《弗兰肯斯坦》开篇：英文原著带中文翻译

You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings. I arrived here yesterday, and my first task is to assure my dear sister of my welfare and increasing confidence in the success of my undertaking.

你听到一个你曾如此不祥地预感到的事业，在开创之际并未遭遇任何灾难，定会感到欣慰。我昨日抵达此地，首要之事便是让亲爱的姐姐放心，我一切安好，且对事业的成功愈发充满信心。

I am already far north of London, and as I walk in the streets of Petersburgh, I feel a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, which braces my nerves and fills me with delight. Do you understand this feeling? This breeze, which has travelled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes. Inspirited by this wind of promise, my daydreams become more fervent and vivid. I try in vain to be persuaded that the pole is the seat of frost and desolation; it ever presents itself to my imagination as the region of beauty and delight. There, Margaret, the sun is for ever visible, its broad disk just skirting the horizon and diffusing a perpetual splendour. There—for with your leave, my sister, I will put some trust in preceding navigators—there snow and frost are banished; and, sailing over a calm sea, we may be wafted to a land surpassing in wonders and in beauty every region hitherto discovered on the habitable globe. Its productions and features may be without example, as the phenomena of the heavenly bodies undoubtedly are in those undiscovered solitudes. What may not be expected in a country of eternal light? I may there discover the wondrous power which attracts the needle and may regulate a thousand celestial observations that require only this voyage to render their seeming eccentricities consistent for ever. I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man. These are my enticements, and they are sufficient to conquer all fear of danger or death and to induce me to commence this laborious voyage with the joy a child feels when he embarks in a little boat, with his holiday mates, on an expedition of discovery up his native river. But supposing all these conjectures to be false, you cannot contest the inestimable benefit which I shall confer on all mankind, to the last generation, by discovering a passage near the pole to those countries, to reach which at present so many months are requisite; or by ascertaining the secret of the magnet, which, if at all possible, can only be effected by an undertaking such as mine.

我已远在伦敦以北，漫步于彼得堡街头，感到一阵寒冷的北风拂过面颊，令我精神振奋，满心欢喜。你能理解这种感受吗？这风从我所要前往的地域吹来，让我预先领略了那冰封的气候。受这希望之风的鼓舞，我的白日梦愈发炽热而鲜明。我试图说服自己北极乃是冰霜与荒凉之地，却徒劳无功。它在我想象中始终是美丽与欢乐之邦。玛格丽特，在那里，太阳永远可见，其巨大的圆盘紧贴地平线，散发着永恒的光辉。在那里，请姐姐允许我相信前代航海家的记述，冰雪已被驱散。我们航行于平静的海面，或可被吹送到一片土地，其奇观与美景胜过有人居住的地球上迄今发现的一切区域。那里的物产与地貌或许前所未闻，正如那些未发现的孤寂之域中天体的现象无疑也是如此。在一片永恒光明的国度里，还有什么不能期待呢？我也许会在那里发现吸引罗盘的奇妙力量，并厘清上千个天体观测，这些观测只需这次航行便能使其表面上的偏轨永远归于一致。我将以亲眼见到一片从未有人造访的世界来满足我炽热的好奇心，或许还能踏上从未有人类足迹踏过的土地。这些便是我的诱惑，足以战胜对危险或死亡的一切恐惧，促使我以孩童般的喜悦开始这艰辛的航行，就像孩子与假日伙伴们登上小船，沿故乡的河流去探险一样。但即使所有这些猜测都是错的，你也无法否认我将为全人类，直至最后一代，带来无可估量的益处：发现一条靠近北极通往那些国家的航道，目前抵达那里需要许多个月；或者探明磁石的秘密，此事若有可能，也只能通过像我这样的壮举来实现。

These reflections have dispelled the agitation with which I began my letter, and I feel my heart glow with an enthusiasm which elevates me to heaven, for nothing contributes so much to tranquillise the mind as a steady purpose—a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye. This expedition has been the favourite dream of my early years. I have read with ardour the accounts of the various voyages which have been made in the prospect of arriving at the North Pacific Ocean through the seas which surround the pole. You may remember that a history of all the voyages made for purposes of discovery composed the whole of our good Uncle Thomas’ library. My education was neglected, yet I was passionately fond of reading. These volumes were my study day and night, and my familiarity with them increased that regret which I had felt, as a child, on learning that my father’s dying injunction had forbidden my uncle to allow me to embark in a seafaring life.

这些思绪驱散了我开始写这封信时的激动，我感到心中燃起一股热情，将我提升至天堂，因为没有什么比坚定的目标更能使心灵平静，那是灵魂可以固定其理智之眼的一个点。这次探险是我早年最钟爱的梦想。我热切地阅读了各种航行的记述，那些航行都是为了穿过环绕北极的海洋抵达北太平洋。你或许记得，所有为探索目的而进行的航行史构成了我们善良的托马斯叔叔的全部藏书。我的教育被忽视了，但我却酷爱阅读。这些书卷是我日夜研读的对象，我对它们的熟悉加深了我儿时的遗憾，那时我得知父亲临终的嘱托禁止叔叔允许我投身航海生涯。