The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — Complete — Page 10

当答案揭晓时，惊喜将比以往任何时候都要大——在很大程度上，正是情节使《法松》变得引人入胜。

The surprise will be greater than ever when the answer is given that, to a large extent, the plot makes Fathom interesting.

是的，斯摩莱特向来对结构漠不关心，但在这部作品中，他写了一个故事，其中情节本身——尽管常常显得笨拙——却牢牢抓住了读者的注意力。

Yes, Smollett, hitherto indifferent to structure, has here written a story in which the plot itself, often clumsy though it may be, engages a reader's attention.

读者真的想知道，这位年轻伯爵究竟能否为自己的悲苦得到慰藉，并向那个忘恩负义之人讨回公道。

One actually wants to know whether the young Count is ever going to receive consolation for his sorrows and inflict justice on his basely ungrateful pensioner.

而当最终一切都得到了应有的结局，人们会惊讶地发现，书中有多少人物为这个精心设计的结局做出了贡献。

And when, finally, all turns out as it should, one is amazed to find how many of the people in the book have helped towards the designed conclusion.

诚然，并非所有人物，也并非所有情节，都是不可或缺的，但在结尾处可以清楚地看出，许多当时被大多数读者认为无关紧要的内容——例如唐·迭戈的身世——实际上是不可或缺的。

Not all of them, indeed, nor all of the adventures, are indispensable, but it is manifest at the end that much, which, for the time, most readers think irrelevant—such as Don Diego's history—is, after all, essential.

前文已经提到，斯摩莱特在《费顿伯爵》中在一定程度上展现出了浪漫主义色彩，这也是使这部书更加引人入胜的另一个事实。

It has already been said that in Count Fathom Smollett appears to some extent as a romanticist, and this is another fact which lends interest to the book.

他拥有强大的想象力，这并不令人惊讶。

That he had a powerful imagination is not a surprise.

任何熟悉斯摩莱特的人，都已经在他早期作品中那些非凡的情境里领略到了这一点。

Any one versed in Smollett has already seen it in the remarkable situations which he has put before us in his earlier works.

然而，这些并不能说明斯摩莱特具备那种能激发浪漫主义兴趣的想象力；因为在《罗德里克·兰登》和《佩里格林·皮克尔》中，那些精彩的情境主要是用来逗人发笑的。

These do not indicate, however, that Smollett possessed the imagination which could excite romantic interest; for in Roderick Random and in Peregrine Pickle, the wonderful situations serve chiefly to amuse.

然而在《法松》中，有些情境是专门设计来激发恐惧感的；其中至少有一处堪称极为成功。

In Fathom, however, there are some designed to excite horror; and one, at least, is eminently successful.