara Barley to the land of the Arabian Nights, and of me going out to join them (with a caravan of camels, I believe), and of our all going up the Nile and seeing wonders. —
但是，当晚赫伯特回家欢天喜地地向我讲述这些变化时，我也感到了一丝喜悦，尽管他并不知道他告诉我的并非新闻，而且他畅想着自己如何将克拉拉·巴利带到阿拉伯之夜的土地，以及我跟他们一起出发（应该是带着一支骆驼队），我们一起沿尼罗河前行看神奇景观。 —

Without being sanguine as to my own part in these bright plans, I felt that Herbert’s way was clearing fast, and that old Bill Barley had but to stick to his pepper and rum, and his daughter would soon be happily provided for.
虽然对于自己在这些美好计划中的角色不抱太大希望，我觉得赫伯特的道路正在迅速清晰，老比尔·巴利只需继续经营他的胡椒和朗姆酒，他的女儿很快就会得到幸福的安顿。

We had now got into the month of March. My left arm, though it presented no bad symptoms, took in the natural course so long to heal that I was still unable to get a coat on. —
我们已经进入了三月份。尽管我左臂没有出现不良症状，但愈合需要时间，以至我仍无法穿上外衣。 —

My right arm was tolerably restored; - disfigured, but fairly serviceable.
我的右臂已经基本康复；虽有些瑕疵，但相对可用。

On a Monday morning, when Herbert and I were at breakfast, I received the following letter from Wemmick by the post.
一个周一的早晨，赫伯特和我正在吃早餐时，我通过邮件收到了下面的威密克的信。

Walworth. Burn this as soon as read. Early in the week, or say Wednesday, you might do what you know of, if you felt disposed to try it. Now burn.' <span><tang1>沃思. 一看完就烧掉。在这周早早，或者说星期三，你可以做你知道的那件事，如果你有意尝试的话。现在就烧掉。’

When I had shown this to Herbert and had put it in the fire - but not before we had both got it by heart - we considered what to do. —
我把这封信给赫伯特看，并将其放在火里——但在我们把它从头到尾背诵之前——我们考虑该怎么做。 —

For, of course my being disabled could now be no longer kept out of view.
因为，当然不能再隐瞒我伤残的事实了。

I have thought it over, again and again,' said Herbert,and I think I know a better course than taking a Thames waterman. —
我反复考虑过了，'赫伯特说，我觉得比请一位泰晤士河的船工更好一个办法。 —

Take Startop. A good fellow, a skilled hand, fond of us, and enthusiastic and honourable.’
请史塔托普。他是个好家伙，技术娴熟，喜欢我们，充满热忱和光荣的。

I had thought of him, more than once.
我确实多次考虑过他。

But how much would you tell him, Herbert?' <span><tang1>赫伯特，你会告诉他多少？’

It is necessary to tell him very little. --- <span><tang1>告诉他很少是必要的。 —

Let him suppose it a mere freak, but a secret one, until the morning comes: —
让他认为这只是一个小心思，但是一个秘密的小心思，直到早上来临： —

then let him know that there is urgent reason for your getting Provis abroad and away. You go with him?’
然后让他知道你有紧急的理由要把普罗维斯带到国外。你跟他一起去？’

No doubt.' <span><tang1>毫无疑问。’

Where?' <span><tang1>去哪里？’

It had seemed to me, in the many anxious considerations I had given the point, almost indifferent what port we made for - Hamburg, Rotterdam, Antwerp - the place signified little, so that he was got out of England. —
在我反复思考过的许多紧急考虑中，无论我们停靠哪个码头——汉堡、鹿特丹、安特卫普——地点都无关紧要，只要他离开英格兰。 —

Any foreign steamer that fell in our way and would take us up, would do. —
任何遇到我们并能接我们的外国轮船都可以。 —

I had always proposed to myself to get him well down the river in the boat; —
我自始至终计划让他在船上远离伦敦—— —

certainly well beyond Gravesend, which was a critical place for search or inquiry if suspicion were afoot. —
当然要远离格雷夫森德，因为那是一个容易引起怀疑或追查的关键地点。 —

As foreign steamers would leave London at about the time of high-water, our plan would be to get down the river by a previous ebb-tide, and lie by in some quiet spot until we could pull off to one. —
由于外国轮船通常会在涨潮时离开伦敦，我们的计划是在以前一个落潮时顺流而下，并在某个安静的地方等待，直到我们可以划船出发。 —

