English reader · Project Gutenberg #84
Chapter 4
Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus. English-only reading by default; you can also choose two-column reading in English and Chinese.
Chapter summary
This reading unit corresponds to Chapter 4 in the Project Gutenberg #84 edition of Frankenstein.
Modern reader note
English
From this day natural philosophy, and particularly chemistry, in the most comprehensive sense of the term, became nearly my sole occupation. I read with ardour those works, so full of genius and discrimination, which modern inquirers have written on these subjects. I attended the lectures and cultivated the acquaintance of the men of science of the university, and I found even in M. Krempe a great deal of sound sense and real information, combined, it is true, with a repulsive physiognomy and manners, but not on that account the less valuable. In M. Waldman I found a true friend. His gentleness was never tinged by dogmatism, and his instructions were given with an air of frankness and good nature that banished every idea of pedantry. In a thousand ways he smoothed for me the path of knowledge and made the most abstruse inquiries clear and facile to my apprehension. My application was at first fluctuating and uncertain; it gained strength as I proceeded and soon became so ardent and eager that the stars often disappeared in the light of morning whilst I was yet engaged in my laboratory.
As I applied so closely, it may be easily conceived that my progress was rapid. My ardour was indeed the astonishment of the students, and my proficiency that of the masters. Professor Krempe often asked me, with a sly smile, how Cornelius Agrippa went on, whilst M. Waldman expressed the most heartfelt exultation in my progress. Two years passed in this manner, during which I paid no visit to Geneva, but was engaged, heart and soul, in the pursuit of some discoveries which I hoped to make. None but those who have experienced them can conceive of the enticements of science. In other studies you go as far as others have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know; but in a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder. A mind of moderate capacity which closely pursues one study must infallibly arrive at great proficiency in that study; and I, who continually sought the attainment of one object of pursuit and was solely wrapped up in this, improved so rapidly that at the end of two years I made some discoveries in the improvement of some chemical instruments, which procured me great esteem and admiration at the university. When I had arrived at this point and had become as well acquainted with the theory and practice of natural philosophy as depended on the lessons of any of the professors at Ingolstadt, my residence there being no longer conducive to my improvements, I thought of returning to my friends and my native town, when an incident happened that protracted my stay.
One of the phenomena which had peculiarly attracted my attention was the structure of the human frame, and, indeed, any animal endued with life. Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed? It was a bold question, and one which has ever been considered as a mystery; yet with how many things are we upon the brink of becoming acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries. I revolved these circumstances in my mind and determined thenceforth to apply myself more particularly to those branches of natural philosophy which relate to physiology. Unless I had been animated by an almost supernatural enthusiasm, my application to this study would have been irksome and almost intolerable. To examine the causes of life, we must first have recourse to death. I became acquainted with the science of anatomy, but this was not sufficient; I must also observe the natural decay and corruption of the human body. In my education my father had taken the greatest precautions that my mind should be impressed with no supernatural horrors. I do not ever remember to have trembled at a tale of superstition or to have feared the apparition of a spirit. Darkness had no effect upon my fancy, and a churchyard was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of life, which, from being the seat of beauty and strength, had become food for the worm. Now I was led to examine the cause and progress of this decay and forced to spend days and nights in vaults and charnel-houses. My attention was fixed upon every object the most insupportable to the delicacy of the human feelings. I saw how the fine form of man was degraded and wasted; I beheld the corruption of death succeed to the blooming cheek of life; I saw how the worm inherited the wonders of the eye and brain. I paused, examining and analysing all the minutiae of causation, as exemplified in the change from life to death, and death to life, until from the midst of this darkness a sudden light broke in upon me—a light so brilliant and wondrous, yet so simple, that while I became dizzy with the immensity of the prospect which it illustrated, I was surprised that among so many men of genius who had directed their inquiries towards the same science, that I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret.
Remember, I am not recording the vision of a madman. The sun does not more certainly shine in the heavens than that which I now affirm is true. Some miracle might have produced it, yet the stages of the discovery were distinct and probable. After days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue, I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter.
The astonishment which I had at first experienced on this discovery soon gave place to delight and rapture. After so much time spent in painful labour, to arrive at once at the summit of my desires was the most gratifying consummation of my toils. But this discovery was so great and overwhelming that all the steps by which I had been progressively led to it were obliterated, and I beheld only the result. What had been the study and desire of the wisest men since the creation of the world was now within my grasp. Not that, like a magic scene, it all opened upon me at once: the information I had obtained was of a nature rather to direct my endeavours so soon as I should point them towards the object of my search than to exhibit that object already accomplished. I was like the Arabian who had been buried with the dead and found a passage to life, aided only by one glimmering and seemingly ineffectual light.
I see by your eagerness and the wonder and hope which your eyes express, my friend, that you expect to be informed of the secret with which I am acquainted; that cannot be; listen patiently until the end of my story, and you will easily perceive why I am reserved upon that subject. I will not lead you on, unguarded and ardent as I then was, to your destruction and infallible misery. Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.
When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated a long time concerning the manner in which I should employ it. Although I possessed the capacity of bestowing animation, yet to prepare a frame for the reception of it, with all its intricacies of fibres, muscles, and veins, still remained a work of inconceivable difficulty and labour. I doubted at first whether I should attempt the creation of a being like myself, or one of simpler organization; but my imagination was too much exalted by my first success to permit me to doubt of my ability to give life to an animal as complex and wonderful as man. The materials at present within my command hardly appeared adequate to so arduous an undertaking, but I doubted not that I should ultimately succeed. I prepared myself for a multitude of reverses; my operations might be incessantly baffled, and at last my work be imperfect, yet when I considered the improvement which every day takes place in science and mechanics, I was encouraged to hope my present attempts would at least lay the foundations of future success. Nor could I consider the magnitude and complexity of my plan as any argument of its impracticability. It was with these feelings that I began the creation of a human being. As the minuteness of the parts formed a great hindrance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first intention, to make the being of a gigantic stature, that is to say, about eight feet in height, and proportionably large. After having formed this determination and having spent some months in successfully collecting and arranging my materials, I began.
No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs. Pursuing these reflections, I thought that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption.
These thoughts supported my spirits, while I pursued my undertaking with unremitting ardour. My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement. Sometimes, on the very brink of certainty, I failed; yet still I clung to the hope which the next day or the next hour might realise. One secret which I alone possessed was the hope to which I had dedicated myself; and the moon gazed on my midnight labours, while, with unrelaxed and breathless eagerness, I pursued nature to her hiding-places. Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay? My limbs now tremble, and my eyes swim with the remembrance; but then a resistless and almost frantic impulse urged me forward; I seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit. It was indeed but a passing trance, that only made me feel with renewed acuteness so soon as, the unnatural stimulus ceasing to operate, I had returned to my old habits. I collected bones from charnel-houses and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame. In a solitary chamber, or rather cell, at the top of the house, and separated from all the other apartments by a gallery and staircase, I kept my workshop of filthy creation; my eyeballs were starting from their sockets in attending to the details of my employment. The dissecting room and the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials; and often did my human nature turn with loathing from my occupation, whilst, still urged on by an eagerness which perpetually increased, I brought my work near to a conclusion.
The summer months passed while I was thus engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit. It was a most beautiful season; never did the fields bestow a more plentiful harvest or the vines yield a more luxuriant vintage, but my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature. And the same feelings which made me neglect the scenes around me caused me also to forget those friends who were so many miles absent, and whom I had not seen for so long a time. I knew my silence disquieted them, and I well remembered the words of my father: “I know that while you are pleased with yourself you will think of us with affection, and we shall hear regularly from you. You must pardon me if I regard any interruption in your correspondence as a proof that your other duties are equally neglected.”
