月亮和六便士 第四十三章(4)

 But my study of Strickland's character suffers from a greater defect than my ignorance of many facts. 但是我对思特里克兰德的性格的分析，除了因为有许多事实我不了解外，却还有另外一个更为严重的缺憾。

Because they were obvious and striking, I have written of his relations to women; and yet they were but an insignificant¹ part of his life. 因为他同女人的关系非常明显，也着实有令人震骇的地方，我就如实地记载下来，但实际上这只是他生活中一个非常微不足道的部分。

It is an irony² that they should so tragically³ have affected⁴ others. 尽管这种关系惨痛地影响了别的人，那也不过是命运对人生的嘲弄。

His real life consisted of dreams and of tremendously hard work. 实际上，思特里克兰德的真正生活既包括了梦想，也充满了极为艰辛的工作的。

Here lies the unreality of fiction. 小说之所以不真实正在这里。

For in men, as a rule, love is but an episode which takes its place among the other affairs of the day, 一般说来，爱情在男人身上只不过是一个插曲，是日常生活中许多事务中的一件事，

and the emphasis laid on it in novels gives it an importance which is untrue to life. 但是小说却把爱情夸大了，给予它一个违反生活真实性的重要的地位。

There are few men to whom it is the most important thing in the world, and they are not very interesting ones; 尽管也有很少数男人把爱情当作世界上的头等大事，但这些人常常是一些索然寡味的人；

even women, with whom the subject is of paramount⁵ interest, have a contempt for them. 即便对爱情感到无限兴趣的女人，对这类男子也不太看得起。

They are flattered and excited by them, but have an uneasy feeling that they are poor creatures. 女人会被这样的男人吸引，会被他们奉承得心花怒放，但是心里却免不了有一种不安的感觉——这些人是一种可怜的生物。

But even during the brief intervals⁶ in which they are in love, men do other things which distract their mind; 男人们即使在恋爱的短暂期间，也不停地干一些别的事分散自己的心思：

the trades by which they earn their living engage their attention; 赖以维持生计的事务吸引了他们的注意力；

they are absorbed in sport; they can interest themselves in art. 他们沉湎于体育活动；他们还可能对艺术感到兴趣。

For the most part, they keep their various activities in various compartments⁷, and they can pursue one to the temporary exclusion⁸ of the other. 在大多数情况下，他们把自己的不同活动分别安排在不同的间隔里，在进行一种活动时，可以暂时把另一种完全排除。

They have a faculty⁹ of concentration on that which occupies them at the moment, and it irks them if one encroaches on the other. 他们有本领专心致志进行当时正在从事的活动；如果一种活动受到另一种侵犯，他们会非常恼火。

As lovers, the difference between men and women is that women can love all day long, but men only at times. 作为坠入情网的人来说，男人同女人的区别是：女人能够整天整夜谈恋爱，而男人却只能有时有晌儿地干这种事。

1 insignificant   

adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的

参考例句：

• In winter the effect was found to be insignificant.在冬季，这种作用是不明显的。
• This problem was insignificant compared to others she faced.这一问题与她面临的其他问题比较起来算不得什么。

2 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

3 tragically   

adv. 悲剧地，悲惨地

参考例句：

• Their daughter was tragically killed in a road accident. 他们的女儿不幸死于车祸。
• Her father died tragically in a car crash. 她父亲在一场车祸中惨死。

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

5 paramount   

a.最重要的，最高权力的

参考例句：

• My paramount object is to save the Union and destroy slavery.我的最高目标是拯救美国，摧毁奴隶制度。
• Nitrogen is of paramount importance to life on earth.氮对地球上的生命至关重要。

6 intervals   

n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息

参考例句：

• The forecast said there would be sunny intervals and showers. 预报间晴，有阵雨。
• Meetings take place at fortnightly intervals. 每两周开一次会。

7 compartments   

n.间隔( compartment的名词复数 )；（列车车厢的）隔间；（家具或设备等的）分隔间；隔层

参考例句：

• Your pencil box has several compartments. 你的铅笔盒有好几个格。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The first-class compartments are in front. 头等车室在前头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 exclusion   

n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行

参考例句：

• Don't revise a few topics to the exclusion of all others.不要修改少数论题以致排除所有其他的。
• He plays golf to the exclusion of all other sports.他专打高尔夫球，其他运动一概不参加。

9 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。