【Chapter 1】P3-P4

    He was really depressed.Having suffered so much,the capacity for suffering had,to some extent,left him.He remained strange and bright and cheerful.Yet still in his face one saw the watchful look,the slight emptiness of a cripple.

    他并没有真正沮丧，遭受了那么多磨难，从某种程度上说，没有什么能再让他痛苦了。他看上去有些奇怪，又总是高高兴兴的。但在他脸上仍旧可以看到警惕的表情和残疾人特有的微弱的空虚感。

    Constance,his wife,was a healthy,country-looking girl with soft brown hair and a sturdy body,full of unusual energy.She had big,wondering eyes,and soft mild voice.

    他的妻子康斯坦斯，是一个健康的，有着一副乡村女孩模样和柔软的褐色头发的健壮的女孩，洋溢着不寻常的活力。她还有一双好奇的大眼睛和柔和的声音。

    She and her sister Hilda had had what might be called an aesthetically unconventional childhood education.They had been taken to Paris and Florence and Rome to breathe in art,and They had been taken also in the other direction,to The Hague and Berlin,to great political conventions,where the speakers spoke in every civilized tongue.The two girls,therefore,were from an early age not the least intimidated by either art or ideal politics.It was their natural atmosphere.

    她和她的姐姐希尔达接受过从美学观点上讲非传统的幼年教育。她们曾被带到巴黎，佛罗伦萨和罗马去感受艺术气息，她们还被带到过其他地方-海牙和柏林，去参加伟大的政治集会，那里的演说者操着各种文明的语言。因此，这两个女孩在很小的时候就不惧怕艺术和理想政治。她们对这些已经感到习以为常了。

    They had been sent to Dresden,at the age of fifteen,for music,among other things,And they had had a good time there,living freely among the students.

    十五岁的时候，她们被送到德累斯顿学习音乐和其它的知识。在那里她们度过了一段快乐的时光，在同学中间如鱼得水。

    Both Hilda and Constance had had their tentative love affairs by the time they were eighteen.They had given the gift of themselves,each to youth with whom she had the most subtle and intimate discussions.The arguments,the discussions were the great thing:the lovemaking felt sort of primitive and was a bit of an anti-climax.One was less in love with the boy afterwards,and a little inclined to hate him,as if he had invaded one privacy and inner freedom.

    希尔达和康斯坦斯在十八岁的时候都已初尝爱情的滋味。她们分别把自己献给了何我自己有过最微妙，最亲密的讨论的青年。争辩和讨论才是了不起的事情；而做爱却让她们感到有几分原始，有几分虎头蛇尾。事后，女孩对男孩的爱开始淡漠，甚至有点憎恨的倾向，彷佛他侵犯了她的隐私和内心的自由。

    And however one might sentimentalize it,this sex business was one of the most ancient and disgusting of female obligations.Women had always known there was something better,something higher.Men,however,insisted on the sex thing like dogs.

    然而，无论女孩如何为此伤感，这种性交易是女人的所有义务中最古老而又最令人厌恶的一种。女人们一直明白男女之间其实有着更美好，更崇高的东西。然而，男人却像狗一样坚持要性爱。

     to be continued...