I knew well therefore what would be my father’s feelings, but I could not tear my thoughts from my employment, loathsome in itself, but which had taken an irresistible hold of my imagination. I wished, as it were, to procrastinate all that related to my feelings of affection until the great object, which swallowed up every habit of my nature, should be completed.
I then thought that my father would be unjust if he ascribed my neglect to vice or faultiness on my part, but I am now convinced that he was justified in conceiving that I should not be altogether free from blame. A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind and never to allow passion or a transitory desire to disturb his tranquillity. I do not think that the pursuit of knowledge is an exception to this rule. If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind. If this rule were always observed; if no man allowed any pursuit whatsoever to interfere with the tranquillity of his domestic affections, Greece had not been enslaved, Cæsar would have spared his country, America would have been discovered more gradually, and the empires of Mexico and Peru had not been destroyed.
But I forget that I am moralizing in the most interesting part of my tale, and your looks remind me to proceed.
My father made no reproach in his letters and only took notice of my silence by inquiring into my occupations more particularly than before. Winter, spring, and summer passed away during my labours; but I did not watch the blossom or the expanding leaves—sights which before always yielded me supreme delight—so deeply was I engrossed in my occupation. The leaves of that year had withered before my work drew near to a close, and now every day showed me more plainly how well I had succeeded. But my enthusiasm was checked by my anxiety, and I appeared rather like one doomed by slavery to toil in the mines, or any other unwholesome trade than an artist occupied by his favourite employment. Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree; the fall of a leaf startled me, and I shunned my fellow creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime. Sometimes I grew alarmed at the wreck I perceived that I had become; the energy of my purpose alone sustained me: my labours would soon end, and I believed that exercise and amusement would then drive away incipient disease; and I promised myself both of these when my creation should be complete.
中文
从那一天起，自然哲学，尤其是广义上的化学，几乎成了我唯一的事业。我热切阅读现代研究者在这些领域写下的著作，那些作品充满才智和辨别力。我去听课，也主动结识大学里的科学家。即使在克伦佩先生身上，我也发现许多扎实的判断和真正的知识，只不过这些优点确实同他令人不快的外貌和举止结合在一起，却并不因此减少价值。至于瓦尔德曼先生，我找到了一个真正的朋友。他的温和从不带教条气，他讲授知识时坦率而亲切，让人完全感觉不到卖弄学问。他用无数方式为我铺平知识的道路，把最深奥的研究解释得清楚而容易理解。起初，我的学习还有些摇摆和不确定，可随着不断前进，热情越来越强烈，很快，我常常在实验室里工作到天亮，等抬头时才发现星星已经消失在晨光中。
既然我如此投入，可以想象进步有多快。学生们惊讶于我的热情，老师们则惊讶于我的熟练程度。克伦佩教授常带着狡黠的笑问我：“科内利厄斯·阿格里帕研究得怎么样了？”瓦尔德曼先生却发自内心地为我的进展高兴。就这样过了两年，这期间我一次也没有回日内瓦探亲，而是全心全意追求自己希望做出的发现。只有真正经历过的人，才能理解科学有多么诱人。其他学科里，你走到前人已经走过的地方，也许就再没有更多可知道的东西；可科学研究中，永远有新的发现和惊奇等待着你。一个能力普通的人，只要紧紧追随一个研究方向，也必然会在那个领域取得很高水平；而我始终只追求一个目标，全部心思都投入其中，因此进步极快。两年结束时，我在改进某些化学仪器方面做出了一些发现，给我带来大学里相当多的尊敬和赞赏。到这时候，我已经掌握因戈尔施塔特任何教授能够教给我的自然哲学理论和实践，继续留在那里对进步似乎没有太大帮助，因此我开始考虑回到朋友们身边、回到故乡。可就在这时，一件事发生了，使我又留下来。
有一种现象一直特别吸引我的注意，那就是人体的结构，以及一切拥有生命的动物。我常问自己：生命的原理究竟从哪里来？这是一个大胆的问题，而且一直被视为谜团；可如果不是胆怯和粗心限制了探索，我们已经有多少事情几乎就要理解了。我反复思考这些问题，从此决定更加专门研究自然哲学中与生理学有关的部分。如果没有一种近乎超自然的热情推动，这种学习会令人厌恶，甚至难以忍受。要研究生命的原因，首先必须求助于死亡。我学习了解剖学，可这还不够；我还必须观察人体自然腐败和分解的过程。父亲在教育我时一直非常谨慎，不让我的心被任何超自然恐怖影响。我从不记得自己曾因为迷信故事发抖，也从不害怕鬼魂出现。黑暗不会刺激我的幻想，墓地对我来说只是存放失去生命的身体的地方；这些身体曾经承载美丽和力量，如今却成为虫子的食物。现在，我开始研究这种腐败是怎样发生、怎样发展的，被迫日日夜夜待在墓穴和藏骨室里。我的注意力全都集中在那些最让人的感情无法忍受的对象上。我看着人类美好的形体怎样衰败消失，看着死亡的腐烂怎样取代生命时鲜活的脸颊，也看着虫子怎样继承眼睛和大脑的奇迹。我停下来，细细研究并分析从生命到死亡、再从死亡回到生命这一变化中，每一个细小的因果环节。终于，一道突如其来的光从黑暗中照进来——它如此耀眼而奇妙，却又如此简单。我因为眼前展开的巨大可能而眩晕，同时又惊讶：那么多天才都研究过同一门科学，为什么偏偏只有我被留下来发现这个惊人的秘密。
请记住，我现在记录的并不是疯子的幻觉。我接下来要说的事情和太阳在天空中发光一样真实。也许某种奇迹促成了它，可我的发现过程每一步都清楚而合理。经过难以置信的日日夜夜劳动和疲惫之后，我终于发现了生命产生的原因；不仅如此，我自己还获得了赋予无生命物质以生命的能力。
刚发现这个秘密时的震惊，很快变成喜悦和狂喜。经历如此漫长而痛苦的劳动以后，一下到达自己愿望的顶峰，是对全部辛苦最令人满足的报偿。可是，这项发现太巨大、太压倒一切，以至于把我一步一步走到这里的过程全都从脑中抹去了，我眼里只剩下结果。自世界诞生以来最聪明的人一直研究、一直渴望得到的东西，现在就在我掌中。不过，它并不是像魔法场景一样突然完整地向我打开。我的知识更像是在我把全部努力对准目标以后，给我指出前进方向，而不是把完成的成果直接摆在眼前。我仿佛一个被同死人一起埋葬的阿拉伯人，只靠一线微弱、看似没有用的光，找到一条通向生命的道路。
我的朋友，我从你急切的表情，以及眼中流露出的惊奇和希望，看得出你期待我告诉你那个秘密。但我不能这样做。请耐心听到故事结束，你自然会明白我为什么对此保持沉默。我不会把当年像我一样毫无防备、热情冲动的你，引向毁灭和必然的痛苦。即使你不能从我的训诫里学会什么，也至少从我的例子中明白：获得知识有多么危险。一个只把家乡当作整个世界的人，往往比一个渴望超越自己天性允许范围的人幸福得多。
