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He spread the pictures before him, and again surveyed them alternately.
他把這些畫攤在他面前，再次一張張細看著。
While he is so occupied, I will tell you, reader, what they are:
趁他看畫的時候，讀者，我要告訴你，那是些什么畫。
and first, I must premise that they are nothing wonderful.
首先我得事先聲明，它們并沒有什么了不起。
The subjects had, indeed, risen vividly on my mind.
畫的題材倒確實活脫脫地浮現在我腦海里。
As I saw them with the spiritual eye, before I attempted to embody them, they were striking.
我還沒有想用畫來表現時，它們就已在我心靈的目光下顯得栩栩如生。
But my hand would not second my fancy, and in each case it had wrought out but a pale portrait of the thing I had conceived.
然而在落筆時，我的手卻不聽我想象的使喚，每次都只能給想象中的東西勾勒出一個蒼白無力的圖象來。
These pictures were in water-colours.
這些都是水彩畫。
The first represented clouds low and livid, rolling over a swollen sea.
第一張畫的是，低垂的鉛色云塊，在波濤洶涌的海面上翻滾。
All the distance was in eclipse, so, too, was the foreground, or rather, the nearest billows, for there was no land.
遠處的一切黯然無光，畫面的前景也是如此，或者不如說，靠得最近的波濤是這樣，因為畫中沒高陸地。
One gleam of light lifted into relief a half-submerged mast,
—束微光把半沉的桅桿映照得輪廓分明，
on which sat a cormorant, dark and large, with wings flecked with foam.
桅桿上棲息著一只又黑又大的鸕鶿，翅膀上沾著斑駁的泡沫，
Its beak held a gold bracelet set with gems,
嘴里銜著一只鑲嵌了寶石的金手鐲，
that I had touched with as brilliant tints as my palette could yield,
我給手鐲抹上了調色板所能調出的最明亮的色澤，
and as glittering distinctness as my pencil could impart.
以及我的鉛筆所能勾劃出的閃閃金光。
Sinking below the bird and mast, a drowned corpse glanced through the green water.
在鳥和桅桿下面的碧波里，隱約可見一具沉溺的尸體。
A fair arm was the only limb clearly visible, whence the bracelet had been washed or torn.
它身上唯一看得清清楚楚的肢體是一只美麗的胳膊，那手鐲就是從這里被水沖走或是給鳥兒啄下來的。
The second picture contained for foreground only the dim peak of a hill, with grass and some leaves slanting as if by a breeze.
第二張畫的前景只有一座朦朧的山峰，青草和樹葉似乎被微風吹歪了。
Beyond and above spread an expanse of sky, dark blue as at twilight:
在遠處和上方鋪開了一片薄暮時分深藍色的浩瀚天空。
rising into the sky was a woman's shape to the bust, portrayed in tints as dusk and soft as I could combine.
一個女人的半身形體高聳天際，色調被我盡力點染得柔和與暗淡。
The dim forehead was crowned with a star;
模糊的額頭上點綴著一顆星星。
The lineaments below were seen as through the suffusion of vapour.
下面的臉部仿佛透現在霧氣蒸騰之中。
The eyes shone dark and wild.
雙目烏黑狂野、炯炯有神。
The hair streamed shadowy, like a beamless cloud torn by storm or by electric travail.
頭發如陰影一般飄灑，仿佛是被風爆和閃電撕下的暗淡無光的云塊。
On the neck lay a pale reflection like moonlight.
脖子上有一抹宛若月色的淡淡反光。
The same faint lustre touched the train of thin clouds from which rose and bowed this vision of the Evening Star.
一片片薄云也有著同樣淺色的光澤，云端里升起了低著頭的金星的幻象。
