Frankenstein; or, the modern prometheus — Page 5
怀着这种深切的意识——意识到他们对自己所赋予生命的那个生命所负有的责任——加上两人心中涌动的那份积极的柔情，可以想象，在我幼年生活的每一个时刻，我都接受着关于耐心、慈悲与自律的教诲，而引导我的是一根柔软的丝线，一切在我看来都不过是一串串的欢愉。
With this deep consciousness of what they owed towards the being to which they had given life, added to the active spirit of tenderness that animated both, it may be imagined that while during every hour of my infant life I received a lesson of patience, of charity, and of self-control, I was so guided by a silken cord that all seemed but one train of enjoyment to me.
很长一段时间里，我是他们唯一的牵挂。我母亲曾非常渴望有一个女儿，但我始终是他们唯一的孩子。
For a long time I was their only care. My mother had much desired to have a daughter, but I continued their single offspring.
在我大约五岁的时候，他们在一次越过意大利边境的出游中，在科莫湖畔度过了一个星期。
When I was about five years old, while making an excursion beyond the frontiers of Italy, they passed a week on the shores of the Lake of Como.
他们慈善的心肠常常驱使他们走进穷人的茅舍。对我母亲而言，这不仅仅是一种责任，更是一种必要，一种情感的驱动——她记得自己曾经历过的苦难，也记得曾得到过怎样的救助——她要依次扮演那些苦难者的守护天使。
Their benevolent disposition often made them enter the cottages of the poor. This, to my mother, was more than a duty; it was a necessity, a passion—remembering what she had suffered, and how she had been relieved—for her to act in her turn the guardian angel to the afflicted.
在一次散步途中，山谷褶皱中一间贫寒的小屋引起了他们的注意，那小屋显得格外破败凄凉，而聚集在屋外的那群衣不蔽体的孩子，更预示着极度的贫困。
During one of their walks a poor cot in the foldings of a vale attracted their notice as being singularly disconsolate, while the number of half-clothed children gathered about it spoke of penury in its worst shape.
有一天，父亲独自去了米兰，母亲便带着我来探访这户人家。她见到一对农民夫妇，他们辛勤劳作，却被忧愁与劳苦压弯了腰，正在将寥寥无几的食物分给五个饥肠辘辘的孩子。
One day, when my father had gone by himself to Milan, my mother, accompanied by me, visited this abode. She found a peasant and his wife, hard working, bent down by care and labour, distributing a scanty meal to five hungry babes.
Vocabulary
- deep
- 深刻的，程度强烈的
- consciousness
- 意识，对某事的清醒认知与感知
- owed
- 亏欠，对某人负有感恩或债务
- active
- 积极主动的，充满活力的
- spirit
- 精神，心灵，内在活力
- tenderness
- 温柔，体贴，对他人的温情关怀
- animated
- 使充满活力，赋予生气与热情
- imagined
- 想象，在脑海中构想某种情景
- infant
- 婴儿，幼小的孩子，尚不会说话者
- patience
- 耐心，平静地忍受等待或困难的能力
- charity
- 慈善，对他人的仁爱与慷慨帮助
- self-control
- 自制力，控制自身情绪与行为的能力
- guided
- 引导，指引某人走向正确方向
- silken
- 如丝绸般柔软细腻的
- cord
- 细绳，绳索，用于捆绑或牵引的线
- train
- 一连串，一系列相关联的事物
- enjoyment
- 享受，愉悦，从某事中获得的快乐
- desired
- 渴望，强烈希望得到某事物
- offspring
- 后代，子女，动植物繁殖的下一代
- excursion
- 短途旅行，外出游览的小型旅行
- beyond
- 超过，在……之外，超越某范围
- frontiers
- 边境，国家或地区之间的边界线
- shores
- 湖岸或海岸，水边的陆地边缘
- benevolent
- 仁慈的，善意的，乐于助人的
- disposition
- 性情，性格，天生的行为倾向
- cottages
- 小屋，农村简朴的小型住宅
- duty
- 责任，义务，应尽的本分
- necessity
- 必要性，迫切需要，不可缺少之事
- passion
- 激情，强烈的热情或情感驱动
- suffered
- 遭受苦难，经历痛苦或困难
- relieved
- 得到帮助而减轻了痛苦或负担
- guardian
- 守护者，保护并照顾他人的人
- angel
- 天使，神圣的守护存在，比喻善者
- afflicted
- 受苦的，遭受痛苦或不幸的人
- cot
- 小屋，简陋的农家住所
- foldings
- 山谷的皱褶处，地形起伏的褶皱
- vale
- 山谷，两山之间低洼的谷地
- singularly
- 格外地，异常突出地，不同寻常地
- disconsolate
- 极度悲伤的，无法得到安慰的
- half-clothed
- 衣不蔽体的，穿着破烂不完整的
- penury
- 赤贫，极度贫困，一无所有的状态
- accompanied
- 陪同，伴随某人一起前往某处
- abode
- 住所，居住的地方，家
- peasant
- 农民，农村中从事耕作的普通人
- bent
- 弯腰，身体向前倾斜劳作
- labour
- 劳动，辛苦的体力工作
- distributing
- 分发，将东西分给多个人
- scanty
- 极少的，不足的，勉强够用的
- babes
- 婴儿，幼小的孩子
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