The time when one would be due where we lay, wherever that might be, could be calculated pretty nearly, if we made inquiries beforehand.
如果提前打听，我们可以相当准确地计算出我们所停靠的地方何时会有船经过。

Herbert assented to all this, and we went out immediately after breakfast to pursue our investigations. —
赫伯特同意了这一切，我们在吃过早餐后立即出门进行调查。 —

We found that a steamer for Hamburg was likely to suit our purpose best, and we directed our thoughts chiefly to that vessel. —
我们发现一艘去汉堡的轮船可能最适合我们的目的，我们主要把思维集中在那艘船上。 —

But we noted down what other foreign steamers would leave London with the same tide, and we satisfied ourselves that we knew the build and colour of each. —
但我们也记下了其他随同同一潮汐离开伦敦的外国轮船，我们确信自己知道每一艘船的建造和颜色。 —

We then separated for a few hours; I, to get at once such passports as were necessary; —
于是我们分开了几个小时；我去立刻办理必要的护照； —

Herbert, to see Startop at his lodgings. —
而赫伯特去他的住所见斯塔托普。 —

We both did what we had to do without any hindrance, and when we met again at one o’clock reported done. —
我们俩都顺利完成了各自的任务，一点钟再次相聚并汇报完成。 —

I, for my part, was prepared with passports; —
我已准备好护照； —

Herbert had seen Startop, and he was more than ready to join.
赫伯特见过斯塔托普，他也十分愿意加入。

Those two should pull a pair of oars, we settled, and I would steer; —
我们商定这两个人应该划一双橹，我来操舵； —

our charge would be sitter, and keep quiet; as speed was not our object, we should make way enough. —
我们的责任就是坐着，保持安静；因为速度不是我们的目标，我们应该行进足够远。 —

We arranged that Herbert should not come home to dinner before going to Mill Pond Bank that evening; that he should not go there at all, to-morrow evening, Tuesday; —
我们安排赫伯特晚些时间才回家吃晚饭，今晚去米尔池坝；明天晚上，星期二不用去那里； —

that he should prepare Provis to come down to some Stairs hard by the house, on Wednesday, when he saw us approach, and not sooner; —
当他看到我们靠近时，他应该让普罗维斯准备在房子附近的一些台阶下来，但不提前； —

that all the arrangements with him should be concluded that Monday night; —
所有与他的安排应在周一晚上结束； —

and that he should be communicated with no more in any way, until we took him on board.
直到我们搭乘了他，不再以任何方式与他联系。

These precautions well understood by both of us, I went home.
这些预防措施我们俩都理解了，我回家了。

On opening the outer door of our chambers with my key, I found a letter in the box, directed to me; —
用我的钥匙打开我们房间的外门时，发现信箱里有一封写给我的信； —

a very dirty letter, though not ill-written. —
一封非常脏的信，尽管写得不错。 —

It had been delivered by hand (of course since I left home), and its contents were these:
它是手递的（当然是在我离开家后），内容如下：

`If you are not afraid to come to the old marshes to-night or tomorrow night at Nine, and to come to the little sluice-house by the limekiln, you had better come. —
如果你不害怕今晚或明晚九点来到老沼泽地，来到石灰窑旁的小水闸房，最好来。 —

If you want information regarding your uncle Provis, you had much better come and tell no one and lose no time. —
如果你想获得有关你叔叔普罗维斯的信息，最好赶快来，不要告诉任何人，也别浪费时间。 —

You must come alone. Bring this with you.’
你必须独自前来。把这个带着。

I had had load enough upon my mind before the receipt of this strange letter. —
在收到这封奇怪的信之前，我的心情已经很沉重。 —

What to do now, I could not tell. And the worst was, that I must decide quickly, or I should miss the afternoon coach, which would take me down in time for to-night. —
现在该怎么办，我不知道。最糟糕的是，我必须迅速做出决定，否则我可能会错过下午的马车，无法及时赶到今晚。 —

To-morrow night I could not think of going, for it would be too close upon the time of the flight. —
明天晚上我无法考虑去，因为时间太接近离开的时候了。 —

And again, for anything I knew, the proffered information might have some important bearing on the flight itself.
再者，我完全不知情的提供的信息可能与离开本身有关。

If I had had ample time for consideration, I believe I should still have gone. —
如果给予充分时间考虑，我相信我仍会去。 —

