《简·爱》 Chapter 16 第十六章（15）（在线收听）

I kept my word.

我说到做到，

An hour or two sufficed to sketch my own portrait in crayons.

一二个小时便用蜡笔画成了自己的肖像。

And in less than a fortnight I had completed an ivory miniature of an imaginary Blanche Ingram.

而用了近两周的工夫完成了一幅想象中的布兰奇·英格拉姆象牙微型画。

It looked a lovely face enough,

这张脸看上去是够可爱的，

and when compared with the real head in chalk, the contrast was as great as self-control could desire.

同用蜡笔根据真人画成的头像相比，其对比之强烈已到了自制力所能承受的极限。

I derived benefit from the task.

我很得益于这一做法。

It had kept my head and hands employed,

它使我的脑袋和双手都不闲着，

and had given force and fixedness to the new impressions I wished to stamp indelibly on my heart.

也使我希望在心里烙下的不可磨灭的新印象更强烈，更不可动摇。

Ere long, I had reason to congratulate myself

不久我有理由庆幸自己，

on the course of wholesome discipline to which I had thus forced my feelings to submit.

在迫使我的情感服从有益的纪律方面有所长进。

Thanks to it, I was able to meet subsequent occurrences with a decent calm,

多亏了它，我才能够大大方方、平平静静地对付后来发生的事情，

which, had they found me unprepared,

要是我毫无准备，

I should probably have been unequal to maintain, even externally.

那恐怕是连表面的镇静都是无法保持的。