月亮和六便士 第三十章(4)

 there is in love a sense of weakness, a desire to protect, an eagerness to do good and to give pleasure, 爱情中需要有一种软弱无力的感觉，要有体贴爱护的要求，有帮助别人、取悦别人的热情，

if not unselfishness, at all events a selfishness which marvellously conceals¹ itself; it has in it a certain diffidence. 如果不是无私，起码是巧妙地遮掩起来的自私；爱情包含着某种程度的腼腆怯懦。

These were not traits which I could imagine in Strickland. 而这些性格特点都不是我在思特里克兰德身上所能找到的。

Love is absorbing; it takes the lover out of himself; the most clear-sighted, though he may know, cannot realise that his love will cease; 爱情要占据一个人莫大的精力，它要一个人离开自己的生活专门去做一个爱人。即使头脑最清晰的人，从道理上他可能知道，在实际中却不会承认爱情有一天会走到尽头。

it gives body to what he knows is illusion, and, knowing it is nothing else, he loves it better than reality. 爱情赋予他明知是虚幻的事物以实质形体，他明知道这一切不过是镜花水月，爱它却远远超过喜爱真实。

It makes a man a little more than himself, and at the same time a little less. 它使一个人比原来的自我更丰富了一些，同时又使他比原来的自我更狭小了一些。

He ceases to be himself. He is no longer an individual, but a thing, an instrument to some purpose foreign to his ego². 他不再是一个人，他成了追求某一个他不了解的目的的一件事物、一个工具。

Love is never quite devoid³ of sentimentality, and Strickland was the least inclined to that infirmity of any man I have known. 爱情从来免不了多愁善感，而思特里克兰德却是我认识的人中最不易犯这种病症的人。

I could not believe that he would ever suffer that possession of himself which love is; he could never endure a foreign yoke⁴. 我不相信他在任何时候会害那种爱情的通病——如醉如痴、神魂颠倒；他从来不能忍受外界加给他的任何桎梏。

I believed him capable of uprooting⁵ from his heart, though it might be with agony, so that he was left battered⁶ and ensanguined, anything 我相信他会毫不犹疑把它从心头上连根拔去，即使忍受莫大痛苦，弄得遍体鳞伤、鲜血淋漓也在所不惜，

that came between himself and that uncomprehended craving⁷ that urged him constantly to he knew not what. 如果有任何事物妨碍了他那无人能理解的热望（这种热望无时或止地刺激着他，叫他奔向一个他自己也不清楚的目标）。

If I have succeeded at all in giving the complicated impression that Strickland made on me,  如果我写下的我对思特里克兰德的这些复杂印象还算得正确的话，

it will not seem outrageous⁸ to say that I felt he was at once too great and too small for love. 我想下面的断语读者也不会认为悖理：我觉得思特里克兰德这个人既伟大、又渺小，是不会同别人发生爱情的。

But I suppose that everyone's conception of the passion is formed on his own idiosyncrasies, and it is different with every different person. 但是爱情这个概念，归根结底，因人而异；每个人都根据自己的不同癖性有不同的理解。

A man like Strickland would love in a manner peculiar⁹ to himself. It was vain to seek the analysis of his emotion. 因此，象思特里克兰德这样一个人一定也有他自己的独特的恋爱方式。要想分析他的感情实在是一件徒然的事。

1 conceals   

v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He conceals his worries behind a mask of nonchalance. 他装作若无其事，借以掩饰内心的不安。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Drunkenness reveals what soberness conceals. 酒醉吐真言。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 ego   

n.自我，自己，自尊

参考例句：

• He is absolute ego in all thing.在所有的事情上他都绝对自我。
• She has been on an ego trip since she sang on television.她上电视台唱过歌之后就一直自吹自擂。

3 devoid   

adj.全无的，缺乏的

参考例句：

• He is completely devoid of humour.他十分缺乏幽默。
• The house is totally devoid of furniture.这所房子里什么家具都没有。

4 yoke   

n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶

参考例句：

• An ass and an ox,fastened to the same yoke,were drawing a wagon.驴子和公牛一起套在轭上拉车。
• The defeated army passed under the yoke.败军在轭门下通过。

5 uprooting   

n.倒根，挖除伐根v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的现在分词 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园

参考例句：

• He is hard at work uprooting wild grass in the field. 他正在田里辛苦地芟夷呢。 来自互联网
• A storm raged through the village, uprooting trees and flattening crops. 暴风雨袭击了村庄，拔起了树木，吹倒了庄稼。 来自互联网

6 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

7 craving   

n.渴望,热望

参考例句：

• a craving for chocolate 非常想吃巧克力
• She skipped normal meals to satisfy her craving for chocolate and crisps. 她不吃正餐，以便满足自己吃巧克力和炸薯片的渴望。

8 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

9 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。