当我发现如此惊人的力量掌握在手里时，很长一段时间都在犹豫应该怎样使用它。我虽然拥有赋予生命的能力，可要制造一个能接受生命的身体，里面还要具备纤维、肌肉、血管等所有复杂结构，仍然是难以想象的艰巨工作。起初我怀疑，自己究竟该尝试创造一个像人类一样的生命，还是结构更简单的生物。可第一次成功已经把我的想象推得太高，我根本不愿怀疑自己能够给人这样复杂而奇妙的动物赋予生命。眼下能够获得的材料似乎并不足以完成如此艰难的事业，可我不怀疑自己最终会成功。我已经做好遭遇无数挫折的准备：实验也许不断失败，最后完成的作品也可能并不完美；可是想到科学和机械每天都在进步，我便相信，即使现在的尝试不能成功，也至少能为未来奠定基础。我也不认为计划规模巨大、结构复杂，就能证明它不可实现。带着这样的心情，我开始创造一个人。因为每个部件太细小会严重拖慢速度，我违背最初的打算，决定把这个生命做成巨大的身材——大约八英尺高，身体其他部分也按比例放大。作出这个决定后，我花了几个月成功收集、整理材料，终于开始工作。
最初成功带来的热情像飓风一样推动着我，没有人能想象当时各种感情有多么强烈。生命和死亡在我看来不过是理想化的界限，而我将第一个打破这些界限，把一道洪流般的光倾注进这个黑暗世界。一个新的物种会把我当作它们的创造者和生命源头，为我祝福；许多幸福而优秀的生命都会因为我而存在。没有任何父亲能像我这样，有资格得到孩子们如此彻底的感激。沿着这些想法继续推演，我还认为，如果自己能让无生命物质获得生命，那么将来某一天——虽然现在我发现还做不到——也许还能让已经被死亡交给腐烂的身体重新恢复生命。
这些想法支撑着我的精神，使我以从不间断的热情继续事业。长期研究使我的脸色变得苍白，长时间闭门工作也让我身体消瘦。有时我已经接近确定，却还是失败；可我仍紧抓希望，相信下一天或下一个小时就可能实现愿望。只有我掌握的那个秘密，成为我献出全部生命的希望。月亮注视着我午夜的劳动，我则带着毫不放松、几乎屏住呼吸的急切，追赶自然直到她最隐秘的藏身处。谁能想象我那些秘密劳动有多么可怕？我在坟墓不洁的湿气中翻找，又折磨活着的动物，只为了让没有生命的泥土动起来。如今只要回想，我的四肢还会发抖，眼睛也会眩晕；可当时，一股无法抵抗、近乎疯狂的冲动推动我继续。我仿佛除了这一件追求以外，已经失去灵魂和其他一切感觉。其实那只是一阵暂时的迷狂；每当这种反常刺激停止，我重新回到旧日习惯时，感觉反而会更加尖锐。我从藏骨室收集骨头，用亵渎的手指扰动人体结构最可怕的秘密。在房屋最高处一个孤立的小房间里——与其说是房间，不如说是牢房——它同其他房间之间隔着走廊和楼梯，我在那里设置了肮脏创造的工作室。为了盯住工作的每一个细节，我的眼球仿佛都快从眼眶里凸出来。解剖室和屠宰场提供了很多材料；我身上的人性常常厌恶地想从这些工作中退开，可不断增长的急切依然驱赶着我，把作品一步步推向完成。
整个夏天就这样过去，我全心全意只做这一件事。那是一个极其美丽的季节；田野从未收获如此丰富的庄稼，葡萄藤也从未结出如此丰盛的果实，可我的眼睛完全感受不到自然的魅力。同样的情绪使我忽视周围景色，也让我忘记那些远在几百英里外、已经很久没有见过的朋友。我知道长期沉默会让他们不安，也清楚记得父亲的话：“我知道，只要你对自己的生活感到满意，就会怀着感情想起我们，我们也会经常收到你的消息。如果你突然停止写信，请原谅我会把它看作一种迹象，说明你连其他责任也同样忽视了。”
我非常明白父亲会怎么想，可我无法把思绪从工作上撕开。工作本身令人厌恶，却已经不可抵抗地抓住我的想象。我仿佛想把一切同亲情有关的事情暂时往后推，直到那个吞噬我所有生活习惯的巨大目标真正完成。
当时我还认为，父亲如果把我的疏忽归结为道德上的错误或过失，是对我不公平。可现在，我确信他有理由认为我并非完全没有责任。一个真正完善的人，应当永远保持平静安宁的心，不让激情或一时的欲望破坏内心安定。我不认为追求知识可以例外。你投入的研究如果会削弱感情，使你失去欣赏那些绝不会掺杂痛苦的简单快乐的能力，那么这种研究一定是不正当的，也就是说，它不适合人的心灵。如果所有人都遵守这条规则，如果没有任何人允许任何事业打扰家庭感情的平静，希腊就不会被奴役，凯撒会放过自己的祖国，美洲会被更缓慢地发现，墨西哥和秘鲁的帝国也不会被毁灭。
不过，我忘了自己正在故事最吸引人的地方发表道德议论。看你的表情，我应该继续讲下去。
父亲没有在信里责备我，只是比以前更详细地询问我每天在做什么。冬天、春天和夏天都在劳动中过去；过去总能带给我巨大快乐的花朵和新叶，我一次也没有认真看过，因为工作把我彻底吞没。那一年的叶子已经枯萎，我的作品才接近完成，而现在，每一天都更清楚地向我证明自己有多成功。可是，热情已经被焦虑压住，我看起来不像一个正在从事自己喜爱工作的创造者，反而更像被判去矿井劳动的奴隶，或者做着其他损害健康职业的人。每天晚上，我都受到持续低烧折磨，神经过敏到了痛苦的程度；一片叶子落下都能把我吓一跳，我躲着其他人，仿佛自己犯了罪。有时，我也会害怕自己已经变成怎样一副废墟；只有完成目标的意志仍支撑着我。我相信工作很快就会结束，到那以后，运动和娱乐会赶走刚刚出现的疾病，因此许诺自己：只要创造完成，我就恢复这两样生活。
English
From this day natural philosophy, and particularly chemistry, in the most comprehensive sense of the term, became nearly my sole occupation. I read with ardour those works, so full of genius and discrimination, which modern inquirers have written on these subjects. I attended the lectures and cultivated the acquaintance of the men of science of the university, and I found even in M. Krempe a great deal of sound sense and real information, combined, it is true, with a repulsive physiognomy and manners, but not on that account the less valuable. In M. Waldman I found a true friend. His gentleness was never tinged by dogmatism, and his instructions were given with an air of frankness and good nature that banished every idea of pedantry. In a thousand ways he smoothed for me the path of knowledge and made the most abstruse inquiries clear and facile to my apprehension. My application was at first fluctuating and uncertain; it gained strength as I proceeded and soon became so ardent and eager that the stars often disappeared in the light of morning whilst I was yet engaged in my laboratory.
中文
从那一天起，自然哲学，尤其是广义上的化学，几乎成了我唯一的事业。我热切阅读现代研究者在这些领域写下的著作，那些作品充满才智和辨别力。我去听课，也主动结识大学里的科学家。即使在克伦佩先生身上，我也发现许多扎实的判断和真正的知识，只不过这些优点确实同他令人不快的外貌和举止结合在一起，却并不因此减少价值。至于瓦尔德曼先生，我找到了一个真正的朋友。他的温和从不带教条气，他讲授知识时坦率而亲切，让人完全感觉不到卖弄学问。他用无数方式为我铺平知识的道路，把最深奥的研究解释得清楚而容易理解。起初，我的学习还有些摇摆和不确定，可随着不断前进，热情越来越强烈，很快，我常常在实验室里工作到天亮，等抬头时才发现星星已经消失在晨光中。
English
From this day natural philosophy, and particularly chemistry, in the most comprehensive sense of the term, became nearly my sole occupation. I read with ardour those works, so full of genius and discrimination, which modern inquirers have written on these subjects. I attended the lectures and cultivated the acquaintance of the men of science of the university, and I found even in M. Krempe a great deal of sound sense and real information, combined, it is true, with a repulsive physiognomy and manners, but not on that account the less valuable. In M. Waldman I found a true friend. His gentleness was never tinged by dogmatism, and his instructions were given with an air of frankness and good nature that banished every idea of pedantry. In a thousand ways he smoothed for me the path of knowledge and made the most abstruse inquiries clear and facile to my apprehension. My application was at first fluctuating and uncertain; it gained strength as I proceeded and soon became so ardent and eager that the stars often disappeared in the light of morning whilst I was yet engaged in my laboratory.
