And she was right. The last time he had seen his slighted child, there had been that in the sad embrace between her and her dying mother, which was at once a revelation and a reproach to him. Let him be absorbed as he would in the Son on whom he built such high hopes, he could not forget that closing scene. He could not forget that he had had no part in it. That, at the bottom of its clear depths of tenderness and truth' lay those two figures clasped in each other's arms, while he stood on the bank above them, looking down a mere spectator - not a sharer with them quite shut out.
她是对的。上次他看到被他冷落的女儿的时候,她和她垂死的母亲正悲痛地拥抱着;这对他既是揭露,又是责备。让他把全部精力都贯注在他寄托着远大希望的儿子身上吧,可是他还是不能忘记那临终一幕的情景。他不能忘记,他没有参加进去。他不能忘记,在亲热与真诚的清澈的河底,躺着那两个相互拥抱在各自怀中的人儿,而他却仅仅是个完全被排除在外的旁观者,站在她们上面的岸上向下看着,而不是她们当中的一员。
Unable to exclude these things from his remembrance, or to keep his mind free from such imperfect shapes of the meaning with which they were fraught, as were able to make themselves visible to him through the mist of his pride, his previous feeling of indifference towards little Florence changed into an uneasiness of an extraordinary kind. Young as she was, and possessing in any eyes but his (and perhaps in his too) even more than the usual amount of childish simplicity and confidence, he almost felt as if she watched and distrusted him. As if she held the clue to something secret in his breast, of the nature of which he was hardly informed himself. As if she had an innate knowledge of one jarring and discordant string within him, and her very breath could sound it.
他不能从记忆中消除这些事情,也不能从心中摆脱那些零碎不全的形象所包含的意义;他通过高傲的迷雾仍然能辨认出它们,因此他先前对小弗洛伦斯漠不关心的感情已转变成一种异乎寻常的不安。他几乎觉得,她在注意观察着他,对他不信任。仿佛她掌握着能打通他心中某种秘密的东西的线索,这种秘密的东西的性质他自己也不知道。仿佛她对他心中那条刺耳的、不和谐的琴弦有着天赋的知识,她呼一口气就能使它发出声音。
His feeling about the child had been negative from her birth. He had never conceived an aversion to her: it had not been worth his while or in his humour. She had never been a positively disagreeable object to him. But now he was ill at ease about her. She troubled his peace. He would have preferred to put her idea aside altogether, if he had known how. Perhaps who shall decide on such mysteries! - he was afraid that he might come to hate her.
从她出生起,他对这女孩子的感情就是消极的。他对她从来不曾嫌恶,这不值得他去做,而且也不是他的心意。他从来没有觉得她是个绝对讨厌的东西。可是现在他对她却感到局促不安。她搅乱了他的安宁。如果他知道怎么办的话,他真愿意把关于她的思想完全撂在一旁。也许——谁能解答这种神秘的问题呢!——他害怕他会变得恨起她来。
注释:reproach n. 责备;耻辱 vt. 责备;申斥
例句:
1. His reply sounded to her like a reproach.
他的回答在她听来像是责备。
2. This reproach is unjustified.
这种非难似乎是不公正的。