During the journey I thought over my errand with misgiving. —
在旅途中，我对我的使命感到犹豫不决。 —

Now that I was free from the spectacle of Mrs. Strickland’s distress I could consider the matter more calmly. —
现在我摆脱了斯特里克兰夫人困扰的景象，我可以更冷静地考虑这件事。 —

I was puzzled by the contradictions that I saw in her behaviour. —
她的行为给我带来了困惑。 —

She was very unhappy, but to excite my sympathy she was able to make a show of her unhappiness. —
她非常不快乐，但为了引起我的同情，她能够假装自己很不快乐。 —

It was evident that she had been prepared to weep, for she had provided herself with a sufficiency of handkerchiefs; —
显然她已准备好哭泣，因为她备了足够的手绢； —

I admired her forethought, but in retrospect it made her tears perhaps less moving. —
我钦佩她的考虑周到，但回想起来，也许这让她的眼泪不那么动人。 —

I could not decide whether she desired the return of her husband because she loved him, or because she dreaded the tongue of scandal; —
我无法确定她是否希望丈夫回来是因为她爱他，还是因为她害怕流言蜚语的影响； —

and I was perturbed by the suspicion that the anguish of love contemned was alloyed in her broken heart with the pangs, sordid to my young mind, of wounded vanity. —
我感到困扰的是，她的破碎心灵中受到贬损的爱的痛苦，可能掺杂着对被伤害自尊的无聊，这对我的年轻心灵来说是卑劣的。 —

I had not yet learnt how contradictory is human nature; —
我还没有学会人性有多么矛盾； —

I did not know how much pose there is in the sincere, how much baseness in the noble, nor how much goodness in the reprobate.
我不知道真诚中存在多少姿态，高贵中存在多少卑鄙，以及恶棍中存在多少善良。

But there was something of an adventure in my trip, and my spirits rose as I approached Paris. I saw myself, too, from the dramatic standpoint, and I was pleased with my role of the trusted friend bringing back the errant husband to his forgiving wife. —
但在我的旅途中，也有一些冒险的色彩，当我接近巴黎时，我的精神也提升了。我也从戏剧的角度看待自己，并对我扮演着忠实友人带回失迷丈夫给宽恕妻子的角色感到满意。 —

I made up my mind to see Strickland the following evening, for I felt instinctively that the hour must be chosen with delicacy. —
我决定第二天晚上去见斯特里克兰，因为我本能地觉得选择时机必须谨慎。 —

An appeal to the emotions is little likely to be effectual before luncheon. —
在午餐前情感的诉求很少会奏效。 —

My own thoughts were then constantly occupied with love, but I never could imagine connubial bliss till after tea.
我的思想经常充斥着爱，但我永远无法想象直到喝完茶后才会有婚姻的幸福。

I enquired at my hotel for that in which Charles Strickland was living. —
我在酒店询问查尔斯·斯特里克兰居住的酒店。 —

It was called the Hotel des Belges. But the concierge, somewhat to my surprise, had never heard of it. —
它被称为贝尔金斯酒店。但是门房竟然从未听说过。 —

I had understood from Mrs. Strickland that it was a large and sumptuous place at the back of the Rue de Rivoli. —
我从斯特里克兰夫人那里了解到，它是一家宏伟豪华的酒店，位于里沃利街的后面。 —

We looked it out in the directory. The only hotel of that name was in the Rue des Moines. —
我们在电话簿中查找了一下。那个叫这个名字的酒店只在摩因街。 —

The quarter was not fashionable; it was not even respectable. I shook my head.
这个区不时尚，甚至都不体面。我摇了摇头。

“I’m sure that’s not it, ” I said.
“我确定那不是它，”我说。

The concierge shrugged his shoulders. There was no other hotel of that name in Paris. It occurred to me that Strickland had concealed his address, after all. —
门房耸了耸肩。巴黎再也没有其他叫这个名字的酒店。我突然想到斯特里克兰可能毕竟是隐瞒了他的地址。 —

In giving his partner the one I knew he was perhaps playing a trick on him. —
他给他的合伙人提供我知道的那个地址，也许是在开这个玩笑。 —

