"He looks like you, don't you think?" she said to Bryan. They stood in front of a portrait of soldier who died in the first year of the twentieth century. It was the colour of his eyes and his hair. But Bryan did not answer her, did not agree with her. He was preoccupie with reading the caption. When she looked at the portrait again, she saw that she was mistaken. The strength in the eyes, the purpose, was something Bryan didn't have. They had strong faith in those days long ago.
“她看起來很像你,你不覺得嗎?”她對布萊恩說。他們站在一個20世紀初期就死于戰爭的戰士的塑像面前。戰士眼睛和頭發的顏色和布萊恩一樣。但是布萊恩沒有回應他。他正全神貫注地在閱讀一個說明。當她再次看著那個塑像的時候,她覺得她錯了。那個戰士眼中的力量、目標,都是布萊恩所沒有的。他們在過去,有著強大的信仰。
Biographies of explorers who were educated in Edinburgh; they knew what to take to Africa: doctors, courage, Christianity, commerce, civilization. They knew what they wanted to bring back: cotton-watered by the Blue Nile, the Zambezi River. She walked after Bryan, felt his concentration, his interest in what was before him and thought, "In photograph we would not look nice together."
在愛丁堡學習的一個探索家的個人簡介,他們知道把什么帶到非洲:醫生、勇氣、基督教精神、商貿、文化。他們知道他們要帶回什么:由青尼羅河水和贊比西河水所灌溉的棉花。她走在布萊恩的身后,感到到它的專注以及他對眼前展品的興趣。她想,“在照片里我們倆看上去不會相配的。”
She had come to this museum expecting sunlight and photographs of the Nile, something to relieve her homesickness: a comfort, a message. But the messages were not for her, not for anyone like her. A letter from West Africa, 1762, an employee to his employer in Scotland. An employee trading European goods for African curiosities.
她來參觀博物館原本期待著能看到陽光和尼羅河的照片,某種能夠減輕她思鄉之情的東西,一后,感覺到他的專注以及他對眼前展的興趣。她想片,1762年,一封來自于西部非洲,一名雇傭者寫給他蘇格蘭老板的信。這個雇傭者以蘇格蘭的物品來換得非洲人的好奇心。
It was difficult to make the natives understand my meaning, even by an interpreter, to being a thing so seldom asked of them but they have all undertaken to bring something and laughed heartily at me and said, I was a good man to love their country so much…
讓當地人理解我的意思是很困難的,即使通過翻譯,拿出一件東西,他們很少去問,但是他們卻都知道帶來一些東西交換,并發自內心地對我微笑著說,我是一個好人,我很愛他們的國家……
Love my country so much. She should not be here, there was nothing for her here. She wanted to see minarets, boats fragile on the Nile, people.
很愛我的國家。她不應該出現在這里,這里沒有什么東西是為她準備的。她想要看宣禮塔、尼羅河上的船只,還有人。
"I know why they went away," said Bryan. "I understand why they travelled." At last he was talking. She had not seen him intense before. He spoke in a low "They had to get away, to leave here…"
“我知道他們為什么離開了,”布萊恩說。“我知道他們為什么要走。”最后他說道。她從未如此緊張地看著他。他用低沉的聲音說話。“他們不得不走,不得不離開這里……”
To escape from the horrible weather… She was making fun of him. She wanted to put him down. The imperialists who had humiliated her history were heroes in his eyes.
“去逃離可怕的天氣……”她和他開著玩笑。她想要貶低他。那些曾經羞辱過她的國家歷史的人,現在在他的眼中是英雄。
He looked at her. "To escape…" he repeated.
他看著她。“去逃離……”他重復著。
"They went to benefit themselves," she said, "people go away because they benefit in some way.
“他們想要做對自己有利的事情,”她說,“那些人離開是因為他們想要在某些方面獲利。
"I want to get away," he said.
“我想要去其他地方看看,”他說。