I have an idea that some men are born out of their due place. —
我有一个想法，认为有些人出生在不属于他们的地方。 —

Accident has cast them amid certain surroundings, but they have always a nostalgia for a home they know not. —
意外让他们置身于某些环境中，但他们却常常怀念一个他们并不了解的家。 —

They are strangers in their birthplace, and the leafy lanes they have known from childhood or the populous streets in which they have played, remain but a place of passage. —
他们在出生地是陌生人，从小熟悉的绿叶小径或熙熙攘攘的街道，只是经过之地。 —

They may spend their whole lives aliens among their kindred and remain aloof among the only scenes they have ever known. —
他们可能一生中都会在自己的亲人中感到陌生，在自己熟悉的环境中保持疏远。 —

Perhaps it is this sense of strangeness that sends men far and wide in the search for something permanent, to which they may attach themselves. —
也许正是这种陌生感，驱使人们远赴他乡，寻找一种永恒的东西，让他们依附。 —

Perhaps some deeprooted atavism urges the wanderer back to lands which his ancestors left in the dim beginnings of history. —
也许是一种深层次的返祖主义，促使流浪者回到祖先在历史的昏暗开端中离开的土地。 —

Sometimes a man hits upon a place to which he mysteriously feels that he belongs. —
有时候，一个人会碰巧找到一个他神秘地觉得自己属于的地方。 —

Here is the home he sought, and he will settle amid scenes that he has never seen before, among men he has never known, as though they were familiar to him from his birth. —
这里是他寻找的家，他会定居在从未见过的景色中，与从未相识的人们一起，就像他们从出生就熟悉一样。 —

Here at last he finds rest.
最终他找到了休息的地方。

I told Tiare the story of a man I had known at St. Thomas’s Hospital. —
我告诉了提阿雷一个我在圣托马斯医院认识的人的故事。 —

He was a Jew named Abraham, a blond, rather stout young man, shy and very unassuming; —
他是一个名叫亚伯拉罕的犹太人，一个金发、颇胖的年轻男子，害羞又谦逊； —

but he had remarkable gifts. He entered the hospital with a scholarship, and during the five years of the curriculum gained every prize that was open to him. —
但他有非凡的才华。他凭借奖学金进入了医院，在五年的学制中获得了所有可以获得的奖项。 —

He was made house-physician and house-surgeon. His brilliance was allowed by all. —
他成为了医院的医师和外科医生。他的才华被所有人所认可。 —

Finally he was elected to a position on the staff, and his career was assured. —
最终，他被选为医院工作人员，他的事业有了保障。 —

So far as human things can be predicted, it was certain that he would rise to the greatest heights of his profession. —
就人类的事物而言，可以预测他必定会在自己的职业中达到最高峰。 —

Honours and wealth awaited him. Before he entered upon his new duties he wished to take a holiday, and, having no private means, he went as surgeon on a tramp steamer to the Levant. —
他的荣誉和财富正在等待他。在开始新工作之前，他想休个假，由于没有私人收入，他就去了一艘驶往地中海东部的散货船担任外科医生。 —

It did not generally carry a doctor, but one of the senior surgeons at the hospital knew a director of the line, and Abraham was taken as a favour.
通常船上并没有医生，但医院的一位资深外科医生认识船公司的一位董事，于是阿伯拉罕得以前往。

In a few weeks the authorities received his resignation of the coveted position on the staff. —
几周后，有关部门收到了他辞去令人艳羡的院方职位的辞呈。 —

It created profound astonishment, and wild rumours were current. —
这引起了深深的惊讶，到处都是疯狂的传言。 —

Whenever a man does anything unexpected, his fellows ascribe it to the most discreditable motives. —
每当一个人做出意想不到的举动时，他的同伴们就会将其归因于最不能表扬的动机。 —

But there was a man ready to step into Abraham’s shoes, and Abraham was forgotten. —
但已有另一名替代者准备好接替阿伯拉罕的位置，而阿伯拉罕也就被遗忘了。 —

Nothing more was heard of him. He vanished.
再也没有人听说过他。他消失了。

It was perhaps ten years later that one morning on board ship, about to land at Alexandria, I was bidden to line up with the other passengers for the doctor’s examination. —
大概是十年后，有一天早晨在一艘即将抵达亚历山大的船上，我被要求和其他乘客排队接受医生的检查。 —

The doctor was a stout man in shabby clothes, and when he took off his hat I noticed that he was very bald. —
医生是个身穿破旧衣服的胖子，当他摘下帽子时我注意到他已经非常秃顶。 —

I had an idea that I had seen him before. —
我觉得我以前见过他。 —

Suddenly I remembered.
突然间我想起来了。

“Abraham, ” I said.
“阿伯拉罕，”我说。

He turned to me with a puzzled look, and then, recognizing me, seized my hand. —
他转过头来看着我，然后认出了我，握住我的手。 —

