The Scarlet Letter — Page 5
但是，由于思想会凝冻，言语会麻木，除非说话者与听众之间存在某种真实的关系，所以不妨想象有一位朋友——一位亲切而善解人意、虽非至交的朋友——正在聆听我们的倾诉；
But, as thoughts are frozen and utterance benumbed, unless the speaker stand in some true relation with his audience, it may be pardonable to imagine that a friend, a kind and apprehensive, though not the closest friend, is listening to our talk;
如此一来，天性中的矜持因这种温暖的意识而融化，我们便可以随意谈论身边的种种境况，甚至谈及自身，但仍将内心最深处的自我藏于面纱之后。
and then, a native reserve being thawed by this genial consciousness, we may prate of the circumstances that lie around us, and even of ourself, but still keep the inmost Me behind its veil.
在这个程度上，在这些限度之内，作者窃以为可以进行自传式的书写，而不侵犯读者的权利，也不有损自身的权利。
To this extent, and within these limits, an author, methinks, may be autobiographical, without violating either the reader's rights or his own.
同样可以看出，这篇海关素描具有一种文学中历来公认的适当性，它解释了以下大量篇页是如何到了我手中的，并为其中所载叙事的真实性提供了证明。
It will be seen, likewise, that this Custom-House sketch has a certain propriety, of a kind always recognized in literature, as explaining how a large portion of the following pages came into my possession, and as offering proofs of the authenticity of a narrative therein contained.
事实上，这才是我与公众建立个人关系的真正原因——不为其他，只为将自己定位为构成本卷故事中篇幅最为冗长那篇的编者，或者说几乎仅仅是编者而已。
This, in fact,—a desire to put myself in my true position as editor, or very little more, of the most prolix among the tales that make up my volume,—this, and no other, is my true reason for assuming a personal relation with the public.
在实现这一主要目的的过程中，通过若干额外的点染，对一种迄今尚未被描述过的生活方式以及其中活动的若干人物作一番淡淡的呈现，似乎也是允许的——作者本人恰好便是其中之一。
In accomplishing the main purpose, it has appeared allowable, by a few extra touches, to give a faint representation of a mode of life not heretofore described, together with some of the characters that move in it, among whom the author happened to make one.
Vocabulary
- But
- 表示转折或对比的连接词
- as
- 作为；当...时候；因为
- thoughts
- 思想；想法；观点
- are
- 是；存在
- frozen
- 冻结的；僵硬的；无法表达的
- and
- 和；并且
- unless
- 除非；如果不
- the
- 定冠词
- speaker
- 说话者；讲话人
- stand
- 站立；处于某种关系中
- in
- 在...里面；用某种语言
- some
- 某些；一些
- true
- 真实的；正确的
- relation
- 关系；联系
- with
- 与...一起；用
- his
- 他的
- audience
- 听众；观众；读者
- it
- 它
- may
- 可能；也许；可以
- be
- 是；存在
- to
- 到；向；用于动词不定式
- imagine
- 想象；推测
- that
- 那个；那
- friend
- 朋友；友人
- kind
- 善良的；体贴的
- though
- 虽然；尽管
- not
- 不；没有
- closest
- 最近的；最亲密的
- is
- 是
- listening
- 听；聆听
- our
- 我们的
- talk
- 谈话；说话
- then
- 那么；然后
- native
- 天生的；本国的
- reserve
- 保留；矜持；谨慎
- being
- 存在；生命；存在物
- by
- 被；用；通过
- this
- 这个；这
- consciousness
- 意识；自我意识
- we
- 我们
- of
- 的；关于
- circumstances
- 情况；环境；条件
- lie
- 位于；躺着
- around
- 在...周围；大约
- us
- 我们
- even
- 甚至；平均的
- still
- 仍然；静止的
- keep
- 保持；保留
- Me
- 我；自我
- behind
- 在...后面；背后
- its
- 它的
- veil
- 面纱；掩盖
- To
- 到；向
- extent
- 范围；程度
- within
- 在...内部；不超过
- these
- 这些
- limits
- 限制；边界
- an
- 一个
- author
- 作者；创作者
- without
- 没有；不
- violating
- 违反；侵犯
- either
- 任何一个；两者之一
- reader
- 读者；阅读器
- rights
- 权利；权力
- or
- 或；或者
- own
- 自己的；拥有
- It
- 它
- will
- 将；意愿
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