中文
从那一天起，自然哲学，尤其是广义上的化学，几乎成了我唯一的事业。我热切阅读现代研究者在这些领域写下的著作，那些作品充满才智和辨别力。我去听课，也主动结识大学里的科学家。即使在克伦佩先生身上，我也发现许多扎实的判断和真正的知识，只不过这些优点确实同他令人不快的外貌和举止结合在一起，却并不因此减少价值。至于瓦尔德曼先生，我找到了一个真正的朋友。他的温和从不带教条气，他讲授知识时坦率而亲切，让人完全感觉不到卖弄学问。他用无数方式为我铺平知识的道路，把最深奥的研究解释得清楚而容易理解。起初，我的学习还有些摇摆和不确定，可随着不断前进，热情越来越强烈，很快，我常常在实验室里工作到天亮，等抬头时才发现星星已经消失在晨光中。
English
As I applied so closely, it may be easily conceived that my progress was rapid. My ardour was indeed the astonishment of the students, and my proficiency that of the masters. Professor Krempe often asked me, with a sly smile, how Cornelius Agrippa went on, whilst M. Waldman expressed the most heartfelt exultation in my progress. Two years passed in this manner, during which I paid no visit to Geneva, but was engaged, heart and soul, in the pursuit of some discoveries which I hoped to make. None but those who have experienced them can conceive of the enticements of science. In other studies you go as far as others have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know; but in a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder. A mind of moderate capacity which closely pursues one study must infallibly arrive at great proficiency in that study; and I, who continually sought the attainment of one object of pursuit and was solely wrapped up in this, improved so rapidly that at the end of two years I made some discoveries in the improvement of some chemical instruments, which procured me great esteem and admiration at the university. When I had arrived at this point and had become as well acquainted with the theory and practice of natural philosophy as depended on the lessons of any of the professors at Ingolstadt, my residence there being no longer conducive to my improvements, I thought of returning to my friends and my native town, when an incident happened that protracted my stay.
中文
既然我如此投入，可以想象进步有多快。学生们惊讶于我的热情，老师们则惊讶于我的熟练程度。克伦佩教授常带着狡黠的笑问我：“科内利厄斯·阿格里帕研究得怎么样了？”瓦尔德曼先生却发自内心地为我的进展高兴。就这样过了两年，这期间我一次也没有回日内瓦探亲，而是全心全意追求自己希望做出的发现。只有真正经历过的人，才能理解科学有多么诱人。其他学科里，你走到前人已经走过的地方，也许就再没有更多可知道的东西；可科学研究中，永远有新的发现和惊奇等待着你。一个能力普通的人，只要紧紧追随一个研究方向，也必然会在那个领域取得很高水平；而我始终只追求一个目标，全部心思都投入其中，因此进步极快。两年结束时，我在改进某些化学仪器方面做出了一些发现，给我带来大学里相当多的尊敬和赞赏。到这时候，我已经掌握因戈尔施塔特任何教授能够教给我的自然哲学理论和实践，继续留在那里对进步似乎没有太大帮助，因此我开始考虑回到朋友们身边、回到故乡。可就在这时，一件事发生了，使我又留下来。
English
As I applied so closely, it may be easily conceived that my progress was rapid. My ardour was indeed the astonishment of the students, and my proficiency that of the masters. Professor Krempe often asked me, with a sly smile, how Cornelius Agrippa went on, whilst M. Waldman expressed the most heartfelt exultation in my progress. Two years passed in this manner, during which I paid no visit to Geneva, but was engaged, heart and soul, in the pursuit of some discoveries which I hoped to make. None but those who have experienced them can conceive of the enticements of science. In other studies you go as far as others have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know; but in a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder. A mind of moderate capacity which closely pursues one study must infallibly arrive at great proficiency in that study; and I, who continually sought the attainment of one object of pursuit and was solely wrapped up in this, improved so rapidly that at the end of two years I made some discoveries in the improvement of some chemical instruments, which procured me great esteem and admiration at the university. When I had arrived at this point and had become as well acquainted with the theory and practice of natural philosophy as depended on the lessons of any of the professors at Ingolstadt, my residence there being no longer conducive to my improvements, I thought of returning to my friends and my native town, when an incident happened that protracted my stay.
中文
既然我如此投入，可以想象进步有多快。学生们惊讶于我的热情，老师们则惊讶于我的熟练程度。克伦佩教授常带着狡黠的笑问我：“科内利厄斯·阿格里帕研究得怎么样了？”瓦尔德曼先生却发自内心地为我的进展高兴。就这样过了两年，这期间我一次也没有回日内瓦探亲，而是全心全意追求自己希望做出的发现。只有真正经历过的人，才能理解科学有多么诱人。其他学科里，你走到前人已经走过的地方，也许就再没有更多可知道的东西；可科学研究中，永远有新的发现和惊奇等待着你。一个能力普通的人，只要紧紧追随一个研究方向，也必然会在那个领域取得很高水平；而我始终只追求一个目标，全部心思都投入其中，因此进步极快。两年结束时，我在改进某些化学仪器方面做出了一些发现，给我带来大学里相当多的尊敬和赞赏。到这时候，我已经掌握因戈尔施塔特任何教授能够教给我的自然哲学理论和实践，继续留在那里对进步似乎没有太大帮助，因此我开始考虑回到朋友们身边、回到故乡。可就在这时，一件事发生了，使我又留下来。
English
One of the phenomena which had peculiarly attracted my attention was the structure of the human frame, and, indeed, any animal endued with life. Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed? It was a bold question, and one which has ever been considered as a mystery; yet with how many things are we upon the brink of becoming acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries. I revolved these circumstances in my mind and determined thenceforth to apply myself more particularly to those branches of natural philosophy which relate to physiology. Unless I had been animated by an almost supernatural enthusiasm, my application to this study would have been irksome and almost intolerable. To examine the causes of life, we must first have recourse to death. I became acquainted with the science of anatomy, but this was not sufficient; I must also observe the natural decay and corruption of the human body. In my education my father had taken the greatest precautions that my mind should be impressed with no supernatural horrors. I do not ever remember to have trembled at a tale of superstition or to have feared the apparition of a spirit. Darkness had no effect upon my fancy, and a churchyard was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of life, which, from being the seat of beauty and strength, had become food for the worm. Now I was led to examine the cause and progress of this decay and forced to spend days and nights in vaults and charnel-houses. My attention was fixed upon every object the most insupportable to the delicacy of the human feelings. I saw how the fine form of man was degraded and wasted; I beheld the corruption of death succeed to the blooming cheek of life; I saw how the worm inherited the wonders of the eye and brain. I paused, examining and analysing all the minutiae of causation, as exemplified in the change from life to death, and death to life, until from the midst of this darkness a sudden light broke in upon me—a light so brilliant and wondrous, yet so simple, that while I became dizzy with the immensity of the prospect which it illustrated, I was surprised that among so many men of genius who had directed their inquiries towards the same science, that I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret.
