Frankenstein; or, the modern prometheus — Page 10

我用颤抖的双手将那些器具搬出了房间，但我想到不应该将我工作的遗物留在那里，以免引起农民们的恐惧和怀疑；

With trembling hand I conveyed the instruments out of the room, but I reflected that I ought not to leave the relics of my work to excite the horror and suspicion of the peasants;

于是我便将它们放进一个篮子里，压上大量的石块，打算当天夜里就将它们投入大海；

and I accordingly put them into a basket, with a great quantity of stones, and laying them up, determined to throw them into the sea that very night;

在此期间，我坐在海滩上，忙着清洗和整理我的化学仪器。

and in the meantime I sat upon the beach, employed in cleaning and arranging my chemical apparatus.

自从那个魔鬼出现的那个夜晚以来，我内心所发生的变化是再彻底不过了。

Nothing could be more complete than the alteration that had taken place in my feelings since the night of the appearance of the dæmon.

我以前以一种阴郁的绝望看待我的诺言，认为无论有何后果，它都必须履行；

I had before regarded my promise with a gloomy despair as a thing that, with whatever consequences, must be fulfilled;

但我现在感觉就像有一层薄膜从我眼前被揭去，我第一次看清了一切。

but I now felt as if a film had been taken from before my eyes and that I for the first time saw clearly.

重新开始我的工作这个念头，连一瞬间都未曾在我脑海中出现；

The idea of renewing my labours did not for one instant occur to me;

我所听到的威胁压在我的心头，但我并没有想到，我自己的一个主动行为可以化解它。

the threat I had heard weighed on my thoughts, but I did not reflect that a voluntary act of mine could avert it.

我在心中已经下定决心：再创造一个像我最初造出的那个恶魔一样的生物，将是一种最卑劣、最凶残的自私行为，

I had resolved in my own mind that to create another like the fiend I had first made would be an act of the basest and most atrocious selfishness,

于是我将一切可能引向不同结论的念头，统统从脑海中驱逐了出去。

and I banished from my mind every thought that could lead to a different conclusion.