I do not know why I had an inkling that it would appeal to Strickland’s sense of humour to bring a furious stockbroker over to Paris on a fool’s errand to an ill-famed house in a mean street. —
我不知道为什么我有一种预感，认为让一个愤怒的股票经纪人来巴黎寻找他在一条贫穷街道上的名声不佳的房子是斯特里克兰会觉得很有趣。 —

Still, I thought I had better go and see. —
但我觉得还是去看看为好。 —

Next day about six o’clock I took a cab to the Rue des Moines, but dismissed it at the corner, since I preferred to walk to the hotel and look at it before I went in. —
第二天大约下午六点，我乘坐出租车去了摩因街，但在街角下车，因为我更愿意走到酒店前面看看再进去。 —

It was a street of small shops subservient to the needs of poor people, and about the middle of it, on the left as I walked down, was the Hotel des Belges. —
这是一条小店铺林立的街道，为贫苦人民服务，走下来的左边的中间位置就是贝尔金斯酒店。 —

My own hotel was modest enough, but it was magnificent in comparison with this. —
我的住所虽然谦逊，但与此相比就显得宏伟了。 —

It was a tall, shabby building, that cannot have been painted for years, and it had so bedraggled an air that the houses on each side of it looked neat and clean. —
这是一座高大破旧的建筑，已经有好几年没有刷漆了，看起来邋遢得连它两边的房子都显得整洁干净。 —

The dirty windows were all shut. It was not here that Charles Strickland lived in guilty splendour with the unknown charmer for whose sake he had abandoned honour and duty. —
那些肮脏的窗户都关闭着。查尔斯·斯特里克兰不可能在这里与他的那个不知名的情人一同以不名誉和责任为代价过着奢靡生活。 —

I was vexed, for I felt that I had been made a fool of, and I nearly turned away without making an enquiry. —
我感到恼火，因为觉得自己被愚弄了，几乎要掉头不再询问。 —

I went in only to be able to tell Mrs. Strickland that I had done my best.
我只是想告诉斯特里克兰夫人我已尽力了。

The door was at the side of a shop. It stood open, and just within was a sign: Bureau au premier. —
门在一家商店的一侧。它敞开着，只有里面挂着一个招牌：Bureau au premier。 —

I walked up narrow stairs, and on the landing found a sort of box, glassed in, within which were a desk and a couple of chairs. —
我走上狭窄的楼梯，在楼梯平台上找到一个被玻璃围起来的隔间，里面有一张桌子和两把椅子。 —

There was a bench outside, on which it might be presumed the night porter passed uneasy nights. —
外面有一条长椅，推测是夜班门房度过不安的夜晚的地方。 —

There was no one about, but under an electric bell was written Garcon. —
周围没有人，但电铃下面写着Garcon。 —

I rang, and presently a waiter appeared. —
我按了铃，过了一会儿一名侍者出现了。 —

He was a young man with furtive eyes and a sullen look. —
他是一个眼神忧虑、面带愁容的年轻人。 —

He was in shirt-sleeves and carpet slippers.
他穿着衬衫和室内拖鞋。

I do not know why I made my enquiry as casual as possible.
我不知道为什么要把我的询问尽量弄得漫不经心。

“Does Mr. Strickland live here by any chance?” I asked.
“史特里克兰先生住在这里吗？”我问道。

“Number thirty-two. On the sixth floor. “
“三十二号。六楼。”

I was so surprised that for a moment I did not answer.
我惊讶得一时没做出回答。

“Is he in?”
“他在吗？”

The waiter looked at a board in the bureau.
侍者看了看办公室的板子。

“He hasn’t left his key. Go up and you’ll see. “
“他没退房。上楼你就知道了。”

I thought it as well to put one more question.
我认为再提一个问题是必要的。

“Madame est la?”
“女士在吗？”

“Monsieur est seul. “
“先生一个人。”

The waiter looked at me suspiciously as I made my way upstairs. They were dark and airless. —
当我往楼上走时，侍者疑惑地看着我。那里又黑又没有空气。 —

There was a foul and musty smell. Three flights up a Woman in a dressing-gown, with touzled hair, opened a door and looked at me silently as I passed. —
散发着一股难闻而发霉的气味。我爬了三层楼，一个穿着睡袍、头发凌乱的女人打开门，默默地看着我走过。 —