中文
有一种现象一直特别吸引我的注意，那就是人体的结构，以及一切拥有生命的动物。我常问自己：生命的原理究竟从哪里来？这是一个大胆的问题，而且一直被视为谜团；可如果不是胆怯和粗心限制了探索，我们已经有多少事情几乎就要理解了。我反复思考这些问题，从此决定更加专门研究自然哲学中与生理学有关的部分。如果没有一种近乎超自然的热情推动，这种学习会令人厌恶，甚至难以忍受。要研究生命的原因，首先必须求助于死亡。我学习了解剖学，可这还不够；我还必须观察人体自然腐败和分解的过程。父亲在教育我时一直非常谨慎，不让我的心被任何超自然恐怖影响。我从不记得自己曾因为迷信故事发抖，也从不害怕鬼魂出现。黑暗不会刺激我的幻想，墓地对我来说只是存放失去生命的身体的地方；这些身体曾经承载美丽和力量，如今却成为虫子的食物。现在，我开始研究这种腐败是怎样发生、怎样发展的，被迫日日夜夜待在墓穴和藏骨室里。我的注意力全都集中在那些最让人的感情无法忍受的对象上。我看着人类美好的形体怎样衰败消失，看着死亡的腐烂怎样取代生命时鲜活的脸颊，也看着虫子怎样继承眼睛和大脑的奇迹。我停下来，细细研究并分析从生命到死亡、再从死亡回到生命这一变化中，每一个细小的因果环节。终于，一道突如其来的光从黑暗中照进来——它如此耀眼而奇妙，却又如此简单。我因为眼前展开的巨大可能而眩晕，同时又惊讶：那么多天才都研究过同一门科学，为什么偏偏只有我被留下来发现这个惊人的秘密。
English
One of the phenomena which had peculiarly attracted my attention was the structure of the human frame, and, indeed, any animal endued with life. Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed? It was a bold question, and one which has ever been considered as a mystery; yet with how many things are we upon the brink of becoming acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries. I revolved these circumstances in my mind and determined thenceforth to apply myself more particularly to those branches of natural philosophy which relate to physiology. Unless I had been animated by an almost supernatural enthusiasm, my application to this study would have been irksome and almost intolerable. To examine the causes of life, we must first have recourse to death. I became acquainted with the science of anatomy, but this was not sufficient; I must also observe the natural decay and corruption of the human body. In my education my father had taken the greatest precautions that my mind should be impressed with no supernatural horrors. I do not ever remember to have trembled at a tale of superstition or to have feared the apparition of a spirit. Darkness had no effect upon my fancy, and a churchyard was to me merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of life, which, from being the seat of beauty and strength, had become food for the worm. Now I was led to examine the cause and progress of this decay and forced to spend days and nights in vaults and charnel-houses. My attention was fixed upon every object the most insupportable to the delicacy of the human feelings. I saw how the fine form of man was degraded and wasted; I beheld the corruption of death succeed to the blooming cheek of life; I saw how the worm inherited the wonders of the eye and brain. I paused, examining and analysing all the minutiae of causation, as exemplified in the change from life to death, and death to life, until from the midst of this darkness a sudden light broke in upon me—a light so brilliant and wondrous, yet so simple, that while I became dizzy with the immensity of the prospect which it illustrated, I was surprised that among so many men of genius who had directed their inquiries towards the same science, that I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret.
中文
有一种现象一直特别吸引我的注意，那就是人体的结构，以及一切拥有生命的动物。我常问自己：生命的原理究竟从哪里来？这是一个大胆的问题，而且一直被视为谜团；可如果不是胆怯和粗心限制了探索，我们已经有多少事情几乎就要理解了。我反复思考这些问题，从此决定更加专门研究自然哲学中与生理学有关的部分。如果没有一种近乎超自然的热情推动，这种学习会令人厌恶，甚至难以忍受。要研究生命的原因，首先必须求助于死亡。我学习了解剖学，可这还不够；我还必须观察人体自然腐败和分解的过程。父亲在教育我时一直非常谨慎，不让我的心被任何超自然恐怖影响。我从不记得自己曾因为迷信故事发抖，也从不害怕鬼魂出现。黑暗不会刺激我的幻想，墓地对我来说只是存放失去生命的身体的地方；这些身体曾经承载美丽和力量，如今却成为虫子的食物。现在，我开始研究这种腐败是怎样发生、怎样发展的，被迫日日夜夜待在墓穴和藏骨室里。我的注意力全都集中在那些最让人的感情无法忍受的对象上。我看着人类美好的形体怎样衰败消失，看着死亡的腐烂怎样取代生命时鲜活的脸颊，也看着虫子怎样继承眼睛和大脑的奇迹。我停下来，细细研究并分析从生命到死亡、再从死亡回到生命这一变化中，每一个细小的因果环节。终于，一道突如其来的光从黑暗中照进来——它如此耀眼而奇妙，却又如此简单。我因为眼前展开的巨大可能而眩晕，同时又惊讶：那么多天才都研究过同一门科学，为什么偏偏只有我被留下来发现这个惊人的秘密。
English
Remember, I am not recording the vision of a madman. The sun does not more certainly shine in the heavens than that which I now affirm is true. Some miracle might have produced it, yet the stages of the discovery were distinct and probable. After days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue, I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter.
中文
请记住，我现在记录的并不是疯子的幻觉。我接下来要说的事情和太阳在天空中发光一样真实。也许某种奇迹促成了它，可我的发现过程每一步都清楚而合理。经过难以置信的日日夜夜劳动和疲惫之后，我终于发现了生命产生的原因；不仅如此，我自己还获得了赋予无生命物质以生命的能力。
English
Remember, I am not recording the vision of a madman. The sun does not more certainly shine in the heavens than that which I now affirm is true. Some miracle might have produced it, yet the stages of the discovery were distinct and probable. After days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue, I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter.
中文
请记住，我现在记录的并不是疯子的幻觉。我接下来要说的事情和太阳在天空中发光一样真实。也许某种奇迹促成了它，可我的发现过程每一步都清楚而合理。经过难以置信的日日夜夜劳动和疲惫之后，我终于发现了生命产生的原因；不仅如此，我自己还获得了赋予无生命物质以生命的能力。
English
The astonishment which I had at first experienced on this discovery soon gave place to delight and rapture. After so much time spent in painful labour, to arrive at once at the summit of my desires was the most gratifying consummation of my toils. But this discovery was so great and overwhelming that all the steps by which I had been progressively led to it were obliterated, and I beheld only the result. What had been the study and desire of the wisest men since the creation of the world was now within my grasp. Not that, like a magic scene, it all opened upon me at once: the information I had obtained was of a nature rather to direct my endeavours so soon as I should point them towards the object of my search than to exhibit that object already accomplished. I was like the Arabian who had been buried with the dead and found a passage to life, aided only by one glimmering and seemingly ineffectual light.
中文
刚发现这个秘密时的震惊，很快变成喜悦和狂喜。经历如此漫长而痛苦的劳动以后，一下到达自己愿望的顶峰，是对全部辛苦最令人满足的报偿。可是，这项发现太巨大、太压倒一切，以至于把我一步一步走到这里的过程全都从脑中抹去了，我眼里只剩下结果。自世界诞生以来最聪明的人一直研究、一直渴望得到的东西，现在就在我掌中。不过，它并不是像魔法场景一样突然完整地向我打开。我的知识更像是在我把全部努力对准目标以后，给我指出前进方向，而不是把完成的成果直接摆在眼前。我仿佛一个被同死人一起埋葬的阿拉伯人，只靠一线微弱、看似没有用的光，找到一条通向生命的道路。
English
The astonishment which I had at first experienced on this discovery soon gave place to delight and rapture. After so much time spent in painful labour, to arrive at once at the summit of my desires was the most gratifying consummation of my toils. But this discovery was so great and overwhelming that all the steps by which I had been progressively led to it were obliterated, and I beheld only the result. What had been the study and desire of the wisest men since the creation of the world was now within my grasp. Not that, like a magic scene, it all opened upon me at once: the information I had obtained was of a nature rather to direct my endeavours so soon as I should point them towards the object of my search than to exhibit that object already accomplished. I was like the Arabian who had been buried with the dead and found a passage to life, aided only by one glimmering and seemingly ineffectual light.
