月亮和六便士 第十四章(3)

 　　Look here, if everyone acted like you, the world couldn't go on. "你听我说，如果每个人都照你这样，地球就运转不下去了。"

　　That's a damned silly thing to say. Everyone doesn't want to act like me.  "你说这样的话实在是太蠢了。并不是每个人都要象我这样的。
　　The great majority are perfectly 1 content to do the ordinary thing. 绝大多数人对于他们做的那些平平常常的事是心满意足的。"
　　And once I sought to be satirical. 我想挖苦他一句。
　　You evidently don't believe in the maxim 2: Act so that every one of your actions is capable of being made into a universal rule. "有一句格言你显然并不相信：凡人立身行事，务使每一行为堪为万人楷模。"
　　I never heard it before, but it's rotten nonsense. "我从来没听说过，但这是胡说八道。"
　　Well, it was Kant who said it. "你不知道，这是康德说的。"
　　I don't care; it's rotten nonsense. "随便是谁说的，反正是胡说八道。"
　　Nor with such a man could you expect the appeal to conscience to be effective.  对于这样一个人，想要诉诸他的良心也是毫无效果的。
　　You might as well ask for a reflection without a mirror.  这就象不借助镜子而想看到自己的反影一样。
　　I take it that conscience is the guardian 3 in the individual of the rules which the community has evolved for its own preservation 4.  我把良心看作是一个人心灵中的卫兵，社会为要存在下去制订出的一套礼规全靠它来监督执行。
　　It is the policeman in all our hearts, set there to watch that we do not break its laws.  良心是我们每人心头的岗哨，它在那里值勤站岗，监视着我们别做出违法的事情来。
　　It is the spy seated in the central stronghold of the ego 5.  它是安插在自我的中心堡垒中的暗探。
　　Man's desire for the approval of his fellows is so strong, his dread 6 of their censure 7 so violent, that he himself has brought his enemy within his gates;  因为人们过于看重别人对他的意见，过于害怕舆论对他的指责，结果自己把敌人引进大门里来；
　　and it keeps watch over him, vigilant 8 always in the interests of its master to crush any half-formed desire to break away from the herd 9.  于是它就在那里监视着，高度警觉地卫护着它主人的利益，一个人只要有半分离开大溜儿的想法，就马上受到它严厉苛责。
　　It will force him to place the good of society before his own.  它逼迫着每一个人把社会利益置于个人之上。
　　It is the very strong link that attaches the individual to the whole.  它是把个人拘系于整体的一条牢固的链条。
　　And man, subservient 10 to interests he has persuaded himself are greater than his own, makes himself a slave to his taskmaster.  人们说服自己，相信某种利益大于个人利益，甘心为它效劳，结果沦为这个主子的奴隶。
　　He sits him in a seat of honour.  他把他高举到荣誉的宝座上。
　　At last, like a courtier fawning 11 on the royal stick that is laid about his shoulders, he prides himself on the sensitiveness of his conscience.  最后，正如同宫廷里的弄臣赞颂皇帝按在他肩头的御杖一样，他也为自己有着敏感的良心而异常骄傲。
　　Then he has no words hard enough for the man who does not recognise its sway; for, a member of society now, he realises accurately 12 enough that against him he is powerless.  到了这一地步，对那些不肯受良心约束的人，他就会觉得怎样责骂也不过分，因为他已经是社会的一名成员，他知道得很清楚，绝对没有力量造自己的反了。
　　When I saw that Strickland was really indifferent to the blame his conduct must excite, I could only draw back in horror as from a monster of hardly human shape. 当我看到思特里克兰德对他的行为肯定会引起的斥责真的无动于衷的时候，我就象见到一个奇异的怪物一样，吓得毛骨悚然，赶快缩了回去。
　　The last words he said to me when I bade him good-night were: 那天晚上在我向他告别的时候，他最后对我说的话是：
　　Tell Amy it's no good coming after me.  "告诉阿美，到这儿来找我是没有用的。
　　Anyhow, I shall change my hotel, so she wouldn't be able to find me. 反正我要搬家了，她是不会找到我的。"
　　My own impression is that she's well rid of you, I said. "我的看法是，她摆脱开你未尝不是件好事，"我说。
　　My dear fellow, I only hope you'll be able to make her see it.  "亲爱的朋友，我就希望你能够叫她看清这一点。
　　But women are very unintelligent. 可惜女人都是没有脑子的。"