《化身博士》开篇：英文原著带中文翻译

Mr. Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary and yet somehow lovable. At friendly meetings, and when the wine was to his taste, something eminently human beaconed from his eye; something indeed which never found its way into his talk, but which spoke not only in these silent symbols of the after-dinner face, but more often and loudly in the acts of his life. He was austere with himself; drank gin when he was alone, to mortify a taste for vintages; and though he enjoyed the theatre, had not crossed the doors of one for twenty years. But he had an approved tolerance for others; sometimes wondering, almost with envy, at the high pressure of spirits involved in their misdeeds; and in any extremity inclined to help rather than to reprove. “I incline to Cain’s heresy,” he used to say quaintly: “I let my brother go to the devil in his own way.” In this character, it was frequently his fortune to be the last reputable acquaintance and the last good influence in the lives of downgoing men. And to such as these, so long as they came about his chambers, he never marked a shade of change in his demeanour.

律师厄特森先生是个面容粗犷的人，脸上从无笑容；言谈冷淡、简短而拘谨；感情上畏缩不前；瘦削、修长、灰扑扑、沉闷乏味，却不知怎地讨人喜欢。在朋友聚会中，当酒合他口味时，他眼里会闪现出某种极为人性的光芒；那东西确实从未进入他的言谈，却不仅流露在餐后脸上那些无声的符号里，更常常更响亮地体现在他生活的行动中。他对自己很严厉；独处时喝杜松子酒，以克制对陈年佳酿的嗜好；虽然喜欢戏剧，却有二十年没有跨进剧院的门。但他对别人有一种公认的宽容；有时几乎带着羡慕，惊叹于他们胡作非为时那股高涨的劲头；而在任何极端情况下，他都倾向于帮助而不是责备。「我倾向于该隐的异端，」他常古怪地说：「我让我的兄弟按他自己的方式去见魔鬼。」由于这种性格，他常常有幸成为那些走下坡路的人生命中最后一个体面的熟人和最后一个好的影响。而对于这些人，只要他们来到他的事务所，他从不显出丝毫态度上的变化。

No doubt the feat was easy to Mr. Utterson; for he was undemonstrative at the best, and even his friendship seemed to be founded in a similar catholicity of good-nature. It is the mark of a modest man to accept his friendly circle ready-made from the hands of opportunity; and that was the lawyer’s way. His friends were those of his own blood or those whom he had known the longest; his affections, like ivy, were the growth of time, they implied no aptness in the object. Hence, no doubt the bond that united him to Mr. Richard Enfield, his distant kinsman, the well-known man about town. It was a nut to crack for many, what these two could see in each other, or what subject they could find in common. It was reported by those who encountered them in their Sunday walks, that they said nothing, looked singularly dull and would hail with obvious relief the appearance of a friend. For all that, the two men put the greatest store by these excursions, counted them the chief jewel of each week, and not only set aside occasions of pleasure, but even resisted the calls of business, that they might enjoy them uninterrupted.

对厄特森先生来说，这当然不难做到；因为他即便在最好的时候也不动声色，甚至他的友谊似乎也建立在一种类似的、宽厚随和的善意之上。一个谦逊的人的标志，就是从机遇手中接受现成的朋友圈；这位律师正是如此。他的朋友要么是血亲，要么是他认识最久的人；他的感情，像常春藤一样，是时间生长出来的，并不说明对象本身有什么可取之处。因此，毫无疑问，正是这种纽带把他和理查德·恩菲尔德先生连在一起，那是他的远亲，城里众所周知的交际人物。这两个人彼此看中了什么，或者能找到什么共同话题，对许多人来说都是个难解的谜。那些在周日散步时遇见他们的人说，他们什么也不说，看上去出奇地沉闷，一见到有朋友出现就会明显地松一口气。尽管如此，这两人却极其看重这些散步，把它当作每周的主要珍宝，不仅为此腾出娱乐的场合，甚至抵制生意的召唤，以便不受打扰地享受它。

It chanced on one of these rambles that their way led them down a by-street in a busy quarter of London. The street was small and what is called quiet, but it drove a thriving trade on the weekdays. The inhabitants were all doing well, it seemed, and all emulously hoping to do better still, and laying out the surplus of their gains in coquetry; so that the shop fronts stood along that thoroughfare with an air of invitation, like rows of smiling saleswomen. Even on Sunday, when it veiled its more florid charms and lay comparatively empty of passage, the street shone out in contrast to its dingy neighbourhood, like a fire in a forest; and with its freshly painted shutters, well-polished brasses, and general cleanliness and gaiety of note, instantly caught and pleased the eye of the passenger.

有一次闲逛时，他们顺着伦敦一个繁忙街区的一条小街走下去。那条街很小，算是所谓安静的那种，但平日却生意兴隆。居民们似乎都过得不错，而且都争相希望过得更好，把多余的钱花在打扮门面上；于是店铺门面沿着那条街排列，带着一种招徕的神气，像一排排微笑的女店员。即便在周日，当它遮起更艳丽的魅力，街上行人相对稀少时，这条街也在周围灰暗的街区映衬下闪闪发亮，像森林中的一团火；它那新漆的百叶窗、擦得锃亮的黄铜件，以及整体的整洁和欢快气息，立刻吸引并取悦了路人的眼睛。