赫姆霍尔兹摇摇头。“不完全是。

　　I'm thinking of a queer feeling I sometimes get, a feeling that I've got something important to say and the power to say it –only I don't know what it is, and I can't make any use of the power.

　　我想的是我有时候产生的一种奇怪感觉，一种我有重要的话要说，也有力量说的感觉——可是我却不知道那是什么感觉，那力量也使不出来。

　　If there was some different way of writing … Or else something else to write about …" He was silent; then, "You see," he went on at last, "I'm pretty good at inventing phrases –you know, the sort of words that suddenly make you jump, almost as though you'd sat on a pin, they seem so new and exciting even though they're about something hypnop.dically obvious.

　　如果能够用什么不同的话把它描述出来的话……或是用别的什么办法写出来的话……”说到这里他忽然打住了。“你看，”他终于又说，“我还是擅长说话的——我说的话能够刺激得你猛然蹦了起来，几乎像坐到了针尖上。我的话似乎那么新，那么尖，虽然都是些睡眠教育里的明显道理。

　　But that doesn't seem enough. It's not enough for the phrases to be good; what you make with them ought to be good too."

　　可那似乎还不够。光是词句好还是不够的；还得意思好才行。”

　　"But your things are good, Helmholtz."

　　“可是你说的东西都是好的，赫姆霍尔兹。”

　　"Oh, as far as they go." Helmholtz shrugged his shoulders. "But they go such a little way.

　　“哦，行得通的时候倒还好，”赫姆霍尔兹耸了耸肩，“可是我的话不大行得通。

　　They aren't important enough, somehow. I feel I could do something much more important.

　　在一定程度上我的话并不重要。我觉得我可以做的事要重要得多。

　　Yes, and more intense, more violent. But what?

　　是的，是些我更为迫切地、强烈地想做的事。可那是什么事？

　　What is there more important to say?

　　我是说：什么东西更重要？

　　And how can one be violent about the sort of things one's expected to write about?

　　别人要求你写的东西怎么可能让你迫切得起来？

　　Words can be like X-rays, if you use them properly–they'll go through anything.

　　话语能像X光，使用得当能穿透一切。

　　You read and you're pierced. That's one of the things I try to teach my students–how to write piercingly.

　　你一读就被穿透了。那是我努力教给学生的东西之——怎样写作才能够入木三分。

　　But what on earth's the good of being pierced by an article about a Community Sing, or the latest improvement in scent organs?

　　是叫一篇论《本分歌》或是写香味乐器最新的改进的文章穿透又有什么意思！

　　Besides, can you make words really piercing–you know, like the very hardest X-rays–when you're writing about that sort of thing?

　　可而且，写那些玩意，你的话真能够入木三分吗？

　　Can you say something about nothing?

　　能够真像最强烈的X射线吗？

　　That's what it finally boils down to. I try and I try …"

　　没有意义的东西你能写出意义来吗？我的意思归根到底就是这样。我曾经一再努力，……”

　　"Hush!" said Bernard suddenly, and lifted a warning finger; they listened.

　　“小声点！”伯纳突然伸出一个指头警告；两人听了听。

　　"I believe there's somebody at the door," he whispered.

　　“我相信门口有人。”他低声说。

　　Helmholtz got up, tiptoed across the room, and with a sharp quick movement flung the door wide open.

　　赫姆霍尔兹站了起来，踢起脚尖穿过房间，猛然甩开了大门。

　　There was, of course, nobody there.

　　当然没有人。

　　"I'm sorry," said Bernard, feelling and looking uncomfortably foolish."I suppose I've got things on my nerves a bit. When people are suspicious with you, you start being suspicious with them."

　　“对不起，”伯纳说，感到难堪，不自然，满脸尴尬，“我大概是精神负担过重。别人怀疑你，你也就会怀疑别人的。”

　　He passed his hand across his eyes, he sighed, his voice became plaintive.

　　他用手擦了擦眼睛，叹了一口气，声音很伤感，他在为自己辩解。

　　He was justifying himself. "If you knew what I'd had to put up with recently," he said almost tearfully–and the uprush of his self-pity was like a fountain suddenly released. "If you only knew!"

　　“你要是知道我最近受到的压力就好了。”他几乎要流泪了，一种自传之情有如泉水一样汹涌而出。“你要是知道就好了！”

　　Helmholtz Watson listened with a certain sense of discomfort.

　　赫姆霍尔兹·华生带着某种不安听着。

　　"Poor little Bernard!" he said to himself. But at the same time he felt rather ashamed for his friend.

　　“可怜的小伯纳！”他心想。同时也在为他的朋友感到惭愧。

　　He wished Bernard would show a little more pride.

　　他希望伯纳能表现出更多的自尊。