中文
刚发现这个秘密时的震惊，很快变成喜悦和狂喜。经历如此漫长而痛苦的劳动以后，一下到达自己愿望的顶峰，是对全部辛苦最令人满足的报偿。可是，这项发现太巨大、太压倒一切，以至于把我一步一步走到这里的过程全都从脑中抹去了，我眼里只剩下结果。自世界诞生以来最聪明的人一直研究、一直渴望得到的东西，现在就在我掌中。不过，它并不是像魔法场景一样突然完整地向我打开。我的知识更像是在我把全部努力对准目标以后，给我指出前进方向，而不是把完成的成果直接摆在眼前。我仿佛一个被同死人一起埋葬的阿拉伯人，只靠一线微弱、看似没有用的光，找到一条通向生命的道路。
English
I see by your eagerness and the wonder and hope which your eyes express, my friend, that you expect to be informed of the secret with which I am acquainted; that cannot be; listen patiently until the end of my story, and you will easily perceive why I am reserved upon that subject. I will not lead you on, unguarded and ardent as I then was, to your destruction and infallible misery. Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.
中文
我的朋友，我从你急切的表情，以及眼中流露出的惊奇和希望，看得出你期待我告诉你那个秘密。但我不能这样做。请耐心听到故事结束，你自然会明白我为什么对此保持沉默。我不会把当年像我一样毫无防备、热情冲动的你，引向毁灭和必然的痛苦。即使你不能从我的训诫里学会什么，也至少从我的例子中明白：获得知识有多么危险。一个只把家乡当作整个世界的人，往往比一个渴望超越自己天性允许范围的人幸福得多。
English
I see by your eagerness and the wonder and hope which your eyes express, my friend, that you expect to be informed of the secret with which I am acquainted; that cannot be; listen patiently until the end of my story, and you will easily perceive why I am reserved upon that subject. I will not lead you on, unguarded and ardent as I then was, to your destruction and infallible misery. Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.
中文
我的朋友，我从你急切的表情，以及眼中流露出的惊奇和希望，看得出你期待我告诉你那个秘密。但我不能这样做。请耐心听到故事结束，你自然会明白我为什么对此保持沉默。我不会把当年像我一样毫无防备、热情冲动的你，引向毁灭和必然的痛苦。即使你不能从我的训诫里学会什么，也至少从我的例子中明白：获得知识有多么危险。一个只把家乡当作整个世界的人，往往比一个渴望超越自己天性允许范围的人幸福得多。
English
When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated a long time concerning the manner in which I should employ it. Although I possessed the capacity of bestowing animation, yet to prepare a frame for the reception of it, with all its intricacies of fibres, muscles, and veins, still remained a work of inconceivable difficulty and labour. I doubted at first whether I should attempt the creation of a being like myself, or one of simpler organization; but my imagination was too much exalted by my first success to permit me to doubt of my ability to give life to an animal as complex and wonderful as man. The materials at present within my command hardly appeared adequate to so arduous an undertaking, but I doubted not that I should ultimately succeed. I prepared myself for a multitude of reverses; my operations might be incessantly baffled, and at last my work be imperfect, yet when I considered the improvement which every day takes place in science and mechanics, I was encouraged to hope my present attempts would at least lay the foundations of future success. Nor could I consider the magnitude and complexity of my plan as any argument of its impracticability. It was with these feelings that I began the creation of a human being. As the minuteness of the parts formed a great hindrance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first intention, to make the being of a gigantic stature, that is to say, about eight feet in height, and proportionably large. After having formed this determination and having spent some months in successfully collecting and arranging my materials, I began.
中文
当我发现如此惊人的力量掌握在手里时，很长一段时间都在犹豫应该怎样使用它。我虽然拥有赋予生命的能力，可要制造一个能接受生命的身体，里面还要具备纤维、肌肉、血管等所有复杂结构，仍然是难以想象的艰巨工作。起初我怀疑，自己究竟该尝试创造一个像人类一样的生命，还是结构更简单的生物。可第一次成功已经把我的想象推得太高，我根本不愿怀疑自己能够给人这样复杂而奇妙的动物赋予生命。眼下能够获得的材料似乎并不足以完成如此艰难的事业，可我不怀疑自己最终会成功。我已经做好遭遇无数挫折的准备：实验也许不断失败，最后完成的作品也可能并不完美；可是想到科学和机械每天都在进步，我便相信，即使现在的尝试不能成功，也至少能为未来奠定基础。我也不认为计划规模巨大、结构复杂，就能证明它不可实现。带着这样的心情，我开始创造一个人。因为每个部件太细小会严重拖慢速度，我违背最初的打算，决定把这个生命做成巨大的身材——大约八英尺高，身体其他部分也按比例放大。作出这个决定后，我花了几个月成功收集、整理材料，终于开始工作。
English
When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated a long time concerning the manner in which I should employ it. Although I possessed the capacity of bestowing animation, yet to prepare a frame for the reception of it, with all its intricacies of fibres, muscles, and veins, still remained a work of inconceivable difficulty and labour. I doubted at first whether I should attempt the creation of a being like myself, or one of simpler organization; but my imagination was too much exalted by my first success to permit me to doubt of my ability to give life to an animal as complex and wonderful as man. The materials at present within my command hardly appeared adequate to so arduous an undertaking, but I doubted not that I should ultimately succeed. I prepared myself for a multitude of reverses; my operations might be incessantly baffled, and at last my work be imperfect, yet when I considered the improvement which every day takes place in science and mechanics, I was encouraged to hope my present attempts would at least lay the foundations of future success. Nor could I consider the magnitude and complexity of my plan as any argument of its impracticability. It was with these feelings that I began the creation of a human being. As the minuteness of the parts formed a great hindrance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first intention, to make the being of a gigantic stature, that is to say, about eight feet in height, and proportionably large. After having formed this determination and having spent some months in successfully collecting and arranging my materials, I began.
中文
当我发现如此惊人的力量掌握在手里时，很长一段时间都在犹豫应该怎样使用它。我虽然拥有赋予生命的能力，可要制造一个能接受生命的身体，里面还要具备纤维、肌肉、血管等所有复杂结构，仍然是难以想象的艰巨工作。起初我怀疑，自己究竟该尝试创造一个像人类一样的生命，还是结构更简单的生物。可第一次成功已经把我的想象推得太高，我根本不愿怀疑自己能够给人这样复杂而奇妙的动物赋予生命。眼下能够获得的材料似乎并不足以完成如此艰难的事业，可我不怀疑自己最终会成功。我已经做好遭遇无数挫折的准备：实验也许不断失败，最后完成的作品也可能并不完美；可是想到科学和机械每天都在进步，我便相信，即使现在的尝试不能成功，也至少能为未来奠定基础。我也不认为计划规模巨大、结构复杂，就能证明它不可实现。带着这样的心情，我开始创造一个人。因为每个部件太细小会严重拖慢速度，我违背最初的打算，决定把这个生命做成巨大的身材——大约八英尺高，身体其他部分也按比例放大。作出这个决定后，我花了几个月成功收集、整理材料，终于开始工作。
English
No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs. Pursuing these reflections, I thought that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption.
中文
最初成功带来的热情像飓风一样推动着我，没有人能想象当时各种感情有多么强烈。生命和死亡在我看来不过是理想化的界限，而我将第一个打破这些界限，把一道洪流般的光倾注进这个黑暗世界。一个新的物种会把我当作它们的创造者和生命源头，为我祝福；许多幸福而优秀的生命都会因为我而存在。没有任何父亲能像我这样，有资格得到孩子们如此彻底的感激。沿着这些想法继续推演，我还认为，如果自己能让无生命物质获得生命，那么将来某一天——虽然现在我发现还做不到——也许还能让已经被死亡交给腐烂的身体重新恢复生命。
English
No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs. Pursuing these reflections, I thought that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption.
