Frankenstein; or, the modern prometheus — Page 10

一个完美的人应当始终保持内心的平静与安宁，绝不允许激情或一时的欲望扰乱他的宁静。

A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind and never to allow passion or a transitory desire to disturb his tranquillity.

我认为对知识的追求并不是这条规则的例外。

I do not think that the pursuit of knowledge is an exception to this rule.

如果你所从事的学习有削弱你情感、摧毁你对那些纯粹快乐之品味的倾向——而那些纯粹的快乐是绝不会掺杂任何杂质的——那么这种学习无疑是有害的，也就是说，不适合人类的心灵。

If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind.

如果这条规则始终被遵守；如果没有任何人允许任何追求干扰其家庭情感的宁静，那么希腊就不会沦为奴役，凯撒也会宽恕他的祖国，美洲会被更为缓慢地发现，而墨西哥和秘鲁的帝国也不会被毁灭。

If this rule were always observed; if no man allowed any pursuit whatsoever to interfere with the tranquillity of his domestic affections, Greece had not been enslaved, Cæsar would have spared his country, America would have been discovered more gradually, and the empires of Mexico and Peru had not been destroyed.

但我忘了，我正在故事最引人入胜的部分说教，而你的神情提醒我应当继续讲下去。

But I forget that I am moralizing in the most interesting part of my tale, and your looks remind me to proceed.

父亲在信中没有对我加以任何责备，只是比以前更详细地询问我的工作情况，以此留意到我的沉默。

My father made no reproach in his letters and only took notice of my silence by inquiring into my occupations more particularly than before.

在我的劳作中，冬去春来，春去夏至；然而我却没有留意那花开的景象，也没有注意那舒展的新叶——这些景色以往总能给我带来无上的愉悦——因为我完全沉浸在自己的工作之中。

Winter, spring, and summer passed away during my labours; but I did not watch the blossom or the expanding leaves—sights which before always yielded me supreme delight—so deeply was I engrossed in my occupation.

那一年的树叶在我的工作接近完成之前便已枯萎，而如今每一天都更清晰地向我昭示，我已取得了怎样的成功。

The leaves of that year had withered before my work drew near to a close, and now every day showed me more plainly how well I had succeeded.