In the heat of the day these are nearly deserted; business is at a stand; the merchant is reclining with pipe in mouth, in a state of semi-somnolence, in which the influence of opium or the odour of the redolent weed has carried the fertile imagination into the regions of celestial ease.
但是，由于白天烈日炎炎，集市上一片慘淡景象；生意處于停滯狀態；商戶斜躺著，嘴里叼著煙管一副似睡非睡的樣子；想必在鴉片和濃烈煙草氣味的熏陶下商戶已經插上了想象的翅膀正在天堂里自在地翱翔馳騁。
In an eastern city you have no prospect. With us you can see a considerable way along the streets. In Damascus you feel absolutely isolated; the streets are so narrow and crooked that at the most you can rarely see a perch before you, and nothing that does meet the eye in the way of buildings has the least attraction. Irregularity in style and clumsiness of execution, combined with the absence of fine doors, all windows, everything in the shape of fronts, railings, ornaments, &c., make the impression in that respect very disagreeable.
在倫敦沿街望去一眼望不到盡頭，然而，在東方的城市里卻談不上“望”，大馬士革會給你一種與世隔絕的感覺；因為那里的道路太過狹窄曲折，你最多只能瞧見身前的一根棲木。那里的建筑風格，凡是眼睛能看到的，都毫無吸引力，格局混亂、搭建簡陋，連一張好看的門都沒有，所有的窗戶、門面、欄桿、裝飾物的構造都會讓你咋舌。
In our streets, we are pleased with large houses, fine rows of large windows, tastefully arranged doors and entrances;—everything seems to convey the idea of order, attention, cleanliness combined with the possession of wealth and the consciousness that it is our own. We conceal nothing, for we have no motive for concealment. Our house is our palace, and though the winds may whistle through our dilapidated halls, the Queen herself dare not enter without our permission. Freedom has increased our property, and our wealth has enhanced the value of our freedom. Our temptation is not to concealment, but to ostentation and unnecessary display.
我們很滿意倫敦街道上的大房子、一排排精致的大窗戶、布置地很別致的門和通道；——一切都彰顯著秩序、專注、整潔、以及房屋主人的富裕和其理念。我們毫不遮掩，因為我們沒有必要遮掩。我們的房子就是我們自己的宮殿，風可以呼嘯穿過我們破敗的大廳，但是，只要沒有主人的允許，就算女王也不敢擅自闖入。是自由賦予了我們更多的財富，而財富又讓我們更重視自由。我們不喜歡遮掩，我們喜歡大肆賣弄和過分顯擺。
This tendency or temptation among us stands in connection with our character as a highly civilized and commercial nation.
我們的這種傾向和觀念凌駕于高度文明和商業化國家這兩個特征之上。
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