中文
最初成功带来的热情像飓风一样推动着我，没有人能想象当时各种感情有多么强烈。生命和死亡在我看来不过是理想化的界限，而我将第一个打破这些界限，把一道洪流般的光倾注进这个黑暗世界。一个新的物种会把我当作它们的创造者和生命源头，为我祝福；许多幸福而优秀的生命都会因为我而存在。没有任何父亲能像我这样，有资格得到孩子们如此彻底的感激。沿着这些想法继续推演，我还认为，如果自己能让无生命物质获得生命，那么将来某一天——虽然现在我发现还做不到——也许还能让已经被死亡交给腐烂的身体重新恢复生命。
English
These thoughts supported my spirits, while I pursued my undertaking with unremitting ardour. My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement. Sometimes, on the very brink of certainty, I failed; yet still I clung to the hope which the next day or the next hour might realise. One secret which I alone possessed was the hope to which I had dedicated myself; and the moon gazed on my midnight labours, while, with unrelaxed and breathless eagerness, I pursued nature to her hiding-places. Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay? My limbs now tremble, and my eyes swim with the remembrance; but then a resistless and almost frantic impulse urged me forward; I seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit. It was indeed but a passing trance, that only made me feel with renewed acuteness so soon as, the unnatural stimulus ceasing to operate, I had returned to my old habits. I collected bones from charnel-houses and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame. In a solitary chamber, or rather cell, at the top of the house, and separated from all the other apartments by a gallery and staircase, I kept my workshop of filthy creation; my eyeballs were starting from their sockets in attending to the details of my employment. The dissecting room and the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials; and often did my human nature turn with loathing from my occupation, whilst, still urged on by an eagerness which perpetually increased, I brought my work near to a conclusion.
中文
这些想法支撑着我的精神，使我以从不间断的热情继续事业。长期研究使我的脸色变得苍白，长时间闭门工作也让我身体消瘦。有时我已经接近确定，却还是失败；可我仍紧抓希望，相信下一天或下一个小时就可能实现愿望。只有我掌握的那个秘密，成为我献出全部生命的希望。月亮注视着我午夜的劳动，我则带着毫不放松、几乎屏住呼吸的急切，追赶自然直到她最隐秘的藏身处。谁能想象我那些秘密劳动有多么可怕？我在坟墓不洁的湿气中翻找，又折磨活着的动物，只为了让没有生命的泥土动起来。如今只要回想，我的四肢还会发抖，眼睛也会眩晕；可当时，一股无法抵抗、近乎疯狂的冲动推动我继续。我仿佛除了这一件追求以外，已经失去灵魂和其他一切感觉。其实那只是一阵暂时的迷狂；每当这种反常刺激停止，我重新回到旧日习惯时，感觉反而会更加尖锐。我从藏骨室收集骨头，用亵渎的手指扰动人体结构最可怕的秘密。在房屋最高处一个孤立的小房间里——与其说是房间，不如说是牢房——它同其他房间之间隔着走廊和楼梯，我在那里设置了肮脏创造的工作室。为了盯住工作的每一个细节，我的眼球仿佛都快从眼眶里凸出来。解剖室和屠宰场提供了很多材料；我身上的人性常常厌恶地想从这些工作中退开，可不断增长的急切依然驱赶着我，把作品一步步推向完成。
English
These thoughts supported my spirits, while I pursued my undertaking with unremitting ardour. My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement. Sometimes, on the very brink of certainty, I failed; yet still I clung to the hope which the next day or the next hour might realise. One secret which I alone possessed was the hope to which I had dedicated myself; and the moon gazed on my midnight labours, while, with unrelaxed and breathless eagerness, I pursued nature to her hiding-places. Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay? My limbs now tremble, and my eyes swim with the remembrance; but then a resistless and almost frantic impulse urged me forward; I seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit. It was indeed but a passing trance, that only made me feel with renewed acuteness so soon as, the unnatural stimulus ceasing to operate, I had returned to my old habits. I collected bones from charnel-houses and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame. In a solitary chamber, or rather cell, at the top of the house, and separated from all the other apartments by a gallery and staircase, I kept my workshop of filthy creation; my eyeballs were starting from their sockets in attending to the details of my employment. The dissecting room and the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials; and often did my human nature turn with loathing from my occupation, whilst, still urged on by an eagerness which perpetually increased, I brought my work near to a conclusion.
中文
这些想法支撑着我的精神，使我以从不间断的热情继续事业。长期研究使我的脸色变得苍白，长时间闭门工作也让我身体消瘦。有时我已经接近确定，却还是失败；可我仍紧抓希望，相信下一天或下一个小时就可能实现愿望。只有我掌握的那个秘密，成为我献出全部生命的希望。月亮注视着我午夜的劳动，我则带着毫不放松、几乎屏住呼吸的急切，追赶自然直到她最隐秘的藏身处。谁能想象我那些秘密劳动有多么可怕？我在坟墓不洁的湿气中翻找，又折磨活着的动物，只为了让没有生命的泥土动起来。如今只要回想，我的四肢还会发抖，眼睛也会眩晕；可当时，一股无法抵抗、近乎疯狂的冲动推动我继续。我仿佛除了这一件追求以外，已经失去灵魂和其他一切感觉。其实那只是一阵暂时的迷狂；每当这种反常刺激停止，我重新回到旧日习惯时，感觉反而会更加尖锐。我从藏骨室收集骨头，用亵渎的手指扰动人体结构最可怕的秘密。在房屋最高处一个孤立的小房间里——与其说是房间，不如说是牢房——它同其他房间之间隔着走廊和楼梯，我在那里设置了肮脏创造的工作室。为了盯住工作的每一个细节，我的眼球仿佛都快从眼眶里凸出来。解剖室和屠宰场提供了很多材料；我身上的人性常常厌恶地想从这些工作中退开，可不断增长的急切依然驱赶着我，把作品一步步推向完成。
English
The summer months passed while I was thus engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit. It was a most beautiful season; never did the fields bestow a more plentiful harvest or the vines yield a more luxuriant vintage, but my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature. And the same feelings which made me neglect the scenes around me caused me also to forget those friends who were so many miles absent, and whom I had not seen for so long a time. I knew my silence disquieted them, and I well remembered the words of my father: “I know that while you are pleased with yourself you will think of us with affection, and we shall hear regularly from you. You must pardon me if I regard any interruption in your correspondence as a proof that your other duties are equally neglected.”
中文
整个夏天就这样过去，我全心全意只做这一件事。那是一个极其美丽的季节；田野从未收获如此丰富的庄稼，葡萄藤也从未结出如此丰盛的果实，可我的眼睛完全感受不到自然的魅力。同样的情绪使我忽视周围景色，也让我忘记那些远在几百英里外、已经很久没有见过的朋友。我知道长期沉默会让他们不安，也清楚记得父亲的话：“我知道，只要你对自己的生活感到满意，就会怀着感情想起我们，我们也会经常收到你的消息。如果你突然停止写信，请原谅我会把它看作一种迹象，说明你连其他责任也同样忽视了。”
English
The summer months passed while I was thus engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit. It was a most beautiful season; never did the fields bestow a more plentiful harvest or the vines yield a more luxuriant vintage, but my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature. And the same feelings which made me neglect the scenes around me caused me also to forget those friends who were so many miles absent, and whom I had not seen for so long a time. I knew my silence disquieted them, and I well remembered the words of my father: “I know that while you are pleased with yourself you will think of us with affection, and we shall hear regularly from you. You must pardon me if I regard any interruption in your correspondence as a proof that your other duties are equally neglected.”
中文
整个夏天就这样过去，我全心全意只做这一件事。那是一个极其美丽的季节；田野从未收获如此丰富的庄稼，葡萄藤也从未结出如此丰盛的果实，可我的眼睛完全感受不到自然的魅力。同样的情绪使我忽视周围景色，也让我忘记那些远在几百英里外、已经很久没有见过的朋友。我知道长期沉默会让他们不安，也清楚记得父亲的话：“我知道，只要你对自己的生活感到满意，就会怀着感情想起我们，我们也会经常收到你的消息。如果你突然停止写信，请原谅我会把它看作一种迹象，说明你连其他责任也同样忽视了。”
English
I knew well therefore what would be my father’s feelings, but I could not tear my thoughts from my employment, loathsome in itself, but which had taken an irresistible hold of my imagination. I wished, as it were, to procrastinate all that related to my feelings of affection until the great object, which swallowed up every habit of my nature, should be completed.
