It was on the very next day after he had eased his mind by arriving at this decision, that the Major, sitting at his breakfast, saw an apparition so tremendous and wonderful in Miss Tox's little drawing-room, that he remained for some time rooted to his chair; then, rushing into the next room, returned with a double-barrelled opera-glass, through which he surveyed it intently for some minutes.
少校作出这个判断，安下心来以后的第二天，正坐着吃早餐时，看到托克斯小姐的小客厅里出现了一个鬼怪，他是那么惊人，那么奇异，因此他坐在椅子里一直坐了好一会儿，然后才急忙跑到旁边的房间，拿了一个双筒的看戏用的小望远镜回来；他通过望远镜专心致志地察 看了好几分钟。
'It's a Baby, Sir,' said the Major, shutting up the glass again, 'for fifty thousand pounds!'
“这是个婴孩，先生，”少校把望远镜重新关上，说道，“我敢拿五万五千镑打赌！”
The Major couldn't forget it. He could do nothing but whistle, and stare to that extent, that his eyes, compared with what they now became, had been in former times quite cavernous and sunken. Day after day, two, three, four times a week, this Baby reappeared. The Major continued to stare and whistle. To all other intents and purposes he was alone in Princess's Place. Miss Tox had ceased to mind what he did. He might have been black as well as blue, and it would have been of no consequence to her.
少校不能忘记这件事情。他除了吹口哨和 把眼睛瞪得鼓鼓的之外，什么也干不了；如果跟他现在的眼睛相比，他以前的眼睛就显得相当凹陷和低洼了。一天又一天，这个婴孩在一个星期之内重新出现了两次、三次、四次。少校继续瞪眼睛和吹口哨。不论从哪一点来看，他在公主广场上已是孤身一人了。托克斯小姐已不再关心他做什么了。如果他的脸色从青色转变为黑色，那对她也是一件无关紧要的事情。
The perseverance with which she walked out of Princess's Place to fetch this baby and its nurse, and walked back with them, and walked home with them again, and continually mounted guard over them; and the perseverance with which she nursed it herself, and fed it, and played with it, and froze its young blood with airs upon the harpsichord, was extraordinary. At about this same period too, she was seized with a passion for looking at a certain bracelet; also with a passion for looking at the moon, of which she would take long observations from her chamber window. But whatever she looked at; sun, moon, stars, or bracelet; she looked no more at the Major. And the Major whistled, and stared, and wondered, and dodged about his room, and could make nothing of it.
她坚持不断地走出公主广场，去领这个婴孩和他的保姆，和他们一起走回来，又和他们走回家去；而且经常看守着他们；她坚持不断地亲自照料孩子，喂他吃东西，和他玩耍，在大键琴上弹出曲调使他年轻的血液凝结；这种坚持不断、始终如一的精神是异乎寻常的。大约就在这同一时期中，她满怀深情地看某一个手镯；她也满怀深情地看月亮，会从她房间的窗口长久地观望着它。但是不论她看什么，看太阳也好，看月亮也好，看星星或看手镯也好，她却不再看少校了。少校吹着口哨，瞪着眼睛，心中纳闷，在房间里转来转去，但却什么也弄不明白。
'You'll quite win my brother Paul's heart, and that's the truth, my dear,' said Mrs Chick, one day.
“您将会赢得我哥哥保罗的心，这是真的，我亲爱的，”奇克夫人有一天说道。
Miss Tox turned pale.
托克斯小姐脸色变得苍白。
'He grows more like Paul every day,' said Mrs Chick.
“他一天天长得愈来愈像保罗了，”奇克夫人说道。
Miss Tox returned no other reply than by taking the little Paul in her arms, and making his cockade perfectly flat and limp with her caresses.
托克斯小姐没有回答，只是把小保罗抱在怀中，抚摸着他帽上的花结，使它完全平展、柔软。
注释：1. apparition n. 幽灵；幻影；鬼怪；离奇出现的东西
例句：
(1). The power to live? Such a thing brought forth this apparition?
生命的力量？这样一个东西带来的就是这个幻象？
(2). The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.
人群中这些面孔幽灵一般显现；湿漉漉的黝黑枝条上的许多花瓣。
(3). Vanish in dark, the empty apparition!
空虚的幻影，绝迹于黑暗之中！
(4). The apparition of these faces in the crowd.
人群中这些幽灵般闪现的面孔。
2. perseverance n. 坚持不懈；不屈不挠
例句：
(1). There is a lesson in perseverance.
这种坚毅的精神是值得学习的。
(2). Perseverance is the only road to success.
坚定不移乃成功必由之路。
(3). He's a clever man but fails in perseverance.
他是个聪明人，但是缺乏毅力。
(4). He carried off the palm by sheer perseverance.
他全靠不屈不挠的精神获得胜利。
(5). Perseverance is success through trial and error.
坚持是不断尝试和犯错后的成功。
(6). Whoever wants to be a good mountain climber must learn patience, perseverance, and self-control.
无论谁想当一名优秀的爬山运动员，他必须学会有耐心、忍耐力和自控能力。
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