Having hardly any time for consideration - my watch showing me that the coach started within half and hour - I resolved to go. —
因为几乎没有时间考虑——我的手表告诉我马车半小时内就要出发——我决定去。 —

I should certainly not have gone, but for the reference to my Uncle Provis; —
如果没有提到我叔叔普罗维斯，我肯定不会去的； —

that, coming on Wemmick’s letter and the morning’s busy preparation, turned the scale.
这一信息，加上韦米克的信和早上的忙碌准备，使我做出了决定。

It is so difficult to become clearly possessed of contents of almost any letter, in a violent hurry, that I had to read this mysterious epistle again, twice, before its injunction to me to be secret got mechanically into my mind. —
在匆忙之中要准确掌握几乎任何一封信的内容是困难的，我不得不再次阅读这封神秘的信，两遍，才让它对我保密的要求机械化地进入我的头脑。 —

Yielding to it in the same mechanical kind of way, I left a note in pencil for Herbert, telling him that as I should be so soon going away, I knew not for how long, I had decided to hurry down and back, to ascertain for myself how Miss Havisham was faring. —
我也机械地听从了这个要求，留下一张用铅笔写的便条给赫伯特，告诉他由于我马上要离开，不知道要离开多久，我决定匆忙出发，回去亲自查看哈维舍姆小姐的状况。 —

I had then barely time to get my great-coat, lock up the chambers, and make for the coach-office by the short by-ways. —
然后我勉强有时间拿到我的大衣，锁好研究室，朝着马车站走去。 —

If I had taken a hackney-chariot and gone by the streets, I should have missed my aim; —
如果我乘坐计程车，走街串巷，我就会错过目的地； —

going as I did, I caught the coach just as it came out of the yard. —
就像我之前所做的那样，我赶上了从院子里出来的马车。 —

I was the only inside passenger, jolting away knee-deep in straw, when I came to myself.
我是唯一的车厢内乘客，在稻草堆中颠簸着，当我重新找回自己时。

For, I really had not been myself since the receipt of the letter; —
因为自从收到那封信以来，我真的就不像自己了； —

it had so bewildered me ensuing on the hurry of the morning. —
它使我困惑，随着早晨的匆忙而来。 —

The morning hurry and flutter had been great, for, long and anxiously as I had waited for Wemmick, his hint had come like a surprise at last. —
那早晨的匆忙和慌乱很大，因为我已经长时间焦急地等待韦米克，他的暗示最后却像是一个惊喜。 —

And now, I began to wonder at myself for being in the coach, and to doubt whether I had sufficient reason for being there, and to consider whether I should get out presently and go back, and to argue against ever heeding an anonymous communication, and, in short, to pass through all those phases of contradiction and indecision to which I suppose very few hurried people are strangers. —
现在，我开始怀疑自己为什么坐在马车里，怀疑我是否有足够的理由在这里，考虑是否应该立刻下车回去，反对去注意匿名通讯，总而言之，我想很少有匆忙的人会陌生于这些矛盾和犹豫的阶段。 —

Still, the reference to Provis by name, mastered everything. —
不过，提到普罗维斯的名字，一切都被掌控。 —

I reasoned as I had reasoned already without knowing it - if that be reasoning - in case any harm should befall him through my not going, how could I ever forgive myself!
我像之前一样推理，却不自知-如果因为我不去而给他带来任何伤害，我如何原谅自己!

It was dark before we got down, and the journey seemed long and dreary to me who could see little of it inside, and who could not go outside in my disabled state. —
我们下车时已经天黑了，对于我这个在车厢里一无所见，因伤势无法走到外面的人来说，这趟旅程对我来说显得漫长而沉闷。 —

Avoiding the Blue Boar, I put up at an inn of minor reputation down the town, and ordered some dinner. —
避开了蓝野猪，我在城下某家信誉稍差的客栈住下，并点了一些晚餐。 —

While it was preparing, I went to Satis House and inquired for Miss Havisham; —
在做饭的时候，我去了萨蒂斯庄园，询问哈维夏姆小姐； —

she was still very ill, though considered something better.
她仍然病得很重，尽管情况略有好转。

My inn had once been a part of an ancient ecclesiastical house, and I dined in a little octagonal common-room, like a font. —
我的客栈曾经是一座古老的教堂住宅的一部分，我在一个小八边形的像洗礼盆的普通客厅里吃饭。 —