中文
我非常明白父亲会怎么想，可我无法把思绪从工作上撕开。工作本身令人厌恶，却已经不可抵抗地抓住我的想象。我仿佛想把一切同亲情有关的事情暂时往后推，直到那个吞噬我所有生活习惯的巨大目标真正完成。
English
I knew well therefore what would be my father’s feelings, but I could not tear my thoughts from my employment, loathsome in itself, but which had taken an irresistible hold of my imagination. I wished, as it were, to procrastinate all that related to my feelings of affection until the great object, which swallowed up every habit of my nature, should be completed.
中文
我非常明白父亲会怎么想，可我无法把思绪从工作上撕开。工作本身令人厌恶，却已经不可抵抗地抓住我的想象。我仿佛想把一切同亲情有关的事情暂时往后推，直到那个吞噬我所有生活习惯的巨大目标真正完成。
English
I then thought that my father would be unjust if he ascribed my neglect to vice or faultiness on my part, but I am now convinced that he was justified in conceiving that I should not be altogether free from blame. A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind and never to allow passion or a transitory desire to disturb his tranquillity. I do not think that the pursuit of knowledge is an exception to this rule. If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind. If this rule were always observed; if no man allowed any pursuit whatsoever to interfere with the tranquillity of his domestic affections, Greece had not been enslaved, Cæsar would have spared his country, America would have been discovered more gradually, and the empires of Mexico and Peru had not been destroyed.
中文
当时我还认为，父亲如果把我的疏忽归结为道德上的错误或过失，是对我不公平。可现在，我确信他有理由认为我并非完全没有责任。一个真正完善的人，应当永远保持平静安宁的心，不让激情或一时的欲望破坏内心安定。我不认为追求知识可以例外。你投入的研究如果会削弱感情，使你失去欣赏那些绝不会掺杂痛苦的简单快乐的能力，那么这种研究一定是不正当的，也就是说，它不适合人的心灵。如果所有人都遵守这条规则，如果没有任何人允许任何事业打扰家庭感情的平静，希腊就不会被奴役，凯撒会放过自己的祖国，美洲会被更缓慢地发现，墨西哥和秘鲁的帝国也不会被毁灭。
English
I then thought that my father would be unjust if he ascribed my neglect to vice or faultiness on my part, but I am now convinced that he was justified in conceiving that I should not be altogether free from blame. A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind and never to allow passion or a transitory desire to disturb his tranquillity. I do not think that the pursuit of knowledge is an exception to this rule. If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind. If this rule were always observed; if no man allowed any pursuit whatsoever to interfere with the tranquillity of his domestic affections, Greece had not been enslaved, Cæsar would have spared his country, America would have been discovered more gradually, and the empires of Mexico and Peru had not been destroyed.
中文
当时我还认为，父亲如果把我的疏忽归结为道德上的错误或过失，是对我不公平。可现在，我确信他有理由认为我并非完全没有责任。一个真正完善的人，应当永远保持平静安宁的心，不让激情或一时的欲望破坏内心安定。我不认为追求知识可以例外。你投入的研究如果会削弱感情，使你失去欣赏那些绝不会掺杂痛苦的简单快乐的能力，那么这种研究一定是不正当的，也就是说，它不适合人的心灵。如果所有人都遵守这条规则，如果没有任何人允许任何事业打扰家庭感情的平静，希腊就不会被奴役，凯撒会放过自己的祖国，美洲会被更缓慢地发现，墨西哥和秘鲁的帝国也不会被毁灭。
English
But I forget that I am moralizing in the most interesting part of my tale, and your looks remind me to proceed.
中文
不过，我忘了自己正在故事最吸引人的地方发表道德议论。看你的表情，我应该继续讲下去。
English
But I forget that I am moralizing in the most interesting part of my tale, and your looks remind me to proceed.
中文
不过，我忘了自己正在故事最吸引人的地方发表道德议论。看你的表情，我应该继续讲下去。
English
My father made no reproach in his letters and only took notice of my silence by inquiring into my occupations more particularly than before. Winter, spring, and summer passed away during my labours; but I did not watch the blossom or the expanding leaves—sights which before always yielded me supreme delight—so deeply was I engrossed in my occupation. The leaves of that year had withered before my work drew near to a close, and now every day showed me more plainly how well I had succeeded. But my enthusiasm was checked by my anxiety, and I appeared rather like one doomed by slavery to toil in the mines, or any other unwholesome trade than an artist occupied by his favourite employment. Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree; the fall of a leaf startled me, and I shunned my fellow creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime. Sometimes I grew alarmed at the wreck I perceived that I had become; the energy of my purpose alone sustained me: my labours would soon end, and I believed that exercise and amusement would then drive away incipient disease; and I promised myself both of these when my creation should be complete.
中文
父亲没有在信里责备我，只是比以前更详细地询问我每天在做什么。冬天、春天和夏天都在劳动中过去；过去总能带给我巨大快乐的花朵和新叶，我一次也没有认真看过，因为工作把我彻底吞没。那一年的叶子已经枯萎，我的作品才接近完成，而现在，每一天都更清楚地向我证明自己有多成功。可是，热情已经被焦虑压住，我看起来不像一个正在从事自己喜爱工作的创造者，反而更像被判去矿井劳动的奴隶，或者做着其他损害健康职业的人。每天晚上，我都受到持续低烧折磨，神经过敏到了痛苦的程度；一片叶子落下都能把我吓一跳，我躲着其他人，仿佛自己犯了罪。有时，我也会害怕自己已经变成怎样一副废墟；只有完成目标的意志仍支撑着我。我相信工作很快就会结束，到那以后，运动和娱乐会赶走刚刚出现的疾病，因此许诺自己：只要创造完成，我就恢复这两样生活。
English
My father made no reproach in his letters and only took notice of my silence by inquiring into my occupations more particularly than before. Winter, spring, and summer passed away during my labours; but I did not watch the blossom or the expanding leaves—sights which before always yielded me supreme delight—so deeply was I engrossed in my occupation. The leaves of that year had withered before my work drew near to a close, and now every day showed me more plainly how well I had succeeded. But my enthusiasm was checked by my anxiety, and I appeared rather like one doomed by slavery to toil in the mines, or any other unwholesome trade than an artist occupied by his favourite employment. Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree; the fall of a leaf startled me, and I shunned my fellow creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime. Sometimes I grew alarmed at the wreck I perceived that I had become; the energy of my purpose alone sustained me: my labours would soon end, and I believed that exercise and amusement would then drive away incipient disease; and I promised myself both of these when my creation should be complete.
中文
父亲没有在信里责备我，只是比以前更详细地询问我每天在做什么。冬天、春天和夏天都在劳动中过去；过去总能带给我巨大快乐的花朵和新叶，我一次也没有认真看过，因为工作把我彻底吞没。那一年的叶子已经枯萎，我的作品才接近完成，而现在，每一天都更清楚地向我证明自己有多成功。可是，热情已经被焦虑压住，我看起来不像一个正在从事自己喜爱工作的创造者，反而更像被判去矿井劳动的奴隶，或者做着其他损害健康职业的人。每天晚上，我都受到持续低烧折磨，神经过敏到了痛苦的程度；一片叶子落下都能把我吓一跳，我躲着其他人，仿佛自己犯了罪。有时，我也会害怕自己已经变成怎样一副废墟；只有完成目标的意志仍支撑着我。我相信工作很快就会结束，到那以后，运动和娱乐会赶走刚刚出现的疾病，因此许诺自己：只要创造完成，我就恢复这两样生活。