《简·爱》 Chapter 12 第十二章（9）（在线收听）

I took up my muff and walked on.

我拾起皮手筒继续赶路。

The incident had occurred and was gone for me.

对我来说、这件事已经发生，并已成为过去。

It was an incident of no moment, no romance, no interest in a sense.

在某种程度上说，它既不重要，也不浪漫，又不有趣。

Yet it marked with change one single hour of a monotonous life.

但它却标志着单调乏味的生活有了一个小时的变化。

My help had been needed and claimed; I had given it.

人家需要我的帮助，而且求了我，而我给予了帮助。

I was pleased to have done something.

我很高兴总算干了点什么。

Trivial, transitory though the deed was, it was yet an active thing, and I was weary of an existence all passive.

这件事尽管微不足道，稍纵即逝，但毕竟是积极的，而我对被动的生活方式已感到厌倦。

The new face, too, was like a new picture introduced to the gallery of memory,

这张新面孔犹如一幅新画，被送进了记忆的画廊，

and it was dissimilar to all the others hanging there.

它同已经张贴着的画全然不同。

Firstly, because it was masculine.

第一，因为这是位男性。

And, secondly, because it was dark, strong, and stern.

第二，他又黑又强壮、又严厉。

I had it still before me when I entered Hay, and slipped the letter into the post-office.

我进了海村把信投入邮局的时候，这幅画仍浮现在我眼前。

I saw it as I walked fast down-hill all the way home.

我迅步下山一路赶回家时，也依然看到它。

When I came to the stile, I stopped a minute, looked round and listened,

我路过台阶时驻足片刻，举目四顾，并静听着。

with an idea that a horse's hoofs might ring on the causeway again,

心想马蹄声会再次在小路上回响，

and that a rider in a cloak, and a Gytrash-like Newfoundland dog, might be again apparent.

一位身披斗篷的骑手，一条盖特拉西似的纽芬兰狗会重新出现在眼前。

I saw only the hedge and a pollard willow before me, rising up still and straight to meet the moonbeams.

但我只看到树篱和面前一棵没有枝梢的柳树，静静地兀立着，迎接月亮的清辉。

I heard only the faintest waft of wind roaming fitful among the trees round Thornfield, a mile distant.

我只听到一阵微风，在一英里开外，绕着桑菲尔德府的树林时起时落。

And when I glanced down in the direction of the murmur, my eye, traversing the hall-front, caught a light kindling in a window.

当我朝轻风拂拂的方向俯视时，我的目光扫过府楼正面，看到了一个窗户里亮着灯光。

It reminded me that I was late, and I hurried on.

提醒我时候已经不早。我匆匆往前走去。

I did not like re-entering Thornfield.

我不情愿再次跨进桑菲尔德府。

To pass its threshold was to return to stagnation.

踏进门槛就意味着回到了一潭死水之中。

To cross the silent hall, to ascend the darksome staircase, to seek my own lonely little room,

穿过寂静的大厅，登上暗洞洞的楼梯，寻找我那孤寂的小房间，

and then to meet tranquil Mrs. Fairfax, and spend the long winter evening with her,

然后去见心如古井的费尔法克斯太太，同她，

and her only, was to quell wholly the faint excitement wakened by my walk.

只同她度过漫长的冬夜，这一切将彻底浇灭我这回步行所激起的兴奋。

To slip again over my faculties the viewless fetters of an uniform and too still existence.

重又用一成不变的静止生活的无形镣铐，锁住我自己的感官。

Of an existence whose very privileges of security and ease I was becoming incapable of appreciating.

这种生活的稳定安逸的长处，我已难以欣赏。

What good it would have done me at that time to have been tossed in the storms of an uncertain struggling life,

那时候要是我被抛掷到朝不虑夕、苦苦挣扎的生活风暴中去，要是艰难痛苦的经历，

and to have been taught by rough and bitter experience to long for the calm amidst which I now repined!

能启发我去向往我现在所深感不满的宁静生活，对我会有多大的教益呀！

Yes, just as much good as it would do a man tired of sitting still in a "too easy chair"to take a long walk:

是呀，它的好处大可以与远距离散步对在“超等安乐椅”上坐累了的人的好处相媲美。

and just as natural was the wish to stir, under my circumstances, as it would be under his.

在我现在这种情况下，希望走动走动，跟他在那种情况希望走动一样，是很自然的事。

I lingered at the gates.

我在门口徘徊。

I lingered on the lawn.

我在草坪上徘徊。

I paced backwards and forwards on the pavement.

我在人行道上来回踱步。

The shutters of the glass door were closed.

玻璃门上的百叶窗己经关上。

I could not see into the interior.

我看不见窗子里面的东西。

And both my eyes and spirit seemed drawn from the gloomy house — from the grey-hollow filled with rayless cells,

我的目光与心灵似乎已从那幢阴暗的房子，从在我看来是满布暗室的灰色洞穴中，退缩出来，

as it appeared to me — to that sky expanded before me, a blue sea absolved from taint of cloud.

到达了展现在我面前的天空 — 一片云影全无的蓝色海洋。