After expressions of surprise on either side, hearing that I meant to spend the night in Alexandria, he asked me to dine with him at the English Club. When we met again I declared my astonishment at finding him there. —
在亚历山大，当我告诉他我打算在那里过夜时，他邀请我与他一起在英国俱乐部晚餐。再次见面时，我对发现他在那里感到惊讶。 —

It was a very modest position that he occupied, and there was about him an air of straitened circumstance. —
他所占据的职位非常谦逊，身上散发着一种贫困的气息。 —

Then he told me his story. When he set out on his holiday in the Mediterranean he had every intention of returning to London and his appointment at St. Thomas’s. —
然后他告诉我他的故事。当他踏上地中海度假之旅的时候，他打算回伦敦去履行他在圣托马斯医院的约会。 —

One morning the tramp docked at Alexandria, and from the deck he looked at the city, white in the sunlight, and the crowd on the wharf; —
有一天早晨，流浪汉停靠在亚历山大港口，他从甲板上看着白日明媚的城市和码头上的人群； —

he saw the natives in their shabby gabardines, the blacks from the Soudan, the noisy throng of Greeks and Italians, the grave Turks in tarbooshes, the sunshine and the blue sky; —
他看到穿着破旧大风衣的本地人，来自苏丹的黑人，吵闹的希腊人和意大利人，头戴塔卜帽的严肃土耳其人，阳光和蓝天； —

and something happened to him. He could not describe it. —
某种事情发生在他身上。他无法描述。 —

It was like a thunder-clap, he said, and then, dissatisfied with this, he said it was like a revelation. —
他说那像是一声霹雳，然后，对此感到不满，说那像是一场启示。 —

Something seemed to twist his heart, and suddenly he felt an exultation, a sense of wonderful freedom. —
他感觉到心被扭曲，突然他感到一种欢快，一种奇妙的自由感。 —

He felt himself at home, and he made up his mind there and then, in a minute, that he would live the rest of his life in Alexandria. —
他感到自己在家，他立刻决定，他余下的一生都将在亚历山大度过。 —

He had no great difficulty in leaving the ship, and in twenty-four hours, with all his belongings, he was on shore.
他毫不费力地离开了船，在二十四小时内，他和所有的物品都上了岸。

“The Captain must have thought you as mad as a hatter, ” I smiled.
“船长一定像疯帽子一样认为你疯了，”我笑了。

“I didn’t care what anybody thought. It wasn’t I that acted, but something stronger within me. —
“我不在乎别人怎么想。不是我在行动，而是我内心的某种强大力量。 —

I thought I would go to a little Greek hotel, while I looked about, and I felt I knew where to find one. —
我想我会去一个小希腊旅馆，看看周围，我觉得我知道哪里找。 —

And do you know, I walked straight there, and when I saw it, I recognised it at once. “
你知道吗，我径直走到那里，看到那家旅馆时，我立刻认出了它。”

“Had you been to Alexandria before?”
“你以前去过亚历山大港吗？”

“No; I’d never been out of England in my life. “
“没有；我以前从未离开过英格兰。”

Presently he entered the Government service, and there he had been ever since.
后来他进入了政府工作，从那时起他就一直在那里。

“Have you never regretted it?”
“你从未后悔过吗？”

“Never, not for a minute. I earn just enough to live upon, and I’m satisfied. —
“从未，一刻钟也没有。我挣的正好够生活，我对此感到满足。 —

I ask nothing more than to remain as I am till I die. I’ve had a wonderful life. “
我只希望一直保持现状，直到我死去。我过得很美好。”

I left Alexandria next day, and I forgot about Abraham till a little while ago, when I was dining with another old friend in the profession, Alec Carmichael, who was in England on short leave. —
第二天我离开了亚历山大，并且直到不久之前我都忘记了亚伯拉罕，当时我正在和另一个老朋友在一起共进晚餐，他叫亚历克·卡迈克尔，他正在英国度假。 —

I ran across him in the street and congratulated him on the knighthood with which his eminent services during the war had been rewarded. —
我在街上碰到了他，并祝贺他在战争期间杰出的服务获得了爵士头衔。 —

We arranged to spend an evening together for old time’s sake, and when I agreed to dine with him, he proposed that he should ask nobody else, so that we could chat without interruption. —
出于旧时光的缘故，我们安排了一个晚上在一起，当我同意和他共进晚餐时，他提议不邀请其他人，这样我们就可以无人打扰地聊天。 —

He had a beautiful old house in Queen Anne Street, and being a man of taste he had furnished it admirably. —
他在女王安妮街有一所漂亮的老房子，作为一个有品味的人，他布置得非常出色。 —

On the walls of the diningroom I saw a charming Bellotto, and there was a pair of Zoffanys that I envied. —
在饭厅的墙上我看到了一幅迷人的贝洛托画，还有一对我非常羡慕的佐法尼斯画。 —

When his wife, a tall, lovely creature in cloth of gold, had left us, I remarked laughingly on the change in his present circumstances from those when we had both been medical students. —
在他的妻子，一个身穿金布的高大美丽的人离开后，我笑着谈到了他现在的情况与我们曾经都是医学生时的情况之间的差异。 —

