評論
打印
Though he was soon satisfied that he had dismissed the idea as romantic and unlikely though possible, there was no denying he could not help pursuing it so far as to entertain within himself a picture of what his condition would be, if he should discover such an imposture when he was grown old. Whether a man so situated would be able to pluck away the result of so many years of usage, confidence, and belief, from the impostor, and endow a stranger with it? But it was idle speculating thus. It couldn't happen. In a moment afterwards he determined that it could, but that such women were constantly observed, and had no opportunity given them for the accomplishment of such a design, even when they were so wicked as to entertain it. In another moment, he was remembering how few such cases seemed to have ever happened. In another moment he was wondering whether they ever happened and were not found out.
雖然不久他就認為這是個荒唐古怪、不大可能（當然不可否認，也有可能）的想法，把它打消了，因而心里也安定下來了，可是他卻情不自禁地沿著這個思路繼續想下去，以至于在心中構思出這樣一幅圖景：如果當他年老的時候發現了這樣一個騙局的話，那么他將會是怎樣一種狀況呢？在這種情況下，一個人是不是能把由于多年相處所產生的信任與寵愛從這個冒名頂替者的身上除去，然后把它們傾注到一位陌生人的身上呢？
As his unusual emotion subsided, these misgivings gradually melted away, though so much of their shadow remained behind, that he was constant in his resolution to look closely after Richards himself, without appearing to do so. Being now in an easier frame of mind, he regarded the woman's station as rather an advantageous circumstance than otherwise, by placing, in itself, a broad distance between her and the child, and rendering their separation easy and natural. Thence he passed to the contemplation of the future glories of Dombey and Son, and dismissed the memory of his wife, for the time being, with a tributary sigh or two.
當他這不尋常的情緒平息下來之后，這些顧慮也就逐漸消散了，雖然也留下了好些陰影，因此他決定不讓別人看出，由他親自來密切監視理查茲。當他現在心情比較輕松一些的時候，他認為這女人的社會地位反而是一種有利的情況，因為它本身在她與孩子之間就隔開了一道寬闊的距離，因此他們今后相互疏遠將會是容易和自然的。
注釋：impostor n. 騙子；冒充者
例句：
1. "The Impostor" is a slow, measured, beautifully crafted work.
《背叛》是一部情節舒緩、有節奏并精心設計的小說。
2. He succeeded in his profession, but he always secretly considered himself an impostor.
他在專業方面很成功，但他常暗自認為是個冒牌貨。
