評論
打印
She ceased to be a woman, complex, kind and petulant, considerate and thoughtless; she was a Maenad. She was desire.
她不再是一個女性了，不再是一個性格復雜的女性——既善良又乖戾，既謹慎又輕率；她成了邁那德（希臘神話中酒神的女祭司），成了欲念的化身。
But perhaps this is very fanciful; and it may be that she was merely bored with her husband and went to Strickland out of a callous curiosity. She may have had no particular feeling for him, but succumbed to his wish from propinquity or idleness, to find then that she was powerless in a snare of her own contriving. How did I know what were the thoughts and emotions behind that placid brow and those cool gray eyes?
但是也許這都是我的臆測；可能她不過對自己的丈夫感到厭倦，只是出于好奇心（并無任何熱情在內）才去我的思特里克蘭德。可能她對他并沒有特殊的感情，她之屈從于思特里克蘭德的欲念只是由于兩人日夜廝守、由于她厭煩無聊，而一旦同他接近以后，卻發現陷入了自己編織的羅網里。在她那平靜的前額和冷冷的灰色的眼睛后面隱匿著什么思想和感情，我怎能知道呢？
But if one could be certain of nothing in dealing with creatures so incalculable as human beings, there were explanations of Blanche Stroeve's behaviour which were at all events plausible. On the other hand, I did not understand Strickland at all. I racked my brain, but could in no way account for an action so contrary to my conception of him. It was not strange that he should so heartlessly have betrayed his friends' confidence, nor that he hesitated not at all to gratify a whim at the cost of another's misery. That was in his character. He was a man without any conception of gratitude. He had no compassion. The emotions common to most of us simply did not exist in him, and it was as absurd to blame him for not feeling them as for blaming the tiger because he is fierce and cruel. But it was the whim I could not understand.
然而，盡管在探討象人這樣無從捉摸的生物時，我們什么也不敢肯定，但對于勃朗什·施特略夫的行為還有一些解釋是完全說得通的。另一方面，我對思特里克蘭德卻一點也不了解。他這次的行為與我平日對他的理解格格不入，我苦苦思索，無論如何也無法解釋。他毫無心肝地辜負了朋友對他的信任，為了自己一時興之所至，給別人帶來莫大的痛苦，這都不足為奇，因為這都是他性格的一部分。他既不知感恩，也毫無憐憫心腸。我們大多數人所共有的那些感情在他身上都不存在；如果責備他沒有這些感情，就象責備老虎兇暴殘忍一樣荒謬。我所不能解釋的是為什么他突然動了施特略夫的念頭。
I could not believe that Strickland had fallen in love with Blanche Stroeve. I did not believe him capable of love. That is an emotion in which tenderness is an essential part, but Strickland had no tenderness either for himself or for others;
我不能相信思特里克蘭德會愛上了勃朗什·施特略夫。我根本不相信這個人會愛上一個人。在愛這種感情中主要成分是溫柔，但思特里克蘭德卻不論對自己或對別人都不懂得溫柔。