As I was not able to cut my dinner, the old landlord with a shining bald head did it for me. —
我无法切割我的晚餐，一个光头老店主帮我切割。 —

This bringing us into conversation, he was so good as to entertain me with my own story - of course with the popular feature that Pumblechook was my earliest benefactor and the founder of my fortunes.
这让我们进行了交谈，他很好地给我讲述了我的故事-当然是带有通俗特征，那就是彭布利查克是我最早的恩人，也是我的命运创始人。

`Do you know the young man?’ said I.
“你认识这个年轻人吗？”我说。

Know him!' repeated the landlord.Ever since he was - no height at all.’
“认识他！”店主重复道，“自从他还是个个子矮的孩子的时候。”

`Does he ever come back to this neighbourhood?’
“他会回来这个地方吗？”

Ay, he comes back,' said the landlord,to his great friends, now and again, and gives the cold shoulder to the man that made him.’
“会的，他会回来，”店主说，“偶尔会来探望他的大朋友们，对那些帮助过他的人却冷淡以待。”

`What man is that?’
“他指的是哪个人？”

Him that I speak of,' said the landlord.Mr Pumblechook.’
“我所说的那个人，”店主说，“彭布乐恰克先生。”

`Is he ungrateful to no one else?’
“他对其他人也这么忘恩负义吗？”

No doubt he would be, if he could,' returned the landlord,but he can’t. —
“如果可以的话，毫无疑问他也会的。”店主回答道，“但他做不到。” —

And why? Because Pumblechook done everything for him.’
“为什么？因为彭布乐恰克为他做了一切。”

`Does Pumblechook say so?’
“彭布乐恰克是这么说的吗？”

Say so!' replied the landlord.He han’t no call to say so.’
“说什么！”店主回答说，“他没有必要说。”

`But does he say so?’
“但他说了吗？”

`It would turn a man’s blood to white wine winegar to hear him tell of it, sir,’ said the landlord.
“听他讲这事，足以让一个人的血液变成白葡萄酒醋，先生。”店主说。

I thought, `Yet Joe, dear Joe, you never tell of it. —
我在心里想，“然而乔，亲爱的乔，你从不提起。 —

Long-suffering and loving Joe, you never complain. —
长时间忍受且充满爱心的乔，你从不抱怨。” —

Nor you, sweet-tempered Biddy!’
贝蒂，你也不要，温和的贝蒂！

`Your appetite’s been touched like, by your accident,’ said the landlord, glancing at the bandaged arm under my coat. —
“你的胃口似乎受了伤，”店主说着，看着我外套下裹着绷带的胳膊。 —

`Try a tenderer bit.’
“试试更嫩的一块吧。”

`No thank you,’ I replied, turning from the table to brood over the fire. —
“不用了，谢谢。”我转身离开桌子，凝视着火炉。 —

`I can eat no more. Please take it away.’
“我吃不下了，拿开吧。”

I had never been struck at so kneely, for my thanklessness to Joe, as through the brazen impostor Pumblechook. —
他巴掌拍得那么狠，我从未因为对乔的冷漠而受到如假包换的庞布利楚克的抨击。 —

The falser he, the truer Joe; the meaner he, the nobler Joe.
他越是虚伪，乔就越真诚；他越卑贱，乔就越高尚。

My heart was deeply and most deservedly humbled as I mused over the fire for an hour or more. —
我沉思着，心甚至深深而当之无愧地谦卑着。 —

The striking of the clock aroused me, but not from my dejection or remorse, and I got up and had my coat fastened round my neck, and went out. —
时钟的敲击唤醒了我，但并非让我摆脱我的消沉或懊悔，我站起来把大衣围在脖子上，走了出去。 —

I had previously sought in my pockets for the letter, that I might refer to it again, but I could not find it, and was uneasy to think that it must have been dropped in the straw of the coach. —
我事先在口袋里找过那封信，想再查阅一下，但怎么也找不到，心里不安，担心可能掉在了马车的草垛里。 —

I knew very well, however, that the appointed place was the little sluice-house by the limekiln on the marshes, and the hour nine. —
然而，我很清楚，约定的地点是沼泽上那座石灰窑旁的小水闸屋，时间是九点。 —

Towards the marshes I now went straight, having no time to spare.
我径直走向了沼泽，没有时间浪费。