At length I reached the sixth floor, and knocked at the door numbered thirty-two. —
最终我到了六楼，敲响了编号为三十二的门。 —

There was a sound within, and the door was partly opened. —
里面传出一阵声音，门被打开了一半。 —

Charles Strickland stood before me. He uttered not a word. —
查尔斯·斯特里克兰站在我面前，没有说一句话。 —

He evidently did not know me.
显然他不认识我。

I told him my name. I tried my best to assume an airy manner.
我告诉他我的名字。我尽力假装轻松。

“You don’t remember me. I had the pleasure of dining with you last July. “
“你不记得我了。我曾在去年七月和你共进晚餐。”

“Come in, ” he said cheerily. “I’m delighted to see you. Take a pew. “
“请进，”他高兴地说。“见到你很高兴。请坐。”

I entered. It was a very small room, overcrowded with furniture of the style which the French know as Louis Philippe. —
我走了进去。这是一个非常小的房间，摆满了法国人所称的路易斯·菲利普风格的家具。 —

There was a large wooden bedstead on which was a billowing red eiderdown, and there was a large wardrobe, a round table, a very small washstand, and two stuffed chairs covered with red rep. —
有一张大木制床架上面盖着波纹的红色羽绒被，还有一个大衣柜、一张圆桌、一个非常小的洗漱台和两把被红色绸缎覆盖着的充气椅子。 —

Everything was dirty and shabby. There was no sign of the abandoned luxury that Colonel MacAndrew had so confidently described. —
一切都又脏又破旧。没有象阔别豪华的兆，那个麦克安德鲁上校如此自信地描绘的。 —

Strickland threw on the floor the clothes that burdened one of the chairs, and I sat down on it.
Strickland把压在一把椅子上的衣服扔到地板上，然后我坐在上面。

“What can I do for you?” he asked.
“有什么事吗？”他问道。

In that small room he seemed even bigger than I remembered him. —
在那个小房间里，他看起来比我记得的还要更高大。 —

He wore an old Norfolk jacket, and he had not shaved for several days. —
他穿着一件旧的Norfolk夹克，已经好几天没刮胡子了。 —

When last I saw him he was spruce enough, but he looked ill at ease: —
我上次见到他时，他看起来很整洁，但现在，他显得不自在： —

now, untidy and ill-kempt, he looked perfectly at home. —
现在，他看起来邋遢又懒散，却似乎完全如鱼得水。 —

I did not know how he would take the remark I had prepared.
我不知道他会如何对待我准备好的话。

“I’ve come to see you on behalf of your wife. “
“我是代表你的妻子来找你的。”

“I was just going out to have a drink before dinner. You’d better come too. Do you like absinthe?”
“我正要出去喝一杯，等下就要吃晚饭。你要一起来吗？你喜欢苦艾酒吗？”

“I can drink it. “
“我可以喝。”

“Come on, then. “
“那就走吧。”

He put on a bowler hat much in need of brushing.
他戴上了一顶 dr需要刷一刷的圆顶礼帽。

“We might dine together. You owe me a dinner, you know. “
“我们可以一起吃饭。你欠我一顿饭，你知道的。”

“Certainly. Are you alone?”
“当然。你是一个人吗？”

I flattered myself that I had got in that important question very naturally.
我自以为很自然地提出了这个重要的问题。

“Oh yes. In point of fact I’ve not spoken to a soul for three days. —
“啊是的。事实上，我已经三天没有和一个人说过话了。 —

My French isn’t exactly brilliant. “
我的法语并不是很好。

I wondered as I preceded him downstairs what had happened to the little lady in the tea-shop. —
我走在他前面下楼时，想知道茶馆里的小姑娘怎么了。 —

Had they quarrelled already, or was his infatuation passed? —
他们已经吵架了吗，还是他的迷恋已经过去了？ —

It seemed hardly likely if, as appeared, he had been taking steps for a year to make his desperate plunge. —
如果他已经努力了一年要做出绝望的决定，这似乎不太可能。 —

We walked to the Avenue de Clichy, and sat down at one of the tables on the pavement of a large cafe.
我们走到了克里希大道，坐在一个大咖啡馆的人行道上的一张桌子旁。”