We had looked upon it then as an extravagance to dine in a shabby Italian restaurant in the Westminster Bridge Road. Now Alec Carmichael was on the staff of half a dozen hospitals. —
我们那时认为在西敏桥路一家破旧的意大利餐馆里吃饭是一种奢侈。现在亚历克·卡迈克尔是半打医院的工作人员。 —

I should think he earned ten thousand a year, and his knighthood was but the first of the honours which must inevitably fall to his lot.
我想他挣了一年一万英镑，他的爵士头衔仅仅是他必然会获得的荣誉中的第一个。

“I’ve done pretty well, ” he said, “but the strange thing is that I owe it all to one piece of luck. “
“我做得相当不错，”他说，“但奇怪的是，我把这一切归功于一次幸运。”

“What do you mean by that?”
“你是什么意思？”

“Well, do you remember Abraham? He was the man who had the future. —
“嗯，你还记得亚伯拉罕吗？他是那个有未来的人。 —

When we were students he beat me all along the line. —
当我们还是学生时，他在所有方面都比我强。” —

He got the prizes and the scholarships that I went in for. I always played second fiddle to him. —
他获得了我参加的奖品和奖学金。我总是被他挤到次要位置。 —

If he’d kept on he’d be in the position I’m in now. That man had a genius for surgery. —
如果他一直坚持下去，他现在就会是我所处的位置。那个人对外科手术有天赋。 —

No one had a look in with him. When he was appointed Registrar at Thomas’s I hadn’t a chance of getting on the staff. —
没人能与他抗衡。当他被任命为托马斯医院的住院医师时，我没有机会进入医院工作人员。 —

I should have had to become a G. P. , and you know what likelihood there is for a G. P. ever to get out of the common rut. —
我本来应该成为一名全科医生，你知道全科医生有多难摆脱平庸。 —

But Abraham fell out, and I got the job. —
但亚伯拉罕离职了，我得到了这份工作。 —

That gave me my opportunity. “
那给了我机会。

“I dare say that’s true. “
“我想这说得也不假。”

“It was just luck. I suppose there was some kink in Abraham. —
“那只是运气。我想亚伯拉罕的性格可能有问题。” —

Poor devil, he’s gone to the dogs altogether. —
可怜的家伙，他完全堕落了。 —

He’s got some twopenny-halfpenny job in the medical at Alexandria – sanitary officer or something like that. —
他在亚历山大的医疗部门有了一份微不足道的工作，卫生官或类似的职位。 —

I’m told he lives with an ugly old Greek woman and has half a dozen scrofulous kids. —
据说他和一个丑陋的希腊老妇人一起生活，有半打患有淋巴结核的孩子。 —

The fact is, I suppose, that it’s not enough to have brains. —
事实上，我想，光靠头脑是不够的。 —

The thing that counts is character. Abraham hadn’t got character. “
重要的是个人品格。亚伯拉罕没有品格。

Character? I should have thought it needed a good deal of character to throw up a career after half an hour’s meditation, because you saw in another way of living a more intense significance. —
品格？我认为毫无疑问，抛弃一个职业经过半小时思考，因为你看到另一种更深刻的生活方式，是需要相当大的品格的。 —

And it required still more character never to regret the sudden step. —
更需要品格的，是永远不后悔这个突然的决定。 —

But I said nothing, and Alec Carmichael proceeded reflectively:
但我什么也没说，亚历克·卡迈克继续反思:

“Of course it would be hypocritical for me to pretend that I regret what Abraham did. —
“当然，如果我假装对亚伯拉罕所做的事感到遗憾，那就是虚伪的。 —

After all, I’ve scored by it. ” He puffed luxuriously at the long Corona he was smoking. —
毕竟，我从中获益。” 他豪华地吸着他正在抽的长Corona雪茄。 —

“But if I weren’t personally concerned I should be sorry at the waste. —
“但如果我不是亲自受影响的话，我会为这种浪费感到遗憾。 —

It seems a rotten thing that a man should make such a hash of life. “
一个人应该这样毁了一生，看起来是个烂事。

I wondered if Abraham really had made a hash of life. —
我想知道亚伯拉罕是否真的毁了一生。 —

Is to do what you most want, to live under the conditions that please you, in peace with yourself, to make a hash of life; —
如果做你最想做的事，生活在让你满意的条件下，与自己和平相处，这样毁了一生吗; —

and is it success to be an eminent surgeon with ten thousand a year and a beautiful wife? —
成功是成为一个年薪一万英镑，拥有美丽妻子的知名外科医生吗？ —

I suppose it depends on what meaning you attach to life, the claim which you acknowledge to society, and the claim of the individual. —
我想这取决于你对生活赋予的意义，你承认给社会的权利，和个人的权利。 —

But again I held my tongue, for who am I to argue with a knight?
但再次我闭上了嘴，因为我算什么，能和一位骑士争辩呢？